Events/Presentation Kit

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What's this presentation guide about ?

Open Food Facts is first and foremost a citizen project ! Because information about what we eat is of public interest (we believe), Open Food Facts is open data, available to all to use and (re)use.

📢 However, we need help getting the message out there. To create this community, we need people who can present Open Food Facts in front of as many different audiences as possible, from the most obvious ones to the most unlikely. In France we have accepted all invitations to present our project, and each time we have quickly connected to the people who attended our presentations. Food is a universal topic of interest that everyone relates to. Explaining how we can better understand labels and easily compare products always generates a lot of interest and enthusiasm.

So join the food revolution by talking about Open Food Facts where you are able ! It can be in companies, other non-profit organisations, schools, universities, consumer groupes, coops, conferences or fairs (and more !).

To accompany you, various ressources are at your disposal.

In this main spreadsheet, you will find them organised according to the type of event & available in various languages (please note that if it's not available in the language you need, the community can work on translating it together !).

📊 PRESENTATION KIT MAIN TOOL BOX

🇫🇷 KIT DE PRESENTATION

Before jumping into this guide, a huge thank you for your motivation to promote Open Food Facts ! Please remember that you’re not doing this alone & feel free to get in touch with us with any questions, concerns, ideas and so on.

Reaching out 👋

Scenario: You see an opportunity to share about the Open Food Facts non-profit work somewhere.

There are various ways to reach out : if you have a specific contact, you can reach out directly to them.

However, if you have a general contact, you can send them an email or contact them online (ex. on LinkedIn) (Tip: you can use this 📩 1st CONTACT PITCH template).

Once you've got the green light to intervene 🚦, it's time for a bit of prep !

Social media : you may also use your social network(s) to spread the word about your presentation, feel free to use some of these pre-made social media assets !

Before the event

What will be provided by the organiser  

• Depending on the nature of the event, the organiser may provide you with various props, such as a table, chair, backdrop, computer, wifi access…
• 🙋‍♀️ Contact the organiser sometime before the event to find out what is provided and what is not, and prepare accordingly.
• Please get in touch with the Open Food Facts team if you need support for the materials, event fees, etc.

Props

• A memorable booth is one that offers an experience. An idea can be to teleport the visitor to a shop setting.
• We’ve found that people are generally drawn to food products 😃 ! Food is a universal topic of interest that everyone relates to. That’s why it can be a good idea to bring some food products that you may already have at home (store clean packaging and unopened products). They will serve both as booth decor and as props to demonstrate the Open Food Facts scanning app. Just scan them before and make sure they are on the database (it’s quite unlikely they aren’t, but still worth checking)!
• Get creative: you’re trying to set the stage for your local food shop, you can bring a few shopping bags, a wooden food crate with some vegetables or fruits, etc.
• A snack in a nice bowl (ex. Tagada "Strawberries")

Visuals - prints

• If the organiser offers you a backdrop on which you can stick something, you can print out our logo, for instance.
• A flyer is also available here. If you need to adapt the language, please let us know.
• 📲 You can print the QR code for an easy app download, inviting visitors to scan it and download the Open Food Facts mobile app - and why not, scanning a few products at your stand !
• We have a simple roll-up banner file here. It can be adapted into other languages (just let us know).
• If you have ideas about some other visuals that you would like assistance with, please contact us. We’ll be delighted to help!

Prepare your pitch

If you are not very familiar yet with Open Food Facts, here’s

Giving a presentation?

Depending on the kind of presentation you’ll be doing, make sure you bring the necessary support documents with you.

• 💻 Powerpoint / Slides: if you are presenting directly from your laptop, make sure you have the appropriate adaptor cable to link up to the projector at the place of the event. Check with the organisers what will be available, for what type of computer.
• If you’re using someone else’s computer, bring your presentation on a USB key (having checked before that this USB key is supported by the computer that will be used). For safety reasons, we suggest you also email the presentation prior to the event to yourself and the host, so they can retrieve it in case the USB fails to work (better safe that sorry 😅).

