Minutes:

Amazing Race, presented by Guru Bagawan, Shirley Long, and Joey Loi

·         All stations and activities just about finalized

·         Route to be finalized this week

·         14 team registered, all currently fundraising (goal is $250, all proceeds to United Way York Region)

·         Lunch will be pizza from Cruppi’s Pizza

·         Chaperones

o   Still looking for chaperons, currently have about 6

·         Dry run taking place on Saturday, April 7

Markham Expo, presented by MYTF

·         Location switched to Civic Centre parking lot

·         Step to It, Centre Stage, and Battle of the Bands all progressing very nicely

·         There will be inflatables

·         Various community organizations will be present to do community outreach

·         Various Markham Youth Organizations will be hosting activities

·         Many food vendors will be present

·         A few cars will be on display as part of sponsorship

·         Markham’s Finest will be DJing and providing music services throughout the event

·         Marketing campaign to begin immediately: posters in schools in community centres, banners on the Town of Markham website, ads in the Markham Economist & Sun, and social media

Action Items:

Amazing Race

1. Email Guru at gurubagawan@markhamyouth.com about your station’s activities. He’ll need to know it in order to create the clues. As well, email him if there are any time restrictions for your station (need to be there/out of there after/before a certain time).

2. Create your station. Be sure to keep in mind that it needs to be able to accommodate at least 3 teams at once!

3. An orientation for all organizers will take place on Tuesday, April 24 from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Markham Civic Centre to go over final details and logistics. Everyone involved in hosting a station must attend!

Markham Expo

1. We’ll be sending out promotional posters/videos to you soon; please share them!

2. Keep us in the loop of progress in your activity/show/booth. If you need help or clarification about anything, please let us know!

Next Markham Youth Meeting: Tuesday, April 24 from 5:30 to 7:00 at the Markham Civic Centre

Minutes:

Earth Hour, hosted by MY Community

• At Markham Museum
• March 31, 7:30 to 9:00
• Bonfire
• Tours of new LEED building during the day
• All youth organizations invited

Community Expo review

• Took place at Markham Museum on February 24
• A lot of visual art, poetry, fashion, dancers, and singers
• Bad weather made it difficult for people to come
• Event will be taking place again next year

Amazing Race

• Locations have been received for MY Community, Turn the Page, YENYR, YVM, MGT, and CanYouth
• Milliken, Unionville, and Thornhill Youth Councils will be participating
• Currently have 5 teams, goal is to have 15 teams
• Deadline to apply is March 18
• Teams have until April 28 to raise $200 for United Way: Reward for top fundraising teams include taxi vouchers, block card, or immunity cards
• Chaperones will be Town of Markham staff and volunteers: Katie will check with Marsha to ensure all policies are adhered to

Markham Expo

Sponsorship

• Success so far, receiving support from BMW, Cadillac Fairview, and Party Packagers
• Potential sponsorship with Pacific Mall, Rogers, and Telus
• Various local businesses will set up a booth

Activities

• High schools: Both YRPC and YCPC will be approached; invitation for school clubs to host activities
• MY Community: To be determined
• CanYouth + MY Community: Idea: flash mob
• Tune for Life: Children’s booth: making musical instruments out of household materials
• YVM: To be determined
• YENYR: Displaying eco-technologies

Markham’s Finest

• DJ service
• DJ clinic and hangout area by the main entrance

Battle of the Bands

• 7 bands registered, almost full
• Prize is confirmed: Recording session with Encounters Studio
• Representative from Encounters Studio is a judge
• Working to get more judges
• Working to get guest performers

Step to It

• MC, judges, guest performers all confirmed
• Prizes confirmed: trophies and dance studio time for the summer
• Lots of people talking about it, but no one has signed up
• Last day to sign up is March 19

Inflatables

• In talks with a company
• Will get a good deal

Tune for Life conference

• April 20, 2012, 9:00 to 2:00
• Centennial Community Centre
• Register at their website tuneforlifenetwork.com

Action Items:

Amazing Race

• Send activity description to Guru at gurubagawan@markhamyouth.com by March 23
• Encourage friends to register and fundraise

Next Markham Youth Meeting: Saturday, March 31 from 7:30 to 9:00 at Markham Museum.

