Singastro Session 1 Today!

[Q]

yes I third that point, no more events in institution!

[Airconvent]

Another problem is that Singastro is constantly being overshadowed by the TASOS. When people think of sky phenomenon they straight away think of observatories. Thus when there is eclipse or comets, the press immediately publish TASOS related articles, as the press consider them as 'official' and 'established'. Thus Singastro must find a way to penetrate through their monopoly and get a greater say in astro stuff.

Hi Fizzy123,
I think you are approaching this wrongly. We should not view TASOS as our "enemy" or rival, they are merely an another avenue for people who wants to know more about astronomy. I understand that Albert is also an astronomer at heart, despite being a businessman to the core too.

However, what Singastro provides is an alternative that cater to the gaps that TASOS was not able to satisfy, i.e. an FOC forum/grouping with a hyperactive membership that meets often to talk shop or observe. Perhaps we should focus on this distinction. Afterall, whether its through TASOS or Singastro, the most impt issue is to introduce people to the interesting world of astronomy.

rich

[Airconvent]

Please... I HAVE SENT OUT POSTERS to various institution including NTU and NUS. Anyone wants to see the e-mail as proof?
It is just that none bothers to read their mails or even to print it out.
I ask the one of the members from RP whether they had recieve ANY email, their response was "oh I never check".
We had done OUR job but it cannot be completed if the other side have not done theirs. Get what I mean?
It's not just the organisers but the success of the event also depends on the target audiences!
Yes, by all means please do that. I support your idea.
We need to get things done and not just talk about it.

Hi,
Try not to take such comments too seriously lah.. smile!!
In any event, post mortem comments are inevitable. And such comments can only come after the event is over, that's why its called "post mortem".
I attended the first talk, so i understand the constraints you worked under but not everyone did. I know from the first briefing by Remus this was actually not an event opened to the public perse, but rather one targeted at the various schools' astro clubs, more like a "trade only" event. Otherwise I would have contacted all the newspapers and media to come.
Also, calling the media is no guarantee they will turn up. For Mars watch, I managed to call the New Paper to attend but as I recall, they failed to show up. I myself actually publicised through my office intranet (nationwide!), my usual forum haunts as well as on the newsgroups before I stopped as advised.

Following up on our "celebrity" Coolcat Lily in the straits times, perhaps a "Blog" forum thread for future events can be set up where people can post all such itty bitty bits of info on a daily basis, so everyone can "feel" the activities and ideas being channeled into the prep work and "progress" with it... Ultimately, we can expect many not to understand what happened behind the scenes, so it would help if you clarify on their good intentions. I doubt he meant any harm in his post....do help to bridge the gap between the 2 groups.....anyway, hoped you all had fun...poor skies yes but the other activities and the mixing of various enthusiastic astronomers should have made up for it....

rich

[Airconvent]

Personally i feel that its not the poor turnout that hurts me bad. Its actually the enthusiasm shown by the astro community that really matters. If we can't show enough enthusiasm, why expect others to turn to astronomy as a hobby for them? We have OVER 200 members down here, and if each of you were to attend the festival, wouldn't it be part of the aim already?
What we are doing here right now, is just NATO. It just takes a little to make a difference.
Well, i've learnt my lesson. No more events in institutions!

the-every-inch-of-my-muscle-is-aching,
Sam

hi sam/jeri,
everything had their advantage and disadvantages. for mars watch, it was after the exams and a much larger pool of volunteers appeared.
for this round, I thought the participation level from singastro was great.
weixing, samual, wee kiong, arief, chung hooi, chris yeo, charlie, mooey, fizzy123, vincent (talk)....most of the current hardcore were there.
remember that cc is in the US, wira has his hari raya prep.

As an apology I myself was guilty of not "participating"... Had intended to do so for on the second day but alas, my kid came down with high fever in the afternoon, so i had to attend to him before I could come (he is still having on-off 40 deg fever today..) and by the time I arrived, the scopes were being packed and I missed remus's talk as well as the ATM lecture...sigh...

and yes...having it at the institution is bad unless they give you FULL support, i.e. financial and some resources. Mars watch was great but all can remember NO TOILETS after 11pm!!

