Background: Maricar R. Donato, President, WashingTours & Events, is a professional tour director and a certified trainer of tourist guides. A tour and event company based in Washington D.C., the company has over 33 years of combined experience in tourism, training, and special event planning.

To give participants the competitive edge, our training module, “The Professional Tour Guide Training Program on How to become a Washington, DC Tour Guide”, is a 75% field-based program. This structure provides participants with real life, hands-on experience, thereby affording them the opportunity to become fully immersed with the tools and skills required in becoming a professional guide. For those not located in the Washington, D.C. area we have developed and provide on-line tourist guide training utilizing state-of-the-art tutorials in preparing for the DC License Test. Ultimately, participants who graduate from our 70-hour program acquire the following:

• Practical Skills and Techniques

• Communication and Presentation Skills  

• Walking and Motor Coach Guiding Techniques

• Multicultural Diversity

• Emergency Preparedness

As an added benefit, study groups are conducted outside of class hours to prepare participants for the Washington, D.C. License Test. Most students are able to pass the test after several months of rigorous study.

Training Objective: To provide basic knowledge, essential skills, and hands on training to become a professional Washington DC tour guide. Participants deliver weekly, on-site stories based on research and script narratives.

The professional tour guide program is divided into two sections: Track I is a 35-hour program that includes conducting tours on foot. Thread II is a 35-hour program that combines walking tours as well as tours utilizing a moving, fully operational mini bus.  Additionally, roadmaps are for each participant that teaches them the following seven skill sets to becoming a professional tour guide:

1. Research Skills (Track I and Track II)

a. Practical knowledge about the history of the area: Participants are required to spend time visiting public libraries in order to familiarize themselves with the operations, procedures and resources made available to them including microfiches, internet sites, articles, reference section, maps, and books on specific topics or locations. In Thread I participants meet with the Division Chief of the Martin Luther King Jr. library for orientation to the library 's specific resources. They are also encouraged to read books from the suggested reading list to learn more about the neighborhood, sites and memorials. On their own time it is recommended that participants take different tours (museums tours, docent led tours, city tours, and neighborhood walks) in order to assess the skills of the different types of guides, so that they can identify traits and techniques that appeal to them and that they wish to incorporate into their own guiding techniques. It is also recommended that participants ride city buses to learn how to navigate the city. (Class time: 35 hours).

b. Site inspection: Before coming to class, participants are required to conduct a site inspection of a specific assigned location so that they are familiar with that sites surroundings, description, what the site includes, and safety issues.

2. Script Writing Skills (Track  I and Track II)

a. Techniques: After the research Thread, participants then learn how to write scripts in a form that they can use to deliver informative commentary about the subject or location for which they are conducting their specific tour.

b. Commentary Development: Participants have already learned through research how to discern fact from fiction on the topics and sites that they will provide commentary on. Participants are responsible for doing their own fact checking. They learn how to link information both visually and non-visually to sites and current events.

3. Presentation Skills (Track I and Track II)

a. Presentation of the information: Participants focus on verbal and non-verbal presentation skills utilizing lectures, exercises and activities. Much of what is presented is done through the actual practice of commentary and on-site evaluation of the participant’s skill sets. Verbal skills focuses on the use of the voice and understanding the elements of the voice.  A guest speaker who is a voice and speech instructor evaluates the participants and gives comments and tutorials as needed.  Lastly, professional appearance is discussed signs of nervousness are identified with tips being offered in order to conceal this condition.

4. Guiding Skills and Techniques (Thread I and Thread II)

Utilizing verbal and non-verbal skills, participants practice guiding skills and techniques as they deliver their weekly commentaries.

5. Group Management Techniques (Track I and Track II)

a. Participants are instructed in how to effectively assemble and manage the amount of people that are on their specific tour.

6. Microphone Skills and Guiding on a moving vehicle (Track II )

a. Participants are given 16 hours of training on how to identify the features of a minibus, how to properly operate the vechicle, proper microphone skills, and driver-guide relationships. Participants will learn to familiarize themselves with the interior of the bus (rear, middle and front) and identify emergency procedures. Other items covered are navigation skills, how to deliver commentaries and direct the driver at the same time, parking logistics (drop off/pick up) and parking regulations. Participants will also learn how to give commentaries on a moving vehicle while addressing TVP’s.

7. Self Assessment Skills (Track I and Track II)

a. Participants are assessed each week by the instructor who analyzes their skills sets, groups them into different components and suggests areas of improvement. Participants are then asked to do a self-assessment after each session and identify areas of improvement they feel they need before commencing forward to the next session. Assessment is also done through use of a professional videographer taping the participants during one session, which is then critiqued by both the participant and the instructor. Additional presentation skills sessions are given to students who have not reached a particular comfort level and need more coaching to achieve their desired results.

This roadmap of becoming a professional tour guide allows participants to learn a process that they can utilize throughout their tour guiding careers. It was designed to be a revolving process where the assessment ends and the research begins again all the while reinforcing the effectiveness of the tour guide’s skill sets. Once the students complete Part I and II of the program they are considered for placement with Washington’s Best Guides, an agency that provides job opportunities for those who qualify.

New Intercultural Guide Training Approach
The focus of the Intercultural Guide Training Approach is:

▪ Examine areas of diverse culture that we encounter either leading a tour or facilitating an international event.
▪ Review the basic skills needed to communicate with multi-cultural/multi-national groups.
▪ Explore solutions to some typical cross-cultural critical incidents that can occur while on tour.