“Who
the heck is Patrick Madrid, anyway?”
What topics does
Patrick speak on?
Patrick has over two dozen
dynamic, high-impact, faith-building seminar topics on
Catholic themes for you to
choose from. For a complete list of topics (PDF format), please
click here.
Several new seminars have been recently added.
“How
can our parish bring Patrick here to speak?”
It
easy! Just fill out the
seminar
request form and send it in. The date(s) you request
will be checked against Patrick's speaking calendar to see
if they are available. If they are, he'll be able to reserve
the date(s) for you. If the dates you request aren't available,
he'll offer you an alternative date(s) which might
also work for you.
You can also
call Priscilla, our seminar coordinator, directly at
740-345-2705. Her e-mail address is
priscilla at surprisedbytruth.com.
Once your parish or group settles on an available date(s) for the
seminar, the pastor or the head of the hosting organization
faxes, mails, or e-mails Patrick a formal letter of invitation including
the date(s) and time, location of the seminar, contact information
number, agreement to the
speaking
fee, and any other pertinent information. Once Patrick
receives the letter of invitation, he will reserve the date(s)
for you.
If your group or parish is interested in hosting a
one-evening seminar during
one of Patrick's speaking tours in or near your area (i.e.
within driving distance of another scheduled seminar),
please contact us
by e-mail at
patrick
at surprisedbytruth.com (replace "at" with @),
or by phone at 740-345-2705,
or by fax at 740-345-4594.
Click
here
for details on the speaking fee.
“Where
can I get calendar information about available dates or when
a seminar is taking place in my area?”
Patrick's seminar
calendar is available
here.
If you'd like to plug in to
an existing seminar by hosting a one-night seminar at a
parish near a currently scheduled event,
please contact his shiny, happy seminar coordinator,
Priscilla, at our office: call 740-345-2705 or e-mail her at
priscilla at surprisedbytruth dot com. Our
fax number is 740-345-4594. You can also send e-mail to
patrick at surprisedbytruth dot com
“How
long in advance should I start planning a seminar?”
The
further in advance you reserve the date(s) for your seminar,
the better.
By planning early, you're much more likely to
get the date(s) you want, and you can also take advantage
of many different ways of promoting the event. Most parishes
and conferences reserve their date(s) at least four months
in advance, some even a year in advance.
We recommend that you reserve
your date(s) at least two months in advance.
“Is
it okay to invite non-Catholics to a Surprised by Truth seminar?”
Absolutely.
Non-Catholics are always welcome at these seminars. The
talks are respectful toward non-Catholics, even though issues
on which Catholics and non-Catholics disagree are discussed.
“Should
our seminar be open to other parishes and to the general public?”
Yes, definitely.
It's always better to invite the entire community, especially
fellow Catholics from neighboring parishes. This will make
your parish's Surprised by Truth Seminar even more of an
effective outreach to those outside your parish, and it will
help you build community on a broader level.
“How
should we get the word out and promote the seminar?”
There
are several effective ways to promote the seminar once you
have reserved the date(s):
- Arrange
for your pastor and the associate pastors of the parish
to announce the event at the Saturday night and Sunday
Masses for the two weeks immediately prior to the event.
If the pastor is enthusiastic in inviting and encouraging
the parishioners to attend, many will.
This is a VERY effective way to generate interest (and
attendance) among the parishioners!
We respectfully encourage the priests of the parish to
personally announce the seminar and invite the
parishioners to attend. Making this announcement at the
end of the Masses during the two weekends prior to the
seminar is perhaps the single most effective means of
generating attendance.
The hosting parish or group should prepare and widely
distribute an 8.5" X 11" information flyer for
distribution to the parishioners and other local-area
Catholics.
Click here for a sample
multi-day promotional poster/flyer
(single-evening posters are almost identical).
To receive a customized version (i.e. with your
parish's contact info, dates, etc.) of the above
professionally produced flyer/poster, please contact our
artist, Charlotte Johnson, at
chargraphics at earthlink dot net. For just $30, Charlotte
will create and e-mail to you in PDF format both the 11" x
17" poster and an the 8.5" x 11" flyer (both in full
color) for you to use in your promotion of the seminar.
