Chapter XII: Appendix: Reference Lists of Train, Truck, Trolley, and other Traveling (3)

An experienced director of exhibit trains writes: “An especially built and designed car for the purpose is well worth its additional cost. Such cars as I have seen provided by the railroads for temporary service in exhibit lines have all been old, small, and often broken-down baggage or passenger cars, in every way unsuitable for a purpose where the most extreme dimensions available still leave the exhibit and circulation space contracted. Cars should be built on the largest frames and the most extreme dimensions that the railroads, as governed by their tracks, bridges, and tunnels can handle. Windows should be set high in the car walls, giving a high source of light and maximum wall space for exhibits, and should be larger than those in the ordinary coach to secure better ventilation. The doors should be built wider than the usual car door.” The plan calls for small and compact living and office quarters at one end. The director also adds that the installation of an engine to furnish lights and power for working models is an important item of equipment. One engine is sufficient to run lights, fans, and models for several cars. In these days of portable electrical outfits, this item is practicable and fairly inexpensive.

TRAVELING ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STAFF MEMBERS

The kind of living arrangements provided for the lecturers and assistants will depend, to some extent, upon the frequency of the stops and the number of persons traveling with the train. Several of the more elaborately equipped trains have carried a Pullman sleeping coach and a diner for the staff members. If there are frequent stops, it would seem that at least sleeping quarters on the train are necessary. Meals are sometimes arranged for at stopping places, and in this case the advance agent is responsible for seeing that good meals are assured. When stops of a full day or more are made, the staff members sometimes find rooms and meals in hotels en route. Whatever the arrangements, as is stated elsewhere, they should insure the greatest possible degree of comfort to the staff, in order to offset the severe strain that this kind of campaigning inevitably involves.

TREATMENT OF CAR INTERIORS

The two chief difficulties with exhibits on trains are keeping them clean and so securing them in place as to withstand the jarring motion. Washable surfaces on floors, shelves, and walls are essential. Exhibits should be either of the kind that are easily kept clean or else placed under cover or frequently replaced. No decorations such as draped bunting, which collects and holds dust, should be used. Clusters of small flags hung straight from chandeliers are attractive and non-dust collecting decorations. Small objects should be either securely fastened to shelves or packed away while the train is in motion.

A section of a Liberty Loan War Relic Train. Canvas covers can be thrown over the framework to protect the exhibit from the rain. This framework also provides a support for arc lights, so that the exhibit can be displayed at night.]

EXHIBITS

Having selected the subject matter, you have a choice of presenting it through exhibits, demonstrations, talks, or all three.

For still exhibits the use of models, objects, cartoons, posters, transparencies for the windows, and brief slogans or statements on placards have been found most suitable. As is brought out in a later section under methods of display, the dimensions of a car place severe limitations on the forms that may be used to advantage, and the same principle applies to the selection of these as to the content of a train exhibit.

Just as there should be few ideas so there should not be too many sizes, shapes, and forms of exhibits which confuse the eye in the way that variety of topics confuses the mind.

Because of the necessity of moving people through the cars rapidly enough to make way for others to follow, it is essential that whatever is displayed may be quickly seen and understood. This limitation rules out many forms that might be shown satisfactorily in halls. Anything that is expressed chiefly by words may better be left to speakers and printed matter for distribution as there is not time to read words and figures and, indeed, visitors have little inclination to do so. Diagrams, particularly those presenting detailed facts, also call for close examination and delay the progress of visitors. One train exhibitor of experience says: “One of the greatest dangers to be avoided is an excess of charts and small type. The exhibit should be such that the crowds can be kept moving through the car and, nevertheless, be able to seize the principal points intended to be taught.”

A description of a part of a single health car in one report includes “75 wall charts illustrating the cost in human lives of tuberculosis, typhoid fever, and diarrhea. Each series of charts has grouped about it from two to twelve models. Several hundred photographs show occupational conditions favorable to tuberculosis.” Such a collection as this is suited only to intensive study and not at all to a popular traveling exhibit.

Methods used to attract attention to one thing should not distract attention from other things. For example, in a certain health car a bell struck every three minutes tolling the one hundred and seventy-five thousand deaths annually from tuberculosis. This is a striking and effective way of making people heed a startling fact, but unfortunately every time the bell rang in so small a space as the car it interfered with the study of other features being presented.

There is little opportunity to get attention for detailed or complex displays, no matter how attractive and interesting they may be. The following is taken from a description of a mechanical device shown on a train through which visitors were always moving rapidly because there was a long waiting line: “A model block-signal system about 25 feet in length, illustrating the protection provided by a clock-signal system was in full operation. This model had two sidings and was designed particularly to show single-track operation. Intermediate signals were shown between the clock signals by means of lights.” The information that this model conveyed illustrates very well the kind that is too complicated to be understood without a careful examination and some explanation by an attendant.

