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Interview with Heather Frost - Education Manager: Public Programmes

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Wow Theme: spectacle

BM: Something that's occurring to me as well, there's quite a few people we've talked to now who often refer to the "wow factor" of what you do and I'm interested in what that means.

HF: The wow factor means that it's got to make, well it's quite obvious someone's got to go "WOW. That's cool." Or "I never thought of that." That does stem back to Richard Gregory again. His philosophy behind making exhibits was that you show in an exhibit something that's - intriguing. Something that you wouldn't expect. Which is why the Bernoulli Blower is such a classic exhibit because it does something that you don't expect it to. Which means that you immediately go, and you question it straight away, you know. "Is this - that ball's hanging in the air but why?" And it draws you to it and it - that - and it that, it's that which engages you and it's that that gets your brain thinking. So in theory all interactive exhibits should try and make you go "WOW" in some way. Obviously though, to a greater or lesser extent, they should show something that's intriguing or interesting. So I think that's where the wow factor comes from, šthat yeah, it should make you know, make you step back a second. Soš