Specialist Seminar

Overview

This interactive specialist seminar (a concept project) introduces travel agents to the lesser-known regions of Japan in Kyushu and its hidden gems. Learners explore key destinations, cultural highlights, and local experiences, along a practical task of building tailored itineraries for a virtual client.

• Audience: External travel agents based in the UK who handles Japan products.
• Responsibilities: End-to-end instructional design and development, adapting a live seminar and video assets into an interactive e-learning module for a major Japanese travel agency representing local government tourism boards.
• Tools: Active Presenter, Canva, Photoshop, Final Cut Pro, ChatGPT, Gemini, Heygen, Figma, Visual Studio Code

Problem

Popular tourism hubs in Japan face severe hotel shortages and overcrowding, and UK travel agents are forced to seek alternative destinations. However, these agents lack the deep local knowledge required to confidently pitch and book Japan’s lesser-known regions, resulting in missed revenue and rigid client itineraries.

Solution

This interactive specialist seminar equips UK agents with the deep local expertise needed to navigate Kyushu’s hidden gems through interactive exploration. By completing a practical task to build tailored itineraries for a virtual client, agents gain the hands-on experience and confidence needed to diversify their travel products in lesser-known regions.

Process

• Source Content Analysis: Reviewed raw footage and slide decks from the live seminar to extract high-value cultural insights and regional highlights.
• Text-Based Storyboarding: Developed the narrative flow and structured the virtual client profile to serve as the foundation for the practical task.
• Cognitive Theories: Each slide used in the experience is designed with a visual hierarchy and contains only up to five new pieces of information, which is well within working memory capacity limits.
• Interactive Prototyping: Designed a digital exploration map and a guided itinerary builder using an industry-standard authoring tool.
• Visual Styling: Integrated authentic regional imagery, maps, and branding assets provided by the Japanese local government tourism boards.

Results

• Content Transformation Model: Proved that passive marketing materials and live seminar presentation can be successfully converted into highly engaging e-learning.
• Practical Capability Assessment: Created a simple yet realistic itinerary-building simulation that effectively evaluates an agent’s ability to pitch lesser-known destinations.
• Positive Feedback: Received peer commendations during user testing for the authentic cultural representation and practical, real-world utility.
• Portfolio Showcase: Demonstrated end-to-end mastery of transforming complex, government-level tourism data into a structured commercial training asset.