"I don't see the need to "dumb down" anyone's presentations. It would be a shame to say that we can't host intensely technical and arcane presentations that at the very least should be of interest to our memberships."

Agreed. As a rule you need need to appeal to the "general public" that sizeable majority of potential customers/visitors that has three characteristics: low technical knowledge, interest limited in depth, scope and duration and high preference for entertainment.

However, a small but significant portion of your customers will be railroad enthusiasts, who will be seeking or have higher technical knowledge, intense interest and a high preference for education. Coincidentally, these folks will be more likely to donate, volunteer and spend. They are "value intense" and you fail to provide appropriate content to this group.

And another small percentage will be bloviating foamer "experts" who will want to show off their knowledge (or total lack thereof) and try their best to stump the speaker.

The place to present to the small but significant is at a meeting of many of them....such as the national convention, or a national symposium. Know your audience and tailor your product to meet their needs.

dave

There are other questions to be asked that I haven't seen raised yet except by "overmod".

Is the guy any good? As a presenter, as a speaker, etc.? We're looking for an entertainer, not a diesel designer.

I have seen programs by excellent photographers who couldn't narrate their way out of a paper bag, including some famous names in this field. I have seen utterly wonderful programs by entertaining speakers that couldn't compose a good photo if Ansel Adams or O. Winston Link had been standing over them. I've seen marvelous technical assembly and production by guys who still think a presenter is obligated to show them EVERY photo he shot, including the dupes.

Few people possess the combination of a good eye for photography or graphic presentation, a wealth of technical background, AND the ability to be personable and entertaining in public speaking. Jim Boyd was one. Mike Schafer of PTJ is one. Steve Barry of Railfan & Railroad is another. Jim Wrinn of Trains. It's no accident that these guys are magazine editors as well.

I recently presented a show for the Grand Canyon Chapter NRHS on "Ghost Railroads of Central Arizona." Talk about "carrying coals to Newcastle," but . . . My program was promoted to the general public in town, and we ended up with about 10-12 members (normal for them) and about 25 locals and history buffs. Given that, I had to discard my notecards about details about the railroads' operations, exact construction dates of this or that station, etc. and blast everyone with a combined general overview of the railroad lines in question, and entertain them with the combination of vintage photos and a "travelogue" of bouncing in Jeeps over abandoned railroad rights-of-way to abandoned tunnels and mineshafts (and crawling in them to explore), over ridiculously craggy "trails," and finishing with a craft beer in a pint Mason jar in a "ghost town's" saloon that had been moved there from two previously-extant "ghost towns". It was quite well received, and being a "digital" program I was able to frantically add in a pair of photos I had shot on the way to give the program.

Someone like Dick Dillworth--or for that matter, the heads of the NS and UP steam programs, the railfan-friendly company executives, the Moedingers, etc.--isn't someone you invite for a post-dinner, 45-minute slide show. He's someone you sit down before a video camera and pro microphone set, and milk for all the oral history you can, for hours, and maybe then condense into a documentary. If need be, aided and abetted by a pint of an adult beverage, as I've seen with interviews with steam-era railroad employees in Britain.

"And another small percentage will be bloviating foamer "experts" who will want to show off their knowledge (or total lack thereof) and try their best to stump the speaker."

Unless you are trying to solicit the disruptive and disputatious, all I can say is there's nothing you can do about the presence of such customers-it comes with the territory.

Even when there should be an absolute presumption of expertise on behalf of the service provider (doctors, for example), there's always going to be the contentious and contradictory individual brandishing something he/she has gleened from Prevention Magazine or the internet.

Ever try to get a passenger count in a car full of sugared-up ten to twelve year olds? I do love extinguishing the near diabolical joy they seem to derive from yelling out random numbers by holding up my tally counter and smiling-it just crushes the mischief right out of them. No risk of complaint or confrontation, just indefeasible armor against peurility. Every trade has its tricks.

The opportunity to interview Richard Dilworth spanned many decades. Both of the major national railroad historical organizations were in existence during most of that time. Is anyone aware of any actual interviews of Dilworth that were done and are accessible, other than the information published in the well known DILWORTH STORY (1954) by Franklin Reck?

PC