diff --git a/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-events.md b/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-events.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d0d5901 --- /dev/null +++ b/_resources/getting-started-with-distributed-organizing-events.md @@ -0,0 +1,188 @@ +--- +layout: resource +title: "Getting Started with Distributed Organizing: Events" +tease_title: Learn to scale your organizing by empowering supporters to host events +description: > + Download this guide for examples, checklists, and tips to transform your + organizing program into a scaled, distributed, and member-led force for + change. +image: img/uploads/graphic-hero-events.svg +resource_url: /img/pdfs/distributed-organising-events.pdf +--- +### Introduction + +People call it different things -- distributed organizing, member-led campaigning, wildfire activism. Regardless of the name, there is a central goal: to harness a community’s bottom-up energy to work for changes, large and small, that create leaderful movements more powerful than those directed by centralized or professionalized staff alone.  + +Many organizations have proven that this way of organizing can work to generate both growth and impact, and there are many more groups who have the potential to benefit from this model. However, these successes don’t mean that you can just set up a platform, snap your fingers, and suddenly have hundreds of successful events run by members. It takes careful planning and an investment across your organization to launch a successful program. + +Very few of your members are ready to host a successful event at the drop of a hat. The key to a successful distributed organizing model is to prepare your members so that they’re ready to lead in their communities, and then support them along the way.  + +Each organization is different, and you’ll want to spend time examining your specific goals and carefully designing a distributed organizing program and launch strategy to achieve them. \ +\ +Getting Off the Ground + +Supporters have many different options for where they can post events, and a successful distributed events program will need to demonstrate the benefits of hosting an event with the organization. This includes the support that the organization will provide to hosts, access to the organization’s broad base of like-minded members, and integration with the other tools and opportunities that the organization offers its supporters. + +\ +*Petition Events* \ +If your organization is supporting member-led petitions, then petition events are a natural extension of your existing distributed organization program. Petition events can include things like: planning meetings, signature collection events, rallies and protests, and in-person signature delivery events.  + +Supporting successful petition events begins from the petition campaign’s inception. Letting your campaign leaders know about the ability to and importance of hosting events allows them to start thinking about the events that would best support their campaigns from the beginning – it also shows an added benefit to hosting campaigns on your distributed petitions platform and demonstrates that the organization takes its member-led campaigns seriously. When storytelling about successful campaigns, be sure to highlight any events that were tied to the campaigns, and how they helped to move the campaign forward. + +Once a campaign is created and gaining traction, remind your leaders that events are available. Within ControlShift, we’ll automatically remind petition creators about the events tools, but you can also include reminders about the importance of events in your other communications with campaign leaders as the campaign is growing. Your campaign leaders can often choose which types of events will be best for their campaign, but reminding them of the options that are available and providing tips for each type of event will help your leaders to be successful.  + +Because hosting an event can be a bigger challenge than starting a campaign, it’s often useful to provide concrete examples of the types of events that campaigns leaders have hosted in the past. You can even provide example agendas or other resources for more complicated events. What’s most important is to let your hosts know that they’re not on their own – that if they have questions or need help, there’s a staff member who can assist them. + +\ +*Days of Action*\ +Days of Action or other templatized events – like house parties, phonebanks, local deliveries of national petitions, watch parties, etc. – are also great ways of getting your supporters involved in hosting events. Because these types of events generally have more guidance and a clear vision from staff, it’s often easier for a member to agree to become a host.  + +Successfully mobilizing supporters for a day of action will require clear communications from your team: explain why you’re relying on your supporters to host events in their communities, what these events will look like, and how they fit into your organization’s broader strategy for the campaign you’re running. Some organizations share that information via emails or texts to supporters, but other organizations have had success by also hosting kickoff events to encourage their supporters to host events. These kickoff events can be national calls, [in-person barnstorms](https://www.controlshiftlabs.com/2019/06/25/how-to-organize-a-massive-number-of-distributed-events.html), or other types of events – anything that will get your supporters amped up and excited to host an event in their community. Setting clear expectations for hosts from the beginning will help these events be successful. + +
+ +

+ControlShift's calendar feature makes it easy to support and manage hundreds of local events hosted by supporters. Within calendars, the organization can provide events defaults and custom instructions – ensuring that hosting an event is an easy and rewarding experience for your supporters. +

