Getting Tour Travelers to Mingle

on the record ❖

How Do You Get Your Travelers to Mix and Mingle?

FOLLOWING ARE ANSWERS from Leisure Group Travel readers who responded to the question: How do you get a busload of strangers to mix and socialize? What are your techniques for promoting group camaraderie on tours?

As an ice breaker for motorcoach groups, we jumble our name tags. So John Doe may become Jane Goodgal by receiving her name tag. Part of the ice breaker is for individuals on the trip to find their own name tag and switch with the person who has it. One individual may have the name tags of several different people before they are able to find their own. Name tag switching is not allowed on the coach (or other mode of transportation). So, switching is done at rest stops, food breaks, layovers and tour stops. This is particularly fun on trips that involve several different modes of transportation and more than one motorcoach!

Our travelers enjoy becoming different people…we have seen men act like women (accidentally going to the women’s restroom because of the name tag)…and people acting like the person they have the name tag for, if they know them real well. Sometimes travelers will turn over the tag to make it difficult for others to find their name. This is a great happy note to start the trip on.

We also start and end each day with a joke to keep laughs and smiles on our bus! So, as long as the group is laughing and smiling…that means they are having a good time.

On holidays, we try to have a “meet & greet/hotel reception” in conjunction LeisureGroupTravel.com

SUSAN WHITLEY

JEANNE SLEETH

with the holiday. We were traveling on Halloween and the hotel provided our reception on Halloween night so we could have a Halloween party…this was a huge success. Travelers were told ahead of time that we would have a party and to bring their costume. We did games and costume awards. Travelers put a lot of thought into what they wore. We even made an unplanned stop where they could buy masks (really cheap)! This particular year we had several “Bill Clintons” and only one “Monica Lewinski” (a guy dressed as a lady). They acted the part and poor “Monica” didn’t know what to do!

The whole group partied for hours and everyone was laughing the entire trip!

It really made for great stories (and pictures) when we returned home!

Susan Whitley Activities Coordinator Stanly County Senior Center Albemarle, NC One of the best ways I’ve found to get a tour group to mix is to have members introduce themselves and tell why they chose that particular tour/destination.

I usually get a great variety of interesting answers. On an Orient tour one

TINA HORLEY

passenger had been told as a child that if she dug a hole deep enough, she would end up in China and was always fascinated with the prospect of visiting this country. Others may have been to the destination many years prior and want to see the changes that have taken place or had relatives that came from the area and were tracing their roots.

Whatever the reason, serious or silly, it’s a great conversation starter!

Tina Horley Product Manager/Tour Manager Senior Tours Canada Toronto, ON It depends on the trip as to what I do. On trips greater than three days, I have the “People Bingo” game that we play. It has blocks just like bingo. In each block is a description for a person – blue eyes, brown eyes, wears a gold wedding ring, first bus trip, name begins with the letter “S,” etc. I copied this game from one of the group magazines. They have to ask questions about each other and get their names. Something else that I like to do, especially on longer trips, is have each passenger come up to the microphone and give their name, information about themAugust 2010 15

on the record ❖ selves as to family, where they work or retired from, and anything they want to tell the group. At the end of the trip I have them come up and say what they liked about the trip.

Jeanne Sleeth Classic Club Officer Empire Bank Springfield, MO My favorite game—and this one works for complete strangers or a full load of church folks who’ve known each other for years—is “2 Truths and a Lie.” It only requires a pencil, small pad of paper and microphone with a long stretchy cord. After explaining the game, draw seat/row numbers from a prepared drawing bag and ask one person in that row to volunteer to participate. Once the rules have been explained, almost always one or more in each row of 2-4 seats is ready to participate. Here’s how it’s played: The challenger has to tell us three things about himself or herself that they don’t think we already know.

Two must be true and one must be a lie. They jot down the lie and hand it to the escort who is bringing the mike.

The crowd listens and then discusses what they think is true and what they think is a lie and why. The group must then come to a consensus (or vote) on which tall tale is the lie. If the crowd correctly guesses the lie, the teller has to admit it. But if they don’t, they get to sit down and reveal nothing.

