X-Message-Number: 23723
Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2004 05:39:09 -0800
Subject: Re: Billy Seidel's response to Rudi Hoffman
From: Kennita Watson <>

"Billy H. Seidel" <> wrote:
> ...
> we do not have enough people in the cryonics movement.  We certainly 
> do not
> want to turn anyone away.  We all need to work together.

Quite so.

> Who knows, there
> might be some folks attending TFDG that are truly interested in 
> cryonics.  I
> kind of doubt we will find them there.

Maybe not, but we can't find them at all if we don't look.  Mind
you, I don't need people who are "truly interested".  I'm happy to
talk with people who are "vaguely interested", or even "willing to
listen".
>
> I think the folks that attend the TFDG are there for a party and do not
> seriously care about being frozen.  If they did care, they could, or 
> would
> have already contacted some cryonics organization. So it might be 
> pointless
> to try and explain it to some one with a beer in one hand wearing a 
> frozen T
> shirt.

That's an argument for setting up the booth near the tour of
the Tuff Shed.  There's also the shopping center where the
Sponsors Expo is set up, and the Backdoor Theater where movies
are shown each day.  (I've ordered a copy of the DVD version of
"Grandpa's Still In the Tuff Shed";  I'll post a review.)
>
> The cost of trying to recruit people from that group might be better 
> spent
> in trying to promote the people around you.

"That group" being people who attended the Frozen Dead Guy Days
(FDGD) who have beers in their hand?  "The people around you"
seems from the first 4 questions to refer to FDGD and Nederland,
but the last question and the coda suggest you may mean something
else (as well?).

> How about buying the attendees mail list and contacting them with a 
> flyer?

I don't think there's a list; the event is public, and you go to
a local store to buy tickets to individual events.  Good idea,
though -- there may be other places it can be used.  Flyer
design could be an interesting problem, as it will be for
onsite flyers.

> How about doing a mass mailing to all the folks in the town?

I thought of that, maybe in the context of having the anti-cryonics
ordinance overturned, but that might best be done after we'd
attended one.  Right now we're outsiders, and this is a *small*
town.  Maybe we want to do a mailing the week before FDGD letting
townsfolk know to look for us there, and (maybe) mention the
ordinance.

> How about buying a link on their web site?

The Nederland Web site?  The closest I can find is the Nederland
Chamber of Commerce, http://nederlandchamber.org/ -- it doesn't
seem to be very link-friendly.  Except that the Frozen Dead Guy
Days page has a grid of sponsor links.  But I didn't think we'd
want to do that.  I could at least find out how much it would
cost, though.

> How about sending a free video (the one I made or one like it) to all 
> the
> folks that ask for more or any information?

"The one I made".  Memory fails me.  Could you (re-)post a URL or
other info?  Thanks!  A signup sheet or place to drop business
cards at the booth could handle that.  Would you be donating the
videos?

> How about doing more with Schools and offering free presentations?

That's a much larger commitment (in time and possibly money) than a
single event.  I can put it on a possible "What's Next" list for
after FDGD.  If anyone else wants to engage you on that possibility
in the meantime, I hope they'll speak up -- if it catches someone's
fancy, no reason there can't be two projects going on.
>
> The list goes on.  I am sure that time and money could be better 
> directed
> than TFDG.

Possibly, for some values of "time" and "money".  But *I* want to
direct *my* time and *my* money to what *I* consider the unique
opportunity and exciting experiment of the Frozen Dead Guy Days.

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