Find Partners

Like-minded partners will strengthen your marketing and outreach capabilities and create a more powerful community screening.

• Local Partners: Consider partnering with other local schools or universities, parent groups, and educational organizations. Use the One-Pager to explain the movement when reaching out to prospective partners.

Date & Time

• Day of the Week: We have found that weeknights are ideal for public screening events. Make sure to allow at least 20 minutes for your post-film discussion or activity. The film is 89 minutes long, so plan accordingly.
• Other events: Check school, community and religious holiday calendars to ensure that your selected date doesn’t conflict with another major event likely to draw the same audience.
• Speakers: If you have a specific speaker in mind for your post-film discussion, check their availability before solidifying your event date and booking your venue.

Venue

Most of our screenings are held in school auditoriums, local theaters, or community centers. When choosing a venue, consider:

• Screening Equipment: If you are not screening in a movie theater, you will need to secure a fully equipped venue with a DVD or Blu-Ray player, a projector, a screen, and a sound system. Make sure you have requested the correct DVD type for your venue’s equipment (BluRay or regular). You will receive your DVD at least one week prior to your event in order to test it at your venue and troubleshoot any issues.
• Discussion Equipment: Depending on the size of your venue and your plans for discussion, you may need microphone(s), batteries, cables, HDMI adapters to connect your laptop, flip charts or post-it notes and markers.
• Set Up: The screening room should not be so large that it inhibits personal interaction (particularly if community building is one of your goals). If seats are moveable, try to arrange your audience in a way that facilitates conversation. If you plan to break your audience into smaller groups after the screening, be sure the facility can accommodate this. 
• Internet: If you plan to Skype in a speaker or encourage your audience to send Tweets or Facebook updates about the film, make sure your venue has an open WiFi network. 
• Accessibility: Your venue should be wheelchair accessible.

Promotion

• Whether your event is public or private, our promotional tools will help you build and communicate with your audience. Check out the Event Promotion section to get started.

The Event

• Refreshments: Everybody likes free food. Including “free food” on your invitation can improve turnout. If your event is hosted by a non-profit, local grocery stores or restaurants are often happy to donate refreshments.
• Signage: Print out the Film Poster and post it in and around the venue so people know they are in the right place and can easily find the room you are using.
• Registration: Set up a registration desk by the door so attendees can easily sign in. Use the Sign Up Sheets that came with your DVD (also in your Toolkit) and invite the audience to provide their email addresses so they can stay updated. Alternatively, place an iPad or laptop outside of the theatre entrance so attendees can enter their names and emails directly into a spreadsheet.
• Playbill: Hand out the Playbills that came with your DVD (also in your Toolkit). This will give audience members some background on the film so that the post-film discussion can focus on your community. Each Playbill will also have an interactive challenge, so make sure to hand out pens or pencils as well! If you will have a particularly large audience (100+), please print extra Playbills.
• Slideshow: Download the Slideshow in your toolkit and have it looped on your screen as audience members arrive to spark interesting conversations right away!
• Discussion: The Discussion Guide in your toolkit will show you how to introduce the film and facilitate a meaningful post-film conversation or activity for your audience. In it, you will find in-depth instructions and an extensive collection of suggested prompts.

Follow-Up

• Check In: Let us know how it went! Be sure to tag us in any photos on Facebook or Twitter, and if you collected any email addresses via a sign-in sheet, please send them to us at info@mltsfilm.org.  
• Thank You’s: Send a thank you email to your audience within 24 hours of your event. Remind folks of any action steps you identified at your screening, tell them how they can get involved, and be sure to share the Innovation Playlist with them! Check out the Social Media Kit for sample language to use.