Wow, there is a lot of debate and information being brought up here, but I don't know if it is all directly and immediately pertinent to Bill's mission here.
I think for the average guy, it needs to be simpler. I remember when I was just learning about the keris/kris. That was only maybe 2-3 years ago...
Maybe this is more what Bill is looking for...
Hook: Start with an eye-catcher... something to get people interested
Define: What the hell is a keris/kris? Why should we care? Where is it from?
So now the people are in, they are interested, they want to know more.
Context: Who used them? What for? What time period...
Expand: Touch on the romantic, brutal, spiritual, bloody, golden heydays of the keris... give a little bit about its economic, political, social, spiritual, and combative backgrounds... stuff that'll interest anyone.
Now the people are eager to know more about the history. Not only the keris and how it developed but also the people, their culture, when their history intersects with Islam, then with Westerners, and the modern-day...
History: Follow the path of the keris, from Java (as far as we know) to the Malaysian areas and Bangsamoro
In-depth: Highlight specific case studies of keris... Javanese, Balinese, Moro... that way you can give your audience an in-depth look at more specific examples... highlight similarities and differences between the various case studies... maybe even attach a personal story to each kris if you can find its provenance and the story of its original owner... a Javanese prince? a Moro datu?
Now people are thinking wow... I didn't even know about Java or the Moros... I didn't even know about kris! I want one! Where can I get more books on them?!
Today: It's not all old-bones and dusty history, it's still very much alive!!! Elaborate on how the keris/kris is still very much part of the cultures in maritime SE Asia and how some aspects of it are in the past, and others still very much alive. How the pandays/empus of today make them and how in some ways it is a dying art... but forever a powerful symbol in the Malay world.
..and that way you have accomplished your mission... you have drawn them in, given them a decent amount of information in a simple way, and gotten them interested in the objects and thus the cultures...
following this style of template/guideline, you keris gurus can fill in your knowledge... don't overwhelm your audience all at once! Don't get into the intricacies, esoteric details, or obscure names that only keris experts would know!
...and prices on kris will continue to sky-rocket!
I hope you all take this positively... it's just all too often I see experts inundating others with their knowledge - too much water drowns a plant, too little starves it, but enough causes it to have the energy and the stimuli to keep growing and expanding it's root network...
make it a simple, organized, logic progression that will take the museum-visitor by the hand and lead him/her on a journey that will leave him/her more knowledgeable, having new appreciation, and tantalized and wanting to know more!