Campus Events
 

Goals:

• To GAIN EXPOSURE as a club.
• To BUILD RELATIONSHIPS with fellow students on either side of the issue.
• To INFORM your campus on the different life issues and get people to critically assess these issues.
• To INSPIRE fellow pro-lifers to join the club and become active in the pro-life arena.
• To SAVE LIVES.

Preliminary notes:

- If events need a lot of space or if they are on a special date like the Roe vs. Wade anniversary, make sure to start reserving the space needed a semester in advance. Pro-choice groups may attempt to reserve these spaces to hinder pro-life groups from holding their events.
- Each event suggestion in the Events section is organized into the different tasks needed to complete the event successfully. You will want to delegate these tasks according to officer/member interests and duties.
- Make sure to take pictures at all your events so you can post them on the club website and also email a few to donors to show everyone the different things the club is doing. It also makes for a good end of the semester slideshow!
- Don't be discouraged if an event doesn't work out. Remember that if only one person was affected by the event, your work was not in vain! Think of the lives that could be saved because of that individual and through him/her others are affected as well!
 

Bringing a Speaker(s)

 

Before Event Task List:

1. Decide on desired topic (see list of topic suggestions below).
2. Decide on format in which to host the speaker(s):

a. Panel Discussion
b. Lecture
c. Debate
d. Symposium
e. Training - this is something that cannot be stressed enough. Training offers members ways to dialogue about the issue instead of ending up in shouting matches. It offers relevant facts as well as what are the most common arguments against life and how to talk about those.

3. Decide on a speaker. For a list of speakers at AZRTL and other recommended speakers, visit the site: www.AZRTL.org. Feel free to check out other well-known speakers but make sure they are 100% pro-life (you can always ask us at AZRTL). If they are very expensive, try and get your event co-sponsored by other clubs or local pro-life organizations to help split the cost. See: Potential Co-Sponsoring Organizations under Resources.

4. Reserve the campus space you need. Make sure to do this ahead of time, especially if you're reserving a lot of outdoor space or a large lecture hall.

5. Book speaker(s). For AZRTL speakers, email Melanie.LEC@gmail.com.

a. Generally, booking a speaker should be done a month or two in advance at the minimum. Keep in mind also that well-known speakers who live out of town sometimes need to be booked several months to a year in advance. Local AZRTL speakers can be booked a week or two in advance in emergency cases.

6. Design, make copies, post, and distribute flyers (for flyer ideas see: Flyer suggestions under Resources).
 

7. Spread the word by word of mouth - work through your network of people on and off campus, inviting them and telling them to invite others as well (depending how large you want the event and what audience you intend it for).

8. Also, if you can, make some posters to place at & near the event site to help direct attendees on the day of the event.
 

9. Put speaker stipend (if one is requested) along with a thank you card from the club.

10. Make sure to have water bottles for the speaker(s).
 

11. Purchase whatever snacks & refreshments you want to offer. Make sure to make someone in charge of picking up the food if you have any served at the event.

During Event Task List:

1. Set up posters near and at the event site.
 

2. Have a table set up with information on your club. See: Tabling under Resources.
 

3. Place the water bottle(s) for the speaker(s) by the area they will be speaking at.
 

4. When it's time, welcome everyone and introduce speaker.
 

5. After the speaker is finished, make sure to thank the speaker and the audience for attending, announce any upcoming events, and invite people to stop by your table on the way out to get more information on the issue and the club.

After Event Task List:
 

1. Email anyone who signed up with upcoming events and when the next meeting is.

Speaker Topics

- Abortion

o Post-Abortion Stress Syndrome
o Breast Cancer Link
o History of Planned Parenthood & Its Real Agenda/Margaret Sanger-Eugenics Connection
o Counseling Abortion-Minded Men & Women
o Dialoguing with Pro-Choicers
o Sidewalk Counseling/Organizing Groups Outside Abortion Facilities

- Stem-cell Research
- Euthanasia
- Assisted Suicide

Watch Elena Grow

Post flyers on campus showing a baby’s fetal development. See Harvard Right to Life for poster examples. You can do this over a course of days, weeks, or all in one day. You may want to put your email & website as a small footnote here too or have a table during this poster campaign.

Movie Night

Examples of movies include: Amazing Grace, Bella, Documentaries…
 

Newspaper Inserts

Do newspaper inserts in your campus paper. Human Life Alliance has some inserts (www.HumanLife.org/index.php). This may be costly so make sure to raise donations for this. You may want to do this during a week that you will be tabling.
 

Take a Poll while Tabling

Before Event Task List:

1. Make sure members get training in how to dialogue about abortion before this event. See item #1 from Keeping Current Members Actively Involved in the Club under Membership.

