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Do you
want to organize a tour in your community as part of the  National
Solar Tour?
If yes, please read the
information & expectations below to determine if you can
make the full commitment on the responsibilities to
conduct a tour and then click "Yes I Agree..." below and
complete the eco-friendly on-line form. We will promote
the Tour nationally, provide tools for organizing
including timelines and press release templates, work
with the media, handle public inquiries, and provide
additional support.
How much time will it
take? In 2007 the national average time spent on
the tour was 71 hours per tour organizer from
March through October. On average volunteers spent
14 hours and home/building owners spent 11 hours during
the weeks before and during the Tour.
The American Solar Energy Society (ASES) will support
your efforts on many tasks, but much of the local
activity will depend on you and other volunteers.
If you agree to be a volunteer tour organizer, you will
serve as the main contact for the local tour when
published on the ASES website, press releases, and any
local guidebook you develop. We ask that you can
respond to public inquires by email and phone.
ASES appreciates your consideration and hopes you can
make the commitment to promote clean energy alternatives
in your community.
Why
should you join? The common cause that unites us
together is the passion for raising public awareness of available
renewable energy and energy efficiency choices for buildings
to move the U.S. toward a sustainable energy economy.
By moving the masses toward sustainable energy choices
we add jobs, support the economy, strengthen national
security, and reduce pollution, water use the and carbon
emissions responsible for global warming.
When is the National
Solar Tour? The National Solar Tour
takes place on the first Saturday of October, National
Energy Awareness Month.
Tours from
September through November are also listed as part of the
"ASES National Solar Tour." Tours that
are scheduled in this range receive support in the form
of press release
templates,
website listing, informational support including
graphics, and
informational handouts for distribution
to tour takers. The greatest media
and publicity attention and ASES support is provided for
tours on the first Saturday of October.
What are
Early Bird Tours? To meet public outcry for more
tour opportunities throughout the year, ASES has started
including tours that are scheduled January through
August as "Early Bird Tour"
events. These tours scheduled
before September are listed separately from the National
Solar Tour and receive limited support fro ASES
including website posting, access to press release
templates, graphics, and informational resources from
the previous National Solar Tour, and past year's
informational handouts for tour takers while supplies
last.
Please read the guidelines in their
entirety before accepting the terms. If you agree,
please click on "YES, I Agree to follow these
Guidelines," and complete the information requested on
the page that follows.
Please communicate
any conflicts or problems to ASES at
tour@ases.org.
National
Solar Tour and Early Bird Tour Organizer Guidelines
ASES will not attempt to micromanage
individual tours, or to halt tours that do not meet our
guidelines; however,
ASES reserves the right to remove any
tour from the website (www.ases.org/tour) at its sole
discretion.
For your event to
be listed
on the ASES National Solar Tour website, you as a tour organizer agree
to the following:
1. National
Solar Tour:
Tour
organizers participating in the National Solar Tour
during the months from September through November must
include the tag line:
“Part of
the American Solar Energy Society’s National Solar Tour”
on all appropriate tour publicity materials.
The use of this
tag line associates your tour with this national event
and brings additional media attention and attendance to
your tour.
Early Bird Tours: Early Bird Tours are not
required to include the National Solar Tour tag line.
Instead, if you wish to associate your tour event with
the collective body of groups that are promoting
sustainable energy, the use the tag line, “Part
of
American Solar Energy Society’s Early Bird Tours” is
recommended for consistency.
2.
To ensure that a minimum level
of public expectation is met, ASES requires that at
least one building on your tour includes an example of a
passive or active solar energy technology. This may
include solar electricity, solar hot water, solar air
heating or passive solar design.
3.
The tour event must be presented as an educational event
and not a commercial. Participation in the National
Solar Tour is not to be an exclusive marketing effort
for any one designer, installer, distributor, builder or
company. The public is most responsive when the event
has no apparent link to a sales event. If there is no tour in a community and a
commercial enterprise wants to start one, that’s fine,
but if others express interest in participating, they
must be allowed to participate.
4.
More than one tour can be organized in a community, but
organizers should cooperate, not compete, with one
another.
5.
National Solar Tour
organizers must make the
special
SOLAR TODAY
magazine - National Solar Tour handout - available to tour
attendees. This handout may be a full color center
section of the September/October issue of
SOLAR TODAY
magazine or a separate issue, designed to be educational and interesting to
tour guests. It includes an overview of the National
Solar Tour, case studies, answers to frequently asked
questions, and resources for additional information.
Early Bird Tour organizers may request handouts and
materials remaining from past National Solar Tours,
available while supplies last.
Any handouts remaining after your tour may be provided
to the public at other events, local libraries, grocers, schools or other
appropriate places that accept free educational
materials for the public.
6.
Tour organizers are asked to distribute any national
sponsor materials provided through ASES for tour
attendees. This helps ASES maintain the sponsorships
that help bring you this National Solar Tour.
7.
Tour organizers are asked to share with ASES any
newspaper articles (hard copy and/or electronic)
generated by your tour, and copies of your publicity
materials including posters, fliers, brochures, maps and
press releases, ASES may use these materials for
training purposes, to share with other’s conducting
tours, enhance national publicity, or to promote the
National Solar Tour.
Please mail to: ASES National Solar
Tour, 2400 Central Ave, Ste. A, Boulder, CO 80301.
If available, please send any links to on-line articles
or a
scan of any print copy via e-mail to
tour@ases.org.
8.
You are encouraged to register
your tour event as early as possible. You should
register when you have your tour date, area and contact
information available so ASES may post your event
early. To register a tour, use the link below (the
on-line version of) this page.
Please complete all changes by
September 1st for the National Solar Tour, two weeks for
Early Bird Tours.
9.
Tour organizers agree to
complete the online tour organizer survey following the
official tour date in early October. ASES will send a
link for the on-line survey via e-mail following the
official tour date.
ASES depends on survey
information to estimate the national attendance and
educational effect of the Tour. Please prepare to keep
count of attendance during your event in preparation for
this survey.
10.
Organizers are requested to participate in a voluntary
survey of tour attendees. The survey was designed
for the benefit of local tours to collect information about
tour guests and measure effectiveness of media and
promotional mix. Questions cover a range of subjects
and help local tours report results to members and
sponsors.
To participate, please request the e-mail address from
your tour attendees. Many organizers do this before the
tour via on-line registration, at the tour registration,
or from guest lists collected from tour sites and later
typed to electronic format.
Survey requests are sent to tour guests via e-mail
following the tour. The request may be sent by you or
ASES at your discretion. If you want ASES to send the
on-line survey request, we must receive your e-mail list
electronically by December 1st. Hard copies
of guest lists sent to ASES by mail or fax may not be
processed.
11.
All tour events that are part of the ASES National Solar
Tour are independently organized, managed and operated.
ASES assumes no liability for damages resulting from
tour events.
12.
The American
Solar Energy Society (ASES) makes no representations or
warranties of any kind, express or implied, as to the
operation of the National Solar Tour website (ases.org/tour)
of the content, materials, or informational products
included on this site including but not limited to
information provided for organizing a tour and posting
of tour information. You expressly agree that your use
of this site is at your sole risk.
Please print a copy of these guidelines and retain for
your records.
YES! I agree to follow these Guidelines
>>> CLICK HERE
and complete on-line form.
If unable to access this link,
you can use the alternative on-line registration form.
Access to this alternative form requires the
username and password from ASES (tour@ases.org, or 303-443-3130 ext. 101).
If you have the username and password for tour
organizers, and are unable to access above link,
Click Here for alternative registration form >>>
NO, I do not agree to follow these Guidelines >> CLICK
HERE |
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