The (Large) Show’s the Thing
Robert Krampf
During my 27 years of presenting science shows at schools and museums, I have had hundreds of people ask me for advice on presenting outreach programs. Some of them crave the spotlight of being in front of so many people. Others long to duplicate the finale of my electricity show by standing barefoot in a pan of water, with a million volts jumping from their fingertips. The vast majority of them see the tremendous potential of large scale outreach programs and they want a piece of the action.
First, let me start by defining “large scale programs.” A large scale program is designed for an audience of more than one hundred. That does not mean it can’t be presented for smaller groups, but all of the demonstrations are large enough to be easily visible to an audience of several hundred. These programs are often done at institutions with an auditorium or a stage area. They are also done as outreach, which is a totally different animal. What distinguishes large scale outreach?
Numbers. Large scale outreach gives you the ability to reach a large number of people, with a minimum of staff. One person presenting outreach shows to schools can easily visit two schools each day. With an average audience of four hundred students, you can reach 4,000 students per week with one staff member.
Profit. Done properly, outreach allows you to generate quite a bit of revenue. The current rate for a school assembly program usually ranges from $300-$600, depending on the market. Even at the low end of the scale, ten schools a week can give you a weekly gross of $3,000 generated by one staff member. If you fill only two weeks of each month during the nine months of the school year, you generate $54,000. As your program builds popularity, you can do quite a bit better. With the ability to present shows at two schools a day, and a year round schedule of schools, summer camps, scout groups, etc., your show can gross $150,000 a year, without overworking your presenter.
Expanded Market. Outreach lets you reach out far beyond the range that you usually serve. You can easily serve a 120-mile radius, as long as you schedule schools that are close together for each day. If your presenter is willing to stay on the road for several days, you can operate anywhere. A museum in Florida could have outreach presenters doing shows in California, if they wanted to. I am surprised that more institutions have not taken advantage of this opportunity.
Expanded Media Coverage. The news media loves outreach shows. It gives them a chance to visit a local school and see lots of kids enjoying your program. If you are visiting schools outside your normal area, you will be reaching newspapers, TV and radio in markets that do not usually cover your events. There are probably plenty of small towns that are close enough for residents to visit your museum but far enough away that they do not get your local newspaper. Outreach is the perfect way to reach these markets.
Zero Space Use at Your Facility. One of the really nice parts of outreach is that you get all these benefits without tying up any of the presentation space at your facility. In fact, you don’t even need to have a facility. Outreach shows are a great “before the walls” project. You can reach large numbers and start generating revenue while you are still constructing your building. It can also let you maintain a high profile and a revenue stream while you are closed due to construction or disaster.
Increased Attendance at Your Facility. Many people resist outreach shows, fearing that they will cut into attendance. In fact, good outreach shows will increase your attendance. If you are exposing 4000 students and teachers each week to amazing science shows and telling them about exciting exhibits and upcoming events, you should see a dramatic increase in your gate.
Sponsorship. The large number of contacts and dramatic impact of large scale outreach shows make them perfect for sponsorship. This sponsorship can pay for the startup cost of the show, lower the cost for schools or even provide the show for free. You can even tailor your show to target sponsors, such as an electricity show sponsored my your local power company.
Grants. Outreach programs have great potential
for grants, for the same reason they appeal to sponsors. In addition to
the large numbers and educational impact, you also can show that the project
can generate enough revenue to keep it going when the grant ends. Use
the grant money for equipment, vehicles, handout materials and staff training,
with some of it going to provide free shows for schools that can’t afford
to pay for the show. Plan for program revenues to pay for presenter salaries
and supplies and your program should continue to run smoothly when the
grant ends.
Secrets of Success
Wow, if large scale outreach is so wonderful, why isn’t everyone doing it? Well, there are some drawbacks and some challenges to overcome. All of them can be handled, but if you ignore them, you are asking from trouble.
Finding the Right Staff. Selecting the right person is vital to the success of the program. Since this is probably a one person show, your presenter represents your entire institution. You need someone who is well versed in the subject, and capable of answering detailed questions from teachers and students. You need someone who is reliable, who you can depend on to get to the shows on time. Your presenter must be very flexible, adaptable to unusual settings and circumstances. Most of all, you need someone who can be pleasant and professional when faced with rude people, difficult questions, scheduling disasters, equipment failures, and all sorts of unexpected problems. Having the wrong person as your presenter can quickly kill your program.
