How to Start Your Own Truthjuice Group
Contact Vicky on
Tel. 07403617717 or use our contact form.
We will help you all we can from setting up your own website under the truthjuice umbrella, help with finding speakers etc
Meanwhile take a look below to give you some sort of idea on what it needs.
We wouldn’t recommend you try to start a group solo unless you could do it full time.
It isn’t difficult but having support from other people and sharing the duties does help.
EQUIPMENT
PROJECTOR AND SCREEN
Most speakers but not all use their laptops. If your venue hasn’t got a projector and you can’t afford one try and borrow one until the cash comes in.
SOUND SYSTEM
If it’s a small room you may not need microphones but if the venue is quite large then mikes and a sound system are a must.
VENUE
The venue could be a room in a pub, a conference room (this may be expensive), a communty centre (if council run there may be a few objections to your topics), cafe, or in your own home if you have a large enough house.
If you are having it in a centre then you could supply refreshments like tea, coffee and biscuits.
Always think about parking and negotiate with the owner for a price.
HOW OFTEN
You could hold it once a week, once a fortnight or monthly. It depends how much time you can devote to it.
ADMISSION
Depends on the price of your venue and the fee for your speaker. If you are having a known speaker they do charge more so you will have to think about what to charge. We charge £3 normally and £5 for a popular speaker.
SPEAKERS
Sometimes speakers don’t answer their e mails straight away, in fact it could be 2 weeks before they reply to an invitation so bear this in mind when you organise your event. You need to e mail them at least a month in advance. Try and get speakers that don’t live too far away so the fuel costs aren’t too pricey.
Here is a template letter that you can send out to prospective speakers:
FEES
We have a template you can use to send to a speaker. It states that we are a none profit set up but will pay reasonable travel costs and they can sell their merchandise. Most won’t charge but some have to make their living out of speaking.
CANCELLATIONS
Sometimes a speasker may cancel at the last minute. Try and have a stand by like another speaker or maybe let your audience talk (open mic night) or you can show a film
FLYERS
Flyers help to get the people in. Have them at your event so people know what’s happening.
DAY OF THE WEEK
Try and pick a week day as people are always busy at the weekends. The first 3 days of the week are a good choice.
RESERVATIONS
If you are having a popular speaker it may help if they reserve a place and pay on the door as this will give you an idea of how many people will be turning up. Please remember that a lot of people do just turn up.
PEOPLE
Your first event will be like hosting a party and you wonder if anyone will show. We had 8 people at our first date but that will change as people get to know about you, this is why flyers are important.
TIMES
WE open our doors at 7pm and the talk starts at 7.30pm. The speaker talks for an hour then we have a 20 minute break and the speaker talks for another hour with questions and answers at the end, we are flexible on this and always talk to the speaker.
OPEN MIC NIGHT
People love a chance to state their truth that’s why we recommend an open mic night. We usually have 5 speakers on with 20 minutes to talk and 10 minutes for questions. The speakers have to reserve a place beforehand and get in free.
FILMS
We did show a film once a month but found they weren’t very popular as most people can download or get them themselve off the net. However truthjuice Brisbane only show films along with a few bands, so that could be an option.
SPEED TRUTHING NIGHT
Speed truth night is a bit like speed dating. We have several tables with different topics. People take turns at each table to say what they feel about certain topics.
MAKING MONEY
Truthjuice is non profit however there may be times when only a few people show up and you can’t cover the cost of the speakers fee and the price of the venue. In order to help with this we have a deal wth a lovely guy who gives us t shirts sale or return and we put a couple of pound on the price. Also there may be people in your area who may want you to sell their products and you could take a small cut.
DONATION BOX
A donation box on the table when people come in helps.
We at truthjuice are always on hand to answer any questions you have so please feel free to ask.