Hello, my name is Geoff Trowbridge and I am the Coordinator for a brand-new Post carbon group in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA called Post Carbon Knoxville. From most everybody knowledgable that I hear, it seems that hosting film screenings and like events, bunches of them, is one of the best ways to jumpstart Relocalization efforts in an area. I have read the guide to film screenings that The Relocalization Network already has out, and have also gotten some useful suggestions from several individual people. Actually, I've already hosted a film screening, but I didn't really know what I was doing at the time and though I thought the screening went well, I really had not idea what sort of follow up to lead people to afterwards, or anything about structured Q and A sessions, or anything like that. Also, only about 20-25 people attended the screening, so though an unstructured event will work for a smallish group like that, when you start counting people by the tens or scores, it probably won't.
So the general question I'm posing, as one Coordinator to all the others, is "What sort of suggestions or Tips do you have, from experience, for how to run a really fantastic film screening?" The film screening process at its basics, I think I understand- i.e. how to call up people, get a space, hook up the projector, etc., but what I'm really more looking for is the other stuff, like having discussions before or after the film, panels of people to talk about it, getting input from people, and so forth. I believe that screening films can be one of the quickest ways to dissimate the Peak Oil message and the Relocalization strategy that we're trying to put forth, so any advice that any of y'all could give me would be much appreciated.