Managing Speakers

You've heard from a speaker and they've accepted your invitation! What's next?

Venue planning

Pick a venue that suits the size of your expected audience
Consider accessibility for all of your members.
Make sure it has a mic and sound system available if the audience will be larger than 10.
Look for a space that will hold your members comfortably and that will not be noisy.
Book your venue space. (Ask for the agreement or confirmation in writing).
Confirm with the venue a week ahead of the event.

Introduce Democrats Abroad to your speaker

Make sure your speaker knows about DA and member interests. Provide talking points and FAQ answers prior to the meeting.
If you're hosting an event that includes high dollar donors, consider providing brief bios and pics of these donors to the speaker ahead of time.

Coordinate connections with the speaker's team

Make sure you know when they will be arriving in town
Ask the team contact if the speaker will need food and/or a snack.
Make sure you have their email and a phone number/whatsapp connection to reach them through
Make sure they know how to best reach the venue
Ask them to ping you (or one of your volunteers) as they are heading over to your event and when they arrive so you can personally greet the speaker

During the event

Personally greet your speaker as they arrive

Make sure your speaker has someone assigned to them as a helper. This person should

Provide names and brief talking points about the people they are meeting to the speaker.*
Be sure to introduce special hosts of the meeting to the speaker
Be able to keep the flow of introductions going, so that the speaker is not monopolized.
Make sure the speaker is comfortable and has the appropriate beverages/snacks (delegate the actual procurement)

The most senior person from DA should introduce the speaker. The intro should:

Be short, relevant to the audience, and enthusiastic.
Avoid being a recap of their wiki intro. Ideally bring in a point you've learned by talking to the speaker's team or the speaker prior to the intro.
If the speaker has lived abroad, definitely highlight that point!

After the event

Make sure to thank everyone. Include

Other notes

It's best to not mix big speakers together in one event unless you have asked them from the start to participate in a joint event.

*Sample dialogue: (Name of your guest) I'd like you to meet (DA member), s/he's from (state) and lives in (city or country).