Post by bsimon615 on Nov 13, 2018 21:56:27 GMT -6
Catch-22 - a dilemma or difficult circumstance from which there is no escape because of mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
So how does "Catch-22" apply to the Deep South Star Gaze?
Like many star parties and like many astronomy clubs and their monthly meetings, we are suffering from decreasing attendance. Try as we might at either a club meeting or at events like the Deep South Star Gaze, we are seeing decreased attendance. There is competition from other activities or other star parties which have decreased our attendance, but I believe primarily for both types of activities (star parties and club meetings) one of the primary reasons for the decline we are seeing is an aging group of active amateur astronomers. Back 2 to 3 decades ago the Deep South Star Gaze would have a registration hovering around 140 to 150, and our recent DSSG had a registration of only 53 with only 36 attending at any time during the duration of the star gaze. Club meetings would typically attract between 50 and 60 people 20 to 30 years ago, now the attendance numbers for my club is usually about 25 to no more than 30.
As I said what the DSSG is seeing with decreased attendance is primarily age related but I believe some of it has to do with what I will call the "Celestial Catch-22 Effect". So what do I mean here as it relates to the star party?
At the Deep South, as well as with other star parties, we contract with a venue to hold the star party. Working with the venue the terms are set which in part creates a guarantee that we have to live with in respect to numbers coming, buying lodging and buying food. If we cannot meet those guarantees we lose the ability to continue using the venue or we have to supplement our reduced numbers with other revenue that we take in. This year I had to make up the shortfall in our numbers via registration receipts, something which has never been done before. Part of the reason I had to do that is because it is likely that some did not register and come because they were looking at what the weather would do. Based upon the forecasts I know we lost some potential registrants. Some may have been willing to pay late registration had the forecast looked better but the forecast never looked real good and "non-viewing" activities were just not appealing enough to pull them in irrespective of the forecast.
I can certainly see the logic in waiting and registering on-site and attending when the forecast at the start of the event looks good, and I can see the logic of not attending at all when the forecast is bad, but that does affect the viability of the event as I have to have a certain number of registrants up front to even have the DSSG. I can probably supplement low numbers one more time by utilizing some registration money but that will be it. This year only 36 of our 53 registrants attended (at least for a while). Returning to the Feliciana Retreat Center is not an option or even a consideration as the skies and horizons are so much better at White Horse. Even if the Feliciana Retreat Center had similar observing conditions it has other issues that make it not an option.
In the future I can see late registration if the weather is good becoming more the norm, and no attendance at all becoming the norm if the forecast is bad, but this will certainly impact whether or not we can continue holding the event at all as we have to have guarantees at the front end to even do a star gaze. Discussion of this topic is encouraged and the consensus will have ramifications as to whether we can continue with the current format.
More in future posts, but I want to see comments from others.
Barry Simon
So how does "Catch-22" apply to the Deep South Star Gaze?
Like many star parties and like many astronomy clubs and their monthly meetings, we are suffering from decreasing attendance. Try as we might at either a club meeting or at events like the Deep South Star Gaze, we are seeing decreased attendance. There is competition from other activities or other star parties which have decreased our attendance, but I believe primarily for both types of activities (star parties and club meetings) one of the primary reasons for the decline we are seeing is an aging group of active amateur astronomers. Back 2 to 3 decades ago the Deep South Star Gaze would have a registration hovering around 140 to 150, and our recent DSSG had a registration of only 53 with only 36 attending at any time during the duration of the star gaze. Club meetings would typically attract between 50 and 60 people 20 to 30 years ago, now the attendance numbers for my club is usually about 25 to no more than 30.
As I said what the DSSG is seeing with decreased attendance is primarily age related but I believe some of it has to do with what I will call the "Celestial Catch-22 Effect". So what do I mean here as it relates to the star party?
At the Deep South, as well as with other star parties, we contract with a venue to hold the star party. Working with the venue the terms are set which in part creates a guarantee that we have to live with in respect to numbers coming, buying lodging and buying food. If we cannot meet those guarantees we lose the ability to continue using the venue or we have to supplement our reduced numbers with other revenue that we take in. This year I had to make up the shortfall in our numbers via registration receipts, something which has never been done before. Part of the reason I had to do that is because it is likely that some did not register and come because they were looking at what the weather would do. Based upon the forecasts I know we lost some potential registrants. Some may have been willing to pay late registration had the forecast looked better but the forecast never looked real good and "non-viewing" activities were just not appealing enough to pull them in irrespective of the forecast.
I can certainly see the logic in waiting and registering on-site and attending when the forecast at the start of the event looks good, and I can see the logic of not attending at all when the forecast is bad, but that does affect the viability of the event as I have to have a certain number of registrants up front to even have the DSSG. I can probably supplement low numbers one more time by utilizing some registration money but that will be it. This year only 36 of our 53 registrants attended (at least for a while). Returning to the Feliciana Retreat Center is not an option or even a consideration as the skies and horizons are so much better at White Horse. Even if the Feliciana Retreat Center had similar observing conditions it has other issues that make it not an option.
In the future I can see late registration if the weather is good becoming more the norm, and no attendance at all becoming the norm if the forecast is bad, but this will certainly impact whether or not we can continue holding the event at all as we have to have guarantees at the front end to even do a star gaze. Discussion of this topic is encouraged and the consensus will have ramifications as to whether we can continue with the current format.
More in future posts, but I want to see comments from others.
Barry Simon
