A Typical Visit to CERN: Structure, Experience, and Staff Requirements

2. Abstract: • A tipical visit (nowadays) • Typical structure of the visit • How to move in CERN • Run of the visit, what to do at a facility • Staff requeriments

3. NOWADAYS (INTERVIEW WITH A TIPICAL VISITOR) • The visit was in French, although none of the visitors were French • Visit on English, French, Italian or German. (On request other languages, six months in advance) • Total group:10 people • A friendly guide • But with no technical skills

4. NOWADAYS (INTERVIEW WITH A TIPICAL VISIT) • No possibility to choose the itineraries • Tour: Atlas visitor´s centre (1 ½ hours) + Microcosm (1 hour) = 2 ½ hours • High level in explanations • Overtaken for other group • Modern style (computers, screens,...) in Atlas. • No guided to shop • No final evaluation

5. "What is the world made of? " " Where do we come from? " " Where will we go? " Woody Allen: " ....diner tonight? " and "Why so much money for this? " Basic aim of a visit: to get a relation to the physical aspects of these main questions: -> One of the possible tasks: Looking for a typical structure of a visit

6. Mission statement: Typical structure and working model for all (site) visits to CERN, for specialists, educators, students, and general public Concrete aim: visitors leaving informed, curious to know more, and able ambassadors for CERN.

7. Visit structure: 1. Registration process before visit: clarifying of • language • interesting issues • level of knowledge • time, date, meeting point, ... • receiving of optional introductory contents • material to discuss with students: possible Questions: What is CERN? What is matter (including p+, n, e-, and quarks)? How do we study the parts of matter? What is an accelerator, detector? ?

8. 2. The beginning of the visit: Duration: Normally not longer than 3 hours. Exception: lab works, meal without costs Languages: guides, movies: as many as possible but affordable textual informations: posters, handouts, … : about 4 - 5

9. First contact trained staff member greets the group, explains the run of the visit answers burning questions, ‘housekeeping’ topics (transport ...) and after that he introduces the guide who takes over -> start with introductory video (many groups together, well scheduled, later separate ways) train

10. 3. At the facility: • small-sized visitor center: • holistic introduction • Explanations (with mockups, posters, graphics, screen with short videos • Showing the real stuff ... .... ..... • Talk with a real working physicist, possibly in a video-conference.

11. ... at the facility: • Explanation of the actual activities, processes (life- experience !!) • Telling stories about himself/other people in relation to the experiment • Showing issues with reference to the „Home-life“ of the visitors (produced in ....., physicist, Nobel price winner come from ..... • Historical aspects • Perhaps the same at an other facility ... ...

12. Back to the main visitor center - last impressive thing (Story, staff, other experience) - Proberly a little gift or donate of material in dependence of the visitors - Photo of the group with background (LHC, detector, ...) - Evaluation - at the end ..... visit of a 3-D cinema to get (scheduled, with other groups) - a amazing experiance over the realy big experiments at CERN (one cannot see them!) - to provide an emotional relation, that may be a background for more interrest ... - Visitors are lead to the very very well and professional arranged and managed CERN Shop

13. Website: the first step to visit Cern

15. Website: the first step to visit Cern • Improve actual webpages: • Booking section (interactive tour planner) • Decreasing the number of clicking to access each section • Syndications standards • Actualized information

16. Tours options: groups • We consider two types of groups: • Occasionally groups: • Booked in advance:

17. Transportation • Walking, no more than 5’ • The train/bus • improves visitor's mobility • can be used to accomodate the splitting of groups to manage site visits (an easy alternative for rotating large group). • Considering people's dissabilities.

18. Valuables points/facilities to visit and useful for teaching.

19. Teachers@CERN: Semantic web community for teachers around the world.

20. interactive tour planner • Customize the itinerary • Learn about the facilities • Connect with the curriculum • Access to media and didactical material.

29. Staff requirements: dedicated responsible staff member dynamic and flexible, with physics knowledge, people and teaching skills to coordinate the visit services - running the teachers lab - designing the routes, distribution of the display items - training of the guides in story telling techniques and general crowd control skills - writing the ‘scripts’ to the visits, appropriate level, uniformity of approach - the whole picture of the visit centre - identify shortcomings or opportunities for future development. - definition of the personal equipment for the guides

30. Guides for the tours • Young people with physics knowledge and communication skills. • They will collaborate with the “real scientists” who will participate for a brief moment in the visit • Trained specifically for the job • Infrastructure for them: uniforms, laser pointer, amplification system to be used with big groups, podcasts.

31. Style: • The explanations should be pitched to the appropriate level for the audience and should be clear and concise. • References to parts of CERN relating to the country of the tour group should be mentioned.  

32. Raise the awe and ‘wow’ factor: from diagrams to parts to ‘almost real’ to real. • Human’ stories (personal happenings or characteristics of people who worked or are working at the moment) to create a personal attachment. • Emphasis on the international collaboration involved at CERN.

33. Peoplewithspecialrequirements • People with special requirements: Have special routs with specially trained guides to take people with special requirements around. Example: brail panels, models for blind people for touch, sign language tours, and special tours for old people.

34. Thank you very much!