SAB NewsInsights from a Recent SAB studyPosted 2/21/2008 In a recent SAB study, respondents were presented with the following scenario and question: You’re in charge of the National “Tots in Training Program: Raising Scientists for 2030 and Beyond” sponsored by your country’s leading science agency. In an effort to attract more exhibit hall traffic at scientific conferences, vendors have been contacting you to see what they should do to increase traffic of the “5 years of age and under set” at the exhibit booths. What would you recommend and why? See their created response below: 1. Buy Mars Bars 2. Glue to the floor leading up the exhibition 3. Sit back and wait Why? Everyone loves mars bars! P.S. Can be done with money too!” -Brendon, Post Doctoral Fellow, Australasia/Pacific “1. Exhibit Miniatures of Scientific Developments related to the Tiny Tot Play things. This will attract and create more interest to the tots to learn with their childhood knowledge.” -Girija, Professor/Teacher, Asia “1. Have materials, toys and set-up that would engage the senses- visual, auditory, tactile, and so on. 2. Draw attention by associating the exhibit with the Tots’ world. For example, one can have mascots of Dora the Explorer or Blues Clues walk the kids through the exhibit. 3. Make the exhibits interactive! It will be best if the kids can have hands-on experience so they can retain things more.” -Karen, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “1. Having ice cream at the booth while showing them a video on an attractive research topic (dinosaurs, electromagnetic, cell division, dry ice based experiments, or...) 2. Popcorn or ice cream with a live animal demonstration. C. elegance?” -Feridoun, Staff Scientist, North America “1. send out email notification to the meeting attendants ahead of meeting. Including easy e internet links to the company’s website, and promotion information. 2. give out price and free samples at the meeting.” -Mengtao, Professor/Teacher, North America “1. Spread the word to Kindergarten and pre-K schools(Kid’s Are Kids , Church-run daycare, etc.)about the exhibit and some brochure’s that can be given to the parents too. Have it in the morning while the kids are awake enough. Tired kids get cranky. Include a Saturday so parents can take their kids if the daycare center can’t. 2. Have age-appropriate demonstrations. Use puppets if you can. Clowns might be too distracting, but still might work too. 3. Have balloons with vendor’s names. Always a big hit with kids. Those mini-containers for blowing bubbles are good too. 4 Have some snack food- Goldfish, animal crackers, etc. Apple juice is a good drink. Kids that age need a snack. 5. Keep the aisles wide for strollers.” -Paul, Staff Scientist, North America “3D helice DNA puzzle with possibility of writing messages with the letters. (doesn’t exist as far as I know, too bad...).” -Michael, Principal Investigator, North America “A colorful ride-on double helix.” -Richard, Staff Scientist, Europe A Crèche!” -David, Staff Scientist, Europe A large bouquet of brightly colored helium filled balloons over the booth so that the children could pick one to be brought down to them and there would be a surprise inside related to the agency’s objectives.” -Michael, Principal Investigator, North America “A magician to do tricks and especially with balloons.” -Janne, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe A sign reading”Free crèche for the under fives”.” -Jeremy, Staff Scientist, Australasia/Pacific “A toy microscope with a digital camera view finder (safer for 4 or 5 year-olds with still undeveloped motor skills sticking their eyes up against a traditional eye piece) so they can see common objects at high magnification - I think a lot of kids would find that very cool.” -Randy, Staff Scientist, North America “A video playing on a screen of Dora or Diego or Little Einsteins to lure them in, but if you want to actually communicate with them you will have to turn off the video once you’ve got them! Ice cream couldn’t hurt either!” -Tiffiney, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “A would recommend seeing life science for these small children. They get excited. Take a balloon and fill it with out for expansion. Then it exploded on them. Let them see a real fish in a tank or something hence biology life science. I also know that kids love toys. Cosi gift shop in Cincinnati, Ohio is a great place for kids. I would get a package of fish that they have for kids. There are only 9.99 a piece. A sea horse, shark, octopus etc. Gibe them one of each. Kids still dig this stuff. Every child five and under would get one to take home. The sciences need to increase. We will have more students in natural sciences.” -Joslyn, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “All equipment we’ve purchased from Coly Parmer firm and we are satisfy with their quality.” -Firuza, Principal Investigator, Asia “An Activity , operational toy computer with video and audio display projected on a large format screen.” -Shankar, Staff Scientist, North America “Any kind of new/exciting interactive event, such as virtual reality experiences. Also possible: live animals (e.g., puppy dogs)..., a real audience magnet, along with danish/coffee in the morning.” -Christoph, Post Doctoral Fellow, Asia “Anything messy, the messier the better. If you have kids, you know why, if you don’t, you can’t.” -Lawrence, Principal Investigator, North America “Anything tactile, icky and sticky!” -Christine, Laboratory Technician, Europe Appealing to the young children is probably going to be applicable to the young scientist at heart, many of whom focus all to early on academic pursuits and miss out on little bits of their won childhood. They want toys and games, flashing lights, buzzers and puzzles. Oh yes things that fly and bounce.” -Kent, Staff Scientist, North America “As those couple of conference days can be really exhausting, it would be useful to be getting information about the product vendors want to present during say massage etc. It is not necessary to held it during conference time, but even in the evening as part of social activities.” -Jan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe At that age kids are attracted to color, motion and noise, so have an exhibit of liquid nitrogen in pipes with different colors and noises.” -Javier, Staff Scientist, Europe At the 5 years and other age - two things are primary: 1) the future and 2) communicating with the present. To hit upon the first - go green. Advertise your products and your promotional material as the most sustainable - moving towards zero waste and nontoxic to the user and the user’s environment. You will attract more attention then you’ll know what to do with as biohazards and their waste will become a growing issue - guaranteed. The second is a no-brainer - have a wireless hub and you’ll have a young connection-seeking crowd seeking proximity to your booth the entire day.” -Shirin, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Attract those most inclined to head the scientific direction. Have visuals that attract the naturally curious, in a scientific theme of course. May as well try to interact with the group you want to influence and not those who don’t care about the”product”.” -Timothy, Principal Investigator, North America “Ball pool.” -Abi, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Ball Room where the balls are soft rubber globes, and representations of other astronomical objects.” -John, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Big Bird or Barney giving out ice-cream, because the children usually feel comfortable with such characters and most like ice-cream!” -Stephen, Principal Investigator, Europe Bio-Rad Eppendorf.” -Sumalee, Professor/Teacher, Asia “Booths decorated with brightly colored balloons and giveaways with large stuff animals.” -David, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Booze for the parents.” -Dave, Laboratory Technician, North America “Bright colors and movement. I would expect to see lots of”toys” designed to enable small children to test their surroundings, and I would think any booth would have large, possibly robotic displays, moving colored liquids and shapes, with softly played music by Mozart.” -Heather, Principal Investigator, Europe Bright colors and video.” -Joseph, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Bright colors, motion, sounds, and movement. Elmo and Dora the xplorer would make great sales reps. Make it reflect the toys that are geared towards that age group. Why? Toddlers need items that will catch their attention and bright colors do that.” -Ingrid, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Bring in a fluffy friendly puppy, or a small monkey doing magic tricks to attract attention of tots. Then create a game revolving around the animal, and gently ease in scientific basis of the tricks.” -Flerida, Professor/Teacher, Asia “Bringing Shrek at the exhibit boot.” -Alfonso, Professor/Teacher, Europe Bugs and worms making session with plasticine, spaghetti and food coloring. Touch-sound-smell booth with models of organs (made from edible material, so even if they eat them they are OK). Build-a-body jigsaw. Real mini beasts cast in clear resin to see from all angles. A fish tank with plankton that they could fish out and look in a clear petri dish using a magnifier glass or put under a low-power microscope and observe on a screen. Five and under must make and do something they can take home too. Mara, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Build up an interactive play ground which allows to discover many interesting things and to become a real little scientist.” -Patrick, Principal Investigator, Europe Building blocks with scientific biochemical components, like lipids, protein structures, membranes. Easy comic book like text.” -Donna, Professor/Teacher, North America “Candies, Flashing lights, and toys to play with. For the parents, a cup of coffee and a chair to sit down in.” -Josef, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Candy and toys, much as for the 6 and over set.” -Christopher, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Cartoon figures and scientific instruments, etc... made out of Legos.” -Bart, Staff Scientist, North America “Cartoons. As the parent of a two-year-old, I can attest that showing a colorful cartoon on a TV screen is a fool-proof way to capture a child’s attention. If you could create a cartoon to advertise your product, I guarantee you would have hoards of mesmerized children crowded around your booth.” -Suzanne, Staff Scientist, North America “Charles Rivers should offer rat pets of different colors in order to celebrate the year of the rat. Being raised with rats, the kids will better understand how important it is to collaborate with them.” -Antoine, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Chemistry and