GIVING A TOURBy Rachel Coleman

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.

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.

VARIOUS ASPECTS OF TOURS

What Kind of Institution?

Art Museum House Museum Small History Museum Large History Museum Outdoors

First or Third Person?

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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

Always Smile and be Cheerful! Always appear interested in what you

are talking about. Be friendly and outgoing. Create rapport with your visitors.

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.

Any Input?

THE END