Week Six: Invite a Speaker to Speak
The Young America’s Foundation has a superb panel of conservative speakers that it sends out to schools, colleges and universities across the United States. The Young Britons’ Foundation has a similarly sound group of speakers who are willing to speak on a variety of topics at educational establishments throughout the United Kingdom such as:
- Rt Hon David Davis MP – Freedom, Civil Liberties, ID Cards, CCTV, Europe, Law & Order, Conservatism;
- Matthew Elliott – Tax, Freedom, Government Waste, Europe;
- Guido Fawkes – Blogging, New Media, Freedom;
- Frederick Forsyth CBE – Europe, Military Covenant;
- Michael Gove MP – Education, Conservatism;
- Daniel Hannan MEP – Europe, Localism, Direct Democracy;
- Douglas Murray – Jihad, Islamism, Israel, War on Terror, Neo-Conservatism;
- Rt Hon John Redwood MP – Freedom, Tax, Europe;
- Antony Worrall Thompson – Freedom, Smoking, Choice;
- and many, many more…
All of these speakers are available to conservative students throughout the United Kingdom. So how do you go about getting a great speaker to your campus? Here are 10 steps that a committed activist should follow in organising a great speaker event.
1. Book the speaker – this may sound blindingly obvious but there were red faces at the Oxford Union this past year when it transpired that the Librarian had not, as he had claimed, invited Jonah Goldberg to speak but he nonetheless advertised his, and other speakers’, impending talks in the Term Card. Make sure the speaker is available to speak at a convenient time when you can be sure as you can be that a good number of students of all political persuasions will be able and willing to attend.
2. Book a suitable room – if your school, college or university has a tradition of inviting prominent speakers, no doubt the attendance will be sizeable. If, on the other hand, your branch is less renowned it is likely that the attendance will be smaller. The key is to book a room that is smaller than necessary. It is far better to have people crowding the aisles or unable to fit into a smaller room than to have a large lecture theatre with lots of seats unfilled. This was why Churchill ensured that the House of Commons chamber cannot sit all MPs at once: he wanted the chamber to be overcrowded on great occasions such as the Budget or PMQs. Likewise you will want the room in which your speaker event is to take place to be smaller rather than too large.
3. Book security – leftists loathe those who don’t share their own warped view of the world. They will do whatever they can to stop conservative speakers from advancing an alternative worldview, frequently resorting to intimidation and violence. If they cannot stop a conservative speaker from addressing a student gathering by passing a “no platform” policy (by alleging that a speaker is racist, sexist, homophobic or in some other way unacceptable) they will often lead a vocal protest before, after or even during the speech. In a democracy they have a right to protest. But other students have the right to hear what the speaker wishes to say, provided what he says is not unlawful (which, if you invite a YBF speaker, it will not be!). Make sure that your school, college or university’s security staff are present or available in case left-wing agitators decide to try to disrupt your meeting.
4. Publicise your event – a simple Facebook announcement is inadequate. There are many competing demands on a student’s time. It is up to you to ensure that as many of your fellow students feel sufficiently motivated, intrigued or interested to come and here from a prominent conservative speaker at a time when they could be out drinking, studying or sleeping. Your publicity should be provocative and eye-catching. Use colourful slogans on well-designed literature and ensure that any posters and flyers are circulated as widely as possible, whatever the authorities may say. Saying “come and here Dr Liam Fox MP” is unlikely to fill a room, no matter how undoubtedly sound the Shadow Defence Secretary may be. A poster asking the question “Is It Time to Bomb Iran?” (a question that Dr Fox will doubtless answer in the negative, by the way!) is far more likely to entice students to listen to what Dr Fox has to say.
5. Engage the student media – your student newspaper will invariably be full of worthy but dull articles that rarely interest the wider student readership. See if you can write a feature on a forthcoming speaker event, highlighting some of that speaker’s more controversial views and statements. Or write a letter for publication. YBF works with student journalists to ensure that they get an exclusive opportunity to interview any speaker YBF brings to a school, college or university. This is a far more sensible approach than hiding a speaker from the student newspaper for fear that the journalist might be rude or disrespectful. Invite the student newspaper’s photographer to take pictures of the speech. After the event make sure to follow up with the student newspaper by offering to write a follow-up article or letter for publication. And don’t just focus on the student press: be equally as cooperative with any student radio or television station that you might have. They too will welcome the chance to interview your guest speaker.
6. Engage the local media – while it is highly unlikely that your speaker will interest the national print and broadcast media (unless he or she is giving a keynote address or commits a gaffe), there is no reason why the local print and broadcast media won’t be interested in covering your speaker event – particularly the further away from London you may be. Regional journalists are ambitious and will welcome the chance to test their interviewing skills on your speaker. And today’s regional reporter is often tomorrow’s lobby journalist based at Westminster. Build good relationships today and they will last you a lifetime in politics.
7. Record and upload the event – while dozens of students will hopefully attend the speaker event, many hundreds or thousands will not. Some will wish they had had the chance to hear what your speaker had to say. You should therefore video your speaker’s remarks, upload them to YouTube and circulate the URL/embed the clip in your website and across the blogosphere. The more people who hear what your speaker said, the better. YBF’s new media capabilities mean that we can professionally record, edit, clip and upload your speaker’s remarks accurately and quickly, thereby helping you to capitalise on the success of your event.
8. Hold a media-friendly stunt – the mere fact that a prominent conservative speaker is speaking at your school, college or university is not necessarily newsworthy. But if you hold a media-friendly stunt before or after the speech, suddenly the speaker event becomes more interesting to a student or local news media editor. A picture paints a thousand words so whatever you do, make sure the purpose of your stunt is clear to the photographer. This should be made clear in a pre-event news release that you will have circulated to student and local journalists to entice them to attend your event. But make sure you follow the journalists up: they are very busy indeed.
9. Sign people up - many of those who will attend the speaker event will not be members of your local branch. Some might be interested in becoming more involved or learning more about conservatism. That, after all, is why the event is open to students of all political persuasions. Make sure that you have sign-up sheets readily accessible to those who are interested in learning more or joining your organisation. And whatever you do, follow up with those who express an interest as soon as possible after the event.
10. Say thank you – most importantly, thank the speaker. Invariably he or she will be very busy and will have taken a large chunk of his or her day to travel to and from your speaker event. Thank the speaker publicly after the speech ends, thank him or her privately as they depart and thank them in writing a few days later. Also be sure to thank the university’s security staff, any journalists who attend, any photographers or cameramen and any other person who helped your event become the success that it became.
If you would like the Young Britons’ Foundation to help bring a conservative speaker to your school, college or university, please contact Christian May, YBF Director of Operations, at christian@ybf.org.uk or call (01732) 525922.
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