“The only good bug is a dead bug.”

To change this all-too-common way of thinking and increase public awareness of how important insects are in our daily lives, the Entomological Society of America (ESA) added a new twist to a regional meeting.

During the photography workshop, six speakers discussed specialized areas of nature photography, including camera capabilities and close-up techniques.

Next, Kathy Wildman, who designed a butterfly garden for AmeriFlora ’92 in Columbus, Ohio, gave tips on using plants as food sources and hosts to attract butterflies.

The slide show featured winners of a Photographic Society of America juried insect photography contest.

Dr. Lincoln Brower, a world authority on the monarch butterfly, discussed these beautiful insects’ migration and the effects of deforestation and development on their overwintering sites.

This first attempt to lure “the public” to an ESA regional meeting drew nearly 500 people.

Haven Miller, electronic media specialist, and I developed a promotional plan for the meeting. We emphasized the “public events,” and used a mix of external and internal vehicles to deliver our messages. Externally, we used news releases, newsletters, radio tapes, the College of Agriculture’s public gopher and closed-caption electronic delivery system, flyers, and word of mouth. Internally, we employed the College of Agriculture’s electronic mail system and internal gopher, flyers, and word of mouth.

I wrote four news releases for a weekly News Service that goes to about 500 print and electronic media. The releases also are posted on the College of Agriculture’s public gopher and its closed-caption electronic delivery system.

Two metropolitan dailies published news stories about the ESA “public events.” The Herald-Leader in Lexington carried advance and follow-up articles in a tabloid-size insert. The Courier-Journal in Louisville published an article on the front of its gardening section.

Since we have no clipping service, I don’t know how extensively the releases were used in other newspapers.

I also wrote a synopsis of the public events for newsletters. It generated stories in 4-H, Extension horticultural, nature sanctuary, and photographic society newsletters.

Haven wrote a broadcast-style release for area radio and tv stations and a statewide radio network; suggested “visual” portions of the meeting; listed contact people to interview; and made media calls to area electronic media.

We received excellent coverage on radio gardening shows in Louisville and Lexington. The University of Kentucky public radio and a Lexington AM station also carried news stories. However, we were disappointed in the television coverage. To our knowledge, no station carried news stories. One Lexington station sent a cameraman to the butterfly gardening program; but he couldn’t get useable footage because the speaker was already showing slides.

In hindsight, I should have learned more about each program format and notified tv stations so they could plan coverage accordingly.

It is also possible that assignment editors thought the meeting was unsuitable for television because the programs did not have “highly visual” content. Perhaps editors thought coverage would require too much time and effort for the end result.

In other external promotions, university entomologists posted flyers at an arboretum, a nature sanctuary, photography, nature and garden supply stores, and buildings on campus. They also sent flyers to biology departments at regional colleges and universities.

Word-of-mouth was a valuable promotional tool within the university and gardening and photography groups. We worked with state 4-H specialists to share the value of these programs with 4-H members and county Extension agents for 4-H/Youth Development. Communications within gardening and photography groups also attracted many people to the “public events.”

Internally, we put flyers in university buildings and posted a synopsis of the “public events” on the College of Agriculture’s electronic mail system. Every state Extension specialist and county Extension office can access this E-mail system.

To find out how many people attended each “public event,” and their sources of information, I distributed a survey at each session.

Dr. Brower’s monarch butterfly program was the most popular event, drawing 170 people. The butterfly gardening program was a close second with 155 people; followed by the insect photography workshop, 81 people; and the photo contest slide show, 60 people.

Overall, newspapers were the most popular source of information. An average 61% of the people attending the “public events” listed a newspaper as one information source. The ESA program was next with 28% citing it as a source of information.

Other information sources were word-of-mouth, 26%; radio, 13%; flyers, 12%; newsletters, 11%; and electronic mail, 4%.

One interesting discovery was that quite a few people listed more than one information source, especially those at the butterfly gardening program and insect photography workshop.

Twenty-three people attending the butterfly gardening program used more than one information source. Where two sources were listed, newspaper-radio was the most often used. Newspaper-newsletter and newspaper-word of mouth also were used frequently. Other two-source combinations were newspaper-newsletter-radio and newspaper-newsletter-word of mouth. When three sources were listed, newspaper-newsletter were used with radio or word-of-mouth.

Twenty people at the insect photography workshop used more than one source. Newspaper-word of mouth was the most common listing of two sources. Newspaper or newsletter was used in most other two-source mixtures. Where three sources were used, newspaper, newsletter or word of mouth were used most frequently

For the slide show, six people used more than one source of information, primarily newsletter-word of mouth. Word of mouth also was used with print materials, such as flyers and newspaper.

Four people at the monarch butterfly program used more than one source of information, generally newspaper-word of mouth.

The following is a synopsis of sources of information for each public event.

Insect Photography Workshop

Of 81 people attending the insect photography workshop, newspaper was a source of information for 67%; word of mouth, 33%; flyer, 18%; newsletter, 13%; radio or ESA program, 11% each; and electronic mail, 4%.

Butterfly Gardening

Sources of information for 155 people at the butterfly gardening program were newspaper, 82%; word of mouth, 24%; radio, 15%; newsletter, 8%; and flyer, 7%.

Photo Contest Slide Show

For 60 people visiting the photography contest slide show, information sources were newspaper, 68%; word of mouth, 31%; and ESA program, flyers, and newsletters, 11% each.

Monarch Butterfly

Information sources for 170 people at the monarch butterfly talk were ESA program, 62%; newspaper, 26%; and word of mouth, 15%.

Several factors made our job easier and contributed to a successful promotional effort.

First, the meeting promotion committee met with us nearly two months in advance and provided comprehensive information and contact people for the “public events.” This early notification gave us time to develop promotional materials and work with contacts in the news media.

Second, we used a variety of internal and external vehicles to deliver messages about these programs. Survey results revealed that many people used more than one source of information, indicating that this multiple-vehicle approach was successful.

Third, we had personal contact with newspaper gardening editors and hosts of radio gardening shows. We contacted gardening editors and the radio garden show hosts in Lexington and Louisville. Overall, 61% of the people learned about the programs from newspapers; 13% from the radio.

Lastly, many people have gardening and photography hobbies.

A 1992 Gallup survey of 210,000 subscribers to National Gardening magazine indicated that people spend a lot of money and time on gardening. Results showed that subscribers spent more than $75 million annually on flower and food gardening. They devote four hours a week to flower gardening and more than seven hours per week to food gardening during the growing season. Subscribers spent more than $167 million on mail order and retail garden products.

Photography also is a popular activity in U.S. households, according to a 1994 survey by Photo Marketing Association International. This survey revealed that nearly 55 percent of U.S. households purchased or processed film during an average quarter.

If you want to attract the public to a scientific meeting, we recommend that you start the promotional effort early. We began in late January for a meeting scheduled for late March.

Also use a variety of vehicles to deliver your message, emphasizing those that reach your target audiences. We used mass media, as well as specialized means such as newsletters and flyers, to reach audiences interested in gardening, photography and nature topics. Over the years, we’ve developed a good working relationship with area news media. We believe this relationship, and the fact that the information was newsworthy, helped generate coverage that enticed people to attend the four “public events.”

Of course, it helped to have four programs that interested many people in the area.