Sciencenter

Policy on Official Spokespersons, Media, and Surveys

Speaking to the Media. The following four individuals shallserve as official spokespersons for the Sciencenter to media, government officials, and other external entities:

  • Director
  • Associate Director
  • Public Relations & Media Manager
  • Chair, Board of Trustees

Exceptions include specific events coordinated by others or situations where another person has been specifically authorized to make public statements.

To ensure consistency and correctness of information, all staff,trustees, advisors, and volunteers should use good judgment in making any public or private statements on behalf of the Sciencenter.

Media Visits to the Sciencenter and Off-Site Events. The following guidelines apply:

  • Media representatives must check in at the front desk(or other pre-designated check-in area) upon arrival at the museum or an event.
  • Media representatives should first contact a member of the Advancement Team for approval before scheduling to photograph, videograph, record, or interview Sciencenter members or visitors on-site.
  • Before any imageor recording of a Sciencenter visitor may be published, aired, or otherwise made public, a consensual release form signed by the visitor (or parent/guardian, if the visitor is a child) must be obtained. A copy of this form must be filed with the Sciencenter PR manager.

Surveys.The following guidelines apply:

  • To conduct a survey at the Sciencenter, the surveyor must first obtain approval (written or email) from the Advancement Team.
  • The Operations Dept. must review the survey prior to approval being granted.
  • The survey must not be overly intrusive, long, or in any other way decrease the positive experience of Sciencenter visitors.
  • Permission to conduct surveys may be declined if the Sciencenter is in the process of conducting its own visitor or member survey.

Examples

1. Accident:There has been an accident at the museum and a board member is approached for information by a reporter with whom he serves on another non-profit board. In this case, the board member should defer to one of the four official spokespersons listed above.

Commentary: Legal and insurance issues may be at stake, and it would be inappropriate for a board member to speak without knowing the background and how what he/she says might affect the museum.

2. Grant:A major NSF grant was received and a reporter contacts a staff member associated with the project for information about the nature and amount of the grant. In this case, the staff member should defer to one of the four official spokespersons listed above.

Commentary: The Sciencenteravoids announcing grantspublicly under a major portion of the work has been completed. The staff member might not know this.

3. Survey: A group of students saying they represent the Chamber of Commerce appear in the lobby on a Saturday morning with clipboards to do a survey they say they were instructed to do. In this case, they should be told that: 1) in general, we are happy to help with such surveys; 2) we have a policy that all surveys must be approved beforehand; and 3) they must bring the survey to the Advancement team for review and approval before it can be used at the Sciencenter.

Commentary: Occasionally, surveys are too long or have questions that are inappropriate for Sciencenter guests. We want to ensure that all surveys, whether internally or externally generated, will not negatively affect the experience of our guests.

Approved by the Board of Trustees 3-7-2005

Rev. 1-18-2008