You must, therefore, in planning the form as in planning the content of your exhibit, keep your eye steadily on the picture of the Smiths and Browns at the train as it stands on the side track in Jonesville with many people moving through the cars. You can test the practicability of your devices and other displays by asking yourself these questions concerning the probable reaction of Brown and Smith:

Will it attract their attention?

Will it arouse their interest?

Will they remember it?

Will it bring a response from them?

These are generally recognized aims of advertising, and they apply equally to exhibits which are, after all, a form of advertising.

USE OF THE SPACE FOR DISPLAY

For displaying exhibits to moving audiences, the use of the space should be so planned that it is easy to keep visitors moving in a given direction and at the same time make it possible for them to grasp quickly the meaning of what they see.

The majority of those who have reported on their experience with trains agree that it is very important that visitors should move in a single direction. This is beyond question desirable unless small audiences are expected; but as is stated elsewhere, capacity audiences are the aim of most enterprises.

Having agreed on a one-way movement, there is, however, still considerable disagreement as to the best arrangement of material--whether on two sides of the center aisle, or along the center of the car with an aisle on either side, or finally, with exhibits displayed on one side only with a single aisle.

An example of the display of exhibits on both sides of a center aisle. If there are many visitors going through the car at one time, they must move slowly along the narrow aisle, looking alternately at an exhibit on one topic on the right, and one on another topic on the left. Both physically and mentally this method of viewing exhibits is likely to be tiring. One would expect the average visitor to carry away a confused impression of the facts and ideas presented.]

A car interior on the Pennsylvania Food Conservation Train designed to overcome as many as possible of the difficulties in train exhibiting.

The curved space, too high to attract attention easily, is used for a symbolic frieze in colors, the design, in three parts, being repeated five times and running the length of the car. The same space was used less successfully, as shown in the cut opposite page 70, for reading matter which was read only when the explainer called attention to it. The framed captions and the pictures below them are approximately at eye-level. Variety combined with a symmetrical arrangement is obtained by placing a large poster over every fourth window, while the transparencies on the remaining windows allow plenty of light to enter.

Exhibits are displayed on one side of the car only. An economical use of the 9-foot width of the car is obtained as follows:

Raised platform for the explainer, 20 inches wide.

Counter, 28 inches wide.

Aisle for visitors, 4.5 feet wide.

The use of vertical space is also carefully planned and is roughly:

Counter height, 40 inches.

Upright board at back of counter, 11 inches high.

Combined height of pictures and captions, 36 inches, with lower edge about 48 inches from the floor.]

The first method, that of displaying exhibits on two sides of the center aisle, makes the progress of the visitor very slow and awkward, for he must continually turn from one side to the other as he goes unless, of course, he violates the rule of moving in one direction only and in so doing comes back along the same aisle. Not only is it awkward to turn continually from side to side in viewing exhibits but it is difficult to arrange material so that the visitor can in this way follow an idea logically. His attention is alternately given to the topics on one side and the other, unless by some elaborate system of arrangement the story moves from one side to the other. Another difficulty is that the explainer has no place to stand except in the aisle, holding back the visitors. The very narrow middle aisle left by counters or tables on two sides is still another disadvantage. Moreover, favored with space at the expense of visitors, the exhibits are less likely to be seen and their value is thus lowered.

Displays along the center of the car with an aisle on each side might be satisfactory in some cases, especially if all the material is in the form of models or objects and there is no need to use the walls. This method allows for the movement of visitors in single file down one aisle and back the other, or for two parallel lines to move in a single direction on both sides of the display. Some who have tried this method found that visitors did not look at the walls but gave their whole attention to the center of the car.

Exhibits in the center of the car with a narrow aisle on each side. See page 86. The objects on the floor obstructing the aisle were probably placed in the aisle only for photographing.

Jars of fruits and vegetables are attractively displayed at the right height, and with light shining through to bring out color and clearness. There is a welcome lack of crowding, and desirable simplicity in the car as a whole.]

The third method, that of placing exhibits on one side only, seems to have been found the most satisfactory. In this way both wall and floor space on one side may be used to their full advantage, while the visitors looking in a single direction move fairly rapidly. A space may be left for the explainer between the wall and the counter, as shown in the picture opposite page 85. Also, she may move the length of the car and back without difficulty, having the counter between her and visitors.

