Are natural history exhibitions bound to offer a bleak copy of experiencing real nature's beauty, wonders and diversity? Are our efforts to stimulate an authentic interest for nature from the inside of a museum building vain? How can we stimulate curiosity for nature and raise awareness about the correlated issues of biodiversity loss or alien species invasion?

In this session participants will share opinions and experiences on this topic. Outcomes of the one-day "Connecting visitors with real nature" pre-conference workshop run by the Ecsite Nature Group on this very topic will form our basis for discussion.

The session will be organised in four steps. First a brief "keynote" introduction to frame the topic and inspire debate on how much cultural values influence the interpretation of indoor-outdoor experiences, followed by a summary of the pre-conference workshop main ideas. Thirdly a small group discussion facilitated by speakers, before a collective wrap-up.