• The Main Presentation (👉IMPORTANT: Please make a copy of the presentation in order to preserve the original version. Same applies if you need to translate the presentation. Also, we would greatly appreciate if you’d share with us the translated version, so we can make it available to other contributors):

Some examples of presentations

• By Pierre Slamich - co-founder of Open Food Facts (BBC radio interview & Food Forum Talk presentation)
• By Stéphane Gigandet - founder of the project
• By Anca Luca - association’s president

Previous stand inspiration

Here's an image from our visit to the VivaTech 2022 fair in Paris (blog post here).

Open Food Facts had the opportunity to be part of the Google stand, as one of the winners of the Google.org Impact Challenge on Climate in 2020.

People were really drawn to our stand, so we think there are some very good elements to be inspired by. And of course, no pressure: this is just to give inspiration! 😉

Finally, if you have a digital support of some kind (iPad, laptop...) you may want to open tabs and products to have them ready to be demonstrated:

• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/
• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/3302744495027/le-batonnet-moelleux-21-batonnets-378-g-fleury-michon
• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/cgi/product.pl?type=edit&code=3302744495027
• https://data.gouv.fr/fr/dataset/produits-alimentaires-ingredients-nutrition-labels
• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/products
• https://uk.openfoodfacts.org/products
• https://howmuchsugar.in/
• https://madenear.me/
• https://world.openfoodfacts.org/additives
• Video presentation of Open Food Facts (English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5pOjx6ycX4
• Video presentation of Open Food Facts (French): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1jzT02IBRA

During Event

Set up your stand

Arriving slightly earlier will give you time to set the scene with your props, prints, logo sticker, etc.

Note: some organisers ask for the stand to be set up a day or two before the actual event. Make sure you check with them beforehand.

Adapt to your audience

A smile is always a good conversation starter 😊.

You may ask your visitor: “Do you know about Open Food Facts?” If the answer is No, you can start the pitch. If the answer is Yes, inquire about how they know about the project.

Adapt to your visitor:

• 🧐 Person interested in learning more about the project: you may invite them to try the app or become a contributor by signing on the Open Food Facts website or app as a user.
• 🙋‍♂️ Current contributor: inquire about their experience as a contributor, what specific aspect do they contribute on…
• 👩‍💼 A producer or a distribution representative: ask whether they’ve heard about the Open Food Facts Pro Platform, allowing producers to share their data directly & easily, what are the benefits for them on this totally FREE platform… (2022 - How to pitch to a producer). If they are not yet part of it but are interested in getting more information, you could take their contact details or share our International Development Manager’s contact info: [[1]].
• 👩‍💻 Journalist: after pitching the project, you can ask for their contact details in order to send them our Press Release.
• 🧑‍🔬 A researcher, non-profit representative, or any other potential partner: exchange contact information.

Because it can get quite busy at an event, making quick notes on either your phone or on the business cards given helps to not forget what that interaction was about.

Open Food Facts pitch

Questions

You may get some questions you do not have an answer to - that’s absolutely fine !

You can reply something like: “I do not have the precise answer to your question right this moment, but I would love to get back to you after the event on this. May I have your email address?” Make a note of the question also.

• You can also direct the person to our FAQ page or to ask their question on the Open Food Facts Slack (#general channel).
• Consult the FAQs document.

After the event

Network

An event of any kind is a good opportunity to network & to make some new contacts. Do not hesitate to ask people for their contact information, business card (or a photo of one).

Please share with the Open Food Facts team.

Thank you email

A Thank-you email to the event organiser/ your contact person is always a good idea!

Your feedback

We would love to get your feedback:

• How did the event go overall?
• Did you enjoy it? Would you like to do it again at some point?
• Did you feel equipped enough?
• Did the support documents help?
• Did anything go wrong?
• Are there any areas for improvement? etc.

Use [[2]] if you are not yet in contact with a specific team member.

Thanks again for your time, effort and commitment ! Don’t forget to have a great time at the event 🚀

Event calendar

Events where Open Food Facts will be / or could be present

Events/Upcoming

Get in touch

Slack channel #events-planning

fr:Kit_de_présentation