Guidelines for Home Events with Charan Anand...

I ran across this while surfing the net. Apparently, Mahatma Guru Charananand Ji is coming to Vancouver, BC, in October.

We have just heard that Charan Anand will be visiting us this month. Time for celebration and a series of dinner-party outreach events! Anyone who want to host a dinner-party with Charan Anand is invited to study the guidelines (see sidebar under heading "Links"

and contact Bruce Jacobson.

http://eventlinecitynews.blogspot.com/

And these are the guidelines for holding a propagation dinner party.

Guidelines for Home Events with Charan Anand

Preface: Most of what follows is commonsense. People hold dinner parties all the time. The intent of this document is simply to provide a potential checklist, one which Charan Anand particularly likes to follow.

Summary: Home events provide an effective means of making Maharaji’s message available. Generally they entail some form of relaxing social gathering in someone’s home including food and a DVD presentation. There are numerous variations on this theme including guest speakers or special broadcasts. Those who try it report it as an easy, viable method to introduce people, who would not likely come to venue-based events.

Some tips and suggestions from people who have recently done home events –

Invitations: Irrespective of how guests are invited, it is imperative to let guests know that a component of the gathering’s festivities will include a presentation on Prem Rawat (also known as Maharaji) and his message on inner peace and contentment. Invitations can be done by phone, by card or both. “I want to invite you to a special occasion. There will be cocktails and a dinner party as well as a DVD presentation of Prem Rawat speaking on inner peace and contentment. We will have a guest speaker, Charan Anand, who will tell more about Prem Rawat and his message.” Be enthusiastic and genuine. Create anticipation and excitement for a wonderful evening.

Only pwk who bring guests or who help directly with the event are invited up to capacity of the home. At times it may be helpful to include some pwk who feel comfortable to keep the conversation going after the presentation. Remember, though, that body language and one’s own passion often convey more to guests than the words.

Setup:

Use your commonsense.
First impressions are lasting.
Contingent upon size of home and number of guests, generally buffet dinners work best.
Plan where the food is served and where it is consumed. If event is in same room as where people eat, consider re-orienting room for the presentation.
During dinner, consider music in the background.
Ensure everything looks fresh and clean and consider decorating with things like flowers.
Does the event need translation? If so, the ideal is through headphones so that no one is speaking over Maharaji’s voice.
Menu should include both vegetarian and non-vegetarian options. It’s nice to have a good standard, satisfying dinner so people really enjoy themselves.

Format/Content:

Personally welcome at the front door each guest as they arrive. Pre-dinner drinks – champagne, wine, alcohol-free drinks, etc. Be a gracious host and interact with every guest during the evening.
Dinner
MC welcomes everyone and summarises agenda. MC provides short introduction on Prem Rawat. Alternatively, if you have a live musician, he or she can signal the start and draw everyone’s attention together.
Should someone wish to leave when event starts, graciously walk them to the door without judgement.
1 or 2 DVDs of 10 – 15 minutes each and/or special broadcast and/or guest speaker
Dessert can be served either before or after the presentation. If desert is after the presentation, conversation about Maharaji and his message can continue with guest speaker or pwk, but do so with discretion. Keep it simple and to the point.
Guests are offered free materials and leave as the evening winds down.

Materials:

For event: Within You, Embrace Life, Thirst and Contentment, Story of Life are good possibilities. Charan Anand particularly likes Thirst and Contentment followed by Within You.
Also DVDs should be made available when people leave. Possibilities include: Discover More, Story of Life, possible invitation to local events, Maharaji’s event schedule, printed material on websites.

Follow-Up:

A week or two after the diner party, call each guest. This has given them some time to think about what they heard. Opening the conversation might run something like, “I want to thank you for coming. I hope you enjoyed the dinner party. How do you feel about Prem Rawat’s presentation?”
Follow up is about listening to your friends, what they wish to express, and trying to respond in whatever ways are appropriate; be respectful and attentive even if they have critical comments.
You will find out who is really interested in finding out more and who is not. Those who aren’t, keep your good relationship with them; no need to show any reaction or displeasure. Those who are interested, point them towards the Keys process.

Results:

We find 5 – 20 guests come per event.
People hear Maharaji’s message in a neutral, dignified way.
There seem a healthy number of people who express interest in exploring further, Discover More or enrolling in the Keys.
For example at a recent home event with Charan Anand, 17 guests attended. 3 enrolled in the Keys and 5 expressed interest to travel to see Maharaji in a city 3 hours away by car.

Conclusion:

Home events are fun and easy to execute. They provide a natural, relaxed occasion to invite guests to hear about Maharaji and what he has to offer. Often people feel more comfortable and safer to come to someone’s house who they know rather than a hall. It’s affordable and effective.

Local teams are best placed to assess the effectiveness & value for money of different propagation initiatives.In addition to hiring large halls, particularly if only a few people come, funds could also be used on the purchase of DVDs to be given to guests who can watch them in their own homes and on supporting home events for those who need the help. For ongoing monthly events – even for those guests introduced through home events to continue – consider including light refreshments at the venues to help create a more relaxed and inviting environment.

Case story:

Our house is situated 12 km outside the city of Gothenburg (Sweden). Beautiful invitation cards were sent out 2 weeks before to 20 friends without Knowledge. 17 came! 5 premies were also invited and they helped out with all practical things! The guests arrived at 5 pm and were offered a glass of champagne or alcohol free drinks. When all had arrived, they were asked to start with the buffet dinner. There were salmon, pâtés, shrimps, different cheeses, strawberries and tropical fruits etc. CAJ (Charan Anand Ji) also made a fantastic lentil soup, tasty and creamy, highly appreciated by everybody. Then coffee and almond and fresh strawberry cakes were served.

After eating, drinking and socializing outside the guests were welcomed inside the house round about 7 pm. Two DVDs were shown Thirst and Contentment and Within You.

Then CAJ spoke and afterward continued the conversation with people. We were all very touched by his wonderful words and stories about the Master. It was beautiful to see the guests’ faces and eyes after CAJ´s inspiring talk.

3 new people wanted to start with the Keys. One person was helped directly via the website later that night. 5 people expressed their wish to go to Copenhagen on July 13 to see M himself!

Notice that most of the guests that evening would never have come to a hall in town!

The weather was also very nice and sunny! The booklet “The journey never ends” (Swedish trans.) and the DVD “Discovering More” were given to guests together with the host’s name address and tel. No. plus the Swedish info website on a business card.

We all want to encourage premies as individuals to invite friends, neighbors and relatives to dinner parties as above.

Good luck in your propagation efforts and Love from Agneta and Carlos and all the premies that where helping yesterday!

http://www.eventline.ca/HomeEventGuidelines.htm