2. Reserve a space during peak hours. 11am-1pm is a good time frame depending on the campus.

3. Materials needed:

• 3 pieces of poster board (the sturdier the better): 2’ x 3’. On one of the signs paint/write “NO” in big letters, on another write “YES”, and another write “Should Abortion Stay Legal?”
• 2 Pens/2 pads of paper/ Paint or pens to create posters
• Have two pads of paper and write at the top of each page:
Name - Reason - Email
 

Other questions can be:
- Should abortion remain legal through all 9 months of pregnancy?
- Does life begin at conception?

During Event Task List:

1. Have a few people by the poll and some by the table. Make sure to engage all those who stop by to answer the question.

2. If they answer “no” to keeping abortion legal, ask them if they consider themselves pro-life, and if they say they do, ask if they think abortion is wrong for all 9 months of pregnancy. If they are not fully pro-life, then you still have some more dialoging to do. However, if they need to leave, make sure to extend an invitation to your club meetings and other upcoming events.

3. If they answer “yes” to keeping abortion legal, ask them why they think that or if they think that to be the case even for partial birth abortion. If they are unwilling to enter into conversation, it’s okay. Be respectful and graciously thank them for participating. If they are willing to talk, make sure to be gracious in the way you handle the conversation and make sure to keep your cool. Make sure to get training in advance on how to dialogue about abortion to be most effective.

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone and invite to club meetings and upcoming events.
 

Post Informational Flyers

Post flyers listing local crisis pregnancy centers and/or rape hotlines in bathroom stalls (if this is allowed). See: Lists of where to volunteer under for local centers’ info.

Try to do this during a week that you can table to be available to answer any questions. Maybe bring a pregnancy counselor to sit with your club during peak hours that week. See AZRTL's list of clinics that can provide counselors.
 

Roe vs. Wade Anniversary Commemoration

On January 22nd or near that date, AZRTL holds a rally or vigil to commemorate the lives lost to abortion. Call the AZRTL office at (602) 285-0063 or visit the website (www.AZLifeRally.com) to find out more details on the upcoming commemoration. Find out these dates ahead of time and make sure to do this as a group.

Also make sure to commemorate the anniversary on campus by tabling that week and bringing a speaker or other such activity.
 

Celebrate National Pro-Life T-Shirt Day

Before Event Task List:

1. Reserve space on campus for the date or the week of the date: April 29th.
 

2. Make sure to order t-shirts for everyone in the club ahead of time, so they can all wear them on that day. If you have the funding, order extra t-shirts to sell during that week.

a. To purchase pro-life t-shirts or create your own, check out: Refuge Clothing or Heritage House.

During Event Task List:

1. The most common activity is to table during this week and sell pro-life t-shirts.
 

2. If you don't do the funding ahead of time to sell shirts while tabling, make sure to wear your pro-life shirt as a sample for those who want to order shirts that week. Make sure to collect the money and their information for the shirts before ordering them! This way you don't end up ordering shirts that you can't pay for.
 

3. Set a date when they can come by the table to pick up their shirts. Make sure to talk to the manufacturer ahead of time to see how long it would take to have several orders ready.

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone who signed up for the club and also those who signed up for t-shirts. Remind them when they can pick up their orders.

2. The day before you have the orders on campus, call everyone who ordered t-shirts to remind them to pick up their shirts the following day.
 

3. MAKE SURE TO INVITE ALL WHO ORDERED SHIRTS TO THE CLUB MEETINGS AND EVENTS!
 

Baby Drive

Before Event Task List:

1. Contact a local crisis pregnancy center or women’s shelter. See list of centers. Make sure to let them know ahead of time to see, first of all, if they are accepting donations at that moment and if they have specific requests for donation items. See: Lists of where to volunteer under Volunteering.

2. Make flyers with information on the baby drive. Include the dates and the time frame you will be available to take donations and include your club email (make sure to check it during the week). Run the drive for at least a week to give people time to find out about the drive and bring their items.

3. Get materials needed:

• At least one poster to announce the drive
• A few donation items and a box to hold these
• Flyers to post ahead of time around campus and also to hand out during the week while tabling

During Event Task List:

Set up your club table and place the poster announcing the baby drive and a few donation items either to the side of the table or on part of the table (depending on how much space you have).

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone who signed up for the club invitations to upcoming events and club meetings.

2. Thank anyone who donated items and left their information with the club.

Chalking Footprints & Quotes on Sidewalk

Before Event Task List:

1. Contact the school grounds manager to obtain permission.

2. Set a date and time to do the chalking. The best thing is to plan this activity early in the morning before students start arriving or at the end of the day when most are gone.

3. Make sure to get as many volunteers as you can get to help out so that it doesn’t take too long to finish the chalking.

