EVENT

DISCUSSION
GUIDE
Thank you for hosting an Our Tomorrow event! Your participation is crucial to the
campaigns efforts to elevate the voices of people in every part of our community
especially those who might not normally participate in an online effort like this one.
To help you lead a productive discussion, weve included suggested talking points
and questions. Feel free to adapt these ideas to suit your goals and group.

Sample Agenda
Weve included a sample agenda below to help guide you and provide ideas as you prepare to host your event.
We realize that each event is different and, as a result, may require a different approach. Feel free to adapt this
agenda to the needs of your audience, the resources available to your organization or the unique
specifications of your eventwhile still accomplishing the primary goal of completing the Share Your Voice
survey.
1.

Welcome attendees. Introduce Our Tomorrow. 10 MINUTES

2. Screen the Our Tomorrow campaign video (if possible). Discuss thoughts and feelings about the video
or the movement generally. 15 MINUTES
3. Provide instructions for the Share Your Voice survey. Conduct the survey. 10 MINUTES
4. Invite attendees to share their responses from the Share Your Voice survey. Discuss their hopes, fears
and ideas. 20 MINUTES
5. Collect Share Your Voice surveys. Thank attendees for coming. 5 MINUTES

OUR TOMORROW PARTNER TOOLKIT EVENT DISCUSSION GUIDE

Introducing the Campaign

You can open your event by introducing Our Tomorrow to your attendees and explaining why the campaign
represents an important opportunity for the community to share our voices. We have included some
suggested talking points below. You can also feel free to use the campaigns Frequently Asked Questions tip
sheet (included in the Partner Toolkit) to help address any questions or concerns.
Our community has made progress on a number of issues, like marriage equality, but theres
a lot left to do. Our Tomorrow is a campaign to give people like us across the country an
opportunity to come together, raise our voices and shape the future of our community.
The campaign is supported by dozens of LGBTQ organizations and foundations, both big
and smalleveryone from national nonprofits to local community centers in cities and
towns across the country. They are listening and they want to hear from us about our hopes,
fears and ideas for the future.
By sharing them here tonight, we can make sure our voices are heard and, as a result, we
can help shape a bigger, bolder movement that leaves no one behindand make tomorrow
better for all of us.

Screening the Videos

Our Tomorrow has produced a collection of videos featuring inspirational stories about LGBTQ people from all
walks of life. These videos and the stories they tell can serve as great conversation-starters to get people
talking about their lives today and their hopes, fears and ideas for the future.
If circumstances allow, consider screening one or two of these videos for your attendees. We recognize that
some partners may not have access to advanced audio-video technology at your events. If that is the case,
please proceed directly to conducting the Share Your Voice survey. However, feel free to get creative! You can
use a variety of technological means to screen the videosincluding a projector, television, laptop, iPad or
other similar device.
We recommend screening the main campaign video first and then, if time permits, selecting a second video
from the individual profiles to screen afterward. (Each individual profile focuses on an LGBTQ person from a
different walk of life. Use the synopses contained in the Campaign Videos directoryincluded in the Partner
Toolkitand your best judgment to select which profile would be most applicable to your events attendees.)
This sample language may provide a good introduction to the campaign video:
Lets start by watching the Our Tomorrow campaign video, which features seven
inspirational stories from a diverse collection of LGBTQ people. These stories are about their
hopes, fears and ideas for the future of our community.

OUR TOMORROW PARTNER TOOLKIT EVENT DISCUSSION GUIDE

Following the screening, engage attendees in a brief discussion about what they just watched. Consider using
the following sample discussion questions to spark an initial conversation and then help guide the discussion
to ensure an open, respectful and forward-looking exchange:

What did you think about the video we just watched?

How did you feel as you watched it?

Do you relate to any of the stories that were shared? How?

Conduct the Survey

Following the discussion of the campaign video, introduce and explain the Share Your Voice survey. To do that,
you could say something like this:
This has been a great discussion so far. But before we continue, I want each of us to take a
few moments to write down our thoughts and feelings about the future of our community.
Im going to pass each of you three sheets of paperone where you can share your Hope for
the future of our community, one where you can share your Fear, and one where you can
share an Idea. Please take a few minutes to write down your thoughts on each one.
Once you finish writing, well all have an opportunity to discuss what we wrotebut you do
not have to share with the group if you do not feel comfortable. After our discussion, I will
collect your sheets and submit them to Our Tomorrow to make sure our voices are heard as
part of this national conversation.
Hand out the Share Your Voice surveys to the attendees. (If printing costs pose a significant problem for your
organization, please reach out to Our Tomorrow for assistance.) Make sure that each person has one of each
Hope, Fear and Idea. In addition to sharing their thoughts, be sure to stress the importance of filling out the
demographic information at the bottom of each page. To do that, you could say something like this:
Please do not forget to fill out the informational section at the bottom of each page. You do
not have to write down your name if you do not feel comfortable doing so, but wed ask that
you do fill out the other boxes.
The campaign collects this purely for informational purposes. It will help them understand
the issues that matter most to us and others like us, which allows the campaign and its
partners to get a better sense of what people want and need.
It is important to note that Our Tomorrow and our partners will keep this personal
information completely confidential. It will never be connected to your name (if you do
choose to share it). It will never be publicly displayed with your submission, and it will
absolutely never be sold or shared.

OUR TOMORROW PARTNER TOOLKIT EVENT DISCUSSION GUIDE

Guiding the Discussion

When everyone has finished filling out their Share Your Voice survey, give each attendee an opportunity to
share what they wrote and discuss their thoughts with the group.
We want all of your event attendees to feel safe and comfortable sharing some of their most personal feelings
their hopes, fears and ideas. To achieve an environment that promotes openness, you can guide the
discussion using open-ended questions that encourage people to think about and express how they feel.
Consider using the following sample discussion questions to spark a conversation and then help guide the
discussion to ensure an open, respectful and forward-looking exchange:
HOPES

FEARS

IDEAS

What are some of your hopes for

your own future?

What fears or concerns do you

have for your own future?

What about for the community

as a whole?

What about for the community

as a whole?

What specific actions do you

think the community should take
to shape our future?

Collect the Surveys

Once attendees have finished discussing their responses, collect the completed surveys. If you notice that
someone has turned a survey back in without completing the informational section, politely ask them if they
would mind doing so before they leave.
Store the completed surveys in a safe place until you have time to return them to the campaign in one of the
following ways:
1.

Email them. Use a scanner or digital camera to transfer the hard copies of the completed worksheets
into digital form, then email the files to Our Tomorrow at admin@shareourtomorrow.org.

2. Fax them. Fax the completed worksheets to Our Tomorrow at 202-521-1354.

3. Mail them. Package the completed worksheets together in a large envelope and send via USPS or
other carrier to:

Our Tomorrow
c/o Hattaway Communications, Inc.
1717 Rhode Island Avenue NW, Suite 650
Washington, DC 20036
To ensure that the completed surveys from your event are not accidentally misplaced or forgotten, please
submit them to the campaign at your earliest possible convenience. We cant wait to hear from you!

OUR TOMORROW PARTNER TOOLKIT EVENT DISCUSSION GUIDE