26 replies to this topic

[martyn]

Another possible southern venue might be the police training college at sulhamstead where the black powder bods hold ORDCON?
Possibly the same weekend? - we could attend theirs and we might also get a few hairys at ours
I like exat's ideas of rotation, personally I'm not that fussed about the display afterwards.

[crystal palace fireworks]

We have had similar problems in the Institute of Explosives Engineers for many years. Trying to find a venue for our 2 day AGM/Conference that suits the entire membership has proved impossible. As a way of appeasing as many members as possible we now have a 3 year rotation of North, Midlands, and South. So for example in 2010 we were at Blackpool, 2011 Hinckley (near Leicester), and this year Hayling Island (Portsmouth). Next year we are back in the North again.
You will never please all of the membership all of the time but the rota concept does give many folk a chance of attending AGM,s on a regular basis even if it is not annually.

Another thought might be - why not hold your AGM as a stand alone event at one time of the year and have a separate event for practical activities at another thus giving members 2 opportunities to meet at differing locations.

Thanks exat808 for your comments, Yes your rota system does make sense to a point, but Im not sure our stand alone AGM event will help us expand (get the coverage) to market ourselves and recruit possible new members to the UKPS if we continue to hold it away from the public eye, the problem is our `not for profit` societies membership is just too small and thinly spread around the UK.
As opinons/feedback suggest, even though it would be great to hold it all over the country each year, for the time being it makes sense to hold our AGM`s in the central england area, but my point is that we should consider holding it at larger existing events/festivals (be it related or not related to science) to get us maximum publicity and with added option for staying closeby (affordable overnight stay = campsite) if possible.

We already have excellent presence at pyro events like Estnor castle (but we don`t hold our AGM there),......... but is there also not an opportunity to possibly hold future AGM`s at perhaps non science events like Warwick Folk Festival where a lot more people will attend to see us or visit our stand as a consideration?

[martyn]

Keith - I think the problem is that we are the nerds and we might not realise it.
99% of the general public at best don't give a monkeys about fireworks, and many, especially those with neurotic animals, hate them.
Money is getting tighter for most people and fireworks can be expensive, they are definitely a luxury item, not a necessity.
I don't think that the great unwashed will want to attend to listen to the sort of speakers we have had in the past, but they are exactly the sort that most of us attend to listen to.
I agree that we should be working to expand our membership but I think that dumbing down the agm to appeal to the public will make it less attractive to pyro enthusiasts.
The other issue is that you don't actually get anything for your money when you join the UKPS, those of us that join do so to be part of the 'family' and to support the cause!!
Possibly a more targeted approach to recruitment would be better, rather than going for the public at large, anyone know John Bennett well enough to get his mailing list, that type of thing?
I don't mean to sound negative if that's how it comes across. It all boils down to the fact that the stuff we want to do that is interesting is also illegal, we can't involve the public in that.

[exat808]

Has anyone done a simple data trawl of where UKPS members reside? Plot the disribution on a map, identify the members that regularly attend AGM's, and find a venue that suits the majority of attending members and try to make it as near to large groupings of non attending members as posible.

[Arthur Brown]

The Society, as a Limited Company (with strictly lawful aims) MUST by law hold an AGM and it must be quorate to count, that's all company law.

To get the members to attend sweeteners are offered, in the form of interesting speakers and maybe a firework display.

The style of a rotating AGM, North, midlands then south, puts the agm near near some and further from others and may assist to keep the entire membership connected.
However we do simply need a venue anywhere, with lots of parking, easy access by public transport, a meeting room and maybe a space for a show, that is hard to find, and to get it on the cheap makes it even harder to find.

There was a member map on the Society's web page but it hasn't been accessible for a while, but whether it's current is another matter, the membership or the FORUM does change, A plot of Society members would likely be too sparse to be representative.

[phildunford]

Hopefully Richard may be able to re-instate the map some time as it was useful...