mechanical sets.” -Vadakkuppattu, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Asia “Children 5 years of age and under shouldn’t be attending a conference due to safety and liability reasons.” -Anthony, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Children 5 years old and under really like bright colours and interactive toys. I would suggest setting up a screen with an interactive kid-friendly video game. Also have a set of blocks like Mega Blocks or Lego and paper for drawing. For the paper have paints that can be mixed to show color change. A decorate your own cookie section would definitely attract little ones. The scientific aspect of each activity can be easily explained to them.” -Joanne, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Children of this age like cuddly toys. One of the best freebies I have seen recently include furry bugs and viruses. This would stimulate children into learning about these.” -Stephen, Staff Scientist, Europe Color- and shape-coded construction kits, because it is more than just a toy.” -Jose A., Principal Investigator, Europe Colorful toys and chocolate bars.” -Lahoucine, Staff Scientist, North America “Contract actors to perform animation based in themes of Disney movies related to science, in particular with space exploration. Offer small toys related to space science, like compasses, small telescopes, miniatures of the space shuttle, DVDs about space etc...Kids usually like space and astronautics and I believe that is a good way of calling their attention to science.” -AbÌlio J. F. N., Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Create a play and handicrafts area with scientific themes (my 5 year old daughter enjoy it very much playing with an multichannel pipette and creating graphics with it), surrounded by places where the kids can get popcorn, sweets, drinks.” -Michael, Principal Investigator, Europe Create a visible play/interactive zone [made up of a walk through/jump/ run around -size human body] in a central atrium amongst the display booths - which can only be accessed by passing through a maze made up of the display booths - time spent gleaning information at the booths can be traded for time in the play zone.” -Tracey, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Create an activity station where the kids can go to make a mess whenever they want. The most exciting young kids climbing area was a 15x15 square filled with kitchen gadgets and large pieces of hard rubber fruits and foods. The kids jumped from one-to-the-other, learning about the 5 food groups and how they can be used to make a healthy meal. So, why not have a similar area (large cast outline of a body, or even a large T/C flask (can crawl through the cao) holding several different pillow-sized immune cell types (Macrophages, T-cell, B-cells, NK cells (properly painted with cute receptors and organelles. These should be large enough to sit on, or carry around, an they could be used to take up smaller parasites, bacteria, viruses, fungi and yeastie-beasties. Perhaps everything could be sitting under a huge microscope, and it would have the ability to take pictures of the kids involved in these”sites” of inflammatory responses. They could receive their picture on a bage, saying they are doing their part to rid the body of infections. inflammatory reactions.” -Geoffrey, Staff Scientist, North America “Defined”dress-code” i.e. lab-coats for the young fellows and let them do some easy and save experiments they can redo at home (backing powder in cola etc...).” -Dirk, Staff Scientist, Europe Definitely a”Go Diego Go” or”Dora the Explorer” Scientist T-shirt or tool kit toy.” -Jamie, Principal Investigator, North America “Demo interface software.” -Arkady, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Demonstration (and tasting) of candy making: Chemistry at work, the transformation of sugar.” -Emmanuelle, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Australasia/Pacific “Display Thomas the train and give free picture frame (or something where you can add the picture of the kid to all qualifying”parents of scientist to be”” -Paola, Principal Investigator, North America “Displays must be mobile and colorful to draw the attention of the target group. Then, the display and instruments must be handle able. Those five years old and under will be attracted to the colors and movement. Once attracted, they will need to touch and”play” with equipment and instruments if their attention is to be kept. The salient points of the display must be imparted to the target group quickly to transfer the information within the short attention span of five to ten minutes that 5 year old and under participants would have.” -Charles, Department Head, North America “DNA trucks that drive down the genome superhighway.” -Alex, Principal Investigator, North America “Don’t have a clown!” -Sarah, Principal Investigator, North America “Exhibit a working station with vendors dedicated to run, in a competitive way, samples from attendees. This is a practical and attractive approach to compare products.” -Jean-Christophe, Professor/Teacher, Europe Exhibit snakes and large spiders and insects, which most kids find fascinating!” -Geoffrey, Professor/Teacher, Europe Exhibits should be brightly colored and definitely hands on, preferably with different textures (squishy, wet, and wiggly would be highly prized textures). Demonstrations that bring laughter and or screams are highly desired. Light-weight toys that evoke the demonstration will encourage tots to remember the experience after they have left the conference.” -Cherie, Principal Investigator, North America “Experienced technical services hold expert exhibition. We need technical information but not sale’s price, et al at a exhibition hall of scientific conferences.” -Yuha, Staff Scientist, Asia “Fancy buttons, flashing lights, The chance to touch the really cool sights!” -Kurt, Principal Investigator, North America “Festive atmosphere e.g. helium balloons, toys, interactive science exhibits suitable for age group.” -Bruce, Staff Scientist, Australasia/Pacific “Find really unique yet fun and interesting age-appropriate toys, have reps using them actively - they will come. I.e. get a huge box of tinker toys and build a massive structure that can be seen aisles away, or get hot wheel cars and have them racing down the aisle, or radio controlled gadgets (car, plane, teddy bear) that they can play with and interact with. get their attention to the booth, then engage them in playing and hanging around.” -Ri-Chee, Staff Scientist, North America “First and foremost, you must simply allow children into the vendor area! When I was in charge of daycare of my infant child, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to sneak my kid into the vendor areas of meetings only to be rebuffed by the ‘no one under 18’ rule at most exhibit halls! When he could toddle, I put him in his little lab coat and tried to pass him off as height challenged to no avail. So that’s my *first* recommendation. Keep in mind that the sales reps at the vendor shows where I *could* get him in knew *exactly* how to get his attention, they kept throwing candy at him! That works *almost* as well on kids as it does on grad students...:) They then got into a contest to see who could get their hat on him the longest. He was the star of the show and I think Bio-Rad won the hat contest, with Sigma a close second. In all seriousness, more scientists would visit the vendor areas if the kids were allowed...I speak from genuine, disappointing experience!” -Ivo, Staff Scientist, North America “First catch the attention of the parents by offering seemingly important information, goods, etc. Then god forbid, don’t give them your sales pitch before you hand them your giveaways. On the contrary, give them what you advertised and then give them something more if they actually stayed to hear the rest of your sales pitch. Make sure there’s plenty of space for everybody, especially for the kids to move about. Giveaways for children might be a good idea at first, but does not really keep parents interested for long, so don’t bother. Once way to draw parent’s attention is to hold some kind of competition for their kids while keeping the parents occupied with your sales pitch.” -David, Post Doctoral Fellow, Asia “First, I would recommend a very low counter, with balloons. Second, some hands-on toys for matching DNA bases, etc. Third, giveaways of T-shirts that have clever science-y things on them, like”Entropy man, leading the charge to turn order into disorder”. Also, DNA candy.” -Jonathan, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “First, if they are not doing that yet... free candy; Second, give something interesting to the parents (raffles of gift cards, literature or CD related to parenting 5 years old or less, etc.), because certainly the 5 years old guys need someone (parents) to take them to the booth.” -Eduardo, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Fluffy animals- alive or toys My kids love them and are 5 and 2” -Paul, Professor/Teacher, Europe Free chocolate. Works for all ages.” -Peter, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Free ice cream!” -Deborah, Principal Investigator, North America “Free milk and cookie for everybody!” -Pascal, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Free samples, life videos, ongoing movies about a method.” -Hans-Martin, Professor/Teacher, Europe Free sweets. Call it the”tots for tots” program.” -Michael, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Fun Videos targeted at that age group like Dora, Diego, and Elmo. Also have the characters their to meet them and interact with them. Don’t forget the cookies.” -Dale, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Gadgets like lit toy brains, pumping toy hearts, plants in agar, etc. to attract their attention to important life science issues.” -Giuseppe, Principal Investigator, North America “Games that have a scientific meaning ( a puzzle that provides an answer).” -David, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Generally children are not allowed in exhibit halls. There should be adequate day care with toys and games that can spark an interest in science.” -Richard, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Get”The Wiggles” to be there and the kids will come in droves.” -Matthew, Staff Scientist, North America “Get a representative to dress up as Santa Claus and have the children tell him what they would do if they had their own laboratory.” -Stuart, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Get Dora the Explorer as one of the presenters. Children at that age would eat up whatever Dora had to say!” -Todd, Staff Scientist, North America “Giraffes. Everyone loves giraffes.” -Brian, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Give away some of those crappy toys like in McDonald’s”happy