Sense of Place and the
Art of Interpretation Training
For Parks, Museums, Heritage Sites, and Organizations
Elevate your interpretive skills
Sense of Place and the Art of Interpretation helps interpreters, educators, guides, planners, media specialists, volunteers, and site-based teams translate interpretive goals into visitor experiences that feel meaningful, coherent, and alive.
This training introduces a Sense of Place approach to interpretation, helping practitioners create visitor experiences rooted in how people connect to place, meaning, and story.
Drawn from more than two decades of experience working with parks, museums, heritage sites, conservation organizations, and National Park Service teams across the country, these practical trainings are creative, rigorous, and renewing.
Whether you are onboarding new staff, refreshing existing programs, developing a specific site story, or strengthening interpretive practice across a team, there is a format here designed to meet your needs ranging from full signature trainings to targeted skill-building experiences.
Participants return to their work with stronger tools, honed skills, renewed energy, and a greater sense of vitality in their interpretive practice.
Participants Gain:
Fresh ways to see familiar resources, stories, and site experiences
Stronger stories, themes, and narrative structures
More coherent programs, tours, exhibits, and visitor experiences
Practical tools for content development, engagement, and delivery
Greater skill in working with layered and complex stories
Clear frameworks for shaping meaningful visitor experiences
Renewed confidence, creativity, and purpose in interpretive work
"I used to DREAD the outline process. I would be stuck in the muck for days. Erica has given me the boots I need for this terrain! I will definitely use the tools/techniques and am inspired to create great visitor experiences." — Sitka National Historical Park, AK
The Sense of Place Approach
Interpretation has always sought to help people connect more deeply with places, stories, objects, and histories in meaningful ways.
Sense of Place Interpretation supports that goal with a clear framework for content development, delivery techniques, and program design.
Using this approach, participants learn to see more of what a place, object, event, or story holds: layers of time, perspective, memory, meaning, and lived experience. They learn to translate facts into meaning and site knowledge into visitor experiences that feel meaningful, coherent, and alive.
The shift begins with a different starting point.
Instead of asking only, “What information do we want to share?” participants ask, “How can we help visitors connect to this place?”
From that starting point, meaning and story come into focus. Themes sharpen. Structure strengthens. Visitor experiences become more engaging, more relevant, and more memorable.
Training Formats
All Training is Available Onsite or Online
Full Signature Trainings
8 hours in a Full-Day or Multi-Day Format
$3,500 for up to 12 participants
Extended 14-21 hour formats available
for deeper skills in implementation and delivery.
Sense of Place Interpretation Training
Design and Deliver
a Sense of Place Interpretive Experience
8 hours | Full Day or Multi-Day
A comprehensive introduction to the Sense of Place approach. Participants explore content development, engagement techniques, delivery skills, and interpretive craft while working with their own site material.
Leave with a Well-Balanced Program Outline
Sense of Place Story Intensive
Training
Design and Deliver a Meaningful Sense of Place
Site Story
8 hours | Full Day or Multi-Day
A focused training in story craft for interpreters. Participants develop stories from site knowledge, objects, and events to craft a meaningful Sense of Place story while strengthening storytelling and delivery skills.
Leave with a Developed
Sense of Place Site Story
Sense of Place Interpretive Foundations
Shape Stronger Visitor Experiences Using Sense of Place Foundation
8 hours| Full Day or Multi-Day
An in-depth exploration of the Sense of Place methodology. Participants identify stories, meanings, and narrative threads that can inform programs, media, exhibits, and planning while learning a practical framework for creating cohesive visitor experiences from the layers of time, story, and perspective a place holds.
Leave with a Completed Sense of Place Site Narrative Plan
Short &Targeted Skill-Building Trainings
Choose from 1-hour to 4 hour trainings in
Content Development, Deliver Skills and Program Design
Pricing from $1,500 to $2,500 for up to 15 participants
Sense of Place Perspective Trainings
Choose from the following three options:
See With a Sense of Place Lens
2 Hours
An introductory session that helps participants see familiar places, stories, and resources with fresh eyes.
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Sense of Place Practices
2 Hours
Experience four key immersive practices for understanding how place connection forms and how those same principles can inform visitor experiences.
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Grounded in Place
Pro Immersive Retreat
3 Hours to Full Day
An experience-based journey using place-centered practices for renewal, creativity, reflection, and professional insight.
