2016 Call for Presentations

International Conference on Heritage Interpretation

Tihei Mauri Ora

The story begins …

Conference Dates: Sunday April 3 - Thursday April 7

Location: Amora Hotel and Conference Center

Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand

2

Whaowhia te kete mātauranga – fill your

basket of knowledge

Tihei Mauri Ora

The story begins …

I am the story, the story is me. The story

is us, the story is we.

In the local traditions of Aotearoa

New Zealand’s indigenous people -

Māori – ‘Tihei Mauri Ora’ is a claim to

the right to speak. It is used to

emphasize the importance of what is

about to be said. It also refers to new

life and new ideas, new beginnings,

the beginning of understanding and

of wisdom; the wisdom of you, the

wisdom of me, the wisdom of us, the

wisdom of we.

Interpretation should always aim to

have something important to say.

Interpreters seek to capture visitors’

attention, to reveal new meanings

about our people, our places,

objects, cultures and living things.

The National Association for

Interpretation (NAI), in partnership

with Interpretation Network New

Zealand (INNZ), is proud to offer an

international conference in 2016. We

invite you to explore and share new

ways of presenting our stories; through

new techniques and technology, research, and new approaches to

working with local communities. How

do we maintain the integrity of place

and people in an ever-changing

world?

The story begins here.

Collaborate and network with your

peers at the joint international

conference of NAI and INNZ in

Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand,

April 3-7 2016.

3

Welcome to Wellington

Centrally situated at the base of Aotearoa New Zealand’s North Island - Te Ika a Maui,

Wellington has a reputation as “the friendliest little capital of the world.” New

Zealand’s third largest city, Wellington is home to nearly 200,000 residents, New

Zealand’s parliament, Victoria University, the world-renowned Museum of New Zealand

– Te Papa Tongarewa, and numerous other museums, parks, islands, and offers

opportunities for exploration.

The 2016 conference will be held right in the heart of Wellington’s business and retail

district, at the Amora Hotel and Conference Center. Across the street, Te Papa Museum

and the Wellington waterfront beckon with endless opportunities to find a quiet place

to enjoy the harbor, watch entertaining buskers (street artists), or enjoy cafés, brew

pubs, art galleries, or nature. Wellington is a very compact city, and is serviced with

easy to access public transport including the airport just 6 km away from downtown.

In the evenings, enjoy easy access to a wide variety of cuisine from around the world,

wander the Cuba Street night market, or sample some of New Zealand’s award winning

wines and craft beers.

If you want to get away to explore in your free time, Zealandia (pictured top right)

awaits where you can explore miles of trails and a unique native bird sanctuary just ten

minutes by bus from downtown. In addition there are thousands of hectares of parks

and trails to explore all within easy reach by public transport around the city.

4

Conference Tracks

In addition to the conference theme,

seven tracks or streams have been

identified to help both presenters and

attendees find an area of interest or

focus. You are invited to select a

track most relevant to your proposal

or abstract. Experts in each of the

areas will review all proposals or

abstracts to select the best to present

at the conference.

If you aren’t sure which track to

select, or your presentation fits in

more than one stream, select the one

that works best for you.

If you have any questions about your

proposal or abstract please don’t

hesitate to contact the program

team at international@interpnet.com

and we will connect you with the

track chair.

The following pages provide

descriptions for each of the

conference tracks, and details on

how and where to submit your

proposal or abstract.

The program review committee looks

forward to hearing from you and

seeing your ideas!

Exploring Emerging Trends and

Technology

From social media and grassroots

efforts to incredible exhibits and

architectural structures at our sites,

emerging trends and technologies

are shaping the future of

interpretation. What examples can

you share of new technologies being

successfully used in planning and

design? How can interpretation be

used in non-traditional settings, or

what new theories and

developments could benefit the

interpretive profession?

5

Illuminating Research

What research are you or your

organization undertaking to increase

knowledge and understanding in

interpretation? What are the results

and implications for the interpretive

profession? What research is still

needed to ensure the interpretive

profession remains relevant?

Contributions to the research track

will undergo a peer-review process

consistent with academic

conference protocol.

Powerful Partnerships and

Collaborations

How do you forge partnerships or

collaborate with communities and

organizations? Sharing your successes

or challenges on engaging new

audiences or growing programs and

impacts can inspire others. How can

engaging in partnerships propel

interpretation forward?

