The curious thing is, many tour leaders have never encountered the term ‘interpretation’ Well, for starters, we are not talking about interpretation between languages or other types of translation services. Those are a skill unto themselves – but not what we are talking about today. In this instance, we mean the interpretation of culture, the environment or history as done by an educator, park ranger or tour guide. Or in other words, think of interpretation as simply a communication strategy. To give you a little taste, The TORE method is actually an acronym and a guide to effective interpretation. Dr. Ham defines ‘interpreting’ as a process aimed at provoking audiences to do their own thinking and thereby develop their own understanding of your topic. As you’ll see, by presenting information with a strong, relevant theme, researchers have found that audiences are more engaged and more likely to think deeply about what you’re saying. The four qualities outlined by the TORE model actually emerged from a huge body of research on how humans respond to communication when it’s done well. Don’t forget to grab your TORE method cheat sheet right here, which you can use as a resource when working your next talk! All the very best and a special thanks to Dr. Ham for a copy of his most recent book! Kelsey T and Sarah B Lead Trainers, Be a Better Guide Academy Finished Listening? Let us know in the comments if you have some other advice for presenting information on tour or other great interpretation tips for tour guides! Full Video of the Episode Leave a comment or read what others have shared about this episode