Engaging Your Audience Remotely

The Interpreter's Toolkit for Engaging Your Audience Remotely

We are all in this together and NAI is excited to be bringing you resources that may help in this challenging time. As we all learn to engage with our audiences from a distance, we think the resources below will help.

Included below are the recordings from our recent free webinars and some additional resources (including deeper dives from the Best Practices for Going Digital presenters) that you may find of value.

Purchase of on-demand content is non-refundable and non-transferable. Only the account where the digital content is purchased will be able to access the item.

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Best Practices for Digital Engagement
Erin Gates, Roger Gray
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: December 3, 2020
Webinar Recording

Now that the world is digital, let’s be sure that we are looking our best during our video conference presentations, programs, and meetings! Discover some tips and tricks for delivering online interpretive programming, both from your computer, and live, in the field.

Erin Gates, California State Parks Interpreter, has been providing digital interpretive programs via videoconferencing and livestreaming since 2015. As Hearst Castle PORTS Program Presenter, Erin provided live interactive programs from the site to over 8,000 students/year. She now acts as a PORTS Program Coordinator, and supports over 30 parks in the development, design and delivery of digital interpretive programming.
Roger Gray has been a living history interpreter for more than 30 years: A broomsquire, blacksmith, naturalist, Master Gardener, NAI Certified Interpretive Guide, and an interpretive volunteer at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens. Currently a retired middle-school teacher, he is a long time speaker and teacher of first-person historical interpretation and has been teaching and interpreting extensively and exclusively remotely since March 2020.

Regular price: 15.00
Discounted member price: 0.00

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Avoiding the Pitfalls - Wild West Region
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Online Interpretive Programs

Roger Gray
30 minutes
CE: .5
Date: June 17, 2020
Webinar Recording

Featuring tips and tricks for delivering online interpretive programming.

Free for NAI members. Nonmembers will be charged a $15 donation towards the Wild West Region's scholarship fund.

Regular price: 15.00
Discounted member price: 0.00

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Interpretive Innovation During a Global Pandemic Panel
Panel Discussion
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: May 28, 2020
Webinar Recording

Come join us for a free hour long panel discussion and hear from interpreters across the country about how they have altered and changed their interpretive activities during COVID-19. Learn about technologies such as virtual reality and 3D scanning while also hearing about innovative ways to offer summer camp and interpret to your neighbors using the NextDoor app. Find out what it has been like to work at the first zoo in the U.S. to open after shelter in place orders have been listed. After short presentations by each panelist, we will then host a Q&A period to get your questions answered and learn more from these innovative interpreters!

Panelists come from a variety of organizations across the country including Indiana State Parks, Nevada Department of Wildlife, Hogle Zoo, Legacy 3D, & the Virginia Zoo.

Regular price: 0.00

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3D Scanning: What Matters in the COVID-19 Crisis and Beyond
Katie Burns
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: May 19, 2020
Webinar Recording

The brave new world of 3D scanning is a tool that can boost effective online interpretation as well as a means to conserve in an innovative way, which will service you and your institution long past the COVID-19 crisis. Topics covered will include how to 3D scan as inexpensively and efficiently as possible, how to license and share 3D scans, and best practices in choosing what and how to scan.

Katie Burns is a graduate of Ohio University and worked in the Witmer Lab 3D, scanning dinosaur skulls. She has been an environmental educator for ten years. Katie’s business is in preservation scanner, asking you to 3D scan what matters… if it’s made of matter, she can scan it!

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Digital K12 Education
InterpTech 2020

Digital K12 Classroom Interpretation: The Great Equalizer

Erin Gates
Flipgrid, Skype in the Classroom, Digital Program Presentation by California State Parks using VR/AR in a live K12 virtual field trip

CE: 1.5

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Increasing Digital Access to ALL Audiences (DEI Panel)
InterpTech 2020

Increasing Digital Access to ALL Audiences = Increasing Physical Access to ALL Audiences – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) Panel

Moderator: Nina Roberts, PhD, Professor, Dept of Recreation, Parks, & Tourism, San Francisco State University
Panelist: Jose Gonzalez, Founder of Latino Outdoors
Panelist: Myrian Solis Coronel, Director of Community Engagement, Parks California
Panelist: Yanira Castro, Owner, Humanity Communications Collective

CE: 1.5

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Using Digital Interpretive Tools
InterpTech 2020

Using Digital Interpretive Tools to Engage Audiences On-Site & Remotely Post COVID

Andrew Feinberg and Yigit Yigiter, Timelooper
Jenn Seva, Geocaching – Adventure Labs

CE: 1.5

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Staying Virtually Connected with your Audiences
OnCell
60 minutes
Date: May 5, 2020
Webinar Recording

Join NAI partner, OnCell for this free webinar to take a deeper dive into digital experiences with a focus on apps and how to augment or create one fast, but efficiently. Included will be helpful tips on promoting your experiences and choosing the best methods for your organization.

