Directions for Astronomy on Tap Captain

The Astronomy on Tap Captain is the MC and in charge of the event going off without a hitch.

General Responsibilities

• Emcee the event, including introducing the speakers, and give announcements
• Set up the A/V Equipment for the speakers
• Create astro quiz slides to be played in the intermission
• Select and distribute astro swag
• Answer attendee questions on astronomy, physics and science
• Close down the event at the end of the two hours
• Positively represent the Institute, the Department, and our profession

Week Prior to Event

• Contact the Speakers and Volunteers to remind them of their responsibilities: meet 45 minutes before start time, ready to Q&A, etc.
• Check the supply of handouts for the lecture (outreach schedules/skymaps). If running low (<50), make additional copies.
• Make astronomy quiz with ~10 questions involving astronomy-related news or astronomy, potentially even material covered in the talks.
• Using a Keynote or Powerpoint template you get from Cameron, make a slideshow where each slide is a question and it auto-cycles through the slides with 30 seconds per slide.

Day of AoT

• Get the quiz submission box, quiz forms, and pencils from Cameron to bring to the venue.
• Get the Captain's box with AoT badges, tally counter, etc from Cameron's office (Cahill 323)
• Get appropriate swag from Cameron's office
• Get copies of handouts (outreach schedule)
• Get prizes for quiz and questions.
• Get tip jar and NASA stickers

Arriving at AoT Venue

• The bar actually opens its doors at 4PM, but we'll plan to start by 7:30. Try to get there by 6:30. It'll give you a chance to order a beer too!
• Station one AoTVolunteer to count attendees. Use tally counter.
• Set up speakers on A/V equipment. (See below)
• Show other AoTVolunteer how to use the AV system so they can operate it between speakers
• Find out details about Lecturer for short introduction (1-2 sentences; where they're from, research focus, something unique?)
• Give all astronomers present AoT badges. Give speakers the flashing AoT badges.

AoT Start

• Announcements
  • Thank everyone for coming
  • Introduce yourself
  • Announce the schedule for the night: 2x10 minute talks with questions, intermission, quiz with prize, and panel Q&A.
  • Point out flyers, swag, handouts, and Q&A box
  • Announce how to identify volunteers with their badges
  • Remind people of all events
  • Happy hour pricing on menu!
  • Thank Der Wolfskopf and remember to tip servers!
• Introduce speaker
• Drink!

Immediately After Talk

• If needed, help facilitate Q&A for the speaker. Limit questions to 5 minutes. Stand up at front to signal the end of questions.
• Inform the audience that about the short intermission, then next speaker.
• Remind people about the quiz.
• Drink and mill about.

Quiz Prize

• During the second intermission, go through the quiz submissions and grade them.
• Then announce that you'll go through the quiz answers with everyone. Step through each slide and answer the questions.
• Give the prize to the quiz with the most correct answers; if a tie, pull at random from winners or give an additional question like what is the exact distance to the Sun in miles. Closest gets the prize. Or just give out 1-3 prizes.

End

• Thank everyone for coming!
• Reminder of future events.
• Remember to get back the Astronomer Badges from the astronomers present--these do not grow on trees!

The Day after the Event (IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW UP ON THIS)

• Write a short blog post on the event (i.e. a paragraph or two) for the outreach website. Include # of attendees. For examples, see: past events.
• Send this description to Cameron Hummels, who will post it.
• Return Lecture Captain box to Cameron.

How to use the AV system

• Bring computers to booth up the stairs above entrance way.
• Plug HDMI cable into computer and into port 8 on side of mixing board in booth above the bar.
• For each computer to be plugged into the AV system, turn computer resolution down to a low resolution setting like 1080i or 1080p. High resolution might cause blinking on the TVs as it passes through the mixer. With macs, you can do this by going to system preferences and then display after you've plugged in to the video port on the computer.
• Use remote to make all televisions point to input 8. Point remote at mixing board, press a letter, then #8. TVs are A, B, C (for the TVs above the bar), D, and E, F (the two TVs by the stage) in clockwise order.
• Get microphone from Joe (manager). Set up microphone stand on stage, and plug microphone directly into port 1 on stage at the back of the stage. Then plug the speaker on stage into port A on stage. Make sure speaker is on and volume up.
• SPEAKERS NEVER SEEM TO WORK--JUST PLUG MICROPHONE DIRECTLY INTO SPEAKER ON STAGE AND SKIP THIS STEP. Back at booth above the bar, far left channel on mixing board (matrix) represents the microphone input, you can control that channel's volume (make sure it isn't muted), the volume of the speaker on stage (aux1), and the compressor (for changing dynamic range) with the far left channel. This should just work, and it should make the microphone output go to the speaker on stage as well as the two speakers hanging from the ceiling. If they show a red light, it means they are not receiving input, but a blue light means they are.
• If you are having problems getting the speakers working, in the worse-case scenario, you can plug the microphone directly into the speaker on stage and bypass the soundboard. Just make sure the speaker is on and the volume is up and at least you'll have output from the stage speaker.