Americans for Informed Democracy

Conference Toolkit-Short Version

Organizing a Conference: Three Easy Steps

Americans for Informed Democracy believes that you can organize a fantastic conference on your campus—an event featuring top expert speakers that bring together a diverse group of students, student organizations and members of the community—in only TEN HOURS of preparation! We know this because after coordinating hundreds of conferences, we’ve mastered the system. We know that you’re busy, and we know that schools are bureaucratic. That’s why we’ve stripped down event planning to the most critical and effective steps. In this toolkit, you’ll find the best of the best—tried and true organizing tactics that we’ve learned after many hours spent at many different schools. Follow our clear steps; adjust our pre-written scripts, invitations, e-mails and poster templates; use our publicity strategies; and keep to our timeline.
If you do, you will minimize your time and maximize your conference’s impact on your community, thus bringing the world home to more people than ever before. Why try to recreate the wheel?

Stay Tuned for the Complete Downloadable Conference Toolkit!

Step 1: Reserve a room on campus

You can reserve a room three ways:

By asking an existing student group to co-sponsor the event;
By partnering with an academic department at your university; or
By contacting your Dean of Student Affairs.

It is best to pursue all three avenues simultaneously because people often do not respond. Once you’ve reserved a room, you’ll be ensured a mini-grant!

Step 2: Recruit Great Speakers

Once you’ve reserved a room, you can begin identifying and inviting speakers. To identify great speakers, follow our series of recommendations to recruit a diverse panel of experts. We strongly encourage you to send invitations to at least 10-12 potential speakers. AID organizers have an average success rate of 20 percent, so it is necessary to send out at least ten (and possibly more) invites to fill a panel of three to four. AID has invitation templates (below) that you can tailor to your event.

Step 3: Publicity, Hosting the Event, and Following Up

Advertising is the most important part of an event. We recommend that you e-mail listserves, place table tents at the cafeteria, make announcements at lectures and in classes, hang posters in random places (including bathroom stalls!), and ask professors to announce the event (maybe even ask them to offer extra credit for attendance). Send press releases to the community calendar section of your local and campus newspapers to let them know about your event.

The Organizer’s Checklist

Instructions for using this Guide: The following guide is intended to guide you through the process of organizing an event with AID. Use the checklist below as you proceed.

Goal:	Send us an update!	Checklist Items:
1. Reserve a Room (at least 6 weeks prior to event)	Once you’ve reserved a room, sign up your event with us at http://www.globalscholar.org/roomreservation. Then we can reserve a mini-grant for your event and help you identify potential speakers.	Reserve a room on campus using e-mail templates.
2. Invite Speakers (at least 4 weeks prior)	E-mail Vicente@aidemocracy.org to let us know of confirmed speakers. Contact Vicente@aidemocracy.org if you need further ideas for speakers at your event!	Call potential speakers using phone script. Send out invitations. Make follow-up phone calls. (Note: If a speaker requests a fax, e-mail the invitation as an attachment to Vicente@aidemocracy.org and we will fax it in for you.)
3. Event Publicity (2 weeks prior to the event)	E-mail a copy of your poster to Vicente@aidemocracy.org as an attachment. We’ll put the information up on our website!	Tailor the poster template with your event’s information and send it to the AID office. Recruit student group co-sponsors to help advertise. Delegate planning responsibilities to other AID organizers on campus. Tailor media advisories to newspapers and community calendars – try to get specific press contacts.
Event Confirmation and Final Publicity (3-4 days prior to event)	E-mail your press release as an attachment to Vicente@aidemocracy.org so that we can help you advertise.	Plaster the campus with posters and send e-mails to student groups, professors and listserves. Tailor press release, call local media, send press release via e-mail to press contacts and send press release to AID office. Send reminder e-mails to speakers.
Day of Event	Call us if you have any last-minute problems…don’t be shy, no matter the time! Our office: (410) 962-8770	Early in the morning, pepper all the common spaces on campus with advertisements. Put flyers in the cafeteria, bathrooms, and other noticeable places. Prepare your opening remarks. Set up venue. Check sound system; make sure room is easy to find (put up signs if needed); arrange seating. Set up table with informational materials from AID. Pass around pen and sign-up sheet during the event.
Follow Up!	Fill out an event report form at http://www.globalscholar.org/event_report/ and mail in any receipts in order to be reimbursed to: Americans for Informed Democracy 701 Cathedral Street Suite L3 Baltimore, MD 21201 Send an op-ed in progress to autumn@aidemocracy.org for editing and feedback. Let us know if you’d like further resources or suggestions for NGO campaigns related to the event’s topic. E-mail us at autumn@aidemocracy.org to add the names and e-mail addresses of the people that signed up on your sheet (enter into an Excel spreadsheet with columns: FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, EMAIL, AFFILIATION, or send in a Word Document)	Write an op-ed in your local or school newspaper. Follow up with a thank you note to speakers and volunteers. Get excited for the next AID event!

AID’s Event Planning Checklist was adopted from The People Speak Flowchart for The People Speak Event Organizers.