Keynotes: Story and the Power of Place
Erica’s customized keynotes will take attendees on a journey through song, story and conversation that helps them see the familiar through new eyes. She provides inspiration to help people rethink their stories and their place. Erica’s breakout sessions provide tools attendees can put to use right away to rethink and redefine the power of their place.
Tourism trend reports show that visitors today are looking for more unique, authentic, and meaningful experiences. You can link your site to larger stories, and create a journey worth taking. Conservation and preservation organizations know that facts and data can change minds, but stories can change hearts.
Gain ideas to destinations into a journey worth taking with Erica’s sense of place framework.
“Life is a journey, not a destination.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
2017 Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism
Keynotes
Take an unforgettable journey across the American landscape through story, song, humor, and conversation. Explore the power of place wherever you are.
Attendees leave reawakened to their own sense of place and belonging and discover stories about the deeper value of what a visit to your place really has to offer.
Foster a fresh appreciation for what you have. Celebrate your place and your work. Find new story ideas about what makes a journey to your place one worth taking again and again.
Explore how to make your stories more inclusive by looking at the power of your place, seeing layers of time, and weaving together the larger and deeper stories.
Rethink ways to connect people and places.
Uncover personal stories and memories.
See the familiar though new eyes.
Link your destination to the larger journey.
Recharge passion for the work you do.
Howard County (MD) Parks and Recreation
Breakout Sessions:
Creating Inclusive Sense of Place Stories
Take home the lessons of Erica’s keynote.
How can we help more people connect to places today? How can we connect diverse visitors to the layers of time and story a place holds?
This interactive session will give you ideas, inspiration, and tools to link your place stories to a wider and deeper stories
Hear case studies from sites across the country that have come up with innovative, inclusive programs and media that deeply connect people and places.
Learn a powerful framework for uncovering sense of place connections and stories. Erica’s “Program in Your Pocket” tool, for creating a program outline from a fresh perspective.
Create an action plan. Share ideas in engaging conversations with peers to further hone your ideas, and create a plan you can bring back to your community.
Bio
Erica is a visitor experience specialist, speaker, educator and award-winning songwriter based in western Massachusetts.
Over the past five years Erica has also worked extensively with the National Park Service, providing her signature interpretive skills trainings at over 40 NPS sites, from Yosemite National Park to Independence Hall. Erica has also worked with other cultural and natural heritage sites across the country, including state parks and museums.
Erica has six CD’s to her credit and her music has charted in the top-ten on Billboard’s Gavin Americana chart. Her most recent CD “Good Summer Rain” was sponsored in part by the Trust for Public Land.
She has keynoted at events from the Wisconsin Governor’s Conference on Tourism to the National Association of State Park Directors Conference.
Prior Keynotes Include:
2019
Arkansas Governor's Conference on Tourism
New Mexico Governor's Conference on Tourism
2018
Association of National Park Rangers Rendezvous
National Association for Interpretation Region 2
2017
Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism
Festival of the Cranes, Wheeler Wildlife Refuge
2016
BioBliz, National Geographic, National Mall, Washington, DC
NPS Centennial Founders Day, National Mall, Washington, DC
Parks Ontario Spring Training, Canada
2014
National Association of State Park Directors Conference, Omaha, NE
National Association of State Park Volunteer Coordinators, Lawrence, KS
Social Venture Network, Greenwich, CT (Keynote concert)
2013
TEDx,Shelburne Falls, MA (2013)
2011
Partners in the Parks Celebration, Howard County Parks and Recreation, Belmont, MD
Maryland Land Trust Alliance Conservation Conference, Towson, MD (Keynote & seminar)
American Horticultural Society Youth and Garden Symposium
Arkansas State Parks Spring Training
Idaho State Parks and Recreation Conference
Montana State Parks and Recreation Conference
““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 Soulful Landscape 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.” ”
““We invited Erica out for a week to help celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Big Sur Land Trust with a variety of events. 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”
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