galaxy far far away, we took one small step for man and asked not what we could

do for our country but whether to be or not to be.

(Hold for applause, smile winningly)

Hi there Kelsey Tonner here from Be a Better Guide coming to you live with a

giant pineapple. Today, we're going to be looking at getting the attention of your

group. Now this is something that we as tour leaders and experienced hosts need

to do all the time. So after over a decade of leading tours and experiences,

here are seven of our best strategies for getting the attention of your group.

One, always start with the group's attention. This is worth staying at

the beginning because I'm always surprised by how many tour leaders will

just sort of start speaking in the hopes of the rest of the group will just kind

of tune in but, I would recommend against doing this and always signal to your

group that you're beginning and, don't say anything of substance until you've

got everyone's attention. Why? Because your beginnings should be awesome right?

This should be when you hook people. When you pique their curiosity or you lay out

what's about to happen. We don't want people missing your great beginnings. Two,

only speak with full attention. Now this technique is gonna signal to your group

that you're only going to speak unless you have complete silence from everybody.

This is a fantastic strategy. It can be a little intimidating if you haven't done

it before but what happens is, the group begins to south enforce. So if they see

you up at the front patiently waiting, maybe even looking at those people who

are still chattering and being disruptive, other group members will

quiet them down and say "Hey we're starting". It's a really guest focused

thing to do because those people who are chatting, there's a good chance they're

disrupting the people next time. Three engage disruptive guests. This is a

fantastic way of drawing individuals or small groups who may have drifted away

or being a little bit disruptive. You can do it in lots of subtle ways. Maybe

walking over and gently placing your hand on the shoulder if somebody is

being disruptive while still giving your presentation. You can also do it by

gently calling groups out. You might say something like, "Hey girls can I have your

attention for a second? Yeah, I don't want you to miss this" and then going in. You

can also use names if you know the names of your group members, all the better

because people love the sound of their own name. So you can say something as

simple as "and Steve, I know you're gonna get a kick out of this" and just by

saying Steve's name, he's gonna perk right back up and tune it. Four, use the

silent Fox. Now there are many variations on this technique but they all involve

the same basic rules which is you explain to your group at the beginning

that if they see you holding up a particular hand gesture like this little

fox here, they too have to make the hand gesture holding their hand high in the

air and they can't speak. So basically this spreads through a

group and it's a way of getting their attention without having to holler and

yell. So in Germany, I think in schools, they use the silent fox I've heard. I've

been to conferences where I've seen that pinkie use. The gesture doesn't matter.

You just have to explain it at the beginning and you can have a little fun

with it too you know, getting your group to talk amongst themselves and then go

and see how fast they can quiet down. It's a great technique to use. Five, use

claps and snaps. This is another technique and works as follows in your

regular speaking voice. Say, "if you can hear me clap twice" and then you wait and

hopefully someone near you heard you will give you two claps. You then repeat

with a different number of claps or snaps. "If you can hear me clap three

times", and you keep repeating until everyone in the group is clapping or

snapping a lot. Now this works super effectively because one, you don't have

to shout or yell and two, all this clapping and snapping get the attention

of other folks. They're curious as to what's going on. Other great thing is you

don't need to explain this game at the beginning. You just use that technique

whenever you want and then launch directly into your content. After people

have done it once or twice, it becomes that much more effective. Six, leverage

your physical environment. A great tour leader is always thinking about physical

space when leading their tour. For example, is there a shady place, if it's

too hot for your group to be in, is there an opportunity for them to sit down, is a

protection from the wind, is there a quiet place if you were in a crowded

area where they can hear you better. This physical environment is super

important to pay attention to and also try and get yourself elevated any

opportunity you can. Are there some stairs that you can climb, can you hop up

and sit on a balcony allowing people to see you and hear you, is gonna be super

important for keeping their attention. Seven, treat attention with the respect it

deserves. Once you actually have the attention of an audience, don't squander

it treat it as sacred and don't waste it for a moment. This can happen with any

leader really. Once they have that group's attention, they get distracted by

side conversation or they ramble or they have to fish something out of their bag

or they're just not prepared people will learn that you're wasting their time and

they'll stop tuning in so, be brief, get to the point educate, entertain,

inspire and then give people back their freedom. In other words, treat attention

as a scarce commodity. To summarize, always start with the

group's attention, only speak with full attention, engage disruptive people, use

the silent Fox, use claps and snaps ,leverage your physical environment and

treat attention with the respect it deserves. Want some additional

inspiration on captivating audiences? check out our PDF below "10 incredible

speeches by 10 incredible speakers". This is a fantastic PDF that has 10 YouTube

leaks where you can go and check out these speakers in action for your own

inspiration. But before you do that, in the comments section below, what

techniques do you use to get your group's attention? Know somebody who

might benefit from this video. Every share like is greatly appreciated. Thanks

so much for being here and we'll see you next time.

Okay as a quick bonus, I made a short list of ways that you can get people's

attention that are really effective but not recommended right like taking off

your clothes, it's a good one, screaming at the top of your lungs, swatting

invisible bats, it's fun, faking a medical emergency, setting off firecrackers,

firing off air horns or making a sound like this "Hey, I hear the most annoying

sound in the world".