127 Cherry Street

Job Description
Eufaula Heritage Tour
House Chairperson

The House Chairperson is responsible for assisting their Homeowners in preparing and displaying their home during the tour in the most favorable manner.
Duties:
• Contact the Homeowner of your assigned house as soon as you are appointed.
• If you do not have a Co-Chairperson assigned to work the house with you, see if you recruit one. This can help spread the work load, will insure that you have a back-up if needed and will also result in having another trained person who can serve as a house Chairperson in future years.
• As soon as possible after you are appointed, arrange a meeting with the Homeowner in the home.
• At the meeting, review with the Homeowner your responsibilities as House Chairperson and the responsibilities of the Homeowner. Give the Homeowner a copy of this job description and a copy of the Homeowner’s responsibilities. If the home was on the tour in the past, review the prior evaluations from the home. Discuss relevant comments and suggestions received from other homes.
• Discuss the Homeowners’ expectations. Insure that you and the Homeowner have a clear understanding of who is doing what and when it is going to be done.
• Tour the home, out buildings, yard, etc.
• Discuss with the Homeowner and agree what portions of the home, out buildings, etc. will be open during the tour. Discuss what to display, what should be rearranged, what should be put away, etc.
• Decide with the Homeowner how many hosts and hostesses will be needed per shift to staff the house. In addition to the hosts and hostesses for the various rooms in the house, each shift should have a “greeter” on the front porch or front walk, a ticket taker and one “floater” to fill in for people when they take a break or need to use the bath room. The House Chairperson should not work as a tour guide. The House Chairperson should be available to answer questions, to solve unexpected problems and to walk around the house to check on the hosts and hostesses and to determine when they need a break.
• Inevitably, a few hosts and hostesses will cancel at the last minute, show up late or need to leave early. In spite of admonitions to them that if they cannot work they have to recruit replacements, most will not. Recruit one or more unassigned people for each shift, in addition to the floater, to cover these last minute emergencies.
• If the house has been on the tour in prior years, get a list of hosts and hostesses from the Homeowner and/or from the Heritage Association that have worked in the house in prior years.
• Get the names of any hosts and hostesses that the Homeowner can recommend to work at the house.
• You are responsible for recruiting, scheduling, coordinating, training and following up with the hosts and hostesses.
• Recruit the hosts and hostesses needed for the house. Fill in the Host and Hostess Shift Assignment Chart with names, email addresses and phone numbers as you go. Email is a great way to provide updates and encouragement to your hosts and hostesses prior to the tour.
• Each of the hosts and hostesses will need a written script for the area of the house they will be working in. Determine if the Homeowner has scripts from prior tours. If not, work with the Homeowner to develop a written script for each host. Write-up, for the hosts and hostesses, answers to questions they might be asked that are not covered in their scripts. – Note that these are two separate items.
• Decide if a written handout about the house will be produced for the pilgrims. If so, help the Homeowner write and produce as needed.
• Produce a handout for the hosts and hostesses with: the rules and expectations for being a host and hostess, the schedule of when the home will be open, your phone number and email address, the phone number and email address of the Homeowner and the date (s) and time of the host and hostess meeting. Mail or email this information to each host and hostess as soon as they are recruited.
• Approximately three weeks before the tour, schedule and conduct one or more meetings at the home for all of the hosts and hostesses. At the meeting assign the hosts and hostesses the rooms they will be working in. Distribute the scripts, walk the hosts and hostesses through the home. Have the hosts and hostesses to go back to their assigned rooms and while in the room to review their scripts and to be sure they fully understand the room they are working in. Explain and distribute the rules and expectations for being a host and hostess and answer questions. Encourage the hosts and hostesses to wear appropriate period attire.
• As the Home Chairperson, you should be setting the example for your hosts and hostesses by wearing appropriate period attire during the tour.
• At least two weeks prior to the tour, provide a copy of the completed Host and Hostess Shift Assignment Chart to the Homeowner and to the Pilgrimage House Chairperson.
• Insure that the Homeowner has made arrangements to have flowers in the home during the tour.
• Obtain and install runners, stanchions, and ropes from the Heritage Association and remove them after the tour.
• Make arrangements to obtain the house sign and the “House Box” from the Heritage Association.
• Approximately ten days before the tour contact all the hosts and hostesses and reconfirm that they will be able to serve.
• Arrange with the Homeowner to have a table and Chairperson on the front porch of the house for the ticket taker.
• Two day before the tour, on Wednesday, contact all the hosts and hostesses that are to work on the first day, Friday, to reconfirm that they will be available. Repeat on Thursday and Friday for those working on Saturday and Sunday.
• Insure that the Homeowner has provided an area with refreshments and a bathroom for the hosts and hostesses. Check the refreshments before each shift.
• Check house and grounds every day before each shift.
• At the end of the day on Friday and Saturday review with the Homeowner what changes, if any need to be made the following day.
• Have the ticket takers keep a count of the number of people that tour the house during each shift. At the end of each shift, call the Shorter Mansion at 687-3793 and report the count.
• At the end of each day collect and count the ticket money and turn it in to Shorter Mansion.
• On Sunday, after the tour is over, collect the “No Smoking” and “Watch Your Step” signs, name tags and pens, house histories and information for hosts and hostesses and put it in the “House Box”.
• On Sunday, after the tour is over, assist the homeowner in putting the house sign, runners, stanchions and ropes on the front porch of the house for collection by the Heritage Association.
• On the Monday after the tour is over, return the “House Box” to the Shorter Mansion.
• On the Wednesday after the tour is over, call the Homeowner and find out if the house sign, runners, stanchions and ropes have been picked up by the Heritage association. If they have not been, advise the Pilgrimage House Chairpersonman and follow up with the Homeowner to insure that they are picked up.
• Approximately two weeks after the tour, sit down with the Homeowner and do a written evaluation of the tour. Include good points, items to be improved, lessons learned and suggestions for future years. Provide a copy to the Homeowner, the Pilgrimage Chairperson and the Pilgrimage House Chairperson.
• Have a Great Tour!