Abstract
The Manchester & Chester Local Section have provided monthly technical lectures for over 30 years. Attendance has varied, usually with the economic fortunes of the area. There is no doubt, however, that they are becoming ever more popular. Attendance over the last 2 years has averaged 22 people, but recent lectures have had 56, 28 and 32 attendees. Tom S Nobes (Technical Lecture Organiser) says, Our Technical Lectures have been and are proving to be increasingly popular. People are realising they are in effect free training courses. They are an excellent venue to meet with other M&C professionals, world-class suppliers and people who have ‘been there, done that’.
I have no magic wand for success, but I would recommend to other local sections the following tips:
Safety Instrumented Systems, ATEX, Obsolescence Management and Wireless Instruments are the most popular subjects right now.
Titles prefixed ‘Introduction to …’, ‘Recent changes in …’, ‘Overview of …’ and ‘How do I …’ prove popular; people often just want to know the basics or whether they are missing something.
Pick a venue (location) and a date (i.e. third Thursday in the month) and then stick to it; people get used to coming to a fixed location at a fixed time. Good parking and close to a main route helps (so do donuts!).
Make sure all advertising makes it perfectly clear that it is open to non-members.
Edit the speaker’s slides before the lecture to avoid it becoming just free advertising for their products; however, the vast majority will be fine, and a light touch is all that is needed.
Early evening lectures of 1 h duration are best (say start at 18:30) shortly after working day finishes, but before people have gone home.
Be prepared for low attendances at first, it has taken us years to grow the numbers we have now. It may take a couple of years, but stick to it and they will come.
Always (but briefly) extol the benefits of membership of the InstMC. Manchester & Chester Section are averaging one new member per meeting.
A recent lecture given by Exloc UK Ltd at the Yokogawa offices in Runcorn
