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Jon Kohl'S Informationsphere

Talks &
Conferences

Jon gives a variety of topics, all with an interpretive and rhetorical style often unique at the conferences and seminars that he attends.

 

Highly recommended book:




 

2010

Talk on Tourism Planning Implementation and Biodiversity Conservation

October 6. Sponsored by the US Embassy and the Sustainable Tourism Network of Colombia, Jon gives his keynote address (see below) a second time but in Bogota at the Universidad Externado. Click on invitation.

 

 


Keynote Speaker: Conference of the Sustainable Tourism Network of Colombia

September. Jon gave the opening talk in Spanish entitled “Well-Planned Tourism Can be a Force for Biodiversity Conservation” for the 8th such meeting, held in Medellin. Click to see the talk recorded a week later in Costa Rica.


Interpretive Talk on the African Savannah

January.  Jon gave a multi-media interpretive talk to Costa Rican tourists who will be taking a tour of Kenya and Tanzania with the Costa Rican outbound operator Mundo Expeditions.

 

2009

US State Dept. Lecture Tour in Africa on Ecotourism Development, Part II

June 09. Jon visited Africa again with the State Department’s Strategic Speaker Initiative to speak about and meet with Africans on ecotourism development and environmental protection. He visited Swaziland and Malawi . First tour in Liberia and Cameroon . He first visited Ecuador and Bolivia in 2007 about environmental interpretation. Photo: Host of Swaziland ’s national TV daily breakfast show interviews Jon about ecotourism.  See press release on embassy website.


 

 

An Opening Talk in UNESCO Training in Montenegro

May, Durmitor National Park. Jon attends a workshop sponsored by UNESCO and UNEP to train World Heritage Sites in Southeastern Europe on tourism planning and management. Jon gives one of the opening talks about barriers to implementing park plans and (second talk) on whether stakeholders should be co-creators or competitors in park planning.


2008

Holistic Interpretive Guide Training Enables the Institution as well as the Guide

November. Jon presented at the National Association for Interpretation annual conference on the theory behind holistic training and Fermata’s Interpretive Training Program. Portland, OR


Ecotourism: Jumping Hurdles to Environmental Protection and Local Economic Development

August, Africa. Jon earned his second Strategic Speaker Initiative Grant with the US State Department, this time to visit Africa for two weeks to discuss ecotourism development. His last grant took him to Ecuador and Bolivia last September on the topic of environmental interpretation (see below). Media coverage can be found at the US Embassy in Cameroon, Liberia, and papers in Cameroon (AfricaNews with video, Eden, The Post, African Travel Guide, All Africa ) as well as Liberia (The Analyst).


Barriers to Implementing SINAC Tourism Plans

March. Jon presented the argument to a meeting of tourism coordinators from throughout Costa Rica's conservation area system (SINAC) on why implementation barriers must be taken into account when preparing tourism plans.


Interpretation Engages Audiences, Forges Relationships

February. Jon presented a talk at the Partners in Flight Conference in McAllen, Texas on how interpretation can be used to engage audiences. He represented Fermata, Inc.

2007

Paper Presentation at the Second Latin American Parks Congress

October. Jon presents a paper at the Congress in Bariloche, Argentina on the barriers to park planning implementation. He represented the World Heritage Centre/UNESCO. He presented the same paper on the session about park planning.

 

click for larger image

 

 


Lecture Tour in Bolivia and Ecuador

September. By pemtition of the US Embassies in Bolivia and Ecuador and in collaboration with Conservation International in Bolivia, the State Department has awarded Jon a Speaker and Specialist Grant to give a lecture/workshop tour through those countries in September on the topic of environmental interpretation and resource protection. Please ask Jon for a DVD of the presentation he gave at the Ministry of Tourism in Quito. See articles about his presentations in Bolivia on the US Embassy page (English), El Deber (Spanish), El Nuevo Día (Spanish), and Ciudad Universitaria/El Nuevo Día (Spanish). Please contact Jon when links are dead. Please visit my publications on interpretation.


Local Sustainable Tourism Potential

Union Island, Saint Vincent & The Grenadines. Representing Fermata in late May, Jon talked about the potential of developing local sustainable tourism as partof the restoration program of Ashton Lagoon. Project supported by the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds, BirdLife International, and the US FWS Neotropical Migrant Program.


Talks about Barriers to Plan Implementation

Santiago, Panamá. In February, Jon presented his latest thoughts on how to avoid barriers to plan implementation as part of the general management planning process for Coiba National Park, also a World Heritage Site, hosted by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.


2006

Interpretation’s Ultimate Chance to Advance Conservation

Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jon, representing Fermata, Inc., presented in November at the National Association for Interpretation’s annual National Interpreters Workshop.


Presents at Conservation International’s 2nd Global Tourism Workshop

Monteverde, Costa Rica. In September, Jon presented about barriers to tourism plan implementation at a workshop designed to redefine the objectives of CI’s ecotourism efforts and build a learning network around the world.


Presents at World Heritage Centre Seminar on Tourism Planning at Major Archeological Sites

Granada, Spain. In February Jon argued before an audience of 70 experts from around the world that the implementation of any park plan depends on changing the fundamental assumptions parks hold about the nature of planning. His presentation is scheduled to appear in a book on the topic and contribute to a declaration arising from the seminar. World Heritage Centre.

 

 

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W. Edwards Deming

October 1, 2010