About the Workshop
Design and deliver a meaningful Sense of Place Story using the places, objects, and histories your site holds. Participants learn a practical process for seeing the deeper layers of time, story, and perspective within a resource, transforming site knowledge into meaningful narratives that foster stronger visitor connection.
This workshop helps participants transform site knowledge into meaningful Sense of Place Stories they can share with visitors. Working with their own site material throughout the training, participants experience a practical process for viewing a resource through the layers of time, story, and perspective it holds. They explore places, objects, and histories through personal, cultural, historical, and natural lenses, uncovering new story possibilities, shaping ideas into concise, thematic stories, and crafting experiences that help visitors discover their own meanings and connections.
Through a sequence of guided practices that develop both content and delivery skills, participants create, refine, and deliver a complete Sense of Place Story they can use in interpretive programs or media. Along the way, they strengthen narrative structure, identify interpretive themes, refine storytelling and delivery techniques, and receive peer feedback that strengthens both story and presentation.
Participants leave with a developed Sense of Place Story, greater confidence in story craft and delivery, and practical tools they can continue using to discover and develop future stories in their interpretive work.
Training Content
Understanding the Sense of Place Story Approach
Seeing resources through layers of time, story, and perspective
Crafting sense of place narratives and interpretive themes
Delivery practice, peer feedback, and refinement
Learning Outcomes
After completing this course, participants will be able to:
Apply the Sense of Place Story Approach to their own site resources.
Identify meaningful stories within places, objects, events, and histories.
Develop a complete Sense of Place Story from their own site material.
Strengthen narrative structure, thematic clarity, and story delivery.
Apply practical story development techniques to future interpretive programs and media.
Registration Rates
$575 Regular Registration
$500 with NAI Member Discount
Course Schedule
Day One: From Site Knowledge to Meaningful Story
Introduction to the Sense of Place Story Approach
Seeing the layers of time, story, and perspective within a resource
Finding story, meaning, and significance within site knowledge
Crafting narrative structure and interpretive themes
Story development and outlining
Day Two: From Story Craft to Visitor Connection
Finding connections through lived experience
Storytelling and delivery techniques
Developing and refining a concise Sense of Place Story
Guided practice, peer feedback, and refinement
Final reflection and next steps
Instructor Information
Erica Wheeler is a nationally recognized interpretive trainer, keynote speaker, award-winning singer-songwriter, and founder of Sense of Place Consulting. For more than a decade, she has delivered her signature Sense of Place and the Art of Interpretation training for parks, heritage sites, museums, and interpretive organizations across the country, including extensive work with National Park Service sites.
Her training work began following her keynote at the 2007 National Association for Interpretation Conference. She received NAI's Media Award for Best Interpretive Media and has published regularly in Legacy. She is the author of the forthcoming Sense of Place and the Art of Interpretation (Bloomsbury/AASLH).