+
+ +When launching a day of action, consider a tiered approach to host recruitment. If you have committed supporters who you think would make good hosts, reach out to them first about creating events. This outreach could involve contacting them directly, or just appropriately segmenting your organization’s mailing list before sending a host recruitment blast email. Once this initial round of prospective hosts have had a chance to create events, email the next tier of your list – this email can include a host recruitment prompt and encouragement to join an existing event in their area. Continue to expand the audience of these recruitment emails until you’ve worked through your list.  + +Once you’ve identified your hosts, share more detailed information with them about the event you want them to host. This can include an agenda for the event, key actions that should happen during the event, more detailed organizing plans, or answers to other frequently asked questions. + +It’s useful to also provide a contact person that your hosts can reach out to if they have any questions or need any additional help with their events.  + +#### Supporting Hosts + +For many of your members, the events they’re creating on your platform may be the first organizing or advocacy events they’ve hosted. Some of your members will find that this sort of action comes naturally to them, while others may feel passionately about the issue they’re addressing but may not feel comfortable acting as a host. The support and guidance your organization provides to these potential hosts may be the difference between them taking action and hosting a successful event or remaining on the sidelines. + + +Some organizations provide that support by reaching out to each host individually, while others will just share written materials and ways for hosts to get in touch with staff if they have a question. Your method of supporting hosts will likely vary based on your staff capacity and can also change based on the event that’s being hosted. + +\ +*Written guides*\ +The most basic level of support is a written guide (or guides) that can be shared with hosts. These guides should ideally address basic questions that apply to all events – like technical help for setting up any event – and also specific tips for different types of events. These specific tips can include things like: the process to set up a meeting with elected representatives, best practices for successful in-person petition signature deliveries, or expectations for rallies.  + +Guides for days of action, or other themed events, will often be more specific and will include the specific expectations for the events, lists of things to prepare before the event, sample agendas, and steps to report back to the organization after the event is completed.  + +Allowing your supporters to see these guides before and after agreeing to host an event can both help your supporters think about the types of events that will be most useful for the issues they’re working on and make it easier for them to run a successful event once they decide to become a host.  + +Keep in mind that the best written materials are refined over time with feedback from the hosts themselves. If you’re getting similar questions from hosts, incorporate that feedback into your guides moving forward. As your events program begins to scale, you should also collect resources from successful events that can be reused in the future. + +\ +*One-on-Ones*\ +Depending on your organization’s capacity and the number of events being created, you may want to provide higher-touch support for event hosts. This can include direct calls, emails, and/or texts to members who have created events. These one-on-one communications allow staff to quickly check in with the potential host, thank them for agreeing to host an event, and answer any questions they may have. This can also be a starting point for future conversations with the host. + +
+ +

ControlShift’s mentors feature makes it easy to assign staff who will be in charge of supporting an event’s host. +

+
+ +\ +*Conference Calls / Webinar Trainings*\ +When planning a day of action, organizations may wish to host kickoff calls to recruit potential hosts and/or training calls once supporters agree to host events. These calls can include more information about the strategic plan, reiteration of expectations for the events, and allow for hosts to get their questions answered in real time. These calls also allow your supporters to see themselves as part of a broader community dedicated to working for change. + +Depending on the scale of your non-day-of-action events program, it may also be useful to host regular events trainings or office hours that will allow petition creators, group leaders, or other supporters interested in hosting events to learn more about the process and ask their questions. + +\ +*Get Specific*\ +Regardless of which models of support you use, it’s important to be specific – especially when organizing a day of action. Supporters may feel hesitant to host an event if they’re not sure what will happen or what’s expected of them. Having clear expectations and concrete actions will ensure a good experience for both hosts and attendees.  + +
+ +

ControlShift’s organizer instructions allow organizations to set expectations for hosts and provide specific instructions for a day of action. +

+
+ +\ +*Report Backs*\ +The work of organizers isn’t done once the event is over – it’s important to also follow up with your hosts and attendees for feedback. Asking your hosts about what went well and poorly, and what they wish they had known in advance, is useful for refining the tips and guides that you share with hosts as well as your broader support program. You can also use report backs to collect anecdotes and example events that can be used in storytelling. + +Equally important is collecting feedback from attendees – did they feel the event was a good use of their time? What did they think went well and what did they wish went differently? Some organizations also use this feedback to ensure that hosts are making their events safe and welcoming. + +Report backs can be done in different ways. If you’ve already spoken to a host during the event setup and planning process, follow up again to ask for feedback. Quick surveys can also give you an aggregated view of event feedback and can be useful in identifying which supporters to ask for more detailed report backs.\ +\ +Supporting Digital Organizing Broadly + +Regardless of which model of digital organizing you adopt, supporting your members through each stage of their involvement is essential to your success. While learning from early tests and homing in on the program structure that best resonates with your members should allow you to scale and increase efficiency, distributed organizing will still need plenty of care and feeding. Depending on the size of your program, you will probably need at least a half-time person – and potentially several staff members -- to ensure ongoing results. + +\ +*Moderation*\ +At a minimum, you’ll need to keep a close eye on what comes in on the platform – at least on a daily basis and ideally closer to real-time. Quickly reviewing new campaigns, events, and group leader applications signals your support for your members’ work and will ensure that their campaigns and other actions can advance in a timely manner. You may consider staffing this on a rolling basis – with each team member being responsible a day or a week at a time. + +
+ +

ControlShift integrates with Slack and allows fast-moving teams to be notified of new campaigns that require moderation as soon as they are created. +

