Length

Keep It Short and Focused

Try to keep your tours to an hour-and-a-half. If you are on a walking tour, most people get uncomfortable standing or walking for longer periods of time, and need a place to sit.

If you are going to go longer, plan a break inside the tour. Your participants might also want to do other Think City Tours, so try to stick to a reasonable time frame.

Breadth versus depth: Try to strike the balance between talking and moving. It is much harder to stand on pavement for two hours, than to walk on it. Keep the group moving, but bear in mind that covering great distances with only a few key stopovers is also frustrating. Just remember to be kind and move your folks along.

Longer tours: There is an argument for having a tour that covers more territory than stories or details. Talking as you go along with your group, individually or en masse, can certainly be enjoyable and personable.

If you're planning a walking tour over two kilometres, please realize you are going to have to sacrifice stationary talk time and focus on ‘getting there' to some extent. People will also drop off naturally if they need to take a break or get somewhere else – don't be offended.

Local versus global: When thinking through your tour, assume the people live and work in this city. If they are visitors to town that's great, but pitch the content to locals who are familiar with the urban turf, some of the politics and players. These tours are not a tourism initiative, it's a chance to go deeper in neighbourhoods you don't know, or want to know better.