Cultivating Leadership and

Development

Interpretation is sometimes seen as

that “feel good” element rather than

an important component to mission,

resulting in shrinking interpretation

budgets and elimination of positions,

while at other sites interpretation is

fully embraced and growing. In what

ways do you drive the role of

interpretation in your organization?

What stories of successes and

challenges can you share about

training, staff development, program

development, or managing

volunteers?

6

Nurturing Guardianship

A fundamental goal of interpretation

is to encourage visitors to become

stewards of both natural and cultural

heritage and to extend conservation

ideals to their everyday lives. Does

your program make a difference?

How have you embraced something

new or adapted to grow new

audiences, or drive behavior

change? How do controversial issues

play a role at your site and how do

you seek to overcome them?

Engaging Living Collections

A large number of interpretive sites

have live plants, animals, birds, or fish.

How do you use your living collections

to tell a powerful story? In what new

and creative ways does your park,

garden, zoo, or aquarium engage

audiences?

Embracing Culture

Diversity and inclusion are playing a

growing role in how we engage

communities; decide who tells our

stories, and how those stories are told.

How do indigenous cultures choose

to tell interpretive stories? How are

sites and tourism engaging in

successful cross-cultural

communication and working to

increase diversity in programming

and visitation? What can be

improved in interpretation to engage

diverse and indigenous populations?

7

Closing date for the Call for Presentations

will be

Midnight Central Daylight Time September

30, 2015

Call for Presentations Opens 12:01am Central Daylight time

Tuesday July 21, 2015

Apply online at http://www.interpnet.com/ic

or follow the link in the sidebar.

Instructions for Submitting your Proposal (For research abstracts – see pg 9) Session proposals will be submitted online.

You will be asked for a 40 word summary (to

be used in the program guide), a 300 word

description of the session (to be used by the

review committee), and contact information

for presenters. All abstracts should include:

- Type of presentation preferred (oral

presentation/poster or panel discussion)

- Title of the presentation

- Names, affiliations, and email addresses of

all authors/presenters/panelists, and

- Any specific equipment, facility, or timing

requests.

Presenter/Panelist Information Please identify all presenters in your proposal

and note that all presenters must register for

the conference by December 15 for your

session to be confirmed.

Major Points to be Covered Learning objectives must be identified for all

presentations that are measurable and

relevant to your presentation. Proposals that

do not include objectives will not be

accepted.

Please indicate what your audio-visual needs

will be. All rooms will be automatically

equipped with projectors, flipcharts, and

markers, however you will be required to

provide your own laptop. Anything additional

may come at an additional fee that needs to

be identified ahead of time.

Presentation Formats

Oral Presentations

Oral presentations will be scheduled throughout the conference program.

Presentations may take one of the following

formats:

25-minute presentation – structured discussion

or presentation based on a single, focused

topic.

60-minute presentation or panel discussion –

allowing for a deeper dive into a topic, this

time length is ideal for multi-speaker

presentations, this could also include ad

interactive round table discussion with a

moderator. Panel discussions are also being

accepted this year to encourage additional

ways for delegates to share new knowledge

or findings. Please note that the moderator of

the panel discussion will be responsible for

ensuring that all panelists (no more than

three) register for the conference and for all

details of the session.

90-minute mini-workshop – Do you have a

presentation that is interactive and involves

your audience, and could do with a little

extra time? Consider proposing your session

as a mini-workshop.

Posters

Poster presentations will be held in a separate

poster session. All presenters will be at this

session, and have the opportunity to discuss

their work with conference delegates. Posters

are an excellent way to present new

concepts, ideas, and programs. Full details

will be provided with the acceptance of a

paper as a poster presentation.

Submit your proposal/abstract

here

8

Innovative, inspiring, motivating, and

educational – make your proposal stand

out!

Evaluation and Notification

How are proposals evaluated?

All proposals will be assessed by members of

the program selection committee using the

following criteria:

- Overall quality of the proposal (clearly

articulated and well presented)

- Focused and well-defined topic

- Important or timely topic

- Relevance to the interpretive profession

- Practical application of material

- Applicability to an international audience

- Effectiveness of learning objectives

When will I be notified about my submission?

