Yes, firing volunteers is a thing. No, you shouldn’t do it lightly. I have had the pleasure of working with volunteers in a few different capacities. I have managed volunteers in the public sector and in the nonprofit sector. I have worked in places where volunteers were treated like high-maintenance guests, and I have worked …
Qualitative or Subjective Evaluation In my previous post, I outlined some quantitative or data-based criteria for evaluating interpretive products. Many of us, though, are just getting started in gathering statistics and evaluations. If you’re weak in the data department, or your boss/client would like their team to weigh in with their judgment on the performance …
I’m an interpretive planner and visitor experience consultant, and when I start a new project with a client, we spend a fair bit of time identifying goals. We often start with a blank-slate, blue-sky approach: “So! What are we trying to achieve here?” But the more I do this goal-setting business, it occurs to me …
I had an opportunity to revisit my old stomping grounds this spring: I gave a keynote presentation to Alberta Parks interpreters in Kananaskis Country, where I began my career in 1982. It was a wonderful, nostalgic experience, and it really brought back to me the value of the training I got from that organization. So …
Anyone who has worked in interpretation for a while will tell you that evaluations are expensive—they take time and cash and a lot of expertise. Half the battle in any evaluation is just asking the right questions, and it’s amazing how hard that really is. But there are a couple of kinds of evaluation that …
Does yours rock? We’ve all been there: the very sad information centre. The staff are surly, the brochures are gone, the washrooms are horrifying, and everything digital is out of order. [ref] If I had a dime for every out-of-order digital screen I’ve seen in a visitor centre, I’d… well… I’d have a lot of dimes. …
This is the third instalment of a presentation I made at the Montreal NAI/IC Conference in May, 2015. You can find part one here. Be prepared for a little conflict when embarking on a standards exercise. There are a few strong lessons I learned from the evaluation project, and I have applied them since to …
Defining standards for personal interpretive programs This is part two . You should probably start with Part One, here. A few years ago, I was approached by one of the premier interpretive facilities in western Canada. The director of visitor experience had just hired a new manager of interpretation who was young and brilliant. With the change …
Defining Standards for Personal Interpretive Programs I’ve had the opportunity, over the last few years, to do a great deal of traveling. I’m up to 54 countries and counting now, though my time in each has been tantalizingly brief. And as I travel, I manage to attend quite a few interpretive programs. I think it’s …
Read more “Quantifying Sparkle: Standards in Personal Programs”