As I recall, it showed concentrations of members around London, Midlands and West Country - however, this does not mean that they are active members...

[whoof]

Keith - I think the problem is that we are the nerds and we might not realise it.
stuff we want to do that is interesting is also illegal, we can't involve the public in that.

Hand in hand unfortunatley.
People keep their heads down.
In the US there is much more interest.
Looking at internet,twitter,facebook etc i think the nerds have already inherited the earth and the norms have not noticed.
At least we do our thing outside (hopefully ).

I like the idea of some sort of combined event to encourage attendance.
A 2day SFX course/AGM i think would be a good draw if a suitable mid england site can be found.

Billing aquadrome has various other events, maybe they would like a display for one of them ?

[crystal palace fireworks]

Keith - I think the problem is that we are the nerds and we might not realise it.
99% of the general public at best don't give a monkeys about fireworks, and many, especially those with neurotic animals, hate them.
Money is getting tighter for most people and fireworks can be expensive, they are definitely a luxury item, not a necessity.
I don't think that the great unwashed will want to attend to listen to the sort of speakers we have had in the past, but they are exactly the sort that most of us attend to listen to.
I agree that we should be working to expand our membership but I think that dumbing down the agm to appeal to the public will make it less attractive to pyro enthusiasts.
The other issue is that you don't actually get anything for your money when you join the UKPS, those of us that join do so to be part of the 'family' and to support the cause!!
Possibly a more targeted approach to recruitment would be better, rather than going for the public at large, anyone know John Bennett well enough to get his mailing list, that type of thing?
I don't mean to sound negative if that's how it comes across. It all boils down to the fact that the stuff we want to do that is interesting is also illegal, we can't involve the public in that.

Hi Martyn, thanks for your comments in this interesting debate,


Your right, yes we are nerds in various guises or degrees and proud of it (LOL and I do recognize myself in that to a certain extent), and your right that 99% of the public are not interested in fireworks for some of the reasons you give (they never have been) in its present guise or format (that needs to change and we the nerds can gradually influence & change that over the coming years), but the reality is we can only attract a small percentage of that 99% - but if we cast nets wider to more selective events, we will increase the likelyhood of finding and keeping more longterm members = thats why I also suggested the oxford science festival as a possible AGM option.

Your also right when you say that some demo`s at the AGM`s would not appeal to the general public because they are too nerdy or heavy in there intellectual content, but that is not always the case or should I say it needn`t be as I believe Vic`s demo at Estnor indicate.

In my opinion it was great to see some existing members bringing along there families to the last AGM (especially the kids) - but perhaps we should have got them involved by setting up water rockets for them to play with under supervision!


I don`t believe we should dumbdown and appeal to the masses for the sake it (we only want 1 or 2% of that 99% to join us), my point about the firework display is to use it as tool as part of negotiations with event organisers as well as a thank you to our hard working members both on the committee and elsewhere - not everyone wants to make fireworks or involve themselves in the chemistry aspect of making fireworks, but that does not mean we can not appeal to others who maybe want to be involved in other ways, this could be going on firework trips or demo`s involving putting on a more safer and interesting back garden display etc etc.

If we can aim to attract 100 paid members in the next 3 years or so, then we will have more clout to fund the society better, this could be purchasing or renting (peppercorn) a place for us to practice legally = then I think you will see membership reach 300 or so given we have made some great progress on the legislative front recently.

Your idea about accessing Johm Bennetts list is excellent - we definately need to be more scientific and monitor/record our societies recruitment processes more closely and then aim our marketing or AGM`s at these people.

[whoof]

I think that accessing John Bennets mailing list would be problematical from a data protection POV.
Could we get some sort of article featured ?

[barnsley-mark]

Really enjoyed the AGM and will happily travel for the next one. A full weekend would be awesome.

[Karl Mitchell-Shead]

Well whatever is decided I am happy to contribute a finale of shells again