All events your student group runs should be submitted through the events booking form. If your event has an external speaker you will be required to provide some more information. For all external speaker requests, we will need 15 working days notice.
You can find the full external speakers policy here. This policy applies to all events that are organised on behalf of the Union or a Union student group, network or society whether on campus, online or in an external venue or university.
1. Referral
When you complete the external speaker section of the events booking form, you will be asked whether you want to refer the speaker for a more detailed evaluation. You should refer the speaker if you answer yes to any of these questions: a) The speaker or topic has attracted controversy in the past b) The event or speaker is likely to attract media attention/interest c) The external speaker is on a tour across several institutions or organisations A referral does not mean your event will be cancelled or rejected, it just allows us to help make sure the event can go ahead safely and be as successful as possible for your student group. If you do not self-refer the speaker, but our initial evaluation concludes that they meet one or more of the criteria above, we will refer them for a further evaluation. Therefore, if you think the speaker meets any of the criteria, it saves everyone time if you self-refer in the first instance. For speakers that are not referred, we may decide they need a more detailed evaluation if any of the following occurs:
a) Our Google search shows the speaker to be the topic of mainstream media coverage
b) Our Google search shows that the speaker is on tour across a number of institutions
c) Our search shows that the speaker has social media accounts with more than 10,000 followers Referred speakers will then be sent to the University for approval, the same way that they are currently.
2. Risk
Once we have conducted our evaluation using Google, we will give your event either a ‘low’ or a ‘high’ risk rating. Please note that high risk does not mean the event will be cancelled or the speaker rejected, just that we will help manage the risk and ensure the event can go ahead! If your event is considered high risk, mitigations will be added to ensure the event can go ahead safely. This may include, but are not limited to:
a) The event must be ticketed via the Students’ Union website
b) Only City students can attend
c) The speech must be recorded
d) Any speeches made must be sent to the Students’ Union prior to the event
e) Security must be informed of the event to avoid overcrowding
These mitigations will help your event run smoothly, and should anything happen support you to manage any issues that arise.