The concept:
- Many Garden railroaders get together with a few close friends for informal operating sessions.
- Many garden railroaders like to hold open houses.
- Garden railroad clubs like to do tours. They schedule open houses at several members railroads on the same day.
- Garden railroaders are scattered all over the map. Travel is expensive.
- Web pages and YouTube videos don't let you interact and make friends.
- Forums let you interact, but not in real time. Web Cams are real time, but usually boring and not interactive.
- A Live interactive Web TV channel just for operating sessions, open houses, and tours.
You are looking at a PREVIEW of the channel. Right now, it is playing pre-recorded video.
- Chat is working, but it may be hours before you see a response. There are not many people on it just yet!
- You can also play videos on demand.
- Try it out full screen too!
Think of it as a live TV call in talk radio show with hosts at each garden railroad taking questions from the viewers via phone or chat.
You can host a operating session, open house, or a web cam.When a tour is scheduled, You can include your railroad in the tour, or not, that is up to you.
We will decide when to hold a tour.
By "We", I mean, "us garden railroaders". We will need two or three participants with live cameras, willing to host an open house to make a tour worthwhile. While Clubs hold these tours once or twice a year, I think we might be able to do one a month. You can host an open house at as many, Tours as you like. All of them, or none of them.
All tours, open houses and just plain old friendly get together can be recorded, played as reruns or called up as video on demand.
How would you hold an open house, and participate in a tour?
And, just how hard would it be?
The Minimum Requirements.
- You need to be viewing the channel and answer questions in the chat screen below the video, during the scheduled open house or tour. Remember, you can't host a LIVE open house if you are not there. You don't need to be there for the reruns.
- You would need some video. It can be video you put on YouTube, live video from a web cam, video you make in windows movie maker, or even a VHS or digital 8 tape sent by mail.
- You need to provide a current narrative of what is going on in the video. It can be a recorded video, audio, a written paragraph posted as a comment to this blog, a recorded phone call to me, ( or another coordinator ), or you can do it via a web cam prior to the tour, (preferred). Make it one paragraph, or 10 seconds long.
- Schedule your open house, operating session, Garden railroad club meeting, or recording session for your tips and tricks presentation.
- Take calls by phone during the open house. We can put your number on the screen during the broadcast, or you can type it into chat.
- Get a USB web camera. You don't need to install any software, I'll enable your camera through the channel. You can use the camera to host part or all of your open house. We will put you on air LIVE if you wish. If you have a speaker phone, you can even take calls from viewers "ON AIR".
- Move your web camera and computer outside for the event live shots.
- Pre-record several extra videos and upload them to YouTube. 10 to 30 seconds long are best.
- Promote your open house, or other event and the WWGTT channel. Tell your club, tell the forums you frequent, tell your family.
- This is a channel produced by and for garden railroaders. They are, or will be our friends. Treat every viewer as a special guest in your living room. You won't have to throw steaks or shrimp on the BBQ, so honor them the only way you can, with a smile and a warm welcome.
OH! If you're hosting or attending an old fashioned open house, set up your web cam and invite the world.
FAQ
When will we hold the first open house?
As soon as you think we are ready.
When will we hold the first Tour.
We, need to have at least TWO garden train open houses with web cameras that agree on a date. We will also need to have a rehearsal or two prior, but the scheduling is more flexible. We can do them one at a time, even on different days. Don't worry too much about the rehearsals, they are mostly so I can get more comfortable with the technology. Whatever you do, or say will be fine. All you really need to do is run trains, work on the garden, trim trees, or just look at your trains and maybe answer questions like "How do you like that Aristo RS-3?"
How much preparation do I need to do to have a Virtual open house.
Very little. If you wife says; "You're not bringing all those people here without mowing the grass first.", just tell her; "The camera isn't pointed at the grass."
My trains aren't running. Their covered with three inches of snow / pine needles / hedge apples.
People are interested in every aspect of garden railroading. Point that old VHS Cam-corder or that new web cam out the back window and go shovel, rake or clean up. If a friend dropped by your house would you turn him away just because the trains aren't running? Talk to the camera as though it was your grand dad just came back from the grave and wanted to see you. I know my grand dad would never want to interrupt my work. He would want to know what I was doing, and why. I bet yours was the same way.
My railroad isn't working yet. It's down for the season. I haven't laid any track.
Do you grill out? Fry up some burgers and talk about trains. Invite a neighbor or family member over and tell them what your plans for the garden railroad is. Turn on the camera before you light the fire. Explosions and fires always make for fun video. We'll edit it later.
If the forums are any indication, you may have volunteers who will come help you lay your track or know where to get some free ballast or trees.
