I am going to give a talk/class to a bar full of people expecting to be entertained and learn something. I am trying to not freak the fuck out. This bar wants to invite thinkers, scientists, artists etc and have then give a 30 minute talk on why you should give a shit about what they do. Not exactly the "Beer with a Scientist" events that are popping up, but in the same headspace. My talk will be about the moon and how we came to figure out that the earth is round, moves around the sun and how people have used the sun, moon and stars to tell time since before Stonehenge. Since we are getting two Blue moons and a total lunar eclipse they wanted an astronomer and I picked the short straw. Oh, and this is going to be their first event and are going to use me and the turnout to judge if they are going to keep doing these sorts of things. So we are going to be outside. with telescopes. In January. The title of the talk? New Moon, Full Moon, Red Moon, Blue Moon.
Don't put the burden of Grand Success on your shoulders. You don't need to, you're not the one who's organising this. Focus on the thing you're arguably good at (because otherwise you wouldn't have been asked): making people excited about astronomy! If I went to such an event, my expectations would be "someone smart who tells about their field of study with excitement". Aim for that. Like, how the hell do we know all those things about the Earth and about our stars? It's weird for outsiders that you can look through a tube, make some calculations and predict a friggin' eclipse.
One, Two, Three to the Four Onepac, Tupac, Threepac, Four Fourpac, Threepac, Tupac, OneThe title of the talk? New Moon, Full Moon, Red Moon, Blue Moon.
