HOW TO ORGANIZE A

SUCCESFUL PIPO ON DEMAND

(WHILE PRESERVING YOUR INNER PEACE)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Why organize a PIPO on Demand? ..................................................................................................................... 4

How does a PIPO on demand work? .................................................................................................................. 4

Preparation ......................................................................................................................................................... 5

Building the team ............................................................................................................................................... 6

Creating a Budget ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Sponsorship packages and partnerships ............................................................................................................ 7

Searching for venues .......................................................................................................................................... 9

Choosing Your Cities ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Targeting the conferences ................................................................................................................................ 11

Promotion......................................................................................................................................................... 12

Greetings and how to HELP local hosts OR partners understand a monk's way of life... ................................ 13

Logistics ............................................................................................................................................................ 15

Transportation (How to travel with a monk) .................................................................................................... 16

Monk accommodation and meals .................................................................................................................... 17

Session introduction and conclusion ................................................................................................................ 19

Participant registration ..................................................................................................................................... 19

Interviews ......................................................................................................................................................... 20

Photo and video shooting ................................................................................................................................ 20

Selling PR Material............................................................................................................................................ 21

Post event documents ...................................................................................................................................... 21

Don’t forget to celebrate! ................................................................................................................................ 21

Countries who’ve done pipo on demand ......................................................................................................... 22

Registration sheet example .............................................................................................................................. 23

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This manual is a guide that will help you plan and organize your PIPO on
Demand. As a Peace Agent, it’s your mission to share peace with the world.
What better way to do it than by sharing meditation!

Organizing this event on your own may seem like a daunting task. But, you’re
not alone. The information you find here is a compilation of experiences from
Agents all across the globe. We share the lessons, successes and failures we
have had.

Read through it so you get an idea of what a PIPO on Demand is about. You’ll
see that it’s very doable and most of all, very rewarding. You don’t have to
reinvent the wheel, learn from our mistakes and have a successful PIPO on
Demand!

The Peace Revolution Team

December 2015

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WHY ORGANIZE A PIPO ON DEMAND?

You’re back from Thailand and you want to share your newly found inner peace with all the beloved people
back home. You tell them about the fellowship, meditation, the monks’ wisdom, the delicious food, the
tropical paradise and of course, the center!

You want everyone to experience the same peace and happiness you’re enjoying thanks to meditation. And
that’s exactly what PIPO on Demand is about.

You can’t take everyone to Thailand but, you can take Thailand to everyone. In a PIPO on Demand you invite
a teaching monk to your country to organize meditation workshops in different places such as schools,
universities, yoga studios, parks and other public areas. This allows people to have a taste of inner peace.

It’s a great way to give people a try of what meditation actually is. Many of those who try it once, have such
great experiences that they get hooked and immediately want to learn more. Hopefully, they’ll continue
with the self-development program, or some other peace related activity.

“The PIPO was a chance for me to do something worthwhile, for me, for the
people in my country. It´s a great experience and I could feel that I was doing
many things in a loving-kindness way, without expectations, without
selfishness, without thinking about the results, I was just doing things because
I knew that it could be meaningful for someone that I didn´t know. In this
sense, peace out can teach you as much as the inner peace... it´s a way of
practicing your inner peace.”

Barbara Contreras from Chile

HOW DOES A PIPO ON DEMAND WORK?

A PIPO on Demand is a joint effort to spread the message of peace. You invite a teaching monk and two or
three PR members to your country and you organize conferences and meditation sessions in public places.

The monk and staff cover the flight from Thailand to your country. You usually need to provide them with
local meals, accommodation and transport, but this will depend on the number of participants you’ll be
having. Check the guidelines file to be sure about what you need to take care of.

“I decided to do a PIPO in Brazil because I wanted to introduce people in my

country a very simple tool to make people feel better with themselves and
overcome better the challenges we face in life. I could experience that by
myself, that's why I wanted to share with others. Many people want to
change, they want their life to change but don't know how to start or don't
know from where to take strength. Meditation is a very useful habit we should
learn.”

