Firstly, when choosing the space ensure that it is accessible and easy to find, with the consideration of having toilets nearby. If the event is not ticketed, try to run the event in a high footfall area or an area that is easily visible – this could encourage individuals to attend even if they did not know about the event in advance. The space, chairs and tables should be comfortable and allow books and readers to be seated around a table comfortably. Prior to the readers coming in it may be useful to run through some rules for the day with the books and consider their needs during the event. For example:
What should they do if they need help and/or feel unsafe for any reason?
When should they have their breaks?
What should they do if they cannot answer someone's question?
You can create directional arrows or standing banners and dot them around the space you will be using or assign staff to stay outside of the space and help people find it. It is important to ensure that you can provide any accommodations that may be required. For example, if one of your books is deaf it is important to have an interpreter to help them with translating during the event. Additionally, it may also be useful to offer some prompting questions on each table and for each book to get the conversations started. For example, you may have questions like these on a sheet on each table:
How has being/having (…) affected your life?
Have you had to make adjustments that people might not think about?
What can I do to be a better ally to people in your position/with your condition?
Make sure you set aside a minimum of 2 hours before the event to prepare the event space. You may be able to ask for the space to be pre-prepared for your event, but it is always useful to leave some time for any re-adjustments and extra preparation to ensure everything is running smoothly. For example, making sure that there is enough space for a wheelchair to maneuver through the area. You may also want to think about where you place the equipment and/or refreshments, refreshments should all be in an area away from the books to prevent disruption.
You may also want to prepare some glossaries/definitions to place around the event space or near each of the books to explain to readers what each identity/topic is. Some examples of these glossaries can be seen on the “Preparing and supporting your readers” tab.
Firstly, make sure that there are enough tables and chairs for each book and the number of readers that they will be talking to. These should be spaced wide enough apart to ensure that conversations are not interrupting each other.
If you are purchasing merchandise, it may be useful to use the branding of your organization within the design or you can choose something that is more focused around the “Human Books” aspect. Depending on who will be using/receiving the merchandise you will share it around at different times. If the merchandise is for the books (e.g., t-shirts, thank yous) you may want to give the merchandise away straight away. This means that the books already have all that is needed to start the event and are easily identified if they have t-shirts/lanyards/etc. However, if the merchandise is in the form of freebies for readers you may want to place them near the entrance to help entice the readers or (if this is a ticketed event) make it easier for the readers to pick up their freebies.
Additionally, you may want to provide some refreshments for the books and the readers. Depending on the time this may be simply coffee and biscuits or a buffet style lunch. Make sure to:
Allow time for the books to be able to use the refreshment space,
Keep the refreshment space away from the area where the conversations are happening,
Plan the arrival of the refreshments/lunch to reduce disruption of conversations (if applicable).
Furthermore, it is very important to have enough staff in the room so that they can: look after the books, answer questions from the books and the readers, and help with ushering readers in (if necessary).
Staff can also help with manning a feedback station. It is important to provide the readers and the books with the time and space to answer some feedback questions, this can help you understand how well the event went, what the people that attended took away from it, what you could do better next time and even as a general spot check of culture. For example, did people find this day useful and want more or were they not keen on the topics discussed and felt things should have been done differently? Make sure to create your feedback questions in advance, depending on what information you want to collect from the readers and/or books. The feedback space can take many different forms*, some of these are listed below but this list is not exhaustive:
Post it's with feedback stuck on a wall,
Large sheets of paper (e.g., A3) with desired questions and pens,
Anonymous feedback station with pieces of paper, pens and a box to place feedback in,
QR code which takes the person to an online feedback form.
*Please note: Even with a feedback station a lot of the feedback may be given to staff verbally. It is important that staff have some paper or something on their person to enable them to make notes soon after their conversations.
Lastly, if you are using any screens, videos or photography equipment you need to ensure that these are all considered. For screens and videos ensure that, if there are any words, that they are easy to read, clear and that a hearing loop is available if needed. For photography, ensure that you make the books and readers aware of the cameras. You may want to consider investing in two different colours of stickers/lanyards to signal who wants and doesn’t want to be photographed. Alternatively, you can simply make people aware that photographs will be taken during the event and people can opt out if they want to.
Design Examples:
