1) At Liberty Science Center, senior staff members pulled “Director on Duty” shifts on weekends and holidays. I typically spent most of my time hanging in the circular information desk fielding questions from customers. It helped with the evolution of our signage system and identified where our weaknesses were.

2) At The Computer Museum, I learned a lot about technology literacy by teaching our “Introduction to the Internet” hands-on classes in 1994 and by staffing our booth at MacWorld. Working a trade show booth is a great way to figure out how to say the most important things in the 20 seconds it takes someone to approach and walk by your booth.

Summary: if you want to know what customers think: go where they go to ask questions, ask the questions, and spend more time with the people who have the answers. They also know the questions that should be answered.