Simple and attractive arrangement of exhibits on the Wisconsin Pure Seed and Home Power Special. The exhibitors showed unusually good judgment in their use of wall space. The information given is brief, to the point, easily read, and well displayed. The disadvantages of displaying the exhibits on both sides of the narrow center aisle, discussed on page 84, are illustrated here.]

PLACING EXHIBITS

The first consideration in placing exhibits is that they shall be at the right height. The best space on walls is that on a level with the eye. The eye will travel up and down in following a display that has caught the visitor’s attention, but isolated placards, pictures, or objects placed too high or too low to be within easy range have small chance of being observed.

The wall spaces of a car are considerably broken, as may be observed in the photographs. The curved space is excellent for decoration or for brief slogans, but should not be depended upon for anything requiring detailed examination. The upper part of the window space is usually most nearly at eye level, but windows are needed for light and it is wise not to cover with displays that shut out the light more than a half or a third of those on one side and none at all on the other. One needs to reckon with the possibility of trains often being placed close to the exhibit cars, or the cars being placed beside buildings that cut off the light entirely on one side. Probably the best use of windows is for cartoons or posters made on transparent paper or cloth, or on the familiar glass transparencies. The space below the windows is too low for wall displays. The illustration of the Pennsylvania Food Conservation Train opposite page 85 shows a good use of windows and wall space. Another photograph opposite page 87 also shows an interesting use of space.

The counters, shelves, or tables should be so built as to bring the objects on them as nearly as possible on a level with the eye, at the same time without cutting off the view of wall exhibits. The height and dimensions of the counters shown opposite page 85 were worked out carefully to meet this condition.

It is always a good thing to have a railing separate visitors from the exhibits as more people can see them if all are held back from pressing too closely.

Another important consideration in placing exhibits is that they should not be crowded. When objects or placards crowd one another it becomes impossible to look at one thing without having others in the margin of vision interfere with concentrated attention. The first impression of a crowded car is one of bewilderment. The visitor is obliged not only to grasp new ideas and facts presented in an unfamiliar form, but to select among a large number those of special interest to him.

ARRANGEMENT OF SUBJECT MATTER

Because of the small space and necessarily quick movements of visitors, it is especially important that exhibits should be arranged in some logical sequence. Visitors are sometimes called upon to perform amazing feats in mental acrobatics, leaping from one topic to another with breathless speed. For example, in the exhibit pictured opposite page 84, we see a poster about baby deaths resting on a model of a school building with a placard nearby urging the use of schools as community centers. Across the narrow aisle is a model obviously unrelated either to community centers or baby deaths. The sequence of ideas should be such that each new thought is made easier to understand and more interesting because of what went before it, or each separate exhibit should be clearly related to one central idea. Thus, in the first exhibit of the Pennsylvania Food Conservation Train the series of topics was developed as follows:

Why we must save
Small savings
Saving wheat
Saving sugar
Saving fats
Using all the milk
Using home products.

Not only the sequence of ideas but the separation between two topics is important. This can be accomplished by a visible separation, allowing a distance of at least six inches between exhibits relating to different topics; better still, by putting up actual barriers between the exhibits, as is done in the exhibit opposite page 70. The barrier has the advantage of holding the eye at one spot, so that there is no temptation to desert one exhibit for the lure of a bright color or a curious device farther on.

Another consideration in arranging material is that groups relating to one subject should be so placed that their relation to one another and to the whole be quickly recognized. Sometimes exhibits that belong together are separated because variety of size and shape makes it inconvenient to work out a suitable arrangement. It is worth while to plan carefully in advance the kinds of exhibit material that will harmoniously illustrate a given topic; also to have the sizes and shapes conform to the dimensions of the space reserved for them.

SOME OBSERVATIONS FROM PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE

In a letter describing the exhibit car of the Canadian Forestry Association, Mr. J. R. Dickson, who was in charge of the car, makes some interesting observations regarding the arrangement of exhibits based on his experiences. He writes in part as follows:

The people, especially at crowded hours, all tend to travel through an exhibit car in one direction and this is very desirable inasmuch as the man in charge of the car can regularly escort through it group after group of eager sightseers or inquirers after knowledge and keep up a cross between a lecture and a conversation with them, answering their questions and drawing their attention to all the pertinent points in the exhibit which they might otherwise overlook.

To accomplish this plan of car lecturing most effectually, the entire exhibit should be arranged so far as possible in a natural sequence, beginning at one end of the car and ending at the other. This of course is where a single aisle is provided down one side of the car. Such a scheme makes one’s talk logical and so helps to impress the lessons of the exhibit in such a way that they are remembered easily and intelligently....

