Sense of Place Keynotes
Bring the Theme of Your Event to Life
Whether your event centers on tourism, education, interpretation, conservation, heritage, or well-being, Erica Wheeler's keynotes help bring the heart of your event and the mission of your work to life.
Drawing on decades of work with parks, museums, tourism organizations, conservation groups, historic sites, and communities across North America, Erica explores how personal connections to place inspire caring. She offers a distinctive sense of place perspective for how to enrich the work of connecting people and place.
Through story, song, case studies, and shared conversation, participants experience those ideas while exploring them together.
They leave with fresh perspectives, renewed energy, and practical ideas they can carry back into their own organizations and communities.
What Makes These Keynotes Different
Each keynote brings together three elements that create a distinctive experience for your audience.
A conversation that advances the work.Drawing on decades of experience across tourism, interpretation, conservation, museums, parks, and communities, Erica brings a sense of place perspective to the larger conversations already taking place within these professions.
An immersive experience. Erica uses story, song, case studies, reflection, and conversation to illustrate key ideas. Her keynotes are not simply talks. They are opportunities for participation, reflection, and connection rooted in the theme of your event.
A shared sense of place. Erica is known for bringing a place into the room. She researches the region’s landscapes, stories, and history, then weaves insights about the event surroundings into the presentation, creating a shared sense of place grounded in where people have gathered.
The result is a keynote that brings the mission of your work to life, creates a memorable shared experience, and leaves participants with fresh ideas, renewed energy, and a deeper capacity for the work ahead.
“You are missing out if you aren't trying to book Erica for your upcoming workshop or training event. Her work with the ‘sense of place’ concept through her workshop provides excellent hands-on exercises in an area that is so often perceived as intangible, while her keynote was just the dose of inspiration we needed.”
— Chief of Interpretation, Arkansas State Parks and Tourism
The Conversation Erica Brings
Across tourism, interpretation, conservation, museums, parks, and community organizations, the work often shares a common aim: helping people develop meaningful connections with places.
Throughout her career, Erica’s work has centered around one key question:
How can we inspire more caring for places?
It first emerged during her years as a touring songwriter and has continued through decades of work with organizations and communities across North America. Over time, it led to a deeper question:
How can we cultivate the conditions for meaningful connection to emerge?
During her keynotes, audiences explore that question through the lens of their own work. Participants leave with insights they can immediately bring back to their organizations, communities, and programs by asking:
What conditions are we cultivating?
Signature Keynotes & Conversations
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Sense of Place Narratives for Journey Marketing
For tourism, destination marketing, placemaking, and visitor experience conferences.
How can we design meaningful visitor journeys that deepen connections with places?
Explore how narrative journeys can reveal the character of a region, link communities through story, and create more meaningful travel experiences.
Participants leave with fresh ideas for developing regional narratives that strengthen a sense of place and encourage deeper visitor connections.
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From Resource to Resonance: Sharing the Heart of the Matter
For conferences and events focused on interpretation at parks, museums, historic sites, and communities.
How can we cultivate the conditions that help meaningful connections emerge?
Explore a sense of place perspective on interpretation and how programs, stories, and experiences can help visitors form meaningful relationships with places. Participants leave with a new orientation for designing interpretive experiences, along with practical ideas they can adapt within their own sites and programs.
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From Story to Stewardship: The Impact of Sense of Place Stories
For organizations working in conservation, preservation, land trusts, parks, and environmental stewardship.
How can we develop and evoke stories that inspire stewardship and caring?
Examine the role stories play in helping people notice, value, and care for places.
Participants leave with practical approaches for uncovering and sharing stories that strengthen community connections and inspire stewardship.
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Place as Medicine: Finding Belonging Through Story, Memory, and Meaning
For conferences and gatherings focused on well-being, resilience, aging, community, and purposeful living.
How can everyday encounters with place strengthen belonging and well-being?
Through story, song, reflection, and conversation, Erica explores how story, memory, and meaningful experiences of place help us reconnect with ourselves, our communities, and the places we call home.
Participants leave with practical ways to cultivate a stronger sense of place in their lives, communities, and work.
About Erica
Erica Wheeler is a TEDx speaker, interpretive trainer, award-winning songwriter, and creative mentor whose work brings people and places together through story, song, and a sense of place perspective.
She has presented keynotes, trainings, and programs for conferences, parks, museums, tourism organizations, conservation groups, historic sites, educators, artists, and communities across North America.
Her work brings together interpretation, storytelling, conservation, community engagement, and the performing arts through a sense of place perspective.
“We invited Erica out for a week to help celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Big Sur Land Trust with a variety of events, including being our keynote speaker, and working with youth and others in the community. Her positive impact reverberated throughout our community and continues to this day. Erica’s ability to connect people and place beautifully aligned with our mission to strengthen communities and inspire stewardship.”
— Bill Leahy, Executive Director, Big Sur Land Trust, CA
Selected Appearances
American Horticultural Society Symposium
Association of National Park Rangers Rendezvous (ANPR)
Governor's Conferences on Tourism (Arkansas, New Mexico, Wisconsin)
Maryland Land Trust Alliance
National Association for Interpretation (Annual Workshop & Regions)
National Association of State Park Directors
National Park Service (Founders Day, National Mall)
New Mexico Council on Aging Conference
Parks Ontario Spring Training Conference
State Parks Seasonal Training (MT, ID, AR)
TEDx, Shelburne Falls, MA
Planning a Conferece?
Whether your gathering focuses on tourism, interpretation, conservation, heritage, community engagement, or well-being, Erica can create a keynote experience that will bring the mission of your event to life while offering audiences fresh ideas, renewed energy, and meaningful conversations they can carry back into their work.
If you’re planning a conference or special event, let’s start a conversation about creating a keynote experience for your audience.