meals”.” -Debra, Staff Scientist, North America “Give away sweets and toys!” -Sally, Principal Investigator, Europe Give away toys to attract the 5 years and under set.” -Hagir, Principal Investigator, North America “Give fun toys and games to the kids, and make sure your displays are colorfully attractive. Anything from electronic dice, slinkies, squish balls, or puzzles are a great way to attract them and get them engaged. If these promotional items also have to do with characters/themes that are popular with that age group, that would make it all the easier to engage them in conversation. Once you have them there, you can then open their minds to things in the real world that relate to science that they may not be aware of. You’ve got to make it fun!” -Melissa, Staff Scientist, North America “Give out free Eppendorf tubes, plastic pipettes, falcon tubes, etc. Kids love to play with things that they think are for grown-ups.” -Gert, Staff Scientist, Europe Give out McDonald’s lunch boxes for boys and girls.” -Betty, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Giving out to the children stuffed animals or character dolls that are popular. Also free children books and stationary would be nice. Free water and water bottles would also be a plus. Also set up the latest cartoon movie DVD.” -Tamar, Principal Investigator, North America “Go to Toy R Us to buy their kids furniture for use at the booth.” -William, Principal Investigator, Asia “Guest appearance by the Wiggles.” -John W., Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Australasia/Pacific “Hand on Projects. Kids loves to learn.” -Thuy, Principal Investigator, North America “Hands on exhibits including Legos and computers.” -Hal, Staff Scientist, North America “Hands on interactive science experiences tailored for that age group. Might use plastic magnifying glass to look at specimens in sealed dishes, then the kid can have the magnifying glass to take with them.” -John, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Hands on science experiments (dry ice, volcanoes....) and make-your- own-ice cream because kids love doing things with their own hands and they love ice cream.” -Diana, Principal Investigator, North America “Hands on science experiments and exhibits. Kids need to be active and do things, not just look. They need to touch things.” -MaryAnn, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Have a”friendly” animal or character handing out calculators age specific for children.” -Rose, Staff Scientist, North America “Have a clown at the booth and everyone will remember it.” -Christopher, Principal Investigator, North America “Have a giant talking test tube that they can punch or hit with a plastic pipette and get an M & M if they can answer specific questions. They will be attracted to the big character, especially if it is brightly colored and since 5 year olds tend to like to hit things, they will especially be attracted if they get a reward for their fun.” -Howard, Principal Investigator, North America “Have a hands on exhibit. themes: - Make some take home slime - Take home some in an Eppendorf tube some DNA you have just prepared from wheat germ or mashed strawberries, using only household reagent. - Make ice cream with dry ice. These are some activities we have tried with our visiting kids, and they loved doing.” -Laurence, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Have a huge”ballroom” · la IKEA in the exhibit hall (would attract not only “5 years of age and under set” though ;).” -Jonas, Professor/Teacher, Europe Have a huge slushy model of say the cell in which the kids can just jump, slide, fall about and give them candy shaped like parts of the cell.” -Chandra, Principal Investigator, Europe Have a part of the booth, perhaps containing a video or preferably an interactive exhibit, that only toddlers can get into, either via a tunnel or in some sort of tent/Wendy house. You wont be able to get them out!” -Charlotte, Principal Investigator, Europe Have a play set and some cotton candy.” -Grant, Principal Investigator, North America “Have a puppy.” -Carolyn, Principal Investigator, North America “Have a safe but exciting play area for children with things like bouncy castle etc, attract them with gifts appropriate to their age and gifts which are not too expensive but unique in that they are generally not available in the shops. A free Ice cream shop would be an added bonus.” -A J, Staff Scientist, Europe Have all the tables set at 24”, give out free gummy bears and have the sales reps dressed as Disney characters.” -Jim, Principal Investigator, North America “Have attractive gift items ready at the booth and also hold fun contests that would involve answering a question or solving a puzzle to win a prize instantly. That would do the trick.” -Dhananjay, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Have Barney or Big-Bird running simple experiments with dry ice, etc. or generating make-shift engineering-type experiments with low-current electricity (lights on/off), etc. Any cause and effect type relationship demonstration by a well-known child-hood figure.” -Steve, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Have booth give-aways to interest small children, have separate days for adults only different from the children’s day, offer childcare services during the conference.” -Kenneth, Professor/Teacher, North America “Have brightly colored ‘tactile’ displays and more staff to initiate one on one interaction. Entertainment sideshows that are relevant to the exhibition and present its message in a fun/entertaining way would also be of use.” -Hilton, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Have glass windows 1 foot off the floor with shiny colorful toys in them.” -Jeffrey, Principal Investigator, North America “Have hand-out science kits for simple parent-child projects or science- related coloring books.” -Allan, Staff Scientist, North America “Have kids music and lots of balloons to give. All equipment and consumables must be colorful and have nice exciting experiments to show. Experiments with sounds, and a lot of visual aspects.” -Dimitris, Staff Scientist, Europe Have lively cartoons shown as a backdrop.” -Cynthia, Staff Scientist, North America “Have lots of stuffed animals and cookies!” -Jan, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Have other children already there interacting with science-oriented toys.” -Mark, Principal Investigator, North America “Have representatives from Kid-friendly programming, ex. Sesame Street Characters who promote games/contests/etc involving the characters teaching about science.” -Carolyn, Staff Scientist, North America “Have some of the vendors dress up as big cuddly cartoon characters and play fun music. Both of which attract a the attention of a child while not being too annoying to the accompanying adult.” -Gillian, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Have something they can play with while their parent talks to the exhibitors.” -James, Principal Investigator, North America “Have suitable”action hero” figures present at the booth that this age- group can identify with.” -Reg, Staff Scientist, North America “Have the latest toys available for use with star power in the booth. For example, have the Wii analog in 2030 demonstrated by the Hannah Montana of the era.” -Raymond, Principal Investigator, North America “Hold the conference approaching Xmas and have Santa give out”kiddie science pack” presents at the booth.” -Peter, Principal Investigator, Europe How about an entry way that is arranged like a maze--followed by a prize at the end that would consist of age appropriate attractively boxed experiments to be done at home?” -Myrna, Staff Scientist, North America “I don’t believe that 5-year olds belong at scientific conferences. Many of the things on display (e.g. surgical instruments) could not be safely displayed if small children were running around. I have never been at a conference that permitted visitors or children in the exhibit hall. That said, if vendors wanted to set up a ‘family’ area outside, I can tell you from experience at our Family Science Days that 5-year-olds like sponges and slime (non-Newtonian liquid made from cornstarch).” -Nirah, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I have a 5-year old son. He loves to build Lego cars, trucks and other sets. The vendors should have a play area where kids can get a box with Lego parts, instructions and they can build a Lego toy and return it when they are done.” -Dirk-Uwe, Professor/Teacher, North America “I really like the idea of encouraging the young ones into research. They should be shown even though not new exciting things and in a very colorful manner with animations. If possible any basic science fact can be demonstrated with famous Walt Disney characters like Mickey mouse, Donald duck and Goofy as if they were doing that science feat. For example how a circular motion gives light (Dynamo). Basic facts like this will spark their innovative brain processes.” -Nagadhara, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I recommend”shrunken” products, i.e., small pipettes that the tots can hold. It would be fun for the bigger people too!” -Barbara, Principal Investigator, North America “I recommend vendors to interesting science experiments. Kids like scientific experiments, such as DNA extraction from chicken or plants, microscope experience, or chemical reaction. Vendors may use popular characters among kids to attract them to their booth.” -Motoko, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I remember story about the purity of Santa Cruz antibodies, which are really good and not so expensive, and I am using them even now. Santa Cruz Corporation immediately improved purity of products, not increases the list of prizes and now nobody say that Santa Cruz antibodies are nor excellent am sure that they have no more troubles with hall traffics at scientific conferences. I suppose that this prescription is the best.” -Katica, Professor/Teacher, Europe I think that the Jackson Laboratories should let loose about 1,000 Balb/c mice and one C57BL/6 mouse. Prize goes to the tot that can catch the black one!” -David, Principal Investigator, North America “I think there are two BIG keys to increasing traffic at vendor booths. First, you need to have quality products and have an existing base of people that use them. Second, you bring in the tots by having a hook, for example a flashy booth, dynamic people, and/or free stuff. Do something different and exciting. You would also be surprised by the number of people that see somebody walking around with a cool item (e.g. funky water container), and ask around to find out what vendor is giving it out.” -Andy, Staff Scientist, North America “I think they should offer an area right by their booth full of all kinds of toys. The kids would be running their so fast, it would be