Minutes:

MY Community is hosting the Community Expo on February 24, 2012 at the Markham Museum.
• Bringing together performers and artwork from Markham high schools
• See event info here and recommend friends to participate
• If you have hosted an event with performers and are still connected with them, refer them to Katie

YENYR is launching the Seeds to Trees program to connect environmental groups at schools
• Launching on February 23 at Markham Civic Centre

MYTF presenting at council meeting on February 14
• Will feature Markham youth initiatives for Youth Week 2012
• Mention vision of a more unified Markham youth community

Amazing Race
• Currently creating the route. We need all involved organizations to email the location of activity or activities to Shirley by February 29 at shirley.long@markhamyouth.com
• CanYouth: activity unknown, location unknown
• MGT: activity unknown, at Bandstand on Unionville Main Street
• YENYR: identifying invasive species; location unknown (somewhere at Rouge)
• Turn the Page: activity unknown, location unknown
• MY Community: geo-caching, Markham Museum
• MYTF: activity unknown, location unknown
• Activity and Location of Area Youth Council stations to be announced
• Currently seeking lunch and prize sponsors
• Registration at markhamyouth.com
• Funds raised going towards United Way of York Region
• Chaperones provided by connections through Katie

Markham Expo
• May 11 and May 12
• Step to It on Friday night, MGT and Battle on Saturday afternoon, and the Bands on Saturday night
• YENYR: showcasing eco technology, and DIY station making things out of recycled materials
• CanYouth: filming and media coverage (flass mob?)
• Tune for Life: making musical instruments
• Markham Musem: Books as Muse
• Looking to bring out school groups to host their own activities; will be contacted by YRPC
• MYTF is currently approaching sponsors

Action items
• Email Shirley the location(s) of your station(s) for the Amazing race by February 29. Her email is shirley.long@markhamyouth.com.
• Tell friends who may be interested about Step to It and Battle of the Bands so they can register as performers.
• Email Joey your activity for the Markham Expo when you think of one by February 29. His email is joeyloi@markhamyouth.com.

Next Markham Youth Meeting: Friday, March 2 from 6:00 to 7:30 at Angus Glen Community Centre

Minutes:

View the accompanying slides here.

Introducing Tunes for Life, presented by Tiffany Chan

·         Looking into holding a conference in Spring 2012

·         Would like to create some sort of event regarding musical lyrics and during the “festival”

Amazing Race, presented by Guru Bagawan, Shirley Long, and Rocky Chen

·         See slides for event overview and details on collaboration

·         The goal is to have 15 stations

o   CanYouth will be reporting the event with articles and video coverage, will not be having own station

o   MGT will host an activity on Unionville Main Street

o   YENYR will host an activity where participants will work with invasive species; seeking partner; location unknown

o   Turn the Page will have an activity where participants will do an activity representing some aspect of life living in an impoverished community, likely illiteracy

o   MY Community will be hosting a geo-caching activity at the Markham Museum

o   MYTF will host “x” number of activities at locations that ensure that all corners of Markham are reached

·         Once all the stations have been declared, the locations will be mapped out and the route will be created

o   Throughout this process we will work to avoid conflict in location and activity

o   Stations should have a balance between athletic and intellectual challenges

·         Currently seeking lunch and prize sponsors

·         Registration

o   Teams of two register at markhamyouth.com

o   Last year, the handling of funds between the participants and the us was organized, need to create a more efficient process

o   $200 per team to participate

§  The more money they raise, the more advantages they will receive during the day, such as a taxi voucher, etc.

o   Will receive a t-shirt and YRT bus pass for the day

·         Chaperones

o   Needed for safety of participants, as they are under 18

o   Possibility is to partner with a class from Centennial College

·         Marketing

o   The event is unique because we don’t need people to come and watch it, we just need people to participate

o   It is a popular and known among youth in Markham

·         Charity

o   Money raised needs to go to a charity or some sort of cause

§  Note: the theme is collaboration and unity, is there any charity that reflects these values?

