Attractions and visitors

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“Not everyone is like you, they do not all share your passion’. That’s are hard thing for us all.  What we love to talk about most might be boring to everyone around us. We are back again to that tricky penny dropper for heritage interpreters, attraction managers etc: ‘You are not doing this for yourself […]

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There’s a fascinating discussion on the AHI group on Linked In just now about whether we should call ourselves ‘interpreters’ or ‘visitor experience managers’. It has set me thinking.  Setting aside the Humpty Dumpty Syndrome of ‘when I use a word it means whatever I want it to mean’ which allows people to misuse both […]

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You almost certainly passionate about your ‘thing’. That’s great and just as it should be.  But don’t let your love blind you. One of the joys of my work is to meet people who are totally fired up by their ‘thing’ The objects of their delight are often things that the rest of us don’t […]

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Fab night out in Manchester on Saturday. Having fun times is an essential requirement for a successful visitor experience consultant and I am proud to say I work hard at it. Thinking about why those times were fun is, of course, even more vital.  Maybe this will be the next mentoring product I develop – […]

Fremantle Prison

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We went because this where we are running the site experience workshop on Wednesday but Fremantle Prison (part of the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Site) is certainly worth a visit.  We had a great tour with the Head of Interpretation, Luke Donegan of this evocative, resonate site and were impressed by the thoughtfulness and […]

Kilmainham Gaol, Dublin

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I am still moved by the fact that Kilmainham Gaol (a massive and imposing building) was rebuilt entirely by voluntary effort. The Gaol was intimately linked with British rule, in particular, the imprisonment and execution of leaders of successive rebellions. In the 1950s and 60s, after it had been disused for thirty odd years and […]

“If you don’t tell us your stories, how will we hear them?”

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Visiting Ireland regularly has involved me, and some of my clients, in interesting discussions about Anglo-Irish history. This invariably involves the English/British behaving badly (to say the least) when overseas. Some of it has left me shocked to the core. In particular we have talked and thought long and hard about what to say to […]