I’ve been giving local history talks since my Lost Dayton book came out in 2018, but this year I’ve started trying something new.
Up to this point I’d always just relied on other organizations to find me and request a talk. Over the past few years I’d be asked to speak from time to time at the Dayton Metro Library, other local historical societies, senior centers, and many other types of organizations such as the Junior League of Dayton and the Dayton Bar Association.
But since those invitations would vary quite a bit in frequency over the course of the year, I decided it would be fun to organize some of my own talks as well. I was especially interested to see how that would go now that I’ve been working on building up an audience on social media and through my Dayton history newsletter.
Throughout the late spring and summer I held three talks at Trolley Stop in the Oregon District on Monday and Thursday evenings.
I love the idea of doing presentations at cool historic venues and also helping to bring those local small businesses some extra visitors.
I put together three new presentations that covered a few different historical sites (with a lot of then and now imagery), and also discussed some current redevelopment projects and how they are affecting the urban core of Dayton.
I had a great response to the talks and about 30-40 people showed up to each one.
One of the coolest parts was the great folks at Trolley Stop let us gather in their “Party House” afterward, which is usually only open for private event rentals, and I had some great informal conversations with attendees there too.
All in all I’ve been really happy with how the talks have been going, and I’m definitely planning to schedule another one soon.
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