so hard to hold them back.” -Natalie, Laboratory Technician, North America “I think they would love to have a ball or a wind up toy with wheels. Something that they could put in their mouth and not eat. There was a rattle with a happy face that squeaked when shaken that was a pen and a bubble maker....that I picked up at a vendor show. Also a stuffed animal would be nice too.” -Joie, Laboratory Technician, North America “I will have enough space not to congest the traffic. Will decorate the booths with colors that attract 5 years old kids. Will have toys that attract attention of the 5 year olds and try to put as many which give them an opportunity to try and make them feel it as an amazing thing. Then I shall have personnel who can talk and relate to the 5 year old and explain patiently how it works. While leaving I shall provide great toys and will have a wish list filled from them.” -Pradeep, Laboratory Technician, North America “I will recommend them to have different kids activity like coloring, maize, puzzle and games with incentive to attract young ones. Of course all these activity have to link with Science or vendors product theme base.” -Utpal, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I will send someone in the primary schools trying to convince kids that they can play also with science.” -Emanuele, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe I will share with you the package we have drawn up to promote Invitrogen’s range to the crucial under five demographic. This year, the exhibit booth, located immediately to the left of the main entry to the hall, offers an attractive entry point in the form of a bright red and yellow stairway flanked with sparkling lights and trays of sweets. The tot, after ascending the stairway, slides down a spiral slide to the pool of foam balls below. They find themselves in a”magic fairy grotto” surrounded by live displays of our products. Promotional staff dressed as happy elves lead our future scientists through the displays of their choice, pointing out the exciting new features of our tiny tot range of products. Once satisfied, each young scientist is presented with a set of”Good Results Fairy” wings (for the girls) that actually flap and play the Invitrogen jingle, or the “Gene Jockey” cape and mask set for the boys. Exiting the booth is just as much fun as entering it. The child whizzes down the slide and catches as many prize draw cards as he/she can before landing.” -Steve, Post Doctoral Fellow, Australasia/Pacific “I would advertise with”be that 5-year old kid again and have fun” and I will set up a choose-your-flavor-and-topping ice-cream machine, open to the public to see inside while the ice-cream is being prepared. Then I will have several stations with interactive scientific games (reading a DNA sequence, building a dinosaur from the bones....) and a hourly score listing with prices for winners.” -Valerie, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would ask them to come along with mascot and advertise the products.” -Prashanth, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe I would ask them to Physically bring the Products of their Demo to the halls and exhibit them at show.” -Suresh, Professor/Teacher, North America “I would certainly recommend to use brightly colored equipment to attract kid’s attention; to employ the fiber optic technology in the device (table top centrifuge, rotating platform, etc) which would be illuminated when turned on. One could place these devices in a darkened tent for an additional touch of magic.” -Anna, Staff Scientist, North America “I would contact various vendors to help me in my task.” -Daniel Tavares, Principal Investigator, Europe I would give out live lab animals. and have a petting zoo.” -Thomas, Department Head, North America “I would have age appropriate toys (and giveaways) to get the Tots interested. For instance, I have seen the wooden beads that you slide across a wire fascinate kids for hours. Why not make one that was in the shape of DNA so the kids could begin interacting with the double helix at an earlier age.” -Greg, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would have many”interactive” displays where the students can touch and play with the exhibits/products. This would attract them to the booth and also keep them there to learn products by having fun with them. Exhibits could be pipetting color liquids into a mold that make a heart or brain.” -Dianne, Staff Scientist, North America “I would have trays of cookies and juice, fruit and other beverages as a choice for the older guests, and make sure we don’t run out of food too early. Preferably, support personnel can replenish the inventory and mingle. They should be upbeat and friendly, and be able to answer questions about the programs while guests munch. The informative area contains brochures, examples of the materials, DVDs and be supported by a small cadre of individuals to answer all questions. Keep the food separate from the brochures, DVDs etc. you don’t want to wait for the hungry hoards to move away from the table so you can get your information! The decor is important-color bright ones (orange, reds)to catch the eye- should adorn the stand. For tots, have cartoon-like drawing of scientific materials like microscopes and molecular patterns, etc. Have examples of the training materials themselves. If there is a canopy identifying the stand with”Tots in training, etc) make sure it is located above the floor so it can be spotted from a distance. Make sure the logo ( I am assuming there is one) is easily discernible. Again, in a large hall make sure you have something to attract the eye-like a colorful rainbow or bunch of balloons. Finally, free gifts like pens, mugs, can be stuffed into a plastic bag containing all the materials.” -MaryAnn, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would include some toys for the children to play and take home.” -Madhu, Laboratory Technician, North America “I would make everything touchable, colorful, low close to the floor at their height so they can explore and try things.” -Judit, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe I would offer plush toy giveaways along with free candy (sugar-free, of course!).” -Edward, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I would offer stuffed animal toys like Abcam, Charles River, etc. One of the reasons I always stop at those booths is to pick up a little something for my kids at home, so I know that it’s a successful draw for that age group. I’d also put in little contests like a duck pond (with numbers on the bottoms of the ducks that correspond to prizes) or other carnival games. Big TVs with bright colored promotional programs will stop the little ones in their tracks and the games will keep them there.” -Lori, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would provide lots of animation with big screens demonstrating the science at the exhibit booth. Each animated video/demo would be limited to 5-10 minutes (from experience my own children have a 10 minute max capacity). It should be funny, with unforgettable characters in the animated video/demos that explain the demonstrate the science of the product. In addition, the exhibit/exhibits would also benefit by providing the video games by the vendor of the demo/demos of the products and how the function. The final jewel of the crown would be to have music at the exhibit/exhibits with choreographed dancing on product information dance pads with interactive lights. This would be the trifecta needed to increase traffic and the success needed to lure the”Tots” to your exhibit and explain the science with non conventional media methods.” -George, Staff Scientist, North America “I would put Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street in the booth to answer questions.” -Phillip, Production/Manufacturing, North America “I would recommend a questionnaire where the attendees could answer questions at different places in the exhibition, with prizes for the winner of course.” -Camilla, Principal Investigator, Europe I would recommend a very hands on interactive exhibit area. All items should be in bright primary colors to attract attention, and since the “5 years and under set” is on the short side, the product should be displayed at their eye level and below. The”Sigma” Bug Analysis Playset should be available in multiple copies since even at the tender age of 5 or even 50, present and future scientists are seldom able to share their toys. There should also be a method to”allow” them a copy, or a portion of the set to take home as a product teaser. This would remind them of how”useful” the product was, and thus they could consistently remind their purchasing agent to buy the product.” -Berry, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would recommend activities, similar to paint by numbers, with the products and using a lot of colors and color coding items. Since a younger audience like simulation and play time, play time with products would attract scientists of this age group.” -Mary, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “I would recommend an area for kids to play with legos and other creative games.” -Madhuri, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I would recommend bringing Yolanda the Yeast and Randy the Rat, two people dressed up a la Barney, to bring the kids in, sit them down, and do a small show introducing them to our laboratory friends. Ice cream and balloons twisted in the shape of DNA could be given out at the same time.” -Jeremy, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I would recommend Giant Microbes - people of all age love them, they’re colorful and educational, they’re easy to carry around and take home.” -Tricia, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “I would recommend having a visual demonstration of some kind i.e., clown showing a hidden learning activity. Why? Because if the activity is redundant, kids loose interest easily. Also, if the activity appears that it is a learning experience, not everyone will come. :).” -Meenu, Staff Scientist, North America “I would recommend interactive learning tools/games that target audience could participate in and win prizes. A key example is a demonstration made by a group several years ago called”synaptic land” by Paul Meyer at OHSU.” -Mark, Staff Scientist, North America “I would recommend lots of”hands-on” displays. All scientists are hands- on at the heart, and 5-year olds in particular!” -Jackie, Laboratory Technician, North America “I would recommend products with bright colors and simple-looking operation buttons and controls - because they will attract immediate attention and influence favorable attitude. Why should scientific instruments and consumables look so dull?” -Irene, Staff Scientist, Europe I would recommend setting-up funny games to both have fun, learn about the product