Keeping Your Staff. Once you find the right people, keep them happy. The day that they begin to get burned out or unhappy with their job, they will realize that they are generating $80,000 a year in revenue and you are only paying them $20,000. At the point when they realize that they could be keeping all that money for themselves, they become your competition instead of your employee.
You can try having your presenters sign noncompete agreements, but they are very hard to enforce. Ideally, you could pay them enough that they would not be as tempted to leave, but if your outreach folks make twice what the rest of your staff earns, you are asking for trouble.
One thing you can do is to avoid overworking your outreach staff. Realize that their job requires a large amount of time on their own, without the support of co-workers. Your in-house presenters have time in between shows to drink a soda, chat with staff, and relax. Your outreach presenter may not even have time for a bathroom stop in the rush to get packed up from one school and set up at the next. Remind yourself of this frequently and do what you can to make their lives as much fun as you can. It is much cheaper and easier to give your presenter a few perks than it is to find and train a replacement.
It may sound like I am preaching a bit here, but this is the way I got started in business for myself. After 13 years of presenting science shows at a museum in Memphis, Tennessee, I was having a bad day and suddenly realized how much revenue I was generating and how little they were paying me. A week later, I handed in my notice and went into business for myself.
Starting Cost. Starting a large scale outreach show can be expensive. A large Tesla coil can easily cost $12,000. The gear for a show on sound or light could easily cost more than $30,000. Costumes and replicas for history shows can be just as costly.
Development can be even more expensive than the equipment. Even if you are experienced at outreach, developing the show can easily take six months of staff time for research and script work. You can pay to have a show developed for you or buy a tested program, but be prepared to pay very well for it. Shows that can generate $100,000 a year do not come cheap.
Transportation. If you are lucky, you have one or more dedicated vehicles for your outreach program. Then your only challenges are keeping them running, keeping them clean and making sure that none of the other departments commandeer them for some other use. If you don’t have vehicles, then your staff will wind up using their own transportation. This means budgeting for increased insurance, paying mileage, and making sure that their vehicle is properly maintained.
Problems. Anyone can run into trouble. Even a flat tire can cause you to miss a show. Often something as simple as a cell phone can make a world of difference. Get an outreach cell phone and be sure that your presenters carry it. This can help them find schools if they are lost, let them notify schools that they will be late, or call for help if there are bigger problems.
Building a Market. Even with the best show
in the world, you won’t succeed if people do not know about it. If you
have a good marketing department, get them on board early, getting the
photographs, etc. that they need to promote the show. Work with them to
set up free shows at a children’s hospital, Boy’s Club or other institutions
as media events. Select a couple of demos from the show that will work
well on camera, for use on the local news shows. Help them develop exciting,
informative press packages. If you do not have a marketing department,
budget to contract with a professional. I know most educational institutions
do not spend much on marketing, but you can pretty much tell which ones
do by looking at attendance and revenue figures. It is well worth the
investment.
Getting Started
OK, if the list of challenges has not scared you away, lets get down to the basics. How are you going to get started?
Selecting Your Topic. Not every topic works well with a large audience. Budget will limit some of your ambitions, as large scale demonstrations can get very expensive. Portability will be another controlling factor. Keep in mind the areas where you intend to present the shows. Often schools do not have a space that they can darken, so slides may not be visible. Set-up and tear down time are another factor. If it takes you more than 30 minutes for each, you may find that you can only visit one school per day. This cuts your numbers and your revenue in half.
With all of that in mind, you also need to select a topic that people want. If you are marketing to schools, talk to teachers. For science, find topics in their curriculum that they are not comfortable with. For example, electricity works very well for an outreach show, but a magnetism show got a much weaker response, as it is a subject that most teachers feel they can teach on their own. Also look for topics which use specialized or expensive equipment that your clients are not likely to have.
