As tour guides, we have a lot to learn from some of the great orators of history, as well as great speakers in our modern era.
They provide us with a powerful technique that great speakers use to hone our public speaking, plus a grab bag of tools we should be able to use in our tour-leading jobs.
Today I share one skill that will keep people hanging off of your every word. It’s simple and easy to implement, and it even will help you memorize the key parts of your tour.
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Today, I’m going to give you an awesome technique that you can put into practice right away when speaking on your tour.
As we all know, people have a limited attention span and you know this as a tour guide because it’s a big part of your job to keep people engaged.
Have you ever been listening to someone speak and it started sounding a bit like this? I think that was a human being doing that.
Wouldn’t it be cool if you were that guy, “So dude, remember that Charlie Brown show?” “Yeah, I was totally the guy that did the teacher’s voice. Yeah, that was me.” “I know.” Maybe not.
But this Charlie Brown effect can happen when someone is speaking and there’s no clear end in sight. So here’s the pro tip, use speech markers and time indicators to let people know when you’re going to finish.
Let’s look at some examples. Let’s say you’re going on a hike and you always stop in one spot to tell people about a gorge. Now, instead of just calling everybody together and listing all facts, use a speech marker to let people know what you’re doing.
For example, “Okay everybody, come on in and I’m going to give you five reasons why this is my favorite spot in the gorge.”
That’s a speech marker because they know you’re going to go through five things and once you get to the fifth, you’re done. You can accomplish the same thing with a time indicator.
For example, “Okay everybody, come on in. I’m going to take five minutes to talk about why this is my favorite spot in the gorge.” Now, people expect that you’re going to talk for five minutes and be done.
If you’re going to talk for ten minutes, let them know that, and if you’re going talk for two hours maybe you should find a less interesting gorge. Be creative with your lists. Always try and think of a clever hook to keep people interested.
In sum, there are three reasons why speech markers are awesome:
You can create a clever hook,
it keeps people interested, and
people know when you’re done, like now.
That’s all for today, but I challenge you to go out and use speech markers or time indicators in your next tour or in your next public speaking event. If you like this video, like or share it below, subscribe, and as always thanks for being here and I’ll see you next time.