With over thirteen years of experience in the mobile tour market, OnCell understands the power of merging storytelling and technology. OnCell provides solutions that stand alone in their ability to offer historic and cultural destinations a seamless digital experience for visitors both on and offsite. Currently, OnCell has served over 800 subscribers and has launched over 3000 projects worldwide.

Regular price: 0.00

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Digitizing K12 Interpretation In A Digital Age
Erin Gates
60 minutes
Date: April 16, 2020
Webinar Recording

Take a deep dive into how your site can be reaching millions of students at home through live virtual field trips. Learn about the various platforms that can be used to deliver these programs, what these programs should entail, and how to advertise these programs. Not ready to offer virtual field trips, but would like to build up your K12 digital content library? Discover how sites like Flipgrid, and Smithsonian Digital Learning Lab can assist you in delivering your content to millions of students worldwide.

Erin Gates is the PORTS (Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students) Coordinator, Interpreter II for California State Parks. She has been blending traditional interpretation principles and practices into digital interpretation programs and products for 5 years, first as a presenter of programs from internationally recognized Hearst Castle State Historic Monument, and now as a statewide coordinator of the award-winning California State Parks PORTS Program.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Best Practices for Virtual Learning
Panel Discussion
60 minutes
Date: April 6, 2020
Webinar Recording

Do you find yourself wondering how to best engage with your visitor while your facility is closed or with limited staff? If so, join us for this free webinar and learn from a series of panelists on how they’ve been using Skype, Facebook Live and Twitter both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hear their thoughts, see some of their ideas (have you seen the penguins wandering around the Shedd Aquarium yet?) and get your questions answered during this discussion with Q&A.

Panelists will come from across the profession of interpretation including the Shedd Aquarium, National Park Service, California State Parks and Big Horn Radio Network.

Regular price: 0.00

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Closed for Business. Open for Impact.
Immersive At Home Visitors Inside Your Interpretive Site Within 48 Hours With Nothing More Than A Camera and Laptop

Timelooper
60 minutes
Date: April 3, 2020
Webinar Recording

With your doors closed for the foreseeable future, how can you maintain (or even expand) relationships with your community? As part of our effort to bring more free, timely programs to our members, NAI presents a webinar hosted by one of our corporate partners, TimeLooper, where we will explore the power of virtual reality and use cases in the current environment and practical ways to get your site online within 48 hours.

Learn how to share your experiences, educational plans, living history, and natural beauty with key stakeholders who are stuck at home, including:

Families with kids dealing with cabin fever
Educators forced into distance-based learning
Topic enthusiasts and institution members searching for engagement
In this Zoom-based webinar, TimeLooper will discuss (and answer questions on) the following topics:

Best practices on how (and why) to build VR-based immersion experiences
Types of experiences you can easily develop
Easy off the shelf tools to consider
- Hardware (how to capture footage)
- Distribution platforms (how to share the content)
Creative tips on how to make content more meaningful

Regular price: 0.00

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Virtual Field Trips: Your Site through Skype
Amanda Wilson
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: March 12, 2020
Webinar Recording

Dinosaur National Monument has used the innovative distance education program through Skype in the Classroom since 2015 to connect thousands of students from around the world to dinosaur fossils. As a remote park on the Utah-Colorado border with limited resources, we utilized existing partnerships, free software, cell networks and low-cost equipment to create and conduct Virtual Field Trips. In this presentation, staff from the monument will demonstrate a live portion of the program and discuss our experiences.

Amanda Wilson has been a National Park Service Interpreter since 2008 and has worked on Distance Education for the last five years. She is currently the main contact for Education Programs at Dinosaur National Monument in Utah/Colorado.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Facebook Live For Interpretive Programs - Analysis and Tips
Andrew Rossi
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: February 11, 2020
Webinar Recording

Facebook Live is an extremely accessible means of outreach for any interpretive site - so why aren’t we using it? Why is it used so poorly? Through the analysis of a Facebook Live video series Fossil Friday, learn the pros and cons of using the medium and tips you can employ for outreach and education.

Andrew Rossi, CHI is News Director at the Bighorn Radio Network in Cody, WY and formerly lead interpreter at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. He has done work as a “personality” with Disney/Pixar, Google, the BBC, PBS, and The Washington Post. He is a content creator on his Youtube channel T.rexcellent!

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Utilizing Technology & Building Partnerships
Presenter: Erin Gates

Distance learning allows organizations to provide programs online and increase access to interpretive sites. Partnerships are essential to success in maximizing the reach of interpretive distance-learning programs.

Regular price: 45.00
Discounted member price: 20.00

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Additional Resources

Below are some additional resources that we think might be useful.

