And God, you just watch the kids and they’re like really leaning into every word that they say. So you’ve gotta have ’em, you’ve gotta have those people there that are willing to fill in the gaps that the paid staff can’t get to, you know, schedules don’t permit, you… Read More
Which as you know, children can be a challenge, especially in a crowd setting, you know?… Read More
You know, an older gentleman standing there, you know, that could be Grandpa. Grandpa’s telling me about rhinos right now, you know, whatever that is, to watch these people, and like I say, some of ’em have been there as long as I’ve been there, very good at engaging children… Read More
And boy, do people relate to that?… Read More
We do, they’re not called docents now. I forget what the new term is, but very important. I mean, these people tireless, absolutely tireless. Always available to help you out with events, and large group management, and way-finding, and you name it. The program changed in ZooTampa. It was a… Read More
You know, if they weren’t interested in the zoo, they’re not gonna show up. I mean, I don’t care how rich you are. But if they wanna start giving back, we need to give ’em those opportunities. And we can’t sit there and stammer, and stutter, and oh my God,… Read More
Do you have docents at the zoo and how important are they?… Read More
That’s the really tough question to answer. Read More
So the high-intensity visits you can get them to respond to that. And I mean, and again, the responses have been, some of ’em I’ve been very surprised at, but they’re listening and they want to know. And I mean, some of our more significant donors have said, this is… Read More
How do you get them to resonate with that on casual visit?… Read More
What did you learn today that you didn’t know when you walked in the gate?… Read More
I mean, what it tells me is that we are getting to these people, now, how do you get to, you know, 2 million people like that?… Read More
I didn’t realize, fill in the blank. Tell me what the blank is. And the answers are incredible. Read More
Those are not just cliches. Those are things that are actionable. And we can prove that. That’s how you become relevant. I mean, it needs to be an enjoyable visit. It needs to be an enjoyable process. And you can subtly give people messages and you can subtly tell them… Read More
If we keep saying this species is in trouble in Africa and we’re not doing anything about it, or we haven’t even tried to do anything about it. Now, I’m not saying that we have to bankrupt the institution to get there, but if we’re not making some headway in… Read More
And you really hit ’em hard with a lot of conservation facts. ‘Cause they know they’re gonna get that, that’s why they’re there. They wanna know more. That’s your opportunity to really hit ’em hard. And you know, whether they turn around and donate back to you or whether they… Read More
You’ve spoken about the zoo. Yeah, well, what I get concerned about is that zoos live off their laurels and you know, those days are gone. And we gotta turn the corner. I mean, whether you were the best of whatever, you had the largest whatever, that’s great. But I… Read More
But how does that really relate?… Read More
I mean, if we’re not doing conservation both locally and internationally, why aren’t we?… Read More
We don’t need to. But, you know, we’re taking on some pretty challenging cases and, well, I’ll say about both institutions is nobody ever said oh, we can’t do that. Both facilities I worked in all said we’re gonna put our shoulders into this thing and make sure it gets… Read More