EVENT CAMPAIGNSA module

ERA-NC ALLIANCE

TABLE OFCONTENTS

Introduction

Section 1: Establish what, when, where, and whether you can.

Section 2: Design your message

Section 3: Spread the word, and rally support.

Section 4: Make a plan.

Section 5: How to survive the event.

Section 6: Follow up.

INTRODUCTIONSo, you’re coordinating an event campaign? Great! Events are a fantastic

way to engage supporters and detractors alike and raise interest and attention to your cause amongst both the public and legislators. Events, however, are also deceptively simple, and even the most straightforward of ideas requires significant planning in order to succeed. Without a solid plan, your event is likely to be disorganized, inefficient, chaotic, and get somebody arrested.

Thankfully, countless events have been planned before yours, on the scale of everything from a small protest on courthouse steps to the women’s march. Through trial, error, fist fights, arrest, trash fires, and feminists yelling at each other, we have determined some helpful guidelines that you can follow while planning your event.

Bear in mind, murphy’s law is in full effect at any political event (“anything that can go wrong can and will go wrong,”) but through careful planning you can minimize any potential catastrophe

Relax, it’ll be fun!

SECTION 1: Establish what, when where, and whether you can.

Coordinate the date, time, and place you want to have your event. Ensure availability of venue and participants. Make sure that you’re allowed to be at the designated location when you

want to be and that your sort of event is permitted there. Get permissions and permits for whatever you need them for. See if you

need a hall pass for the venue. Make sure that you have approval for distributing materials and taking pictures.

SECTION 2: Design your message. Consider your audience: Do you have more than one? What is your goal?

To convince them to join your event, to raise awareness, or to persuade them to your side?

Carefully evaluate whether there are things that could be offensive to your audience, even if they are not to you.

Be consistent. If you are with an organization ensure that your campaign is in line with its brand, and keep your messaging uniform through the campaign. Avoid having a huge abundance of different messages; one instantly recognizable image or tagline is far more effective than a thousand different ones.

Craft your language and images persuasively and specifically to your audience.

SECTION 3: Spread the word, and rally support. The internet is an incredible tool for publicizing your event, so use it to its

fullest extent. If you have a website for your organization, post about the event. Email everybody. Reach out to organizations, any relevant listservs, and your own network, and encourage them to forward your message. Use social media platforms, be it Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, blogs, or anything else you can think of.

Word-of-mouth campaigning works, too. Tell your friends, your family, that one person at work who seems like he could be a feminist, and encourage them to pass the word as well.

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Engage with the good ol’ fashioned press too. Draft and publish a pre-event press release, and notify news outlets.

SECTION 4: Make a plan.

Make sure that you and your volunteers know where you’re going. Get maps for the layout of the area, parking, and interior of the building. Arrange to have someone directing volunteers on the day of.

Create a tentative plan. Have some sort of schedule.

Ensure that people of all abilities can safely participate in the event and or create an alternative plan

Have a contingency plan of some sort. Something unexpected can and most likely will happen.

SECTION 5: How to survive the event. Follow the first rule of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Don’t Panic.” Get there early. If there are any unforeseen circumstances, it’ll be way

easier to deal with them before the event starts. Be flexible. What if half of the volunteers you expect show up? Or three

times as many? Or it rains? Or you suddenly can’t occupy the space you thought you could anymore? Be ready to adapt.

Stay cool, and be patient. It’s rare that any event goes completely harmoniously, and bystanders, opposition, and volunteers alike may try to derail your plans. Resist the urge to punch them in the face.

SECTION 6: Follow up. Use the news to your advantage. Have a post-event press release ready,

and reach out to news outlets, as well as engage with any interested parties on site.

Round up some good shots for the web. Reach out to people involved, and invite them to send you whatever pictures they may have taken as well as post them on social media. If there were photographers, make sure you have their permission from photographers to use their pictures, and ask them how they want to be credited for their work.

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Email and post pictures from the event on as many sites as you can. Make sure your follow-up posts are still in line with the brand of your campaign.

In the wake of your roaring victory, forget not from where you came. Send thank-you’s to volunteers, team members, partner organizations, photographers, people who helped you along the way, supporting politicians, and anyone else who helped make the event a success.

All images free to use, share, or modify under the Creative Commons.

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