Raphaela Simoes from Brazil

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BEFORE THE EVENT
PREPARATION

Organizing a PIPO on demand is something that requires time, effort and a lot of creativity. Before you
decide to make one, you need to be sure that you’re 100% committed to making it happen.

Browse through the videos on the website to get an idea of what a PIPO on Demand is about. You can also
contact one of the agents who’s already done one to learn about their experience. Pick someone from a
country that has a similar culture to yours, this will give you a better idea of what you’ll be doing (here’s a
list of the countries who’ve done it).

When you’re sure about it, contact Peace Revolution, tell them that you’re interested and ask them to give
you the guidelines. Start working with the “Guidelines” file to keep your information organized. You will
need to submit the “Pre-Event” sheet so PR can evaluate your idea and see if they approve it.

"It was such a big effort and work to make it happen and in 1 or 2 moments
we felt we were not going to make it. But at the end, when you are at the
sessions sharing peace with more people, when you hear their testimonies,
when you see the look in their faces, when you feel the message has been
delivered and they also have been able to experience this peace inside, then
you realize about the impact of what you have just done. Then you believe
again and understand that if we want a peaceful world, as with any other
thing, we need to work hard to make it happen."

Diego Romano and Ana Lloveras from Argentina

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BUILDING THE TEAM

It’s always good to know how many people you can count on before starting. Contact other Agents in your
country (PR can provide you with their information). Tell them that you’re going to organize a PIPO on
Demand and ask if they’re willing to help. If there are no other agents in your country, you can ask your
friends or local volunteers. People like to contribute to good causes.

They can help even if they don’t live in the city the PIPO will take place. In Mexico, one of the agents
designed all the promotional materials and a rebel helped us with Facebook promotion.

Once you have your team together, you should set a coordinator (if you’re the one taking the initiative it will
probably be you). The coordinator’s task will be to have an overview of the whole project. You don’t need to
do everything yourself, but you do need to know what needs to get done and who is the best person to do
it. You will also coordinate with the PR office.

Once you have your team and the dates ready, set up monthly or quarterly meetings. Two heads think
better than one, and 5 heads think better than two. In the meetings you can discuss what important steps
you’ve made, see what you’re missing and brainstorm new ideas.

You will also need volunteers at each session to help with the logistics, collecting donations, conducting
interviews and selling.

“After I became a Peace Agent, I had the idea of doing a PIPO-on-demand on

my mind but was convinced it was too ambitious for two hands only. I believed
I needed more people to help me, and I thought there were none. Until one
day, I decided I would take the initiative anyway. It was a leap of faith. And
then magic started to happen - friends, strangers, other Peace Agents started
to help. From being something that seemed impossible to do, the PIPO became
a 'family' gathering where a lot of people I knew more or less helped - with
accommodation, with cooking, with managing session registrations and
promotional activities. It was incredible! The events were very successful as
well, there was much more interest in meditation than I ever thought would be
possible.

PIPOs are a great way of bringing people closer to the idea of meditation, and making them
familiar with this tool for a happier life - available for just anyone. Meditation is still seen as
something exotic in my country. This was the main reason I decided to organize a PIPO
Romania, I wanted to share with people around me what I knew meditation could do! I am not
saying doing a PIPO is easy, but I am saying it is really worth it. You get paid in Sabai smiles,
beautiful people that you get to meet and also you make people ask themselves some
questions, such as ''Could this meditation thing actually work for me? Maybe it could!". And I
believe this is how you become the richest (wo)man on the planet! :) “

Anca Gliga from Romania

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CREATING A BUDGET

Even if the event won’t be for profit, it doesn’t mean that you need to get an extra job to pay for your PIPO
on Demand. All the costs should be covered by the event itself. The purpose of having a budget is for you to
know how much money you are going to need.

Make a list of the costs you’ll have while preparing, as well as the costs of the actual event. You should
include gas, meals, promotional material, phone calls, printings, food, accommodation and any other
expense you can think of. Make it as complete as you can. Sum it up for a grand total and add 10% for
unexpected situations (which you will surely have).

Some of this money will come from your sponsors. Another part can come from charging an entrance fee to
the events or selling promotional items (PR can supply you with this).

