Programs at grotto meetings

[Scott McCrea]

I will be in charge of programs at our grotto meetings in 2006. So, I'm looking for some suggestions. Got any?

I also have a few questions. Suppose I get a speaker to come do a presentation, for instance, say I got Floyd Collins to come speak and show slides, should we promote this event outside of the caving community? Should we give him a thank you gift?

Any other advice for organizing programs?

[pacaver]

If you have active members who like to take pictures, get them to give a narrative of their trip, maybe using powerpoint with a laptop hooked up to a projector. Some of the best programs I've seen are from our own group. If you have trouble coming up with something, you can always rent a movie from the NSS AudioVisual library, which is what we've done occasionally. Here's the link:

http://www.caves.org/service/avlibrary/

Good luck!

[Sean Ryan]

I've been to grotto meetings for at least three grottoes and several regional organizations. I have never never never seen a program where the spekaer did not have to scream at the top of his lungs to outvoice the disinterested people who were twenty feet away blathering on about something else. Nothing against the quality of the presentations, just an undeniable fact that cavers thrown in a room turn into 12-year-old girls on a school bus.

[NZcaver]

I've been to grotto meetings for at least three grottoes and several regional organizations. I have never never never seen a program where the spekaer did not have to scream at the top of his lungs to outvoice the disinterested people who were twenty feet away blathering on about something else. Nothing against the quality of the presentations, just an undeniable fact that cavers thrown in a room turn into 12-year-old girls on a school bus.

Hi Sean - no offense, but is that a Jersey thing?

Certainly cavers like to talk when they meet, but I've found they'll mostly be polite and shut up when someone is giving them a presentation. At least that seems to be the case with the Connecticut, Arizona, and California grottos I belong to. 8)

You can always get the speaker (or someone else with a big voice) to scold the dissenters like the naughty little schoolgirls they are! It can be tough to get good speakers/presentations/activities/entertainment for grotto meetings at the best of times...

[mgmills]

I will be in charge of programs at our grotto meetings in 2006. So, I'm looking for some suggestions. Got any?

I also have a few questions. Suppose I get a speaker to come do a presentation, for instance, say I got Floyd Collins to come speak and show slides, should we promote this event outside of the caving community? Should we give him a thank you gift?

Any other advice for organizing programs?

Scott, if you have a professional person who has traveled some distance and your grotto can afford it an honorarium would be a nice thing to offer.

As to advertising it outside the caving community I suppose it would depend on the content being offered. The NSS has a model of sinkholes and groundwater that shows how water travels underground. I have seen it demonstrated at two different grottos as a meeting program. Something like this might be of interest to a "community group"

Slide shows by grotto members can be good or bad I've seen some good ones and some bad ones.

One interesting program that was done at a grotto meeting which I attended involved asking several grotto members to bring their cave pack ready to go on a 4-6 hour horizontal cave trip. Each person then did "show and tell" of the items in their pack and explained why the item was in the pack. (This was done at a time when an influx of "newbies" was in the grotto)

Other ideas
- review of accident reports. Read a brief summary of what happened. Ask members to make suggestions on how this type of accident could be prevented or avoided.

- show a picture of poor technique (stage it if you have to - poorly rigged rope, backwards rigged rack, fly away hair on a female rappeller going over a lip with hair about to get caught in the rack.) Ask people to point out the mistakes in the picture. You could give people several minutes to write down the errors and the have a prize for the person who spotted the most errors.

Remember if members participate in the program they are less likely to be disruptive and keep in mind that if the program is too long people will lose interest. I know for me 45 minutes is getting on the long side unless the speaker is just really stellar.

[Sean Ryan]

Hi Sean - no offense, but is that a Jersey thing?

It might just be. All of the meetings I go to are within driving distance of New Jersey - otherwise how could I get there?

[Steven Johnson]

fly away hair on a female rappeller going over a lip with hair about to get caught in the rack.

Not just on females.

I once got my ponytail caught in my rack while about 60 ft down a 110 ft drop.

I learned to restrain my hair WAY better after that

[cave rat]

Thats why I cut mine. I may be Indian, but that does not mean I dont have to have my hair long. One day I will let it grow back, but I am not in a hurry to do so.