Commentary

Development
Presented by:

Monika A.N. Labaupa, DOT Accredited Trainer

2018 Museum Guiding Seminar

San Nicolas, Ilocos Norte, Region 1
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Learning Content
Definition of commentary or tour spiels
Types of Commentaries
Tour Script Sequence
Selecting Commentary Materials
Developing Your Tour Scripts
Delivering Commentaries

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TOUR SPIELS
• statements often said before the tour
commentary
• usually intended to persuade or instruct to
do something
• essential information re: visitor’s activity or
itinerary.
• usually statements that are prepared in
advance.

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COMMENTARIES:
• oral presentations of the tour
guide for the visitor
• spoken discussion or
description of a sight or an
event.
• spontaneous (natural,
extemporaneous, impromptu)
talks about a present sight or
object.

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TOUR SCRIPT:
 collection of commentaries and spiels
arranged in a logical sequence, & in an
organized and compelling way.
 serves as the lead for the tour guide to
follow during the delivery of
commentaries.

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 4 Types of
Commentaries

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4 Types of
Commentaries

Required Information
and Announcements.
Essential information that must be given
- welcome remarks
- introduction of self
- tour itinerary
- reminders, announcements, and instructions.
- recap and reminders given for the next activity of the
visitors at the end of the
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4 Types of
Commentaries
Required Information and Announcements.
Essential information that must be given at the beginning
of the tour activity
- Introduction of the tour guide, etc.
- Brief description of the museum and the sections
inside the museum

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4 Types of
Commentaries
INFORMATIVE COMMENTARIES.
presentations during the tour activity that are deemed of
interest and essential for the success of a tour.
- Data, facts, and figures that is conveyed for each museum
item
- General information that is useful and interesting

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4 Types of
Commentaries
Requested Explanation and
Clarifications.
When a guest ask questions related about the tour,
about the locality, destination or our country. The answer
to these questions establish the requested explanation or
clarification. This type of commentary gives the tour
guide an opportunity to expand the information given
about a specific subject.

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4 Types of
Commentaries
Requested Explanation and
Clarifications.
When a guest ask questions related about the tour,
about the locality, destination or our country. The answer
to these questions establish the requested explanation or
clarification. This type of commentary gives the tour
guide an opportunity to expand the information given
about a specific subject.

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Questions that are difficult for guides:
Questions for which a guide does not have an
answer.
Questions whose answers are controversial.
Questions that are too personal.
Questions that shed an unfavorable light on
the guide or some aspect of the region

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The following tips are helpful in
answering difficult questions;
• Welcome the question
• Be gracious, even when the question is
difficult
• Never regard a question as stupid or trivial
(do not make your client look or sound stupid)
• Never feel obliged to answer personal
questions
• Acknowledge a controversial question, and
then move on to a more positive point.
• Use humor when appropriate
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4 Types of
Commentaries
OPTIONAL COMMENTARY.
This is the fun part when giving commentaries. Most of
these remarks are spontaneous and impromptu.

INCLUDES:
- Ad lib comments
- Jokes
- Witty stories
- Lore legends and trivia
- Sell optional tours or activities.
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SEQUENTIAL
COMPONENTS OF
TOUR
COMMENTARIES
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

INTRODUCTION
Act or pre-talk in order to get attention of audience, or an attention
getting word or greeting for an announcement before the body of the
commentary

“Mabuhay, Magandang Araw sa inyong

lahat” that is the Filipino way of saying,
Welcome, Good Day to All of you!

Greetings
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

INTRODUCTION
“May I have your
attention please?”

“I have an
announcement to make”

ANNOUNCEMENTS
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

INTRODUCTION
Act or pre-talk in order to get attention of audience, or an attention
getting word or greeting for an announcement before the body of the
commentary

“As you can see “Before going inside

the museum, let me
on your right…” give you a brief
background about…”

ON-BOARD WALKABOUTS
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

BODY OF COMMENTARY
delivery of the narrative of the main
subject or subjects.

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BODY OF COMMENTARY
Delivery of spiel, commentary or announcement

What to say and how to say it:

- must be ORGANIZED & has LOGICAL SEQUENCE
historical timelines (chronological) or geographical
location (north-south)
- Provide a short introduction when adding NEW TOPICS
by relating it to a previously narrated subject
- Should be STRAIGHT FORWARD, easy to understand
(not ambiguous)
- Use SIMPLE WORDS
- DOT NOT PREACH
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BODY OF COMMENTARY
Delivery of spiel, commentary or announcement

What to say and how to say it:

- Always be ready of the following:
- Reaction to the commentary (good or bad or no
reaction at all), answer any questions asked. You
should provide satisfactory explanations.
- Need to recap the commentary. Occasionally, there
will be a need to re-emphasize the message.
- Need to reminders. Always make it a point to
remind visitors of the next scheduled activity before
leaving them
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

CONCLUDE or CONNECT
Provide short introduction when adding new topics by
relating it to a previously narrated subject (connecting
phrases)

“Are there any “let me now tell

question?…” you about….”

