Interview conclusions and analysis

Through our interviews we gathered information about the essence of what makes a good, or bad, tour guide. One of the more pronounced opinions we got, were about the way in which the tour guide could explain history. It seemed preferable for the guide to use a storytelling approach rather than relying on cold hard facts. Letting the people visualize the story through things they see helped a lot in bringing together the experience.

Furthermore, we asked about human tour guides versus audio guides and came to the conclusion that the content of the audio guide is not enough for a regular visitor. The way each tour guide brings something new to the table is really refreshing. Each has his or her own style of telling a story and hopefully, you get a good one. Upon further investigation we noticed that the elderly had some prejudice towards the audio guides, thinking they were too hard to handle - when that really wasn’t the case.

Lastly, people really want to have some kind of an experience, not just an infodump. And to strengthen that feeling, props went a long way - or at least some kind of physical thing that could connect you even more to the stories.

Apart from the visitors, we also had the chance to talk with two different tour guides at the museum, and join them on their tours. They both had quite different approaches to guiding, one spending the majority of the time talking, while the other tried to get the audience more involved. However, a common opinion was about the importance of keeping the crowd interested, which is not always a simple task. One of the guides mentioned props, and how they can add to the experience. An issue here though is that sometimes the tour guides lack relevant props, or are simply not allowed to use them as in the case with the Army Museum. It is generally not allowed to bring modern weaponry, even replicas, on tours which our guide thought was a pity.

The overall consensus seems to be that people enjoy listening to an actual person talking about things they find interesting and are knowledgeable about. The ability to ask questions and go into details draw people toward traditional tour guides, as well as audio guides lacking an interactive element.

From our observations and inner thoughts we feel that people does not really want to read things at the museum. Some folks are really interested in the subject matter of the museum and can therefore use a tour as a vent to express their fascination, discussing things.

TL;DR
People generally don’t want to read things
Props is a big plus
People prefer interactive information gathering
People are sceptical to new technology
Audio Guides can be some sort of escape