BTW, another thought struck me...I wonder if the day will ever come when we see a banner at the Science Centre "TASOS-Singastro Astronomy Festival 2005 - Another Proud Event Sponsored by the Science Centre".
"McDonalds -Official Food Caterer cum Sponsor". heh heh

BTW, hoped the "entertainment" I left behind not only kept you interested after midnight but converted a few new followers! Live long and prosper!



rich

[Airconvent]

For future events, perhaps the organisers can make arrange for those mobile canteen-on-wheels to be deployed for such purposes?

Richard, I sure the next time we have an event, I will trust you to do just that huh... I mean since you suggested it, I would like to see you do it

You know, before the festivals actually happened, we had alot of suggestion but keep in mind though suggestions are welcome please take note that they must be practical. We can give alot of suggestions(they are after all free) but in the end like chee chien(acc) had said, we must not be NATO(No Action Talk Only).

If I remember correctly there are quite a number of volunteers from singastro.
But I didn't see that yesterday OR during the preparation week. Basically, only a hand fully of people are working off their asses for this event. (I appreciate the thanks and help from some of us like Vincent giving a talk, etc etc..)In the future, I would like to see more participation from SingAstro if an event would be to organise.

I might be a bit harsh in this post, but this is my opinion.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those who came to this festivals, I hope you all have enjoy yourself...
and of course to the all the volunteers for you help! Cheers...

heh heh..actually, I have the lobang for this. One of my sub-offices in Paya Lebar is serviced by such a van as there is no canteen there. However, the guy wants minimum business , so the admin team keeps on begging for the staff to buy from him but unfortunately, his food is not too great...so its a fine balance. So only if there is a full day event with participation level from the public will he turn up... quality of food is another matter.
Best is to persuade Mc Donalds to stay open till 10-11pm. As long as the business is there, I guess they can be persuaded...

yes...singastro members' participation level can be better in all areas but I don't think I can speak on their behalf. For my part, the whole of the week after work was spend shuttling between my workplace and the hospital, so regretably, my availability is limited there. Hope to be able to assist more in future events.. ..Anyway, we can all see you and the rest of the team did a great job....keep an open mind on the opinions expressed as this is afterall a forum where people can exchange notes and ideas....

cheers!

[rcj]

Hi all,
A BIG THANK YOU to all who have participated as attendees AND volunteers for SF2004.
Been trying to recover from fatigue before writing my thoughts here about this event.
Frankly, organising such an event is "no joke" and lots of effort and time has been devoted
to this event, what more the inevitable need to provide financial support from ourselves (the volunteers)
just to make this event a success. Thinking deeper, success in itself might be interpreted differently for different people,
yet it is never possible to have any event considered a success for all people. As such, personally, in organising
the event, I have tried to aim for the following objectives:
1) Spread the joys of astronomy (this includes practical astronomy, cosmology, ATM, astro-imaging, social interaction with
like-minded folks, and exposure of the astro community) to the masses. Of which the masses refer to the general public,
not just schools but anyone who has an interest to pursue astronomy as a hobby.
2) At the same time, I try to value my volunteers (including self chosen directors) and their selfless contributions,
and being the fact that they are ordinary fellow human beings.
3) To provide cross-intstitutional interaction amongst the institutional bodies. Why? To foster good relationships
and make more friends between one body with another and build a better overal "global-institutional astro body" which
will benefit all of them.
4) To fulfill the dreams of several SINGASTRO members who have been thinking of having such an event and the chance
to take part in attending as well as a chance to organize such an event.
5) To have a comprehensive event that would be a rewarding experience for most (again, not possible to cater to ALL) given limited
resources, time, and efforts, and the presence of vendors to facilitate exposure to the astronomy community.

As you can see, it is really difficult to achieve all of the above four areas at the same time, because of venue
and time-constraints for the event, the constant juggling of my personal life and aspirations, and the plausibility of
achieving these points in the first place (personally, I have high standards, not because of being a perfectionist, but due
to expectations of the community, and their aspirations in such an event as well).

