www.WrensJournal.blogspot.com

Speakers Corner yesterday was fantastic!
Thanks to everyone who helped. Dennis says
he'll be with us again for our next meeting.

I just send out this release to the media:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 9, 2008

DENVER SPEAKERS CORNER AT PEOPLES FAIR, TO BECOME WEEKLY PRE-DNC.
Meeting now part of Wikipedia article on Speakers Corner.

Yesterday the new Denver Speakers Corner combined efforts with it's source of inspiration, People Speak at the Denver Peoples Fair. Pete MacKay from FM 99.5 The Mountain helped introduce the meeting. Each future meeting will have a local radio sponsor, for more information contact John Wren (303)861-1447. For a video of yesterday see http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8231982252054047307&hl=en

The next Denver Speakers Corner will be Sunday, July 6, 2008, 4 p.m., Denver Civic Center North Pavilion, on Colfax across the street from the Denver Newspaper Agency. For more information and optional RSVP see http://cocacop.meetup.com/2

Announcing that a video of yesterday is now available, long time community-activist John Wren said, "the attendance and participation yesterday shows that we are headed in the right direction in making Denver Speakers Corner a Denver institution. We will start meeting weekly in July or August depending on the willingness of local media, political parties, elected officials, candidates for local office, and others to help us get the word out.

"We hope to be going strong with weekly meetings by the end of August when the Democratic National Convention will be here, and that national news coverage will help spread the Speakers Corner concept across the country, combining London's old institution with modern technology as a way to get out local news and opinion in an interesting and helpful way. Wikipedia now lists our group in its Speakers Corner article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers_Corner">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers_Corner">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speakers_Corner

"Much thanks to my long time friend Denver City Auditor Dennis Gallagher for being a continuing source of encouragement and guidance as we launch this new effort. He was not able to be with us yesterday, but he promises that he will be with us in July to emcee."

Denver Speakers Corner has evolved from Save the Caucus, the group formed to fight Amendment 29 in 2002 which would have killed the Colorado caucus-assembly system for nominating candidates to the primary ballot.

It was inspired by the People Speak that has been part of the Denver People’s Fair for the last couple of years, and by Speakers Corner in Hyde Park, London. It has been organized as a new meetup.com by John Wren.

A video of each meeting will be made available for free on the Internet. For a video of the 1st meeting in May, go to http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4792322764316369243&q=John+Wren&ei=tv4iSPWZJoH2qAOyzMyrAQ&hl=en

John S. Wren, MBA+ www.JohnWren.com (303)861-1447 is an adult educator and consultant. Wren is founder of the IDEA Cafe http://ideacafe.meetup.com/1 and the author of Daring Mighty Things—The Simplest Way to Start Your First (or Next) New Business that was sold for years in local bookstores and is now available on his website for free. He is immediate past president of the Denver South Optimists Club, and a member of the board of directors of the Denver Lions Club. He is the past-president of the Rocky Mountain Direct Marketing Association, the Denver City Club, the Colorado College Republicans, and the University of Denver Graduate Students Association. He formed the first Franklin Circle in Denver in 1996, which is based on the group Ben Franklin formed in 1727 in Philadelphia. He held the first Socrates Cafe in Denver, and he now leads the Denver Socrates Cafe each Thursday evening at Trinity Church in Denver http://socratescafe.meetup.com/82.


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John S. Wren, MBA+
www.JohnWren.com
(303)861-1447

Thanks to the Westword blog for helping us get the word out about
what we are doing with the new Denver Speakers Corner.
This is their post from June 4 at http://blogs.westword.com/latestword/:

“Cor ad cor loquitur” should be the motto of the Denver Speaker’s Corner, says City Auditor Dennis Gallagher, citing the Roman adage “heart speaks to heart.” It’s certainly fitting for this open forum, where participants can air their political views in three-to-five-minute ad hoc speeches.

Held in Civic Center Park, the Speaker’s Corner is modeled after the famous Hyde Park Speaker’s Corner in London where citizens with opinions have been voicing them for over one hundred years. Organizer John Wren hopes the meetings will grow from the “handful” that attended the first session in May. But the small size doesn’t mean varied views are in short supply: the meetings welcome participants of all political persuasions who are encouraged to speak about political issues, candidates, causes, and local news.

The first hour of every meeting will be videotaped and placed on the web, so attendees are advised to RSVP and arrive early. Meetings are held each Sunday after the first Friday of every month. The next meeting is on June 8 at 4 p.m. Sign-up begins at 3:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. For more information visit cocacop.meetup.com/2 or call 303-861-1447. -- Maddie Wolberg