Tips
for handling mixed groups
updated
Apr 2020
Visitors can be
a dream or a nightmare. It's all up to YOU!
More about some typical visitor behaviour that guides may find difficult to handle. Be aware, that half of the
problem is YOU.
Mixed groups can be the easiest or more difficult visitors to handle.
It's all up to YOU!
So you ended up with a family of dad keen on photography, small kids
wanting to run all over the place, mum afraid of the sun and getting
her shoes wet.
Find out why the group is at the walk. Parents may be there for the
kids. So focus on the kids.
To keep them together
- Be animated
and excited about things that THEY find.
- Highlight
things that are ahead to encourage slow ones to keep up.
Often you end
up with only a few of the group interested in listening to you while
the rest wander off. This is OK. As long as everyone seems to be
doing what they want to do.
Good things about mixed groups
Together, they have broad interests. There's a good chance at least
one of them will be interested in anything that you find. Deploy
the kids and photographers to find things. More about handling kids and about handling photographers.
Not so good things about mixed groups
There's at least one person who is restless and won't listen. This
is good practice for you to keep your stories short and relevant.
The group doesn't stick together and wander all over the shore.
This should be minimised if you had done a good pre-walk briefing
about not climbing rocks and sticking together. Try to find out
what most of them will find interesting and try to do a route with
those things so the group sticks together.
Some tips for Walk Coordinators
Try to group visitors so they share interests. It's easier for a
guide to handle a group of individuals with the same purpose. Look
out for stragglers and help take care of them so the main guide
can deal with the main group.
Don't be a bad guide. Be a good
guide instead. |
