As a tour guide, public speaking isn’t just part of the job—it’s the main component. Giving a tour, greeting guests at the Center, and providing general information to the public are all essential to being a good guide. But glossophobia, or the fear of public speaking, is estimated to affect 75% of all people with symptoms ranging from the very mild to extreme.

If you’re part of that majority, never fear! The Sunnylands Tour Guide position was created and designed to focus on cultivating interpersonal communication and soft skills (personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people), which can be transferred and applied to any degree, career, or life event.

Soft skills are important because unlike hard skills, which are teachable and measurable abilities (math, grammar, computer programs, etc.), soft skills are traits that can mark someone as a good employee (etiquette, public speaking, collaboration, etc.).

The Sunnylands Tour Guide position helps to polish and grow soft skills in each of our guides. These soft skills include but are not limited to:

Communication
Teamwork
Adaptability / Flexibility
Problem solving
Critical observation
Leadership
Responsibility
Self-motivation
Time management

Overview

Brief overview of tour guide presentation and public speaking tips.

Please find below scripts for the Historic Walk and the Landscape Tour.
These scripts are not necessarily meant to be memorized, but rather are given as examples of what to say, tone, mood, and structure of a tour.

Use this password tourscript2020 to access the video below.