City Club welcomes your ideas. To propose a program, please follow the instructions below, then email or mail the proposal to City Club. Email is the preferred method of receiving a proposal. Your proposal is likely to be reviewed more quickly when submitted electronically.
Please note that Forums are often scheduled months in advance. If your proposal is accepted, the Forum may be scheduled for anywhere from one to six months ahead. If you require specific dates (for example, your proposed speaker is only in town for a single weekend), please include the required dates in your proposal.
If you would like more information about submitting a proposal, please feel free to contact our Program and Communications Coordinator, Rachel Loskill, by email or at 503-228-7231 x100.
Proposals should include:
-
A letter outlining the proposed topic and or speaker(s). You may choose to use the following questions as a guideline.
- What specifically is the topic? Why is this relevant in Oregon? Why is this topic relevant right now? What new information will the audience be taking away? If this is a panel, what specifically would each speaker be addressing? Why is the suggested speaker the best person to address that topic?
-
A biography of the proposed speaker(s).
- If available, please provide links to video of the proposed speaker actually giving a speech.
- Promotional or background materials on either the topic or speaker if available.
- Contact information, including address and phone number, for each proposed speaker.
- Ideas for promoting the program, including examples of groups you believe would be interested in attending.
-
Preferred dates, if any.
Submit Your Proposal:
By email (strongly preferred)
OR
Friday Forum Proposal
c/o City Club of Portland
901 SW Washington St.
Portland, OR 97205
Forum Selection Criteria:
Friday Forum program selection is made by City Club's Friday Forum Committee who consider the following criteria for selecting programs:
-
Speaker Criteria
- Established speaking ability. The speech length should be no longer than 40 minutes, or in the case of a panel discussion the 40 minutes needs to be divided among panelists. The speaker should be able to answer 15-20 minutes of questions from the audience.
- Credibility and expertise of speaker(s) on the proposed topic
- Name recognition and prominence of speaker(s)
- Lack of “hidden agenda” or self-promotion, including book promotion
-
Subject Matter
- Clearly-defined and concise subject
- Timely
- A topic of broad interest to Club members and the community.
- Important
- Locally relevant
- Relationship to overall programming
- Appropriate for a radio audience. (Visual aids are discouraged.)
-
Other Considerations
- Format (panel, single speaker, debate, etc.)
- Marketing possibilities (partnering, co-sponsorships, etc.)
- Source of the recommendation