On entering the car the first object to attract the visitor’s eye was a large map of Canada, showing the forestry belt of 400,000,000 acres, over 90 per cent of this timber land being publicly owned. When told that each citizen of Canada, man, woman and child, owned on the average fifty acres of this national resource, the imagination and the pocket-nerve of the visitor were at once stimulated and he or she was thereafter taking a personal interest in the whole exhibit.

The visitor next turned to a nursery of small pine and spruce illustrating the essential beginning of all our forest wealth and also suggesting the basic importance of land classification in order that every acre may be put to its best use. Then our modern methods of protecting both such young growth and the resulting mature timber were examined and explained, and the great need for good laws and the generous expenditure of public money in order to safeguard their forests, was readily seen and agreed to....

Before leaving, the visitor ... was handed a copy of the last Canadian Forestry Association Journal, and given a brief description of the nation-building work of this society, together with an addressed card inviting him to join.

Finally he inspected a cabinet filled with highly finished samples of Canadian woods, and the last thing his eye rested upon and which impressed itself on his memory as he left the car, was this bold fire warning: “A tree will make a million matches; a match will burn a million trees.”

ARRANGEMENT OF CAR FOR DEMONSTRATIONS

When an audience is to be gathered in a car to witness a demonstration or hear an illustrated talk, the first requirement is that the speaker can be easily heard and each process plainly seen by everyone in the car. The second is that the audience shall be comfortably seated if the demonstration is to last longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. This is about the limit of time that an audience will stand without becoming restless. The illustration on the opposite page shows an interior especially constructed for cooking demonstrations, or rather for brief object lessons, as a feature of the Pennsylvania Food Conservation Train. The demonstrator stands on a platform raised a foot higher than the floor. A counter extending the length of the car curves out at the center to leave a space for the platform and small kitchen. The maximum space for a standing audience is provided, and all are within easy range of the speaker’s voice and near enough to see the objects in her hand. The space below the counter is lined with cupboards. A similar arrangement might be suitable for any demonstration or illustrated talk in which few objects are used, provided the counter is raised high enough to show the entire process. If the extension of the counter along the sides were left out the space could be used to seat an audience around a raised central platform.

A demonstration kitchen, Pennsylvania Food Conservation Train, with a raised platform for the demonstrator. The extension of the counter at either side of the kitchen provides exhibit space. Discussion on page 92.]

FOOTNOTES:

[7] See illustrations opposite pages 70, 85, and 92.

VIII

THE TOUR OF THE TRUCK OR TRAIN

Many factors enter into the planning of an itinerary, a time schedule, and the managing of audiences. What places to visit; whether within a given period of time allotted to the whole tour it is better to make a number of short stops at many places, or long stops at fewer places; whether a large or small audience of a particular kind is desired; whether visitors at train or truck should be encouraged to stay as long as they will or to remain only through a definite prearranged program, and then to move on in order to make room for others. All these questions must be answered before the tour begins, or better, after a brief trial trip. In some instances, special circumstances will exist that leave no room for choice in such a matter as, for example, the number of stops to be made. But ordinarily there are many decisions to make and they should be made in relation to the definite purpose of the tour. Perhaps the whole series of difficulties that arise may be summed up in two words--“don’t crowd.” As has already been suggested, the purpose itself should be simple and limited, not crowded with the attempt to achieve the impossible, so that there is no room for the definite immediate purpose to stand out boldly where it can be seen. Don’t attempt to crowd into this brief tour the information or activities that belongs in the follow-up program. The same advice extends down to the handling of audiences and every other feature.

THE PLACES TO BE VISITED

In considering the type of places to be visited, the two main considerations are the size of the place and whether it contains the kinds of people who may be expected to take an interest in the subject matter. Many of those who have conducted trains report that they create more interest in communities of ten thousand or less than in larger places. The larger the town the more varied and numerous are the rival attractions. In the cities the train yards are often busier than elsewhere and, therefore, the noise and confusion as well as the difficulty of handling crowds at the train is greater unless the train be stationed away from the busy yards.

The towns should be selected with reference to the relation of the community to the subject matter. To take an obvious example, it would hardly be appropriate to send an agricultural train into a mining town. The whole plan of campaign may have been made in relation to one type of population, either rural or industrial, and it is rather a waste of time to try to make it serve a population of a kind that it has not been prepared for.

In planning the itinerary of a tour that must be completed in a given length of time, it is usually necessary to decide between the importance of visiting a small number of towns and of making a long stop in each, or of visiting a larger number for fewer hours or days. Some trains have made from five to ten stops in a day, while others have spent from several days to a week in one place. A day to a town, however, seems to be the more general rule.