“Awhile ago I mentioned the…

let me tell you more about it….”
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Sequential Components of Spiels &
Commentaries

THANK YOU (GOOD BYE)

Always thank the guest for their
attention when you are done, and when
leaving them bid them goodbye.

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SELECTING
COMMENTARY
MATERIAL

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 PRIMARY
DATA.
 Firsthand experiences
are the best source of
information.
 Acquired through actual
experience of the
location or activity being
introduced or discussed.

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 SECONDARY
DATA
• Acquired through reading of
pertinent material and / or
information exchanged with
those who have the primary
data.

• These information are mostly

taken from books, magazines,
journals, internet, and other
reference materials.

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 TECHNICAL
DATA
 Specialized knowledge of the
person conveying the
information.
 This include expert
knowledge taken from further
education and training.
 This may include general
information on the Philippine
economy, sociology, politics,
religion and the life. .

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 CURRENT
EVENTS
 Events of importance in the local,
domestic and international scene.
 Can be taken from newspaper,
internet, social media, TV, radio, etc.
 These may also include, weather
report, road and traffic updates,
tourism advisories, events like
parades and strike.
 Current events pertinent to the
visitors interest is obviously also
important.

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 TRIVIA
• interesting tidbits of almost
anything.
• These may interest and
amuse tourists when included
in the commentaries.
• Trivia can be about Philippine
folklore, legends, jokes, etc.

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 TRIVIA
• interesting tidbits of almost
anything.
• These may interest and
amuse tourists when included
in the commentaries.
• Trivia can be about Philippine
folklore, legends, jokes, etc

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DEVELOPING YOUR
TOUR SCRIPTS

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Tell a Story

•As much as possible make

your commentaries like
stories that have
beginnings, middles and
endings.

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Collect stories
Great tour guides collect stories and
shares them to his/her tourists.
Where do we get stories, form
secondary sources. These compiled
stories come in hand at times when
you need it most. Stories works for
us especially we have long distance
travel from one sites to another.
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Create a theme
Great tour guides prepare beforehand.
Depending on the itinerary, or the profile of
the tourists. For example, you can change
themes if your tourists are students, if they
are senior citizens, or what if they are all
scholars.

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Stimulate curiosity
When doing commentaries, it is
best to encourage them to think.
Ask questions like, “What do you
think this is?”, “What do you think
happen here?”
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Prepare you script
• Identify all the subjects/topics that you may
discuss during the tour
• Do not limit your subjects/topics with just the
attractions and activities that they will do.
Expand your subjects into other topics so that
you have a varied collection subjects
• After identifying the possible subjects that you
may discuss, research as many related
literature about the subject. Do not limit your
reference from brochures or internet; use
books and library as well.
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• After you have collected all the materials that
you may use, compose / write your
commentaries or tour script. The arrangement
may be according to the arrangement of your
tour.
• For starters, include in your commentaries
/script introductions, adlibs, jokes, stories, trivia
reminders – later on, you will be able to know
this by heart

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• After you have prepared your tour script,
review it and practice delivering the script until
you know your commentaries by heart

“Practice Makes Perfect”

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DELIVERING
EFFECTIVE TOUR
COMMENTARIES

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MORE TIPS….

MAKE YOURSELF HEARD

- Project your voice
- Lift your chin to open up throat and allow sound to
resonate strongly
- Direct your voice to the back of the group (this is
not the same as shouting – it appears aggressive
and not appealing to listen)
- Position yourself and your group so that you can
be heard.
- Try to face the group most times
- On a walkabout, do not give out information while
moving, as only those nearby will hear your.
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MORE TIPS….

DICTION IS ALSO IMPORTANT

- If you have a very strong regional
accent, dilute it a bit, unless you are
absolutely certain that your entire
group is local

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MORE TIPS….

DON’T BE MONOTONOUS
- Keep tone of voice conversational.
Allow the pitch of your voice to rise
and fall the same way as it would, if
you were talking to your friends.
- Don’t sound like you have memorized
your script
- Don’t read the texts behind you!

