This book helps museums integrate visitors' perspectives into interpretive planning by recognizing, defining, and recording desired visitor outcomes throughout the planning process.

Interpretative Master Planning: A Framework for Historical Sites begins with the basics of any planning experience: why do an interpretative master plan (IMP) and is your institution ready to undergo such a process? These chapters are followed with straightforward guidance on how to go about organizing the necessary funding to pay for an IMP’s development, the core members of your planning team, choosing stakeholders, hosting focus groups, and using all the information gathered to develop an engaging interpretative master plan that is unique to your museum, historic site, or organization. The book features five case studies highlighting organizations that have undergone the interpretative master planning process. Each case study offers a unique point of view about the process and provides the organization’s conclusions as to what they would or would not do again if they had the choice. The end results showcase the wealth of useful information that can be garnered from an Interpretative Master Planning experience. Interpretative Master Planning: A Framework for Historical Sites offers a complete framework complemented by real-world examples for creating a blueprint that will strengthen any organization’s interpretation.

This second edition of Interpretive Planning: The 5-M Model for Successful Planning Projects draws from the author's more than three decades of experience in creating interpretive plans, and explains the process she has taught to hundreds of interpreters. This book can be a valuable tool for those wishing to develop an interpretive plan as well as those aspiring to work as a consultant or planner.

“This is a must-read for the nervous novice as well as the world-weary veteran. The book guides you through every aspect of exhibit making, from concept to completion. The say the devil is in the details, but so is the divine. This carefully crafted tome helps you to avoid the pitfalls in the process, so you can have fun creating something inspirational. It perfectly supports the dictum—if you don’t have fun making an exhibit, the visitor won’t have fun using it.” —Jeff Hoke, Senior Exhibit Designer at Monterey Bay Aquarium and Author of The Museum of Lost Wonder Structured around the key phases of the exhibition design process, this guide offers complete coverage of the tools and processes required to develop successful exhibitions. Intended to appeal to the broad range of stakeholders in any exhibition design process, the book offers this critical information in the context of a collaborative process intended to drive innovation for exhibition design. It is indispensable reading for students and professionals in exhibit design, graphic design, environmental design, industrial design, interior design, and architecture.

This very practical book guides museums on how to create the highest quality experience possible for their visitors. Creating an environment that supports visitor engagement with collections means examining every stage of the visit, from the initial impetus to go to a particular institution, to front-of-house management, interpretive approach and qualitative analysis afterwards. This holistic approach will be immensely helpful to museums in meeting the needs and expectations of visitors and building their audience. This book features: includes chapter introductions and discussion sections supporting case studies to show how ideas are put into practice a lavish selection of tables, figures and plates to support and illustrate the discussion boxes showing ideas, models and planning suggestions to guide development an up-to-date bibliography of landmark research. The Engaging Museum offers a set of principles that can be adapted to any museum in any location and will be a valuable resource for institutions of every shape and size, as well as a vital addition to the reading lists of museum studies students.

Environmental Interpretation is the first truly applied treatment of environmental communication written specifically for people with big ideas and small budgets. Drawing on 20 years experience and the successes of his colleagues worldwide, Sam Ham presents an unusually diverse collection of low-cost communication techniques that really work. More than 200 illustrations, photos, and technical insets provide simple instructions for designing and implementing effective education programs in forests, parks, protected areas, zoos, botanical gardens, extension and community programs, and in all kinds of agriculture and natural resource management programs. Aside from its step-by-step, "how-to" approach, what sets this volume apart is its solid theoretical foundation. Readers learn not only how to communicate their ideas more forcefully but why the methods work. Some 20 case studies, carefully selected from throughout the Western Hemisphere, stimulate the imagination and show how others have successfully applied what this book is about. Written for beginners and experts alike, the book represents a valuable resource for anyone faced with the need to communicate about the environment yet constrained by lack of money and experience.

NEW REVISED AND EXPANDED COLOUR EDITION Interpretive Master Planning - "a classic work by an author who does interpretive planning every day" - sharesan unrivalledwealth of experience and practical adviceon how to plan and design interpretive facilities and services. Equally relevant to museums, visitor centres, and historic or natural history sites, John Veverka's lively text uses stories, case histories and interactive examples to illustrate every aspect of the interpretive process: from how to decide exactly what to interpret, and how best to do it, through to effective planning, implementation, marketing - and very much more. The most comprehensive reference book on the subject, Interpretive Master Planning focuses firmly on visitors and their experience. Richly illustrated in colour, its 40 chapters and almost 600 pages are an invaluable resource for designing interpretation that really works. In addition to the authoritative text, many time-saving checklists, forms and worksheets are included and designed to be freely reproduced."

"Most trails are designed just to get the visitor from Point A to Point B. Interpretive trails are designed to help the visitor laugh, cry, smile, discover, understand and explore along the way." - John A Veverka. Interpretive trails - both outdoor and indoor - are used by museums, galleries, historic sites, parks, gardens and zoos worldwide. They can provide visitors with a unique immersion experience in viewing, discovering and enjoying the locations they're visiting, and in helping them re-connect with a natural or cultural environment in a personal way. Yet to be truly effective, there are proven and tested guidelines to follow about how to plan any trail's story, its experience opportunities, and its delivery and physical design. Based on 40 years' interpretive planning experience, The Interpretive Trails Book shares successful planning strategies and guidelines as tools to help create amazing interpretive experiences. For those involved in learning, engagement, interpretation, planning, consultancy, landscape architecture, and training - and those charged with developing interpretive trails who have no specific training in interpretive services themselves, this book will become an indispensable and easy-to-follow resource to help create trails that engage, motivate and inspire visitors.

Presents both traditional and current concepts in the interpretive profession.