You will receive notification by mid-October

on the status of your proposal. If your

acceptance is contingent on revisions, you

will have two weeks to make those changes

and send the amended proposal back to the

committee. The program committee will

identify specific timeslots for presentations.

Developing a Strong Proposal

NAI’s international conference draws a

diverse audience from around the world, and

from many facets of the interpretive

profession. Attendees are likely to include

front line interpreters, planners, trainers,

managers and personnel from private or

public organizations. Ensuring your

presentation is relevant to a wide audience is

key.

Feedback received from previous

conference attendees have indicated that

they are less interested in “show and tell”

presentations and find more engagement

with presentations that share information on

the “how” and “why” that they can take

back to their job or organization and

implement.

The 2016 international conferences seeks to

identify the most inspiring, motivating, and

innovative educational content possible.

Ensuring your proposal addresses all of the

criteria, matches the audience and includes

appropriate objectives will help your proposal

succeed.

Questions?

Who should present at the NAI/INNZ

International Conference?

Anyone with an interest in presenting or

providing any form of interpretation for their

organization or industry niche. Educators and

researchers are also encouraged to submit

an abstract which describe studies related to

the field of interpretation. Attendees come

from a range of interpretation contexts

including from zoos, aquaria, museums, tour

operators, science centers, natural and

cultural heritage sites and more. You need

not be a member of NAI or INNZ in order to

submit a proposal, however, you will be given

the opportunity to purchase an annual

membership as part of your registration fee.

Where do I submit my proposal/abstract?

You can find the submission portal at

www.interpnet.com/ic and click on the link.

Can I make changes to my submissions?

Yes – you can alter, or withdraw your

submission any time up until midnight (CDT)

September 30, 2015.

Should you have any difficulty with the

proposal submission site, or have any

questions – please email us at

international@interpnet.com.

Submit your proposal/abstract

here

9

If you are planning to present academic or

organization-based research, please read

this section.

Information for Illuminating Research Track

Delegates wishing to present academic or

research papers (or poster) will need to

submit an abstract by September 15 2015.

These abstracts will undergo a double blind

peer-review process to ensure high-quality

contributions to the conference. A book of

abstracts will be available to delegates prior

to the conference.

After the conference, contributors will be

invited to submit full papers to a special issue

of the “Journal of Interpretation Research”,

the proposed deadline for which is June 2016.

All papers submitted will be subject to the

Journal’s peer-review process.

Presentation Options

Oral Presentations

Oral presentations will be scheduled

throughout the conference program and can

include results from applied projects/case

studies as well as papers of a theoretical

nature. Abstracts should include the focus or

goals of the research, methods, summary of

key results, outcomes and lessons learned,

and potential implications of the research

presented. Oral presentations can be up to

20 minutes plus 5 minutes for questions.

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations should outline research

activities including the purpose or objectives

of the research, methods, summary of key

results, and potential implications of the

research presented. When printed, posters

can be A1 in size (594mm x 841mm) or 30” x

40”. Full details will be provided with the

acceptance of a paper as a poster

presentation.

Submission of Abstracts:

All abstracts should identify:

- Preferred presentation format (oral or poster

presentation)

- Title of the presentation/program

description

- Names, affiliations, and email addresses of

all authors/presenters, and

- Any specific equipment, facility, or timing

requests.

Abstracts should be no more than 500 words

and should be submitted electronically (as a

Microsoft Word document with no author

information) through the submission portal by

15 September 2015. Authors will be notified of

the outcome of the peer review process by

the end of October 2015.

Research Track Co-chairs

Contact the co-chairs for the research track

should you have any questions.

Dr. Stephen Espiner

Senior Lecturer in Parks, Recreation and

Tourism

Lincoln University, New Zealand

Stephen.espiner@lincoln.ac.nz

Dr. Philip Smartt

Professor of Park Management and Heritage

Interpretation

University of Tennessee – Martin, USA

psmartt@utm.edu

Submit your proposal/abstract

here

National Association for Interpretation PO Box 2246

Fort Collins, CO 80522 USA

www.interpnet.com

Photos displayed have been provided courtesy of Flikr Creative Commons image license, Wellington Tourism, and

Zealandia.