Work Session Goals:
To identify:
1. Compelling stories of the region's cultural heritage.
2. Current attractions which tell part of the story.
3. Potential attractions that could be developed to help tell the story.
4. Available visitor services and needed development.
5. Emerging regional themes.
6. Interpretive tools and techniques.
7. Target visitor audiences.

Activity Steps:
Step One: Identify Stories and Sites
1. Discuss "What are our stories?" and "What makes this Ohio region unique?"
2. What cultural and heritage sites and attractions are currently open or available to the public? What stories do they help to tell? (Review inventory lists to help with this process.)
3. What resources are in the region that could be developed and opened to the public?
4. List existing and potential sites and stories on the flip charts. Include everything that has been mentioned in the group's discussion. Then, as a group, discuss and agree upon the most important stories that are on this list (thinking about it from the perspective of what you want to share with visitors).

Step Two: Map Sites and Stories
1. Using the maps that are provided and the lists the group has prepared, put a RED sticker in each location that has an existing attraction that was identified by the group as contributing to telling the region's story. Write the name of the attraction next to the sticker.
2. Put a YELLOW sticker in each location where there is a story that could be told if a site is interpreted. Write the name of the potential attraction next to the sticker.
3. Using yarn, lay out a route that leads visitors from one attraction to another. When the group agrees on the route, use a BLUE pen to draw major roads that lead visitors from one attraction to another.
4. Looking at the map, determine major themes that are emerging from the identified sites. List themes on the flip charts.

Step Three: Visitor Services
1. Looking at the attraction locations and the connecting roads, put a GREEN sticker in areas where visitor services are available. This can include gas stations, accommodations, restaurants and visitor centers.
2. Stand back and look at the map. Where do you see gaps in service areas? Rut a PURPLE dot in areas where there is a scarcity of visitor services. Write next to the dot the kinds of services that need to be developed in these locations.

Step Four: Who is Your Audience?
1. Review the region's visitor profiles provided by the Ohio Tourism Department.
2. Review the handout "Who is Your Audience" to learn more about the "visitor types" that travel to Ohio and to this region.
3. Looking at the sites and stories identified by the group, consider which of the identified visitor types would be attracted to this region?

Step Five: Telling the Story
1. Review the existing and potential sites and stories that are identified on your map.
2. Review the list of interpretive tools - signage, audio tours, exhibits museums, etc.
3. Thinking about the types of visitors who are coming or will come to the region, discuss and select the interpretive tools you would use to tell the story for these audiences. (For existing sites, consider if additional interpretation is needed.)
4. Using a BLACK pen, write next to the site what interpretive tool will be used. (Draw a line linking various attractions if the interpretive tool encompasses more than one, such as an audio tour.)
5. List your selected interpretive tools on the flip chart and the site where they will be used.

MAP KEY

Pen Colors
Major roads: BLUE
Interpretive tools: BLACK

Colored Dots
Existing attractions: RED
Potential attractions: YELLOW
Existing visitor services: GREEN
Needed visitor services: PURPLE

Telling Your Story:
Interpretive Planning Tools
and Techniques
Amy Jordan Webb, National Trust for Historic Preservation, Heritage Tourism Program Director

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Five Principles of Successful and Sustainable Cultural Heritage Tourism

As part of an intensive three-year initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and American Express, the National Trust for Historic Preservation developed five guiding principles for successful and sustainable cultural heritage tourism programs.

Principle One: Collaborate
By its very nature, cultural heritage tourism requires effective partnerships. Much more can be accomplished by working together than by working alone.

Principle Two:
Find the Fit Between the Community and Tourism
Cultural heritage tourism should make a community a better place to live as well as a better place to visit. Respect carrying capacity so everyone benefits.

Principle Three: Make Sites and Programs Come Alive
Look for ways to make visitor experiences exciting, engaging and interactive.

Principle Four:
Focus on Quality and Authenticity
Today's cultural heritage traveler is more sophisticated and will expect a high level of quality and an authentic experience.

Principle Five:
Preserve and Protect Resources
Many of your community's cultural, historic and natural resources are irreplaceable. Take good care of them, if they are lost you can never get them back.