+
+ +Some organizations also have a daily review of new campaigns. They sit down, walk through each new or updated campaign, and assign follow-ups for editing, coaching, PR or other support. + +Similarly, organizations supporting days of action or groups may find that regularly scheduled meetings are useful in making sure that everyone knows the current status of the work being done and the places where additional admin support is needed.  + +\ +*Organizing Support, Coaching, and Mentorship*\ +While members are often passionate about the issues and able to spot raw opportunities for action, it is rare that they can channel that passion into a successful campaign or a stable group without some level of support from your organization. + +Many organizations develop a set of written content that can be shared with leaders. A scalable way to share this information is to include it in the series of emails that go out after a member starts a petition, creates a group, or signs up to host an event. Whenever possible, try to tailor your guides to the specific action that the user has just taken and include specific real-life examples of previous actions taken. Other effective channels include short video tutorials, conference calls and webinars, and an email list or online group for leaders where they can ask questions and learn from one another. 38 Degrees has set up a great [resource site](https://home.38degrees.org.uk/cby-tips/) for their member campaigners. + +After a petition or event has been created, most organizations will work with the leaders to edit and refine content if they plan to promote the event or petition to their broader organizational mailing list. This can be a good opportunity to build the relationship between your organization and the leader who created the content.  + +
+ +

ControlShift’s mentors feature makes it easy to assign a staff member who will serve as a coach for a specific campaign or event. This mentor can contact the leader, offer advice, and be available to answer questions. +

+
+ +Some organizations offer direct coaching for particularly compelling petition campaigns. By scheduling time on the phone with petition starters, they can discuss how to promote the campaign, schedule an event, work with the media, and stage a high-impact petition delivery. While you can probably communicate much of this information via training guides and online resources, there is no substitute for personal outreach. + +Similarly, some organizations will host live webinars for group leaders or hosts taking part in a day of action, which allows these leaders to learn more about the strategic plan and get their questions answered in real time. + +As your program grows, you may find that you need additional tools to manage the relationship between your staff and your leaders. Groups have successfully used Trello, NationBuilder, and Salesforce.com for relationship management. + +
+ +

ControlShift’s native integrations and flexible APIs make it easy to send platform data to the other tools that your organization is using. +

+
+ +\ +*Rapid Response*\ +As you build capacity for distributed organizing, it can be an extremely valuable resource in key moments. You’ll want to make sure your full staff is aware of the possibilities and trained on the platform so that they can quickly tap into the capacity of your member leadership when it really counts. + +*Case Studies & Storytelling*\ +Success stories are vital for inspiring members and showing your leadership that the program is worth the time and money. You may want to assign someone who can keep track of successful actions and write compelling stories about what worked. These stories can be shared with staff, your board, and the media to paint a picture of your program’s impact. + +Equally importantly, these stories should also be shared back to your supporters. Nothing as effectively captures the power of your supporters as a concrete example of when a regular member, just like everyone else on your list, was able to effect change. These stories don’t just provide encouragement, but they can also spark new life into supporters and can turn passive recipients into newly recruited leaders.  + +\ +*Ongoing testing and optimization*\ +You will also want to keep a close eye on the overall health of the platform. This means setting up analytics to monitor important paths and funnels, like how many people who land on the petition start page actually complete the process.  + +
+ +

ControlShift is built to easily connect with analytics tools like Google Analytics, Matomo, and Segment. +

+
+ +Beyond aggregated numbers, the most successful organizations will also perform targeted surveys of leaders and/or people who have taken particular actions. The action takers in your distributed organizing program are the best source for feedback about what’s working and what needs to be changed. Incorporating this feedback into the program is an ongoing process that’s integral to successful programs. The support you provide to your leaders will change over time and constantly refining your program to meet the ongoing needs of your supporters is key. + +If one of your organization’s primary goals is to grow your supporter list, also you’ll need to regularly monitor activity, promote the best campaigns and actions to your list, and track which type of content is recruiting the most new members. + +\ +*Broad Integration*\ +Once you’ve tested and established your ongoing program, you’ll want to make sure that distributed organizing is fully integrated into your organization. Many organizations link to their platform from their homepage, which makes it easy for organic action takers to get going. You might also consider adding a prompt to start a campaign, join a group, or find an event to your standard email templates. + +
+ +

ControlShift’s front-end JSONP APIs, and other integrations, make it easy to integrate our platform with the rest of your site. Color of Change has done this with their OrganizeFor.org homepage.

+

Our pre-built CRM integrations also ensure that member data flows seamlessly to your existing databases and mailing lists. +

+
  + +## Final Thoughts + +Trusting our members to take the lead in organizing and giving over control might be a large shift from the way your organization has worked in the past, but it’s also a great opportunity to expand the work your organization is able to accomplish. This style of organizing is about making our movements big enough to win even if it means our campaigns can't be perfect as a result. The challenges progressives and our society face our too enormous not to open up and invite everyone to help. + +**If you’re interested in how distributed organizing can help improve your organization’s impact, [get in touch](mailto:talk@controlshiftlabs.com)!** \ No newline at end of file