Audio tour guides: Concept to Consumer

Getting a handle on something we don't understand can prove difficult. I used to struggle with the concept of pi (π) when I was at High School. I always assumed that pie was simply something that we ate. How much we liked it depended on the filling inside. Imagine my amazement - and for sometime bemusement - that pi (π)was a number (3.14159265) that when put in an equation could be used to figure out the area, diameter and circumference of a circle.

Explaining what a Walk Talk Tour audio tour guide is, can induce the same bemusement that the concept of pi (π) used to induce in me.

The idea behind Walk Talk Tours is simple. We produce professionally researched and recorded series of products in MP3 format that consumers can download from our website to their iPod, MP3 player, cell/mobile phone or MP3 enable device. We also provide a map or tour plan in PDF format that listeners can download and print out to help navigate round the route of the tour.

Doubters scoff that the concept of audio downloadable tour guides will never work. Many people thought that the Duke of Bridgewater was off his rocker for instructing James Brindley, a self taught engineer, to build Britain's first purpose built canal. Francis Egerton, the 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, had a transport problem. Demand for coal in Manchester was growing, and he had coal aplenty in his mines at Worsley, only ten miles away. His solution was to build a canal, which both penetrated the mines and brought his coal to the city. The canal was finished in 1761. Seventeen years later the Duke of Bridgewater was selling 400 tons of coal a week in Manchester and a network of canals - carrying passengers as well as freight - extended down to South West England.

The Duke was colourful character. I am pictured above dressed up as the Duke.

In Manchester, Chester and York tourists can hire the respective Walk Talk Tour audio guides of each city from the Visitor Information Centres in each location on pre-loaded MP3 players.

My philosophy is simple: people make places. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but as human beings it is natural that we want to 'get under the skin of a place' when we visit somewhere for the first time or reacquaint ourselves with a place that we have not visited for a while. Each Walk Talk Tour audio tour guide is designed to be accessible, informative and entertaining. Listeners have the flexibilty to go at their own pace and have no timetables to adhere to - as is the case with regular bus, boat or walking tours. To hear an audio sample from the Manchester Then & Now audio tour guide please click here.

Feedback from customers has included comments such as "I've live here all my life and I never knew that" and "Very impressed! Thanks again for the quick service and advice you gave. Will definitely recommend to others."

You can follow Walk Talk Tours on Twitter (WalkTalkTours). There is a Tweetup in Manchester tomorrow at 18:00 at the Sweet Mandarin restaurant at 19 Copperas Street in the Northern Quarter. Hope to see you there.