Invite Others



Promotional Flyer
Find Participants
Invitation Tools

Promotional Flyer

If you would like to promote your dialogue, print a flyer

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Find Participants

As these films are about the interaction of Muslims and non Muslims, it’s a good idea to have a diversity of participants in your dialogue group. It’s important to realize that while Muslims and people of all faiths have a core set of beliefs, their opinions are diverse and no one participant is the sole authority. If you don’t personally know a Muslim who can participate, here are several ways in which you should be able to find a find one and invite them:

1. Try our sign up board, organized by state
2. Go to www.meetup.com, and type the word of the religion that you are looking to engage: for instance, "Islam", "Muslim" "Interfaith" in your zip code
3. Contact a local chapter of one of these organizations and ask for their help*:
   • The Council on American Islamic Relations
   • Islamic Networks Group
   • 20,000 Dialogues Partners
4. Do an internet search for ‘Interfaith’ and ‘Name of Your City’ to ask your local interfaith organization
5. Google ‘Mosque, Masjid, or Islamic Center’ and ‘Name of Your City’ to ask your local mosque. Make sure you ask to speak to someone involved in interfaith efforts.

Sample Language

Subject: request participation by a (Insert faith tradition: if you have a good balance of Muslims and non Muslims, try to search for Hindus, Buddhists or other faiths) to watch (film on Muhammad or film on Islamic Spain)

My name is ____________ and I’m writing to invite the participation of a (insert faith group) from our city to participate in a viewing of the film (either Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet or Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain) and discussion.

We are a group of friends coming together in the spirit of dialogue and understanding as part of a national effort called 20,000 Dialogues, a project of Unity Productions Foundation. You can learn more about the films and this project at www.dialoguesforpeace.org.

We would like to conduct this dialogue on (insert suggested date, time and location). The entire event should take around three hours. If this time is not convenient, please suggest a different time. We plan on watching the film and then discussing it together. There is a lot we can learn from each other and in this time of great fear about different faiths, we invite you to get to know us, and for us to get to know you.

I’ve attached sample discussion questions to give you a sense of some of the issues we’ll be talking about.

Please call me at (your phone number) or email (your email address) to discuss this further.

Sincerely,

(your name)


* The organizations above are listed to assist 20,000 Dialogues users, and not endorsed by or affiliated with UPF.

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Invitation Tools

Here are a few invitation tools that might also help:

• To send an evite, you may either use the free invitation website, evite.com or you can fill out the information below so we can help send out your special message.
  • Host Name:
  • Email:
  • Phone:
  • Date of dialogue:
  • Time of dialogue:
  • Location of dialogue:
  • Respond to:
  • Respond by:
  • Personal message:
  • Recipients:
• To create a group on Myspace, simple register for the free account at Myspace.com. Follow the tab for Groups and select the Create a Group button. Make sure you create your group under the Religion & Beliefs category. When naming your group, use the following format: 20,000 Dialogues: state, city. Make sure your state and city is part of the group name so others in your area may be able to search for your group more easily.
• Facebook is another great internet source for connecting with others. Simply register on the facebook.com site to open a free account. Once you are registered, there are two different ways to create a dialogue contact area.
  • To create a group, follow the Applications tab and select group. When creating it, make sure to have the group type be under Organizations, followed by Religious organizations.
  • To create an event, follow the Applications tab and select event. Make sure that the event type is Meetings: club/group meeting.

Don’t forget to let us know when your dialogue event will take place!

SAMPLE EMAIL – INVITING SOMEONE TO PARTICIPATE

Subject: Getting together to watch a documentary

Hi there, I’m taking part in a viewing of a documentary film with a follow up discussion and I wanted to invite you to come.

The film is called (either Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet or Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain).

Both films deal with historic subjects that have a lot of relevance for today, especially because there is so much fear and misunderstanding between the Muslim and Western worlds.

Watching this film and discussing it is part of a project called, 20,000 Dialogues. You can learn more at www.20000dialogues.org.

We would like to conduct this dialogue on (insert suggested date, time and location). The entire event should take around three hours. If this time is not convenient, please suggest a different time. We plan on watching the film and then discussing it together. There is a lot we can learn from each other and in this time of great fear about different faiths, we invite you to get to know us, and for us to get to know you.

There is no cost and we’ll have refreshments.

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