Tony Kuepfer - Tour Host and Trainer
Customer the focus for tour hosts
Tony Kuepfer is very clear about the role of a museum tour host. “The job of tour host is primarily one of customer service to visitors, providing them manaakitanga [hospitality] while they are here in the museum. Hosts are here for the welfare and benefit and security of our visitors."
Sparking the light in people's eyes
In his job at Te Papa, Tony never tires of inspiring the people he takes on tours. "Talking with curators and collection managers, you pick up all this extra information that adds a lot of value you can then pass on to your visitors.
"Watching them leave, saying 'Oh, I didn’t know that!', and being enlightened and enriched, seeing that sparkle in their eyes – it’s a buzz."
Using a theme to link a tour together
Tony says a good tour guide does more than just give their clients random facts.
"The real art of taking a tour is to create and work from a theme that you can then link to all of the different areas the visitors will be viewing, rather than just offering bits of information. The theme ties it up – it gives visitors a much better appreciation and understanding of what they are looking at."
Taking charge of the group when necessary
But keeping to a theme as well as to time can get tricky, Tony says. "Sometimes you’ll get one or two overbearing people in a group of people, who always have to add their two cents’ worth, which oftentimes evolves into five cents’ worth. You can read the faces of the other people going, ‘Oh please shut up, I want to listen to the guide’.
"There is a point where you have to assume charge. You do it politely, but you’ve got to be firm – ‘Well yes, we have to move on, we’re getting behind time, and I have so much more information I want to convey to you, so let's get moving'."
Tailor-made tours bring special satisfaction to both sides
One of Tony's favourite memories is of a tour he ran for a high-ranking party from Malaysia. Having trained Malaysian students in a previous job, he had an insight into their culture that helped make the tour special.
"I was able to respond to them in a culturally appropriate way. They felt very comfortable, because we’d gone to the trouble to provide something that was culturally familiar to them in relation to the things I showed them. They were very thrilled and pleased. We were able to have a special conversation, not just ordinary chit-chat, which they very much appreciated."
Read more about how Tony got academic recognition for his previous work as a glass blower and tutor
