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Welcome to our Web Site!
You are visitor #
 Welcome to our web
site. JVA is a firm that specializes in Heritage Interpretation
and Heritage Tourism Planning and Training. We are one of the
few firms offering interpretive consultant services that is staffed by
"professionally trained"
interpreters. We bring a strong academic interpretive background mixed with lots of field
experience with 30 years of "doing" interpretive
master planning and staff interpretive training as well as teaching university courses in
interpretation.
Scroll down for new project listings, new
services and courses and related updates. The index on the left will take you to
other parts of my web site. Thanks for visiting - jv
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John Veverka is a National Association
for Interpretation:
Certified Interpretive Planner
Certified Interpretive Trainer.
John is also a Certified Heritage Interpreter - Canada. This is a National Certification authorized by the Canadian
Tourism Human Resource Council.
 
All of the above certifications are based on both
written exams, reviewing a video of John conducting an interpretation training course, and
personal interview (Canada). The NAI Certifications also require a review of
interpretive products (examples of completed interpretive plans or training lesson plans).
This mix of academic training and years of field
experience is an important element in my interpretive training courses as I feel theory
must mix with "reality" of what works. And in interpretation and heritage
tourism, reality is always changing. For more information on our unique
qualifications in interpretation consulting, click here or
visit any of our other pages by clicking the blue LINKS on the left. And enjoy your visit! -
John Veverka
Scroll down for updates on our new
projects, interpretive training courses (dates/locations), new publications in our
library, and more.
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NEW - Request
for Proposal Example Templates for "Interpretive Master Planning, Interpretive
Exhibit Planning, and Planning/Design/Fabrication for Interpretive Panels and wayfinding
systems" available from JVA.
If you need some help with developing a Request
for Proposal (RFP) for an interpretive project you want to go out for bid,
I have example templates of RFP's for contracting: Interpretive Master Planning,
Interpretive Exhibit Design and Interpretive Panel projects. These reflect
typical RFP's formats taken from a variety of agencies, including State Parks, The
National Park Service, and even non-profit organizations I have worked with.
I originally developed this document for use by
members (profit and non-profit) of the National Park Service Chesapeake Bay Gateways
Network program. http://www.baygateways.net/index.cfm
These RFP templates include examples of consultant
qualifications, scope of work, warranties and other RFP necessities. If you
would like a copy of the Interpretive RFP Template document, I would be
happy to send you one by e-mail. Just send me an e-mail requesting a copy to: jvainterp@aol.com or if you have any questions in
general. - jv
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 JVA partners with HDC to form
international heritage destination and interpretation development firm.
JVA is pleased to announce its association with HDC, a
new international firm specializing in planning and training for developing or
existing heritage destinations. We can help plan and develop both the
total heritage site (resort, fishing lodge, cruise ship, historic community or city,
historic region, etc.), and its interpretive/heritage programs and services, train staff,
developing marketing strategies, do visitor surveys, develop support services and more.
Visit our HDC web site http://www.heritagedestination.com
for more details on how we can help bring you more visitors while preserving the
natural and cultural heritage they are coming to see and experience.
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Need Interpretive Training for Docents,
Seasonal Staff, or Full Time Staff?
 
   
Photos from some of our international training courses
(graduates of our 5-day interpretation overview course on Malta - top left;
Planning/presenting Live Interpretive Programs course in Wales - top right, and graduates
of our 5-day Interpretive Master Planning course in Slovenia - bottom left), Parks Canada
and Dawson City Museum Interpretive training - Dawson City, Canada, and our BEGN -
Botanical Garden Education Network - England workshop (bottom left). Bottom right,
participants in our "Introduction to Heritage Interpretation - Interpreting your
Geological Heritage" developed for the Institute
of Geology and Mineral Exploration, Athens, Greece (2007).
Plan for your interpretive training
programs now. I provide 1 day to 5- day interpretive training courses for
parks, historic sites, museums and related heritage attractions. From skill training
in how to plan and deliver an interpretive walk, tour or program, to the basics in
interpretive communication. My training courses PROVOKE, RELATE and REVEAL - and add in
some magic to ensure participants can DO what we teach. Lots of hands on as well as
"minds-on" experiences.
Some of our courses include:
- An introduction to basic interpretive services.
- Planning and conducting guided tours and programs.
- Developing themes, objectives and programs with
sparkle.
- Interpretive Media Planning and Design.
- Interpretive Master Planning
- Marketing for heritage sites and attractions.
- Museum/historical society guide/docent training -
provoke, relate, and reveal your story.
- Evaluation strategies for interpretive exhibits,
programs or related services.
- Visitor center exhibit planning, design and
evaluation.
- Market survey research and audience analysis - who
are your visitors, and who do you want them to be?
- Interpretive writing that provokes, relates, and
reveals (Tilden was right)!
- The art of teaching interpretation to others
(Train the Trainers workshops).
COST: $800/day of training plus travel
expenses.
I also provide advanced
courses on interpretive planning, exhibit and visitor center
planning and evaluation of interpretive programs and services as well.
All of our courses are based on years of
"doing" interpretation, not just theory. Contact me if you have any
questions at: jvainterp@aol.com. You can also go here for more information on our training services.
Some of our recent/current interpretive
training clients:
* Blue Badge Guides, London, England
* National Park Service, Chesapeake Bay
Gateways Program
* US Army Corps of Engineers
* Parks Canada
* Snowdonia National Park Training Center -
Wales, UK.
* Florida State Parks
* The Countryside Counsil of Wales, UK.
* Norfolk Tourism, UK..
* Plus a bunch more.
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JVA News - Recently awarded projects for 2008. (For all of our 2008
completed projects click here).
National Museums of Wales - National Wool
Museum, Llandysul, Carmarthenshire Wales. JVA will provide an
interpretive site assessment and interpretive planning consultation for the museum,
September, 2008. You can visit the museum web site at: http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/wool
 