and interact with peers.” -Deborah, Project Manager, Europe I would recommend showing simple color reactions (resulting in an effective color change, say, red to yellow, etc.) to be performed by trainees (under the supervision of the booth staff!) and presenting gifts appropriately colored.” -Alexander A., Principal Investigator, Europe I would recommend some sort of scavenger hunt. Turn it into a game with each vendor having an item that needs to be collected, in order to be entered into a drawing for some promotional item that will make it worth the time to stop at the booths, or alternatively, provide a special guest or entertainment in the exhibit hall. For example, Bill Nye The Science Guy or some other special guest way in the back of the exhibit hall, so they would have to walk past ALL of the exhibits to get to the event. Setting up the exhibit booths in a corridor or room that lies between the conference hall and lunch is also a nice strategy. The normal flow of traffic will take people past the vendors. Same idea as Disney World having rides with the exit as a walkway through a store, so people see the products they have for sale as they walk through to the next attraction.” -Kim, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “I would recommend that the presentation be conducted by Optimus Prime, the hero of the Transformers and his second in command, Bumble Bee. Alternatively there could be a presentation by Spider Man on the biology of arachnids. I got this information from a real authority, my 4 year old grand son.” -Raphael, Professor/Teacher, North America “I would recommend that the vendors dress as clowns with balloons to give away or the most popular children’s program characters also with giveaways. Another thought would be to do a Disney theme with princes and princesses. I would strongly urge the vendors to spend time with the children laughing and discussing their products. Candy and prize giveaways would certainly help!” -Christine, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would recommend the following: 1) that they all dress up as clowns; what kid doesn’t like a clown?, and suits perfectly well with the character of most sale representatives :) 2) bring lots of balloons of different colors and sizes, the wonders they work in keeping little rascals at peace!! 3)bring whistles and blast away those sounds so annoying to our ears but pure angelical music to the ears of young kids with an active”Echidna diabolicus” acoustic gene. 4)to bring soda and candy, two of the most important sources of energy for kids, especially those learning about science, and finally 5)to bring some type of pet (a perfect amusement for the kids and, when necessary, their perfect scapegoat- -how else are they going to blame for the broken pot or for that strange smell in the exhibit hall?). A monkey would be an absolute winner, although given the nature of kids that age, a sign stating: DONT SPANK THE MONKEY would be highly recommended.” -James, Staff Scientist, North America “I would recommend the vendors to anticipate the exhibition, ask for the participant list and propose to test their material by inviting participant to visit their stand.” -Nicolas, Principal Investigator, Europe I would recommend them to set up a mini-laboratory with their most updated technology which is actually working with competent and communicative scientists, and where we can see and at some points get in and do something, but mostly where we can identify the problem and the stepwise solutions. I bet this would motivate me to join the vendors products and technology.” -Ana, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe I would recommend they have some instrumentation that shows in the most straightforward way how the instrument is used, how clear the results are and how it works. They should see that there are many questions posed in a scientific process that can be answered by direct inspection. Leave them with the idea that there are many ways to look at a problem and the real challenge is to come up with two alternatives that answer the question one way or the other and that this is the method for building on the work of others to attack problems that seem complex on the surface but that are approachable for the persistent ones.” -Mike, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would recommend to have people working at booths dress up as particular characters such as Transformers to encourage people to transform their research. Or to dress up as Buzz Lightyear to help to take their research to infinity and beyond. Passing out candy or toys at booths would also help to increase traffic of the younger set. In addition, for demonstration videos you could make cartoon infomercials as that would likely also draw the younger crowd.” -Michelle, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “I would recommend to make an effort to attract student because they are the next that can increase traffic.” -Melanie, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “I would recommend to use regular toys to demonstrate the scientific benefit of each product e.g. toy train for demonstrating video tracking system, Teddy bear for demonstrating surgical instruments or distribution of soft drinks for demonstrating liquid handling.” -Thorsten, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe I would recommend vendors to organize a”treasure hunt” game so that every booth would have the opportunity to meet with these future potential clients on a more informal way: it is never too early to advertise! As an organizer of the Program, it would be of my responsibility to connect this prospective public with exhibitors and vendors. Then, once the connection is made, it is up to their abilities to keep the interest of their audience.” -Christel, Professor/Teacher, Europe I would set up a play area with science activities. Like a huge heart you could walk thru like a maze, slide that looks like your GI tract, etc. Maybe some toy-like microscopes that are more like those view-finder toys where you can click thru cartoon like images of different germs. Maybe instead of a build-a-bear workshop, it’s a build-a-germ workshop. You can dress up your favorite stuffed germ. I could go on and on!” -Julie, Staff Scientist, North America “I would use the company products as demonstration of fun models. Like I will make big plastic clear Flask an let kids get in by the slide and draw on the walls using magic colors, which appear at certain light angle. For different reagent you can make a puppet show. Like you can show how transfection reagents go into the cells. We can make human bodies out of Lego pieces. If you sell microscopes, you can attract with the colored filters and prisms, magnifying glasses. You can imagine a lot of fun with scientific products for 5yars and under!” -Elena, Principal Investigator, North America “I would well known scientist and give chances to child take a picture with him. And a humanoid robot (real or human inside) also be favorable.” -Chul-Woong, Staff Scientist, Asia “I wouldn’t participate in this program. As a scientist, I need to speak with vendors and I don’t need children getting in my way. Maybe a separate time for the kids to play in the exhibit hall is needed, but don’t take my time away from my job by putting kids into the mix. They need a separate program with education tailored to them, and it needs to be at a time when the scientific community is not trying to speak with the vendors. I’m sure the vendors wouldn’t like to have a sale of a piece of instrumentation derailed by little Johnny playing in the booth.” -Karen, Principal Investigator, North America “Ice cream and cake shaped liked the companies products, and coupons to Chuck E Cheese’s.” -Shelley, Principal Investigator, North America “I’d suggest a sales rep dressed up in a giant purple dinosaur suit, handing out free ice cream bars, and entering kids into a drawing for a Nintendo Wii. Of course, the kids would need to fight off all the adult scientists ahead of them in line.” -Paul, Staff Scientist, North America “I’d try to promote the fun aspects of what we do. Cool plastics like for tissue culture or fluid transfer, puzzles with logos, highlighters to attract this clientele.”Magic” show exhibits with dry ice and videos with time-lapse growth of whatever. Dictyostelium in dishes and slime to touch. Water tanks with sea animals that are used in research - zebra fish, lobster, and urchin embryos. Simple microscopes or dissecting microscopes with preparations to examine to advertise this material. GFP-expressing drosophila larvae or C. elegans in a light box under UV illumination - and all of that equipment would be advertised thus.” -Heather, Principal Investigator, Europe If it for 5 years and below, first make them that science is fun and thrilling to explore, have intuitive games and small fun experiments and scientific toys at the booth to attract kids.” -Kalyan, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “If it is girls then if the vendors are giving away products then they should offer Dora/Barbie to attract the female populations. If it is boys then train set/transfomers/powerrangers/Diego products will do!” -Nagina, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Illumina booth should have a ball pit having all the balls labelled with “most wanted gene probes”.” -Heikki, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe In the life sciences, kids love to see realistic working models and maybe even ones that they can touch and/or walk through. Funny cartoon-like scientists that are not too stereotypical would be helpful but please ....... no Disney characters!” -Alan, Principal Investigator, Europe Include lots of color and fluffy toys.” -Sandra, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Australasia/Pacific “Indian Institute of science.” -Susanta, Staff Scientist, Asia “Interactive toys such as Lego with a relevance to the product or science. Jon, Principal Investigator, North America “Invite Disney to the exhibit hall for presentations and entertainment.” -Tomas, Project Manager, Europe It would be very important to provide something that was interesting and different within the exhibition hall. Possibly the opportunity to go on an amazing play world full of bouncy castles and merry go rounds. The time you are allowed into this play world would depend on how much you have used the exhibition hall (the play world would be sponsored by the exhibitors). A ticket could be provided for every time you entered the hall or alternatively, each exhibition stall could provide the delegate with a ticket. A ticket equals say 5 minutes of time. Therefore the more tickets you get, the more time you have in Play world. In addition to this, each exhibition stall will have a different color or design on their ticket and the delegates have to have a ticket from a different exhibition