[meteorite-list] Meteorite presentations

From: David Freeman <dfreeman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:07:00 2004
Message-ID: <3DA6EAD3.7070900_at_fascination.com>

Dear Robert and List;
I always offer "depending on your geologic and theological beliefs", and
offer up that there are things that I do not know how to explain about
meteorites, crystals, moldovite, etc. This brief action seems to put at
bay the zealots of he-be Je-be, and the zealots of the Mormon Church
that surround me at times.
I also offer up the idea that along with good and bad science is good
and bad religion. I also take a moment and humorously suggest that
spiritual and religious practices are different. Then, I go back to my
meteorite show and tell just as it needed to be addressed but neither
one should detract from my love of the other (meaning rocks, meteorites,
or spiritual values). By addressing he-be Je-be's, and religious nuts
who possess no scientific knowledge at the front, and by going at all
with an "as a matter of fact" followed by "we don't know it all", seems
to put most in a positive and not so analytic mood to enjoy the
presentation and "take which they like and leave the rest". I sometimes
finish up with "if you liked what you heard, tell everybody, if you
didn't like what you heard, don't tell anybody" and by enthusiasm and
humor, I allow the audience to make up their own mind to either be wowed
big time, or to humbly sneak off being unentertained and unconverted.
 We can not educate the uneducateable.
I have found that I talk fast, and put a lot of enthusiasm in a short
program. No more than 30 minutes maximum, and no more than half a dozen
meteorite specimens, one book (yup, Rocks From Space) and sometimes
Robert Haag's catalog, and maybe one or two posters (Hubbell picture of
eagle nebula and a poster by he-whose-name-we-do-not-utter).
Many times, less is more, feed the crowd a few really juicy tidbits, and
after the presentation, those that are still hungry can come forward
individually, or get a card and contact me later. This tends to avoid
those who had the woods catch fire near there house from meteorites,
from taking over the presentation. I try to deal with the "grandpa
found a meteorite" person by going directly to my rehearsed "did he have
it sent to a meteorite lab...not a geologist?". Usually this puts the
person to shut up mode or I change the topic really fast. If the
conversation gets ugly, I unholster the "if your suspected meteorite is
so valuable, why do you not sell it and retire?". By that point, the
war is lost anyway...sometimes I offer $10 to them if it is a nice
quality meteorwrong, more to insult than to aquire.
Humor and briefness, and less is really more seem to be the successful
tact in lecturing general interest groups. I try really hard to get
everyone interested to actually hold one of my specimens...and I keep an
eye on what is out of the box (including myself).
Best,
Dave Freeman

Robert & Wendi Beauford wrote:

>I went down a few months back to share the wonders and joys of meteorites
>with a group of cub scouts. I've done presentations for the same group in
>the past on subjects like starting fires with flint and steel... it is not
>hard to entertain kids with fire.
>With meteorites on the other hand, I was speaking to a circle of blank
>stares. I went as simple as I knew how to. I dumbed it down to stuff I
>could have followed at 4 years old. ...and even that brought a gentle
>reprimand from their leader afterwards 'You have to remember that these are
>children, not college students.' The only thing worse than the blank stares
>was the utter lack of interest.
>It went that bad.
>I'll just stick to educating customers in my shop.
>At least customers can walk out if they find it boring
>I had one actually glaze over and stagger the other day. No kidding. She
>asked 'how do you know this is from Mars'. I should have been paying more
>attention I guess.
>I've had a number that get frustrated because I focus on the science behind
>the subject rather than feelings and spiritual stuff.
>Sometimes I feel like I could sell more if I told them that the trace
>minerals will bring about weight loss... or just give it a good 'Feel the
>vibes man! Doesn't it just resonate with your heart chakra?...can't you
>just feel your spiritual self unfolding and the light of distant stars
>poring into your soul?' Hehe, actually I sort of like that last line.
>But I can't make myself do that, so I wait and treasure the ones in who's
>souls a spark of scientific interest gleams. The rest I just let handle the
>rocks.
>Who knows, maybe one of those cub scouts or customers will become a space
>scientist some day. They might have been more interested than they looked.
>-Robert Beauford
>
>
>>Hello list. It's very active today, I like that. Last night I gave a =
>>meteorite presentation at the San Diego Lapidary Society. It most =
>>certainly was not the first presentation I've ever given in front of =
>>people, but it was the first one about meteorites. Their general =
>>meeting was called to order at 7pm, and they went about their business. =
>>You know, Robert Rules of order kind of stuff, and a raffle. It was =
>>quite pleasant actually. Most of the membership is quite a bit older =
>>than myself and my girlfriend. One kind older gentleman came over and =
>>told me great stories about the meteorites he's found. Other members =
>>came up to me with three different rocks and asked if they were =
>>meteorites, unfortunately they were not and I had to be the one to break =
>>the bad news. I finally got to speak around 8:15pm and was quite =
>>nervous. I made up a packet of text that I wrote with graphics, images, =
>>and other statistics and passed them out. I also brought about 50 =
>>specimens to show around and some moldavites and tektites. I really was =
>>geared up to give a really great talk, I had already visualized it in my =
>>head. So I introduced myself, and quickly warned them that:" I have a =
>>tendency to go off on tangents and never come back. Oh, and I'm =
>>longwinded at times, so I'll be sticking to the script" So I was very =
>>nervous all of a sudden and started to stammer and forget the words and =
>>had to begin reading. I told them about the beginnings of the solar =
>>system, accretion, asteroids, oxygen isotopes, fall statistics, =
>>identifying meteorites, classification with actual samples of each =
>>class, chemical make -up, Prospects for life elsewhere (alh84001, =
>>murchison, Allende,etc.), then I told them about the new large object =
>>that was just announced on Monday. Wow was I imparting the goods on =
>>these people. Then I looked up and people were nodding off, the people =
>>in the back had already snuck out. I had been talking for about 45 =
>>minutes. I could feel that hollow pit in my stomach becoming an abysmal =
>>void and I was getting sucked down. I could feel the beads of sweat =
>>forming on my bald head, my girlfriend was staring right at me. I =
>>wrapped in up quickly, and asked if there were questions. The few people =
>>who hadn't snuck out already had plenty of questions, and some were =
>>quite tricky. One woman right up front told me about her grandfather =
>>getting his haystack burnt down by a meteor. I didn't know what to say. =
>>I blurted out "Really, how interesting!" It doesn't quite seem possible =
>>to me, but I couldn't tell her that. I think it was well past there bed =
>>time, because after I ended the talk they politely clapped and got the =
>>hell out of there. I knew as soon as I sat down in the car what had gone =
>>wrong. I'm very hard on myself, very critical. My girlfriend told me =
>>what a great job I did, which is nice and I think she was trying to be =
>>nice. If you are this far down into this diatribe you've probably =
>>already got me pegged. I'm a nervous talker, and I'm longwinded. Strike =
>>one. I hadn't pictured the right audience in my pre-visualization. =
>>Strike two. I had mistaken a meteorite talk with a meteorite lecture. =
>>Strike three. When I was falling asleep last night I couldn't help =
>>thinking that I could know so much more on the topic. I now realize that =
>>all that information is not the important thing. The important thing is =
>>that you are entertaining the audience and creating an experience that =
>>they will remember. If your lucky they will learn something. I'm going =
>>to try and keep those things in mind next time. I'll try to be more show =
>>and less tell. Hopefully others of you have had these types of =
>>experiences and would share them. Maybe some of you can offer some tips, =
>>or criticisms. Perhaps some of you will tell me to please not write long =
>>emails and send them to this list. Anyway, I hope sharing was a good =
>>idea.- Edward
>>
>>Edward R. Hodges
>>www.meteoriteonline.com
>>IMCA # 4173
>>
>
>
>
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Received on Fri 11 Oct 2002 11:14:27 AM PDT