Commonwealth Speakers:Applicant Responsibilities


Melinda Crawford's presentation, The Lincoln Highway in Pennsylvania, looks at Lincoln Highway landmarks including the Shoe House in York County.

What are my responsibilities?

Your planned event must meet all of the following criteria:

  • It must be free of charge and open to the public.
  • The location must be publicly accessible.
  • It must allow a minimum of 90 minutes for the presentation and discussion.
  • It must not attempt to persuade the audience to a particular political, philosophical, religious or ideological point of view.

If your application is accepted, you agree to the following, to:

  • Contact the Speaker to provide clear directions to the event location, and to discuss necessary event details including but not limited to staffing, any necessary equipment needs, etc.
  • Arrange transportation to and from the program for any Speaker arriving at an airport, bus or train station located within 20 miles of your site.
  • Pay for hotel expenses if the Speaker requires overnight accommodations.
  • Provide any equipment required by the Speaker, and to have that equipment set up and tested before the Speaker arrives.
  • Read the Event Guide [159K PDF], Publicity & Audience Recruitment Guide[153K PDF], Audience Form [109K PDF] and On-line Evaluation Instructions [43K PDF] and abide by these materials.
  • Notify PHC immediately of any changes to a scheduled program, such as a date/time change or cancellation.

Am I Required to Recruit an Audience?

Additionally, you agree to promote and evaluate the program as follows, to:

  • Recruit as large an audience as possible for the presentation—we expect your audience, at a minimum, to number 25. (FYI, the average attendance at Commonwealth Speakers events is 45.)
  • Undertake significant publicity efforts to promote the event—PHC provides a publicity guide to lead you through this process.
  • Evaluate the program using PHC's new on-line evaluation system.
  • Submit publicity material (such as flyers, newspaper coverage of the event, press releases, etc.) to PHC within two weeks of your presentation date.

What Does PHC Provide?

In exchange for your efforts, PHC provides the following:

  • A Commonwealth Speaker presentation
  • Speaker expenses, including honorarium, travel expenses and meals (excluding overnight accommodations)
  • A comprehensive publicity guide to help you promote the presentation

Note: If you are awarded a presentation and fail to comply with these requirements, future applications to PHC programs will not be considered. For materials to help administer the presentation, visit the administration page.

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