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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by KenLarsen On December 17th, I am scheduled to give a 2-hour presentation about model railroading to a bunch of home-schooled kids, ages 7-12... I want to show that MR’ing is a 3-dimensional art form, MUCH MORE than simply playing with toy trains (nothing against tinplaters and collectors, please understand!). [quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by randybc2003 ... Put out models, (cars, buildings, & industries) the kids can RESPOND to. What is the industry in your area... show LOCAL business, and cars they can respond to... ...Be sure to let us know how this turns out!!! [/quote] [/quote] Well, here's the recap: The presentation [as a whole] was not a failure; it was not a success; it simply WASN'T. I erected a 'living diorama' in the church activity hall, with one module fully scenicked, another half-scenicked, and the rest with trackwork-only (so I could run LONG trains). I had two video consoles setup, one showing prototype CSX operations and the other a Keller DVD of Monroe Stewart's layout. I was ready and waiting for them at 11:00am on Friday - but none of the intended audience showed up!?! Apparently when the woman in charge of the home-schoolers' co-op sent out the e-mail announcement, she only told them that a 'model train event' was going to happen on Dec 17th, and to "go to the web site" for details. Well guess what: the people who got the message never went to the web site as instructed, so they didn't know the TIME! [banghead] My own family was there. While my wife started trying to phone everybody who had RSVP'd, my kids got restless and begged me to let them start putting on the vehicles and the trees (that was how I had planned to involve all the kids - by making it a 'high-touch' display). So I started running one of the two trains on a continuous loop while I dismantled the first of the two video consoles. At that point a few families from another parish activity walked in. [Apparently the church secretary felt sorry for me going to all that trouble for nothing, so she announced it to others at a Christmas play rehearsal.] Many more families with kids began flowing in, so my wife suggested I do the presentation to these people. I played the Monroe Stewart video, but nobody paid attention to that - they were only interested in the trains. The kids put on the Woodland Scenics trees [and other kids came along, uprooted them, and planted them elsewhere] and postioned the various Busch and Boley scale vehicles (including the ones from the earlier era that I had in a separate bag). The visiting kids all appeared to enjoy themselves, so at least my work on the diorama wasn't a total waste of time. But as far as getting out the message to parents - that the MRR hobby is a great artistic/educational/social medium, and that you do NOT have to be a wealthy nerd 'without a life' to enjoy it - that part was unfortunately a resounding FAILURE.[sigh]
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