Suggestions for Organizing and Hosting a House Party

From the Institute for Responsible Technology

Introduction:

Hosting a house party with the GMO Trilogy can be easy and is a great way to inform others about the hazards of GMOs. This can be as simple as inviting people to your house, showing a movie and talking about it. If you can’t do this at your home, you may be able to find a friend who wants to host the event, or possibly a health food store, library, church or restaurant. In any case, you may want to enlist help from friends and make this a group effort and a fun activity.

The key point is to inform lots of people about this important issue. Knowledge has organizing power. When exposed to the information in these films, you or others may also be inspired to start a local campaign.

You don’t need to be personally interested in becoming the organizer of a campaign in order to host a screening. And you certainly don’t need to be an expert on genetic engineering. The videos speak for themselves. If someone asks a question that you don’t know the answer to, you can direct them to our websites. And for larger meetings, consider arranging a live conference call after the film to allow a question and answer session with an “expert.”

Selecting a film from the GMO Trilogy:

You have a choice of which DVD in the Trilogy to screen: Unnatural Selection (60 min.), Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals (28 min.) or both. We recommend that your group have at least two screening parties, each focused on a different film.

When we have shown Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals, it has inspired a significant percentage of the viewers to want to work on a local GM-Free School Campaign. We can help with this. We have lots of pointers, a How-to Kit, etc. More is described about this at the end of this document. If you have an interest in GM-Free School Campaigns, contact Kevin.anderson@responsibletechnology.org 

House Party Tips

Planning to Party

First think about why this issue is important to you. Identify why you are passionate about it. This can be conveyed to others throughout the planning, invitations, event and follow-up. It’s magnetic.

1. Ask friends to help you plan. You can even list them as a “host committee” on the invitation to attract more people who will recognize the names.
2. Consider refreshment alternatives with non-GM or organic food
   

   • Potluck
   • Prepared at home
   • Purchased
   • Donated by local restaurants, co-ops, natural food stores or farmers. (They are often eager to sponsor events like this with food and they might like to attend as well.)
   • Consider a dinner, brunch, wine-tasting, chocolate-tasting, tea party, etc.
3. Invitations
   

   • In general the more personal contact the better, but email is also very effective in sending directions and other details.
   • We have created a sample invitation that you can send by email or snail mail. Include an end time so folks know what to expect. We have one each for the two films:
         Hidden Dangers: http://www.seedsofdeception.com/DocumentFiles/105.pdf
         Unnatural Selection: http://www.seedsofdeception.com/DocumentFiles/106.pdf)
   • Consider setting up a phone tree where your friends call their friends.
   • If you have room for lots of people at your party, you can ask organizations to send the invitation to their list serves.
   • Let us know about your event and location and we may be able to connect you with contacts in your area.  Contact Kevin.anderson@responsibletechnology.org for more information. 
4. Suggested Materials
   
   • Sign up sheets (We’ve got a template for you that asks people about their level of interest in a local GM-Free School Campaign, resources, etc. We also have a web-based database for your local campaign where this information can be entered and reviewed by the local organizer. See our How-To Kit.)
   • Clipboards and pens
   • Copies of our audio CD, You’re Eating What? These are excellent tools to spread the word about GMOs. People can listen to them in their cars AND burn copies for their friends. You can burn copies of the CD, using the disc contained in The GMO Trilogy or by downloading it from www.seedsofdeception.com/utility/showArticle/?objectID=90. You can also order them in bulk on the site. Note: Distributing the CDs in advance of the house party will also inspire more attendance.     
   • Copies of our newsletter, “Spilling the Beans.” These are available to print from our website: http://www.responsibletechnology.org.
   • Name tags and markers
   • You may want to have extra GMO Trilogies so that others can buy them and host their own house parties or pass them around. They are offered in boxes of 6 at www.seedsofdeception.com. Other educational products are there as well.
     
5. Invitation Checklist 
          __Give directions and possibly a link to a map from www.mapquest.com, 
            pasted into an email.
        __Ask for an RSVP so you know how many are coming.
        __Ask recipients to invite others and to suggest local organizations that can help 
            spread the word.
            Include:
               __The date with day of the week
               __Time
               __Address of the house party
               __Your phone number and email address

Sample Scenario

1. Welcome guests, allow guests to mingle for 15-30 minutes.
2. Welcome and Introductions.
3. Show “Unnatural Selection” (60 min.) and/or “Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals” DVD (28 min.)
4. For a small group, do introductions.
5. Mention the time you plan to wrap up the discussion, and ask them sign in before they leave.
6. Ask for a person to take notes for any ideas or action steps that come up.
7. Ask for reactions to the video and questions.
8. Solicit ideas for showing the videos to more people in the community: additional house parties, showings at events or meetings, etc.
9. Consider action steps and local campaigns, or introduce the GM-Free Schools Campaign (see How-to Kit).
10. Ask who wants to be involved and in what capacity.
11. Circulate the sign up sheet, which includes questions related to interest level.
12. Plan a follow-up meeting for those wanting to move forward.
13. Thank your volunteers and donors, as well as your guests, for coming, wrap up.     

Our GM-Free Schools Campaign Action Kit contains more detailed advice on how to facilitate the meeting and various strategies for local action.

A Local GM-Free Schools Campaign

With the epidemic of obesity and diabetes as well as the increased medication of children for ADHD and depression, the focus on kids’ diet and school meals is now “on fire” in the US. It is an excellent time to alert your community about the unique and serious dangers that GMOs also pose to children’s health. Hidden Dangers in Kids’ Meals accomplishes this and is a great tool to launch a GM-Free School Campaign in your area.

You can use it to alert parents as well as to educate groups or individuals in your community that are working to: remove pesticides and junk food from schools, improve funding for food services/food quality, and/or improve gardening and nutrition education. Ideally, you might form a coalition of likeminded people and organizations that collectively reach out to uninformed groups as well as public officials to accomplish the goal.

The Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT) can support your efforts with How-to kits and your own local website and list serve. Our kit will help you strategize as well as help you organize events. The first phase of a local campaign is simply to educate consumers in your community, build a data base of resources including a list of supporters, and to create fun and inspiring meetings and events. Your house party is one way to achieve this.

Please contact the GM-Free Schools Campaign Director, Kevin Anderson, for more information about obtaining this kit: Kevin.Anderson@responsibletechnology.org.

In addition to our GM-Free School Campaign, we are also reaching out to faith-based groups. If you are interested in working in this area, please contact Susan Bower our Special Projects Coordinator: susan@responsibletechnology.org.

Having The GMO Trilogy available in health food stores is vitally important to get the word out to those who are health conscious shoppers, but unaware of the issues related to GM food. Please invite your local stores to carry the product. We have an invitation prepared that you can print out (http://www.seedsofdeception.com/DocumentFiles/104.pdf )

To learn more about GM foods and crops (which may be helpful to do before the house party), review all sections of The GMO Trilogy and look through the archives of our newsletter Spilling the Beans as well as other material available at www.responsibletechnology.org and www.seedsofdeception.com.

If you have not already, please consider supporting the Institute’s campaigns by making a donation. You will be supporting our work to inform people and organize campaigns so that we can quickly end the genetic engineering of our food supply and the outdoor release of GM crops. The situation is urgent, but the solution is at hand. For a donation of only $25 you can become a member of our Institute and receive a copy of The GMO Trilogy. Learn more here.

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