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MORE TIPS….

• Avoid overloading with too

many facts and figures. You
can never tell it all anyway!

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MORE TIPS….

PACING
- Your tour may well have a strict schedule
to adhere. It is wise to map out the
walking to talk. Each stop should roughly
last the same amount of time.
- Be respectful of visitor’s time, needs and
other constraints! (i.e., including other
venues and stops in a museum, in their
day) and don’t forget to leave time for
visitors to go to the museum store, too!
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MORE TIPS….

DON’T ASSUME
- You may know exactly what the significance and
all the details of the sights or items you are
showing. Your group will have, as a general rule,
no clue. Don’t make the mistake of assuming
your group has a working knowledge of the site.
- Give a few references to contemporary famous
people and events to help give visitors a sense of
chronology
- If you must use a technical word as in certain
specific subjects, explain it. When mentioning a
PLACE NAME, repeat it slowly even spell it.
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MORE TIPS….

ASK QUESTIONS
- “How many of you know about…?” etc.
- You can instantly gauge which aspects of the tour
you can emphasize and which areas you may
need to explain in terms easier to grasp.

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MORE TIPS….

COMEDY
- We can’t all be hilariously funny entertainers, but
a lighthearted tone goes a long way. Find a funny
anecdote about some of the people with links to
your buildings / exhibits and have them ready in
your arsenal at all times.

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MORE TIPS….

HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE
- No one will expect you to have an encyclopedic
knowledge of your subject. Make sure you have
at least a working knowledge of every aspect of
your site / exhibit .
- Never be tempted to lie about something you
have a clue about.
- Event if you have worked at our site for years,
there is always a new nugget of interesting trivia
to learn an share
- RESEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH

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MORE TIPS….

Technical Word
you must use a technical word as in certain
specific subjects, explain it. When mentioning
a PLACE NAME, repeat it slowly even spell it.

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MORE TIPS….

DATES should be used

SPARINGLY
- Certain key dates cannot be omitted, but time can
be identified in a number of ways.
1683 - The late 17th century
The late eighteen hundreds : Just
over five hundred years ago

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MORE TIPS….

Be Accessible.
• This is a good opportunity for shyer guests to
approach you individually to ask a specific
question.
• Always be present

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MORE TIPS….

Practice eye contact.

 To build rapport, shift from
one audience to another.
 Do not stare at one person
for a long time.
 Don’t wear shades while yo
u are doing your commenta
ry, otherwise they will not
see your eyes.

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MORE TIPS….

DON’T RUSH.
Make it enjoyable - not like a procedure
that you can't wait to be done with!
Remember too, when going from stop to
stop, try to walk much slower than normal
to allow time for photography.

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 MORE TIPS….

INDICATING
- Indicate physically, pointing at what should be looked at: extend your arm fully
and hold your indication long enough for all to look at.
- If objects are not high enough for all to see, describe the small objects to give
people time to approach later and look at it.
- In addition, indicate verbally: “to your left / to your right”
- In a bus or taxi, avoid “straight ahead” since people at the back frequently
cannot see and feel left out. If it is essential to indicate something ahead, add
“...and shortly on your left/right...”
- Never say “over there” – the immediate response will be ‘where?’ Where
necessary, add verbal details such as “the house with the red roof’, ‘the tree
with the pink flowers’ and so on.
- Position both your self and your group to see. Choose you position carefully
so that you do not obstruct the very visual you are talking about. Choose
stops where you can carefully talk about a number of visible items.

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 MORE TIPS….

TOP VISUAL PRIORITY

(TVP)
- Very quickly, talk about
something than can
immediately be seen. People
recall no more than 20% of
what they hear, they recall
30% of what they see.
- People may look at
something, but until told what
it is they oftenThe
do not
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in this it.
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 MORE TIPS….

POSITIONING
Make sure you position
yourself and your group
so that you can be
heard.
Keep you group in front
of you or beside you. Try
to face your group most
times.

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PTGA - CAPITOL TOUR GUIDES

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TOUR GUIDES OF ILOCOS SUR Assn. (TGISa)

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PTGA – MALIKET BATCH

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Vigan City Tour Guides
(TGVigan)
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• La Union Community Guides
(AsTig)

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• Ilocos Norte Tour Guides
INTL

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PTGA – Maaro Batch (Community Guides)

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x

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 In Search of Excellence
the battlecry of the 21st Century Tour Guide in
the Philippines

Hindi na Pwede
and Pwede Na!

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…. THIS IS NOT THE
END

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