How to Host a Conservative Speaker

How To Host A Speaker

Bringing conservative speakers to campus has made all the difference in shaping the university's
climate.

Conservative students now have a place among the influential whereby we can affect campus policy. This exchange of ideas has left me and others more firmly rooted in conservatism's school of thought; it is also what will help turn the tide in favor of conservative students in years to come. Now more than ever, I am convinced a grassroots approach is the most effective in reaching the collective hearts and minds of students. Young America's Foundation has brought us closer to that goal by helping us along the way and at the same time, encouraging us to remain autonomous by hosting events unique to our campus.

~ Alyson Gabel, University of Missouri - Columbia

STEP ONE: Learn How Your School's Bureaucracy Works
To be successful as a campus activist, you must learn how your college bureaucracy works. This initial step takes a bit of time, but the benefits will be worth it. In regards to hosting a speakers. Approach your student activities office and ask about how your college directly funds student-organized events. For example, does your student funding committee distribute all of their funding during the fall semester or do they fund organizations throughout the course of the year? How do they fund student groups? At some schools, student organizations receive a lump sum of money that has to last the entire year. At others, groups receive funding on a per-event basis.

STEP TWO: Select an Appropriate Speaker
Once you understand how to get funding, you must choose a speaker. Young America's Foundation can help you choose a speaker based on your funding and topic preference. When sponsoring an event through Young America's Foundation, we ask that you secure a large portion of the funding from school sources or local donors. The Foundation may supply a portion of the honorarium plus the travel and accommodation expenses.

The only conditions for receiving funding from the Foundation are that no funds come from any other national organization and that no admission fee be charged to the lecture. We also ask you to provide the Foundation with color photos of the event, copies of any publicity received from the event, and copies of advertisements, posters and fliers used to promote the event.

We also ask you to display a small Foundation sign on the stage or lectern and make available Foundation literature to those in the lecture hall.

STEP THREE: Finalizing Your Budget to Request School Funding
The next step is to finalize your budget so that you can request funding from the university. Before requesting funds from the school, do some investigating. Find out what the leftist groups on campus receive and request at least that same amount. It is important that conservatives receive as much as liberals.

However, consider what the Left has been doing for years. They have created alliances between sympathetic student groups and student government. The Left's efforts have allowed them to virtually control the funding they receive from the university. The Conservative Movement has not been aggressive enough. Consider how long it took for the Left to gain their current level of support. How long did it take them to build the alliances they currently have? In some instances, it will take time for conservatives to match that level of funding.

You must remember to estimate every expense when creating your budget. In formulating a budget, students occasionally focus only on the speaker's honorarium, forgetting that there are other costs associated with an event. Besides the speaker's honorarium, you will also need to consider costs for advertising, pre-event dinners, receptions, travel and accommodations, and even rental of an auditorium.

STEP FOUR: Book Your Speaker!
Congratulations! Once your funding is confirmed, all you need to do is send an invitation to Young America's Foundation. Your invitation should include:

Information on your group and who you are inviting to speak
What you are offering the speaker for an honorarium and how much you are requesting from Young America's Foundation
Six or seven dates for the speaker to choose from
Expected attendance along with a brief description of your publicity strategies
A tentative schedule outlining the times and events (lecture, dinner, reception) you are requesting the speaker to attend

Please be sure to include all contact information in the invitation. The Foundation will book the speaker for you and will then issue contracts.

The information above is a general outline of the steps you need to take to bring a speaker to your campus. However, please never hesitate to call Patrick Coyle at 800-USA-1776 and he will be happy to answer any of your questions.