Poor Club Coverage Despite Recent Events - Can IFAS Help?

Hi all,

I'm sure by now most of you involved (heavily) with your respective clubs have found it quite hard to get the coverage your club deserves in the media (of any type).
As an example, I've never had an acknowledgement from Radio 3 in Tullamore regarding our involvement with COSMOS, the Transit, and even start of our season last September whenever I have sent emails or post. None of the papers printed the articles I submitted regarding the Transit, though they did print the one for COSMOS back in March.
And in my defense, I have submitted all the material in plenty of time too.

For some reason, TAS, which has been in Tullamore for 18 years, does not seem to be recognised properly for all its worth.
Despite the following sounding like a boasting effort for TAS, we had the first amateur radio telescope setup in Ireland; we have an operational Observatory, one of only a few outside of Dublin, since 1998; we walked 17 miles across the Sleive Bloom in 1 day in 1996 for sponsorship; with the help of the IAS we started the second annual Irish Star Party, Astrofest (Now COSMOS), in 1990. What haven't we done yet to acheive the recognition we long for?

All the clubs and societies in Ireland have "been here, got nowhere" or will at some stage come to this point. We all seem to be losing out, and its not just because Astronomy Ireland got here first. Could this be an issue that IFAS, as it was created for, tackle and win? Almost 2 years will pass soon, and so far, we all keep losing out. Can we see more suggestions and partaking of these same suggestions (those that are passed) to build on?

SAC has a great track record with the Whirlpool Star Party, and it receives many more visitors than COSMOS, AND its more well known. Would SAC permit the use of this years WSP as a platform to really launch IFAS to the country? Starting now and using the influence the Transit has brought on the Irish media, maybe we can get in touch with media outlets now in preperation for it?

Anyone care to reply?

Sorry its been a long winded post! You've got to the end at last!



Seanie.

Hi all,

I'm sure by now most of you involved (heavily) with your respective clubs have found it quite hard to get the coverage your club deserves in the media (of any type).
As an example, I've never had an acknowledgement from Radio 3 in Tullamore regarding our involvement with COSMOS, the Transit, and even start of our season last September whenever I have sent emails or post. None of the papers printed the articles I submitted regarding the Transit, though they did print the one for COSMOS back in March.
And in my defense, I have submitted all the material in plenty of time too.

For some reason, TAS, which has been in Tullamore for 18 years, does not seem to be recognised properly for all its worth.
Despite the following sounding like a boasting effort for TAS, we had the first amateur radio telescope setup in Ireland; we have an operational Observatory, one of only a few outside of Dublin, since 1998; we walked 17 miles across the Sleive Bloom in 1 day in 1996 for sponsorship; with the help of the IAS we started the second annual Irish Star Party, Astrofest (Now COSMOS), in 1990. What haven't we done yet to acheive the recognition we long for?

All the clubs and societies in Ireland have "been here, got nowhere" or will at some stage come to this point. We all seem to be losing out, and its not just because Astronomy Ireland got here first. Could this be an issue that IFAS, as it was created for, tackle and win? Almost 2 years will pass soon, and so far, we all keep losing out. Can we see more suggestions and partaking of these same suggestions (those that are passed) to build on?

SAC has a great track record with the Whirlpool Star Party, and it receives many more visitors than COSMOS, AND its more well known. Would SAC permit the use of this years WSP as a platform to really launch IFAS to the country? Starting now and using the influence the Transit has brought on the Irish media, maybe we can get in touch with media outlets now in preperation for it?

Anyone care to reply?

Sorry its been a long winded post! You've got to the end at last!



Seanie.

seanie,
i from past expirence it is hard to get the media to co-operate. particularly when we all have jobs to be doing and a certain other person/organization has all the time in the world because it is the only thing he does, whatever his ends. mayeb for the next big event in astronomy we could use ifas to co - ordinate all the clubs to organize events everywhere across the country. we could also have some sort of hand outs with the ifas and local clubs logo and website address or email address. if there was one info sheet for all clubs it would help the smaller clubs who don't have the time/resources to do them for themselves. the would just have to print them off. it could also maybe have a bit of ifas history on it. we can be everywhere at once whereas mr. moore really only concentrates on dublin. each club could concentrate on the media in their area whereas ifas as a whole could concentrate on the national media. the info sheets need not be for a special events they could also be used when there is nothing special so that we are always getting the message across. the more we put out there then gradually the message will get through. and you will be surprised how long they last for. i ocassionally still get calls at home from leaflets put out when i was the IAS secretary and that was more that 8 YEARS AGO !!.
stephen.

Hi Seanie,
I already mentioned to Dave Bell about getting national media involved, he tried before and they just weren't interested, at the time.
I'll say it to him again, I think some of the problem is that we're not Dublin based, AI is and they get all the attention..

Just wondering, are we tacking this from the right angle?

If the media aren't interested with what they're being offered, is there another way? Local radio stations are always keen to give away free prizes. The hosting club may consider contacting the local radio station before each star party and offer say 10 free tickets to the first ten callers who answer a simple question.

This will do the following:

1. Free ad for the star party. These 10 people would't have turned up at the star party anyway so offering them free entry is costing nothing.
2. Free ad for the local astronomy club
3. Form a link between the local radio station and the club. They'll be much eager to hear from you if you offer something free to them.

Something similar can be done with the local press.

Even if we get a few interested locals into the star party free for one year they'll be much more likely to join the local club or at least tell their family/friends about it. Word of mouth is always a good form of advertising.

However, as for the overall issue about IFAS, we might just need to consider what the function of IFAS is.
Perhaps clarifying what the function of IFAS is would be a start. Does it have a target goal/mission statment ?

Michael

Why not send your local paper a paragraph about your Venus Transit Watch and a couple of photos......you never know

I am sending a note in to the local paper and with a bit of luck it might get printed. We also had a mention on the Local Radio Station on the morning.

From little acorns.......

Michael,
Giving away prizes is an interesting angle,
The problem we've found is that astronomy is just not sexy enough to make TV or the big radio stations, maybe using prizes might work ??