X-Message-Number: 1815 From: Subject: CRYONICS Information Requests Date: Wed, 24 Feb 93 01:06:57 PST From: Mike Perry Date: Jan. 23, 1993 > Subject: Info requests. Information requests are important for getting the word out about Alcor and cryonics. Recently, as most readers will know, there has been an "Immortality contest" in *Omni* magazine (the winner of a 250-word essay on why they want to be frozen gets a free, whole-body freeze with Alcor). This has brought in a lot of information requests, as expected, though the totals haven't been as large as some predicted. Another major source of requests has been a 1-page article by Charles Platt which appeared a year ago, in the Feb. '92 *Omni*. Information requests at Alcor, usually from callers on the 800-number, are initially put on a written form and then entered into our database, where they are processed further. I was entering some of these I have taken in the past 2 days (as an Alcor staff member), and out of curiosity tabulated some statistics which may be of interest (and may suggest more detailed studies to be done later). ALL of the 11 requests involved in this brief sample were "students doing a report" (these are still being sent our expensive-to-produce, 100+ page "Blue Book," despite less extensive literature now being sent to other inquirers). The breakdown of sexes was almost equal: 5 males, 6 females. One question asked of callers is where they got our number (so we can tell how effective our different advertising efforts are relative to one another, among other things). The breakdown here is interesting. Fully 7 of the callers, or 64%, said they got the number from *Omni* Feb. 92 (the Charles Platt piece of a year ago). A much smaller number, 2 or 18% cited *Omni* Jan. 93 (the Immortality Contest), and 2 more (another 18%) cited other sources. This very preliminary study should be followed up with one involving larger numbers. Results suggest, however, that (1) our typical information requester these days is a student doing a report, and (2) he/she found our number in the Feb. 92 *Omni*, possibly in a library or through a teacher. It remains to be seen whether more recent exposure in *Omni* or other places will in time attract as many callers, and how that will affect signup rates, etc. One final point is that Charles Platt deserves principal credit for the cryonics material in *both* issues of *Omni*, and we certainly owe him a debt of gratitude. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=1815