Docenting Skills

Docent Courtesy

• Docents should arrive 15 minutes early to check the galleries making certain the objects to be discussed are on the wall. Docents are always on time and prepared to give their tours.
• Docents face their audience so that they can have eye contact and can be heard.
• Docents modulate their voices appropriately when in the galleries (while giving a tour and when discussing works with other docents)
• Docents wear their badges at all times when in the museum (Exception: docents do not wear their badges when attending another docent’s tour).
• Docents maintain a distance of at least two feet from the art objects.
• Docents do not infringe on the enjoyment of people in the galleries.
• Docents do not intrude when our visitors are standing in front of an object/painting. The docent should request permission to join that person or wait until the object is free.
• When attending a walkthrough docents who will be touring the exhibition are allowed to stand in the front of the audience. All other docents are expected to stand back. Questions are held until the end of the walkthrough.
• When attending a lecture, questions are held until the end of the lecture or until invited by the lecturer.
• When xeroxing materials, docents always immediately return the master to the file. Other docents will also need the information.
• Docents in training should request permission to attend a docent’s tour. On such occasions, the docent in training will remove one’s badge, refrain from asking questions, making comments or taking notes.
• All museum personnel (docents, docents in training, volunteers, staff, etc.) are asked to politely intercede if a member of the public is standing too close to a painting or object. If a guard is available, one should ask them to intercede.
• Docents never approach a member of the staff.

What needs to be included in every presentation:

• Name of the painting/object, artist and date
• Description of the painting or object (what is your audience seeing)
• Medium (oil, granite, etc)
• Relevant biographical information
• Elements of art
• How this piece relates to the overall tour theme
• Story/symbolism if appropriate
• Historical context
• Transition to the next piece

Involving Your Group Without Asking Questions

You don’t have to ask questions to keep your audience involved in your presentation. Try the following:

• Use action verbs, i.e. imagine, think about, can you see
• Ask rhetorical questions
• Maintain eye contact with your audience
• Ask your group why they came to the museum
• Evoke the other senses (hearing, smell, etc)
• Draw on contemporary experiences and relate to an earlier historic period
• Announce that questions and comments are welcome
• Maintain an accepting and pleasant demeanor
• Use comparison and contrast
• Demonstrate how the artist involved the onlooker

The All-Important First Five Minutes

• Gathering the group
• Wander through the galleries announcing the tour
• Let the volunteers know which tour you will be doing and the route you will be taking.
• Arrive at the stanchion at least 10 minutes before your tour is scheduled to begin. Engage interested
  individuals in conversation about the museum, organ, etc.

While you are waiting at the stanchion

• Chat with your group to determine specific interests and the reason for their visit (this keeps them from
  wandering off and helps to establish a rapport with your audience). You may also use this as an opportunity to
  talk about the museum and its history and/or the organ. Try asking where the visitor is from and what brought
  them into the museum.

And the first five minutes

• Introduce yourself; establish a friendly and accepting demeanor
• Chat with the group to elicit feedback, invite questions and comments
• Let your audience know what is going to be covered, your tour theme and the route to be covered.
• And make sure to let the public know that their admission tickets are good at both the Legion and the
  deYoung on that day.
• Remember you only need one person to start a tour. If you unfortunately do not have an audience at the
  stanchion, circulate in the galleries and offer to answer questions.

How docents fit into the Museum

From the perspective of the public, docents are:

• Representatives of the museum
• Educators and entertainers
• Givers of information about the collection and the museum
• Recipients of complaints

The staff thinks of us as:

• Representatives of the staff
• Knowledgeable volunteers
• The face of the museum

The guards look to us to:

• Act as another pair of eyes in the galleries
• Answer questions about the collection and general museum information
• Assist with crowd control
• Ensure that our group maintains the appropriate distance from objects
• Maintain control over our group

The volunteers are our champions, promoting us to the public; they also look to us for assistance in answering
questions about the collection.

The Docent Council enjoys a cordial relationship with the staff and curators. However, their time is extremely
limited; to that end individual docents do not approach members of the staff with questions regarding the
collection or research associated with it. Your seminar leader will be happy to assist you in obtaining answers to
your questions or directing your questions to another docent who will pursue an answer with you.

Developing Your Own Touring Style

Docent tours are geared to the ages and interests of our audiences. They are usually conducted in a
combination of lecture and/or inquiry discussion techniques, but it is the audience who really decides how the
information will be received and hence given.

What are the advantages of each?

• Lecture… Asking Questions…
• Lots of information
• Increases audience participation and understanding of the artwork
• Allows time to look at the painting
• Allows audience to join in; often resulting in increased self-confidence
• Docent has more control over the tour
• Very lively tour
• Keeps you on your theme
• Gives audience tools for next visit
• Can provide a viewpoint that you, the docent, never considered

Are there situations where one style is more appropriate than the other?

• Size of the audience – too large can make it difficult to control and too small can make the individuals feel
  as if they are “on the spot” if a question is posed.
• Crowded gallery conditions can make a question and answer format more difficult. If the audience appears reticent to answer questions, it may be best to utilize techniques that will involve them in a less assertive manner.

How do you prepare for each of the two styles?

• Review your notes; prepare questions that are open-ended and non-threatening to the age level of your
  audience or consider techniques that will involve your audience without asking questions.
• Chat with your group at the stanchion; get them talking and alert them that you will be asking questions over the course of the tour.
• Adopt an attitude that is receptive to new and different ideas
• Practice responses for those unexpected observations (what an interesting idea!)
• Listen to your audiences’ responses carefully; glean some point that is relevant and pickup on that idea
  and expound on it.
• Watch your audience; they will let you know what is working!

How do you determine which style to use?

• Your audience’s response or lack thereof
• Your own comfort level
• The technique that works best with a particular work of art

Can you switch from one format to the other mid tour?

• Often a combination of lecture and question/answer
  works best – complementing each other throughout a tour.

Updated on: February 5, 2010