Carlton Gajadhar is a Visitor Experience professional based in the United Kingdom, with a focus on helping visitor attractions learn about their guests and employees and bringing these insights together to create a magical experience for guests. With 25 years in the industry, Carlton has worked for cultural non-profit attractions, as well as for-profit businesses, and most recently was heavily involved in the production of Expo 2020 in Dubai. In this interview, Carlton shares the importance of finding the right people and putting them into the right positions and gives tips on how to locate the best guest-facing individuals for your team. He also discusses the Visitor Experience Forum, which brings together leaders from several institutions, both for-profit and non-profit, so that they can collaborate and learn from each other to be most successful. When it comes to understanding how employees can best serve visitors, Carlton shares how starting on the front line is immensely helpful for leaders, and for those who come into the industry from the outside, don’t be afraid to put on an employee uniform and work a frontline shift, even if it’s once a year.