4. Get the materials needed:

• Chalk
• Several copies of quote lists (see below)
• Stencils of footprints and/or hearts

Some quote/phrase suggestions:

- Please don't ignore the humanity of the unborn.
- "When a man imposes his will upon another with complete disregard for the other's body, it is called RAPE. When a women imposes her will upon another with disregard for the other's body, it is called ABORTION." - Unknown
- "Abortion clinic workers often experience haunting auditory hallucinations. Imagine the roar of 40 million tiny voices, all in unison, crying out from the womb: 'I want to live. I do not want to die.'" - Michelle Malkin
- Every 4 seconds FIVE BABIES die all around the world. - statistics from Alan Guttmacher Institute
- "I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion is already born." - Ronald Reagan
 

Fact Sheet Flyers

Before Event Task List:

1. Look up different facts about the issue at AZRTL's site.

2. Decide on which facts you find the most interesting or compelling. Some good ones are:

a. 48% of women who have abortions have had a previous abortion.
b. Did you know there’s a heartbeat 24 days/3weeks after conception?
c. 93% of abortions are for social or economic reasons (not health related).
d. Over 3500 abortions are performed daily.
e. Over 40 million abortions have occurred in the U.S. since abortion was legalized in 1973.

3. Create and print out fact sheets. You can make each fact sheet a quarter of a whole 8” x 11” sheet so that you get 4 fact sheets per page.

a. Easiest thing to do is to make a prototype page and make copies of it. You can make the prototype by hand or in a Word document.
b. Each fact sheet should have:

i. One fact in large letters (you can preface the fact with “Did you know…?” in larger letters).
ii. Club name, website, and email as footnotes.
 

Note: Many of the facts on the fact sheets at the AZRTL website come from the Alan Guttmacher Institute which is a pro-choice research organization affiliated with Planned Parenthood. It's good to note that if you're using pro-choice statistics and they still look pretty bad, something's definitely urgent about this issue.

During Event Task List:

1. Have members go in pairs to the busiest areas of campus during the busiest hours and have them stand on opposite sides of the sidewalk handing out the fact sheets.

2. Also, have a table set up the day(s) that you hand out flyers with several members available to answer questions.

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone who signed up for the club invitations to upcoming events and club meetings.

Friendly Graphic Displays

Before Event Task List:

1. Contact and reserve a display.

a. To learn more about the Life Matters display, contact Chris White at: chris@arizonastudentsforlife.org.
b. AZRTL is also working on a display. Double-check at the office if it is ready when you want to hold your event.

2. Make sure members get training in how to dialogue about abortion before this event. See item #1 from Keeping Current Members Actively Involved in the Club under Membership.

During Event Task List:

1. Have members available to dialogue standing near the display as well as some at the club table.

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone who signed up for the club invitations to upcoming events and club meetings.

Cemetery of the Innocents

Before Event Task List:

1. Contact school grounds manager to obtain permission.
 

2. Ideally have members get training in how to dialogue about abortion before this event. See item #1 from Keeping Current Members Actively Involved in the Club under Membership.
 

3. Purchase or borrow materials needed (AZRTL may have materials you can borrow).

• 35 or 50 little U.S. flags or crosses.
• At least one 2’x3’ poster (optionally several more). One explaining the cemetery and the others with quotes. See: Chalking footprints & quotes on sidewalk above.

During Event Task List:

1. Line up small crosses or flags on a busy lawn area on campus to represent the millions that have died from abortions. You can line up 50 flags, each flag representing 1 million babies who have died since 1973 or 35 flags, each flag representing 100 babies that die per day from abortions.
 

2. Place the poster explaining the cemetery by the club table or on a corner of the lawn. For pictures, see Students for Life (ASU) pictures on Facebook or see Harvard RTL’s pics.

3. Optionally, have the posters with quotes along the sides of the lawn.
 

4. Have the club table set up with several members available to talk to students who want to find out more about the club or about the abortion statistics.
 

5. Take some pictures of your setup to post on the club website.

After Event Task List:

Email everyone who signed up for the club invitations to upcoming events and club meetings. Also, show them pictures from the event.
 

Tabling

Before Event Task List:

1. Reserve space ahead of time during peak hours and in the busiest and most visible sections of campus, either outdoors or indoors.

2. Have some visuals that attract attention. E.g. make a club banner.
 

3. Put together materials for the table. Some table items include:

• Brochures
• Plastic 12 week models w/ fact cards
• Baby feet pins
• Borrow models or library books or videos
• Club sign up sheet (ask for name, phone number, email, and whether they want to be on the "newsletter" or "member" list, see: side note under Suggested Officer Positions & Descriptions under Membership)
• Business cards
• Flyers for upcoming events

Come by the AZRTL office to pick up whatever materials you need. Give us a call at: (602) 285-0063. If you can’t stop by, let us know, and we can get them to you. See AZRTL's site for a list of some of the brochures & baby models we have available.

During Event Task List:

1. Try to engage everyone that passes by. Do this by simply saying "hello" or by handing out flyers for an upcoming event.
 

After Event Task List:

1. Email everyone who signed up for the club invitations to upcoming events and club meetings.