On April 13, the Berkshire Athenaeum hosted a Speed Repping program. What is Speed Repping? Much like speed dating, Speed Repping provides community members a few minutes to sit down with their representatives in a one-on-one setting and ask them questions about who they are, what they do, or just voice concerns.
The Memphis Public Library ran a similar program in 2017. Through this program, city representatives engaged thoughtfully with the people they serve in a relaxed atmosphere.
Our city's mayor, director of administration, city council president, school board committee member, state senator and state representative participated. We worked with the Junior League of Berkshire County to help with day-of logistics and had our local community television station interview the participants live on Facebook, using crowd-sourced questions, for those unable to attend.
Speed repping is a lot like speed dating, but your local representatives are in the hot seat.