The same applies for history programs, art programs, etc. Look for programs that use artifacts and replicas. Tie in with the school curriculum as much as you can, and stress this in your marketing.
Developing the Show. Don’t skimp on research and development. You need a show that is dramatic, fun and educational. If at all possible, involve your presenters in the development of the show, as it will need to fit with their style of teaching. Will your show be character based (The Chemistry Chef, Dr. Zap, etc.) or will it be presented by a “normal person”? Both approaches work, but most presenters work better in one style than the other.
Look at your content carefully. Pack as much information into a program as you can, and find ways to make it memorable. The more facts your audience learns, the more they like it. People like to feel smart and every time they spout off a fact from your show, they will remember how good the show was and how much they learned. Avoid “fluff shows” like the plague. What is a “fluff show”? It is a program that has lots of flashy demonstrations, loosely tied together with a minimum of explanation. These shows are popular with many institutions, because they let you use actors with little or no scientific background. They are far less popular with teachers, who view them as entertainment instead of education. That is not a good thing in this business.
How long should your show be? I have found that 45 minutes works very well for me. This allows enough time to get students into the room and still do the show within an hour block of time. It is also about as long as a group of kids (and adults) can sit without needing to get up and move around.
Dramatic demonstrations will probably be an important part of the show, but don’t let them take over. If a demo does not fit the program, leave it out, no matter how amazing it is. Remember that the teachers (the people who schedule your shows) want programs that contain as much information about their curriculum as possible. This makes their job easier, which gives them a good reason to book the show.
Make Everything Easily Portable. Never carry anything that you can roll. That is a motto that has served me well and saved my back. Get a good cart or dolly and make everything fit on it. Get equipment cases that will protect your gear and that fit the cart. For some shows I use plastic milk crates to hold the gear, since they also double as insulated stands for demonstrations. For other shows I use hard-shelled suitcases and have found that they work wonderfully. They have the added advantage off having their own wheels and a handle, which makes it easy to carry them up stairs.
Limit your equipment to as few trips as possible. If it takes you 5 trips to your car to bring everything in, you will probably be exhausted by the time your show starts, especially if you are running 10 minutes late and the auditorium is up 3 flights of stairs.
As tempting as it can be, do not use students to move equipment. This is a liability nightmare waiting to happen. It only takes one student dropping something on his foot to give you more legal trouble than you ever imagined. Often you get to a school and find a team of students that have been assigned to help you. I tell them that it is against company policy for other people to carry equipment and then assign them other jobs, such as getting a glass of water, rearranging chairs, etc. I usually don’t even let adults help with the gear. Partly this is because setup usually goes much faster when I do it myself. Partly it is the result of experience. What do you say when the teacher who booked the show steps on $200 worth of neon tubes, ruining one of your most dramatic demonstrations? You smile and say “No problem” of course, but it doesn’t take many times before you start insisting that it is company policy for you to setup your own gear.
Minimize Setup Time. To allow you to visit two schools per day, you need to be able to have things set and ready to go within 30 minutes of the time you arrive at the school. Allowing 10 minutes for checking in at the office and moving your vehicle to a good spot for unloading; that gives you 20 minutes to unload your gear and get everything ready. This is where packing, preparation and selection of demonstrations are important. Organize your packing so that everything has its place and you know where things are. Set things in place as you bring them in, and develop a routine for setting things up. Avoid demonstrations that require a lot of preparation beforehand. This is one of the things that limit chemistry shows for outreach. If your chemistry demos require a large amount of mixing and measuring, then have someone else (your presenter will not have the time if she has a full schedule) pre-mix and pre-measure things and pack them into the kit.
The same approach applies to tear down after the show. Insist on packing things yourself, putting each thing back in its place. This prevents delays at your next show and also helps keep you from leaving things behind. Again, chemistry shows are the biggest challenge that I have encountered, as you must safely and legally store or dispose of all of your chemical leftovers.
Bring everything you need. Do not rely on your clients to provide projectors, PA systems, etc. If you bring everything you need, then you will always have it. You don’t have to worry that someone will forget or that they will have the wrong thing. The schools will also appreciate anything that makes things easier for them. Be sure to pack an emergency kit, with spare bulbs, fuses, batteries, etc. for all of your gear. Include a couple of extension cords, electrical tape, duct tape, some wire, and some basic tools.
