Download a printable Action Guide here

When planning your Break you may consider the following tips:

• Prior to the Event
• Day of the Event
• After the Event

Prior to the Event

• Decide the time and location of where you are going to have your Break and consider how to involve the greatest number of people in the event. Possible locations are a church, school classroom, office lunchroom, community hall, in your home, or at a local shop or market that sells Fair Trade. Some places may need to be booked in advance, so plan ahead to ensure availability.
• Choose which Fair Trade product line or combination of products to showcase. For example, are you simply brewing up coffee? Or are you going to make an extravagant cake? It is up to you to decide based on your help from others, time constraints, target audience, location, etc.
• Consider forming a committee to help with tasks. On the other hand, you can certainly plan an event by yourself. Invite some friends over for some coffee or bring some folks together at your local farmers market. Having different people involved will also give you a range of skills, knowledge and contacts to draw on. Create a roster of potential volunteers and brainstorm together about how you envisage the Break panning out. This makes it clear to everyone involved what they should expect and do.
• Tasks on the day of the event: You may want to consider the following and delegate the tasks amongst your committee.
  • Having an MC for your event who can educate attendees further on Fair Trade and why having a Fair Trade Break and doing theWorlds Largest Coffee Break is important.
  • Make sure there is enough product and supplies for your Break (securing the coffee, coffee makers, food, distribution systems etc). We also recommend that people bring their own cups/mugs to cut down on waste. If this is not possible then paper cups may be used as a backup for those who forget their own cups. Consider any complimentary Fair Trade snacks or other beverages to have available, such as baked goods, iced tea, chocolate.
  • Have a person present to take an official COUNT of the number of people who participate in the event. Remember any number of people coming together at 3 pm EDT or 12 pm PDT will be counted towards the Worlds Largest Coffee Break record. What’s most important is that you participate! These numbers can then be emailed back into FTRN after your event.
  • If you invite press to attend your event, assign the task of media liaison. This is someone who supports the press (e.g. directs them where they can access electricity for cameras, etc.) and can direct their inquiries to appropriate participants. Be sure to have one or more spokespeople lined up and ready to speak with press as well. The World Fair Trade Day media kit can provide further guidance here.
• Advertising and promoting your Break is highly important. If your event is public, the goal is to reach out to as many people as possible in your community. FTRN offers a number of free resources: World Fair Trade Day posters, Fair Trade Break postcards which can be used as invitations to your event, and stickers to acknowledge participants’ support for Fair Trade. Be creative with your promotion- the greatest mix of advertising the better. Include strategically placed posters, ads in local papers, email campaigns and e-vites, chalk on the sidewalk, eye-catching banners, free public service announcements and spots on your local radio stations- the possibilities are endless.
• Use the media to promote your event. FTRN and FTTowns offered a training in March to help local activists work with local media to promote their events. You can use the tools we provide in the World Fair Trade Day media kit to attract print, radio, and television in your event.
• As the day draws closer begin to think about possible questions you may be asked about Fair Trade- brainstorm some possible answers. Use the 10 reasons to support Fair Trade document to draw together talking points. Or access FTRN’s frequently asked questions page to help you with this. Remember that you do not need to know everything about Fair Trade to support it. Speak from your heart and, if you do not know an answer, simply direct them to FTRN.org or ask for their contact information and follow up later with an answer.

Day of the Event

• Double check you have all the products and ingredients you need for your Break. You may also need to think about any supplementary items that you may need to use during your Break. Don’t forget the stirrers, milk and sugar for your tea or coffee Breaks!
• Have a sign-up sheet available and ask each person who comes to the event to leave their name and contact info (especially email) so that you can continue the dialogue and develop a listserv. While hosting your Break don’t forget to get a solid count of participants. We will need exact figures to send off to the Guinness World Book of Records. If you don’t already have a Fair Trade Towns steering committee, this list is the perfect place to start organizing such a group!
• Have on hand any promotional material and introductory material on Fair Trade to give out. This is particularly important for people new to Fair Trade. Access Fair Trade promotional materials.
• Check in with media to be sure they are attending. The World Fair Trade Day media kit can provide further guidance here.
• Take lots of photos and/or video. We invite you to post your video on YouTube and send us the link. We’ll feature it on FTRN.org.

After the Event

• Follow up with people who requested additional information about Fair Trade. If you are unsure of answers, get in contact with FTRN or FTT who can try and help you find what you are looking for.
• Post information and photos from your event on ftrn.org, including an overview of the Break(s), highlights and even challenges. All of this information will help future groups with their campaign efforts and planning.
• Report your final numbers tosara@fairtradetownsusa.org so we can tally up the numbers for the Worlds Largest Record and submit your photos/videos or email us at wftday@fairtraderesource.org

Remember World Fair Trade Day is more than a day. Though the pinnacle of the celebration is Saturday, May 10th,we celebrate WFTD during over a span two weeks, from May 3rd to May 18th. This period is called Fair Trade Fortnight.