The Official Mixtape Recipe
How do you make the world’s largest musical mixtape?! Here’s how Warm Cookies does it, in a handful of easy steps.
• Theme
• Location
• Presenters
• Food, drinks, cookies
• Hands-on Activity
• Childcare
• Marketing materials
• Invitations
1. Choose your mixtape theme
Previous examples: civic rights, intergenerational, immigration, ageing, war, conflict, privilege, feminism, parenting, etc. What topic do you want to explore with a group? How can this topic relate to the community you live in and it’s current joys or challenges? If you need help brainstorming your theme, reach out – we are full of ideas.
2. Secure your location
For this program, you’ll need a space that offering seating and a place to present from. Do the people you wan to come to the gathering ever go to the place where you are holding it? That would be a great and obvious place to put a program on if it’s somewhere people already. hang out. If not, where do people congregate? A park? A restaurant? A sports field? The mall? Perhaps considering these factors the location might help increase participation.
View the pdf titled “The Logistics of Making Your Event the Best It Can Be”.
3. Find presenters
What is your theme? Choose people who can contribute and complement your goal. What action do you want people to take after the program? Try to incorporate elements that will guide people in that direction.
4. Get some food, drinks, and cookies lined up.
5. Choose a hands-on activity.
Some easy ideas are hand-writing mixtape commitment postcards or putting post-its with people’s thoughts on board. Some bigger ideas would be a folded paper collaborative project or block-printing.
6. Secure childcare for event.
7. Use our handy marketing files!
Grab the logo files here.
Find some perfect photos here.
Use our program templates for social and emails in Canva.
8. Invite everyone you know!
With your topic chosen and details sorted, send out the rally cry to everyone you know. Social media, email blasts, flyers, or good old word of mouth. Share on social, send out email announcements, send text reminders, post fliers on a community-wall, anything you can think of. If you need help with anything design-wise, contact Roxann Blue.
9. Reach out to the Warm Cookies crew for help with any details. We want you to succeed!
Evan Weissman – logistics & ideas
Adrian Molina – xxx
Roxann Blue – design
Sample Schedule
2 hour event, 6-8pm
1 hour 30 minutes of programming
5:45pm
Doors open. Have everything set up for early attendees (tables, chairs, food, drinks, activities, childcare, etc). Download our Exhaustive List for all the details!
6:00pm
If your expected attendance has arrived, or you get the sense that most people who are coming have already arrived, you can begin. This is often after the designated start time, so give yourself 10-15 minutes.
6:10pm
Welcome! Let attendees know about childcare and interpretation (if applicable) and layout the plan for the event: Here is why we asked you here, here is what you can expect to do while here, here what we hope you do after you leave. Explain how to perform any interactive tasks. Keep things energetic and light!
Sample script:
Hi everyone! I’m Diana! Welcome to our first ever Show & Tell Mixtape! I’m your host for the evening. I’m excited to have you all here – Mixtape was originally created by Warm Cookies of the Revolution, a civic health club, non-profit based in Denver, Colorado. Theirs looked so fun, I wanted to try it myself. Here’s how it works: Our theme today is ageing. Bring your song or object up to our sign-up sheet. We’ll give you a number. When it’s time to start sharing, be sure to come up when your number is up. We want to hear about your song or object and how it ties in with our topic of ageing. We’ll get started in about 15 minutes, to head on up to our sign up booth!
6:30-7:30pm
Everyone shares their songs and objects!
*If you have food and it shows up during this time, make a simple announcement. People may start to line up, that is okay.
7:45pm
Wrap up. Thank everyone for coming to share! Add any final thoughts or action items you are hoping they leave with. Encourage them to sign up to be notified of your next event, or anything else. If you need help with cleanup, just ask! Generally, people are happy to help out.
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Share your energy with the group!
Participants will naturally look to you for an example of what to do and how to feel. They’re following your lead. Tap into those old drama classes or public speaking practices. If you bring your energy at 100%, attendees will feel more comfortable being engaged as well.
Here are some photos from previous mixtapes for inspiration.
