A video of our November, 2023 webinar, You Are Welcome: Reconsidering Visitor Engagement, an encore presentation based on a breakout session from the 2022 National Docent Symposium in Kansas City. 

Discover how the Walter’s Art Museum docent corps examined and updated their touring tools and approach to make all visitors feel more welcome. Learn how they used the Museum’s DEAI goals as a framework to elevate their touring practices. 

To view a pdf of the Walters Art Museum Docents Annotated Bibliography referenced in the webinar, please click here.

Meet the NDSAtl24 Co-Chairs

Dianna Smeal, Kristen Keirsey and Bryan Brooks

It takes a lot of work and strong team leaders to make a symposium happen. We are thrilled to have a great set of High Museum of Art docents as Co-Chairs of our next Symposium in Atlanta in November of 2024. They are working hard with many other volunteers to make Atlanta another exception experience for all the docents who attend. Learn about the Atlanta co-chairs.

The Breakout Sessions at the National Docent Symposium are among the most anticipated activities during the three-day event. This year was no exception, with full rooms, great participation and plenty of helpful takeaways. While we may not be in Kansas City anymore, we can still benefit from the wisdom shared during the 30+ presentations. Materials from these sessions are now available on our website here.  You’ll find topics categorized into six areas: School Touring; Audience Engagement; Touring Specialty Populations; Recruitment, Training and Review; Technology; and Other Docent Activities.

Please use these materials for educational, non-commercial purposes only.

Thank you to all our wonderful presenters. We appreciate you sharing your experiences, ideas and practices with docents and guides everywhere.

 Building on the 2017 Docent Handbook 2, the National Docent Symposium Council has published Tours with Children and Teens: A Handbook for Docents and Guides. The new
publication enhances and deepens information and guidance for touring with children pre-K through high school, home schoolers and multi-aged groups, and those with special needs. Practical help and suggestions are enlivened with lots of examples from a variety of museums, and illustrated with color photographs.  The approaches presented throughout the handbook are equally relevant for in-person and virtual tours.

Co-authors Lindsay Noonan McAuliffe and Betsy Vourlekis (both from the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, Freer and Sackler Galleries) and Jan Thorman (Walters Art Museum, Baltimore) have drawn on their own years of experience as docents, input from other docents and guides, and lots of research, to bring you this exciting and informative handbook.  We hope that it will inspire confidence and enjoyment for the important work of docents and guides with young visitors.

For more information or to purchase a printed or digital version, please click on the link in the sidebar or visit this page.  

The Docent Handbook 2 

Now available in two versions, digital and print.

For more information and ordering instructions, click this LINK.

Be a Resource!  We welcome articles for publication on the NDSC website.