Streaming events will be put on hold throughout the month of August in preparation for re-opening. More announcements to come soon.

Private Streams Overview

Although UNT Sky Theater remains closed to the public due to the pandemic, we will now be bringing our planetarium to you with our new Private Streaming Events! These events will be delivered to you and your guests online using the Zoom Meetings software for a flat rate of $89 during normal business hours and $114 after normal business hours. Money raised from these events will help us support our staff and facilities during the pandemic. Each Private Stream includes:

• An educational movie of your choice from our show list

• A Sky Tonight Presentation where one of our planetarium experts give you a tour of that evenings sky- what you can see in our local sky that evening (planets, stars, constellations, etc.)

• An astronomy question and answer session.

All streams will run 45 minutes to an hour, and we can adapt a stream for any age or grade. Feel free to inquire with any special requests you may have!

After you have submitted a reservation request and signed and returned our form, you will receive a Zoom meeting link to access at the time of your reservation. You can distribute this link for up to 100 devices (attendees) you'd like to join in. Our reservation form doubles as an invoice and payment will be due either by check by mail or credit card by phone within one month after the event. Receipts will be emailed to your groups contact after payment has been received unless directed otherwise.

We miss interacting with the public and students and are excited to start moving what we love to do to an online environment!

How do I reserve?

Reservations can be made by sending the following information to Skytheater@unt.edu:

1. Your group name/contact name
2. Contact Email
3. Contact phone number
   • This should be a number we can get a hold of you at during the time of your show
4. Group age level/grade
5. Estimated number of attendees (limit 100)
   • This is NOT the total number of people viewing the stream, but the number of individual links that will be distributed for the group. Example: If you have a classroom of 15 students (in person) that will be watching on one stream, they would count as 1 attendee. If you also have another 6 students who will be watching from home, they would each count as an attendee. So, your total number of attendees would be 7.
6. Title of movie you would like to see from our show list
7. Date and Time of requested private stream
8. Alternate Date and Time

Once we are able to confirm your date, we will email you a Reservation Form for you to sign and return to lock in the reservation. If we do not have a signed reservation form on file, we can't guarantee your show. Please submit your reservations at least one week in advance to the stream.

Delivery, Access, and Preparation

Once we lock in the date for your reservation, we will email the Groups Contact a Zoom link for your specified date and time.

• Distribute this Zoom link to the other attendees in your group with unique devices
• For those presenting from a device where multiple people will be viewing from one stream:
  • Please test to make sure everyone in the room hear from the device in advance
  • You might want to prepare a way to submit/ask questions for the group if the microphone can't pick them up from where they are seated. Chat may be ideal for this.
• Attendee's that haven't used Zoom should download Zoom Client in advance.
• We will start the Zoom Meeting 15 minutes prior to the scheduled show time for people to filter in. Each attendee will initially be placed into a waiting room and then admitted.
• We will start the show once the Group Contact confirms that everyone is present, preferably no later than 5 minutes after the scheduled show time. To help with this, attendees should name themselves appropriately in Zoom.

How will it be presented?

Once we have confirmed everyone is present and we are ready to begin:

• We'll start with an Introduction and the Educational Movie
  • The short intro will cover any instructions attendees will need to interact with us.
  • All attendees will be muted and will be unable to unmute during this portion. However, they are still free to communicate with us through chat.

• Sky Tonight Presentation
  • This portion is more interactive, and attendees can raise their hands to be unmuted to ask or answer questions. Chat may also be used.
• Astronomy Question and Answer Session
  • This portion is the most interactive and all attendees will be unmuted unless it becomes an issue. It that becomes the case, it will follow the former procedure.

Payment

Your reservation form doubles as an invoice and payment will be due either by check by mail or credit card by phone within one month AFTER services are rendered. Receipts will be emailed to your groups contact after payment has been received unless directed otherwise.

• Private streams are a flat fee for up to 100 attendees of $89.00 during normal business hours (9am-5pm M-F) or $114 for after normal business hours.

• No prepayment please, this helps avoid overpayment and refund processing delays.
• Preferred: Checks should be made to "UNT Sky Theater" mailed to:

Att: Ryan Bennett

University of North Texas

1155 Union Circle #310559

Denton, Texas 76203-5107

• Credit Card by phone payments can be scheduled with the Planetarium Manager Ryan Bennett by emailing ryan.bennett@unt.edu or calling (940)-369-7719
• Fees paid to Sky Theater are only good for the Sky Theater.

Changing Reservations

If you need to make changes or cancel your Private Live Stream Show, please let us know at least 24 hours before the scheduled show time. To avoid any confusion, the person who scheduled the show will be the only one authorized to make changes.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or need any further information please reach out to the Planetarium Manager, Ryan Bennett. We are looking forward to hosting your event!

Email: skytheater@unt.edu

Phone: (940)-369-7719