For point (1) unforunately, very much as I would like to have everybody coming down (in thousands!), we were constrained
by the host institution conditions of holding this event in their premises, that we could only invite secondary schools
(understandably so, as it is a polytechnic - more publicity for them). This makes it difficult to achieve (1) but
we have tried to extend the event's reach to others as well (NTU, NUS, JCs, public, etc), though limited.

I will illustrate point (2) by describing the primary volunteers individually (those who have made a significant impact
to make this event possible)

- Jiin: Having experience in organizing past astronomy events, being in NUS Astro, and a flair for photography, art and design, quick thinking
she was chosen to be the Gallery Director. She has taken an entire week of precious work leave to spend time on this event
not just managing the Gallery but graciously providing assistance in other areas. For the past week, she has probably
slept less than 15 hours in total worrying about whether the event is a success or not, and ensuring good standards for the gallery. And at the same
time, knowing that the Equipment Display was in need of more equipment, she brought down her personal equipment as well.

- Weicong: He is currently an active serviceman but have also taken entire block leave for this event. I have allocated
design and media projects for him because he has a flair for computer-aided design, good computer skills, and a selfless attitude
to provide for the astronomy community. He is extremely humble, yet quietly volunteered in the past to maintain the forum
alongside with Yong Quan. During the course of the Prep Week, he actually single handedly carried his entire desktop
system (including CRT monitor) to Sing Poly to do the design works. Why didn't he use other computers? Coz he is comfortable
with his system, and given the time constriaints, there was no time wasted to install special design software that could
not be found on normal school systems. Like all designers, we still believed that the conventional CRTs are better suited
for designing than high-constrast LCDs. He worked on the poster design promptly and single-handedly emailed to all institutions
including high-res versions for print-outs. He has also helped to physically paste the print-outs (out of his own pocket)
at various locations in Sing Poly, in the hope that more will know about the event and attend. Most of the nights,
he was spent in school, which some of us felt he needed more rest and could do better, resting at home, but still, he continually
volunteered to do complete the design for the distribution pamphlets where I provided the basic content, until the wee hours
towards the 1-2 days before the festival started. Additionally, he was at the same time worrying about the dim-lighting
conditions at the Concourse for the gallery, and have helped a fair bit trying to improve the lighting, doing name tags for the volunteers,
and further improving on the gallery design concepts (providing extremely unique 3D profile captions) and inspiring myself
to make the gallery concept, a modern clean look, with clever use of colours. And forgetting he has designed the festival
website himself as well! And making lots of night taxi trips to-and-fro his residence and the school to do the designs
late into the night, at the same time, providing dynamic behind-the-scenes footage on the website.

- YongQuan: Though he could not make it to the festival due to a sudden illness, he has helped me to keep the forum updated
with new info about the festival as soon as he can while at the same time studying and working, for the past few weeks.
He has been extremely concern about the success of the festival, and with his current responsilibility as the forum
main adminstrator, he has contributed invaluable time and effort to this entire project, what more, the success of the forum
in itself, that no amount of financial assistance would suffice or replace.

- Faizal: Have known him for many years, and though he keeps a rather low profile in the forum due to the fact that he is on
the move most of the time, he has been dreaming about such an event for a long time, and have helped Nanyang Poly (former student)
with its astro club management for several years. Many would know him for being an exceptionally friendly and sociable person
during expeditions, and local events, and many would not have known others if not for him. He has been helping with the gallery
providing lighting and even sponsoring several crates of can drinks for the volunteers during the course of Prep Week till the festival
days, free. Most, if not all, it is his selfless act of spreading astronomy, despite of his limited absolute life span, that
have further inspired myself to have the energy and determination to run and manage the event. And it was amazing
that he could come down regularly during Prep Week (even till 2 am) despite the fasting month and preparations for Hari Raya.
What more can I say for this chap!

