Sunday, November 24, 2013

Suggested Rules for Tour Guides from your President

As many of you know, I am President of the Charleston Tour Association. Now that the high season is winding down, the timing is off for my timely suggestions , but I will bring them back up in the springtime when it all gets crazy again!

Tour Guides, locals, your comments are encouraged and welcome!



Dear CTA Members and Friends:

 We certainly are busy this season! As one 87 year South of  Broad resident related to me, he has never seen so many people on the streets. Inevitably there is bound to be stress on the residents of the Historic District.

The CTA is a membership of tour professionals. It is our responsibility to conduct our groups down streets and alleyways in a least intrusive fashion which still allows us to effectively share this beautiful city with our visitors. As a long time guide, I would like to share some tips and suggestions that will enhance the tour experience for yourself, visitors and residents alike. Although many of us have been at Broad and Meeting at 11 o’clock in April, I have the added perspective of 8 o’clock two weeks before Halloween and many a summer evening I wager that there are usually as many if not more ghost tours going out any night as go out during the day. Ghost tours are on a tightly controlled route, so frequent “close encounters” are the norm. I will post this on my blog,  I hope that anyone with suggestions not posted here will feel free to post them at my blog at walledcitytours.com. I’ll credit your suggestions or post them from anonymous, whatever works for you.

(1)    Don’t block the sidewalk and don’t run over the natives!

Sometimes the stress of a large group can be overwhelming. The amateur photographers are falling back, the baby is crying and the lady from  Schenectady keeps interrupting. And that other group just took my favorite spot! So you forget about the Composition of your group. On streets with wide sidewalks, instruct them to walk on the street side (ie,  Meeting Street south walking on the outside or to the right.) This keeps doors clear for residences and businesses to maintain stress free ingress and egress.It moves your group efficiently and quickly past crowds waiting at restaurants or entry to other events, i.e, Home and Garden Tours. Ed Grimball has this under control. He stops his groups where he can line them up “execution style” against a wall and begins his talk. This allows locals to pass. Sometimes Ed greets old friends  residents or even the Mayor! Brilliant!

Another strategy for taking charge of an unwieldy crowd is to identify places where three or more topics can be addressed from the same location. “Cluster”  your visitors  like this:

Upon arrival move fifteen feet past where you intend to talk. Stop, and instruct the first guest to stand there .Moving back to the group center, place your visitors. This also allows stragglers to get close before you commence narration. Even with three topics, it is best to move on between 7 – 12 minutes, so keep your narration pithy and succinct when you cluster.

Find spots to talk at the corners where you can talk on the side rather than in front. Stop in front of gates, walls and churches ( no churches during services of course.) Stop in public parks, graveyards or parking lots. Avoid standing in front of restaurants, businesses ‘and residential front doors.

( 2) Keep Your Visitors Safe!                                                                                                                                    Charleston is incredibly beautiful. Newcomers can be overwhelmed---sensory overload is a rule of thumb. Sometimes we   forget how lovely it is in the course of a hectic workday. It’s all new to them. . With a large group, you feel the need to move on. After all, you only have two hours and what you have to say is so important! The group is gawking up, cameras are flashing, but the sidewalks below, well, they can be treacherous! Be sure to warn them about the sidewalks. My favorite line:

“The city motto was adopted in 1783 and translates from the Latin: She guards her buildings, customs and laws”. But not so much her streets and sidewalks. Please be aware of where your feet are. Take my professional advice, you’ll have a much better time standing up than flat on your face.”

This minimizes your liability as well in the case of accidents. Then again, there is the traffic. Between a healthy business district, again, gawking visitors, (this time in cars), carriages and buses, we should always cross at traffic lights and crosswalks if there is any traffic on the streets.

Last year I saw an experienced guide approaching the Dock Street Theater on the east sidewalk.  She had crossed  Chalmers diagonally from the southwest to northeast corner with a group of twenty, all the while narrating for the first five or so! They  were stretched halfway down the block to the Confederate Home! If you can’t get your entire group through an intersection in 45 seconds, you are opening yourself up to potential accident. Gather your group and cross all at once and as Momma would say, look both ways.

(3)  Just Say No! to  playing  Dueling Tour Guide

 I was in St. Michael’s Church the other day, and there were four other guides with groups. St’ Michael’s turned into the Tower of Babel.

During the high season, there are groups and groups and more groups. Each guide has something important to say, so there is a tendency to speak over the next guide---loudly. So the other guide gets louder. Now let’s add in traffic din. The Result: nobody hears anything and everyone loses. In the event you find yourself talking with another group in close proximity, professional courtesy mandates that you gather your group so that your position with the other guide is back to back and  to speak in a lower tone. Ghost tour guides have this figured out, but not all the daytime folks.

I have had walking guides lament that carriage drivers will speak over them at some stops.
In front of the  Calhoun Mansion is one example.

Walking guides, remember that the carriage folks are just doing their job just like you. But unlike walking guides, the carriages are on a prescribed route. Since they have to travel up Meeting Street on the east side of the street, walk your groups on the west sidewalk.

When  speaking in a narrow passage such as an alley stand  with your back to the wall with your group no more than three deep and left and right. That way, if another group comes through, you can gather your group closer to you so that the other group can pass behind them.

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