Community Outreach Bulletin 7.0

Operating A Speakers Bureau

from the Renaissance Education Association, Inc.

Speaking to groups of people who have either direct or peripheral interest in transgendered people is a good way to educate people without depending on the media to carry your messages. Many activist organizations have a "speakers bureau" composed of members specially trained in explaining their program to interested groups. In order to operate successfully, three areas are important: training speakers, finding audiences and administering the program.

Selecting and Training Your Speakers

Obviously, any member who officially represents your organization to others should be comfortable speaking before a group of strangers. And since yours is a transgendered organization, any representative should also be comfortable doing so in their other-gender role. Appearing crossdressed is almost essential, for if a member advocates greater acceptance of transgendered people, yet does not able to accept him or herself, the strength of the message is diminished. Besides, speaking before groups while crossdressed is a self-affirming exercise and a big kick. Because of these considerations, it is best to seek volunteers for staffing your speakers' bureau. If too few people volunteer, or a particular person who would make a great representative does not come forward, you may need to actively encourage participation.

Poise while in front of an audience is not something that can be easily taught; either a person has it or they don't. Hopefully, your group is large enough so that you don't have to draft reluctant members into these positions. Given that your speakers bureau is composed of talented and/or willing volunteers, you should concentrate on educating them regarding transgendered issues. Personal experiences and feelings are very important in communicating the message, but these experiences and feelings must be in the context of factual information. The transgendered community does not benefit when a representative presents a strange theory as if it were fact. Be sure your speakers identify personal opinions and theories as such. While members of the transgendered community recognize the rich diversity that exists within our culture, outsiders may not. Therefore, they may ask your male transvestite speakers about transsexualism, or ask a heterosexual speaker about "drag queens" in gay bars. Your speakers should have enough knowledge about the entire range of transgender behavior to provide at least partial answers to these types of questions. You can compose the precise training syllabus you think best suited to your organization and to the types of audiences you anticipate speaking to. (See Appendix A for the materials Renaissance uses for its college/university presentations.) One good way to measure your speakers' skill and knowledge is to conduct a "dirty question" session as a part of a training program as we do. Put your speakers in front of a group of your members and fire tough questions at them.

It is also essential that your speakers fully understand why they are speaking. To this end, you may want to develop a thesis and guidelines for the speakers bureau. Make sure that all speakers understand and accept these principles.

Training does not end when a speaker accepts his or her first assignment. It is also necessary to evaluate speakers' performance, either by firsthand observation or by checking with the host organization. If a speaker needs to sharpen some skills, work with him or her. But if a speaker proves to be totally ineffective, do not hesitate to drop him or her from the program. Your organization cannot risk being portrayed in a bad light.

Finding Audiences

College or university classes are a fruitful venue for a speakers bureau. Undergraduate human sexuality or psychology classes are often eager to have outside speakers. These classes afford you the opportunity to inform young people about gender issues while they are (presumably) intellectually curious. Graduate courses in these subjects, plus in the area of counseling, provide access to future professionals who may be called upon to help transvestites and transsexuals. But the classes you speak to need not be limited to these areas of study. One university was offering a course in the effects of prejudice, and asked Renaissance to provide a speaker who could address the discrimination transgendered people experience. Contact the appropriate academic departments at local colleges and universities by letter to see if professors use outside speakers. Some schools pay an honorarium to speakers to defray their expenses; don't be afraid to ask.

Other opportunities are almost limitless. To identify them, think about what groups of people or professions may come into contact with transvestites or transsexuals. Renaissance members regularly speak to nursing and other health care students at a Philadelphia medical college. One of the messages they leave with the students is that an emergency room patient may not want to disrobe in front of them because he may be wearing women's lingerie under his male clothes. Some transgender support groups speak to local police departments to educate them that, for example, the crossdressed individual they may stop for a traffic violation is not necessarily a serious criminal or a mental case. Renaissance has discovered that some religious groups are open to our presentations. Check into the existence of local professional groups such as associations of family counselors, regional professional groups, etc. But a word of caution is in order. Remember that your appearances should be intended to educate, not to entertain; be careful that an invitation is not exploitative.

Administering the Program

To be sure the speakers' bureau is fully effective, you should designate one person to administer it. These administrative functions should include selecting, training and evaluating speakers, developing invitations to speak (perhaps through your outreach person), accepting invitations, filling speaking dates, and perhaps monitoring claims for reimbursement. The two major areas of responsibility -- dealing with your speakers and finding speaking venues -- have been discussed previously. But the other administrative areas deserve some attention also.

When accepting invitations, it is important that you understand exactly what the prospective host organization desires and how they will accommodate your speakers. You then have to determine if this is an invitation that you can accept. It may not be wise, for example, to have your speakers travel a long distance for only a 15-minute presentation. Nor may you want to have a transgendered speaker appear on a program with a child molester. While outreach is an important function, be selective in how you conduct this phase of outreach.

