Activity Providers/Exhibitors
The Festival of Bright Ideas is a showcase of the full spectrum of the Tasmanian science sector and aims to offer a program that is accessible and collaborative, engaging people of all ages and interest levels in science. This is a great opportunity for you to demonstrate the science in your work in a fun and interesting way, and to join us in celebrating National Science Week in Tasmania. The 2025 festival will be open exclusively to schools on Friday 9.00am-2.30pm and to the public on Saturday 9.00am-4.30pm.
Activity Provider registrations open Wednesday 26 February and close on Friday 30 May. Late applications will be considered.
The Space
Exhibitor spaces are typically 3x2m in dimension, include access to power, a trestle table, two chairs and a festival exhibitor sign. The exhibitor spaces are within the Princes Wharf 1 shed and are open on all sides. There will be some screening by way of curtaining through the shed space to help manage the flow of visitors around the festival space.
If you have additional requirements outside the standard exhibitor package or feel that your exhibit would be better suited to the forecourt, please let us know on the registration form and we will do our best to accommodate your requests.
- All electrical equipment must be tested and tagged prior to the commencement of the festival. Please bring your own power board if required.
Designing your space
How you present your space is completely up to you. No theming will be provided other than consistent signage for each exhibitor or activity. It is a requirement that all activity providers provide a hands-on activity or experience that demonstrates an aspect of the sciences, engineering, innovation, technology and mathematics.
Tips on designing your activity
There are no limitations on the type of activity you can provide it’s up to you, your resources and your imagination! The festival program will be developed around the contributions of participants and we are happy to help you formulate or tailor your concept to attract as many visitors as possible to your exhibit.
Need ideas? This website is a great resource for activity ideas www.howtosmile.org
As a guide activities should:
- Be hands-on and interactive
- Be simple and efficient
- Fun and entertaining
- Suitable for a diverse range of patrons
- Have visual elements that attract visitors
- Manned by passionate staff, volunteers, scientists who love to engage!
In designing your exhibition space, you may like to think about:
- Should I have a backdrop for my space?
- Do patrons need to be seated for your activity?
- What will I hang posters on?
- What do I need to display other information?
- How many people do I need to run my planned activity?
- Can I feasibly, and sustainably, provide the consumerables needed for my activity?
How long should my activity take
For schools days, activities should be 12-18 minutes in length and suitable for a group of 10-15 students at a time. For the public day, there is no time limit for activities and activities that you can run continually, or for a set duration at specific intervals are best suited.
Your science
During the registration process you will be asked to briefly describe the science in your activity e.g Oceanography, Chemistry, Human Biology, Astrophysics, Environmental Sustainability, Mathematics, Mechanical Engineering – or any combination of scientific disciplines. This information will be forwarded to teachers prior to Schools Day to assist them to prepare their students for their visit.
Bump-in / Bump-out arrangements
Bump-In: Thursday 21 August - 10.00am - 4.00pm.
Bump-out: Saturday 23 August - 5.00pm - 7.00pm.
Schools day (Friday)
There are three sessions available:
- 9.15am – 10.45am
- 11.00am – 12.30pm
- 1.00pm – 2.30pm
Each session will be 90-minutes in length and include three scheduled activity sessions along with the opportunity to explore the full festival program. Session will include students from Grade 3 through to Year 12. Your exhibition space will be one of the scheduled activity session spaces visited by a school group of up to 15 students for 15-minutes.
Public day (Saturday)
There will be three session available:
- 9.00am – 11.30am
- 11.30am – 2.00pm
- 2.00pm – 4.30pm
Each session will be 2.5 hours in duration and patrons will visit exhibitions in a self-paced way.
Signage
Each participant will be provided with one large festival sign that will describe the science and/or activity offered (example below). You will be asked to provide wording that describes your activity and science you are demonstrating when registering.
When designing your space, please allow space for this sign to be displayed on the backing board panels - it will take up one 2340mm (H) x 950mm (W) display panel.
Breaks
On Friday, a short break of 10 minutes will be scheduled for activity providers between the first and second session and a longer break of 40 minutes between the second and third session to allow you to time for lunch.
On Saturday, the session will run continuously so please staff you exhibition and activity space appropriately. There will be volunteers available to cover breaks if needed.
Promotion
The festival website and printed program are the primary spaces where your activity will be promoted. We strongly encourage you during registration to provide a relevant photograph that demonstrates your science as this will be included with your short activity description on the program page of the website.
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