- Weixiong: He has been a veteran in practical astronomy for sometime already (a couple of years) and have alongside, being
an enjoyable companion in sharing equipment knowledge (right down to the details), and a personal friend. He has almost
been like a right-hand to myself, constantly reminding, informing, and feedback to me with regards to the event management
and success. Like the others, he has also taken leave (active serviceman) for this event, and have helped to coordinate
the outdoor aspects of the festival, knowing his passion for stargazing (has made contributions
in the forming of SPAstronomers, assisted in NUS Astronomy, etc) and flair for equipment know-how. It was also him, that
constantly reminded myself of the need to stay diverse catering to the needs of the beginners (that's why we have Vincent giving the friday's talk, and Mr Au's morning talk on saturday)
and the needs of intermediates (ATM Astronomy by Dr Chong, Dr Phil Chan's talk on cosmology, and my practical astronomy talk on astrophotography)

- Nick: Though not a "hard-core" in astronomy like the rest of the above, he has amazed me with his selfless contributions
in helping Weixiong with the solar posters (till wee hours while the rest of us are almost zombies), and have given
thoughts to the unique way of presenting the expeditions print photos based on the SINGASTRO logo design that strecthed
5m by 5 metres - hard work, and lots of backpain upon doing the pasting, cutting and designing work for the 280 photos
collected from SINGASTRO members, and at the same time coping with his personal committments and church activities.

- Yong Hao: Being a new comer, he might not have expected to help much in this event, yet at the end of the day,
most of us knew him as a person who volunteered (first!) to ANY project given to him. He has helped extensively to make
sure the electrical wiring for the event is fine, the media projectors, lighting are working fine, creating the electronic
image display, and selflessly contributing lots of his personal equipment to help make the event a success!

- Terry and Mike Mathews: Being true long-standing astronomy amateurs, and at the same time deep passion for astronomy,
they have helped me with organizing expeditions in the past, local events as well, and being unforgetable personal friends, they have
shared their invaluable time, helping out with equipment display, scope design segment, and even volunteering to bring my heavy equipment
by taxi to the polytechnic. They have also helped to shift the SINGASTRO volunteers' equipment from the storage room to the
concourse on the festival days themselves - an almost 8-10 to-and-fro trips of backbreaking carrying. They have shed lots of pespiration and physical work doing all these for SINGASTRO.

- Mingzhi (Jimmy): Being the president of SPAstronomers, he has helped invaluable to make the event a success (even though he was down with high fever and did not attend the festival)
by working closely with myself to secure the concourse venue, the school's requirements and conditions, provision for digital projectors, personal equipment loans,
constant feedback, and working beyond his responsiblity. cheers!

- Sam Lee: What can I say! Gosh, everything that I needed help, you came in, in one way or the other! From being in-charged of ushering
to gallery management, to keeping contacts with the institutions. He has been an avid contributor to the forum, and have
helped maintain good ties amongst the various insttitutions in lieu with point (3) above. Also helped to design the quiz, etc.

- Geraldine: Though busy with her worklife, she has volunteered to help manage the XChange, infact she came up with the initial email and forum write-up
within the same day of asking her if you could volunteer for this. Yes, indeed she did, no questions asked, but sadly, it seems that some SINGASTRO members
have further made exploitations to ask her to help sell their used equipment, as if she is a sales woman. Sigh. The point
of the Xchange was just to give our SINGASTRO members a chance to have their used equipment sold to others, through patronising the Xchange, but it would be
unworthy to further expect the volunteery person to push for sales. She has also helped a lot with design projects
and keeping close contacts with the other volunteers in order to ensure they turned up to help out. Tough job.

- Zong Ye and Yingtian: ZOng Ye volunteered to be a photographer for the event, but in lieu with chicken pox this week (hope he recovers soon)
Yingtian, has taken over and have covered the event succesfully. However being an active serviceman, we might have to wait a while before the photos turn out.

- Matthew: Being a significant working-adult contributor to the event, it is worthy of mention for his A0 posters, and providing lighting assistance and management
for the event. He has been rather concerned about this event as well, but have stood out to be the very few who actually helped out in this event instead of verbal provisions.

- Kay Heem: Though the very fact that he knew he would be abroad during the course of the festival, his passion for the SINGASTRO community
has probably made him contribute in financial ways to the event. As an active contributor to the forum, he is given invaluable time
despite being a family man, and a medical doctor, to ensure SINGASTRO is alive and well!

