| LEARN: Animals Food Humane Farming? Environment Conscience SHARE: Family & Friends Screenings Classrooms SUPPORT: Overview Films & Programs New Languages Teachers Culture-Builders |
| LEARN: Animals Food Humane Farming? Environment Conscience SHARE: Family & Friends Screenings Classrooms SUPPORT: Overview Films & Programs New Languages Teachers Culture-Builders |
TWO MONTHS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Create a core team of volunteers that will help with all aspects of the screening
- Meet with your core team and assign roles
- Assemble a list of groups and organizations that can help with the screening, and contact each
- Set regular meeting times for the core group (by phone, e-list, or in person)
- Estimate size of the audience you want to attract
- Set the date and time, find a location and reserve the venue
- Create a budget
- If needed, sign a contract for the venue, pay deposit
- If needed, arrange for video projector and sound system
- Register your screening through our online community screenings calendar
- Create a media list
- Research media calendar listings and their deadlines
- Create a Press Release for your event. For large-scale screenings (in venues seating 150 or more), send your press release to Tribe of Heart for advance approval
- Purchase or download postcards, customize for your event, and print number needed for targeted direct mailings
- Create a route for distributing flyers and handbills in your community
- Purchase or download flyers and handbills, customize to your event, print total number needed
- Recruit teams of volunteers to take on portions of the flyer/handbill route, which should be maintained on a weekly basis
- If you are doing paid advertising, research ad rates and deadlines
- Order Tribe of Heart's Screening Handout (required) and any other educational literature you plan to make available at the screening
ONE MONTH BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Tell everyone!!
- Set up a Facebook invitation and ask your core group to invite all their local friends
- Plan vegan refreshments (create menu of simple snacks, find volunteers to make food and/or local eateries to donate food, make list of supplies and beverages needed)
- Flyers go up and Handbills get distributed -- plaster the town!
- Contact professors, teachers and other instructors who might be willing to make announcements about the film in their classes, and give them stacks of handbills to distribute
- Send email announcement to media calendar listings (be sure to get these in before their submission deadlines)
- Send email announcement to groups that have agreed to list your event in their newsletters or bulletins (be sure to stay on top of their deadlines for submission)
THREE WEEKS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Send e-vite and/or email announcement to all contacts
- Actively start posting announcement to social media pages, web sites, blogs, chat rooms, listservs, meet ups, etc. (ongoing)
- Mail out postcards
- Email and/or fax press release to media contacts
- Make follow-up calls to media contacts one or two days later
- Send PSA to radio and public access TV stations
- Continue to plaster the town with flyers and handbills
TWO WEEKS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Study Tribe of Heart's "How to Hold a Post-Screening Discussion" guide.
- Continue to plaster the town with flyers and handbills
- Resend e-invitation or email announcement
- Post reminders to social media sites
- Reserve paid ad space in newspapers
TEN DAYS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Resend press release, make follow up phone calls
ONE WEEK BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Be sure you have all your materials gathered that you will be handing out after the screening
- Rejoice at getting a feature story in your local media (think positive!)
- Continue to plaster the town with flyers and handbills
- Start building excitement on social media sites with daily posts that remind people that this is an event they will not want to miss
FIVE DAYS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Paid ads begin
- Resend e-invitation and/or email announcement
- Post reminders on social media pages and/or web sites
- Print blank comment cards or surveys, buy golf pencils to be handed out
THREE DAYS BEFORE SCREENING DATE:
- Begin preparations for simple but yummy vegan snacks
- Shop for paper plates, glasses, utensils, beverages, find or borrow a tablecloth
- Check high traffic areas on your route to make sure flyers and handbills are still there and highly visible
DAY OF THE EVENT:
2-4 HOURS BEFORE SCREENING:
- Final Tech Check – Set up video projector, screen, sound system, microphone (if needed) and test all equipment
- Set up refreshments (to be served after post-film discussion)
- Set up table for literature to be displayed, near exit
- Set up chairs, if needed
30 MINUTES BEFORE EVENT STARTS:
- Open doors
- Station volunteer greeters at the door to welcome attendees and help people to their seats
BRIEF INTRODUCTION BEFORE SCREENING:
- Welcome audience, thank volunteers, introduce the film and/or show introduction from filmmakers and/or read statement from filmmakers
- Remind audience that there will be a discussion and refreshments afterwards
SCREENING:
- Show the film
- Wait until end credits finish to turn on lights. If dimmer switch is available, bring lights up slowly.
AFTER THE FILM:
- Hand out comment cards or surveys with pencils
- Conduct a post-screening discussion
- See that comment cards are collected
- Upon closing, remind audience of vegan refreshments, helpful literature by the door, and the opportunity to continue the discussion informally
AFTER THE DISCUSSION:
- Serve refreshments
AFTER AUDIENCE LEAVES:
- Clean up
- Go to local coffee shop, restaurant or pub with core team/volunteers to celebrate!
DAY FOLLOWING THE SCREENING:
- Send thank you notes to everyone on your core team and others who helped make the screening possible
- Contact us and let us know how your event went, what you learned and any suggestions you may have for others planning to hold similar events. What you share will be of great value to our community, helping us continue to shape and refine our guidelines so that others will have successful screenings.
- Mail comment cards or surveys to Tribe of Heart, PO Box 149, Ithaca, NY 14851
Copyright © 2016 Tribe of Heart Ltd.