Please note that using this inexpensive graphics service
from Charlotte Johnson is by no means mandatory, but it
will save you a LOT of time, energy, and money!
To receive a hi-resolution publicity image of Patrick
Madrid for use in the flyer, please contact Priscilla at 740-345-2705 or via e-mail at
priscilla
at surprisedbytruth dot com.
It is also very effective to display copies of an 11" X 17" information poster in various locations within vestibule
and elsewhere on the grounds of the hosting parish (as
well as at other parishes that agree to post it) to help
raise parish awareness of the seminar.
PLEASE NOTE:
Long experience has shown that to achieve maximum
turnout it is important to distribute the flyers parish-wide
on each of the two Sundays immediately preceding the
event.
One way to distribute the fliers so that
they have maximum impact is for the ushers to distribute
them at the conclusion of Mass as the pastor or associate pastor
make the announcement from the pulpit.
We have found that having the ushers put the flyer directly into the hands of
the parishioners is far
more effective than leaving the flyers in stacks near
the entrances.
We recommend you display the 11" x 17" posters in many
places throughout the parish buildings, especially at each
of the entrances to the church. Please encourage your
neighboring parishes and Catholic-owned businesses to also
display the posters.
- Arrange
for other parishes in your area to also make the announcement
about the seminar and, if the priests at those parishes
are amenable, arrange for fliers to be distributed at
those parishes on the two weekends preceding the event.
- Place
a space ad in your local secular and diocesan newspapers.
This type of announcement will incur some cost, but it is another very effective way to get the
word out to the wider community beyond your own parish.
- Send a press release to
both your local secular and diocesan newspapers.
This kind of announcement is typically free, though it may
be limited to a text-only format (i.e. a news brief).
Please feel free to download and make use of
this sample press release as a basic template for your
own seminar press release. Feel free to modify it as
needed.
- If
the location of your seminar is in a major metro area,
it's also a good idea to place a paid ad or a press release
(or both) in national Catholic publications, such as the
National
Catholic Register and
Our
Sunday Visitor Newspaper.
- If you have local Catholic
radio, contact them to see if they will allow you to place
a free "public service announcement" on the
air announcing the seminar. Most stations will do this
for you. Ditto for many secular radio stations.
- Place
the posters in and around the parish church. Some parishes
will have a banner made to display on the grounds facing
the street so passers by in cars and on foot will see
the announcement. This is also very effective in getting
the word out.
- If
your budget permits it, direct mail the announcement
flier (or even a simple announcement postcard) to all registered families in the parish.
Experience has shown that this technique also works
very well in generating a large turn out.
“How long does an
all-day Saturday seminar last?”
Saturday seminars typically
begin at 9:00 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. and last until 4:00 p.m. or
4:30 p.m., depending on the parish's Saturday evening schedule
of Mass and confessions.
The lunch break typically runs from noon till 1:00 p.m.
There are brief intermissions between the different talks to
allow for coffee and restroom breaks. The typical all-day
Saturday event comprises a total of four complete talks (two
in the morning and two in the afternoon) plus a full-length
"Open Forum Q&A session."
Here's a typical all-day
Saturday seminar schedule:
9:00 a.m. Talk # 1
10:00 a.m. Break;
approximately 20 minutes is needed for a break so the audience
can use the restroom, stretch, buy books, and get refreshments
(if served).
10:20 a.m. Talk # 2
11:30 a.m. Q&A session
12:00 p.m. Lunch
break
At this point, if there is to be a free-will offering, the
collection is taken up by the ushers, before the
audience leaves for lunch.
1:00 p.m. Talk # 3
2:00 p.m. Break
2:20 p.m. Talk # 4
3:15 p.m. Q&A
session
4:00 p.m.
Conclusion, closing prayer
“How long does an
evening seminar last?”
A one-evening seminar lasts
between 2.5 and 3 hours, usually beginning at 7:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m. Welcome, opening prayer, introduction of
speaker
8:10 p.m. Talk concludes
At this point, if there is to be a free-will offering, the
collection is taken up by the ushers. During this time,
Patrick Madrid will speak about some of the books & DVDs
available on the tables.