The National Wool Museum, Wales, and one of the many artifacts
illustrating the evolution of the wool manufacturing industries.
 MWH Americans, Inc/US Army
Corps of Engineers, Bonnet Carre' Spillway, Louisiana. JVA will work as a
sub-contractor to MWH Americans, Inc. who
are developing the overall Master Plan for the Spillway, to develop the Interpretive
Master Plan for the site. You can visit Bonnet Carrie' Spillway at: http://www.mvn.usace.army.mil/Recreation/Recreation_Sites_Bonnet_Carre.asp
This project will begin in June, 2008.
The spillway (highlighted in green) stretches from the
Mississippi River, ,at right, northward to Lake Ponchartrain, on the left of the photo.
 Susquehanna Greenway
Partnership, Pennsylvania. JVA has been awarded the contract to develop the
Interpretive Master Plan for the Susquehanna
River Water Trail, a 500 mile long corridor that bisects most of
eastern Pennsylvania, and includes cultural, natural and historic resources and stories
located throughout the corridor. The project will also include: development of a
wayfinding system, site analysis of existing orientation and safety panels, analysis of
potential retrofit of existing panels, an outdoor recreation linkage system, and a model
signage plan for the water trail Phase II. The project will run through
December of 2008. You can visit this client at: http://www.susquehannagreenway.org .
Countryside Training Services (CTS), UK. JVA has
been asked to present a one-day workshop, sponsored/coordinated by CTS, on Engaging Your Visitors - a workshop on effective marketing and
interpretive media techniques, on 9 September, 2008. The workshop will held in the
Tennis Court Room, the Welcome Trust, Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridgeshire. For
more information on this course you are invited to contact Angela Gamble (CTS Director)
at: agamble@ESSEXCC.gov.uk, or visit their web
site at: http://www.countrysidetrainingservices.co.uk/
for information on their other services and course offerings.
US Army Corps of Engineers - Interpretive
Training. JVA was awarded a new 5-year interpretive services training
contract for teaching two 3-day "Interpretive Services" courses each year for
the COE at their Huntsville, AL training center. The first session for 2008 was
conducted in January with the second training course scheduled for June 2008.
JVA has been providing this interpretive training course for the Corps of Engineers for
the past 20 years, and is pleased to be able to continue providing this valuable training
for the Corps.
 
Participants in last years Interpretive Services Course (field trip to
Constitution Hall Village Historic Site and in-class lectures and activities).
 Prater's Mill Foundation,
Dalton, GA. JVA has been asked to provide interpretive consulting services,
and interpretive site assessment services for the Foundation, for Prater's Mill in
Whitfield County, GA. February - May 2008. We were also recently awarded a
contract to develop the Interpretive Master Plan for the Mill and its
associated heritage partners within their multi-county region. You can visit this
client at: http://www.PratersMill.org.
 Prater's Mill.
 The Museum of the
Shenandoah Valley - Glen Burnie Historic House and Gardens Interpretive Plan.
JVA was selected to develop the interpretive master plan for the Glen Burnie Historic
House and Gardens facility within the museum campus. You are invited to visit this
client at: http://www.shenandoahmuseum.org.
The project will run from April 08 - August 2008.
 
 Wisconsin DNR Division of Forestry - Forestry
Education and Awareness Center Interpretive Master Plan. JVA was
selected to develop the Interpretive Plan for the new Forestry Education and Awareness
Center, Milwaukee County, WI. June 07 - May 08.
 
