1. GIVING A TOUR By Rachel Coleman

2. Tours in the Past  The guide is clearly in awe of the location, but may not explain enough to the audience and may almost appear to be worshipping at a shrine.  The guide may tell a grand narrative story, but may not connect it or make it relevant, and may actually be repeating myth.  The guide may use objects, but only to point out how old they are, or what they’re called, rather than to make them meaningful.

3. Tours in the Present  The guide makes the past meaningful to the present.  The guide draws connections between various periods of history, and various ideas, and connects history to the present.  The guide uses objects to make tours hands-on and engaging.  The guide may use interpretive techniques like first person interpretation or aspects of museum theatre.  The guide challenges visitors misconceptions of the past and asks them to think.

4. VARIOUS ASPECTS OF TOURS

5. What Kind of Institution?  Art Museum  House Museum  Small History Museum  Large History Museum  Outdoors

6. First or Third Person?

7. Hands-on or Hands-off?  Children often become bored if tours are devoid of any hands-on aspects.  Even adults like having hands-on elements in tours – it makes things more real.  A hands-on tour can be as simple as having objects placed along the route of the tour for the guide to handle and pass around.

8. Space  Tours of museums in historic houses or buildings, or in battle fields, often make careful use of space.  The historic space – an old house or other location – may inspire a sense of awe, but this needs to be appropriate and awoken in visitors, not assumed.  The guide needs to show visitors why the place is important, and how it is relevant to them.  Visitors have a question – “Why should we care?” – answer it.

9. Grand Narrative  History that is specific needs to have a narrative of its own – the grand historical narrative of model aviation, for instance.  No matter what history is being covered, it needs to be connected to the wider (national, even global) historical narrative – where does it fit?  This historical narrative needs to be connected to the present and made relevant – why should they care?

10. Objects  Objects should be used to show specific things – for instance, what late eighteenth century American school supplies looked like, or what kind of shoes colonial gentleman wore – rather than just “this is old, isn’t that cool?”  The tour guide should ask the audience to think about the objects – what do they tell us about the lives and values of people in the past?  If possible and practical, the visitors may be allowed to hold the objects.

11. Pay Attention to Your Audience!  Is your audience a group of senior citizens or a group of school children? You should be able to individualize your tours for all kinds of groups!  Watch your audience for cues – are you boring them with a specific topic, or are they completely enthralled by something you’re talking about? Respond to their cues.  Strive to let your audience guide your tour, but be careful not to take this too far!

12. Make Things Relevant!  Visitors want to know – why should they care?  Explain things in ways the visitors can understand.  Make the history you are interpreting relevant to the visitors lives.  Draw connections between the past and the present.

13. Ask your Visitors to be Participants!  Engage your visitors!  Encourage your visitors to ask questions – and ask them some questions yourself.  Involve your audience in helping you solve problems or puzzles (i.e., just what was this object for? Or, why were the windows were shaped like that?).  Make use of museum theatre for the purpose of audience involvement.  Make use of demonstrations using volunteers.

14. Ask your visitors to THINK.  Carefully challenge your visitors’ misconceptions of history.  Involve your visitors in making connections between the past and present.  Reveal parallels and contrasts between the past and present.  Help your visitors replace myth with reality.  Discuss various myths and misconceptions with your visitors.

15. Always Smile and be Cheerful!  Always appear interested in what you are talking about.  Be friendly and outgoing.  Create rapport with your visitors.

16. Reality Strikes!  No matter what you do with your own tours, there will always be other guides who give uninteresting, uninvolving, sometimes inaccurate tours.  YOU cannot control other tour guides!  Training only goes so far – some guides are set in their ways and won’t change.  If you are in charge of volunteer tour guides, this often becomes all the harder.

17. Any Input?

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