THE SEVEN STEPS TO BOOKING A PRESENTATION AT YOUR SCHOOL
STEP 1. Ask the “leaders” of one, two or more student clubs to sponsor the presentation.
STEP 2. Ask the club leadership to request a speakers fee from the student government.
STEP 3. Ask the student club to reserve a venue with a dvd projector.
STEP 5. Ask the club to reserve a table for literature at the student center during lunch on the day of the event.
STEP 6. Ask the leaders of the club to email your school’s vendor or performers contract to speakersbureau [at] earthfirstjournal.org
STEP 7. Ask the student club to distribute flyers about the event and list the presentation on their website, in the student paper and to all radio hosts at your schools radio station.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO REQUEST A SPEAKERS FEE? We donate the speakers fee to Earth First! Media projects. A small percentage also helps pay for our transportation to your school. Earth First! would not be able to do nearly as much to defend the earth if it weren’t for the funds we raise through the speakers fee.
All students contribute to a student activity fee which is used to bring speakers, bands and other club activities to your school. The student government may have tens-of-thousands of dollars, even millions to distribute to student clubs.
Some of the clubs that may sponsore Earth First!-related presentations include various environmental and green clubs, campus coops and cafes, animal rights organizations, campus peace groups and clubs addressing issue of ecology, climate change, and social/environmental justice. Or more specifically, try working with these groups Sierra Student Coalition, Powershift, PIRG, Oxfam, or Amnesty International. We can shape presentations to match the interest of various groups (for example, we can focus our talk on repression and environmental prisoners around the world for an Amnesty group.)
Schools generally provide anywhere from $500 to $3,000 for our presentations. In recent years, this has enabled us to expand Earth First! outreach efforts and produce media to support critical ecodefense campaigns, including fights against tar sands and fracking, coal mining, industrial logging, wolf hunts, and much more.
EARTH FIRST! SPEAKERS BUREAU PRESENTATION CHECK LIST FOR STUDENT ORGANIZER
Please use this checklist to make sure we have covered all the details for the presentation and email it back to speakersbureau [at] earthfirstjournal.org. If we didn’t email you one of the items listed below say “not yet” in the space next to the item. You might re-email us this check list as you have more details. Some of these details may be posted on
our websites to assist in promoting the event.
Date, time and location of Presentation _______________________________________________________
1. School/College/University Name: __________________________________________________________
2. Date, time and location of presentation: _____________________________________________________
3. Student organizer’s Name: _______________________________________________________________
4. Student organizer’s phone: _______________________________________________________________
5. Student organizer’s email address: _________________________________________________________
6. Names of sponsoring student clubs: ________________________________________________________
7. Name and location of housing or hotel for these nights: __________________________________________
8. Honorarium amount and date check might be issued: _____________________________________________________
9. Accounts payable accountant’s name, email and phone: _______________________________________
10. Date contract/MOU was obtained by student organizer: _______________________________________
11. Date IRS W-9 Form was obtained by student organizer: _______________________________________
12. Details for ticket or parking pass for transportation: ___________________________________________
13. Date PSA sent out to local media and email lists by student: ____________________________________
14. Dates and times of radio and student paper interviews at college station before presentation: ________________________________________________________________________________________
15. Date sample Flyer was obtained by the student to post around campus: ___________________________
16. Location and table reserved for literature table 11:00 AM day of presentation: _______________________
17. Projector and computer reserved for slideshow or dvd : _______________________________________
18. Date, time and location of meal to share with organizers: ________________________________________
Thanks so much, we hope this check list is helpful. You may ask your classmates to take responsibility for two or three of these items so you aren’t over worked and to provide other students with an opportunity to participate in the success of the event. Call us at (561) 320-3840 or send an email to speakersbureau [at] earthfirstjournal.org if you have any questions. Thanks!
(These tools for student organizers are borrowed heavily from our friends at Food Not Bombs. Thanks Keith!)
For more tips and tools, check out Aid & Abet’s great resource section.
We’ve also collected some good sources for reaching out to specific groups.
Even if these groups themselves don’t host the event, they are likely “ins” to the activist population of a campus, and may be able to guide us in the right direction. Please let us know if there are other groups you think we should add to this list. [Updated 1/2014]
Student Sierra
http://ssc.org/affiliates
Powershift affiliated groups
http://www.wearepowershift.org/groups
Students for Democratic Society (the new SDS)
http://www.newsds.org/chapters
Student PIRG
http://www.studentpirgs.org/
Greenpeace Student Network
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/getinvolved/get-involved/student-network/
With climate and ecological issues of interest to a much broader bunch of groups these days, we can reach outside the box a bit too.. Try these folks:
Amnesty Student groups http://www.amnestyusa.org/get-involved/lead-in-your-community/local-groups/find-a-group
Oxfam Student Clubs
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatyoucando/take-action/student-action/oxfam-clubs
The best strategy is to find one activist on a campus somewhere and start building up a series of events that way. Often the person who responds will know people in the surrounding schools too.
Good luck, and thanks for your support!
