Scott McCrea wrote: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.