Long-distance travel with portables

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Permalink Reply by Mike Francis on March 31, 2009 at 12:51pm

Sally,

I tend to stay pretty much within a mornings drive. Staying overnight with the dome, while not impossible, is at least a hassle. I don't like to leave it in the truck in an unfamiliar neighborhood. Taking it into a hotel/motel if you're not on the first floor is no fun at all. I am a one man show so it might not be a problem if both of your presenters go out together. There are also other portable planetarians probably closer to whoever wanted to hire me in the first place. I have actually passed jobs along to other planetarians on several occasions, rather than travel too far.

I also never charge schools etc. if they have to cancel. I'll loose on those deals, but I have a hard time taking the funds that are supposed to go for student enrichment. This policy may have caused a couple of lost pay days over the years, but the good will seems to make up for it.

I will travel with my other programs, Galileo and the Stargazer's Apprentice, but both of those will fit into a case I can easily carry. I do have to check them in to fly, which can be nerve wracking. On my way to Pittsburgh last week, on landing at the airport, they couldn't find my prop/costume bag anywhere. Fortunately it turned up in the back of the US Airways office for some unknown reason.

Mike Francis
Stars Science Theater

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Permalink Reply by Karrie Berglund on March 31, 2009 at 5:10pm

Hi Sally,

I'll speak to my earlier days travelling with Pacific Science Center's Science On Wheels (SOW) program.

1. How far away from home base do you travel?
SOW travels all over Washington state.

2. Do you travel to destinations requiring overnight stays? If so, do you have any policies for scheduling multiple days?
Yes, SOW policy was that destinations more than 90 minutes' drive from Seattle and/or requiring ferry service would require overnight stays. Registrars would schedule an outreach program to an area for four or five teaching days in a row (we called these "weeklongs"). Needless to say, this requires A LOT of coordination. In your situation, arranging two or three days in a particular area might be more realistic--SOW's been around since the mid-1970s, so it's well established and always has a high level of demand.

3. What is your policy for canceling due to inclement weather--either if the school closes, or you think traveling in the weather is too risky?
If the school was closed, obviously we didn't show up. What happened next would depend on the schedule--if the closure was at the end of a weeklong, we'd head home early. If we still had more teaching days later in the week, we'd get a day off for snowball fights. We'd also use the time off to catch up on projects specific to that outreach program--repairs, etc.

If the school was open, we'd be sure to get there (each outreach van is equipped with chains for snow/ice). We travelled in teams or two or three people, with one person taking the lead on logistics. This person would set the departure time for each teaching day, allowing extra time if snow was even predicted.

In the case of closures, the registrars would work to reschedule the day later in the year, hopefully during a trip to the same geographic area. Late starts actually usually proved more difficult than closures, as we'd have to rearrange the entire day's schedule to fit it all in a shorter time frame--and we'd be trying to create the revised schedule before school started and while trying to get all of our equipment in and ready for the day.

Cheers,
Karrie

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Permalink Reply by Jim & Shirley Smith on March 31, 2009 at 7:32pm

Hi Sally;
1.We limit distance to 100 miles and serve 28 of 35 counties in our tri-state area. If the distance is more than 50 miles we charge an extra $25.00.
2. We normally travel in our SUV but if it is an overnighter, we travel by motorhome. For a two day booking we give a 5% discount. To qualify for the discount, a full day's programming consists of at least four programs per day. The discount applies if 8 or more programs are scheduled during the two days.
3. No Policy on cancelations, we are reasonable.
We are sort of retired and often refer schools to other portable planetarium providers in our area if their school schedule does not fit with ours. Since we were starlab dealers for 27 years we often help our competitors find business.
Thanks,
Jim & Shirley

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Permalink Reply by Mickey Jo Sorrell on April 1, 2009 at 11:55am

Great questions, Sally.
We're exploring these avenues as well. I took my first outing last week. Here's the story for us:
Our pilot project is in four counties over two hours away, so I'm out overnight - in fact three nights in a row in a motel last week. I'm the only available educator right now - for the pilot - but they are interviewing for a full time educator to begin after the pilot. Then, with only one educator for the summer, the plan will be to stay closer to home - no overnights. In the fall we will travel throughout the state, so scheduling will group the visits and there will be frequent overnight trips. Still only one educator, so if the educator gets sick, the shows get canceled. (I suspect I would be viewed as a back-up possibility, but no one is saying that out loud.) We haven't had to deal with inclement weather yet, but I'm sure that will be an issue next year - especially in the mountain areas. I expect it will be dealt with case by case.

The portable planetarium is a part of our "Destiny" program of traveling science labs. More about that program (but nothing about the portable yet) can be found at
http://www.moreheadplanetarium.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page&fi...
The same sorts of rules that the traveling buses use will probably apply to the portable dome since they've had their systems down for several years now.

My first outing was great fun - I loved being at the schools and the teachers and kids were wonder. The technology all worked with a hitch. The only part I didn't like was living in a motel. I'm an outdoor person and it rained the whole time I was out.

I did bring the three big pelican cases (dome, projector, speakers and fan) into my motel room every night and out again in the very early morning. For that reason I made sure I had a ground floor room.
Mickey

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Permalink Reply by Mike Smail on April 1, 2009 at 12:22pm

We have one educator and one portable, but I've gone out as an emergency backup before. We're also in the "schedule us and we'll come" camp, and have been mucking our way through some similar situations.

1. We don't really have a cap. This is our first full school year of aggressively traveling and marketing our digital portable, and the furthest trip so far has been about a three hour drive. We add a per-mile surcharge (door to door) for any destination outside of our parish (county).

2. Yes. In the case of a distant school that wants to do multiple days, we bill the mileage surcharge for each day. For those destinations, the fee helps defray the cost of a hotel room for the presenter. If the school's within an hour or so, the presenter will come back to Baton Rouge each night, and the mileage fee goes towards their mileage reimbursement.

3. We try to be proactive about this, and check with the schools the day before or the morning of, if we know they're facing inclement weather. Down here, we don't have to worry about snow, but we did have a school cancel once due to an electrical outage. It was about an hour away, and our presenter had just gotten on the road when she found out. They re-scheduled for another date, and it worked out fine.

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Permalink Reply by Christi Whitworth on April 6, 2009 at 2:37pm

We list an extra charge if our educator has to stay overnight. It covers the hotel bill ~$125. Our standard for this is any travel over two hours. If you have to be at a school by seven a.m., two hours on the road will really mess with your momentum and enthusiam. A well-rested educator is worth the extra money we have found. We also use this policy for multiple day programs. I have one school that reserves three days every spring. I include the fee for a hotel those nights so I have a chance to rest up for the next day rather than spend all my time on the road.

We don't charge for cancellations as this is usually due to weather, not the school's choice and most will rescheduel if given that option.

Hope this helps.
Christi

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