- Others: The list is endless, and I try to remember as many people. Now it's almost three am, but if there are others who are not mentioned above, please forgive me!!
I will keep everyone in memory, and what you have done for this event, FOR the people of SINGASTRO and the hopeful public.
They have been several of you, also providing financial assistance here and there, DESPITE being only students, and some kind
working adults as well, I really think, at this point, that all of us are indebted to you guys for your kind efforts.


For point (3), we have informed the tertiary institutions as well to turn up, and ever since Mars Watch till the festival,
it was indeed a rewarding effort that the polytechnic societies have already fostered cross relationships with the others
through past joint expeditions (for example, Nanyang and Singapore Poly, etc), and have learned several traits from each other
and helping one another to manage their clubs (for example, Singapore Poly helping Republic with club formation), etc.
If not for the individual SINGASTRO contributors, this would not been possible. And I was glad that the festival had seen
not just SP people attending, but others like RJC, NJC (zong yao), Ngee Ann Poly, Nanyang Poly, Republic Poly, and other
institutions attending. True, it might not be ALL institutions, but please take note that in the first place, we were restricted to secondary schools and even so, was
extremely time limited for publicity and at the same time, trying to achieve most dreams to have the festival before 2004 ends.
Besides SP, the only other institution that offered festival venue was NTU, which we felt SP was better (since it is close to the MRT), but nevertheless
I would like to thank NTU Astro for their kind offer!! As far as it is, that's about all the offers that I have gotten from
the astronomy community, that were true offers instead of trivial suggestions that might not be plausible due to the financial constraints.

With regards to point (4), it is rather apparent that many of us would like to have such an event in Singapore, and am glad we just did!
However, dreams would not turn into reality if we did not have enough people with the determination, willpower, energy, interest?, to organize such an event.
Personally (whether everyone would believe or not), I offered to do this because Kay Heem asked. I have already stopped doing retail business in astronomy, so there was
absolutely nothing to inspire to this event, except to help my astro friends (of which some of them have already become personal friends)
of their wishes have such an event a reality to spread astronomy (and I am in the same camp of thoughts with these people).
I know that lots of you expect the festival to be an annual affair, but seriously, I would volunteer my position to anyone out there who is willing to take over and
improve on the event. There is no guarantee that there will be another SF2005 chaired by myself (though I would like to if that is the only thing I could do in life, still got to have money to keep my stomach occupied)
as it takes up lots of managing time and effort (and health in some ways) instead of doing what others are doing normally.
Perhaps it is my undying passion and "softness" to succumb to managing such events, but I am already reaching thirty soon, and it is high time to concentrate on other things in life, since me too, am like everybody else.

If you have attended the event for BOTH days, you might have seen that we have tried to keep everyone occupied with activities, be it talks, solar gazing, quiz, equipment display, etc.
It was intentionally designed for everyone to attend it full day (especially on saturday), coz we thought that such events
only come rarely, and the avid enthusiast would attend it, but bare in mind, that we cater to everyone else as well, and there
was an inherent need to have it filled with events by the hour, so that those attending only a part of it, still goes home not empty-handed. I have also taken the trouble
to make sure the event was memorable by inviting our fellow neighboring Malaysian astronomers to impart their knowledge and expertise
to our people here. Thanks Dr Chong and Mr Lim!! And in lieu with the suggestions of the forum threads in the past, vendor participation have been a key point
to make the event interesting, but alas, only Mr Lee from Physical Space turned up. He has also graciously provided all of us the nice curry puffs to enjoy during the event.

As you can probably see by now, managing and running this event is not easy, we have to juggle with ensuring that astronomy is known
to as many people as possible, yet you have to think of your volunteers and their thoughts and contributions, have to keep
in mind with the presence of guest attendees (speakers, invites from foreign astronomers, etc), venue constraints and red-tape, personal committment, and the constant
demands and aspirations of the community, and trying to make it successful for most of us.

Not easy.

Good night!
Regards,
Remus
PS: Perhaps it is time we gave the volunteers a treat! I will not forget you for you have been my driving engine for the past weeks. sob.

