TJ WALKER - THE HABIT INFLUENCER - Personal Development | LIVE STREAM

22 Dec 2014 · 3 min

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2:40

TJ Walker discusses whether cities should require tour guides to be licensed and pass tests, using Michelle Feener (a Savannah, Georgia tour guide) as a focal example. He frames the issue as a tension between municipal quality-control (accurate historical information) and First Amendment/free-speech concerns, arguing skepticism about heavy regulation of tour guides and favoring open opportunities for locals to give tours. The segment ends with a brief promotional call-to-action for TJ Walker's media training services.

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Should tour guides be required to pass tests before guiding tours in America? Michelle Feener is a tour guide in Savannah, Georgia. Very historic, beautiful town. I've been there. I've been on tours in Savannah, Georgia. She's filing a lawsuit against that city because that city, like a lot of cities, New York City and others, actually requires tour guides to be licensed to pass tests, to show certification that they know what they're talking about. Now, on the one hand, I do understand cities want to put their best foot forward. They want accurate historical information put out to tourists. On the other hand, what a tour guide does is speak. And we do have freedom of speech in America. That's essentially the argument made by the plaintiff in this case. Now, it's one thing to sort of yourself off as a medical expert and try to give people medical degrees and you yourself have no certification, but to simply tell somebody, well, this is where Julia Roberts sat when she was in this movie. And here's the main I have a hard time justifying in my own mind government. I'm not an anti regulation person, but I have a hard time justifying government putting its heavy hand on tour guides. Certainly if you are a tourist and you want the very best and you're willing to pay a lot, I'm sure you can find a local expert who will do you just fine. But if someone else who's lived in a town quite a long time and knows the people, knows the history, wants to make a few bucks extra giving a tour guide, I say let them have it. Any local person is probably going to be more interesting to you than just getting on one of the tour buses where you listen to the audio recording. And that's something done frequently, too, in cities around the world. So my message to city governments think twice before pandering and catering to the local tour givers lobby. And it's not an overpaid crowd, but still, some things just ought to stay unregulated. I'm TJ Walker. Thanks for watching. By the way, if you're looking for if you work for a government and you're trying to get yourself out of a pickle like this and you need help with messaging, media training, give me a call. I work with governments all over the world on how to get out of sticky jams just like this. So give me a call 212-764-4955 to talk about a training program for you and your colleague.