“I organized a PIPO on Demand to share meditation with the people from

Bolivia. It was a way of giving thanks for the experience I got at the retreat”
Araceli Mendiluce

SPONSORSHIP PACKAGES AND PARTNERSHIPS

Sponsors can be good supporters of your event. It’s easier for someone to help you if you present them with
a concrete offer.

Start by creating several packages which you will offer these to different places. You can’t just go and ask for
a sponsorship telling them that you want to create world peace. This is enough motivation in itself, but most
people also need to see how they will benefit from sponsoring you.

You need to give them a benefit for helping you. Get creative, and think of everything you can give them. Be
flexible, if they don’t accept your first offer, you could work out another agreement that suits you both. It’s a
good idea to have 2 or 3 sponsorship packages with different costs so that they can choose depending on
their budget.

You don’t always need to ask for money. You can work out agreements with
restaurants or hotels too. You can give them free passes for some sessions, or
special meditations for their staff and customers in exchange for their services.

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Here are some examples of how we did this in Mexico in two different places, a school and a yoga studio.

COLEGIO SIMON BOLIVAR

This is a children’s school and we created two packages for them.

First we wrote a letter explaining what we were doing and why. We explained how meditation can create
inner peace, and then outer peace. We also made it clear that even though a monk was going to give the
sessions, he would not talk about religion, because our objective was peace not spreading a belief.

We offered the following choices:

 2 live meditation sessions (with the monk) + follow up with 3 online sessions ($380 US)
 1 live meditation session (with the monk) + 1 follow up online session ($150 US)

The sessions would be private, only for the school’s teachers and students and we would give them
preference for choosing the date and time.

When we made the proposal and presented the packages, we explained that we were not doing this for
profit, but we needed the sponsorship to cover the monk’s accommodation and meals. We also told them
about all the benefits the kids would get from meditation such as better concentration, better behavior and
more harmony in the classroom. We explained about our publicity plan, which included flyers, facebook ads,
posters and a website for the event. They would get their logo and information on all these things, which
would give them free exposure and possible new students.

The school was delighted to support us, they chose the first package and became one of our main
supporters.

YOGA STUDIO

Yoga studios are already interested in meditation, so you need to focus more on the promotional part. As
well as with the school, we told them about our marketing plan. We told them that all the people who
attended sessions in other places, would find out about them, and this would send them new customers.
We also said that it would be a nice opportunity for their students to learn more about inner peace and
meditation and relate it to their yoga practice.

We came up with the agreement that they would charge an entrance fee of $12 US. They would keep $4 US
to cover expenses, and give us $8 US.

We limited the number of entrances to 30, which is the maximum amount that fit in the room. They sold the
entries among their customers, so we didn’t have to worry about promotion for this event. This was one of
the best sessions. The participants were very excited and they even requested a blessing from the monk at
the end.

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SEARCHING FOR VENUES

With your dates, team and budget ready, you can start searching for venues. Make a list of all the places
that you think would like to have a session. Be creative and go beyond the usual Yoga studio or Holistic
center. Many universities, schools, coffee shops and office complexes would be delighted to have an event
too.

It’s easier when you already have someone’s contact. Ask your friends, relatives and organizations you’re
part of to see if they know someone who could be interested. Rebels and agents in your country can also be
of great help. Start by offering your sponsorship packages, but be flexible and be ready to work out an
agreement that will benefit both of you.

Some of the venues will be provided by your partners or sponsors. If so, be sure to give them a list of all the
requirements so they can prepare ahead of time (see Transportation and Logistics).

If you’re going to have a session somewhere else, like a park, or a public area, make sure that it’s quiet and
that you have all the necessary equipment. It’s pretty easy to find someone who can lend you a space. We
organized three sessions in the restaurant area of an alternative healing center’s building. They didn’t
charge us anything and they even lent us some chairs because they were getting good publicity.

If you live in a big city, choose places that are close to each other. This way, you can conveniently find
lodging that’s also close to all the venues. You won’t waste time moving from one place to another and
you’ll have time to rest between the sessions.

A good strategy is to have a combination of big and small sessions. The big ones will be good for getting a
larger number of participants. The small ones can be more personalized and you can charge a bit more to
help you cover the expenses.

The most convenient is having two sessions per day. A morning one which can be between 8 am -11 am and
an evening one, that can be between 4 pm – 8pm. This will allow you to have enough time for eating and
resting in between. You could have 3 sessions per day if they’re all in the same place or very close to each
other.

“During the PIPO in Mexico City we had to drive 2-3 hrs. from one place to
another. It wasn’t fun and it was also very tiring for everyone. “ Ilse Marel

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CHOOSING YOUR CITIES

It’s very exciting to have a monk visit you! And you probably want to take him everywhere. Before making
arrangements, here are some things to consider:

 Traveling between cities is very tiring. Both for you as organizer and for the monk. Avoid it
as much as possible.
 The best is to have all your events in the same city, or in cities that are close to each other.
 When choosing a city for your events, consider:
o Are there enough venues?
o Will you be able to fill all the sessions?
o Is the city so small that you may not reach the target number of people?
o Where will you have the most support from volunteers, other PA’s and partner
organizations?
 When considering travel between two or more cities, take into account how much time
and money it will take, is it really worth it?
 If the cities are very far from each other, more than 5 hrs. away on ground transportation,
consider flying
 Don’t plan any sessions for the day you’ll be traveling. There are always unexpected
setbacks, and you don’t want to be rushing just to get to the session. The monk needs
some chill time before giving a talk!
 Take into consideration the quality of the participants in each session. It’s easier to plan
and arrange for a few quality events in the same city than to plan many smaller events in
several different cities. When considering your options, always look at:
o Quantity and quality of the participants
o Support from the host organization
o Is the travel time and cost between the two locations really worth it?
o Can you arrange for something similar (or better) so you don’t have to travel?
 Some guidelines to assess the quality of the participants:
o The main targets, you should go for are :
o WPI: Adults who have the potential to become partners. They’re usually around
their thirties and working in organizations that could be potential for
partnerships.
o Young people between 20-32 years old.
o You can also do some sessions for kids (younger than 20) or old people. But they
should not be the main type of participants in a PIPO. They should represent less
than 10% of the total number of participants.

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TARGETING THE CONFERENCES

Even though you will be talking about meditation in all the events, you should think of an angle to make the
conferences more appealing to your audience. The practical part (meditation) will be the same for all, but
the introduction and conclusion should be different depending on the group´s particular interests.

It’s a good idea to discuss this with your partner organizations, since they know more about their customers’
interests. This information should be given to the monk with anticipation so he can prepare the talk
accordingly. Here are some examples of conferences we have done in the past:

 Stress management and depression

 Tips for a balanced and harmonious life
 How to improve school performance and concentration
 A monk’s life, living in harmony with nature
 Benefits of meditation
 Finding happiness through inner peace
 Meditation for beginners

Take into account that a general session lasts a bit less than two hours. If you want to have a specific topic,
the session will last 2 hours or a little bit more depending on the theme and the audience. The general
structure for a session consists of:

 Introduction (15 min.)

 Meditation session (30- 45 min. )
 Topic of interest (30 min.)
 Questions from the audience (15 min.)

“I would encourage the rebels to be creative with the topics, one of the
successful talks in Chile was about the life of the monks and their relationship
with the nature... it was a new perspective about monks life and everyone was
very interested.” Barbara Contreras

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PROMOTION

Promotion will be an important part of the event. Internet is a good and cheap way to go about it, but local
publicity is sometimes more effective. Here are some ideas to help you out:

 Ask LP John if he can set up a simple website for the event. You can look at the examples of
Mexico, Colombia and Peru. Be sure to provide him all the information you want to have on it.
 Find out if there’s already a PR Faceboook page for your country by contacting Marco
(marco@peacerevolution.net). You can ask the administrators for help with promotion. If there
isn’t one, maybe you could start it.
 Create some images for each event and promote them through facebook and email lists. Give
these images to your partner organizations so they can use them too.
 Flyers and posters are very effective. If you know a good designer, ask if him / her if he can design
them for you. In exchange you can give him free entrances to the paid events or invite him for
lunch with the monk. Get creative and find a nice way to reattribute his help.
 Include all your events in the same flyer (or poster). This way you won’t have to worry about
having different designs. Give a bunch of flyers and a couple posters to each partner and ask them
to help with promotion with their customers. Explain that the more promotion the whole event
gets, the more promotion they will also get.
 Contact local newspapers, websites or magazines and send them a press release.
 List the event on websites like Groupon (do a search to see if there is a local page in your country),
Meetup, Couchsurfing or local Facebook groups.
 Arrange online sessions before the PIPO to get people involved and excited about the upcoming
events and strengthen the community.
 Discuss about promotional methods with your partners/ venue providers to find out which is the
best way to reach their audience. If you don’t ask, they’ll think you’re an expert and that you
already know how to do it. Every place is different. In some places posters are better, while in
others a virtual flyer will be more effective.
 Ask the rebels and agents to help you.
 In Universities, you can contact very active students and ask them for help. You can also promote it
via internal mailing.
 Contact any type of Thai organization (massage places, embassies, restaurants, etc)
 Send messages to your friends or people you know will be interested and ask them to share it with
their friends.

“In Thailand I received wisdom, inspiration and magic, and the best way to be
thankful is to give that away, and open the possibility for other people to
receive it as well. So, my purpose was that a lot of people could be touched by
the inner peace and love.” Paola Molina from Colombia

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GREETINGS AND HOW TO HELP LOCAL HOSTS OR PARTNERS UNDERSTAND A
MONK'S WAY OF LIFE...

Let the hosts, volunteers and other supporters know that monks are very kind and friendly people, but they
devote their life to the certain way of life. Because of this, they have several rules to follow. If they ask why,
just explain that these rules are what make them a monk. If they didn’t follow them, they would just be
regular persons like you or me! The rules help them develop self-discipline, a clear mind and a peaceful way
of life.

This can be very hard to understand for some people, especially because they may differ from their own
culture. Explain it ahead of time and answer all the questions they have. This way, the locals won’t be
surprised when they meet the monk and they will be more comfortable around him. If they ask things you
don’t know, just wait for the monk to come and ask him. Here are the main rules you should explain.

MEAL TIMES

Monks eat only twice, usually at 7 am and 11 am, always before 1 pm. This is to ensure that their body is
kept light for meditation.

FOOD OFFERING

Monks can never take their own food. This is to exercise humility and self restraint. It’s to help them avoid
being greedy or taking things for granted. They accept anything people share with them. Offering food for a
monk is a great honor, and it’s nice to treat them with the best of what you have. It’s a way of saying that
you appreciate their teachings, company and wisdom. If the guests are ok with it, the monk can give a
blessing after the meals.

TOUCHING

Women shouldn’t touch the monk. Monks keep strict celibacy, and this rule was made to help them with
this. Note: Some people don’t understand this concept and they feel it’s offending for women. Sometimes
it’s easier to say that neither men nor women should touch him, just to avoid discussions.

GREETINGS

Thai people don’t touch each other when greeting. They may react strange, or even seem rude if someone
tries to hug and kiss them. This is not common in Thailand, where physical contact is reserved for people
that are very close, such as family members. Explain to your hosts, that they’re not very used to this kind of
contact, so it’s better to simply give them a handshake and a smile. You can even show them how to wai
(putting the hands together and slightly bowing with the head).

TAKING PICTURES

People can take pictures with the monk, but there should always be a man in it. The monk should be
standing next to the man. A monk can’t appear with only women in the same picture, and he should never
appear next to the woman. This is to avoid misunderstandings of them being involved in some way. Here’s
an example you can show your hosts.

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DURING THE EVENT
LOGISTICS

Once you find the venues and have the dates ready, you should start planning the logistics for the events.
You will need to take many things into account, and it’s hard to keep it all in your head. Getting organized
will save you a lot of time and headaches. Something that works well is to make a checklist and a schedule
to make sure you’re not forgetting important details.

First you can make the general schedule, and based on that you can make a checklist for each venue. In the
“Guidelines” file you will find a sheet called “Program (pre-event)” which you can use as an example.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN THE SCHEDULE

 Breakfast, lunch, pana and resting times

 Time of departure (either from lodging, venue place or restaurant)
 Transportation times
 Setup for the events (for example connecting the sound system)
 Event starting time (it’s a good idea to arrive 30 min. earlier, there are always unexpected
situations)
 Cleanup after the event
 Photo and video shooting
 Sightseeing (it will be nice for your guests to know your city)

Include things such as addresses, contact details and dress code in your schedule so you don’t forget
anything. Everyone on your team should get a copy of this so they all know what will happen, when and
where it will take place. You can also include a responsible person for each task.

Splitting up makes things easier for everyone. One person can arrive early to set up the place, while
someone else can drive the monk to the venue. Someone else can prepare the meals.

WHAT TO INCLUDE IN THE CHECKLIST

With the schedule in hand, you can make a checklist for each place or activity. For the meditation sessions,
you will need to have:

 2 microphones (one for the monk, one for the translator)

 2 microphone stands
 Speakers or sound system
 Projector
 White screen (this could be a wall, but check your venue places to make sure there’s one available)
 A table for registration and promotional materials
 Registration sheet (asking for name, email, how did you find out about the event?)
 Donation box
 PR Materials (for sale or to give as gifts for your partners)
 Drinking water for the monk and translator

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  Seats for the monk and translator
 Chairs, mats or cushions for attendants (this will depend on the place. Ask to see if they can provide
it, otherwise you’ll need to provide it yourself)
 White sheets of paper and a marker for the interviews

TRANSPORTATION (HOW TO TRAVEL WITH A MONK)

The most comfortable transportation option is a private car or a taxi. Make sure there’s enough space for
everyone in the car, including you, the volunteers and the luggage.

When several members of the PR crew travel for a PIPO, they usually bring a lot of equipment and
promotional material. Plan to have a BIG car when picking them up at the airport and for going to each
venue.

If you will use a Taxi, make arrangements ahead of time so you don’t waste time trying to find one between
the sessions.

If you don’t own a car yourself, you can ask your friends to give you a ride. You can also ask your sponsors or
partners to support with this.

The monk can’t sit next to a girl, so take this into consideration when planning. If a woman is driving the car,
the monk will always use the back seat.

When traveling in a bus where there are two seats together (like the one in the picture), make arrangements
for the monk to either sit alone or have a man sitting next to him (never a woman)

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MONK ACCOMMODATION AND MEALS

The monk and PR staff will be your special guests during the whole event. As such, we ask you to find a nice
and comfortable place for them to stay. They can stay in your house, a friend’s or a hotel, but please make
sure that you take the following into consideration:

 A hotel stay is more comfortable and preferred when possible. You can ask your partners to
support with this or find sponsors to cover the cost.
 Accommodation can take up a good part of your PIPO budget, so try to arrange for free of charge or
very economic stays.
 A private room with bathroom for the monk is preferable
 If you will provide a shared room, the monk needs to sleep in a single bed and can’t share room
more than 3 nights in a row. He can’t share the room with a woman.
 If they are staying for many nights, there should be internet access
 The monk can’t be alone in an all girl’s house. There always needs to be another man in the same
house
 The PR Staff can share room with a person of the same gender (but it’s better to have the own
room for each)
 The place should be quiet and safe
 To make your life during PIPO easier, look for accommodation that’s close to where you’re staying
and also close to the PIPO venues.

MEALS

Monks can’t choose what they eat, but it’s nice to provide healthy and delicious food for them. They enjoy
trying local dishes. A monk will never tell you if he prefers one food or another, and he’ll be grateful for
whatever you can provide. If you want to surprise him though, find out about his preferences ahead of time.
PR staff is well acquainted and they’ll be happy to give you tips so you can prepare delicious treats, the
monk will love!

The monks travel a lot, and their stomach can get very sensitive, so make sure to find a clean and
comfortable place for meal time.

BREAKFAST

Breakfast is usually from 7-8 am and should be well served. It’s easier to have breakfast in the lodging, since
not many places open early. Some hotels offer breakfast as part of the stay. Check ahead of time to make
sure that they offer several options and full meals, not just toast and coffee. You’ll be very active during
PIPO and need a good hearty breakfast to give you energy.

LUNCH

The monk CAN NOT eat after 1 pm. Plan lunch time at 11:30 or 12 so he has enough time to finish his meal
before 1pm. This will be the last meal for your guests during the day, so it should also be well served. You
can have it at a place that’s close to the morning venue. Plan this ahead of time, so you don’t waste time
finding a suitable restaurant right after the session. You could even have the restaurant prepare the table
and have the food ready when you get there.

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If time is very restricted, you can offer a pre-cooked meal and have it in the car, while driving to the next
venue. You can also consider having lunch at a fast food restaurant or getting take away. Make sure to plan
lunch within the given time frame.

PANA

Pana should be from 5 pm-8 pm. It can be taken in a nice coffee shop, or also at the lodging. Prepare a
selection of fruit juice, milk, yoghurt, cheese, chocolate (without nuts), coffee, tea or ice cream (without
cone) for them.

DINNER

Monks don’t have dinner, but if PR sends a camera man or other staff members, please consider that they
may be hungry at night. When preparing for PIPO, ask how many of the PR crew members will be eating
dinner.

Other things to consider

 If you don’t want the monk to be hungry the whole day, make sure you comply to his
eating times. After 1 pm, the monk can’t have anything but liquids. It’s important to have
this in mind when planning the events.
 The monk can’t share a table while eating. Make sure to prepare a separate table for him.
This also includes restaurants
 If you’re on a tight budget, you can buy the ingredients and have a volunteer prepare the
food for them
 Some of the venues will probably have a cafeteria. Talk to them and see if they can
sponsor the meals for your guests after the morning session. You can also ask for Panna.
They’re usually happy to do it.
 If you explain to your hosts and volunteers about food offering for the monk, they’re
usually happy to do it. Invite them to participate in this activity.
 When eating at a restaurant, explain to the waiter that the monk has special rules and you
would like to receive his food. You can then offer it to the monk following the right
approach.

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SESSION INTRODUCTION AND CONCLUSION

In each session you should give a short introduction about what will happen during the session. You can also
give a brief background about the monk and explain the following rules:

 Women shouldn’t touch the monk. Monks keep strict celibacy, and this rule was made to help them
with this. Note: Some people don’t understand this concept and sometimes it’s easier to say that
neither men nor women should touch him.
 They will have an opportunity to ask questions at the end
 They can take pictures with the monk, but there should always be a man in it. A monk can’t appear
with only women in the same picture.
 The monk will speak in English but you’ll translate.

At the end of the session you can wrap up by explaining about PR, the SD program, the fellowships and
asking them to support the movement by giving a donation or buying something. You can also invite them to
the other events you’ll have. Ask them to fill in their name and email in the registration sheet.

PARTICIPANT REGISTRATION

In order to follow up with your participants after the event, you’ll need to capture their name and email.
This information will be very useful in case you want to organize other meditation events, or for the next
PIPO on Demand. You can also send them information about the website or the self-development program.

It’s better to capture it at the beginning, when everyone’s arriving. If you leave it for the end, people will
forget about it. You can place a registration table with several sheets and pens at the entrance and ask them
to fill in their details before going in.

It’s also a good idea to remind them about it when you give the introduction and conclusion. There’s a
sample registration sheet which you can print in the appendix.

If you’re going to do a lot of web promotion, you can create a web form to capture the participants’ emails
prior to the event. This way, you’ll already have their information and you won’t have to worry about it
during the session. You can create the form using a gmail account. It’s free of charge.

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INTERVIEWS

At the end of each session you and the photographer will interview some people. This is to get footage for
the videos and also to show the sponsors the results of the event. It's also a nice way to learn about people's
experiences and what they got from the session. Here's how to do the interviews:

1. The camera man should find a place to interview. Pick a nice background and good light. It's also
good to look for a quiet place that's apart from where the people are passing.
2. Choose one or two interviewers for each session, they should be Agents or have IPT experience.
They will have some markers, paper sheets and PR CD's.
3. When the monk asks the questions about the experiences, the interviewers have to pay attention
and see who had the best ones.
4. When the session ends, the interviewers ask the people with the best experiences if they would
like to be interviewed. If they agree, you give them a marker and a paper and you tell them to go
with the video man. On the paper they have to write their name, last name and venue place in
large letters.
5. You will then ask some questions in front of the camera:
a. Can you share what you felt during the meditation or how was your experience?
b. What do you think about PIPO? Is it practical?
c. Do you want to say something to the monk?
6. After the interview, you thank the person and give him a CD as a present for helping you.

SOME TIPS…

 Be super quick after the session ends. If you wait too long, the people will start to leave. In some
places, you can also start to ask people a little bit before the session ends.
 After you select the people, you have to go with the video man to help ask the questions and give
the gifts
 If the person doesn't speak too much, you can ask more things like, what were your feelings? Did
you relax? Did you enjoy it? Sometimes people need some more inspiration before they start
talking.
 After the PIPO on Demand, you will need to transcribe and translate the interviews from your
language to English. You should have this in mind so you can distribute them between the
volunteers. If you (or the other volunteers) won’t have time to do it, include translation services in
your budget and have someone to do it for you.

PHOTO AND VIDEO SHOOTING

PR uses pictures and videos to promote all of its activities. As part of your PIPO on Demand you’ll need to
find suitable times to shoot your video. You can set apart a couple of hours in one or two days for this. The
shooting will need to be in a nice place that’s representative of your city or country. All the Agents who
helped organize the PIPO should appear in the video so make sure that they can all make it to at least one of
the shooting sessions. The script for the video will be planned ahead of time and you’ll need to coordinate
this with PR.

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SELLING PR MATERIAL

People are usually happy to buy PR things after the event. The profits you get will help you cover some of
the expenses. PR provides most of them to you free of charge, as in kind sponsorship. For some of them, you
will have to pay a small cost. You can sell them at any price you find suitable. This will vary from country to
country.

It’s a good idea to talk about the things you have for sale right after the session ends so everyone knows
they’re available.

Talk with your local coordinator or your PR contact person ahead of time to see what they can provide you
with. These are usually the available options:

- Stickers
- DVD’s
- T-shirts
- Energy coins
- Meditation cushions

POST EVENT DOCUMENTS

After the event, you’ll need to submit some information so that PR can have records of your event. This
helps them see how it went and what were your results.

 Actual program update: go back to your guidelines file and fill in the columns you previously left
blank
 Registration sheet: the form where you asked for the participants’ name and email
 An article about your experience: this will be published on the website and it will be shared on
facebook, so make it really nice!
 Photo album content: PR usually creates a photo album of the event. You will be asked to write
some texts to accompany the pictures and tell the story of your PIPO on Demand.
 Transcript and translation of interviews

DON’T FORGET TO CELEBRATE!

No successful event is done without proper celebration. Plan a special meal for your team, take them out to
have ice cream, go to the movies, do something fun! You have done many good things and you deserve it.
It’s not expensive, and you can use part of the money you got from the PIPO on Demand for this.

You can also give the collaborators a letter of recommendation and a certificate (PR can provide you with
this, or you can write it yourself).

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APPENDIX
COUNTRIES WHO’VE DONE PIPO ON DEMAND

Here is a list of the countries that have held a PIPO on Demand before. You can contact Peace Revolution for
information about the organizers. Get in touch with them and see if they can give you tips or if you can do
something together. If your country is not here, you can contact someone from a country that shares similar
culture to yours. It’s always good to get advice.

 Egypt
 Peru
 Philippines
 Mexico
 Bolivia
 Colombia
 Brazil
 Kenya
 Nigeria
 Poland
 Argentina
 Chile
 Ukraine
 Romania

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REGISTRATION SHEET EXAMPLE

Name Email How did you find out about the

event?

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