Change display time — Currently: Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) (Event time)

Setting the Scene: A Walk Through Lives and Landscapes

,

Trip / Tour

Preregistration Required

Save to My Favorites

Session description

Setting the Scene is a walking tour through the lives and landscapes around the Orange County Convention Center. Starting at the Rosen Center, participants will learn about the history and settings that shape the restaurants at the Rosen Hotels and WonderWorks.

Outline

Stop 1: 15 minutes
Everglades Restaurant (Rosen Center)
Content & Engagement:
Introduction to the tour. Discuss how natural settings (like the Everglades) evoke mood and tone in storytelling. Engagement: Icebreaker – ask participants to describe a story that could unfold in a swampy setting.

Stop 2: 10 minutes
Café Gauguin (Rosen Center)
Content & Engagement
Explore how visual art and color palettes influence story atmosphere. Engagement: Quick sketch or photo prompt – “Capture a mood in one image.”

Stop 3: 15 minutes
Harry's Poolside Bar & Grill (Rosen Center)
Discuss tropical and leisure settings in fiction. How do poolside scenes convey relaxation, tension, or transformation? Engagement: Group brainstorm – “What secrets could unfold at a poolside bar?”

Stop 4: 10 minutes
Walk to Rosen Plaza
Content & Engagement
Transition time with storytelling trivia

Stop 5: 15 minutes
Jack's Place (Rosen Plaza)
Content & Engagement
Dive into character-driven settings. Jack's Place is filled with caricatures and is a springboard for discussing how environment reflects personality. Engagement: Pair activity - invent a character based on one caricature.

Stop 6: 10 minutes
Café Matisse (Rosen Plaza)
Content & Engagement
Explore how the café settings foster dialogue and introspection in stories. Flash fiction challenge - Write a 3 sentence scene set in a café.

Stop 7: 10 minutes
Walk to WonderWorks
Transition with s storytelling game: "Pass the Plot" where each person adds one line to a story.

Stop 8: 25 minutes
WonderWorks
Content & Engagement
Final stop. Discuss the architectural storytelling of the upside-down building and the surreal art of Sandro Del Prete. Explore how surrealism challenges narrative norms. Engagement: Group discussion - How does distortion change perception? Visual scavenger hunt inside WonderWorks (pending confirmation from WonderWorks)

More [+]

Outcomes

After this session, participants will be able to use settings to create their own digital stories. They will understand the importance of using the setting to help tell the story. They will learn the history behind the restaurants and how the setting contributed to the story created in those restaurants. They will learn how to incorporate these ideas into their own classroom storytelling activities.

More [+]

Presenters

Danielle Abernethy

Training/Consultant

Private Contractor

Debbie Bohanan

Teacher

Zenith Accelerated Learning Academy

Session specifications

Topic:

Creativity and Storytelling

Audience:

Curriculum Designer/Director, Librarian, Teacher

Attendee devices:

Devices useful

Attendee device specification:

Smartphone: Android, iOS, Windows

Participant accounts, software and other materials:

Any device with an internet connection will work. If you download the Kahoot app on your phone, you will be able to play along as we walk.

Subject area:

Arts - Visual, Teacher Education

Influencer Disclosure:

This session includes a presenter that indicated a “material connection” to a brand that includes a personal, family or employment relationship, or a financial relationship. See individual speaker menu for disclosure information.