When you have decided to accept an invitation, put everything in writing. This puts you in a professional light and may avoid misunderstandings. This is especially important when dealing with a host organization for the first time. Your letter of acceptance should repeat the date, time and location of the engagement as well as any other pertinent information. Be sure that you confirm any arrangements for the host to meet your speakers, for nothing is worse than to have a crossdressed person wandering around a strange location. Also, get parking information if appropriate. Your speakers will appreciate your thoughtfulness in nailing down these important details.

Naturally, you will need to check the availability of speakers before you commit. Because different invitations may have different requirements (e.g. a pre-op female-to-male transsexual or a married male transvestite), your job may seem like that of a movie casting director. But if you cannot provide the exact type of speaker requested, don't hesitate to suggest a modification that may still satisfy the host. You should also feel free to suggest program modifications than may make a speaking request more acceptable. Take the example cited above of having a transgendered person appear with a child molester. Renaissance actually received a similar invitation. We told the requester that the invitation was inappropriate because one activity was legal and one was illegal. While we had to decline the invitation to share the stage with a felon, we later received an invitation to present an entire program on gender issues.

Your speakers will incur expenses for automobile mileage, tolls and parking. While some will consider these as a contribution to the greater benefit of the community, others may not be able to make this financial sacrifice. If your organization is wealthy, you could underwrite these costs. In addition, some organizations are willing to pay an honorarium for your speakers. You may want to put these sums in a separate "pocket" within your group's treasury and use them to pay your speakers's expenses. It is logical for the person who administers your speakers bureau to keep tabs on the amount of money coming into the fund and on the claims against it. You may want to have your treasurer actually handle the cash.


Appendix A: The Renaissance Training Materials

Welcome to the Renaissance College Team!

This training session is designed to get you comfortable with both the idea and the process of telling college classes about transsexualism and/or transvestism. After a discussion of this hand-out, we will conduct a mock class discussion in which you will be the panel. Then, following a critique of your performance, you will be ready for your first class. But don't be alarmed; for at your first real session you will be accompanied by at least one experienced team member.

College Outreach -- Why?

This is one way to reach members of the general public at a time in their lives when they are open to new ideas and are willing to examine them carefully in the academic environment.

The psychology/human sexuality classes provide an appropriate context for discussing transsexualism and transvestism.

Some undergraduates taking these classes-and most graduate students-will enter a field (medicine, family counseling, therapy) where they will come in contact with TVs and TSs. It is good for them to have firsthand knowledge so they can better deal with the issues we present to them and to society.

It is good for our self image to make these public appearances, to explain who we are, and to receive some acceptance. It is also good for us to examine our feelings and motives regarding gender issues.

College Outreach -- How?

Presently, we regularly provide speakers to several local colleges and universities. The class composition is varied; nursing students, graduate students in a counseling curriculum, or undergraduates enrolled in basic psychology or sexuality courses. Other colleges and universities have also contacted us.

The requests for a panel come to JoAnn or Paula. They determine the desired composition of the panel (TV/TS/gay/straight/spouses) and get the details (time, place, composition of the class, meeting time with the professor before class, etc. We fill the request based on your availability and the type of panelists requested. Reimbursement for travel expenses is frequently available from Renaissance.

Some classes are two hours long, some are an hour or more. Longer classes generally have more panelists because there is more time to allow each person to tell his/her story.

The class sessions are roughly formatted as follows:

A Few Tips


Appendix B: Sample Letter of Introduction

Dr. Patricia M. Legos, Chairman

Department of Health Education

Temple University

Seltzer Hall, Room 304

Philadelphia, PA 19122

Dear Dr. Legos:

I am writing at the suggestion of Stephanie Minniti, an instructor of human sexuality at the Center City campus. Earlier this semester, several members of the Renaissance Education Association spoke to her human sexuality evening class on the topics of transsexualism and transvestism. Renaissance is a non-profit support group for transvestites, transsexuals and their friends, and provides speakers to university classes as a part of our public education program. In addition to Ms. Minniti's class, we have spoken to classes at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Jefferson University, LaSalle University, and Dennison University in Granville, Ohio. Last week we presented a workshop at the convention of the Eastern Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sex (SSSS) held in Baltimore.

In addition to these class activities, Renaissance has prepared a series of Background Papers on several issues relating to crossdressing. These papers help close a gap in the literature, and were well received at the SSSS convention. Ms. Minniti used these papers to prepare her class for a meaningful discussion of gender roles.

The response to all of our college and university visits has been very good. With the proper class preparation such as Ms. Minniti provided, students are open minded and inquisitive about phenomena few of them have encountered. I believe that our presentation adds a great deal to their understanding of the diversity of human sexuality and gender roles.

I realize that the current semester is drawing to a close. But as you make plans for the future, I would like to offer our services to you and your colleagues.

Sincerely,

Paul Hanson

Director of Outreach and Public Affairs


Renaissance
987 Old Eagle School Rd., Suite 719
Wayne, PA 19087
610.975.9119

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