Shaping a Richer Visitors' Experience: The IPO Interpretive Approach in a Canadian Museum

This article presents an interpretive planner's perspective on the relevance to his work of the Ideas/People/Objects (IPO) visitor experience typology formulated by Pekarik and Mogel (2010). The value of IPO in shaping the visitor experience for an exhibition on Haitian Vodou is illustrated in practice from the perspective of a number of interpretive and exhibition design tools, with a focus on how the theory was applied on the ground. The success of the model hinges on fusing what are traditionally perceived as distinct approaches to interpretation (intellectual, personal or aesthetic), thus enriching the visitor experience and increasing satisfaction. In conclusion, the success of the approach is evaluated in terms of visitor comments.