2012 Mesa Poetry Slam PSI Participation:

OK, so we are embarking on a new season of poetry slam, and everyone asks- is Mesa going to send a team to NPS in 2012? A rep to WOWps? an iWPS competitor?

Depends. On you.

Building a community is never about showing up and looking for the stage. Community is about participating in events beyond your stage time. Mesa has a strong tradition of it's members proactively reaching out into the community, finding new poets, finding people interested in hearing good work.

Going to the National Poetry Slam is about representing your community. It is about performing in front of your peers from across the nation and showing them your, and/or your team's, talent and passion.

So, in the interest of continuing to build that community, and creating something larger, here is the 2012 Mesa PSI Event selection process:

For starters, the competitions for all three event are open to all (as appropriate), and will be held:
Women of the World: 1st week of February (PSI event is in March)
NPS Team: 1st Week of May (PSI event is in August)
iWPS: 1st Week of Sept. (PSI event is in October)

The "New" Point System

Each participant will begin October 1 with a bank of 0 points. As poets participate in raising funds for the slamoff, between October 1, 2011 and September 30th, 2012, they will contribute, dollar for point, to their point total. The objective is to earn enough points that you can "spend" your accumulated points to participate in the Slamoff and IWPS or WOWPS slamoffs with no entry fee. For the purposes of this document, each 'year' is considered October 1 through the following September 30th.

For 2012, the entry fees for all events are:
NPS slamoff:  $100
IWPS slamoff: $50
WOWPS slamoff: $50

Declaring intent to collect points
A poet must declare their intent to collect points, and from that time on, points will be tracked for them. Any potential points earned PRIOR to that date are invalid.

Points do not carry over
All points reset to zero on October 1st of each year.

Ways to earn your points:

- Straight up donations. Anyone that donates money to Anthology in your name, or tells us you sent them, adds to your point total, dollar for point. The connection MUST be made at the time of the donation, it can not, and will not be allowed after the fact. Donations to Anthology are tax deductible.

- Fundraisers. For each fundraiser that a poet participates in, they receive credit for their share of the money that is raised. If two poets do a fundraiser together, each receive credit for 50% of the money raised.

- Workshops. If  a poet schedules a workshop, and asks for donations at the workshop, and contributes those monies to Anthology, they receive credit, dollar for point.

- Allowing Anthology to sell MP3's of your work. As an additional fundraising tool, Anthology creates MP3 albums from performances at the slam, and the slamoff, and special shows. If you grant Anthology the right to sell a recording, you will earn 5 points (per recording) for the current year (Oct1-Sept 30th).

- Allowing Anthology to sell print copies of your work.  As an additional fundraising tool, Anthology creates chapbooks and e-books of poet's work. If you grant Anthology the right to sell a poem in a printed work, you will earn 5 points (per poem) for the current year (Oct1-Sept 30th).

- If a poet participates in an Anthology organized school visit, and donated their portion of any monies earned back to Anthology, they will receive 1 point/1dollar.

- If a poet wins a Mesa Slam cash prize, and donates their winnings back to Anthology, they will receive 2 points/1dollar.

- Ticket Purchase referral. If someone buys a ticket to a Mesa Slam, and they say that a participating poet referred them, that participating poet will receive 5 points per ticket.

Additional point opportunities will be outlined on the Anthology.org website.

What the money will be used for:
This is generally transparent to those with experience, but in the interest of transparency:

For each dollar, .15 (15%) goes to Anthology's general operating fund.

The additional money is allocated to expenses related to Mesa's participation in Poetry Slam, inc.'s activities, including Individual World Poetry Slam, National Poetry Slam and Women of the World Poetry Slam. This money is allocated in the following order:

Paid First (Due December 31):
Pay the certification fee for the slam in 2012 ($50)

Paid Second (Generally Due Feb):
Pay the registration fee for the WOWps in 2012 ($150)
Pay the PSI membership fee (if applicable) for the WOWps designee ($20)

Paid Third (Generally Due May):
pay the registration fee for the team in 2012 ($500)
Pay the PSI membership fee (if applicable) for the team members + Coach ($120)

Paid Fourth (Generally Due September):
Pay the registration fee for the iwPS in 2012 ($150)
Pay the PSI membership fee (if applicable) for the iWPS designee ($20)

Excess Monies
Once the overall goal is reached for the year ($1010 OR whatever the total is that PSI charges), the remaining money is provided to participants to pay for food, travel and hotel expenses as follows:

Money raised between October1 and WOWPS Date:
- WOWPS winner

Money Raised between WOWPS Date and NPS date:
- NPS Team Member #1
- NPS Team Member #2
- NPS Team Member #3
- NPS Team Member #4
- NPS Team Alternate
- NPS Team Coach

Money Raised between NPS Date and September 30:
- iWPS winner

If not enough money is raised
If not enough money is raised for Anthology to pay any particular registration fee at the time registration opens, Anthology will not register for that event, and any money in hand will be allocated towards the next event's registration fee.

Tracking
Each month, Anthology will publish a TOTAL amount of money raised for the current year to it's website. Anthology will send, individually to each participant, their own personal point totals.

Additional Questions/Discussion
Discussion of these rules is being hosted at the Phoenixspokenword Yahoo! group, at http://www.phoenixspokenword.com. Amendments and additional items will be posted here as seperate messages linking back to this original document, which will also be updated.