Training Collection: Knowledge of the Audience & Visitor Engagement

We got an inquiry recently about what training modules we had available for visitor types and creating great guest experiences. Last year, North Wind put together an intensive week-long training course for a client with four 1hr modules dealing with how interpreters can best know the audience (“KA” in the Interpretive Equation).

(KA + KR) x AT = IO

(KA is Knowledge of the Audience, KR is Knowledge of the Resource, AT is Appropriate Techniques, and IO is Interpretive Opportunities.)

Consider contacting us for a four part session on visitor engagement, either done together or over a week or two!

Presenter: Tom Long

The Interpretive Equation (KA+KRxAT=IE) reminds us that interpretation is about a connection between our audience, our resource, and ourselves. This one hour introduction discusses different ways you can know your audience and the “Hook, Line, and Sinker” approach to visitor interactions. Handouts and exercises ensure that interpreters have tools to take into their practice immediately.

Presenter: Kevin Baron

Build on those basics with a module from one of our most experienced instructors. Take a trip with him, his friends, and his family to several different museums and historic sites and get a special insight into what visitor think, how to perform an on-the-spot evaluation, and how to include Maslow’s considerations when thinking about how to engage your audience and make sure they leave happy. Presented by Kevin Baron.

Presenter: Joshua Carlson

Inclusion is not just about learners with special needs. It is an attitude and approach that embraces diversity and learner differences and promotes equal opportunities for all learners. Our guest expert helps you understand how your team can better meet the needs of children with autism, ADHD, or other challenges. This presentation will provide an introduction to the principles of Universal Design Learning and give some tools for creating great guest experiences for neurodiverse individuals and groups. Presented by Joshua Carlson.

“Sufficiently advanced learning is indistinguishable from play.” In this spin on the popular card game “Apples to Apples”, Tom will help your site pull everything they have learned into a game with personalized playing cards. Your site’s tangible buildings, artifacts, and activities will turn into our red cards that payers will match with blue cards representing visitor types. We can play the game on a virtual tabletop with virtual cards! As a bonus, you keep your cards afterwards, to play during training or use as flash cards. You won’t believe how much fun interpretation training can be!