Adapting International Observe the Moon Night Evaluation to Meet the Needs of a Virtual Event

International Observe the Moon Night is an annual worldwide public engagement program that encourages observation, appreciation, and understanding of our Moon and its connection to planetary science and exploration. Each fall, people from across the globe are invited to observe and celebrate their personal connection to the Moon. The program supports schools, museums, clubs, libraries, and private events to engage visitors in Moon related events by providing event resources such as Moon maps, certificates, activities and presentations. Each year the program strives to reach a larger and more diverse global audience by reaching out to new partners who directly connect with their local communities. Over the past 10 years, an estimated 1.4 million visitors at formal events and as individual observers have participated in International Observe the Moon Night in 107 different countries as well as all 50 U.S. States, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. Evaluation of the event has included registration data, post event surveys of hosts, and event evaluation of visitors through surveys, interviews, observations, and polls.

The global pandemic of 2020 poses new challenges and opportunities for the event as the organizing committee plans for the fall. Due to ongoing health concerns across the world, International Observe the Moon Night will provide and support many more opportunities for virtual engagement and support for organizations to host virtual events as well. We are currently tackling the additional challenges of evaluating a widely distributed virtual public event as well as supporting event planning through needs assessments of hosts. We will report on the challenges and lessons learned related to evaluation of this new type of event. International Observe the Moon Night is sponsored by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission and the Solar System Exploration Division at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with many contributing partners.