Believe me, it gets the interaction moving on the coach and opens opportunities for chit-chat at every pit stop, restaurant and attraction along the way. At the end of the day, they’re all laughing together about who is the best liar as well as about the newly exposed truths their friends have revealed. This game is so much fun—and such a great interaction tool—that sometimes it’s 16 August 2010

the only road game we play on a oneday trip. By the end of the day, even the shyest ones have come up with three whoppers to tell.

Of course, depending on the group and funds available for prizes, you can have a run-off for best overall liar (requiring an additional reveal challenge) and you can vote on the participant with the most surprising or unbelievable truths. Or you can give the winners during the first leg the first seating option on the second leg.

Linda Logsdon, A.C.C. Von Bears Travel Tulsa, OK Our company, which has primarily urban/suburban travelers, recently purchased another company with predominantly rural customers. On the first trip I escorted with the new combined clientele, I used a unique trick to get them to mingle. I waited until folks were getting off the coach for our morning rest stop to hand out the name tags.

I gave each person someone else’s name tag and while we were stopped everybody had to find the rightful owner and also find their own name tags. The passengers enjoyed the activity and it was a good way to introduce everyone on the first day of a multi-day trip.

When escorts pass around the microphone on the coach and have people introduce themselves, often the other passengers can hear but not see them.

I think face-to-face introductions with the name tag game make it easier to remember names and faces.

Shannon Murray, Tour Coordinator Crossroad Tours Olathe, KS Ask everyone for a picture they carry in their wallet. Child, grandchild, mate, parent, dog... it doesn’t matter. While the group is off the motorcoach, scotch

tape the photos in random order above the seats. As they go to re-board, explain they must find their relinquished photo, have a seat in that location, and explain who is in the photo to their new seatmate. Reassure them it’s only temporary.

At the next stop they can move back to their assigned seatmate and take their photo. I had one gentleman who carried no photographs so became Andrew Jackson on his $20 bill! Another declared to the group, “I think I’ll try her husband again... he talked to me!”

Great laughs and conversation were created for the balance of the trip!

Anita Judd-Jenkins Vice President, Heritage Club Director Home National Bank Arkansas City, KS My favorite way to get people to mix is to put all the name tags in a basket and have them draw out one. At the first rest break, I tell them to “find yourself,” introduce yourself and tell each other something about yourself. We have a lot of fun teasing the guys wearing girls’ names. They wear the tag until they are “found.” Lots of fun and a very quick way to get them chatting!

Sandy Jamison, Tour Coordinator Green River Lines/Hansen Tours Peru, IL I give four people the title of being “It.” These people have to be interviewed by the other passengers. All this proves is that they are really speaking to one another. Also, you have to get their autograph, so they are given paper and pen. They must have the person they are introducing themselves to write down their name and get the answers to the following questions like: Where are you from? How often have you traveled by motorcoach?

How many children or grandchildren do you have? Before you know it, they LeisureGroupTravel.com

are laughing and talking among themselves. The one who meets the most people, has the most grandchildren, or so on, wins a gift card from Cracker Barrel. They have only until dinner time on the first day of travel to break the ice.

Elaine Johnson Cross Country Tours-Trailways Spartanburg. SC

In order to get people to mix or socialize, you may want to do games like bingo or trivia, or just let people meet each other on their own.

Richard Fisher Coast to Coast South Holland, IL For more reader responses on how group leaders get passengers to socialize, go to LeisureGroupTravel.com.

IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE of Leisure Group Travel, our On the Record column will look at holiday travel.

Please send us your response to this question: What challenges do you face in planning and executing holiday season trips? What have been some of your most successful holiday trips?

Along with your comments, please include your name, company name and location. Also for publication, send a high-resolution photo of yourself. A selection of responses will be printed in the October 2010 issue.

Thanks in advance for your valuable opinions.

Send to: Randy Mink, randy@ptmgroups.com

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