Through our website, you can connect with other gardeners from your region, and find seed swaps organized by others which you can join. But do not stop at this level! Organize an own seed swap in your settlement, where your neighbours’ own seeds and the related knowledge can be shared! Here you can find the most important information about how to organize a seed swap.

HOW TO ORGANIZE A SEED SWAP? 

You can connect to enthusiastic gardeners around you through our website. But  do not stop here! You can also organize a seed swap in your settlement, where you can exchange your home grown seeds and all the knowledge about them with the participants. 

1. Look for someone to work with!  

Do you feel that it is too much to do alone? Invite your friends and enthusiastic gardeners from the neighbourhood, or look for someone to work with on Facebook to whom you can tell your plan over a tea. When the brainstorming starts, and you have the common goal, you have the flow, and you have the organizers' team. Finally, you can decide where to communicate about the organization activity (e.g. a private Facebook group or a mailing list), and do not forget to sum up the to do-s, the deadlines and the roles of the different people. 

2. What is the perfect location?  

The best is to look for a centrally located, roofed and heated place with toilets, where 30-100 people and 10-15 tables can be accommodated (e.g. school, kindergarten, cultural centre, marketplace, community space). HINT: If you talk about the positive outcomes of the event affecting the local community to the owner, you may get the chosen place for free or very cheaply.

3. Setting the date

It is the best to choose a couple of weekends during  autumn, winter or early spring, which fit all the team members, and then you can save the date with the chosen place for the event. 

4. Compiling the programme 

You have the place and the date. It is time to plan how things will happen. 

It is up to you if it is going to be

• in the morning,
• in the afternoon,
•  or an all day event.

• Also there  can be other programmes besides the seed swap, such as:
• a workshop, a roundtable or a lecture about something connected to the garden or the seeds,
• tasting of seasonal crops,
• the introduction of local varieties,
• the introduction of books or other materials, 
• a seed saving workshop,  
• showing a film connected to the topic.
• Or something else that makes the day more exciting and more colourful, like: 
• some handicraft workshops with natural materials, 
• a children’s corner with tale telling,
• an organic bar or teahouse with herbal teas.

HINT: Make an assessment about what participants are interested in, and what you have capacity for. If you assign a person to every task, none of them gets lost during the process.

5. Promotion

If you have the whole programme fixed (venue, date, presenters), do not forget to start promoting it in time – at least 1 month before the event takes place. 

Create a poster that can be used offline (e.g. on the billboards of marketplaces and institutions) and even online (e.g. through mailing lists, e-mails or social media platforms). Make sure that the main points of the programme are clear! 

Create a Facebook event for the participants. It is a great opportunity. You can use this platform for networking, sharing interesting and useful information about plant varieties and seeds, for knowing what kind of seeds are prepared for the event and what you are looking for. Present the planned lectures, the rules, the timetable and the programme of your seed swap.  

Invite the representatives of the local media, since you may also give an interview to them. 

Send your poster to Magház, because this way we can also promote your event.

 Mellékelve link eddigi magbörzék programjai, plakátjai

6. Preparation

Meet a couple of days before the event, and: 

• Agree on the basic rules to be known and obeyed by every participant: what kind of seeds are accepted on the seed swap, what kind of seeds are forbidden (GMO, coated, bought in the shop, not own, hybrid), what happens if somebody does not have seeds? 
• Collect all the equipment necessary for the seed swap (paper, seed bags, pens, scissors, glues, folders, etc.). 
• Create the signs that will be used during the event: Seed Swap, Registration, Rules, Buffet, WC, Lectures, Children’s Corner, Programme of the Day (you can make more of this one). 
• Clarify the tasks, who is responsible for what, and what do they need: arranging and putting back the tables in the room, fixing the signs, welcoming and informing the participants at the registration stand, arranging the lecture room, welcoming the lecturers, conducting the program, giving interview to the press, etc. 

7. The day of the seed swap

- Ask for some contact data from the participants during registration (so that you can invite them next time as well), and inform them about the programme and the rules. 

- Make sure that the necessary technical equipment is set up for the lectures (laptop, projector, pendrive, extension wire, canvas, curtains for shading). 

- Do not forget to take photos!

- Do not forget to celebrate when the event is over! You are cool! Make sure to have a debriefing where you can discuss what worked well and what should be modified next year.