Giving a talk, and I need some help

[warmwaterturner]

Since I personally have yet to get into cave diving (one day) I would really like to know how it differs from open water. Is there a need for different training( or better how does it differ), different equipment, etc. How about the environment as it affects the body - is there a difference? What about aquatic life...I have no idea what I would expect to see.

 

[Doc Harry]

I think it would important to dispell some myths. You can point out that "cave diving" is dangers, but most of the deaths were non-cave divers who went cave diving and got themselves killed. Then you can talk about the impact that training has had on reducing the death rate.

It might be interesting to compare the number of deaths due to cave diving and auto accidents. I've never looked at this data from a per capita perspective, but the absolute numbers are impressive to show how much more dangerous driving is compared to cave diving.

You can make the stats say whatever you want....

 

[TSandM]

I love the Crystal Caves, but I think using 15 minutes of a 20 minute talk to show the video is a bit much. If I knew more about video editing, I might be able to pull some clips from the video, but . . . I definitely intend to spend a little time talking about what's involved in learning to cave dive, and I also want to tag on a bit at the end about what the Puget Sound diver can learn from cave divers.

 

[scubagoldmc]

Lynne,

My wife and I took a cavern class and would love to go further. Can't really see either of us in doubles but I guess you never know.

Wish I could be there for your talk. If the distance was 1/2 or less I might just try.

I know your enthusiasm will come through. Good luck.

Mike

 

[Diver0001]

I volunteered to give a talk on cave diving to our local dive club next month. I've been putting it together in my head, but the other day, Peter asked me what I was going to say, and when I started to tell him, he yanked on the reins and said I needed to think more about what my audience would want to hear than what I wanted to say.

So, I'm asking for help: If you were attending a dive club meeting with a talk on cave diving, as NON CAVE DIVERS, what would you want to hear or see?

(Please, those of you who already do this, I don't need your input . . . we all know that we'll sit for ANYTHING that involves caves.)

How long do you have?

What ever you do, talk about the CAVE's and keep the DIR chest thumping to zero. Nobody in your audience will be interested in hearing that everything they do is wrong.

I attended a talk about cave diving (4hour one) a year or so ago and the topics that I found the most interesting were:

- Types of caves, how they're formed and what they look like, where you can find different types, etc .... with pictures and/or short videos.

- How cave divers go about exploration. Just walk them through how caves are incrementally explored and mapped etc. With more pictures and/or video.

- Something *general* about the training. If you wanted to get into cave diving, how would one go about that. Only talk about gear in a general sense. The need for redundancy etc. But really resist the temptation to talk about DIR specifically. It has too much potential to turn "preachy" and pedantic.

In our case the guy had the building where the dive-shop was situated all darkened out and we went as a group through several rooms laying lines with small flashlights and "exploring" the building as if it were a cave, using some of the procedures he had talked about in his presentation. It was a nice touch and came off very well in that case but also has the potential to flop if you don't have a suitable space or enough/to-many people.

R..

 

[Scott L]

A slideshow of your best pics would be a hit...

 

[TSandM]

Rob, the line running idea is great, but I don't think I'll have enough time for it.

What ever you do, talk about the CAVE's and keep the DIR chest thumping to zero.

I honestly don't believe that I have ever DIR chest-thumped, here or anywhere else. I may talk about cave gear setup, but it's pretty uniform for back-mounted divers. I will talk about training, but only in a very general sense. It would be rather hypocritical of me to turn my talk into a DIR brainwashing session, since two of my three cave cards aren't from DIR organizations.

 

[cudachaser]

I've done many presentations to the non diving public. Do it Power Point, you can attach video and audio. Neat transitions are am asset...but careful between Apple and PC. Formulate an outline that incorporates a message to your audience. For instance I go 1) What are the Florida Springs? 2) Where are they located? 3) Spring particulars (outflow, temps, etc). 4) Beauty of a spring). 5) Activities (other than cave diving). 6) Hazards & 7)Environmental Impacts (What's hurting the Springs

With a little creativity the slides fall into place. Use minimal written verbiage in the slide presentation. You talk the verbiage.

Use maximum slide size per page...minimize multiple pics on one slide...reserve that for comparison

Keep the presentation to 50 min (about 80 slides)

 

[walrus2]

I recently took a cavern course in Mexico.

An interesting 20 minute talk before that would have given a brief overview of gear and cave diving safety rules, but the gear isn't that different from open water and if it's your dive club I assume they've seen cave-like configs before. What did strike me most about the theoretical part was the need for a continuous line and diving thirds. I understood those rules but they were really really driven home by even basic exercises with simulated no-vis and a dive where we actually wouldn't have reliably made it back on thirds.

I would spend the rest of the time (16 minutes? ) showing what you like about the caves. I must say I didn't quite catch the cave bug although I'm willing to give it another try next year. I loved seeing the cenotes openings coming closer, as opposed to going deeper into the cave, and seeing the freshwater fish near the sun. We swam from Garden of Eden to Coral, which gives you that effect in both directions. Beautiful colors, shadows, and a combination of interesting rocks, fish and trees/plants. I was surprised by the amount of light in the cavern (at least in that one). The halocline was interesting, although I found the visual effects somewhat disturbing the first time, but the change in temperature was striking.

I realize there's a lot to say about the caves, their origins, incredible size, well-known specimens, fossils, exploration stories etc. but all of that while interesting I'd just refer to other sources if people are interested, unless these are the particular things you find attractive.

 

[Peter Guy]

For what it's worth, my comment to Lynne was that she needed to make sure she had the audience and NOT to just show them a video and expect them to say "That is great!" I love cave diving and find most videos boring after the first couple of minutes (not all of them but most of them). OTOH, she can watch cave videos for hours.

She has the passion, no doubt about it -- and she just needs to let the audience feel her passion and it will go fine.

I've found it interesting that when I talk to people about cave diving, they tell me I become much more animated than normal. I can feel my "eyes light up" when I talk about it which is something that happens VERY infrequently with me. (My father once asked me if I ever got excited about anything!)

It will go fine and the ideas that some of you have presented should help.

Last comment --- she had me put PowerPoint on her 'puter the other day just so she could prepare slides for the talk.