Public Speaking to Promote Our Hobby

Brian...I know you will do a fine job and are the perfect person to represent our O gauge hobby.  Shoot me a PM to my OGR address and give me the specifics as I may be able to help...

 

Alan

Good luck with this.  Please tell us how it works out.

Good Luck my good friend Brian, please let us know how it turns out

 

Thanks, Alex

Great to hear! Can't wait to hear how it turns out.

Hello Brian

 

     It was great to see you again. Bring them to your layout. You can do it all in 10 minutes after they see what you have done. Good luck.

 

Ray Marion

Brian,

 

I have some magazines and catalogs that you can have if needed.  You can pick them up on when you come over to see my layout.

 

Mike.

Brian. I have no doubt you will do a great job representing our hobby. Just some advise that might help;  Don't show them any photo's of some of your more weird train friends!

 

 

 

 

"Four score, and 7 Yorks ago..."

 

Feel free to steal my opening, Brian!  Seriously, best of luck with reaching  this new audience.  Sounds as though you're eminently qualified for this task.

 

- Mike

Brian,

 

That is fantastic!

 

One thing you did not mention is whether you will have access to a projector (computer, screen, etc.) for pictures and even videos. These would go a long way to illustrate the intricacy and details of many layouts. And the sophictication of the control systems will also get their attention.

 

Best of luck!

 

Alex

Thanks Alan, Alex, Lee, Polarexpress3, Chris, Mike M, Mike C, Ray and Alex.

 

I would love to bring this group to the layout, but they are 2.5 hours away in Massachusetts. Mike, I sure will take you up on the magazines. And Alex, I do have a laptop and projector as this is important tool to give examples of this topic. I am also going to bring a steamer and diesel engines.

 

The gentleman who arranged this speaking engagement is visiting our layout this week for the first time.

Not sure if this would be an option but is it possible to set up a small loop of track to add to the demonstration ? I have enough spare Fastrack to make a small loop if you have a table to put it on I can send to you to use. Send me an E-mail if your interested.

I took a turn at this years ago up in Wisconsin and I was surprised how many folks were interested, and my memories of that evening are wonderful. I hope the same goes for you and your audience.

Bruce

That's a great opportunity Brian.

Last year a fella at our church invited me to come speak at their Kiwanis meeting held at  a nice mountain country club. They had a projector and a laptop available so I took a flash drive and ran a slide show of my layout as I talked. ALso took my then new MR S3 for display.

 

The audience really seemed to enjoy it and several said they still had their trains. The discouraging part is that none of them has ever shown up at our clubhouse...

Brian:  Excellent.  Let us know the outcome.  Take sample rolling stock to show (expect them to be handled, so not the real expensive ones) and a small layout of track would be nice.  Do conventional, and if DCS or TMCC keep to the simple commands.  Nice of you to do.  Good luck.

 

Chris:  Clearly, that picture is the one you should have up as your avitar.  If you don't use it as yours I am going to use it as mine! 

Hi Brian, great idea and theme for a presentation.  Maybe you can exhibit examples of Vision Line or Legacy steam locomotives which are, I believe, engineering marvels in their own right.  Take along a Texas Special F3, this will definitely catch their eye.  I'm sure their is media equipment available for you to utilize, a video of your layout in operation would be a winner.

 

TEX

Steve

Speaking of videos....a video of the presentation would be nice so that we can see you in action Brian!!

 

Alan

I think what you are doing is a great idea.  The wide variety of skills acquired, the historical aspect, the friendships made, and the results produced are all major selling points of the hobby.

 

Of course, please do leave out the "funny hat" division of the hobby. 

 

Best of luck and please update us on the reception.

 

George

Dear Brian,

 

Good luck on your very worthy project. If you have time, I am very interested in obtaining a video of your presentation. Would you please tell me how much it costs?

 

Mike Maurice

What's needed is a Speaker's Bureau. Usually, certain organizations have them to promote things (The Bar Association, for example).

 

IMO, any professional should share information, because, in so doing, that is how (for me) I learn.

 

Too bad there is not an O-Gauge organization that would provide a similar forum for bringing our trains to the public in a personal way.

 

Seems as if that is a logical function of OGR!

I would certainly volunteer to speak to groups in Central PA.

 

George

Actually, I think the NMRA would be better suited for this function, although this forum would be a great way to organize and communicate.

