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Poetry Slams--the “basics”.

A poetry slam is essentially competitive poetry or spoken word. There are some formalities, but you can be as creative with your slam as you like.

There are some common elements to poetry slams. A slam will have an emcee, someone who will guide the competition and enforce the "rules". There are not many rules, but this is an important function of the emcee. More than that, the emcee is someone who keeps the slam lively and moving along.

Most slams are standardized to a three-minute performance by each poet. There are several reasons for this. It allows a venue to determine the length of the event. At the two slams done at Forbes Library, we had about 20 poets each. This meant that we could count on about 60 minutes of actual slamming. Figuring in the rest of the event, we could determine that the whole program would run about 2-2.5 hours from the time you open the door to the time everyone is out.

Using a standardized three-minute format also allows experienced slammers to fit their piece to the time perfectly.

Emcees select five judges from the audience--these are not generally pre-selected. Slams are essentially populist events and they are judged viscerally. Selecting judges from the audience also injects an exciting degree of randomness to the proceedings. Each judge is given score cards (from 1 – 10) -- which to score each poet. The highest and lowest scores are dropped. Therefore each poet gets a final score of 3-30.

In a typical "library size" one-day event with 20-25 participants, it's appropriate to have an elimination round and a final. You should select the three (up to five) highest scorers to compete for the podium.

In a nutshell that's it. All you need is paper, a heated room, and appropriate prizes.

Why Slam?

Many libraries have had very positive experiences with poetry events. I am writing this at Forbes Library now. As I type, I am about 50 feet from a filled-to-capacity room for a poetry event. People like poetry. (I know it seems crazy, living here in TV land), but it's true. There's a dedicated minority out there who will come to your library if you “build it”.

I am going to help you do it.

Another thing about slams is that they are exciting. Exciting? Libraries? Hmm. It's not something you hear too often outside of an ALA conference, but I can say that if you do the groundwork and produce a good event, it will be amazing to see how good some of these people are. You will produce memorable moments for your patrons -- and yourself.

While slams will attract people of all ages, most have a clustering with a bell curve centered on the late 20s. It's a group of people that we should all see more of.

For those of us who have gallery space, we know we can count on friends of the artists to show up. Beyond that, it's just a guess. With even a 10-poet slam, we multiply the audience by their draw, and then add the curious. It's a formula for getting people into a room.

We've all tried to produce memorable programming, and it's not easy. I've worked really hard on some event only to see just one or two people show up and be disappointed because I had to cancel. A well-publicized, well-done slam will be a success.

Why Regional?

We're all members of WMRLS. Clunky acronym, great organization. I've don’t think I’ve ever met anyone as enthusiastic as Janet. Essentially the Region offers a tool that we can leverage.

If the participating libraries band together to co-promote the event we'll generate a lot of interest. A simple poster that lists the libraries having slams will allow us to help each other with publicity--one of the hardest parts of programming.

The slams are almost certain to attract media attention. Especially as a regional event. This will again create a synergy effect with regard to the libraries.

What I will do to help you

When considering doing another slam for Forbes, I realized I would have to write a press release, put together a letter asking businesses to sponsor the slam, find an emcee, make up promotional materials and make a schedule.

I then thought I might as well share this with others, and we could then have a regional slam. Pleased be advised that this whole web site went up quickly, so the letters and posters, etc., at this point are mostly unedited.

So, I will provide:

A sponsorship letter in Mail Merge format. Customize to your needs. Fill in the local businesses in the Excel format sheet. This will come in handy for later projects. Create a folder called "Slam" either in My Documents or on the desk top. Download both of them and then open the Word doc and run the Mail Merge feature from Tools. Choose Select Data Source and under Type, choose Excel worksheet, then navigate to the Slam folder and choose the Excel sheet you downloaded. Should be simple from there. Just fill in the names of businesses and go.

Promotional materials including posters, handbills and the like. Printed mostly in color, by WMRLS.

A 15-week tear sheet. Basically, a list of tasks and when you should have performed them in advance of your Slam to keep you on track.

Guidance. If you need something, you can call me. We'll probably have another round table as the event draws near.

. A patron website you can link to. It will provide all the necessary information and may have sign-up features or something along those lines

Press releases. We'll have two to three rounds of press releases. It would be nice if I could obtain the press release lists from other libraries so we could circulate them between us. Why not?

Emcees. I am working to get a few emcees for this project that people can bring in if they don't have someone available in-house. I'm suggesting a $50 honorarium for their time, and contribution to the success of the slam. If you do require an emcee, I’m sure the people chosen will have excellent skills. This is more or less the only cost associated with the event.