About Us

Juan's Story

Exonerees Talking

Death Penalty Info

Links

Get Involved

En Español

Press/Media

Tips for Organizing Speaking Events

Introduction

A compelling and inspirational speaker like Juan Melendez

offers an invaluable opportunity to effect powerful

and pervasive anti-death penalty outreach. An event involving such a speaker will also afford your organization an opportunity to grow and diversify its base. To maximize this tremendous potential for outreach and growth, please consider the following points:

Collaboration

Mr. Melendez’s heart-wrenching story of injustice exposes many of the pervasive problems of the death penalty system such as the high risk of executing the innocent and unfair application to people “of color” and the poor. As such it will, of course, attract support among progressive organizations, such as Amnesty International, ACLU, mainline faith groups and criminal defense organizations. However, do not limit your collaborative efforts to these groups. The issue of innocence and unfairness underscored in Mr. Melendez’s case offers a unique opportunity to collaborate with organizations that may not otherwise be open to supporting an anti-death penalty speaking event. These organizations might include, for example, Boys and Girls clubs, Knights of Columbus, YMCA and YWCA, State Hispanic Bar Association or other Latino organizations, such as La Raza, Lulac and Maldef. The latter Latino organizations may welcome involvement in an event featuring a Latino speaker whose story of injustice is particularly relevant to Latino communities.

Collaboration with other organizations is critical to:

• effect widespread publicity of the event thereby ensuring a large and diverse audience
• raising funds to fairly and reasonably compensate the speakers so they can continue to share their powerful messages in other communities.

Commit as Early as Possible

The more time you have, the better you will be able to coordinate with other groups and produce a well organized and highly publicized event that will draw a large audience

Consider Event With “Built-In” Audience if Time is Limited

If you have less than two weeks to organize the event, consider securing a venue with a “built-in” audience, such as a church congregation or youth group, a Boys or Girls Club, a high-school assembly or class, or a university class, such as a sociology, social work, criminal justice, political science, psychology, communications/journalism or law school class. Be innovative and don’t be afraid to ask. After a brief visit with the local priest in my neighboring town of Bernalillo , New Mexico , the local priest not only welcomed an MVFR-NM presentation but made attendance at the presentation a mandatory component of the Confirmation process. As a result, over ninety children between the ages of twelve and eighteen attended the presentation.

Consider Involving a Community Leader or Legislator in the Speaking Event

During Juan Melendez’s visit to New Mexico in September of 2003, invitations to introduce the speaker were extended to strategically important legislators. As a result, two Republican legislators, one a freshman who had co-sponsored the House Repeal Bill and another, also a freshman who is ambivalent about Repeal, accepted the invitation, introduced the speaker, each at a separate event, and witnessed a very powerful presentation. An invitation to attend the speaking event without direct involvement does not seem to be nearly as enticing to legislators.

Resist the Temptation to Over-Schedule

Be careful not to over-schedule the speakers. You should schedule no more than three presentations, reasonably spaced throughout the day. If you have also arranged for one or several media interviews, you should consider limiting the number of speaking engagements accordingly. Sometimes our activist passion and enthusiasm gets the better of us and we can’t resist the temptation to over-schedule these uniquely compelling speakers. This work is emotionally draining at the best of times for all of us but it is particularly draining for exonerated death row inmates and families of murder victims. They are speaking about the most traumatic events in their lives or a prolonged period in their lives where they endured dehumanizing conditions of confinement and we then ask them to relive these horrendous experiences!! It’s emotionally exhausting work and it is important that we recognize this aspect of it.

Besides Speaking Engagements Consider Organizing a Private Meeting With a Group of Key Legislators or Perhaps Even the Governor

As well as providing effective grassroots outreach, a speaker such as Juan Melendez can also provide critical outreach to legislators, other influential community leaders and even governors. Supportive and “ambivalent” legislators who hear Mr. Melendez’s compelling story, may become rejuvenated, reenergized or newly energized champions of Repeal. A governor who is open to meeting with Mr. Melendez and who hears his thought-provoking message might well be less likely to veto a Repeal Bill or sign a death warrant.

High School Venues

Private Catholic High Schools make “natural” venues with “built-in” audiences for an anti-death penalty presentation. These venues require minimal organization. If time permits, however, consider organizing a venue at a public high-school, preferably an assembly rather than an individual class. Mr. Melendez adapts his compelling message when addressing school children at public schools to include a powerful violence prevention component. At the same time, the children will learn about the death penalty system and their very important civic responsibilities as citizens in a democracy.

Checklist for publicizing the public speaking event(s)

• As soon as you have confirmed a venue, check all deadlines for submissions to local and campus newspapers, so that you can post announcements in the community/campus calendars, and/or otherwise advertise the presentation in advance of the event. Usually events can be published free of charge in the calendar of community/campus events

 

• Contact the media early—it may actually be possible for the speaker to do a short telephonic interview which could be published or aired in advance of the speaking event as a way to promote the upcoming event

 

• Contact the local Spanish-language media--a bilingual speaker like Juan Melendez with a compelling message that is particularly relevant to Latino communities will likely attract broad coverage by the Spanish-language media. Outreach to Spanish-speakers is becoming an increasingly important component of the abolition movement and you should try to take full advantage of this opportunity to effect critical outreach

 

• Check deadlines for submitting Public Service Announcements to local radio stations and submit them accordingly

Publicize the events in Church or Temple bulletins.

As soon as you have confirmed the venue, check deadlines for submission of announcements and submit accordingly

Post flyers—divide this task up among the various organizations cosponsoring the event. Strategically important places to post flyers are on church or temple notice boards, community notice boards, and throughout campuses, particularly on relevant department notice boards–such as law schools, sociology, criminal justice, and political science departments.

Send announcements via email networks of all cosponsoring and other interested organizations

Publicize in newsletters of all cosponsoring organizations

Challenge all of your cosponsoring organizations to encourage their members to bring at least one “ambivalent” friend or relative to the presentation.

Make your flyers engaging by emphasizing that this is an inspirational and exceptional story about human resilience, courage, faith, and forgiveness. This is a multidimensional message that extends far beyond an academic exploration of the problems of the death penalty system.