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.

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 at the entrance to the bar to hand out materials and quiz sheets. Use tally counter.
• Set up speakers on A/V equipment.
• 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.

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 AoTVolunteers 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.

How to use 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.
• Plug HDMI cable into computer and into port 8 on side of mixing board in booth above the bar.
• 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 (broken), and E, F (the two TVs by the stage) in clockwise order.
• Get microphone from Joe (manager). Plug microphone directly into port 1 on stage, and speaker into port A on stage.
• Back at booth above the bar, far left channel on mixing board (matrix) represents the microphone input, you can control that channel's volume, the volume of the speaker on stage (aux1), and the compressor (for changing dynamic range) with the far left channel.