stall every time they go to Play world. If a delegate collects every single different ticket from the exhibitors (on the proviso that the delegate has to speak to the staff at the exhibition stall for a set period of time before the ticket is handed over), then the delegate will go into a prize draw (to be drawn after the last lecture of the conference) to win their own bouncy castle.” -Kirsten, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Just give away Apple iPods. People will arrive in flocks! :-).” -Gabriel, Principal Investigator, Europe Just like scientists and engineers, 5 year olds like shiny, bright things that make noise. Your booth should include lots of”things” that meet the above.” -Michael, Department Head, North America “Keep the full range of latest scientific exhibits with simple explanation for the young scientists to understand.” -Girish, Professor/Teacher, Asia “Kids at that age need to experience things physically to really learn about them. I’d have giant versions of scientific instruments that they could climb on, for example, a merry-go-round”centrifuge”. Microscopes are always fascinating - but they would have to be on a scale that the kids could work them - for example, they would have to have large, easy to use knobs, and a video screen instead of an eyepiece. Other interactive exhibits could explore basic concepts of cause and effect - the scientific method is a bit beyond 5 year olds. Also, kids love stuff that is gross - bugs, slime, etc.” -Michelle, Laboratory Technician, North America “Kids like to touch. ideas: (1) puzzle pieces to assemble a dank double helix (2) a model of the circulatory system, where the kids drop a ball/ oxygen molecule into the nose and watch it travel to the lung and then into the red liquid”blood” and circulate down to the toes and fingers, etc. (3) a similar model showing how food goes in the mouth, to the stomach, etc. and through the digestive system (4) a model of the sun, moon, and earth to show how day and night and the seasons relate to the movement of the three (5) a digital camera set up to make”little scientist” badges which can also be used as identification cards.” -Andrew, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Kids love balloons. You need a clown who is especially skilled at making balloon animals, but instead of animals, you could sculpt helium balloon molecular chemical structures and/or DNA helixes.” -Heather, Staff Scientist, North America “Large screen TV with appropriate entertainment.” -Christopher, Principal Investigator, Europe Last August I took my 3 year old boy for the first time to a conference (ELSO 2008 in Dresden, Germany). I did not really have time to check out the exhibit booths, but my son gathered quickly and successfully all the promotional items that were available. His favorites (and he is still playing with them) was Merck’s soft ball (transparent rubber filled with colored water and some glitter) and a small teddy bear from an antibody vendor. I couldn’t take him to my next conference which was in October, but I had to promise him to get all the promotional toys that I could possibly get from the exhibit hall.” -Michael, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Legos/Duplo blocks.” -Brant, Staff Scientist, North America “Let conference attendees know that there will be programs available for 5 years and under; offer free childcare; have fun and/or free stuff at the booth for kids 5 and under; have the general public in that city informed of the conference and the availability of exhibits of interest to kids.” -Shawn, Professor/Teacher, North America “Let the tots touch and handle the instrumentation and provide nappy changing facilities and lollipops.” -Anton, Department Head, Europe Let them play with science.” -Guido, Department Head, Europe Life sized mascots (similar to Actos’ giant organs) handing out lollipops would draw the attention of anyone under the age of 5 (and most other people as well).” -Alison, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Light cycler carrera car racing course, TaqMan light show, science to touch and physically explore toys like ELISA/antibody building kits (playmobil or fisher technic like, Affymetrix scanning device for scanning faces and presenting them on a GeneChip print out, Barbie and/or PollyPocket lab. Parents entertaining.” -Roland, Staff Scientist, Europe Like adults, small children relish at the opportunity to be given free gifts even if it is something totally useless. They are more than willing to accept something that will sit in a drawer for years on end if it is offered as being free. If they can actually utilize the item, then it is that much more appealing. If you were trying to attract the 5 year and under set, then plaster your name brand all over a bouncing ball and you’ll have more of them visit your booth than any other, unless of course the booth next to you is offering iPods with their logo on it.” -Stefan, Laboratory Technician, North America “Live sessions with simple science projects performed by muppets would attract under 5s. Add a few little gifts (balloons are great) with the vendor’s logo. It is education with entertainment.” -Maria, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Living golden fish or white mice to catch and take away.” -Melanie, Principal Investigator, Europe Lots of brightly colored, interactive exhibits, particularly things with lights, moving arms that children can see something happening.” -Sharon, Staff Scientist, Europe Lots of cheap give aways and an ice cream booth. Never underestimate the power of toys and ice cream over a 5 year old!” -Gary, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Lots of games, space to play, enclosed, i.e. supervised babysitting.” -James, Principal Investigator, North America “Magnifying glass because it will open a new view of things around them.” -Warren J., Professor/Teacher, North America “Mail challenging interactive colorful brochures/toys to PARENTS of these target tots.” -Rodolfo, Production/Manufacturing, Asia “Make a very simple interactive computer game of a lab and the tots would have to follow a color, number or shape theme to ‘do an experiment’. If they get it wrong the lab explodes but if they get it right they get a small reward.” -Lisa, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Make it a gaming-competition/lan party.” -Alex, Principal Investigator, Europe Make it attractive with games, prizes to win, food & balloons in the booth.” -Bhama, Staff Scientist, North America “Make it possible that children (accompanied by an adult) can visit it. Having games and rewards/prizes for children, that attendants with children would visit the booth and see it in action. Take away gifts for children would attract attendants visiting the conference without their children.” -Rolf, Staff Scientist, North America “Make sure we have the product on-site, enough literature/information (CD of hard copies). Statistics about the product. Show how friendly the product is in terms of use.” -Gilbert, Principal Investigator, North America “Make the booth like Starbucks and offer free Starbuck coffee and ice-cream. Well staffs to answer questions and provide information to “customers” and, finally, let them go with”Gift card”” -Yaw-Ching, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Make the exhibit look like it was for 5 year olds (toys lights, music) to spark curiosity of folks walking buy. Once they stop have a short video on large plasma TV discussing the need to train the next generation of scientists. Ask them, what is the number one thing you would like to see scientists have in 2030 to make them more successful, something that you did not have during your scientific training or career. End of exhibit, provide them with brochure or website to obtain further information. Keep it short on your end (vendor), but if the guest has additional questions then engage. Provide small gift that could be taken home to their own kids, grandkids, or relatives that reminds them of the importance of science in our world today and in the future.” -Burt, Staff Scientist, North America “Molecule kit that is edible.” -Elina, Staff Scientist, North America “Music, both as entertainment, and with participation of the kids is a great way to keep the kids happy, and also make the parents happy.” -Paul, Professor/Teacher, North America “My recommendation is to do more detailed description of products and to invite notable scientists to present the products that are used in their scientific research.” -Anna, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Newcomber Supplies (Histology Equipment) uses a mouse cartoon as their mascot. I believe other companies also have cartoon-like characters for their promotional items. I think to attract small children to the exhibit booths, you need people in costumes, handling out balloons or other promotional items. Nothing like a big wave and a hug from a giant stuffed cartoon character!” -Ami, Laboratory Technician, North America “Nice stands with skilled people, not only sale people but people that know the technology!” -Vidar, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Nickelodeon show. I have a 10 year old son and he loves their shows.” -Metin, Professor/Teacher, Europe No purple dinosaurs. It needs to move, flash, make noise and be responsive. If a kid asks it what it’s doing, it should answer. For example, a R2D2 robot demonstrating a product will attract attention. Small, cute, a little weird works.” -Jonathan, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Africa “NUNCLON laboratory plasticware.” -V·clav, Professor/Teacher, Europe Offer a”Kindergarten” service and some toys.” -Wolfgang, Principal Investigator, Europe Offer a”kindergarten” service and/or toys the kids will be under control and entertained; that will give me enough time for browsing.” -Wolfgang, Principal Investigator, Europe Offer candies with cartoon characters. Display good video games. Kids like candies from cartoon characters.” -T. Shantha, Principal Investigator, North America “Offer free cookies, chocolate and coke.” -Markus, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Offer hands on experience with your products, having fun and learning a bit of science at the same time. At the end, give a small gift and a sweetie or, even better, a sticker stating ‘I am a scientist’ with a fun character in a lab coat.” -Joana, Staff Scientist, Europe Only one thing would attract kids of such a young age and that is toys.” -David, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Other children playing with toys and making a lot of noise. Ana, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Central/South America Parent Sitting Services. They get underfoot.” -Sidney, Staff Scientist, North America “Photographs of their Mothers laced with their Mom’s favorite perfume. On the photo it says:”Mom’s knows