[Peace-discuss] conference planning

[Randall Cotton]

In response to Robert's message:

For either of the prospective conferences/tech-ins ("internal" or
"external"), the first steps in my opinion should be to establish, in the
following order:

1. the audience
2. the purpose
3. the content (consistent with 1. and 2.)

It seems to me that if you do that well, additional supporters will jump on
board to help and as long as we get the word out to the prospective
audience, they'll show. Ideally, it seems to me particularly important to
lock down, early on, at least half of the event's content with strong,
universally attractive sessions and speakers who explicitly commit to do
them.

My interest would be in an "internal" conference, where the audience is
local progressive and anti-war groups such as:

Progressive Resource/Action Cooperative
Student Peace Action
Black Radical Congress
Teachers for Peace and Justice
CU Progressives
Physicians for Social Responsibility
Muslim Student Association
Independent Media Center
Greens (of all shades, Prairie, Campus, etc.)
(Who else?)

And where the purpose is:

To provide these groups with:
1. Informative sessions of strong, broad interest
2. Rich opportunites to establish greater ties and solidarity among the
audience groups

Now, how exactly to accomplish this is still unclear to me (and may
ultimately prove to stop me in my tracks).

Ideas for sessions I've had include:
1. A session where each invited group presents themselves to all others, so
we get to know each other better.
2. A session on specific ways some or all of the invited groups can join
together to share resources?
    a couple "seed" ideas:
    a. Pooling resources to establish something like a "universal flyering
route"
    b. Establishing a universal, low-traffic "umbrella" announcement mailing
list?
3. An instructive session on how to best get our messages out via the local
media (PSA's, press releases, etc.)
4. A session on how to best get your organization on the web and do it on
the cheap (Prairienet, groogroo, etc.)
5. An introduction to non-violence training and what options are available
for full training.
6. Door-to-door canvassing strategies and experiences
7. Leafletting strategies and experiences
8. What should an "external" conference look like?

R

----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Dunn
To: recotton at earthlink.net ; peace at lists.groogroo.com
Sent: Saturday, May 31, 2003 12:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Peace] second draft agenda for 6/1/03 AWARE meeting

should we start planning for the fall teach-in, internal  and external.
I think it would be  better so we can get as many people  as posible.
Robert