[sac-board] SAC Poll: Main Speaker First [Results]
- From: Paul Dickson <dickson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: SAC Board <sac-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 12 Apr 2004 20:34:14 -0700
On Sun, 4 Apr 2004 04:45:14 -0700, Paul Dickson wrote in SAC-Announce:
> At the meeting last Friday night, the main speaker went first. This was
> different for the club. I'm trying to gather what everyone thought about
> this temporary change.
>
> Please vote only if you attended the meeting.
>
>
> Vote YES, if you prefer having the speaker first (but kept to an hour).
> Vote NO, if you prefer the old way of the main speaker going last.
Here are the results of the poll:
11 No votes
4 Yes votes
I put forward the question because the increase in attendance at the
meeting. If SAC doesn't increase its membership in the next year or two,
having the speaker first may be a more palatable alternative to the death
spiral of raising dues. If members leave early, who cares. At least
they're members.
Also, the next time we do the meeting this way, the guest introduction and
the guest book being mentioned should come before the speaker, so those
guest leaving early will know about it when the break comes.
Here are the comments:
No:
----
...except in special cases like this one. The main speaker is the marquee
event, and the show-and-tell is a natural "warmup act" for it. EVAC tried
this approach under Silvio's presidency, and the meetings fell flat as a
result.
----
I prefer the old way, speaker last.
----
We did not stay for the meeting afterward, and I suspect that if you changed
to a speaker-first scenario, we would be sending you our dues each year to
come in to watch the show. That's fun, but it's not what a "club" is about.
----
Not that I am opposed to change, but I prefer having the speaker go
last. When the speaker goes first the room clears out and then not many
participate in club business.
----
If the main speaker goes first it encourages members to leave after the
presentation instead of staying for the rest of the club itinerary. I
think this would contribute to a decline in the club. Sometimes, though,
maybe the normal club business, such as show and tell, is too long.
Maybe this could be shortened up a bit or maybe have some of the club
business before the speaker and the rest after the speaker. For example,
announcements and the rest of the club business could be before the
speaker, and show and tell after the speaker.
----
I think that club business should come first--witness the reduced crowd size
after the break last Friday. If members and guests are to enjoy the main
event, they should also participate in the no less important "local" portion
of each meeting. By placing club business first, attendees are more likely
to sit through the entire meeting instead of bailing at the break. I bet if
we had the main speaker first as a rule, after-break head counts would
always be lower.
----
I suppose my reason is sometimes the lecture goes for more than 1 hour. My
secondary reason is people may just come to see the speaker and not stay for
Show and Tell, etc. My third reason is that it's good to expose
professional astronomers to what SAC is doing for astronomy-- i.e. it's good
for the speaker to see what our amateur astronomers are doing in the way of
photography etc., to realize the work we are doing in public astronomy, to
hear what's going on on the non-work side of astronomy. And all of our
speakers have really enjoyed our club meeting.
Thanks for making an opportunity to vote on this--good idea.
----
I appreciate you doing this. I wasn't able to make the meeting at 7:30pm
last night, but WOULD have come later if the speaker had started ~ 8:30pm -
this is often the case for me. So I vote
NO - keep club business first and the speaker 2nd.
----
NO, keep club business short, and club member presos FIRST!
----
Yes:
----
I vote yes........ We should have the speaker first.
----
Yes, it was enjoyable doing it that way, but I'm not sure about *every*
meeting.
----
Comments of just yes or no are presented here.
-Paul
P.S. Rick, you can use this for the newsletter.
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