How to Host a Campus Forum! April 5, 2009

by Jessica Luna, president of the Harvard College Vegetarian Society

Getting tired of the same old tabling and leafleting? Let Jessica show you how to get people really talking—by hosting a campus forum!

That's what the Harvard College Vegetarian Society did last September, with the help of peta2. More than 70 college and high school students from the Boston area and beyond traveled to Harvard Yard for a day of activism tips, workshops, networking, and camaraderie. Many of them drove for more than four hours from states like New York and Pennsylvania for this event!

Although hosting a conference may seem intimidating, it's surprisingly easy to pull off with a little advance planning and legwork.

1. Scope out a location. Generally, colleges will allow student groups to use rooms for free, so reserve a large and nice auditorium or room that seats at least 100 students and has a clearly visible stage. Reserve a room on the first floor of a building, if possible, so that off-campus people can find it more easily. Secure the room well in advance of the conference, as the best locations will go quickly.
2. Decide on your speakers and presenters! They will be the main drawing point of your conference. Will they be members of your group? Local animal rights activists? Professors at your school that teach or write about animal-related issues? Send them a formal letter of invitation to the conference and include topics that you'd like them to discuss.
3. No animal rights conference would be complete without an abundance of delicious vegan food. Talk to the vegetarian- or vegan-friendly restaurants in your area about providing a catered vegan lunch for the conference; many will be glad to do so at a discounted rate if you distribute their take-out menus at the event or mention their business on your list of sponsors. It's free advertising for them and cheap, tasty vegan food for you and your attendees!
4. Publicize, publicize! Although it's a conference geared toward students, send out e-mail alerts to all animal rights or vegetarian groups in your area. Many of them will attend to learn about what student groups are doing for animals and will provide literature or information about their own organization. You may want to consider setting up extra tables at your event for other groups interested in sharing information and networking. To attract the most people, post fliers about your conference in college hangouts, coffee shops, natural-foods supermarkets, animal shelters … anywhere! In addition, peta2 can give you information about local activists to contact.
5. Materials! You want your activists to leave full of information to give out to others. Give out stickers, fliers, posters, and lists of vegetarian restaurants and resources in the area.
6. End the conference with an inspirational event—if your conference is a two-day event, you could end the second day by volunteering at a local animal shelter or hosting a fundraising dinner. At Harvard, we held a KFC protest in Central Square. It was a great end to an inspirational day; many parents who attended with their high school-age children were influenced to go vegetarian, and others commented that they were going to transition or recommit themselves to veganism at the day's end.

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