Amazing event venue, experiential fundraising and some poetry!

Poetry slam. “What on earth is that?” I thought to myself when I got an invite to the finals in London last weekend. Not knowing what it was, but guessing it was something about poetry, I decided to go because it is something I have never done before.

Exploring new things.

Wow, what a great night.

For those of you who don’t know, a poetry slam is an event where poets showcase their talents and compete for the title of National Poetry Champion. They have to speak for 3 and a half minutes or less and ‘wow’ the audience with their words. The audience then cheer and have representatives who vote based on their judgment and the applause of the audience.

Of course my first thought of this was that it would be what I term old fashioned poetry, the stuff I didn’t want to learn in English at school. What I discovered by pushing my boundaries and trying it out, was that it was very ‘modern’ poetry, political, funny and explored some important social issues. I was absolutely blown away by it.

I had heard the term ‘spoken word’ before, and although this was quite clearly poetry, as it has to follow the ‘form’ of poetry, I like the term and helps me put what I saw into a more modern context. Basically it helps me get over my stereotype that ‘poetry’ is for old romantics, who write in a way I can’t understand.

So back to the detail of the night…

The talent in that room was beyond expectation and I will go again.

The highlights of the night for me were:

A 16 year old boy, who talked about hardship of being homeless and how staying positive had helped solve that situation. I assumed he was talking about himself as the emotion and feeling painted a very vivid picture through his words.

A guy who used a nursery rhyme to express how global recession had been created. This created emotions of anger and annoyance for me, if it is this simple to explain why it all went wring in a poem, then how on earth did the governments, ‘power houses’ and banks get it so wrong.

A guy who explored thoughts on who he would bring back from the deadto help change the world, he named many great leaders and inspirational people. But his closing line was to realise that we are the ones that are alive today, and if we look inside ourselves, we have the power to be as great, if not greater, and we can change the world.

So aside from the poetry, the final thing that made the night so memorable was the venue where the event was held.

Being someone who organizes events I know how hard it can be to find the right venue that matches the content of the event. You want a venue that enhances the feeling your audience gets at any given moment during that event.

The venue was Wilton’s Music Hall in east London, a small alley called Grace’s Way is home to a fantastic 1800’s building that has been part renovated, and now has a 1920’s style decor. It still has a very run down look, which I couldn’t work out whether it was intentional, or because it actually still needs work.

On reading the history and the fundraising appeal, it quite clearly does still need work. But the atmosphere that the look created was something I would not want to change.

The owners of Wilton’s Music Hall however, did want to change it, or at least raise enough money for it’s up keep. You can “ Help save Wilson’s and breathe new life into it”. To help achieve this you can conserve a brick, a roof slate, a floorboard, and to repair a dressing room you can make a significant donation of £25,000.

After my amazing experience here I did feel compelled to help. I would love to know how many of their donations came from people who had been to there and had the full experience. Like any fundraising, if you can give your supporter the full experience, you are much more likely to receive a donation.

For me the poetry, and Wilton’s Music Hall, made this an event I will not forget.

9th June 2013

Common traits in influencial fundraisers

Some common traits I see in key influencers in fundraising

Over the years I have worked with and watched with keen interest, some key people in fundraising. As I am seeing them move forward, I am starting to notice some common themes. So if you want to become a bit of a star in your field and are looking for some tips, here are some traits you might want to follow.

1. Have a story to tell, something important to say and have passion for it.
2. Model yourself on someone you admire, spend time with them.
3. Write a book, a blog or be ‘old school’ and write an article.
4. Speak publicly about your passion and niche.
5. Always have evidence to back up your point.
6. Use other peoples stuff (with permission).
7. Use the mantras like ‘good enough is not good enough’ to boost your confidence and be excellent.
8. Use your network.
9. Give something away for free.
10.Smile.

If you have some ideas to add to the top ten, let me know

kathyallen6@me.com
07894 980 279
@kathyallen

Outrage

This Thursday is the one year anniversary of the Mumbai attacks. My very good friends were caught up and injured in that attack and since then they have been campaigning for compensation for victims of terror abroad – did you know that the UK government give no compensation to people caught up in terrorist attacks if they are overseas?

The good thing was that it was all about to change, the Queens speech last week was to announce the change that all victims of terror going back to 2001, this includes victims of the Bali bombings, Sharm El Sheikh, Turkey and Mumbai, would get compensation to be able to live their lives to their best ability, total compensation of just £4m.

At the last minute this decision was taken out of the speech and so the reform is now not going to be made because Gordon Brown was worried that a campaign would be mounted to apply this to all injured soldiers, amounting to £500m.

As a friend of people injured and having sympathy for all the others who have had to change their lives because of these horrible attacks, I am angry that this has happened, where it goes from here I don’t know, but I am in full support of compensation to victims of terror overseas and will help influence government at every opportunity.

If you would like to read more, here are some links.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/nov/22/gordon-brown-victims-terror-compensation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/6617592/Compensation-plan-for-terror-victims-dropped-over-Whitehall-row.html

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6896098.ece