1. Start with plain language

Ask is designed to understand how you naturally speak. You don’t need to learn any new lingo, data terminology or query language. Try prompts like: “How many visitors did we have last week?” or “Compare ticket revenue for October and November”. 

Don’t just stop at one question: you can follow up with deeper questions to chain your prompts for more depth and Ask will remember the context (or for faster results, ask several questions at once). However, if you’re swapping from one entirely different thread to another, start a new conversation so it doesn’t inherit too much of this into what you ask next. 

2. Use the pills as inspiration

At the top of Ask, you’ll see clickable suggestions (we call them pills). They’re great for exploring what’s possible, getting started fast and learning how different roles prompt.

Click one and see where it takes you – you can always refine from there.

3. Set the scene with specifics

Want more accurate or insightful answers? Add more detail up front. A prompt should look different to say, a Google search. More like if you were asking someone to do some analysis for you, where you layer the context explicitly. 

Instead of: “Why did visitation drop?”, try: “Looking at gate admissions for the main site only, between September and October this year, what factors might explain the drop – considering weather, marketing and school calendars?” This frames your thinking and gives Ask a better foundation.

4. Shape the mindset: tell it how to think

Ask responds not just to what you say, but how you say it. Guide its thinking style with prompts like “be skeptical”, or “think step by step” (great for complex and nuanced strategy), “challenge the default narrative” or the reverse: “explain this for an executive with 2 minutes to spare.”

This helps align answers with your audience or intent. You can even improve the results AI gives you with a nudge like “do your best work” or “really go deep on this” or “get creative”. 

5. Role play: ask it to act as a specialist, or to double check

By default, Ask acts like a data analyst. But you can tell it to take on a different persona, like “act as a visitor experience designer and interpret this month’s survey feedback”, or to “write in the style of a mystery shopper consultant” or maybe “act as a membership strategist and explain our churn trend”. Ask will respond with advice and insight tailored to that perspective.

With this in mind, you can also ask for the deliverable you want. Write a board report, a leadership update, an email to the front line team, my speaking notes for the all hands meeting. Or, just produce a table or a visualization. Or just give me a quick answer. 

An important part of using AI is thinking critically about the conversations you have together and evaluating not only how you’re prompting, but also its response. You can also use prompts that encourage Ask to think critically, too. “What assumptions are you making in this answer?” or “What data would improve the confidence of this insight?” or “What risks or gaps might we be missing here?”. This adds depth and helps catch blind spots. 

6. Compare and test prompt angles

Try asking the same question in two different ways: one open ended and creative, one detailed and structured. You’ll often get different insights or angles, which can sharpen your own thinking. Do them both in separate conversations, and essentially split test your results for comparison.  

7. Research and brainstorm before the task

Before jumping straight to “write this” or “create that,” use Ask to explore context, like “What trends in our guest feedback should we consider before updating the experience strategy?” or “Let’s brainstorm summer campaign themes based on almanac moments and past visitation peaks.” By thinking together, you’ll be stronger as a team. This gives your final deliverable better context, direction and backing, plus helps Ask understand more of your own thought process and otherwise unsaid expectations.

8. Make it visual and shape the story

Ask often includes a chart in its response. Want it a different way? Just say so, like “Show that as a bar chart”, “Split it by weekday and use a heatmap” or “Make it easier to compare year on year.” You can guide how the story is told, no dashboard needed.

9. Pull in the outside world

Ask connects with Dexibit’s Data Almanac and can even search the web. Try something like “Find important moments in science history and add them to our almanac,” or “Research wildlife awareness days relevant to our giving campaigns” or “Compare our refund policy to California law for attractions”. You can then tie this external intel to your internal data for smarter planning and analysis.

10. Zoom out to compare to benchmark

Wondering if your challenge is unique, or part of a wider trend? Or just if things are doing good or bad, or what others are doing? With Dexibit’s unified benchmarks, Ask can help you compare your performance to peers across the sector. Try something like “Are our visitation trends in line with the benchmark?” or “What can we learn in GEO from how our comparative twin benchmarks?”. 

See what’s typical and what’s not, identify where you lead or lag and get insight backed validation for decisions  whether you’re justifying change to leadership, or planning your next strategic move. This isn’t just data, it’s perspective.

Ask is made for visitor attractions and tuned to your unique operation. With the right prompting habits, it becomes your analyst, strategist, researcher and creative partner all in one.