My local astronomy society, based at Cranbrook School in Kent, decided for the first time to book a stand at a large public astronomy event (Herstmonceux Astronomy Festival 2009 – it’s just happened this weekend)
If your astro soc is thinking of doing something like this, then I strongly recommend it.
I spent all weekend on our stand at Herstmonceux. It was a great opportunity to meet the public and let them know about CADSAS and it’s forthcoming meetings. Good local promotion and awareness building.
But just as important was meeting other local astronomy societies, getting to know some of their key people and generally “joining the local astro club community”.
Also, it provided a great opportunity to make a couple of (very) short videos for YouTube.com (above and below)
All it needed was a simple camcorder and a tripod. You should do the same for your club or society.
Don’t get put-off by thoughts of fancy video equipment.
Surely, the quality is not like the BBC. But in spite of the wind and excessive background noise, IT WORKS to help show people what you are doing.
A quick video like this, gives you something you can show to others. And it helps people find your society through the search engines.
Highly recommended!