Hi I just wanted to let you know my original plan for this video but still
go out and paddle there on Lake Huron but then this happened that flag is
hopefully about 30 40 kilometer hour winds so I decided to do it here on land
but I am still standing in the canoe hi and welcome to Be a Better Guide I'm
Kelsey Tonner here on location at beautiful Lake Huron here in Ontario and
visiting some friends and family we're gonna talk giving amazing tours outside
I've done this for many many years I've got five tips that I want to share with
you let's get started first thing you want to be aware of is that Sun great up
there much like I've done with you you as a
tour guide should always put the Sun in your eyes this is a huge mistake that I
see we're guys doing all the time they're giving a nice talk and their
entire group is looking at them and the Sun is right behind us so they're doing
a lot of this you don't want to do that you as the tour guide should be facing
the Sun making it very comfortable for your guests tip number two ditch the
shades when you're doing your introductions or you're just meeting
people because this is a little cold this is a lot warmer plus people might
think that you have crazy eyes or that you really mean so you want to take your
sunglasses off I know a lot of you guys don't do this see it all the time you
just walk up whole time like this don't do it take the sunglasses off warmly
greet them get some eye contact your guests will feel more connected with you
and then if you have to stare at the Sun you can put them back on three you want
to be prepared for the outdoor elements and some of the things that might come
up so classic things of course some sunscreen or maybe bug spray if you've
got bugs in your backpack always have some extra things like maybe warm
sweaters baby if this chance of rain you want a couple ponchos an extra rain
jacket some extra umbrellas and remember you don't have to bring it
of that stuff for everyone but if you can give an extra set of gloves or an
extra you know poncho or something like that
to someone in your group it's gonna make a big difference to them it's great
customer service plus everyone else is gonna see how prepared you were and how
compassionate you were with others tip number four get your guests ready for
whatever they might encounter outdoors so this is talking free trip literature
you know are they gonna need an umbrella if it might rain or do they want a hat
if it's gonna be really hot sunscreen anything that you think they
should have even if it's a slight chance that might happen you want them to bring
it whenever somebody asked me hey Kelsey is it gonna rain today should I bring my
rain jacket the answer is always yes bring your rain jacket that way you're
ready for anything and lastly get to know the terrain where
you're working and use those elements of the environment to your advantage so I'm
talking here about things like natural shade good places to sit down even
though you're outdoors you want to treat it just like any other tour and go and
map out where you're going to walk where you can use it so great example is say
we're going over walk through the forest into some temples you come and there's a
beautiful big tree there that you can use for shade a lot of tour guides are
pretty good about this it's hot take your group to the shade if you want to
spend 5 10 minutes talking to them I sometimes see this come up though say
your best view of your temple is right here there's a big clearing and you
think oh we've got to stand here and the guide is talking for 15 minutes and the
people are dying in the Sun right you may have know this if you see this you
should be saying to yourself okay come have a great look get the view get the
picture and then say why don't we duck over to that shade over here and I'll
tell you a little bit more same thing with wind if you're in a really windy
location your voice can get carried away let them see the site and then take them
to a spot where they can be protected from that wind
okay those were five quick tips to get you thinking about how you can improve
your tour if you're doing it out now I want to hear from you many of you
work outside and you are all awesome guides and well on your way or in the
comments below let me know what sort of things you do to make your tour awesome
outside and as always share this video of the friend if you're inspired and
thanks for being here and just in case you weren't impressed
enough I found this frog while I was making this video this time Oh mr. hoppy