Re: Public talks on TASS

[hjohnson@pluto.njcc.com (Herbert R Johnson)]

On Fri, 03 Apr 1998 16:01:02 -0800, Chris Albertson <chris@topdog.pas1.logicon.com> wrote:
*>
*>I got a call from someone looking for a speaker for a (somewhat) 
*>local astronomy club.  He described what must be a typical club,
*>200 members, 50~100 at meetings.. All very much interested in
*>astronomy (enough to get up and go to a meeting) but widely varying
*>technical backgrounds.
*>
*>I agreed conditionally to a 1 hour talk.  I said it would only be
*>interesting if I could get support from other TASS members, other
*>wise I'd just be talking about myself.  I'd need material contributed
*>from those doing work.  Pictures, pictures.  That is
*>what people like to see.  Pictures of yourself, your equipment and
*>then stars.  After that graphs and plots of data.  To keep 
*>a group's attention for
*>an hour I'd have to roll together some personal stories with pictures
*>of the person, some technical stories and some science.....

*>--Chris Albertson

Chris, you should not overwhelm yourself with such a broad adjenda. I'm
active in three astronomy clubs, and have attended star parties (weekend
camping and observing, with talks) held by half a dozen other clubs. I've
also arranged for or given public programs for these clubs. What an astronomy
club is looking for in a talk is either some good details into a particular
area or topic, OR a good general discussion geared for the general public.
Even so, any talk for an amateur club should offer a general introduction,
then dip into the details. Amateur astronomers, and the public that attends
their talks, expect some degree of science and technology; some material
that will orient them relative to their common experience; and also some
personal bits about the people and institutions.

Do not underestimate the
ability of the public to pay attention to science and technology; in
particular, many (but not most) amateur astronomers have a good general
background in physics OR in technology (optical or electronic) OR in
the arts of observing (a person may not know all these things of course).
And the attending public EXPECTS a certain "techie" feel to these talks.
But everyone expects to SEE IMAGES, so your call for "photos" is well-
noted. Some images of the TASS "strip" are essential, as are of the
observatories in use and the equipment. CHarts are OK, as long as the
subject of the chart is clear. Lists of names and numbers don't work
so well: some members of the audience will not be able to read them,
so keep them short and in large fonts.

So touch opon the areas I mentioned if you can. But it is important that a
talk have a FOCUS, a thread through it, something that people can take home
with them. Even if the focus is technical, they will get the general idea
from the introduction. Ask the people inviting you as to what THEY expect:
they may tell you. And allow for some questions at the end.

I think you could put together a good talk just with your own experiences,
some material from the Web pages of our colleagues, and our TASS Web page.
You probably have all the resources you need already in hand. YOu might
just "lead with our strong suit": we are conducting a continuous survey
of the celestial equator, monitoring stars to 12th magnitude and building
a database of observations; with technology built and supported by amateurs
and professionals WITHOUT institutional funding. THen show some results:
a database, some photometric reductions, and plans for another generation of
cameras. THe fallout: the development and use of a variety of astrometric
and photometric software; development of materials, technology, and
techniques for photometric observing; methods of automated data reduction.
More to the point, these efforts are "amateur" in that they are
noninstitutional: they are not "amateur" in results, and in fact they
are part of a long tradition of amateur-led science in astronomy.

Note: Tom and others have commented to Chris, and have suggested sharing
materials from talks given by other TASS members. Seems to me that the TASS
Web page is the most straightforward place to gather such materials. FOrmat
I don't think matters much, image manipulating programs are pretty flexible.
I use .JPG (jpeg) simply because it compresses well and seems compatible
with most modern programs.

Herb Johnson

  **** ------------------------------------------------------ ****

Herbert R. Johnson                      voice/FAX 609-771-1503 day/nite
hjohnson@pluto.njcc.com                 Ewing, in central New Jersey, USA

                 amateur astronomer and astro-tour guide
            supporter of classic S-100 computers as "Dr. S-100"
        rebuilder of Mac Plus computers for your computing pleasure
     and senior engineer and asteroid spotter at Astro Imaging Systems