New York Like a Native
  • Home
    • Brooklyn 101 tour >
      • Brooklyn 202 tour
  • Brooklyn tours
    • North & west of Prospect Park >
      • Fort Greene & Clinton Hill tour
      • DUMBO, Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn Heights tour
      • Park Slope tour
      • Brooklyn Bridge (and more) tour
      • Atlantic Avenue & Downtown Brooklyn
      • Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens tour
      • Red Hook tour
    • Williamsburg & north Brooklyn >
      • Williamsburg tour
      • Greenpoint tour
      • Bushwick and East Williamsburg tour
    • Central Brooklyn >
      • Bedford-Stuyvesant tour
      • Crown Heights tour
      • (Not Just) Victorian Flatbush tour
      • Green-Wood Cemetery tour
    • Coney Island and southern Brooklyn >
      • Coney Island Webinar, Virtual Tour, & Resources
      • Coney Island (& Brighton Beach) tour
      • Sunset Park tour
      • Bensonhurst tour
      • Bay Ridge tour
    • Jewish, food, and Xmas lights tours >
      • Jewish Neighborhood Tours
      • Food, dessert, ice cream tours
      • Dyker Heights Christmas Lights tour
    • Moving to Brooklyn/layover tours >
      • Moving to/Studying in/Retiring in Brooklyn
      • Airport/Cruise/Layover tours in Brooklyn
    • Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park/Barclays Center
  • Beyond Brooklyn
    • Jackson Heights tour
    • Lower East Side tour
    • Long Island City tour
    • Ridgewood tour
    • Sunnyside & LIC East
  • About your guide
  • Fees/Schedule/FAQ
    • Fees for private tours
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
    • Vehicle and custom tours
    • Tours for classes
    • Resources on Brooklyn
    • How to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
  • Contact me/Book
  • Blog

Leading a Socially Distant Tour in Pandemic Times: How a New Transmitter System Allows Adjustments

12/28/2020

0 Comments

 
PicturePhoto: Jim Sailer
As you might imagine, the walking tour business has pretty much stalled since March, though I and some others have made a partial pivot to leading webinars, aka virtual tours.

But recently a previous client, who lives in Brooklyn, contacted me to organize a tour for a small family gathering. He expressed interest in two neighborhoods. I recommended Red Hook, which is not only very interesting, it's not very crowded, so perfect for social distancing.

He started with just a handful of people, but when he said the group was up to 8, I decided to invest in a tour guide system, with a transmitter and 10 receivers with earphones, to ensure I could be heard while maintaining social distance. (I asked him to cap the group at 10; it wound up as 9 people.)

I'd thought for a while about buying such a system to enhance options for visitors. (Meanwhile, new technologies are emerging to convert people's smartphones into receivers, and they can use their own earbuds. But I didn't have time to check that out.)

The best-known name for such a system, and likely both the most expensive and the highest quality, is known as Whisper, which does not publish its prices for sale or rent. I bought a much cheaper competitor, perhaps a knock-off.

​Did it work? Well, mostly. I was able to speak into the lapel microphone, and the group could hear me from a good distance away, even those lagging a block or more behind. That saved time, because they didn't have to catch up to hear me, and it also allowed people to keep a healthy distance even when i wanted them relatively close, to show them images or a book.

One flaw was static at certain times, perhaps related to wind. I'll need to test it out more. Bottom line: this adds an option at a time when walking tours are constrained.

Yes, there's something lost when your face is covered, as the photo suggests, and your glasses change color. That said, it's still invigorating and interesting to be out there touring, especially when we can see things like this.

0 Comments

    Touring Brooklyn Blog

    Observations and ephemera related to my tours and Brooklyn. Comments and questions are welcome--and moderated.

    Archives

    February 2023
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    May 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    September 2019
    September 2018
    July 2018
    April 2018
    July 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015

    Categories

    All
    Bay Ridge
    Bensonhurst
    Brooklyn 101
    Brooklyn History
    Bushwick
    Covid 19
    Covid-19
    Dyker Heights
    Food
    Gentrification
    Park Slope
    Touring Brooklyn
    Williamsburg

    RSS Feed

New York Like A Native: Energetic, eclectic tours of Brooklyn & beyond. Experienced guide. Personal service.
  • Home
    • Brooklyn 101 tour >
      • Brooklyn 202 tour
  • Brooklyn tours
    • North & west of Prospect Park >
      • Fort Greene & Clinton Hill tour
      • DUMBO, Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn Heights tour
      • Park Slope tour
      • Brooklyn Bridge (and more) tour
      • Atlantic Avenue & Downtown Brooklyn
      • Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens tour
      • Red Hook tour
    • Williamsburg & north Brooklyn >
      • Williamsburg tour
      • Greenpoint tour
      • Bushwick and East Williamsburg tour
    • Central Brooklyn >
      • Bedford-Stuyvesant tour
      • Crown Heights tour
      • (Not Just) Victorian Flatbush tour
      • Green-Wood Cemetery tour
    • Coney Island and southern Brooklyn >
      • Coney Island Webinar, Virtual Tour, & Resources
      • Coney Island (& Brighton Beach) tour
      • Sunset Park tour
      • Bensonhurst tour
      • Bay Ridge tour
    • Jewish, food, and Xmas lights tours >
      • Jewish Neighborhood Tours
      • Food, dessert, ice cream tours
      • Dyker Heights Christmas Lights tour
    • Moving to Brooklyn/layover tours >
      • Moving to/Studying in/Retiring in Brooklyn
      • Airport/Cruise/Layover tours in Brooklyn
    • Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park/Barclays Center
  • Beyond Brooklyn
    • Jackson Heights tour
    • Lower East Side tour
    • Long Island City tour
    • Ridgewood tour
    • Sunnyside & LIC East
  • About your guide
  • Fees/Schedule/FAQ
    • Fees for private tours
    • Schedule
    • FAQ
    • Vehicle and custom tours
    • Tours for classes
    • Resources on Brooklyn
    • How to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge
  • Contact me/Book
  • Blog