This short guide has been created to help you organise your own ‘My Cause Is’ event. Just follow our seven simple steps and you will discover how easy organising an event can be!
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Step 1 - Letter to your Head
- Write a letter to your Head
- Make sure they have received it
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Step 2 - Meeting with your Head
Request a meeting with your Head to:
- Finalise the date
- Choose the time (e.g. instead of assembly, over lunch, afternoon instead of sport, after classes have ended)
- Decide on the venue (e.g. hall, classroom, library, art studio, location outside school / college)
- Select how many and which pupils will take part (if you have loads of people wanting to participate, you can organise more than one event, taking place at the same time in different areas of the building)
- Discuss which adult/s will be invited to take part (take some suggestions to the meeting, e.g. Chair of the School Governors, Local MP if Friday is chosen, Chief Executive of the Council, prominent business director, well-known media presenter / artist)
- Assure the Head that no expenditure will be involved other than a few stamps and telephone calls, and the following request: ask if the school / college will kindly provide some food and drinks for all the participants to enjoy immediately before or after the debate. Or you could always fundraise yourself!
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Step 3 - Invitation to guest adults
- Straight after the meeting with the Head, send a letter to 3 contrasting adults from different professions in the hope that at least 2 will respond positively
- Mention in your letter that you will be ringing them in a few days’ time for their response (this gives you an open door to do so and find out quickly what their answer is / persuade them)
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Step 4 - Announcing the event
- Make a poster highlighting details of the ‘My Cause Is’ event and put it in a few spots where people congregate around the school / college
- Ask people to sign up by a specified date if they wish to take part (so you know what interest there is in the event, and whether you need to organise more than one!)
- A week or so before the event, send all the participants a pack, so they have an idea of who else is taking part and any specific issues you might like them to think about in advance of the debate
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Step 5 - Inform the UKYP office
- As soon as your ‘My Cause Is’ event has been confirmed, notify UKYP’s Backworth office on 0191 200 8250 or doug.hallam@ukyouthparliament.org.uk
- We will require basic details similar to those on your poster, so that we can include your event on the ‘My Cause Is’ website
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Step 6 - Jobs to allocate
If neccesary, find friends to help you, e.g.
- One person to chair the debate
- One or two people to meet and greet the guest adults and look after them until depature
- One person to lay out the room
- One person to contact the local newspaper and TV station, and to look after any media journalists who might attend or photograph the event
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Step 7 - Follow-up after the event
- Send thank you letters to everyone who took part and helped (including your Head!)
- Let UKYP’s Backworth office have a very brief description of the highlights and how the event went for the ‘My Cause Is’ website
- Make sure that everyone in your school / college is somehow made aware of how your event went and what it achieved (e.g. school / college newsletter)
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See - it’s really easy and doesn’t take a huge amount of time to organise your own ‘My Cause Is’ event.
And remember, you will not be the only young person doing this, as all over the UK hundreds of young people will be going through the same check list of tasks trying to produce their own ‘My Cause Is’ event!
So, do please arrange one ... or more!
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If you need any help or advice when organising your UKYP ‘My Cause Is’ event, please contact Doug Hallam:
Tel: 0191 200 8250
Email: doug.hallam@ukyouthparliament.org.uk
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