Bumping Elbows

There’s something special about being at an interpretive program in-person. There’s spontaneity of real life like the weather or passing wildlife. There’s the human awkwardness of bumping the elbow of a stranger who might become a friend. But there are also limitations. Both the interpreter and the guests arriving for in-person interpretive experiences are constrained by time, distance, cost, and accessibility.

During the lockdowns of COVID, those in-person experiences that we took for granted were reduced or even eliminated altogether. Yet, the want to interact was just as strong. Virtual programs through social media sites such as Facebook, meetings and webinars through Zoom, and pre-recorded videos on YouTube offered a chance to experience places, people, and ideas beyond where we could physically travel to on limited schedules and limited budgets. Using those settings wasn’t a passing phase, they have become the norm long beyond 2020.

Interpreters looking to develop skills in virtual programming will find their skill set in an ever-increasing demand. But it is an advanced skill that takes time to learn the technology, acquire gear, and build confidence. But there’s way more to it than that! Interpretive methods also must be adapted for use in online programs.

Virtual programs are not just in-person programs in the virtual space. Changing a program from an in-person experience to a virtual experience isn’t a one-to-one conversion. What makes in-person programs so engaging in the social experience of literally bumping elbows and then having a back-and-forth dialogue. With virtual programs interpreters must replicate a personable experience by compensating for the lack of elbows. The virtual wall separates us from our audiences in ways that cannot be seen but are most certainly felt. Keeping the attention of virtual audiences, so they don’t tune out to watch cat videos, relies on the interpreter being present even if the audience is not.

We can develop our interpretive programs to leverage what we know about our virtual audience. Since online audiences watch with only one eye or one ear, being able to conveying our purpose has more to do with the context than actual content. We still go through the same process to define our objectives, but our measurements of those goals must be couched in a way that is so captivating and so easy that the audience wants to participate.

Being an over-the-top personality isn’t actually the way to being personable for virtual audiences but it helps. Pragmatically organizing the program along with using captivating engagement strategies are just as much part of the art to successful online programs. As Freeman Tilden describes one of his tenants of interpretation, “Interpretation is an art. Any art is some degree teachable.” Doing personal interpretive programs virtually is an advanced skill but it is learnable. Developing personal virtual interpretive programs allows us to open doors to opportunities that cannot be done in-person.

Join me to hear some tips and tricks for being personal in virtual interpretation on Tuesday, July 16th at 10 am PDT during our Skills Boost Clinic. Free Event. Register here: https://www.messagemindset.com/event-details/message-mindset-skills-boost-clinic-tuesday-july-16-being-personal-with-virtual-interpretation-2024-07-16-10-00?lang=en

Check out two of my favorite online interpreters out of Scotland who deliver programs that are both personal and personable!

Scottish History Tour’s Bruce Fummey has the tagline “Let me tell you a story.” In this episode (solidly using interpretive techniques), Fummey takes us into the history of the creation of the William Wallace Monument by turning Wallace’s legacy of “Freedom!” on its ear! https://youtu.be/zEdODi0_kTM

Kakibot’s Guidebook, also of YouTube, makes videos specifically about the Edinburgh area. Notice how she incorporates visiting multiple sites along with personal conversation, as if we are sitting down with a friend to hear the inside scoop. https://youtu.be/5q0lbnBNPww