Gain skills to use in programs right away.
Story & Content Development Trainings
Choose from the following three options:
From Facts to Meaning
4 Hours
Find meaningful stories within site resources and develop stronger themes, concepts, and interpretive possibilities.
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Craft a Sense of Place Story
2 Hours
Gain foundational story skills and a deeper sense of place. Learn how lived experiences can hold meaningful connections that become stories worth sharing.
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Develop & Deliver a Site Story
4 Hours
Refine a site story and strengthen delivery skills for sharing interpretive content with greater clarity, confidence, and impact.
Program Design & Delivery Trainings
Choose from the following three options:
Build a Technique Toolkit
3 Hours
Experiment with engagement techniques, audience participation strategies, and approaches for reaching different visitors and learning styles.
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Sense of Place Narrative Sequencing
4 Hours
Learn to create coherent tours, exhibits, programs, and visitor experiences, particularly for layered, complex, or non-linear stories.
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This Training Helps Teams:
Work more effectively with layered and complex histories
Onboard new staff and volunteers
Refresh and strengthen existing programs
Develop new tours, exhibits, media, and visitor experiences
Participate in a shared approach to program design and development
Strengthen interpretive coherence and team build across site roles
"I observed my staff applying Erica's approach and feel that the level of programs this year was just outstanding. Even our more 'science-based' interpreters brought in more of the emotional, reflective techniques. Her ideas were especially effective for creating that baseline of connection that leads to meaningful dialogue."
— Cape Cod National Seashore, MA
Meet Your Trainer
Erica Wheeler is an interpretive trainer and the founder of Sense of Place Consulting. She is the creator of the Sense of Place and Story Framework.
For over 20 years, she has worked with parks, museums, heritage sites, and communities. Her experience includes training staff at more than 45 National Park Service sites nationwide, helping them design and deliver engaging visitor experiences.
She's also keynoted at events from the National Association for Interpretation to the National State Parks Directors Conference, as well as several Governor's Conferences on Tourism.
Her work helps interpreters translate site knowledge into meaningful visitor experiences through story, place, and connection.
Prior Training Sites Include
National Park Service (45+ sites): Yosemite NP · Independence NHP · Hawaiʻi Volcanoes NP · National Mall and Memorial Parks · Acadia NP · Cape Cod NS · Everglades NP · Great Smoky Mountains NP · Mesa Verde NP · Denali NP & Preserve · Hot Springs NP · White Sands NP · Women’s Rights NHP · Gateway NRA · Fort Stanwix NM · Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP · Saint-Gaudens NHP · and many more
Professional Organizations and Museums: National Association for Interpretation (NAI) · American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) · New England Museum Association (NEMA)
State Parks, Historic Sites and Conservation Organizations: State Parks · Historical Societies · Regional Land Trusts and Conservation Groups
What Team Leaders Say
“Erica provided our interpretive staff with a fresh angle on interpretation, new techniques, and the opportunity to stretch and experiment. Our interpreters strengthened and re-imagined their approach to sharing our resources with visitors. This training served as a solid foundation for our seasonal training." — Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP & Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site
“With everyone, from our permanent to seasonal rangers, I noticed changes right away. After the training, they had adjusted the structure of their program and had a clearer theme. They seemed to have found their focus and grew from there." — Women's Rights NHP, NY
What Participants Say
“I've attended numerous sessions throughout my career, and I honestly feel that this was the best, most energetic, true feeling workshop about what we do and love."
— Howard County Parks and Recreation, MD
“Re-energizing for even the most seasoned staff." — Fort Stanwix National Historic Site
“This is a paradigm shift for interpretation and creates a gift to offer visitors.”
— Bandelier National Monument
"We brought Erica in to help us master the art of storytelling and to learn how to share the meaning of these places even more effectively. Working with Erica before was one of the most meaningful experiences of my career. I was thrilled by seeing the growth in rangers and the inspiration they gleaned."
— National Mall and Memorial Parks, Washington, DC
What if interpretive training did more than build skills?
What if it also strengthened purpose, presence, and creativity in the work itself?
This training supports that kind of growth.
It helps interpreters build stronger skills and a stronger foundation for using them well—so the work becomes clearer, more grounded, and more alive for both practitioners and visitors.
Want to bring a training to your team?
Start an Inquiry →
Request the Training Buyer’s Guide →
Interested as an individual?
Get notified when the next cohort opens →