 

Andy

Chris, what a great idea, I had really thought about having a working engine or train available with a loop of track. I will certainly be in contact with you to see if you are available to help (it is in MA).

 

Bruce, Sam, Mike M., George, Dr. John, Andy, barrister2U, and Tex, thanks for your input and comments.

 

Alan, the video is a great idea. Since these folks are engineers by trade, your layout with all the high risers would be a wonderful addition to the presentation. How about a video of your beautiful layout?

Brian...thanks for the offer but unfortunately I don't have a video of the layout.  I have a nice Toshiba digital video camera but just haven't tackled using it yet.  To be honest, I have given it a "test run" but I just haven't had the desire to take what would be, at least for me, the hours of time to produce a professional looking presentation like some of the others have done here on the forum.  Perhaps I will be will convinced someday to do so...

 

I would suggest that if you would like pictures of my layout to use, I would be more than glad to forward you some nice shots and then you could burn them to a CD.  Just let me know.

 

By the way, when are you going to do the presentation?

 

Alan

Alan:

 

If you could burn your photos to a CD, that would be perfect. I already have a CD ready to go with pictures of our layout.

 

The date of the meeting is October 3rd.

 

Thanks for the offer, your photos I am sure will be a big hit. They have asked in particular for anything on a layout that was scratch built, so you have many examples of wonderful structures. You having an architectural background will add interest to my talk.

 

Thanks again, you are a good friend.

Brian. One more thought is if there are space restrictions you could use one locomotive of your choice with a set of O scale stationary rollers which I have a set you could borrow for your presentation.

Chris:

 

Your idea is terrific. I talked to the organizer this afternoon and suggested a mini-layout to demonstrate the features of state-of-the-art locomotives. He loved the idea. They are more than happy to provide tables for this purpose.

 

I will e-mail you with more details.

I thought Worlds Greatest Hobby had a speakers bureau kind of thing but I don't see it listed. Here is what they have: http://www.greatesthobby.com/wgh/MS_0.html I don't know how much time you have but you might contact them to see if they have any promotional materials.  I would get a hold of Kalmbach too.  They sometimes send stacks of back issues to be given away at our local train show.  They also have a getting started booklet they give away.  http://trc.trains.com/en/Contact%20Us.aspx

Another approach to speak about trains and get the interest of the young people is to become a Merit Badge Counselor for a Local Boy Scout troop for Railroading Merit badge.  Every year or so, I get to talk trains with a handful of scouts at the troop that I volunteer in.  We talk about Real Railroads and toy trains.  We do it at my house so after lots of powerpoints and demos regarding rolling stock and scale vs Gauge, etc... We go down to the layout and run trains.

 

I am often told by a parent that the scout ends up finding that old HO set they have had that was collecting dust and start to play with trains again!!

Lets keep talking trains!!
ben

I brought my Lionel Reading T-1 when I spoke to the Shenandoah [PA] Historical Society about local railroads last month. Redaing Steam Guru painted and detailed her as 2124. Wowak added full working valve gear, a scale pilot coupler, a "mantel clock" hatch on her air pump cover, and a chime whistle. If you have a locomotive of interest to those engineers, bring it and operate it, as above posts suggested.

 

You could surprise them by declaring that full-size steam locomotives are still being built in America. This beauty - No. 17, the YORK - rolled out of [David] Kloke Locomotive Works, Elgin, IL, in May, 2013! No. 17 runs between New Freedom and Hanover Junction (south of York and about 7 miles west of Exit 4 on I-83). president Abraham Lincoln rode on this route to deliver his Gettysburg Address. For more information, Search for threads here on the Forum and go to www.steamintohistory.com

 

 

 

Good luck with your presentation

Garfield, Frank, Ben, and ReadingFan, thanks all for your suggestions.

 

Frank, I think you present some excellent points which I will incorporate. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

 

I am bringing an ATSF 3000 with all of the latest Vision Line features.

I have seen these type presentations given a couple of times, eg the local 65 club and at a fraternal club meeting. Also scheduled was a later date open house to an large operating  model railroad layout. The interest given by the attendees was generally underwhelming.

Thanks for your comments Charlie. I have been in attendance at other related speaking programs and a good deal of interest from the audience depends upon the presenter's knowledge of the subject matter, their enthusiasm in the delivery process, and whether are not they are a good public speaker.