you are in good hands with these vendors and if you need to call me you can use their telephone at the booth while you see what they have!”” -James, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Place booth staff in a Sesame Street character suit. The under 5 set will definitely approach and ask questions. Of if they are apprehensive about the characters being larger than life, offer promotional incentives of small items containing their favorite character to entice them.” -Renee, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Play pen.” -Shipra, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Playground equipment to use up some energy!” -Kathryn, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Plenty to plug and play - bright lights and tactile displays.” -Trina, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Prepare scientific gifts for children’s use and hand it over to as much visitors as possible for their children.” -Andreas, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Primary colors all over the booth: blue red yellow. Basic way to catch the eye of anyone. A booth with only wood, metal and white tones is not likely to draw the attention of someone who is tired, over stimulated and in a hurry.” -Nicolas, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Products demonstrating the practical applications of science and math in daily life and emphasizing how knowledge of the two subjects would be advantageous.” -Jim, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Provide a clown for product demo (or offer ice-cream) in front of the booth may help attract attention for this age group.” -Xiaotian, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Provide alternative career brochures for scientist to the parents of the children at the meeting because by 2030 there will not any funding for new scientist since the old scientist will be living longer and still gobbling up all the funding. The parents can then direct their children into viable fields.” -John, Principal Investigator, North America “Provide fun scientific gifts such as DNA pens from Affymetrix at AACR.” -Gurmit, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Provide stuffed animals at every booth wherever possible. Every kid, and most grown ups, love stuffed animals. A few years ago at an AALAS meeting, Charles River Laboratories had these stuffed obese rats. I called them Chubby Rats. They only had about two hundred per day, the line at their booth formed the second the exhibit hall opened, and they disappeared within minutes. At”Tots in Training”, the kids would be in competition with each other to see who got the best stuffed animals. If all of them walked away from the conference with four or more, they’d be hooked for life!” -Paul M., Principal Investigator, North America “Provide sweets.” -Nicolas, Principal Investigator, Europe Pull out every colored plastic item available from a standard scientific catalog: Eppendorf tubes, floaters, racks, etc (may have to screen out smallest items as a swallowing hazard). Put everything is in a play area and let them at it. first thing they will do is build towers.” -Chris, Principal Investigator, North America “Puzzles! No child that age can really understand anything in sciences, but we can start to develop their minds.” -Mark, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Real-Time-PCR equipment. Easy see of the results.” -Jozsef, Principal Investigator, Europe Recently I was visiting a Pharmaceutical Congress and I was accompanied by my two daughters. I was amazed to see that they (along with other children) were immensely attracted to live demonstration of machines (tablet machines, capsule filling machines, parental products, microscopes,) coupled with audiovisual back ups. Of course they were made to feel as though they were the star attractions and the officials had close interactions with the children. The children could ask a lot of questions and were highly interested to come back once again.” -Tuhinadri, Professor/Teacher, Asia “Run a promotion inviting all of the pre-schoolers to come and design the color scheme of your company’s new analytical instruments. Imagine the creativity - and no more”battle-ship” beige instruments!” -Mark, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Safe and fun toys with implemented advertisement/logos. It’s what kids love, so the company should do a survey on the most”in” toys for that time and make souvenirs/gifts from those models and give them to kids.” -Tien-Cheng Arthur, Professor/Teacher, North America “Safe toys as part of a meeting / childcare deal. The toys are made of wood and mimic laboratory equipment, such as beakers and test tubes.” -Eva, Principal Investigator, North America “Scientific themes based on currently popular animated and non-animated children’s shows watched by children 5 and under. Having themes that already are familiar to the kids will attract them and give instant recognition to most parents. The kids will be interested from the start if, for example, Big Bird or a familiar character is talking to them. If the program is properly geared to the age set, then the kids will be hooked and their interest held.” -Bruce, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Scientific toys.” -Gregory, Staff Scientist, North America “Scientific toys.” -Pradip, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Scientifically oriented video gaming.” -Jean-Louis, Principal Investigator, Europe Scientist should dress up as teletubbies.” -Thelma, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe Send attendee well in advance the gift card or promotional prize.” -Manoj, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Send invitations to schools for guided field trips.” -Sue, Staff Scientist, North America “Send out flyers together with the program, emphases the exhibit near all major exits. including promotion/raffle ideas.” -Esther, Staff Scientist, North America “Send the information to all the schools. Conduct lucky draws. Announce that there will be a door gift (May be small but relevant) and say that there will be three grand final prizes which will take care of the three students educational & Research expenditures until 2030.” -Sivaramakrishnan, Professor/Teacher, Asia “Set the exhibit booths up in a huge bouncy inflatable castle!” -Gretchen, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Set up a ride able Thomas the Train track to tour them through the exhibit hall.” -Jennifer, Staff Scientist, North America “Set up a scientific luna park.” -Haralabos, Staff Scientist, Europe Set up a virtual game that puts the”Scientist” into a role in an adventure. The Scientist, hero must work through graphically exciting challenges in order to make the big discovery. Make the keypad or game controller very simple and indestructible with a large monitor so that those standing behind the player can see also. A bowl of candy that dispenses a single treat after enough game points are earned would allow for rewards without making mommy angry. Take my expert advice - if you do a line will form. Every time I go to any electronics store I see this even among the very young and it is not gender specific although boys are typically more aggressive to get the controller.” -Anthony, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Show cartoon videos, Give away toys and candy and have clowns and jugglers.” -John, Staff Scientist, North America “Show them something about basic science they can touch. Like for example in a science museum. If you are targeting 5-year-olds, you should consider the parents. I would like to see my child being educated, not trapped by some sweet. Vendors are often too aggressive, and all the free stuff at conferences is nice as long as you stay with bags and the like, but USB sticks, computer mice, visits in restaurants or worse GOLF invitations are bribes, don’t belong to conferences, are immoral and usually not accepted by serious scientists.” -Verena, Post Doctoral Fellow, Europe Since children seems so heavily influenced by what they see on television, I would suggest targeting them through this medium. Let them know that their favorite television character will be at your product show (rep in a costume) to get them in the door. Then offer lots of hands- on demonstrations of the products led by the costumed rep and their “assistants”. You may also want to create”kid” versions of each product in bright colors to attract their attention.” -Caren, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “Smarties! Not the blue ones though, send kids wild!” -Macdara, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Europe Some booths have magicians present which seem to be very popular. Have a mad scientist present to do a few experiments possibly making slime, making toothpaste, etc.. would attract the under 5 years age group.” -Nathan, Staff Scientist, North America “Something in the form of a computer game.” -Athanasia, Professor/Teacher, Europe Spongebob Squarepants should be made the honorary chairman and the most uncooperative colleague of each vendor should be required to dress up in this garb. This would promote humility among the”honorees” and promote the spirit of cooperation among other colleagues so as not to get designated this role in the next exhibition.” -Randy, Staff Scientist, North America “SQUID’s.” -Photios, Principal Investigator, Europe Staff the booth with popular 5 and under”characters””Dora the Explorer” for instance would be perfect.”She” could personalize the need to explore various branches of the sciences.” -Paul, Professor/Teacher, North America “Stickers of any kind as kids love them and stick them everywhere (thus aids the advertisement).” -Elke, Staff Scientist, North America “Stuffed animals and cookies.” -Robert, Staff Scientist, North America “SuperWhy Heroes for each field of science - kids relate to these action figures.” -Mark, Principal Investigator, North America “Tables that are kid size with simple interesting things to try that change color, make noise, or otherwise interact with the child and provide something they can take home with them. A very old ( I remember putting a nickel in a machine that made dinosaurs, back of course when dinosaurs roamed the earth) yet becoming new idea is the 3D prototyping technology that allows for example, video game avatars to be rendered as a 3D object. systems are now available for less than 10K. their parents will be able to participate, too!” -Leanna, Principal Investigator, North America “Tater-tots!” -Leslie, Laboratory Technician, North America “The”5 years of age and under set” like colors, lights, and interactive experiences. While CLP makes good use of plastic blow-up toys and Invitrogen has little cow shaped stress toys, vendors should think more about interactive fun and colorful games. The liquid nitrogen vendors should do product demos with