Maybe we should add to our agenda for our next board meeting a small
brain-storm session of some potential topics that may be of interest, then
identify appropriate members for the talk and see if they are willing to do it.
James
From: evac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <evac-board-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On
Behalf Of Forrest Sims
Sent: Monday, April 22, 2024 6:29 PM
To: evac-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [evac-board] Re: Meeting feedback
I agree with you Tom in your takeaway from his comments.
Even in a club with a single subject listed in it title (Astronomy for us),
there’s a wide range of interests, knowledge, curiosity, etc. As I shared with
Tom and Steve, a couple of days ago, two of our older long time members say the
talks are to “sciency” and that there interest in astronomy is primarily visual
astronomy and checking of the various kind of target lists, such as the Messier
110, etc. But, I have had more people over the course of our meetings comment
on how interesting they found the featured speakers and their talks. Not sure
how to please all which I doubt is even possible. I would like to have more
member presentations but there are practically zero volunteers and my
experience to date with some is that they may or mayn’t even show. The
exception being our GOTO people like Tom Polakis, Wayne Thomas, Bob Buchheim
and a couple of others.
This is an area that I think SAC has always done a better job of is getting
members to stand up and talk about what they are doing. I don’t have the time
to browbeat members to try and get them to participate. So let me know if you
can think of a member that we can get to volunteer to stand up and tell us what
they are doing for a 5-15 minute window.
One idea some might find interesting would be to bring in the new high tech
telescope that the club bought and give a 10 minute demonstration of how to
turn it on and describe what it is doing even though it is in the building and
cannot see the stars. Of course that likely won’t interest the two mentioned
above. Maybe we can get some member to bring in their DOB and talk for a few
minutes about how they use it and let people ask questions.
Regarding the guy in Calgary, I would not weigh his comments to heavily, unless
maybe he becomes a member:). Then we can dumb things down for him:)
I had a member comment after the last meeting that the talks have motivated him
investigate what kind of science he can do with his small telescope and camera.
And I agree with Tom, the feedback I get is not random.
Ideas?
Cheers,
Woody
On Apr 22, 2024, at 3:56 PM, Tom Mozdzen <tjmozdzen@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:tjmozdzen@xxxxxxxxx> > wrote:
My 50 000 ft takeaway is that he thinks our talks are too technical.
We could take a survey to see how the general EVAC community feels about the
talks.
I've heard feedback saying not to dumb it down, but my sample size is small and
not random.
Thoughts?
Tom
_____
From: Sergey Kostrov <SergeyKostrov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:SergeyKostrov@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> >
Sent: Sunday, April 21, 2024 9:27 AM
To: tmozdzen@xxxxxxx <mailto:tmozdzen@xxxxxxx> <tmozdzen@xxxxxxx
<mailto:tmozdzen@xxxxxxx> >
Subject: Re: Thank you for attending The EVAC April Monthly Meeting
Here are my comments:
I'm a Software Engineer, a very technical, experienced, and educated person
I'm an amateur astronomer for over 30 years ( visual observing only )
The most interesting web-based presentation I watched was about a Time Lapse
Astrophotography ( by EVAC in February 2024 )
During last a couple of years All web-based presentations ( by presenters with
PhD degrees ) I would classify as Too Complex for the General Public ( too much
technical and scientific information! )
Here in Calgary, in 2023, I saw how people from the General Public simply
leaving during a presentation related to "Water on Mars" ( it was Too Complex /
Too many Graphs, Schemas, Tables, etc )
In overall, I think EVAC should pre-screen a presentation and its level should
be like "2 x 2 = 4", however if its level is like "sqrt( 16 ) divide by sqrt( 4
) = 4" EVAC should request a change in context ( lower its complexity! )
In overall, a right presentation for the General Public should Not look like a
presentation for a Scientific Conference!
In the last presentation an extremely interesting facts about CMB were Not
delivered to the General Public, that is, how it was discovered and that a
Nobel Prize was awarded.
Best regards,
Sergey Kostrov
Calgary, Canada
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On Saturday, April 20th, 2024 at 6:50 PM, Thomas Mozdzen <no-reply@xxxxxxx
<mailto:no-reply@xxxxxxx> > wrote:
Hi Sergey Kostrov,
Thank you for attending The EVAC April Monthly Meeting. We hope you enjoyed our
event.
Please submit your questions or comments to: tmozdzen@xxxxxxx
<mailto:tmozdzen@xxxxxxx> .