A general view of the woodlot area (left) and our proposed aerial or
canopy elevated boardwalk leading from the Forestry Awareness and
Interpretive Center into the forest canopy with discovery stations.
 Macomb Community College Cultural
Center, Clinton Twp, Michigan. Provide a interpretive exhibit planning focus
workshop for the Cultural Center exhibition team for their new Great Lakes - Great
Stories exhibition to open this summer. Provide consultation services for upcoming
exhibitions 2007-2008. You can find out more about the Cultural Center and its
exhibition schedule at: http://www.macombculturalcenter.com/
 Cultural and Heritage Tourism Program, State of
Pennsylvania - Provide interpretive planning, marketing and visitor survey
consultation services to the six major hubs and State Office, for the state-wide Pennsylvania
Underground Railroad and Pennsylvania Quest for Freedom programs development
efforts. This project will run from 1 July 07 through 2009.
 Snowdonia National Park Training
Center, Wales.
Courses for 2008 include:
* Planning, Design and Evaluation of Interpretive Media
(including Museum Exhibits, Interpretive Panels, Audio tours, and related printed media).
Four days - 2-5th September, 2008 ( from noon on Tuesday
through noon on Friday). Contact plas@eryri-npa.gov.uk for more information.
 
Participants in our May 2008 Interpretive Master planning Course
during a slate mine interpretive assessment and deep mine tour.
New Courses for 2009
4-6 May, 2009. Introduction to
Interpretation. This is an "entry level" basic interpretation
course for individuals finding themselves working in interpretive sites or positions who
have had no formal training in interpretive services.
15-17 September, 2009. Advanced
Interpretation. This advanced interpretation course will look at a
variety of subjects including interpretive master planning, marketing for heritage sites,
interpretive product development, audience development, new technologies, and visitor
surveys and evaluation. We will focus on how to attract more visitors
and make more income and more cost effective programs and services.
For a listing of all of our 2006 clients click HERE.
For a listing of our 2007 clients, click HERE.
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 International Projects for 2008 
See our "JVA
Interpretive training opportunities" listing below for
our international training programs.
Recent Articles/publications
We have added new
articles to our LIBRARY:
 Using
interpretive themes and objectives will make your
program planning easier and more effective. This is a short 3-page
article/handout great for interpretive training workshops for seasonal interpretive staff,
docents, or anyone involved in planning for interpretive programs - for any subject
content.
Is Your Scenic Byway
Interpretation Sustainable? Published in Vistas
(the publication of America's Byways Resource Center, Duluth, MN),
January/February 2003 issue.
Exhibit Evaluation for Children’s Exhibits
-The Kirby Science Center Experience. (Published in Interpret
Scotland, Issue 4, Autumn 2001).
Planning for Interpretive
Training Courses. (published in Interpscan, the national journal of Interpretation Canada, Vol. 28, No. 3 March
2002.)
"Interpretive planning for the new
millennium - The "product of the product",
"outcome based planning" and the "experience economy". Click HERE to go to this article in our
library. (Note: This article was published in Legacy,
the magazine of the National Association for Interpretation, May/June 2000 issue.)
"Why Heritage Sites Need Interpretation
For Their Long Term Survival." This paper was prepared for the
National Trust for Scotland for an interpretation seminar presented to NTS staff, October,
2000. To read this article, CLICK HERE.
To view the other articles in the
interpretation library, click HERE.
JVA Interpretive
Training Opportunities
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 New JVA courses for 2008
at Snowdonia.
COURSES FOR 2008
Planning and Design of Interpretive
Media, 2-5th September, 2008
Contact plas@eryri-npa.gov.uk
or John Veverka jvainterp@aol.com for details.
New Courses for 2009
4-6 May, 2009. Introduction to
Interpretation. This is an "entry level" basic interpretation
course for individuals finding themselves working in interpretive sites or positions who
have had no formal training in interpretive services.
15-17 September, 2009. Advanced
Interpretation. This advanced interpretation course will look at a
variety of subjects including interpretive master planning, marketing for heritage sites,
interpretive product development, audience development, new technologies, and visitor
surveys and evaluation. We will focus on how to attract more visitors
and make more income and more cost effective programs and services.
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For more information about our world wide services:
 
 Stonehenge, England
 JV at the Mayan city of Chichen-Itza,
Yucatan, Mexico. The "observatory" is in the background.
 
JV at one of the seven world heritage sites located on Malta (left) and at
the Haida Heritage Center, Graham Island, Skidegate, Canada.
John Veverka, President of JVA. John
provides interpretive consulting services world-wide, from England (top left and
middle photo) to Korea (top right) and in Europe, Canada, Mexico (second from bottom
photo), on the Island of Malta (bottom photo) and the United States.
Check out our 1999-2003 project and client list. For
recent projects for 2004 and 2005 click the year in the index on the left at the top of
this
page.
If you have any questions at all, feel free to contact me at:
John Veverka & Associates, 2069 Ashland, Okemos, Michigan, USA
48864 (517-347-2166; fax: 347-2064) or E-Mail me at: jvainterp@aol.com.
At JVA "Our product is YOUR success!"
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