• membership
• events
• get active in your community
• community meetings

community meetings

If you have found there is strength of feeling for your proposed activity amongst people known to you, it might be useful to assess how committed the wider community is to achieving your goals. An open invite to people in your community to discuss the issue could help you gauge support for your activity.

Advertise

When advertising a meeting, bear in mind who you want to attract and what will motivate these people to come. Place yourself in their shoes – if you saw a poster or leaflet advertising a meeting to tackle an issue in your community, what would make you attend?

Useful tip

Advertise the meeting in a place common to the people who you hope will attend. For example, if the activity relates to a local school, advertise in an area where parents wait to collect their children. Local newspapers may allow you to place a free press release or you could contact local voluntary groups that might have regular mailing lists. Local retailers might display or even distribute a leaflet or poster.

Organising the meeting – timing and structure

It is crucial to have a clear purpose and a defined outcome for the meeting. Timing is also important, since people must know how much time they are committing to.

It is also essential to have a defined structure. You might want to chair the meeting, introducing people and discussing why you have called it. If you make it clear that you are chairing the meeting from the outset, you will be in a position to ensure that it proceeds punctually and keeps to its designated purpose. A chair-person with an open, facilitative style is essential at your first meeting, as you can make sure that everyone has a chance to speak – people are more likely to attend again if they have been heard.

Consider whether there are any guest speakers with specific knowledge that could add value to your meeting. A police officer, local councillor or council officer with responsibility for certain issues, ie highways, recycling or housing, could give your meeting credibility and address certain issues that you may have.

Useful tip

Keep a record of who has attended the meeting, and their contact details. You should contact those who attended to thank them for their contributions and keep them updated on any progress – this will help keep momentum for your activity. However, remember to make clear the reason you are collecting details and assure them that personal data collected will remain confidential and will not be used for any other purposes.

Public speaking

Talking to large groups of people is a challenge. Here are some ideas to help you get your message across:

• Put yourself in your audience’s shoes – what do they know already? If you were listening, what would make you find it interesting; what would you find boring?
• Don’t keep your audience guessing about your point – tell them your message up front and expand on it
• Decide on whether you will use a script or notes. What style makes you most comfortable?
• Make use of any visual aids, ie photos, graphs, etc. A picture or diagram speaks a thousand words
• Practise the presentation at least once
• Look at your audience frequently, and vary your voice patterns and body movement to keep them engaged
• If someone asks you a question you cannot answer, admit to this and offer to investigate rather than attempting to blind your audience with science.

Find out about organising an event to get your meeting off the ground.