This may (or may not) be an actual picture of Paul and Pádraig breakfasting.

Tenx9 is a company registered and trademarked. It was begun in 2011 in Belfast by Paul Doran and Pádraig Ó Tuama and now has licensed outlets in cities across Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands, the US, Canada and Australia. If you are interested in getting a licence to start a Tenx9, read on and then fill in the initial query form (there'll be more to come after that btw. Tenx9 takes a lot of time and love to run, and we're careful who we grant licences to).

We are always interested in hearing from folks who want to have permission to run a Tenx9 where they are. Tenx9 Community Event Licences are granted to those who want to run monthly or seasonal events in the community, free-to-attend, and not associated with any organisation.

If you want to run Tenx9 at your workplace, we have corporate packages we offer. For more information, head over to this page: Tenx9 at your workplace.

The Tenx9 name, format and logo is protected by copyright. We do this because we believe it's important that storytelling sessions keep a certain integrity - and we would love to work with you in partnership if you wish to begin a Tenx9 where you are. We don't ever start Tenx9s in a location where there's one already and it's always free and always for true stories. There are some basic questions below that'll help a conversation between you and us get started off.

Tenx9 started off over a breakfast conversation. We began it and hoped that we'd have at least 20 people. Now, in Belfast, we have 200 people coming along monthly. We hear strange stories from strangers every month, and we are delighted.

We love hearing from people who run Tenx9 elsewhere, and (when we can afford it!) we love visiting those locations. Tenx9 nights are always free - this is a non-negotiable. You will never make money out of it, but you will make friends and hear fantastic stories. There are parts to Tenx9 that are always important to communicate clearly - never used for recruitment, started in Belfast, always free, never associated with religion, politics or other causes. The licensing process goes through some of the backroom workings of setting up a Tenx9 and the editing and recruiting process for stories! It's a lot of work and we love it. Want to start? Get the storyball rolling, and fill in the sections in the form below.

Names of the folks involved:

Email Address

Where do you want to start a Tenx9?

Where are you wishing to start Tenx9? Tell us a bit about your city. Is there a Tenx9 near your location already? We won't ever have two events too close to each other.

Your experiences of Tenx9

What experiences of Tenx9 do you have? Tell us why you'd like to start one where you are. Remember that there needs to be at least one person from the group who has been to a Tenx9 (our preference is that more than one have been)

Who is involved?

Please tell us about the folks involved - how many of you are there, how long you've lived in the location, how long you plan on being there, your experiences of Tenx9, experiences of running events, public speaking etc. Remember that Tenx9 can't be run by people all from the same groups (political, religious, social) and the organisating group needs not to even imply a "join us" agenda about an organisation.

Thoughts and details

How often are you thinking of running a Tenx9 night? Do you have an idea of a location? Is this location fully wheelchair accessible? Have you spoken about costs with the location? How do you plan on advertising for folks to come along to the night? etc.

Legal stuff - requirements and non-negotiables

The Tenx9 name, format, logo and idea are all protected by copyright. If you are interested in starting a Tenx9 where you are, there is a manual that we send you (PDF). This manual contains information, suggestions and a number of requirements (the way you do logos, themes, hosting, tips, twitter, Facebook, blogs etc.). Other non negotiables are: Tenx9 is always free, always for true stories, never for recruitment. Once we are in touch with you, we will send you the manual - this manual is NEVER to be distributed to anyone other than the people submitting this form. Have you understood all of this?

Lastly...

And lastly - thanks. We love that Tenx9 events have started around the world. It takes a bit of work to set it up and run it, and the idea is that you can share the work with some friends and contribute a great night of storytelling to your city. We're delighted to work with you, and are really glad that you want to run a storytelling night where you are. Let us know if there are any other questions below.