An Expliner's BIG Event

'To Herstmonceux- with tent'! Chris Mason, a presenter at Techniquest attending the event as an entrant in the international BIG demo competition, reflects on his first BIG Event experience.

For me, a "BIG virgin", the BIG Event held at Herstmonceux Science Centre in Sussex was a fabulous chance not only to learn about other centres and what they do, but also what I could be doing differently and in some cases better. More important and beneficial, however, was the opportunity to meet, in a relaxed and social atmosphere, those people that work for and run other centres.

The Herstmonceux Centre itself is a fabulous setting for a Conference, set as it is in the grounds of Herstmonceux Castle. Inside the centre they have a much simpler and plainer, but equally successful, attitude to exhibit design than Techniquest, using steel on a smaller scale than I'm used to. Whilst most of the exhibits were familiar they did have some great new ideas and I admit to getting a little excited by the fake voice box which re-created vowel sounds when placed on the neck - it's just cool!! My favourite area was the outdoor Discovery Park that was filled with Giant Metal Exhibits - if only we had as much space at Techniquest!

Back to the event. This did involve lots of sessions and meetings but that's not what it was all about to me... there's a fantastic social element as well. In the evenings, there was the BIG Ball at Herstmonceux Castle, an Astronomy Evening together with Chinese Cuisine and a trip to the local!! Whilst these were a good chance to unwind with a couple of shandys (Hmm! Ed) after a heavy day, they were the best opportunity to meet counter-parts from other centres and chat to them on a social level.

However, the sessions themselves were not at all dull and boring. There were shows, interactive sessions and chances to contribute yourself. Whilst this is most definitely a cliché, I learned a lot from the sessions.

So what exactly did I learn? One of the most useful sessions for me, as a Presenter, was Mike Dennis' about presenting shows to schools in schools. Most of his points were things that we do anyway and it was good to know that we follow good practices but he did pull up some interesting things and some cool demos - both new and some he admitted to having stolen from us! For example, he pointed out that its good to have some demos that you return to at different points during the show to keep the kids' attention. He showed this with a nappy and also some peas. Did you know that a nappy can hold over 1 litre of water? His suggestion was to start filling the nappy at the beginning of the show, and then return to it at regular intervals.

Steve Mesure's Floating Point Science Theatre eclipsed even Mike's session for me. For those of you who don't know, Steve takes his workshops to Schools and demonstrates science through mime. The reason the session was so enjoy-able was that it was entirely interactive (and blessed by the glorious Sussex sunshine!!). He ran it as if we were School Pupils, stopping every so often to explain to us why he did something etc... but when a session starts with a game of Stuck in the Mud, how can you not enjoy it?

The basics of Steve's concept is that he explains Scientific Principles through participation and mime, for example, imagining there's a brick in front of you, picking it up, holding and squeezing it etc. This would be done several times, imaging that the brick were made of different materials. This can show the kids loads about materials and their perceptions of them. Another thing that he did was looking at perspectives on everyday activities, like frying an egg, by looking at them from the inside out and from the out-side in. Through mime, you can see the actions from both perspectives. As well as being massively fun, this session helped me to think of some things I could adapt and apply when presenting shows.

I had the chance to co-present a Techniquest show with Louise Eccleston, one of our Public Programmes Officers. The show "Risky Business" had run at Techniquest for several weekends and the chance to showcase it was fantastic. For those who weren't there, the Risky Business show is essentially a giant game of Snakes and Ladders where audience members are asked to take part in Risk Challenges. Each show is different as the challenges are selected at random by the audience. I had enjoyed presenting it to the vis-itors at Techniquest but to see other professionals enjoying the show at Herstmonceux was fabulous.

Whilst all the sessions were useful and entertaining, the highlight of the Event for me was the Best Demo Competition, which was the main reason why I was there. The BIGDemo competition is an opportunity for presenters from Centres across the country (And internationally. Ed) to showcase their ideas and presenting skills through the medium of a five minute demonstration. The competition this year was the biggest ever, including three entrants from Techniquest. For me, the best demo competition was one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever had to do, particularly as my Candle See-Saw worked intermittently to say the least. However, the competition was a success with all the demonstrations going well - a fantastic chance to 'borrow' ideas!

On reflection, the BIG Event was a fabulous experience - an excellent chance to learn, net-work and also to enjoy - I really recommend the BIG event to everyone! Hope to see you there next year!

Newsletter Autumn 2001 Contents

From the Chair
Universeum. Sweden
Explainer report
ECSITE in the UK
Convenor at the BIG Event
An explainers' Big Event