editTeach : Quizzes : Headline Challenge #6

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By TRACEY KAPLAN
San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE � The fortunes of Silicon Valley�s proudest showpiece � the Tech Museum of Innovation � have fallen with the Nasdaq.
Attendance at the mango-and-blue museum has plunged by 39 percent since its glitzy grand opening in downtown San Jose three years ago. Membership has dropped by a third. Profits from the store have dwindled by 72 percent. Six people have been laid of and 21 positions cut.
Dependent on tech companies for financial support, the museum has lost fund-raising momentum partly because of the industry slump. Nationwide, attendance at many science museums has taken a hit with the economic downturn and Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to the Association of Science-Technology Centers in Washington, D.C.  
But as the Tech enters its fourth year, there are signs that it also is struggling � more than expected for a new museum, Tech officials say.
In 1999, 808,686 people visited the Tech; 496,192 came last year. Although the museum is on solid financial footing, officials say they must bring in more patrons to fund exhibits and justify the public investment. San Jose, which contributed $50 million toward construction, spends $1.3 million a year to support it.
�We�ve made increasing attendance a top priority,� said Ned Barnholt, CEO of Agilent Technologies and chairman of the Tech�s board. �This clearly is a big concern of the board and the staff at the Tech.�
Most new museums find that attendance falls and then plateaus as the novelty wears off, Barnholt said. In the Tech�s case, he said, the natural dip was compounded by the sour economy and Sept. 11 fallout, which saw a decline in tourism and made it more difficult for visitors to afford the $9 adult admission.
The Tech and its Hackworth IMAX theater also face challenges that could outlast the impact of the slump and terrorist attacks:
* The popularity of IMAX theaters nationwide is waning, even as new theaters open, including venues in Oakland and Dublin, industry experts say. The success of big releases, such as �Fantasia 2000� and �Beauty and the Beast,� is offset by little-known films.
�The most common reason people give is there haven�t been enough good films,� said James Hyder, editor and publisher of the Large Format Examiner, the leading publication on the industry.
* Downtown San Jose lacks sufficient free parking close to the museum. Unlike San Francisco residents, people who live in San Jose are unaccustomed to paying for parking, said Tech board member George Castro, an administrator at San Jose State University.
* The museum�s galleries are too small to hold many traveling exhibits, said Tech spokeswoman Kris Covarrubias. At 130,000 square feet, the Tech is half the size originally envisioned. New shows are essential to encourage visitors to return.
* Advertising and outreach have had a limited effect, particularly within the Bay Area�s multiethnic communities. 
The museum has made many efforts to attract Latinos, who make up a quarter of San Jose�s population, including showing the IMAX film �Mexico� during Hispanic Heritage Month. But progress has been �slow and painful,� Castro said.
�My daughter and her husband had heard about the Tech, but even they didn�t know where it was,� he said.
Even during these troubling times, the Tech remains one of downtown San Jose�s biggest draws. About 9,500 people visit the museum in an average week. 
�We�re having a real good time,� said Margaret Joichi, a librarian at San Francisco�s Immaculate Conception Academy during a school field trip last week. �It sounds silly, but I�m from Chicago, and I didn�t even know that chips were made from the silicon in sand, and that�s why they call it Silicon Valley.�
And despite the recent difficulties, the Tech has managed to stay out of debt and within budget. With strong connections in the community, including donations from Hewlett-Packard, the San Jose Mercury News, and its parent company Knight Ridder, officials predict it will once again thrive.
Last year also was a difficult time for some of the Tech�s competitors, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium and San Francisco�s Exploratorium, which saw their attendance drop, although less than the Tech�s 24 percent decline.
The Tech needs to reinvent itself, said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park. �The Tech must evolve to be a venue where people can consider and discuss not only technology�s promise but its perils.�
The museum, however, plans to stick to its original mission to focus on technological innovations and is pursuing other solutions, including cutting top administrators� salaries by 10 percent, Barnholt said.
After eight years in tight quarters next to the Civic Auditorium, the Tech�s first year in its new building was a striking success. The museum was so popular during the boom that in February 1999, 21 groups booked it for parties at $10,000 to $12,000 per evening. Membership shot up from 1,500 in 1997 to 21,000 by the end of 1999.
Flush with success, the Tech increased its staff from 65 workers to 192 by 2001. It also rewarded key staff with performance bonuses.
But after the stock market peaked in March 2000 and then began falling, the Tech�s revenue also lagged. Anticipating the worst, the museum slashed its 2001 budget twice, as operating revenues dropped from a projected $18l.4 million to $14.1 million. 
By the end of last year, revenue from private parties had plummeted by more than half. The museum�s annual fund-raising events and speaker series brought in one-third less than the year before.
�It has been a very stressful time,� said Peter B. Giles, the Tech�s president and chief executive officer, adding that he�s confident that the downturn is temporary.
The Tech is trying several approaches to boost attendance, including applying for grants, Barnholt said. Last fall, the museum devised seminars about leadership during hard times using an IMAX film about an arduous expedition to the South Pole. The series drew 17 groups. It raised $21,801.
In addition to cutting costs, the Tech plans to partner with local companies to reduce the price tag of new exhibits in 2003. And it is counting on an upcoming exhibit on the science of sports to dovetail with the Olympics.
The museum also is developing strategies to compete with the allure of San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Napa.
The board plans to give San Francisco hotel concierges free tours of the Tech so they promote it to out-of-town guests, Castro said.
�There are a lot of �wow� experiences at the Tech,� Barnholt said. �We just need to reach a broader part of the community.�

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How the head was written	�With tech support gone, museum tries to restart� �Economic downturn, lack of free parking and limited size contribute to attendance slump at San Jose�s Tech Museum� Headline by Diana Ramirez, Contra Costa Times: This story was about a technology museum experiencing a slump from the bursting of the dot-com bubble. I almost stumbled over the headline for this one. I had been trying to fit in the phrase �support from technologies companies,� but it was obviously too long. I instead went with the phrase �tech support,� which can mean either support from technology companies or an engineer who helps when there is computer trouble. When I realized the double meaning of the phrase, the rest of the headline came easy. Unfortunately, one of my original words got changed by the slots. Instead of �restart,� I used �reboot,� which is another computer technology phrase. While it still works, it was changed to bump up the point size of the headline and fill out the line better.