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Social Media for Interpreters: NPS & TikTok
InterpTech 2020

Personality + Policy: Ways to Hook Your Audience and Earn Engagement
National Park Service Social Media Team
45 minutes

Ayo, COVID-19 Check: Interpret on TikTok
Lyndzee Rhine and Rachel Roth, NAI Interpretive Media Section
45 minutes

CE: 1.5

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Basic Social Media Survival Skills - Wild West Region
Michele Whiteaker
30 minutes
CE: .5
Date: March 18, 2020
Webinar Recording

Featuring Strategy-based tips & ideas for when you find yourself stranded on the grid.

Free for NAI members. Nonmembers will be charged a $15 donation towards the Wild West Region's scholarship fund.

Note: This webinar was presented in March 2020 and although the basics still apply, the trends discussed at the close of the webinar may no longer be relevant for 2021. Since that time, there's been an increase in social & environmental justice content across platforms, many providers and sites switched to 100% virtual programs, Instagram Reels have rolled out, we've gained more data and experience on TikTok, and new platforms like Clubhouse have launched.

Regular price: 15.00
Discounted member price: 0.00

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Digitizing K12 School Group Interpretation -Wild West Region
Erin Gates
30 minutes
CE: .5
Date: February 19, 2020
Webinar Recording

Showcasing innovative new tools to bring your site into the classroom to enhance learning and connection.

Free for NAI members. Nonmembers will be charged a $15 donation towards the Wild West Region's scholarship fund.

Regular price: 15.00
Discounted member price: 0.00

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Spark Positive Action Through Social Media
Yvette Méndez
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: September 11, 2018
Webinar Recording

Social media allow us to instantaneously share information with a wide audience. When it comes to environmental conservation issues, many of those messages can contribute to an audience’s ecophobia. Learn how the Chicago Zoological Society’s “Carlita the Candid Croc” uses social media to spark hope and positive environmental action.

Yvette Méndez is an Interpretive Programs Coordinator/Social Media at the Chicago Zoological Society/Brookfield Zoo. She holds a CIG and CIGT and has been working as a front-line interpreter since 2009. Yvette has been exploring interpretation through social media since 2014.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Using Social Media to Connect with Teens
Becca Franzen and Emma Adams
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: August 21, 2018
Webinar Recording

Also available in the Teens and Technology Series package.

Teenagers often have low turnout at our interpretive sites. This webinar will offer insights into how to promote your events to teenagers through social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. Additionally, we will share how to use these platforms and other applications during programming to keep teens wanting more!

Becca Franzen is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and has received grants to purchase and utilize iPads in her courses.

Emma Adams is a Undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, studying Environmental Education and Interpretation. This fall she will start her senior year and is looking forward to starting her career.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Messages In Motion: Video Basics For Interpreters
Elise Wahl, MS
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: April 4, 2017
Webinar Recording

Short online videos have revolutionized the way people obtain information. In this webinar, learn film techniques to make effective videos that can help connect visitors to your site. We will go through the video making process together from pre-production through post-production. Continue your learning after the webinar with resource guides and prompted online discussions.

Elise Wahl, MS, lives in northwest Oregon where she runs Timberdoodle Studio. Elise is the Deputy Director for NAI's Interpretive Media Section and has worked in the interpretive field as a front-line interpreter, manager, and designer. In the past ten years she has created short videos with topics ranging from Caribou Hunting in the Arctic to The Wisconsin Conservation Hall of Fame.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Interp-stagram
Chris Smith
60 Minutes
CE: 1
Date: May 24, 2016
Webinar Recording

Visual content teleports your audience and connects them to the intricacies of your resource. We’ll cover how to use Instagram effectively and discuss what makes Instagram a powerful interpretive network, expanding your audience and cultivating the next generation.

Chris Smith is the Education Manager at the Duke Lemur Center whose goal is to raise awareness about the importance of science and conservation through lemurs. He manages and trains interpretive guides and tours at the Center as well as manages their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and SnapChat accounts. He has been an interpreter for nearly 10 years and continues to use interpretation to grow the Lemur Center’s audience and influence.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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Interpretation: HashtagLikeShare

Sarena Gill and Kevin Wright
60 minutes
CE: 1
Date: March 26, 2015
Webinar Recording

How do we make our in person interpretation “viral”—engaging enough to be shared? This session focuses on applying viral media trends to interpretation, and what skills are needed to be successful.

Sarena Randall Gill, CIT & Community Engagement Manager
With over seven years of front-line interpretation experience, Sarena continually develops her interpretive skills and shares her knowledge of interpretation and interpretive skills with others in the field. She is passionate about interpretive education.

Kevin Wright, CIT
For the past 13 years Kevin has worked in the Guest Experience division at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Regardless of the training, he always tries to make each one interpretive. Over the years he has honed his skills and worked to share his knowledge. Zen moments for Kevin are spent brewing or hiking in Big Sur.

Regular price: 35.00
Discounted member price: 10.00

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