Burnout Activism: How to build a campus group in 4 weeks
[NOTE: For my front page post this week, I'm submitting an organizing guide I've been working on and would like to include in the "Resources" section once the new theme is in. I haven't perfected it yet; this is like a 3rd or 4th draft, but definitely not a final. Most of it's based on firsthand experience, except for the electronic stuff, which has mostly come into its own since I graduated. Input is welcome. Ok, here we go...]
This is an instruction manual on how to build a new organization on a college campus from scratch, very quickly. Some parts may also apply to high school activism and others to general activism. Before I begin, I want to say that this is just one model, and I choose this one to write about merely because it’s the one I’m most familiar with.
Activisty goodness below the fold…
Build a core group. You should be 3 or 4 people. Have a meeting or hangout and decide on a simple platform sentence (this part’s important); the spirit and substance of the sentence should be part of the vibe for everything the group does, from the kind of literature you produce to the kinds of events you choose and so on… just everything. Think of this sentence as your anchor. Lean toward hard objectives. Something as relevant as possible (like civil liberties violations in progress), or what should be very relevant and isn’t being talked about much (like net neutrality), or something that is very current that hasn’t had any organizing formed around it yet (like Darfur in 2004).
STEP 1: MEETING
Create fliers to announce a meeting (you’ll need a set meeting time and place, unless you want to go {{super organic}}{{link to other post, will need up}}). Post them around campus. I recommend blue tape for on paint and duct tape for concrete. Inside buildings are good, especially political science, history, sociology departments and other places liberals wander around.
At the meeting (hopefully a few new people show up), keep it loose but try really hard to plan a small event to 1) attract more people and 2) have some concrete goals to work toward. We’re just completely bypassing the traditional “build a core group” process and going straight to “raise awareness”. Perhaps a film screening or a discussion panel, or a town hall, or a chill meeting at a coffee shop or pizza place or somebody’s house. The idea is to GATHER people who might want to hear your message. Once you get some people together, that’s when you start fighting. In the meantime, just exchange phone numbers, email addresses and later add each other on Facebook. Get on each other about getting stuff done. Don’t let flakism kill you before you start---but this is the good part of having an event to build around.
TIP: For meetings and events, free food is good if you can afford it. It keeps it relaxed, especially if it’s snacky, like Gummy bears or something (bin candy is perfect). But if you can’t afford it, you rely on your idea a little more, but that shouldn’t be a problem, should it?
TIP: As a show of good faith in the cause, at this initial meeting, bring a petition. If everyone likes it, make copies and pass them out, have everyone gather signatures, and then come back to the next meeting.
You’ll need to have another meeting soon, ideally the same time and place next week, so you can keep working on logistics for the event and make sure people are making progress on the tasks they commit to. Regular meetings are important.
STEP 2: EVENT
At the event, be sure to have some discussion time. You need to strike a balance between productivity on concrete goals and planning, discussion of the issue at hand, talk of strategy and ideas. Most people don’t have much tolerance for meetings, so you need to make the minutes count if people are going to come back. Or you have to be friends, as might be if you follow the Super Organic route (note: “Super Organic” is a term I made up for a particular way to build a group that I’ll explain further some other time --- don’t worry about it for now).
What makes an event? It’s divided up into a few components.
- Finding a venue
- Setting a time
- Selecting a topic
- Deciding your format
- Creating your Facebook event
I’m a fan of film screenings followed by a discussion. That way, all you need is a campus theater, which you can usually reserve if you’re a student (or if you HAVE to, you might have to fill out a form to register as a campus org). Don’t worry --- it’s easy. And if they F up, it just means your hate for The Man that much more justified.
:: ::
PUBLICITY
You have five main instruments of promotion.
- Professors
- Word of Mouth
- Fliers
Facebook is the most important, by far. Create an event. It doesn’t matter if you write it well. Just describe it in the simplest terms you can, and if possible, try to communicate to people why they should care.
Continuing with the film screening example, your job is ridiculously easy and easily accomplished. You have the time and the place. Now invite all your friends, and the other organizers invite all your friends (hey – notice that? you’re “organizers” now – congrats, studies show that organizers are 3% more awesome than the rest of Americans). If there are 5 of you, and you each invite 60 people, that’s 300. Some of them will invite people too, especially if you encourage them, or if your idea or your event (one, the other, or both) sounds good.
Facebook can create word of mouth. Especially if tied together with fliers and posters. Making crude stuff with the time and date is great, anything else goes above and beyond. But try to put out some paper because people will see it and talk about it later. It also shows you have your shit together and that you’re not just a Facebook group --- although in some cases, this is actually fine, especially with regard to rapidly unfolding events.
Also try contacting professors. Maybe you can visit office hours, hand them a flier, strike up a conversation, and if they like it, ask them to announce your meeting time or your event to their lectures. Maybe they’ll put your flier on their door. One more ripple of word of mouth.
Use email, too. It might be a little Land Before Time, but there are cool listservs out there and I bet they keep developing. Faculty groups like that kind of stuff and might forward your messages if they like the cause. One more ripple.
TIP: Text messages and phone calls help a lot. Fights flakism, builds cohesion.
TIP: The day before the event, send a message to the Facebook event list reminding them.
TIP: If you start talking about publicizing the event and you don’t feel good about it, maybe you need to modify the event. Trying to promote a bad event is a nightmare.
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NEXT STEPS
To continue organizing the group and increasing your ability to get stuff done, you need to start building some infrastructure. On the Internet front, set up an email list (have a signup sheet at your event) and a Facebook group. You can either use the group for communicating with members or dispersing information about the cause (“raising awareness,” as they call it). This is a job for a good writer, or just somebody everybody likes. Links to other articles are good to have, and if you can get people talking on your Wall, props.
You can also create literature. Either about the cause, or focused on your group. Fliers are easy to make; copy/paste the info from the Internet. Quotes are good to have. Pictures and graphics are a plus. Beyond fliers, also consider creating a one page summary sheet of your issue. You might be able to copy/paste from the Facebook group, but maybe not, depending on your circumstances.
A petition is good to have.
If you do all this stuff, you can even try tabling. If there’s a central area on campus with tables set up and lots of pedestrian traffic, make a banner and take your fliers and summary sheet and petition and go sit. Maybe people will come. Maybe not. Depends on how good your cause is. Maybe your friends just drop by. If you’re brave, just start handing stuff to people and striking up a conversation. Some people are assholes, but you’ll also find new members this way, and if you’re advanced enough that you’re tabling, this is probably your objective.
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NEXT EVENT
Now that you’ve planned your next event at your meeting, been working on getting it together (enjoy filling out a few forms) and been doing some cause-advancing awareness activism like lit and tabling, you hold your event.
I hope it goes well. If you made it this far, take a deep breath and realize that you have power. You are with a group of people working toward a common objective. Tactics have advanced y’all to the point that you can now seriously talk about strategy.
And this is where the legalese platform sentence stuff I wrote in the beginning comes back. Remember that convoluted BS…
“Have a meeting or hangout and decide on a simple platform sentence; the spirit and substance of the sentence should be part of the vibe for everything the group ever does, from literature to event types to speaker or film selection and … just everything.”
Well this sentence needs to guide your strategy now. In the beginning, it was your group’s anchor. Well now, to trade analogies, it’s more like your group’s engine and over the last few weeks you’ve built a car around it. So…
Go speed racer go.
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