“Festival”, presented by Kush Thaker and Joey Loi

·         Date and location

o   May 11 and May 12

o   North-east side of the Markham Civic Centre (see layout in pdf)

o   Explore possibility of booking parking lot as wel

·         Battle of the Bands, presented by Joeffre Brage, Tiffany Chan, and Adrian Proestos

o   May 12 (see schedule in pdf)

§  Sound check will be scheduled one hour prior to the event start

o   8 ands will play two songs each, second round will be 4 bands singing one song each, winner chosen from second round

o   Bands will have to submit a raw video of their performance through markhamyouth.com as an audition

o   Tunes for Life is interested in playing a role in the event

o   Markham Theatre may be able to connect Battle of the Bands with judges

·         Step to It, presented by Marck Mercado, Lydia Chan, Kadie Bennett, Annie Sun

o   Possible party/freestyle afterwards in order to let attendees interact with the performers and with each other

§  Event end at 10:00, dance until midnight

o   Location for participants does not matter

o   Equipment (excluding stage) and DJ’s will be provided by Markham’ Finest, participants will have to submit their songs one week in advance.

o   MYTF will explore the options for staging: mini stage vs. hardwood on concrete

·         Outreach, presented by Chris Ristovski, Kevin Jen, and Carmen Chen

o   Reach school clubs to host off stage activities

§  We are looking for activities hosted by the clubs as opposed to showcase.

o   Collaboration, having youth working together to present the event

o   Looking into food vendors and non profits

o   Idea: Police/Firefighters vs. Markham teams in road hockey, basketball, etc.

o   Sponsorship

§  Must be well times, not too early, not too late

§  Early January we will go right out to sponsors

§  Must notify Chris and Kevin before they pursue a sponsor for this event, we do not want the same organization being approached more than once.

·         MYTF will be pursuing sponsors for the entire event

·         If your organization is also looking for sponsors for your particular portion of the event, MYTF can provide a package that has room for personalization for individual needs

·         Case: If business wants to sponsor BOTB, we will market them as a sponsor of the entire event; greater attraction for potential sponsors

·         Sponsorship will have a tiered system

·         Name

o   Discussion on name of the event, the actual word “Festival” needs to be avoided

§  Ideas

·        Co-Lab – coming out late – and bonding

·        Reach

·        Next

·        MYCO – Markham Youth Collaboration

·        T3 – Tomorrow, Today, Together

·        C3 – Celebrating Community Collaboration

§  MYTF will make decision and we will have a name by January

MYTF Get Involved Conference!, presented by Janie Chu and Christine Hui

·         Organizations given opportunity to talk about their initiatives if they want in the form of a workshop. For example, Joey could come in and talk about Turn the Page.

o   If you want to host a workshop, you can. We want to make the transition from grade school to high school as easy as possible and show that there are ways to become involved outside of school

·         We will use the Markham civic center as the venue.

MY Community Art Expo

·         End of February

·         Markham Museum and Markham Little Theatre

·         Needs help promote through schools

o   Bringing together youth artwork and also youth performers

o   Information will be sent out soon

Markham Public Library

·         Book as Muse

·         Youth read books and create artwork from those books

·         Will partner for “Festival”

·         Will connect with MY Community for possible partnership with Art Expo

Action Items:

Amazing Race

For everyone by February 10:
1. Confirm station’s location and activity, and email to Guru at guru.bagawan@markhamyouth.com to let him know because he needs to begin mapping the route as soon as possible

