Outreach Ideas
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By making an outreach plan, your event will get the attention and
participation you need to make your actions effective. Here are some pointers:
- Recruitment: The best way to recruit and motivate people is
face to face. Tabling at events, talking to friends and neighbors, discussing
at meetings are all good ways to get people involved. Small publicity
events such as guerilla theatre or even a lemonade stand also draw people
in.
- Follow-up Phone Call: The personal touch of a phone call says
volumes more than a mass email! Tell the person about your upcoming
actions, be positive, and offer to send a follow-up email with relevant
info (confirm that you have the right email address).
- Encourage Participation: Once you have someone's name,
email and phone number, let her know she is wanted and welcome. Put
her on an email list and a phone list. Ask her to be in charge of something
or host a meeting or make something for an event—there's nothing
like direct involvement to encourage participation.
- Outreach to Different Communities: Speak/meet with people
in your community that you don't know well, or who are different from
you (ethnicity/religion/class/age/interests). To connect with and build
coalitions, reach out to people outside your social group and participate
in other groups' activities, instead of expecting them to show
up for your actions. "
- HAVE FUN! One of CODEPINK's greatest strengths is that
people perceive us as having fun in our work—and we are!
- The Law of Halves: Recruiting expectations should be realistic.
If you contact 200 people, you will probably make contact with 100 people.
Of those 100, 50 people will agree to come to a meeting or event. Involve
others in continuing to make contacts.
- Flyer Your Action. You may be able to get photocopies donated
by local printing companies. Include the www.codepink.org website at
the bottom of your flyer.
- Online Promotion: Use the website and social media: Post your
event on our website's calendar and
on other websites. Use Twitter, Facebook, and other social media websites
to reach out to people online.
- In-Person Promotion: At any event you attend, publicize your
event, and/or circulate petitions and have signup sheets available.
- Endorsements: Find endorsers to help you promote your event.
- Highlight Local Connections: Make your issues meaningful to
your local community; emphasize the local cost of war and militarism:
Check out www.nationalpriorities.org
- it's a deep resource with many links and tools.
- Work Collaboratively: Don't burn yourself out -- including
more people in planning and actions will not only lighten your workload,
but will also build capacity in other activists.
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