Imagine empowering your staff with training that connects their daily challenges to mission-driven strategy
Grounded in Research & Real-Life
Frontline Focus Training
Tailored Professional Development for Museum Educators and Frontline Staff
We can do better than generic slides and vague suggestions.
We’ve all sat through trainings that felt like a waste of time.
But your staff doesn’t have time for cookie-cutter advice and no answers for the real issues they face every day.
The truth is, when workshops don’t connect grounded answers to your staff’s actual challenges, as well as to your site’s mission, nothing changes except everyone’s calendar getting more crowded.
Your team deserves better:
✅professional development training that sparks energy, instead of draining it
✅opportunities to ask hard questions and get research-driven answers in return
✅practical resources that make things easier, not more complicated
Spoiler Alert… Paint-by-Numbers Workshops Lose their Effectiveness Immediately
Most professional development sessions miss the mark because they’re designed for “anyone, anywhere” instead of being crafted specifically for your team. The result? Time and money invested, with very little ROI carried back into your team’s daily practice.
Here’s what can go wrong with poorly planned professional development:
❌ Generic content: pre-packaged slides that don’t reflect your staff’s actual roles, questions, or audiences
❌ One-way delivery: a lecture-style format that leave little room for dialogue or problem-solving
❌ No staying power: tips and tricks that sound good in the moment but fade by the next day
❌ Disconnected from mission: training that focuses on surface-level tasks while ignoring the bigger “why”
It’s no secret that this is a hard season for museums.
But here’s the good news: when you choose to invest in your staff, you’re making the one move that delivers outsized returns through energized teams providing stronger programs for visitors who can sense the difference.
If you want to capitalize on the resources you have, invest in your team’s professional development.
In Tough Times, Your Best Investment is Your People
💡 94% of employees say they’d stick around longer if their workplace invested in their growth
🧲 71% of leaders who champion career development are confident in their organization’s ability to attract qualified employees
Frontline Focus Trainings are tailored team development for museum educators, interpreters, and frontline staff, led by a practicing educator-turned-researcher. Together, we’ll connect real-world challenges—like public speaking, youth engagement, and crowd control—to research-backed solutions tied to broader goals in ethics, policy, and advocacy.
But don’t just take my word for it…
Choose from one of these ready-to-go workshops, or ask about other topics!
Curating Transformational Experiences
Rachel’s Most Requested Workshop!
Learn what recent studies reveal about the value of museums and participate in reflective exercises designed to help you uncover practical steps that you can take today to improve visitor impressions of your museum.
Museums are for Babies
Babies and toddlers bring a special kind of challenge to museum education, but it is oh-so-rewarding! Can you even teach babies? How can you make your space safe for little visitors? What if they cry? We’ll debunk myths about the littlest museum visitors, learn baby-friendly program hacks, and discover your new favorite audience.
Don’t Be Cringe: Connecting with Teens
Bruh. Why are teen groups so hard to connect with? How are you supposed to talk to them? Should you be cool? Or is that … not cool? We’re spilling the tea on exactly why teen groups are so challenging and how to leverage that to your advantage.
Inquiry Learning for the Rest of Us
VTS. Close looking. Slow looking. These strategies are staples of the art museum, but how can they be incorporated in historic houses, heritage sites, or busy, full, and loud museum spaces? Instead of ignoring the benefits of these techniques, discover how to treat your whole exhibit like a piece of art and encourage visitors to co-create meaning with you.
Age is Just a Number
If your team is new to museum education, or they need a refresher on the general principles of cognitive development, this workshop is what you need. We’ll take material from your site’s tour or programs, and rework it together to be appropriate and engaging for all ages. Then we’ll take it further and discover how to engage with multiple ages at the same time!
Just What is a Museum, Anyway?
Why do museums exist? Is education the primary purpose of a museum? Are museums neutral? What is our role in culture and society? If you’ve got questions about the professionalization of museum work, why we do what we do, and why any of it matters, this is the session for you!
What’s Included?
👉 Custom Content. You pick a workshop theme and I’ll customized it around your team’s real challenges and questions.
👉 Interactive 90-Minute Workshop. Engaging delivery with lots of time for Q&A, so staff leave with answers they can use right away.
👉 Tailored Workbook. Designed specifically for your museum, with space for notes, reflection, and quick follow-up exercises.
👉 Flexible Format. In-person (travel fee applies) or on Zoom—whichever makes the most sense for your team.
👉 Ongoing Support. Follow-up access and answers after the session, so learning doesn’t stop when the workshop ends.
Imagine If…
👉 5 days from now: Your team feels relief at being prioritized. Morale lifts, energy builds, and you can already sense momentum returning.
👉 5 weeks from now: Staff are putting new strategies into practice with more ease. Their fresh energy and sharper insight are infused in tours, programs, and daily interactions with visitors.
👉 5 months from now: Confidence has grown across your staff and visitors notice the difference in every experience. As the manager, you feel proud, less guilty, and finally confident that you’re leading well instead of just treading water.
Your Investment: $497 to give your team tools, confidence, and strategies they’ll use tomorrow.
Or, save $94 and make it a full day by scheduling two workshops (morning and afternoon) for only $900.
In this era, when museums must prove their value and make a visible impact, your staff need more than binders of notes they’ll never revisit. Support them with practical, research-driven training that aligns with your mission, strengthens your advocacy, and gives your frontline staff the tools they can use the very next day.
Focused Training for Your Frontline
Simply fill out the form to pick a time on calendar to talk about your training needs!
FAQs
Let’s be real—museum people are resourceful.
But professional development is too important to be just another DIY project.
Your staff is out there juggling school groups, families, and tough questions every single day. They don’t need easy answers that sounds good on paper, but don’t translate to the real-world. They need quality support that meets them exactly where they are and takes them where you want them to go.
That’s exactly what Frontline Focus Training is built to do: give your team practical strategies they can use right away, while keeping your mission front and center.
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Great! I love training volunteers, part-time, and per diem staff—they are your frontline. They’re often the very first (and last) impression your visitors get. These trainings are designed for anyone who interacts with your audience, no matter their title or paycheck size.
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Each session runs 90 minutes, with at least 30 minutes reserved just for Q&A. I won’t leave until everyone’s questions are answered.
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That’s absolutely possible. With one session in the morning and one in the afternoon (with a lunch break in the middle), we can keep the energy high and give your staff space to process and recharge. You can book both workshops at a discounted rate of $900 for two (a savings of $94).
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Either! I can come to your site (travel fees apply) or meet your team on Zoom. Either way, your staff will leave with practical tools and a customized workbook.
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Yes. Because the training is built around your staff’s actual challenges and questions, every minute is relevant. The goal is that your team walks out energized and equipped, not drained and distracted.
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That’s why I provide a tailored workbook and follow-up support. Plus, my Next-Day-Know-How Guarantee means your team will leave with at least three actionable takeaways they can use immediately—or I’ll send a custom Loom video to fill any gaps.
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There are no pre-packaged slides and no generic tips in these targeted 90 minutes! Using a brief form, I’ll gather input from your staff beforehand, ground the workshop in research, and apply it directly to your site’s mission to create training that fits your team like a glove.
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The investment for each Frontline Focus Training is $497, whether you choose from one of my ready-to-go workshops, or ask for something more customized.
Want to stretch your investment even further? Book a full day with two sessions—one in the morning, one in the afternoon—for just $900 (a savings of $94).