balloons and scientific equipment should be displayed with lights and colors and include a game with a prize (age appropriate) for successful completion.” -Jennifer, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “The best products which will hold the attention of the very young people are those items small enough to fit on a desk top and which are equipped with a combination of lights, sounds, prominent colors and action. Samuel P. Tucker, Ph.D.” -Samuel, Principal Investigator, North America “The character Princess Annaliese from the Barbie movie The Princess and the Pauper, because what Annaliese loves to do most is learn about Science. Way to go Barbie!” -Alison, Principal Investigator, North America “The giant microbes company!” -Angelique, Professor/Teacher, Europe The logo would be”Becoming Scientist made easy” Give the visitors a most unused paths in conducting research, and their advantages and your products relates the same.” -Srinivasan, Staff Scientist, Asia “The should create a nice lounge atmosphere for scientists of different gender to meet and discuss things beyond”your lab or mine”. This will lay the foundations for a scientific live full of opportunities in the next generation of scientists.” -Paul, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe They should have bright colorful displays and also have stuff that kids can do and see for themselves-how things work!” -Sanita, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “They should have dinosaurs (small and cute) or aquariums in the booths. That will definitely attract the attention of small kids, at the same time show them what science does, which it to understand what is unknown.” -Adolfo, Staff Scientist, Europe Things to”play” with/Live animals to pet/etc. The 5 and under crowd is highly interactive.” -Michael, Principal Investigator, North America “This age group is attracted by moving, colorful and interactive displays. I would suggest adding these types of displays at the front of their booths at an eye level to that of their clients.” -Kerry, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Tissue Culture disposables are a wonderful entree to research tools, especially for the smaller hands of our”Junior Scientists in Training (JST)”. The variety of sizes and shapes (plates, tubes and T-flasks, to mention a few) charge the imagination of even the youngest JST. It is best, however, to focus on the larger items. No tiny Eppendorf or mini cap inserts, please...they are too easily swallowed. Keep in mind that our JST tend to have a much more”out-of-the-box” approach in their explorations than do older students and scientists. For a true JST, all senses are in play, and touch is not limited to fingers alone. An attractive and accessible display of items to be manipulated, with an adjacent carpeted surface for comfortable seating, is ideal. JST will be best engaged if you include as many shapes and colors as possible, and packaging materials such as boxes and bubble wrap (or”popping” plastic, as our JST call it) are a much appreciated bonus.” -Elizabeth, Principal Investigator, North America “To attract the attention of children at that age, the presentation should be visual and flashy. One should imagine an action movie (for example, using strong color items, a lot of smoke) and other things of that sort that will get them to the booth. Once there, the demonstrators will have to be prepared to explain the scientific concepts behind the experiments (patiently and in an easy way for them to understand). Some ideas of possible experiments are: Colorful bubbling solutions ñ in their imagination possibly be the magical potions from Harry Potter but you can explain them about pH and indicators. Optical microscope with a digital display that will allow them to see some living organisms Evaporation of liquid nitrogen and dipping some polymers that go through glass transition, showing concepts of temperature of fracture Using dry ice to get object to hover and defy gravity.” -Nanthawan, Laboratory Technician, North America “To attract this class of prospective purchasers, exhibits have to have buttons to push, making something happen right then and there. there should also be either spongy or holographic advertising giveaways, & for sure, parent-friendly snacks (inc. sugar-free candy.). Neil, Staff Scientist, North America “To encourage children to enter veterinary medicine, I would invite the American Veterinarian Medical Association and PETCO to jointly build an Pet Hospital Exhibit which in essence would be a Veterinarian Educational Petting Booth with live healthy puppies and kittens, and pocket pets (like hamsters) to pat, cuddle and feed. The booth would be staffed with real veterinarians who wore lab jackets or surgical scrubs and would explain the importance of medical care for pets laced with play demonstrations using the best toys to improve the quality of the pets home environment. Promotional items would include pet toys, pet snacks, and pet grooming products.” -Sylvia, Staff Scientist, North America “To get young children interested in a science booth you would need something very flashy and colorful, so to do this I would have scientific “mascots”. Have people dress up as double-stranded DNA, microbes, even Bunson and Beaker like characters (The Muppets) along with people dressed up as fun”crazy” scientists who discuss techniques or science. Also there should be some game the little ones can play once the characters draw them in to the booth. This will allow the vendors to give each child something with their logo on since every child should win a prize.” -Nicole, Post Doctoral Fellow, North America “To increase the interest in those less than 5 I would recommend some type of stuffed toy. Most kids really love them and they are relatively inexpensive. Even a bean bag like toy would be good.” -Doug, Medical Technologist, North America “To increase traffic, there’s no better thing as a free lunch.” -Alexander, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, Europe To organize a baby-sitting club for the conference. That way I would be able to attend.” -Mario, Staff Scientist, Europe Tots like to see chemical reactions, even if they don’t know that a reaction is taking place. Changing colors or explosive change of energy e.g. heat or light.” -Timothy, Laboratory Technician, North America “TV cartoons.” -Velizar, Staff Scientist, North America “Use a laser presentation on the sealing of the conference hall an have it project (attractive) words or images. Make them curious.” -Joost, Project Manager, Europe Use bright colors along with small moving colored lights and free toys to interested tots. In addition, have a mixed staff of women who look like a cross section of the children’s mothers with the sales representative chosen by how much the tot smiles and his pupils dilate while looking at that particular woman. Watching for the tot’s pupil dilation will indicate that he is happier with that particular representative who will quite likely most resemble his mother.” -Andrew, Lab Director/Supervisor/Coordinator, North America “Use prompts as bubbles and moving toys 9trains, cars).” -Nadia, Professor/Teacher, Europe Use someone else’s children!” -C. David, Department Head, North America “Using examples of how their product fits into the”real world” scenario. Touching and handling is important to a 5 year old and younger, so making the experience one that challenges the senses (taste, touch, smell, look, and listen). When children have a change to challenge their mind with new things and to experiment themselves great success is attained. I did a show for a school where each group of kids participated in an experiment, it meant that they had a part in a REAL experiment. Their excitement and enthusiasm was apparent.” -Leslie, Laboratory Technician, North America “Vendors have to invite on exhibition scientists with their wives and children. Vendors have to develop and demonstrate practical games for youngest people, for example: amusing nuclear physics, amusing sequencing father’s and mother’s DNA, practical cloning brother or sister, or little puppy, way for transmitting gen of kindness in teachers and so on.” -Alexandr, Staff Scientist, Asia “Video and X-box 3 to be placed at several places so that attendance can relax with there wards.” -Manoj, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, Asia “Video games demonstrating use of the products.” -Amit, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “Video games.” -Brian, Principal Investigator, North America “Warm cookies and milk or”dipping dots (the space age ice cream) with a sitting area and games - you would attract both parents and children to the booth to relax.” -Colin, Staff Scientist, North America “Webkinz and/or VeggieTales giveaways!” -CL, Staff Scientist, North America “Well, try many colors, some noises, buttons to press, things moving, a little bit of food in strategic locations and a large mattress for a nap.” -Sandra Y., Application Scientist, Europe You got to have cool stuff! Toy cars with science themes, blankets with cell processes, plastic germs. Kids will only use things that are interesting to them.” -Peter, Laboratory Technician, North America “You need to attract all of their senses. Big bright colors along with some noticeable, but not too obnoxious flashing lights. And, similar to the”over 30 set,” something sweet to hand out like candy packets or cookies. Follow that up with a lot of balloons that can be tied around their wrists and a large flat screen TV with which to show a very, very animated host pitch the products to the kids!” -Edward, Graduate Student/Research Assistant, North America “You need to draw the kids to the stall so there needs to be something fun and bright, something intriguing. For example, I have helped to develop the ‘Gene Juice Bar’ which we run here in Australia at shows/fairs. The children think they can get some juice but then the people manning the display say ‘do you want to do an experiment’ and so once you’ve got them at the display you get them to extract DNA and to keep it. Even though they didn’t get any juice, the kids love it because they got to do something and see something cool. So I guess intrigue/curiosity needs to be the driving factor for a child to explore and then leave them with a ‘cool’ memory.” -Amanda, Professor/Teacher, Australasia/Pacific “You need to have something colorful, dynamic object to attract attention.” -June, Professor/Teacher, Asia “You should have hands-on activities that involve quick results, that are bright and flashy, something that a young child will remember, without shocking them of course! Try to relate the activity to the child as best you can, giving it an everyday feel, that the child could recall by association in the future.” -Sarah, Laboratory Technician, North America “ |
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