A stop may be limited to an hour or so because it is thought more important to cover a given amount of territory within certain time limits than it is to stay long enough in a place to reach a large share of the population or give much information. Or the purpose of the tour may be accomplished by presenting to an audience, all of whose members arrive at the same time, a single program lasting an hour and dealing with easily understood facts or ideas. The Liberty Loan trains furnish good illustrations of a purpose of this sort. If your campaigners are not in a hurry to get over the ground by a certain date they will probably find it more satisfactory to spend a full day and sometimes longer with the people of each community visited. The program may then be repeated for a number of audiences and the traveling specialists will have an opportunity to promote closer relationships with local leaders. However, conditions that govern a decision regarding the length of time to spend at a place differ so widely for individual enterprises that general suggestions have not much value.

The stops of a truck tour are more easily arranged than those of a train since the latter is dependent upon the convenience of the railroad. One gain through this greater flexibility is the possibility of return visits to the same place. In this way the truck helps in its own advance publicity work by making a brief stay which attracts attention and spreads the news of its return for a longer stay a little later. In its work in the congested districts of the city, the Cleveland Children’s Year Special followed what its director called a “skip stop” system, visiting a neighborhood long enough to leave a number of people sufficiently well informed to talk about it, and coming back two or three days later to find an appreciative audience ready for the program.

RECEIVING THE VISITORS[8]

Visitors are the real reason for the enterprise which is undertaken solely for their instruction or benefit if results are hoped for, and they should not be forgotten at any stage of the planning. We have already considered them in the choice of subject matter, the form and quantity of the material, and its arrangement. Now, having equipment and plans ready, what shall be done with the visitors when they arrive at the train?

Obviously, their comfort and convenience should be prepared for and every possible help provided for them to understand and enjoy what is displayed. Plans for doing these things should be based on the expectation of as large an attendance as can be handled satisfactorily, and even on some overcrowding, unless small groups are deliberately sought.

As is explained in the section on advance work, local committees should be appointed whose members will co-operate with the regular staff of the train.

A reception committee may welcome special delegations and introduce them to the members of the train staff. If there is a formal program, local leaders are usually asked to take part in it, and as it is important in relation to the follow-up work that they have the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the subject matter and the methods demonstrated on the train, their presence throughout the day should be secured by advance arrangements. An added value in having them at the train is that in the eyes of visitors they will become identified with the movement and thus be in a better position to lead in the local follow-up work.

Helpers are needed to look after the safety of the visitors, to form any waiting crowds into lines, direct people to the entrance, keep them moving in a single direction, prevent unnecessary congestion at any given point, and note questions and suggestions that should be passed on to members of the staff. If local volunteers are well prepared to perform these services the saving of strain on the hard-worked staff will be very great.

THE RATE OF PROGRESS IN EXHIBIT CARS

Reports show that managers of trains have been satisfied with both extremes in the rate of progress of visitors in moving through the train. One train director reported with pride that by his system he was able to “run 5,000 through in an hour.” At the other extreme are the directors who during their stay in a town give a single demonstration in a car that holds only about one hundred people.

The method of “running people through” very rapidly is useful only if the exhibits are simply curiosities or objects of interest that may be quickly noted, and that we may risk having soon forgotten without loss to the cause that is being served. For example, the Liberty Loan trains depended chiefly on their program of talks, music, and the appearance of the returned soldiers to arouse interest. The large guns displayed on flat cars were visible while the talking was going on. It did not particularly matter after that whether visitors were passed through the trophy car so rapidly that they had only a glimpse of the various objects.

On the other hand, the attendance in one place of so small a number as one hundred would hardly justify the work of planning and carrying out a tour unless either the small group are carefully selected as leaders capable of passing on the information to others, or the community is so small that this number is as many as might be expected. It ought to be possible to estimate in advance, or at least after the first week of the tour, the length of time required for the average person to see all that is important for him to see and understand. With this period in mind it is possible to estimate the number of people who can be handled in a given length of time. For example, we may assume the following conditions:

A train of three cars.

Number that can be accommodated comfortably in each car at one time, 60.

Twenty minutes, required time to see the exhibits or hear and see demonstrations in each car, or one hour for the train.

Train on view six hours.

Maximum attendance practicable during the stop, 1,080 people.

The attendance is, of course, never distributed so evenly as this over the day, and all the visitors do not stay exactly the same length of time. Probably with a fairly even distribution a train with a maximum capacity of one thousand will handle satisfactorily about eight hundred people. An estimate of the rate at which visitors may be passed along will be found exceedingly useful in deciding many questions, such as the arrangement and content of the exhibits, the length of time to continue a demonstration, the number of times to repeat it, the length of the stay, and the quota of attendance to work for in the advance publicity.