[VinSnr]

You know it's funny, I did also send out emails reqesting help. Perhaps these guys never recieve them?
Contacts? what contacts? About what?
As for $$$ is concern, if I'm not wrong only the vendors donated. yes?

I knew this has been done...but we have to look at the approach. I think the best way to tackle the working adults is to be very specific with them. These guys are receiving mass email everyday at their work, so the chances of them disregarding the mails are very high unless specifically it has something to do with them.

For example, I wouldn't have particpated in preparing the talk if I receive a mass email asking for speakers. Because I will think there are more people who are better qualified than me. Instead, I recieve an sms from Remus asking me if I can do a talk. His request was specific, and I find no reasons to turn him down, because I know I can do it. And I did.

So we have to learn this....the approach of getting the students and the working adults to help can be very different. I know because I was doing all these organising work when I was in NTU and I am still doing some organising work for my company now. The contrast between the initiative of the students and the working adults are huge. The students need very little push to get them started, all they need is interest. The working adults need more specific instructions....maybe because in our working world, we don't usually do more than what we are paid for, unless we are told to. Another reason also because as they grow older, the energy level has gone down due to all the family and financial commitments they have to worry about. It's no fun paying off a house loan every month you know....

So the key of getting these working adults to help is the relook at the approach. And when I say contacts...it means their network of people whom they know. For example, Rich may have contacts or at least know how to get to New Paper (and now he also know about mobile food!). I, on the other hand has contacts to event organisers who can provide tentages..if that is required (experience gained from doing Family day for Keppel group of companies). But we need to know specifically what you need. If it's just asking for help...the request is too broad, and highly unlikely the working adults will know what to help. Of course there could be some who had specific instructions given to them but they just ignore it. Such is part and parcel of an event.

So we all have to learn from all these.....and should try not to do it at an institution again because it will surely end up as a school project with volunteers mainly from that school.

Having said that, the students did an impressive job for this event. I was impressed by the discipline shown. I have been doing events for years in NTU and I had never seen a group of students so driven towards the completion of a goal. Nuff said here. Great work.

[Jiin]

There is one other person who has made a significant contribution to the entire event – from the initial planning/conceptualizing, gathering/management of volunteers, arrangement of program, design, problem solving, providing support for all the directors (almost 24-hr support for the past wk!), coordinating all effort (gallery, logistics, ushering, outdoor obs, equipment display..), contacting the Malaysians/speakers/vendors, juggling the event & his personal life/aspirations, all in all to ensure that everything would be executed to standard and plan…

On behalf of all the other directors and volunteers,
Thank you Remus!!

We could have never done it without you. In fact, it's the other way round: you were our source of energy and inspiration during the past weeks – esp during prep week madness.

Ha.. & thanx for lugging down the speakers. It provided endless entertainment to keep us awake into wee hours during prep week.


Jiin.

[Airconvent]

There is one other person who has made a significant contribution to the entire event – from the initial planning/conceptualizing, gathering/management of volunteers, arrangement of program, design, problem solving, providing support for all the directors (almost 24-hr support for the past wk!), coordinating all effort (gallery, logistics, ushering, outdoor obs, equipment display..), contacting the Malaysians/speakers/vendors, juggling the event & his personal life/aspirations, all in all to ensure that everything would be executed to standard and plan…

On behalf of all the other directors and volunteers,
Thank you Remus!!

We could have never done it without you. In fact, it's the other way round: you were our source of energy and inspiration during the past weeks – esp during prep week madness.

Ha.. & thanx for lugging down the speakers. It provided endless entertainment to keep us awake into wee hours during prep week.


Jiin.

Hi Jiin,
Gosh man! How could I forget?? I'm so "sotong"...
Didn't manage to talk to him during the festival as I saw him rushing back and forth.
thanks to Remus who has been behind every single Singastro event since I joined this wonderful group. His inspiration and enhusiasm has been the "dark skies" we needed here in Singapore. Maybe we ought to name the events after him...you know like "Remus' Astronomy Night" ?

Once again :
THANKS TO ALL WHO MADE SINGASTRO 2004 POSSIBLE ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!

rich (humbly yours)

[Traveler]

On behalf of all the other directors and volunteers,
Thank you Remus!!