Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D.I.Y.ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
Every week, I receive messages and questions about specific issues facing organizing efforts within the party as well as outside of the party. One of the most common messages I receive is that the local meetings they attend are either too frequent or too boring, and as a result, people are wondering what they can do to spice up their meeting efforts and make them successful.
Last year, we covered this same subject inside the party. We covered those efforts from the perspective of a candidate and how a campaign could participate in those meetings successfully. Instead of thinking about how a campaign should look at meetings, this week we’re going to talk about how to build the kind of meetings that help keep your people interested and coming back.
Separate your executive meetings from social meetings and promote social meetings.
Have you ever attended an organization event and found that the first 30-40 minutes were a slog? Largely because you spent time listening to officers notes, a reading of the minutes, motions and so on.
The majority of your members do not care about these items and are not interested in attending any event where someone from the floor can start shouting elements of Robert's Rules of Order to slow you down.
Public executive meetings are important for most organizations, and people are certainly welcome to attend. But don't try and combine social meetings with function meetings, and you can make your meetings far more entertaining to attend. Individuals who like to get into the nitty gritty of internal discussion can attend meetings tailored to them, and individuals who like to come and eat some food and hear a speaker or participate in an action can go to a meeting that meets their need.
The three legs of great social meetings
Like a stool, social meetings work if there are three components in play to make sure they stand upright.
- Have a reason for people to attend a social meeting. Social meetings without any unifying reason to attend become stagnant pretty quickly. The same people will attend and the organization will never grow. Whether or not it is a speaker, an issue, or an activity, promote each meeting with a specific reason for people to attend.
- Have something to eat or drink while you’re there. Sounds ridiculous, right? That having food or drink can help make a great social meeting? Psychologists will tell you people are far more comfortable in a social situation if they have something to eat or drink while they interact.
- Give the audience something to do. No matter how great your speaker or guest, a lot of the social audience want something simple they can do. One of the reasons why you hear moderators say “hashtag this event!” isn’t because they need social media promotion of something already happening, it is because it gives the audience something to do so that they feel interactive with the process.
Respect your member’s time
Your meetings need to start on time and not drag on too long. If your meetings are short but in a social setting, that’s okay, members who are interested can hang around and talk among themselves and build social relationships. On the other hand, if your meetings continually run long, people will immediately leave, go home, and be less likely to return. They also won’t develop the kind of relationships that help build your efforts.
People may be paying child care services or utilizing family resources to attend your meetings. Don’t waste their time.
Next Week: Special! UNITY commission meeting Live in Chicago!
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
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Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
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