For example, would you rather have fewer people and have those who come stay longer, or would you prefer having a larger attendance with those who compose it spending less time with you? The selection of exhibits and the program should be arranged according to your decision on these points. If you are giving a few people detailed information which it would serve your purpose better to give to a larger number, you are throwing away your opportunity for want of a little careful calculation. The mistake most frequently made is to plan exhibits and programs on the expectation of having each visitor spend a long time at the train carefully examining each display, and then when the people arrive, to pass crowds through quickly without giving them a chance to see what has been prepared for them.

DISTRIBUTING THE ATTENDANCE

Apparently not many of those who have conducted trains have attempted through their advance work to prepare for arbitrary distribution of attendance over the entire period that the exhibit is open. The period from two to five o’clock in the afternoon seems to have been found the most popular by the largest number of those reporting on attendance, with some falling off reported after four o’clock. The period before ten in the morning is agreed upon unanimously as the poorest time to get people out. The experiences reported as to the hourly attendance between ten and four o’clock varies so widely that it would seem to indicate that under the right conditions it should be possible to get people to come throughout this period.

Good advance work can fill up many idle hours. A description of methods of advance work to accomplish this is contained in another chapter, but while we are considering the visitors it may be well to look over the groups that could most easily come at the least attractive hours. On a number of trains arrangements were made to have school children attend with their teachers according to a prearranged schedule, usually during the morning hours. This is an especially good plan when the train is on view all day, because the children tell their experiences when they go home at noon and thus help to get their parents to attend in the afternoon. If there are a larger number of school children than can be handled conveniently it is a good idea to limit attendance to the older children, basing the lower age limit on the estimated number of children that can be accommodated. If they do not fill up the train completely during the morning, it is possible to arrange for the attendance of delegations of leading citizens and other representative groups who come in a body to welcome the train when it is opened to the public, or to be personally escorted through it at a given time. This, of course, has news value as well as the advantage of using the morning hours. The Safety First Train of the government at each stop arranged to have such a morning delegation.

In some places the noon hour may be used for the attendance of factory workers and other employed people who are not far from the train. This is successful if advance preparations are made and if the subject matter is of interest to the workers. It is often possible to adapt the program and some part of the displays to their interests. Using the noon hour depends, of course, on having a large enough staff to allow each member an hour for lunch. The period from five to eight o’clock in the afternoon is probably of the least value. Usually the staff members themselves need relaxation during this time if there is to be an evening session.[9] If there is no session the train may pull out late in the afternoon. If, however, it is desirable to make use of this period, it may be possible to arrange for personal conferences or group conferences at the train or in town with persons especially interested in the subject who wish to have information that is not of interest to the general public or to talk over plans for the future.

Reports as to the success of evening sessions vary greatly. Many have used the evening successfully for outdoor motion pictures or for meetings in town. The fact that many who could not leave their work during the day can come then seems to argue that it is possible to have a good attendance if the advance work has been thorough--provided also that the location of the car or train is satisfactory and that the time schedule will permit.

EXPLAINING THE EXHIBITS

While the exhibits should be so simple and well arranged as to be easily understood, any exhibit of objects, pictures, and printed words is more enjoyed and appreciated if it is brought to life by a personal interpretation given with enthusiasm. The explainer calls attention to what is displayed much as a chairman introduces a speaker. A good introduction makes the audience more friendly and responsive to either a speaker or an exhibit. The explainer who travels the length of the car with one group can take care of only a few people at a time, and if there is a continuous movement of people through the car only about one-third of them have the advantage of the explanation. If, on the outside or in another car, a lecture or demonstration precedes the reviewing of exhibits, the speaker may close the talk with an explanation of the purpose and character of the exhibits and some suggestions as to what to look for. With this preparation people may pass through the car unattended and perhaps meet an explainer at the far end who will answer questions and give out literature together with an invitation to take part in the follow-up program. Or the explainer may meet people as they enter the car and give a brief introduction to the exhibits.

Local people, with general information on the subject, can give valuable help in explaining points about particular exhibits which have to be repeated many times. These helpers should receive advance material and in addition should come to the train for coaching before it opens and be stationed at assigned positions.

Staff members who are continually meeting people, work under considerable strain and may easily become tired or indifferent through over-work. So much depends on their enthusiasm and their readiness to offer help that this factor should be carefully checked up, and if any member of the staff shows signs of losing interest or failing to get a response he should be replaced or at least given a period of rest. By relieving staff members of irksome details and by providing in other ways for their comfort, as well as by arranging the schedule of hours so that they do not work beyond their strength in any one period, much can be done to avoid this loss of freshness and enthusiasm.

