They're about the first thing a visitor notices after walking through the doors at Te Papa.
Dressed in blue and red, their job is to be the first thing visitors see when they walk through the door.
The Hosts at Te Papa are just one of the unique aspects to a visit to New Zealand's national museum.
Bill Whelen is one of those Hosts. The museum has been open for 12 years and Mr Whelen has been there for nine years.
He signed up to be a Host because he had a feeling Te Papa had something different to offer as a museum.
“I came here for the opening day. I was interested in how Te Papa was talking about museums and about history.
“It was cutting-edge and different to other museums and I quite liked that aspect as well,” he says.
Mr Whelen says naming the best part of the job is simple.
“I like meeting people. Being in the central part of New Zealand's culture is pretty unique.”
The team of Hosts at Te Papa is large. There's 80 of them all up, 25 of whom are full-time employees.
The number of tours they take a day varies depending on the time of year and what exhibitions are around.
In the quiet season, the Hosts will take three or four one hour tours while in busy times there can be between 12 and 15 tours a day.
The different feel Te Papa has to other museums is conveyed by visitors to the Hosts, Mr Whelen says.
“Some people come in here and say 'where's the museum?' because it looks like an urban shopping mall and we get a lot of flak because some areas have rides and things.
“That attracts the younger people and we're up against iPods and computer games so we have to react to that,” he says.
It's attracting visitors that is a constant struggle for museums and Te Papa communications manager Jane Keig says the national museum has a strategy in place to keep people coming back.
“We have an exhibition strategy so we change our exhibitions quite regularly.
“We've also got regular events which people come in for like the Matariki festival and Treaty debates,” she says.
Responding to what's happening around the country is another strategy Te Papa use to attract visitors.
“This Labour Weekend we have Earth Rocks [exhibition] with EQC [Earthquake Commission] which is very timely. Those are things which keep people coming back time and again,” Ms Keig says.
The museum also has sensors on the doors which provide a idea of how many people are entering each day.
“The sensors count people coming in and out of the building and then there's a 6% plus or minus so that's accounting for staff going in and out.
“We've got people on the floor doing questionnaires about where people are from and what they like to see. We're then able to tailor our products according to what people want,” she says.
The Hosts are an asset to the museum, Ms Keig says.
“They definitely give people a better experience at Te Papa. They're extremely knowledgeable.”
They can be seen as soon as you walk in the door. They might be the first thing you notice.
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