How to Start Your Own Truthjuice Group
Contact us
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.
[important]ON YOUR OWN?[/important]
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 normally and £5 or £3 concession (low income)
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:
[notice]Hi……….
My name is………. A number of us here in …………… are setting up a weekly speaking event every ……………………..evening and would like to invite you to talk on ‘……………….’
The evening we would like you to speak would be………………
As we are obviously just starting out we are trying to keep expenses to a minimum and would welcome your support in this, however we will of course help with reasonable travel expenses and if you have books, dvd’s and other merchandise that you would like to sell to recoup some costs, then we are more than happy to do that.
You are of course welcome in our home to both eat and stay
We are going to be doing a lot of marketing to make sure the event will be well attended.
Could you contact me to let me know if you can do this date, if not what dates you are available , either by return email or by contacting me on…………
Best Wishes
………………………………[/notice]
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.
Speaker Letter Template:
[notice]Hi…..
My name is …..
A number of us here in …. would like you to visit and do a talk on the subject of …….
The evening we would like you to speak would be on the ../../….
As we are obviously just starting out we are trying to keep expenses to a minimum and would welcome your support in this, however we will of course help with reasonable travel expenses.
If you have books, dvd’s and other merchandise that you would like to sell to recoup some costs, then we are more than happy to do that.
You are of course welcome in our home to both eat and stay on the night in question.
We are going to be doing a lot of marketing to make sure the event will be well attended with flyers, posters, social networks etc.
Could you contact me to let me know if you can do this date, if not what dates you are available, either by return email or by contacting me on ….
Best Wishes[/notice]
5 comments
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Hi,
I am a regular at Truth Juice Birmingham but I live in Tipton, West Mid’s and we have to travel a fair distance there and back, so I and a couple of friends was wondering about getting one set up for the Black Country, We are all very passionate about whats happening in the world and think this would be a great way to get people together. I would like more info on doing this first and would you help with getting us some speakers etc.
Cheers
Hi Mark
please contact us via contact@truthjuice.co.uk to discuss
We already have a group but have never been able to contact you because the clot who made your website missed out a contact adress
please contact us.
Would you be interested in having a group in Brighton? I’d be interested to hear more about it.
How much autonomy I would have in organising events, and what are the requirements to fulfill, beyond what’s written on your ‘HAVE YOUR TRUTH’ page?
I understand it’s non-profit, and that’s fantastic! However, I simply can’t take anything on where there’s the possibility of me personally being left out of pocket. Are there any ways Truthjuice ensures this doesn’t happen?
Could you tell me the advantages of being in the Truthjuice network, rather than going it alone?
Would really love to hear from you. I have a lot of enthusiasm, just want to get these practical issues cleared up so I know what to expect, if you were to want a group here.
All the best,
Nathan
Hi Nathan.
I would be really interested in setting up a TruthJuice in Brighton/ South East. I think it would be really well attended and can’t believe there isn’t a group already set up here Get in touch and lets see if we could start something, it may be easier to work together?
Kind Regards
Danielle