Friday, September 23, 2011

International Day of Peace Festival at OCU

Special thanks to the Shinnyo-en Foundation for providing a unifying t-shirt for the festival participants




2011 Pinwheels for Peacerglow / Wrap / After Action meeting minutes

Location: Steve and Sherry McLinn Home , Date: 9/30/11, Time: 5:00 pm

Committee Members Present: Elizabeth Muller, Carmen Clay, Joan Korenblit, Gigi Hu, Dianna Freeland, Steve McLinn, Bill Bryant, Saundra Delgado, Daniel Kline

Statistics: 
· 500-800 pinwheels
· Approximately 350 of the 500 bottles of water consumed

Observations
· Event was a success
· Jennifer Long liked event
· Mark Davies liked the event
· Link for video upload: http://www.peaceday.tv/
· This year’s event being on a Wednesday, and being a church night, some did not stay
· Next year event will be on Friday
· Japan America Society of Oklahoma (JASO) appreciated thank you letter
· JASO connection with Casady school
· Carmen’s Casady students: pinwheels are one of many of their enriching activities Curricular connections: Peace Education in lower grades, languages in Upper. NO ART TEACHERS!
· Casady Smilebox was good
· We are not organized as a 501(3)c non-profit organization
· Linking to Shinnyo-en Foundation: Six Billion Paths to Peace- Shinnyo-en Foundation appreciated Joan’s thank you letter
· Get the “OK” for doing event next year at OCU
· OCU did not issue parking tickets all day
· Facebook page has photo album from event
· Video of entire event on youtube.com 
o http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGVw9mws1-w

Promotion
Work
Bookmarks and posters made by Mikel were great
Didn’t work
· Bookmarks and posters needed to be distributed earlier
-No banners/signs on campus
· Visitor intended to come to 5:00 event but came at 9:00 am
· Event not on OCU website: It did end up on the OCU master calendar so if people went to the OCU website it was there on that day. Also, our media guy got it in the Gazette.
Recommendation
· Post signs/banners with schedule of events on campus
· Promote before event happens
· Advertise with the Gazette: OCU’s media got it in the Gazett
· Advertise in school newspaper: It was at OCU’s master calendar at website-We need to directly connect with professors, clubs, and disciplines where this event is connected to the curriculum
· Have drumming circle on campus during the day to attract college students. GET JAPANESE DRUMMING TEAMS FROM OSU/OCU/OU
· Daniel will update website for organization. Send your thought and ideas to him to specify what the organization website should have. My reflection is at

College Involvement
Worked
· Chelsey Riley, OCU Student, assisted emcee as host
. Location and support of the School of Religion and Mark Davis
Didn’t work
· 40 OCU students who intended to participate did not
Recommendation
· Consult with faculty members to put event activities in curriculum or as extra credit for students to participate in some capacity (music, international studies, independent studies, etc.)

Technical
Worked
· Full program was recorded on video
Didn’t work
· No time for sound check
· Live video online stream connection problem
· Steve had too many hats
· Microphone use problems
Recommendation
· Steve needs 2 assistants
· Contact video production department at Francis Tuttle Technology Center (Janet Harris) or OCU to coordinate student to shoot video for archive and streaming of live event
· Train participants in how to use microphones correctly
· Feed video into west room big screen TV
· Ask venue if they have sound system we can use

Display Tables
Worked
· Special thanks to Joan for having a volunteer manpower the Casady table while Carmen and student planted 500 pinwheels. The festival had at least 800 total. Let’s make 1,000 goal for next year!
Didn’t work
· Tables remained open during program, people were talking distracting to the program.
· Not open to enough people
· Was not clear what time they could set up
· All tables were not easily visible to patrons
Recommendation
· Close display tables during program and invite hosts from each to watch the program. Ask table organizers to bring bag to store merchandise to carry with them. Pamphlets and other free items can remain at the tables unattended.
· Have display tables open earlier in the day to expose to college students.
· Display tables in room west of Great Hall which is outside of cafeteria. Logistics.
-Have a big screen for people at tables to enjoy the festival and students to be attracted to go to the Great Hall
· Place display tables in a “U” or “L” shape for more exposure

Program
Worked
-We had a program to pass to people.  Thanks, Mikel
· Many people participated in peace flash mob and pinwheel dance
Didn’t work
· Native American Group late to perform
· Sandra had trouble finding performers for their call time
· 3min break between performers too long
· Core pinwheel dance people were gone by the time we did the dance
Recommendation
· Audience participation with choir (call & response)
· Have events/activities go on all day so that anyone can come in the morning, afternoon or evening and get a piece of the whole experience in that small part if can’t stay for the whole day.
· Have Native American Group first (or last) in program
· Peace flash mob segues to subtle heartbeat to feel peace Have dance studios lead the dance if OCU School of Dance is unable to participate. Maybe promote a dance competition with the same music, just different choreography???
· Have emcees thank OCU (this may have already occurred)
· Have the Dean Mark Davies be part of the program
· Have check-in station for performers
· Assigned seating for performers
· Have culture specific ritual type experience (bongs, flute, church bells, Buddhist
meditation, etc.) between performers to keep moment going
· Have peace flash mob rehearsals in various places (school classrooms, community, etc.) with lead time before event
· Pinwheel dance
- Train core people from each culture to be leaders and hold on the inner wheel
· Lead dance of universal peace next year for children “Peace Pilgrim.” In 1950s, woman walked 10,000 miles for peace and did not ask for any hospitality. Was invited to speak at schools.
- Need to make performers feel comfortable
· Buddha Mind children to possibly perform next year. OU Taiko group possible performance during drumming time, OSU and UCO also have those Japanese drums!!!

Audience
Worked
· Good participation
Didn’t work
· 4-5 rows of audience, some not involved
· Some had to stand
· People did not stay
Recommendation
· Organize chairs in a diamond or triangle shape with corners as back stage areas (Elizabeth and Steve coordinate – diagram)
· Have ushers to move people
- Lobby overflow in room west of great hall outside of cafeteria.
· Work out logistics with chairs
· Have raffle at end so that people will have to be present to win. We need to have more than the performers family, HOW?

Education
Didn’t work
· Not enough higher ed, primary and secondary school involvement. We need to consider asking people who cannot come to send 1 minute videos, which could be use in between performances. We also need to encourage tree planting and Peace ONE Day education because pinwheels might not be what high school teachers want to do because it is for younger students. I will film the performance by my orchestra for example!
Recommendation
· Encourage kids to eat before they come
· Feed school kids with granola bars
· Make process easier for teachers (requisition forms, etc.)
· Have schools come all day, if possible

Looking Forward
Recommendation
· Contact Duke University to research
o What we are doing
o Gather statistics and analysis for getting grants
o Service learning projects (how can we participate)
· We need credibility
· How are we defining ourselves?
· Possible/future funders
o Devon Energy
o OKC Community Foundation
o Chesapeake Energy
o Coca Cola
o Ben & Jerry
- Shinnyo-en Foundation
· Daniel will write mission statement

Daniel Kline, Web Developer, 2011 National Web Design Team Champion,
(405)208-3381, http://danielkline19.wordpress.com/, http://twitter.com/daniel_okc

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cbc: clayc@casady.org; 405-749-3103