8:20 p.m. Intermission; approximately 20 minutes is
needed for a break so the audience can use the restroom,
stretch, buy books, and get refreshments (if served).
8:40 p.m. Q&A session begins
9:30 p.m. Conclusion and closing prayer
“What's
Patrick Madrid's policy about books, DVDs, and CDs ?”
Providing
good Catholic books, CDs, and DVDs to the seminar attendees is
a very good way to deepen their love for Christ, and expand
their knowledge of the Faith. These resources will help
perpetuate the excitement and commitment gained from the
seminars.
Patrick Madrid will bring his own books & CDs to sell
at the seminar.
The parish or sponsoring group will provide
three 8' tables for his books, located in or near the room
where the seminar is held. We also ask that the parish
designate four people to help at the tables as volunteers.
Patrick will provide
all necessary book & CD sale materials, such as a cash
box, change, price lists, credit card order forms, pens,
etc.
We strongly prefer that no other bookstore or other group sell books,
CDs, and DVDs
at Patrick's seminars. If that is impossible, the parish
or hosting group is asked to ensure that none of Patrick
Madrid's book, CDs, or DVD titles be carried by any other
vender at the event, so that his materials will be available exclusively at his
book tables.
The hosting parish or
group is required to handle getting the remaining books &
CDs shipped back to Surprised by Truth Seminars
expeditiously -- ideally, within 2 business days of the
conclusion of the seminar. This includes performing an
inventory of the remaining items, re-boxing them into the
fewest number of boxes, and sealing and weighing the boxes.
Our seminar coordinator, Priscilla, will then fax or mail
pre-paid UPS shipping labels to the parish (i.e., shipping
costs are billed directly to Patrick Madrid's UPS account,
not to the parish).
“Will Patrick be
available for signing books at the seminar?”
Yes! He'll be happy to sign
books during all the breaks and after the seminar, for as
long as time permits.
“What's
the policy about audio and video recording?”
The
parish or hosting organization may record the
seminar(s) in audio or video format but ONLY by agreeing to the following
non-negotiable stipulations:
- The
parish or hosting organization agrees that the sole copyright
owner of the recording(s) made of his seminar(s), both audio or video, is Patrick
Madrid. The parish also agrees not to give or sell,
license, give, gift, or in any other way convey copies
of the recording(s) to any third-party organizations (e.g., a tape
distribution apostolate, bookstore, or other
organization) for reproduction, sale, distribution,
loaning, storage, website download, or any other purpose.
- The
master copy of the audio and/or video recording(s) will be given to
Patrick Madrid at the conclusion of the event or shortly
thereafter, depending on what arrangements are made at
ahead of time, though the parish may keep on hand a duplicate
master for the purpose of making copies of the
recording(s)
for the benefit of the local parish members.
- The
parish or hosting organization may duplicate and sell
copies of the recording(s) of the seminar at the seminar itself,
if agreed upon with Patrick Madrid in advance, and the proceeds will go to the parish or
hosting organization, minus a 20% royalty to Patrick Madrid: i.e.
20% of the amount all revenues generated by the sales of the
recording[s], whether in audio or video format).
- If
the parish or hosting organization wishes to continue
reproducing and distributing tapes of the event after
the fact, it must agree in writing in advance that such distribution will be limited
to only the local parish (i.e. not to other groups, and
not through advertisements in publications or on the Internet
or in any other manner),
and a 20% royalty will be paid quarterly to Patrick Madrid.
What's the policy
regarding payment of the speaking fee?
The parish or hosting
organization is required to furnish Patrick a check for the
full amount of his speaking fee when he arrives at the venue
for the event.
In most cases, a
non-refundable deposit of $1,000 is required to secure the
date(s) requested by the parish, but in any event, the full
amount of the stipend and any travel and lodging expenses
must be paid by the parish when Patrick arrives.
Surprised by Truth Seminars
typically does not submit an invoice for Patrick's speaking
fee, but in cases where this is requested by a parish or
hosting group, we can accommodate this. Please
contact our seminar coordinator, Priscilla, at 740-345-2705
or via e-mail (priscilla at surprisedbytruth dot com) to arrange
for an invoice. Requests for an invoice must be made at
least three weeks prior to the event.
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