The Forsyth County Tea Party Patriots Alliance will welcome a special guest speaker to its first meeting of the year.

Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and national coordinator of the Tea Party Patriots, will talk about activism and how to affect the 2014 congressional election, among other topics.

The meeting is set for 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Central Park recreation center, 2300 Keith Bridge Road.

Martin, who was named as one of Time Magazine’s top 100 most influential people in 2010, will be available at 6:30 p.m. to visit with guests and sign books.

Bob Frey, board member for the local alliance, described Martin as “the national symbol of the conservative movement.”

“A lot of people in Forsyth County have seen her on Fox News … they know she’s originally from Georgia, but they’ve never gotten a chance to meet her,” he said. “So it’s more like really meeting the person who’s laying out the conservative movement and getting to shake her hand.”