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I have been blogging seriously for over a year: is my 100th post. This blog began simply and seriously as a learning task. I am professional communicator, working in the field of heritage interpretation, in a UK-based business called TellTale. In 2011 we decided we had a choice – we could step into the stream […]

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Face-to-face is an important tool of interpretation, if not the most important. But what happens when your guided tours depend on just one leader? A lot of smaller heritage sites are faced with this dilemma. How can we sustain our face-to-face interpretation? TellTale intern, Slovenian interpreter, Janja Sivec writes:  How do we prevent that person being overwhelmed? […]

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A good exhibition inspires a creative response. When adults take time to leave creative responses to an exhibit, that is worth celebrating. Here are two examples from The Lighthouse in Glasgow, Scotland and The National Craft Centre in Kilkenny, Ireland. For most visitors the impact of a heritage visit is invisible and ephemeral. It leaves […]

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If museums want to become social spaces, they need to look about them. Just now I am looking at the Citizen M hotel in Glasgow.  It’s a master class in creating a vibrant, welcoming, stimulating, cosmopolitan social space. “Zoos are places people go to talk about animals.” Ten years ago I heard the inspirational and much-missed […]

‘Well, ‘It’s cold up there in Buxton’ the importance of first impressions.

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TellTale is hosting Slovenian interpreter, Janja Sivec. Here, as our guest blogger, she writes about her first impressions of Buxton and its interpretation. When we think of first impressions, we usually think of people we have met. But this time I had an opportunity to explore and think about first impressions that places leave on […]

Conflicted stories: why tourists need us to tell the tough tales

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It can be hard to understand a country as a visitor.  Some parts of national history, usually the highs and lows, are so well known by the natives that they need no explanation.  These parts of the heritage, arguably the ones that matter most, that give the most insight, can be hard for tourists to […]

Making the most of a training opportunity; 5 more steps towards Santa Cruz

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I am still thrilled about the prospect of the “You can’t do that in Museums” Camp in Santa Cruz (see here for the background).  I think it is going to be amazing and great professional development.  My experience as a trainer suggests that I will be right. Over and over again, I have seen people […]

Beyond words: OUT OF THE MARVELLOUS exhibition, National Craft Gallery, Kilkenny

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Some of my very best moments are when the words stop. I am a word nerd. I sometimes feels my whole brain reverberates, resonates with the sound and feel of words. Spoken words, written words, read words, heard words. My work is words. My thoughts are words. My dreams are often words. Some of my […]

Interpreteller: combining storytelling with heritage interpretation

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I believe interpreters are closely related to storytellers. I ‘invented’ the word ‘interpretelling’ year or so ago. Freshly arrived in Western Australia, I was preparing to deliver a keynote at the Museums Australia/Interpretation Australia Conference in Perth. One evening, somewhat dazzled by the experience of waking up to sunshine on three consecutive mornings, and fuelled by […]

The road to Santa Cruz and Museum 2.0. Step 1

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For some time I have watched and read about Nina Simon and her work on The Participatory Museum, Museum 2.0 and Santa Cruz Museum. She is convinced that there is better, more vibrant, more social future for museums.  So am I,  and I extend that vision to a range of cultural and countryside places that […]