This page shows information about what preparations we take on our Great Unleashing event (or Planting the Seed).

———————————
Great Unleashing Subcommittee

February 23rd

John, Rick, Betsy, Bernard, Patty

-Chatted with Tina over the phone for a bit, she will be coming to one of our meetings soon.

-The goal of this meeting is to develop a framework to strategize the great unleashing

-Outreach is a priority. We need to get our name out there

-We spent some time discussing Bernard’s proposal that we should have monthly events between now and the GU. He suggests 3 types of monthly events based on his previous experience in New Haven:

-Movie

-Skill sharing (set schedule)

-Walk (getting to know your bioregion)

If we did this, we would need to locate a venue. John will check out Unitarian space (Green sanctuary: Ann Perkins) and library. Betsy will check with the first congregational church

Some ideas: Watch the film: The economics of happiness, organize some sort of tour of CSAs? There may be a solar installation in the old landfill. We could plan a site visit with the sustainability people? We could do different walks: Historical, herbal, forest edibles.

Outreach is a big thing:

We need to do awareness raising, movement building, etc to have a successful unleashing.

We need to reach three types of people (in preparation for GU):

1. Like-minded organizations

-Talk with the leaders of groups (Schmoozing)

(including Town/University outreach: maybe this could become a working group on its own)

-Cosponsoring events (Movies, walks, etc) invite them to lead it

-Diversity outreach? Latino, African American, disadvantaged

We already have a list of groups that we can use.

2. Like-minded people (The choir)

-Monthly events

-Transition list

-Individual connection

-Growth group

3. General public: Nice if they come but they might not be a focus of our work: Student outreach? Farmer’s market, Hand out flyer, tabling, banner? Media coverage? Letters to the editor, E-mail lists, flyers, newspaper, etc.

(outreach to families, younger children?, common school, Hitchcock center, Waldorf school?). Rick wants to help create flyers for leaving information when we go out.

-Amherst sustainability festival presence: April 21st (Maybe a film that night or a speaker… getting the sustainability coordinator more involved? Maybe she can do a little presentation about sustainability plans in Amherst).

This type of reach is a build up for the actual day, but we will need publicity for the event as we get closer to the date: Flyers, press releases, valley free radio shows, etc.

Identify the venue for GU: (Gabrielle, Ophelia-?-) A public school may be a good idea. A place with separate rooms for break out sessions, and big gymnasium for bigger talks, etc.

Potential dates? What are the other events that happen in town during that time?

September 16/23/30 Saturday/Sunday?

Logistics: The day of: (Wedding planner role). Lots of stuff in this category as well. We need to divide this in some way that makes sense. Tables, chairs, food, technology, set up, clean-up. Child-care (on-site: one room- college students), Registration desk, Big board, etc. Printing signs for the break out rooms. Food: Maybe ask for donations from a vendor, ask them to come and sell their stuff.

Deciding on an MC (someone to hold the space, but also a spokesperson).

Entertainment! (sub-committee): Identify some sort of musical entertainment for the end of the evening.

Reporting the day of or day after?

Rick wrote a song for the event and we practiced a bit.