FOOTNOTES:

[8] The discussion in this section is handled in terms of trains for the sake of clearness and convenience, but generally the application is to single cars as well as to trains, and to automobiles or motor trucks or caravans of the same. The paragraphs not applicable to trucks are fairly obvious. However, it is urged that maximum results from a truck tour call for much the same carefully detailed preparation and management as a tour with a train.

[9] This fact, further discussed on p. 105, deserves considerable emphasis.

IX

FOLLOW-UP WORK

In a previous chapter it was pointed out that the purpose of a tour may be to give information, to create interest in a new movement that is being launched, to revive interest that has become dull, or to serve as an attention-arresting feature of an intensive campaign that aims to produce some immediate results. All of these aims point to the need of planning definite follow-up work. It will not do to let people forget what they have learned or lose interest in it through neglect. If the tour means simply that ideas or facts are dropped down into each community, like seeds scattered by the winds without provision for later cultivating, they have a smaller chance to take root and grow.

Psychology has demonstrated that there is a “curve of forgetting.” Hollingworth described it as follows:

When a given appeal is addressed to me, I straightway proceed to forget it. But I do not forget it at a uniform rate, so much being forgotten on each succeeding day until all is forgotten. Instead, I forget the material that has been seen or learned, according to a definite “curve of forgetting,” a curve which descends rapidly at first and then more slowly. The larger proportion of material is forgotten in the first day or so. After that a constantly decreasing amount is forgotten on each succeeding day.[10]

How may the impression made by the program and exhibits of the train be fixed in the minds of its visitors promptly, so that forgetting may be delayed until results are obtained? Several simple methods suggest themselves. We will take up here mainly those things that can be done while the train is in town or soon after its departure, as we are concerned only with the part that the train tour plays in the whole program of the organization that sends it out.

GETTING THE SUBJECT TALKED ABOUT

If the visitors talk about what they saw and heard they are likely to remember it much longer and more accurately than if they do not. The principles discussed elsewhere, of simplicity of form, concentration on one main topic, orderly arrangement, and lack of crowding in both exhibits and programs, have a definite application to getting the subject talked about. People speak vaguely and in general terms about what they have not clearly understood. We may imagine that A, who saw the train, meets B, who did not, and the following conversation takes place:

A: Did you see the health train yesterday?

B: No, how was it?

A: Oh, fine! great! You certainly missed it. There was a good crowd out, too.

B: What was it all about?

A: Oh, fresh air and not letting the babies die. You’d be surprised how many people die that could be prevented. And they say the town ought to have a nurse to look after the school children, and a hospital for--let’s see, I’ve forgotten now about the hospital.

B: I see. Just a scheme of the politicians to make jobs for a lot of people. I always thought this was a pretty healthy town and I do yet.

A: No, you’ve got it wrong, B, but I can’t make it clear to you. I can’t talk like the fellow at the train. You ought to have heard him. He made a great speech.

If A has no clearer idea than this to pass on to B the next day, he himself is not likely to stay interested and, much less, convinced for very long. One of the best tests of the argument presented at the train is whether the talk about it afterward is general or particular, confused or clear and accurate in repeating facts and reasons. It is worth while to arrange with local co-operators as a part of the follow-up work to sound people as to what interested them and what they think of the suggestions that were made. Many changes, sometimes small ones, but important, nevertheless, can be made on the basis of criticisms brought out in these interviews.

PRINTED MATTER FOR DISTRIBUTION

Another way of helping to see that the train message is remembered is by distributing the right kind of printed matter. Every traveling campaign carries with it leaflets or pamphlets for visitors to take home. Sometimes a handful of assorted pieces of printed matter is given to each visitor with a reckless disregard of their appropriateness to the purpose of the campaign or the probability of their being read. One of the most frequent blunders made by managers of campaigns of this sort is to assume that all that is learned at the exhibit or meeting will be remembered, and that the printed matter should give additional information. In a baby saving campaign, a health department is likely to give out in addition to printed matter about babies, other leaflets on hookworm or tuberculosis. Giving away printed matter on topics in which no interest has been cultivated is wasteful since it is not likely to be read or, if read, distracts attention from the main topic.

In most cases, one piece of carefully prepared printed matter on one subject is enough for general distribution. A useful leaflet might well include a summary of the main arguments of the teachings contained in the exhibits, together with sketches or photographs and a clear and appealing statement of the action desired, whether it is support of a bill in the legislature, membership in an organization, or the forming of health habits. This leaflet should not fail to give information as to how and where further facts may be obtained. If it seems desirable to interest people in a number of additional subjects, the better way is to have leaflets on them displayed where they can be examined and to have a supply of addressed postcards listing these special publications and on which visitors may check those they wish to have sent to them.

