Preparing for NAI

November 4, 2011 by Taylor Studios in Other

As many of you probably know, the (National Association for Interpretation) National Workshop is next week. As usual, we’ll have a booth set up in the exhibit hall (#205, stop by and say hi to Betty, Myrna, Pete, and Cory). We’re not only exhibiting, however, but also presenting.

Pete Salmon, Certified Interpretive Planner, and Cory Rodeheaver, Senior Exhibit Designer, have partnered to present Harness the Power of your Exhibit’s Central Theme. Here’s a summary of what attendees may expect:

Pete and Cory will share their experiences involving the creation, role, manifestation, and importance of an exhibit’s central theme. Attendees will learn how a central theme might inform an exhibit’s layout, flow, materials, lighting, graphics, color, and interactivity.

The presentation begins with a short fictional documentary, which provides a glimpse of the stakeholder meetings that generated the central theme that is the focus of the presentation. The documentary reveals the challenges of developing a central theme from the competing ideas and personalities of a project’s stakeholder team.

Attendees, now apprised of the central theme and the context from which it was derived, now witness the real-life steps and processes used to convert this central theme into exhibits. The exhibit designer shares his insights into how he sees a central theme converted into physical spaces that possess specific, theme-based characteristics.

The subject matter of the central theme (and therefore the ensuing exhibit ideas) will be Pirates. The rationale behind the exhibit topic Pirates is the likelihood that few attendees will have been involved in many pirate projects. Therefore, attendees hopefully come without established exhibit content pre-conceptions.

Attendees will gain valuable insights into how themes inform exhibit spaces regardless of whether their future exhibit projects are in house or contracted. There will be several points during the “documentary” as well as the follow-up when the audience will be asked to vote by show of hands, asked their opinions, and asked how they may have handled certain situations in their experiences. A question/answer period as well as a potential handout or two is anticipated.

The presentation will be Wednesday, November 9th at 1PM. If you’re attending the workshop, be sure to mark your calendars. You won’t want to miss this valuable session or the pirate talk.

We’ll also be participating in the Wednesday evening event Bottoms Up! I believe we may have an extra ticket, so if you’re interested in attending that event, see Myrna at our booth.

NAI is our favorite show of the year. We look forward to seeing many of you there!