Conferences & Training

The National Trust offers a wide range of face-to-face training programs to help preservationists across the country protect the nation's heritage. Each listing below includes a description, the date of the next session, and a link to learn more.

National Preservation Conference

The National Preservation Conference is the premier educational and networking event for historic preservation professionals, volunteer leaders, and advocates. Expert practitioners lead approximately 100 educational and field sessions, all designed to provide tools that participants can use to improve their own communities.

Preservation Leadership Training

Preservation Leadership Training (PLT) is an intensive one-week experience tailored to respond to the needs of state and local preservation organizations and agencies. It emphasizes providing a participatory experience in leadership and organizational development techniques and the most up-to-date and effective information and training in current preservation practices, issues and action strategies.

Historic Sites and House Museums

Great Tours, the popular one-day workshop on creating thematic tours at historic sites, features large and small group interactive exercises based on a case study of an historic site, providing participants with practical experience. Registration includes the bestselling book, Great Tours! Thematic Tours and Guide Training for Historic Sites (AltaMira Press, 2002).

National Trust Main Street Center®

The premiere conference on preservation-based commercial district revitalization, the annual National Main Streets Conference brings together over 1,500 people from small and rural towns, suburban communities, large and midsized cities, and urban neighborhood business districts to network and share ideas, solutions, issue-exploration, and networking opportunities.

The National Main Street Institute offers basic and advanced level training for downtown revitalization professionals through seminars that examine the basics of implementing the Main Street Four Point Approach®, support real estate or business development, and provide advanced certification for Main Street Managers.

Cultural Heritage Tourism Workshops

The Heritage Tourism Program offers a variety of workshop formats that are customized to the needs of the client. Contact program staff, amy_webb@nthp.org or carolyn_brackett@nthp.org to discuss your workshop needs and to obtain workshop fee information.

Preservation Career Center

Sponsored by Forum, the Preservation Career Center helps you find and post preservation jobs, internships, and RFPs, as well as other resources for professional development.