Tour Guiding Skills

Example, if you are guiding The Playground Route, talk about the visible things like the vessels, the HDB, the reclaimed land, the yellow bouy and other animals you see.

Do not talk about stuff that are super far away and things that are not visible, like Sisters Island, Pulua Ubin.

Make sure you have a few fun and compelling stories to tell about the buildings and sites you’re looking at. People are more likely to feel engaged when they are listening to a story, rather than a list of dates and names.

The exact year a big event happened is nothing compared to WHY and HOW it happened. Find the interesting nuggets, and weave the information into a narrative.

The fact that a building used to be important may not make it important now. It’s the human angle of that building which people will find most interesting, or how it relates specifically to them. For example, with a group from Singapore, you could share with them interesting things that a Singaporean may find interesting: like the story of how Bedok reservoir is related to east coast park

For tourist, you could share that the story about the demographic of people staying in HDB is directly proportional to the racial demographics in Singapore. (this is not information that Singaporean are interested in)

For any place, there are bound to be a large selection of stories to use on tour. But how do you choose the right ones?

It is best to base your selection around topics that interest you. When you are passionate about a topic, you will be more enthusiastic in your storytelling. If you are excited to tell it, your listeners will be excited to hear it.

Every story has a beginning, middle and end. A basic structure will help to organise your story within this timeline. So when you are ready to tell it, you will know where your story is going and how to get there.
Beginning: Setting the scene for your Hero
Middle: Incident/Problem/Obstacle/Twist
End: Solution/Conclusion

You don’t have to be the only one telling stories. Open up the floor and ask the audience questions. One story has a way of breathing other stories into life.

By giving your audience time to share, you might quickly come up with another. Also, the tour will have a more conversational tone, which will make everyone, including yourself, more relaxed.

Add a little humour to your stories

When to Give
The ideal time for commentary and story telling he when we are moving from 1 fishing location to another fishing location. If you have about 2-15 minute travel time, its time for commentary.

When NOT to give

When they are fishing, let them focus on the fishing, however, this is a good time to engage them on an individual level. Have more personal 1 on 1 conversation with individuals.

Begin your commentary the moment you get into the water.

Have the basic commentary topics ready, like fish finder, vessels, marina life to look out for.

Even before they get to the first spot, they should already know that this is going to be a great trip!

For your personal story collection, make a list of your own experiences. Some might be funny — even if they weren’t at the time. And some might be shocking — like you still can’t believe it happened to you. Out of all your stories, make sure they are appropriate and relate to the tour in some way.

Share your stories, not just your fishing stories. It will help you build a better connection with the guests. They will feel like they know you, like you’re a long lost friend.

It’s the small touches that people remember and set you apart from an ordinary operator.

Bring sun block, free cold water or free snacks. This will show you as a genuine human being who cares about your guests besides just the dollars they can bring to you.

Even if you put up gigantic notices on your site and in your office saying ‘YOU NEED TO BRING SUN CREAM’, people will always forget. If you’ve been in business for more than two days, you’d know this. Prepare for people’s mistakes and the things that they forget, and they’ll thank you for it.

Direct you question to a specific person, usually the trip leader or the most shy person to engage the whole group.

Do not direct the question to everyone, especially at the start of the trip, you’re gonna get crickets. Most of our guests will be too shy to answer a question when there are other strangers in the group too.

Endear yourself quickly to parents by catering to their children. Snack packs or even just a free bottle of water will go a long way.

Engage the children by making them feel extra special, direct the questions at them and let them answer it.

People treat children like an annoyance, but if you treat them like a worthy human being, you’ll seriously make their day. Show them the various widgets that make up your operation i.e fish finder

Do anything you can to put the kids on a fish first, the parents only want the kids to have fun.

You can built rapport by asking questions about them.

A great conversationalist is someone that listens more than he talks.

Everyone in the world loves to talk about themselves.

Find out more about them, ask about their work, hobbies, what they like to do for fun.

Listen to the answer and ask more probing questions, make them feel that you are truly interested in what they have to say.