The Good Guide: A Sourcebook for Interpreters, Docents and Tour Guides
A good tour will be remembered for a long time.
A bad tour will be remembered longer.
Indeed, many museum visitors would rather grapple on their own with new information in a museum than succumb to the potential horrors of a guided tour. However, the elements that make up for a great tour are teachable skills, often common sense, and are all clearly explained in The Good Guide by Alison L. Grinder and E. Sue McCoy.
This book is a great place to start, or even restart, when designing a museum's tour program.
The book includes "big idea" chapters on the history of the guided tour and how people learn in museums to more nitty-gritty tour guide do's and don'ts. It includes suggestions on what kind of information should be included on a tour, how a guide might structure a tour, and ways to interact with different kinds of audiences.
For the guide in a hurry, the book provides practical tour advice relating to body language, quality and volume of voice, appropriate dress, and more!
With a book like this, museum tours can become great learning experiences that are remembered for all the right reasons!
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One of the best resource books for guides!!! And for supervisors who train guides.