<p>Interesting article from the New York Times, reporting that campuses are remaking their campus tours. Tour guides are told not to walk backward and to tell stories rather than recite facts and statistics. Hendrix College is featured, as is a consulting company called Targetx.</p>
<p>It was an interesting article but I actually like to hear some of the stats and history of a campus during a tour. I would also rather have a tour guide walk backwards facing the group while talking rather than looking at their back and not hearing a word they say.I was not exactly clear what Hendrix does that is better than the traditional tour. I think the guide makes all the difference, some tour guides present the material as dry facts with no personality while other guides seem to take the same exact facts and make them interesting simply by adding a little humor or personality to the same pitch.</p>
<p>Backwards or forwards seems like an insignificant issue compared to getting the right mix of statistics and personality. I think the stats can be gotten off the website or the college catalog and was always amused when people asked “do you have xx Department” instead of looking it up themselves. So much of a tour is trying to decide if one feels comfortable at a school and with the people you see. This is a bit unfair to the schools and not very efficient as you will always only see a small slice which may not be representative. Nevertheless that is the most important function of a tour…plus giving us parents the chance to see what how the buildings are maintained and what students look like today vs the “good old days…”.</p>
<p>One thing I have never understood is why colleges don’t record their tours and put them on the website. It doesn’t have to be a slick presentation just a basic record for people who did visit to refresh their memories or for those who can make it to see the college.</p>
<p>Or here’s another tour option from today’s Chronicle of Higher Education 
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