As a science centre or museum we all rely on functioning exhibits. This is a key aspect for visitor satisfaction and the organisation's reputation. For a demanding audience only a few broken or malfunctioning exhibits may already leave the impression of the whole exhibition being out of order. Just imagine the complaints and the visitor experience if one of your highlights is not running.

We therefore want to present five different science centre approaches of professionally managing the inevitable. Some have put systems in place for the fast recognition and repair of malfunctioning exhibits, encompassing computer assisted systems of collecting damage and wear information. Other have outsourced their repair and maintenance.

What metrics on availability or maintenance and repair times and intervals are meaningful? Is there a threshold below which the visitor satisfaction is lastingly affected and can we lower this threshold by the way we deal with broken exhibits on the floor?

Bonus: help us create a unique collection of ‘out of order’ signs from all over the world! Please bring along examples for the collection.