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
• Run and sit on the Q&A panel
• 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 30 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.
• Get the quiz submission box and quiz forms 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)

Arriving at AoT Venue

• The downstairs area opens its doors at 7PM, and we'll plan to start by 7:30. But the management will let you down a little early to help set up. Try to get there by 7:00. It'll give you a chance to order a beer too!
• Station one Volunteer at the entrance to the bar to hand out materials and quiz sheets. Use tally counter.
• Help set up speakers on A/V equipment.
• Find out details about Lecturer for short introduction (2-3 sentences; where they're from, research focus, something unique?)
• Give all astronomers present 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
  • 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.

Panel Q&A or Slideshow

• This is pretty free form and up to you. If you want to have a pre-planned informal slideshow or demonstration, you can. Default is to have Lecture Volunteers act as a panel Q&A for attendees.
• Remember to introduce each panelist

Quiz Prize

• At the very end, go through the quiz submissions and grade them.
• Give the prize to the quiz with the most correct answers; if a tie, pull at random from winners.

End

• Thank everyone for coming!
• Reminder of future events.

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.