Get a Good Sound System. Do not rely on your host to provide one. I know that it is a pain, dragging around speakers, amplifiers, etc., but this one thing can make the difference between a good show and a failure. If you get to the site and they have a wonderful sound system, you can use it. If they don’t, then you have yours to work with. I know that many of you think that you can project your voice well enough that for most groups you don’t need a microphone. I went that route too, and frequently it worked. Then I learned something that acting coaches have known for years. People are less likely to listen if you are yelling. When you raise your voice, it changes. It is not simply louder. It changes your inflection. It produces a much less pleasing sound. In addition, school students learn to tune out a raised voice. Even with a microphone, if you are raising your voice, you get less attention. On the other hand, you can quickly capture the attention of your audience by lowering your voice instead of raising it. Move the microphone closer to your mouth and drop from a loud speaking voice into a soft voice, letting the amplifier do the work of making your voice loud enough to hear. You will be amazed at how quickly you get their attention.
Unless you are working with static or high voltage electricity, I recommend a small, wireless microphone, so you don’t get tangled up in wires. I learned the hard way that many wireless mikes are very sensitive to static electricity and quickly fail when used near a Van de Graaff generator.
Be sure to get a good sound system. A bad sound system
is worse than none at all. I went through several systems and finally
wound up with a setup that works. Get at least a 40 watt amplifier and
one or two good, large speakers. Get a good, unidirectional microphone
to control feedback. Spend some time learning how to work with the acoustics
of different areas. Keep in mind that people have an impact on the acoustics
of a room. If you set everything perfectly before the show, it will change
once the room is full of people.
The Market
OK, so once you have your show ready, what do you do with it? How do you make the best use of your investment? What is your market?
Schools. I tend to focus on schools, because that is where I spend most of my time. They have a large, captive audience, funds to pay for the show and they are hungry for good, educational programs.
Museums. This is my second largest market. Can one museum market shows to another? Certainly! Is it being done? Very rarely. Why? A common answer is “We are a regional museum and it is outside our area. What would we gain from it?” MONEY! National recognition. New ideas. This last one is probably the most valuable. At every museum where I perform, I tour the exhibits. I watch their programs. I chat with their staff. I learn what works for them, what does not and why. As a performer, everyone wants to talk to you and tell you about what they are doing. Take all of that information and multiply it by a few dozen museums a year and you have a tremendous source of very useful knowledge.
Homeschool groups. I can hear the educators groaning. With homeschool groups, you either love them or dread them. They are a very enthusiastic audience. They are generally excited about learning and they ask great questions. That means that your presenter has to really know the subject. I would never send a “script trained” presenter to a homeschool group. Homeschoolers often ask more pointed questions than a college physics professor. And the homeschoolers expect you to know the answer. They are a mixed audience, with small children, older kids and adults. They tend to interrupt the show with questions frequently.
On the other hand, if you do know your stuff, they are becoming a major part of our educational system. I have watched my homeschool audiences go from 15 families to 300 families. They have money and they are willing to pay for good programs. They are also much more critical than schools, and they definitely want the education much more than the entertainment. Homeschoolers are my favorite audience and they are becoming one of my most profitable as well.
Other venues. Scout troops, church groups, summer camps, county fairs, business conferences, and shopping malls are just a few of the markets that are open to large scale outreach. The more flexible your show is, in location and in audience, the bigger your market.
That flexibility is the heart of a good outreach
program. Aim to build a program that you can present to pre-schoolers,
college students, and seniors with equal success. Work to make it adaptable
enough to work in an auditorium, a church sanctuary, a gymnasium or even
an open field. Train your staff to be just as flexible, adapting to problems
with a smile and a solution. Do this well and your next challenge will
be developing new shows fast enough to fill the demand. Not a bad problem
to have.
Robert Krampf develops and presents a wide range of science shows and serves as a consultant for program development and staff training. Robert Krampf’s Science Shows can be reached at P.O. Box 60892, Jacksonville, FL 32236-0982; 904.388.6381; Krampf@aol.com; www.krampf.com.