Organizing a speaking tour and honoraria can be a daunting task. When any person takes 3-4 days out of their schedule to tour a region at your request it is then your responsibility to insure their time is well spent and profitable. This means having a full but not overbooked itinerary scheduled in events, and it also means squeezing every dollar you can out of student groups, community groups, academics, and unions. Although it is a fund raising strategy, usually the speaking event is free and open to the public.
As we begin to plan the speaking tour it is important to determine what the goals of the speaking tour are? From our organizational perspective there are several simultaneous goals for any speaking tours we organize:
- raise money for the speaker and their organization,
- develop opportunities for expansion of message and
- make new contacts for building committees in different cities.
- To maximize community/local turnout at the speaking event
- Bolster regional support committees from the presentation attendees
- Raise awareness of issues with the general public
Why we want maximum student and community turnout at each scheduled event.
- Help us in our recruitment efforts on campus and in the community.
- Build support committees on campus and in the local community.
- To raise thousands of dollars
- To obtain interviews in major press
- Put the name on the map with community organizations
- Raise public awareness on issues
- To build committees or discover existing organizations that we can work with to make our issues their issues and vice versa
Strategies for achieving goals
To maximize student turnout at the event begin targeting key student groups early in the campaign. Do presentations to members at their weekly group meeting. If you are not familiar with the campus or student leaders on campus every university has an office of student life or student affairs. Student organizations are required to register with the university and the contact information is usually public information. Many times the list of student orgs can be found on the internet also.
Target progressive teachers/professors to publicize/sponsor event with students. If you have students you are working with on campus they can direct you to professors that will be interested. Many universities now have graduate employee unions/organizations. Working with the GEO/GEU can also put you in contact with progressive instructors that may allow you or the students you are working with to do presentations at beginning of their class. Check and see if professors can assign extra-credit to students for attending the events.
Place ads and articles in the student media - Depending on the size of the campus and the frequency of the student newspaper printing schedule this becomes harder or easier.
Post promotional flyers in high-traffic student areas and other strategic places, i.e. coffeehouses, bookstores, libraries, record stores, community kiosks - flyering is becoming a lost art as many turn to publicizing events strictly online. The trick with flyers to make and distribute enough to make a real impact. People do read flyers!
Sweeping - To maximize community turnout,r ight before the event several people should take flyers and walk around the area where the talk is being given. Approach people with the flyer and tell them the speech is happening now. Invite them to come and listen. Sweeping works.
Use free media - This is called earned media by professional media consultants. Often radio stations, especially public radio stations, will do free PSAs to advertise the event. Try to get free ads and articles in community and alternative newspapers.
Mail out the promotional flyer to all supporters on your supporter lists - this is where having an updated community list can become very important. For every flyer that reaches someones home you can count on it being read by everyone that lives there. Mailing is a solid way of reaching into the homes of our supporters with vital information.
Place articles and free ads in union and church bulletins - this is effective when used with the appropriate event. This action also presupposes that the building of a working relationship is in progress or has been done to the extent you even know who to ask. Another part of this suggestion would be to send out notices of the event to all Central Labor Council affiliates in the area if it is appropriate.
Do pre-presentation radio interview to tease people into coming to full-blown speech - again this suggestion is based on reasonable belief that you as the organizers either have found someone from the area with these contacts or that you have hustled and opened these relationships for yourself during your time in that town. Radio interviews are good but probably most effective the day of for commercial radio. Public Radio is also a very good way of getting this type of info out.
To raise big money
Two to three months before speaking event, do presentations to key student groups. It is critical that the staff person organize students to organize the event. Most universities do not like outsiders coming in and asking for money. If you want to try and raise money from other student organizations and academic departments - the request will have to come from students. Find out campus history.
Your student contacts will need to write up a proposal to submit to student groups and academic departments. The proposal should give a brief history of the speaker, but most important, it should clearly lay out the money and other requirements for the talk. The amount asked for should be higher than the target amount! If you realistically think a school can give $2500, then initially ask for $3500. You can always bargain down, but it is almost impossible to bargain up.
The students should contact their student government and other miscellaneous campus organizations, such as Office for Minority Affairs or Student Affairs. If there is a residence hall system there will be some type of office overseeing student life and activities there too. These groups can help give the money needed to make it to the target amount of money.
Involve the community! Since we are inviting the off campus community to the talk, the community should also be willing to commit financially to the talk. Ask local unions, churches, and other community members for money. You can also try to get neighborhood support committees to do a fundraiser. Don’t forget about community-based grants.
Get a list of supporters, donors, and alumni in each area or begin to create one by consistently using sign in sheets at each event.
To obtain interviews in the major press
Mail press packets to media outlets one weeks before the event. The press packet should include: a short 2pg. Biography of the e-board member, an article about the e-board member, and a photo.
Follow-up mailing with phone calls four days before the event to schedule radio, newspaper and TV interviews. Avoid doing a press conference—most journalists want to feel like they’re getting an exclusive scoop on the interviewee.
When talking with press people make the presenters appearance sexy by connecting their lecture or presentation with timely and important issues. Unless they are already famous their mere presence may not be compelling enough to warrant doing an interview.
Getting results after the presentation
While the main goal of organizing a speaking tour may seem to be money, providing situations where organizers can meet or interest new supporters is also an vital aspect of this effort. Every thing we do as organizers should move us toward building our base of support in the community. With long term goals in mind the political and social education of the people is paramount. This educational process will many times translate into some type of involvement. Interest is often quite high after these types of high profile events one way to take advantage of that could be implementing the suggestions below:
- Recruiting student staff
- At presentation, have speaker make a recruitment pitch.
- Sign-up people who are interested in working for our organization and have job descriptions and applications packets available.
- Quickly follow-up with interested applicants within one week after the presentation.
- Bolster neighborhood Support Committee
- At presentation, have speaker announce a date for a neighborhood-wide support meeting.
- Sign up presentation attendees before talk and hand out flyers announcing time and place of meeting.
- Do phone banking one week before the meeting to confirm attendees.
- Hold the meeting.
What schools pay for honorarium target amounts?
Transportation, Flight, Hotel, Housing, etc.
Board members’needs;
Profiles.
Food, beverages, other needs.
Materials needed
Petition; ETG; Video; Flyers; Postcards; Pens; etc.
Pre & Post Acceptable/Not Acceptable Events:
Pre-event receptions should be a meeting: Introduce student leaders, committee leaders, religious leaders.
Post-events should be in reception form.
Organizers should control the agenda!
[1] This is an expanded version of one organizer’s first attempt at organizing a speaking tour in Washington State.
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