PUBLICITY FOLLOWING THE TRAIN’S STOP

There should be a readable account of the train in the first issue of the local paper following its visit. Those who visited it will like to read the account of what they saw and in doing so will be reminded of a number of features of the exhibits and talks that were rapidly slipping from their memories. The train director would do well to see that the local paper receives as good copy for this follow-up story as for advance publicity. The people who came and what they said about it adds to the news value of the story.

Other forms of publicity may be used to advantage immediately following the visit of the train, such as a series of special articles appearing weekly in the local paper, printed matter mailed to a list of people obtained at the train, or a motion picture shown in the local picture theater, at a meeting or a contest that may reach its climax at some later event, such as the county or state fair.

ORGANIZATION OF LOCAL FORCES

Leading men and women to take some action as the result of interest aroused at the train is the surest way to get the message remembered and is the aim of most educational campaigns. This action may be something very simple and concrete, or it may be the entering wedge of some continuous activity. One of the simplest steps, which has already been referred to, is the writing of local people to headquarters for information or for literature. This serves the purpose also of renewing interest when the material sent for arrives and it helps the central organization to make up mailing lists. Local organizations should be encouraged to send for reference material to use in talks and discussions.

Launching or boosting a permanent movement at a meeting held during the train visit is one good way of starting follow-up work. Many an effort that promised much because of local enthusiasm at the start has died a natural death, because after the specialists from the state or national headquarters have departed, local leaders find themselves without any clear-cut program to begin work on or any recognized leadership. An informal meeting of the train staff and local leaders at which temporary committees are formed and definite plans discussed may be one of the most useful features of the train program. It has been suggested elsewhere that the hour of the day least popular with visitors may be a good time for such a meeting. A still better method is an early visit after the departure of the train, of an organizer or consultant who will advise about plans.

An interesting report of the follow-up organization work carried on in connection with its health car, comes from the West Virginia Public Health Council:

Wherever possible a temporary committee was formed before leaving the community, this committee being chosen by a group of representative people in a community meeting in the interests of health education at which time child welfare work was emphasized. At this meeting we made an effort to secure the attendance of medical, dental, and nursing professions, of the mayor and town council, school board, and school superintendent and teachers, ministers and Sunday school superintendents, fraternal organizations, women’s clubs, Red Cross, and any other organizations directly or indirectly interested in community welfare work. The temporary committee was appointed to secure a permanent organization based upon the interest and enthusiasm already created, this permanent committee to undertake a definite health program for the community. In addition to this we are keeping in touch with the various communities visited, by frequent correspondence, and the director of the Division of Child Hygiene has already returned to a number of the communities to help in the making of plans, to stimulate interest and enthusiasm, and in every way possible to promote health education and public health nursing. We are now formulating county-wide and state-wide plans for the furtherance of this work through co-operation with the Extension Division of the Agricultural Department of the State University and American Red Cross.

An incidental but important factor in promoting continuous follow-up work is that local representatives of the movement, especially the salaried worker, if there is one, should take an active part in the program of the train, so as to become identified with the impressions and ideas gained here in the minds of the people who visited the train.

CHECKING UP RESULTS

As bearing upon the question of any future use of a similar method of campaigning, “checking up” results is good, although it may not always be easy or bring entirely conclusive evidence. The method described in the account of the Cleveland Children’s Year Special, which is a dispensary truck, is suggestive. Cards of invitation to visit the local dispensary were given out at the truck and the number that were turned into the dispensary was noted by the nurses. Nurses also asked new visitors during the following month where they had learned of the dispensary, and recorded it when the visit was directly or indirectly a result of the Special.

Reports may be requested from local editors, school superintendents, and others who meet many people, regarding the responsiveness of the people to ideas promulgated at the train. The number and the nature of inquiries received at headquarters from places that have been visited may also serve as an indication of the effectiveness with which the message has been presented.

Finally on the matter of follow-up work, one of the chief criticisms that may be made of much educational publicity is that it is spasmodic and unrelated. This is often due to the fact that the planning of follow-up work is left until the campaign is at its height or until it is over. By that time the workers at headquarters and in the field are too absorbed in the detail of running the affair, or a new project is under way. All the resources and energy have gone into running the campaign and none is left for securing results. In the advance planning of the whole campaign, allowance should be made in the budget for a definite program of follow-up work as well as in the time of staff members needed to carry it out.

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Hollingworth, H. L.: Advertising and Selling, New York, D. Appleton & Co.