Facilitator's Tip Sheet

Tip Sheet for Facilitators of Guild Meetings

Note: It's OK to have a co-facilitator and share these tasks!

In advance

Six weeks in advance

Contact the speaker(s) to confirm the time and date, ask for the title of their talk, and formulate a blurb (a few sentences describing the talk, the speaker’s background, etc.).

Four or five weeks in advance

Send the blurb and title to info@edsguild.org so our Administrative Pooh-bah can post it on the Guild’s Web site. The Pooh-bah will also email the blurb to Hugo House to be included in their event listings, and later will send it out to all Guild members via the edsguild listserv.

If this event is of interest to audiences beyond our membership and should be widely publicized:

	Please indicate that when you send the blurb to info@edsguild.org.
	At least two weeks before the event, email a meeting notice to the media outlets shown on our publicity list.
	The publicity list also contains several listservs of sister groups; ask the Guild members indicated to post a notice to those lists about the meeting.
	If you will not be able to do this, please let our Administrative Pooh-bah know so we can assign the task to another person.

Before the event day

	Contact Miriam Bulmer (mbnwpp@aol.com) to make sure she has enough Elliott Bay gift certificates for the speaker(s) (let her know how many there will be).
	Ask for a volunteer from the steering committee to be the go-to person for people at the meeting who want to join the Guild.
	Make sure you have a few brochures and membership applications; arrange to get them or have someone else bring them if you don't.
	Consider bringing disposable cups, utensils, and plates (about 20 of each) to the meeting, so as not to be at the mercy of Hugo House's ever-varying supply.

Meeting night!

Set up a glass of water for each speaker.

Make sure there are at least 25 chairs in the room (not all need to be set out, if you are not sure there will be that many attending; some chairs can be left stacked in a corner). Set up a few near the door and put “reserved for latecomers” signs on them, to minimize disruption once the meeting has begun.

Welcome the speaker(s) when they arrive. If Miriam is present, introduce them so she can give them their gift for speaking, an Elliott Bay gift certificate. If Miriam can't make the meeting, take the address of the speaker(s) and relay this to Miriam afterward (her contact info is in our online membership directory).

As people arrive with food, if there is finger food that would be easy to pass around during the meeting, consider putting that on the central table where people are sitting.

At 6:30 p.m.

Do your best to call the meeting to order on time. Welcome everyone, including guests (folks from Hugo House, etc.), new members, first-time attendees.

Give a brief description/promotion of the Guild:

Founded in 1997 by two Seattle freelance editors

Now has more than 200 members in Washington, Oregon, and Alaska (OK, one member in Alaska)

Mention a few of the great things we do, such as:

	bimonthly meetings for the Seattle-area as well as meetings for the South Sound and Portland areas
	Guild conference
	Web site with Job Board
	online directory with short profiles of all our members
	listed in Yellow Pages (760-EDIT)
	listserv that facilitates info exchange and networking
	teach courses through Discover U
	have a presence at book festivals like the recent Wordstock in Portland

Membership from January to December is a mere $30/year

Run by a volunteer steering committee (acknowledge SC members present); invite attendees to talk to any SC member afterward if they have questions about the Guild

Encourage anyone in the room who isn't currently a member to get an application, or to renew a lapsed membership. Identify the steering committee member (or Anne Moreau if she's present) who can take applications or membership dues.

Announce upcoming meetings. Complete info on Web site.

Whew! Now tell everyone the structure of the meeting:

Introductions

Speaker/panel

Q&A after talk or during it, depending on speaker/panel's preference

Half hour of social time to allow talking with other members or informally with the speaker, and further eating

Ask Is there a Guild member would like to take notes? You get free membership next year.

	Stress that the notetaker should be a Guild member (as opposed to a guest attending for the first time).
	All they have to do is type up the notes when they get home and e-mail them to info@edsguild.org; they will then be reviewed and posted on the Meeting Archives section of our Web site.
	Let people think about it during Intros, then ask again at end of Introductions.

Introductions

	As members introduce themselves, start the finger food going around.
	At the end, invite latecomers to introduce themselves.
	Ask for notetaker (a Guild member) again!
	Introduce the speaker(s)

--Fascinating presentation and Q&A--

At end of presentation

	Thank the speaker on behalf of the group, and thank all for coming (clap clap clap)
	Invite people to socialize, get more food, people can stay till 9 (they don't usually)
	Make sure Miriam gets the speaker's address.
	Get the email address of the notetaker, so you can follow up if notes don't materialize within a week or so (this hasn't happened yet, but just in case!).

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