For MYTF by February 10:
1. Design ‘x’ number of stations so that the event has 15 stations
2. Begin to seek sponsorship for lunch and prize
3. Design participant registration process
4. Design marketing strategy
5. Create template for day schedule

Outreach

For everyone by February 10:
1. Talk to individual school clubs/youth organizations about the event

For MYTF by February 10:
1. Get approval from the board
2. Be in communication with all school groups of interest
3. Begin to search for sponsorship
4. Look into getting food vendors
5. Speak to more organizations to bring more groups into this event

Step to It

For MYTF by February 10:
1. Devise a marketing strategy to begin promotion: create videos, posters, social media
2. Open registration on markhamyouth.com
3. Confirm stage layout and equipment suppliers
4. Begin to search for sponsors, special guests, judges, and MCs; and prizes of a trophy, monetary reward, and studio time
5. Create day schedule

“Festival”

For everyone by February 10:
1. Confirm contribution and develop the plan and strategy

For MYTF by February 10:
1. Secure venue: power, water, washrooms, stage, and lighting
2. Confirm the event name
3. Search for sponsors
4. Design two step marketing campaign

Next Markham Youth Meeting: Friday, February 10 from 6:00 to 9:00 at the Markham Civic Centre.

After filling out this form, we will email you with details on the time and place of the next meeting. We look forward to seeing you there!

Minutes:
1. Introductions on each organization’s mission, initiatives, and plans.
2. Casual networking session
3. Group discussion on MYTF proposed initiatives: Markham Amazing Race, Get Involved! Conference, and Markham Youth Fesstival. Inquiry on the interest of other organizations’ participation, brainstorming ideas, sharing contacts.

Action Items:
1. Email Joey regarding your organization’s interest in participating in the Markham Amazing Race as a challenge host at one (or more) locations. Event taking place in April 2012 all across Markham. Deadline is December 1, 2011.
2. Email Joey regarding your organization’s interest in participating in the Markham Youth Festival (name pending), and ideas on how you would like to contribute. Event taking place May 2012 at the Markham Civic Centre (permit pending). Deadline is December 1, 2011.
3. Fill out this form to help us compile a contact directory (only one contact per organization); to be posted online on the Mayor’s Youth Task Force website.

Next Markham Youth Meeting: December 16 from 6:00 to 9:00 at the Markham Museum

Over the last four years, I have been involved in creating many events that serve the Markham youth community.  From Battle of the Bands, to the Ecological Action Conference, to Answer to Cancer, I’ve worked to create a variety of diverse initiatives from the ground up. Although no two events are ever planned in the same way, there is a general structure that they all follow. I have outlined the nine steps that I believe are the most important when creating an event. Of course, it is not the only way to plan an event, nor is it specific to any type of event like a fundraiser or a conference. It was created as a resource for the Turn the Page website, with the goal of guiding a group in creating an event that will support third world education.  I wish that you too will consider creating an event for this cause!

I hope you find it useful, and I am always welcoming of input and of ways to improve it. Feel free to comment below to let me know what you think.  Below is the first step in planning an event; the purpose. The full guide can be found at the Turn the Page website here.

Before any progress can be made, there must be an understanding of the purpose of the to-be event or initiative.  Why do you want to host this event?  Is it to raise funds for a certain cause, to raise awareness about a particular issue, or perhaps both?  It is important to begin with two or three broad goals that will help you determine the nature of your event.  At this point, you don’t need to consider quantifiable goals like amount of money raised or the number of people participating; you’re trying to determine the reason you’re hosting this event in the first place.  Here are a few examples; they have been adapted from Turn the Page’s mission and aspirations:

• To engage and involve fellow students in supporting education in developing communities.
• To raise awareness of the issue of global poverty and the role education plays in relieving it.
• To act as a connector between schools and create a stronger community effort to support education.
• To inspire youth to take action and to make a difference in their community through volunteerism.
• To better the lives of impoverished youth through education.

Keep reading the guide here.