Greetings Humanities Forum Speakers,
The Wyoming Humanities Council is replacing the Humanities Forum speakers’ bureau with ThinkWY Road
Scholars Tours. We have made other changes as well. Please review the enclosed program details and contract
carefully so that you are fully aware of all the changes to the program. Do not hesitate to send an email with any
questions to sheila@thinkwy.org.
One big change is the shift from one-off presentations to tours wherein speaker presentations will be booked as a
part of ’in-line’ tours. The tour concept, combined with an increase in honorarium amounts based on distance and
other factors, eliminates the need for per diem, mileage and receipts.
Speakers are encouraged to work collaboratively with hosting organizations to book tours that include a minimum
of 3 presentations in at least 2 communities with populations of at least 200. Tours can include no more than 9
presentations in a single tour. Although exceptions may be made in cases where additional presentations cannot be
arranged to meet the minimum tour requirements, speakers and organizations must make every effort to build tours
that will provide a more efficient use of time and our ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours budget.
ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours scholars are encouraged to contact hosting venues to begin developing tours and
may fill out a tour schedule initially proposed by an organization by contacting additional organizations. ThinkWY
Road Scholars Tours applications, project director evaluations and scholar vouchers will be processed on
Wednesday afternoons.
Completed tour applications must be received in the Wyoming Humanities Council Office with a first tour event
scheduled no less than five weeks after the Wednesday following the date of submission. Complete applications
may be submitted by either the lead host organization or the ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours scholar and must
include ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours and the last name of the scholar in the subject line. All participating
organizations and the scholar must be included in the email containing the application submission.
There is no charge for host organizations, ensuring that ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours scholars and
organizations will be able to arrange tours reaching communities with populations of more than 200 that have not
previously participated. However, these communities may need additional assistance from you. We are also now
requiring event scheduling to take into consideration the times when the public are most likely to be able to attend
and hosting organizations must provide evidence of their local promotion efforts.
All current Humanities Forum contracts will terminate as of October 31st, 2015. All programs that are scheduled
to take place prior to October 31, 2015 will be processed under the old procedures.
ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours contracts begin November 1, 2015 and end October 31, 2016. If, after reading
the attached outline and contract, you want to continue as a participant in the ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours,
and are not submitting an application to include additional programs, please complete, sign and return your contract
and a new W9 form as soon as possible. If you are not interested in participating in our new ThinkWy Road
Scholars Tours, please send a note to sheila@thinkwy.org to let us know that you have decided not to participate
in the ThinkWy Road Scholars Tours. Please know how much we appreciate your time and hope that you may
reconsider in the future.
If you are new to the roster or have a new program to propose please complete the scholar application form and
return in an electronic format to sheila@thinkwy.org no later than noon Wednesday November 4, 2015. We’d love
to have them sooner and hope to review all new program applications before our scholar training sessions.
We’ve made a number of significant changes and ask scholars to attend a ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours training
session. Scholars are not eligible to begin booking tours until they have completed the training.
Scholar Training – at WHC 1315 East Lewis St., Laramie, WY
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
5:15 – 6:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015 5:15 - 6:30 p.m.
Although the sessions take place in Laramie both sessions will be available via telephone for scholars who don’t live
in the Laramie area or simply can’t come to the WHC office on those dates at those times. Please plan to attend
and be sure to let us know which session you will attend, either in person or via telephone. Materials will be
provided in advance so that telephone participants will be able to follow along. We will provide a phone number
and password for each date so that you may call in to join the meeting. Scholars who are unable to attend either the
November 10 or 11 training please contact sheila@thinkwy.org to schedule a special session.
Generally very few programs are scheduled between November and March, due in part to weather considerations.
We will begin accepting completed applications for ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours with the first event taking
place after February 10, 2016 on Wednesday, January 6, 2016. We encourage hosts and scholars to continue to be
weather aware as you plan your tours.
Our programmatic changes make it necessary for scholars and hosting organizations to work collaboratively to
develop speaking tours to include communities along the way and around the state. Although host organizations no
longer pay a fee to host presentations they must promote the events and provide some additional documentation to
the WHC within one week following the event in their community. We will appreciate your assistance in
encouraging their compliance. Additionally, feel free to assist host organizations in promoting your event.
Thank you for your time and interest in the ThinkWY Road Scholars Tours. Please send written questions to
sheila@thinkwy.org so that we can share the answers with everyone.
Sheila Bricher-Wade
Program Officer