"As LGP demonstrations are typically delivered to younger audiences, I am often asked “Do fifth graders really understand all of that?!” Every year I am even more impressed at just how SMART children can be!. The questions these children ask are amazing and every year I realize I can push the envelope a little more. Just in a recent demonstration a child walked up to me in the hall way and recited what the acronym laser stands for! To my amazement I have been doing these demonstrations so long that these same children who are now in college still call me the “Laser Guy” and tell me they remember what the acrynom LASER stands for. The satisfaction I receive from these experiences is like no other!" ~ Laser Guy

The duration of a demonstration is 45 - 60 minutes. A typical school visit will include 3 to 5 shows within a school day to rotate groups of students through the demonstration.

A demonstration begins with a brief introduction from the Laser Guy and some questions designed to elicit information about where the children have seen or heard of lasers before. The actual demonstration begins with a laser show module (a song) that always gets the children’s attention. It serves as an excellent segue to discuss topics starting with laser show basics including “What is persistence of vision?” and “How do our eyes work?” “What does LASER stand for?” is always a fun activity for children to try. The Laser Guy will quiz them throughout the whole demonstration to recite it, and before the program is over, they are repeating the whole acronym.

Throughout the Laser Guy's discussions, he asks the children to make simple “scientific” observations about what they are seeing and push them to think more like scientists. Together they learn about light, photons, waves (wavelength) and the rainbow (ROYGBIV). With these basics, the Laser Guy then demonstrates how flash lights and lasers produce light while pointing out their important characteristics.

Children always bring up laser pointers, which is a perfect time to discuss laser safety. It is extremely helpful for children to understand the dangers of laser light if used inappropriately. More importantly these children will go on to share this information with friends and family.

The Laser Guy also includes discussions about commercial technology like compact and BluRay disc, fiber optics, holograms and any other topics the children bring up. For each topic LGP has developed props and demonstrations that are visually attractive and memorable. For example, one audience favorite is when the Laser Guy holds a fluorescent light bulb in his hands then brings the tube close to a novelty plasma sphere. In his bare hands the tube excites and glows brightly, demonstrating the effects of electrical excitation of the gas atoms to produce photons. This is just one of the many demonstrations LGP show the children.