Presentation Guidelines

Thank you for your interest in presenting at Open Circle. We appreciate your taking the time to prepare and give your presentation and we will work with you to make your experience as enjoyable as possible.

Open Circle is interested in a wide range of presenter subjects, including those dealingwith intellectual, cultural, physical and spiritual content. Of interest also are presentations relating to the environment, the arts, and science. In general, our aim is to improve our understanding of ourselves, our community and our world.

To request an opportunity to speak at Open Circle, please submit a brief description of what you want to talk about and your qualifications to do so using this web site. Your proposal will be evaluated by our Open Circle Ajijic Coordinator. If your talk conforms to the Open Circle Mission Statement expectations [see below], you will be contacted to offer you a slot on our calendar. About two months before you are scheduled to speak, you will be asked to create a 150-word blurb to advertise your appearance in local media.

If you have more information for our audience than you can squeeze into your talk, we encourage you to obtain permission to place that information under the tree or on the bulletin board. Postings can include announcements of events, where to obtain more information on the topic, where merchandise can be acquired, where donations can be made, and sign-up sheets for those interested in staying in touch with the presenter. In addition, you may pass out learning aids pertaining to the presentation before the program, though such handouts must not contain any form of advertising. Open Circle does not allow presenters to sell, solicit, or engage in any form of merchandising before, during, or after the meetings on the grounds.

The morning of your presentation, please observe the following:

• Arrive by 10:00 a.m. and check in at our sound table for instructions. Then you are welcome to join us for coffee, tea, and snacks until 10:20.
• At 10:25 or before, the sound technician will mount the cordless microphone headset on you.
• The meeting starts at 10:30 with preliminaries to the program. Your presentation will begin by 10:45 a.m. and end at 11:30 a.m.
• Time your presentation so that it is at least 35 minutes in length, thus allowing for the 10-minute Q&A session to follow. If you do not wish for Q&A, you must plan to speak for 45 minutes. Please tell the moderator if this is the case so she can give you a 10- and a 5-minute signal to indicate the time remaining for your talk.

We strongly urge all prospective presenters to attend at least one Open Circle gathering before committing to speak here.

OPEN CIRCLE AJIJIC MISSION STATEMENT

• Open Circle provides a supportive environment to gather for social interaction and to improve our understanding of ourselves, our community and our world.
• Presentations span a wide range of intellectual, cultural, physical and spiritual topics.
• We do not necessarily agree with the ideas and philosophies of our presenters. We encourage you to listen with an open mind and form your own opinions.

Open Circle Video Consent

As a service to our audience and presenters, Open Circle will video-record your presentation and upload it unedited on Open Circle’s YouTube channel. Open Circle agrees not to seek remuneration from anyone viewing the video of your presentation. If you do not want your presentation to be recorded and uploaded to YouTube, please make that known in your initial presentation proposal. It is agreed that copyright to the content of the presentation remains with the presenter, while Open Circle owns the video of the presentation.