>> SLIDE 1 The National Council on Independent Living presents – Organizing Post Obama & Trump & COVID – Geez Presented by: Khalil Thompson Managing Partner Strategies for Change Group Elevate Logo - Campaign Training for People with Disabilities. Graphic features Capitol Rotunda in NCIL blue (periwinkle). >> SLIDE 2 Thank you to our sponsors! Run for Something Action Fund logo www.RunForWhat.net ActBlue logo Sign up for ActBlue! https://secure.actblue.com/pending_entities/new >> SLIDE 3 Guest Speaker: Ashley Everett Ashley Everett is an organizer, strategist and former high school history teacher who has held several campaign jobs: Warren for President, Nevada Democratic Party and most recently, Working Families Party. Ashley is super passionate about how story, community & culture all work together to build strong field programs. As a Latina, Latinx representation and Spanish language justice are important to her. A person living with Multiple Sclerosis, Ashley also enjoys podcasts, astrology (she’s a Sagittarius) and electing progressives into office. >> SLIDE 4 Trainer: Khalil Thompson A graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park, with a Bachelor of Art’s Degree in Sociology. He started his career as intern for Senator Edward M. Kennedy in the Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee and while weighing whether to stay, another Senator from Illinois called Khalil to move to Chicago, IL and help his run for the Presidency of the United States. He served Senator Barack H. Obama from 2007 until he was inaugurated in 2009. He also served on his 2012 Presidential campaign in North Carolina after finishing working for the 2012 DNCC. Khalil founded the Strategies for Change Group as a desire to help those he had met on the campaign trail and turn their passion for service into a reality of elected office. Khalil has grown Strategies for Change Group from an idea to a reality. Providing their clients who strategic political evaluation and execution, Strategies for Change Group is a growing leader in the industry. He has serviced almost 45 clients ranging from individual campaigns, unions, small businesses, and leaders. >> SLIDE 5: Background This training provides a deep dive focus on how one creates organizing in the post-Obama, Trump and COVID-19 era. This training will look at tactics, best practices and open a discussion on how to evaluate engagement methodologies in this current environment. The training will lay the foundation to how you start thinking about running for office, to becoming an operative, to connecting with communities and ultimately sharing a message that will resonate. >> SLIDE 6: Agenda Introduction Personal Story Organizing Principles – 101 Know Your Numbers Volunteers Canvassing, Phonebanking, Texting Digital GOTV Advocacy Questions Group Exercise >> SLIDE 7: Why We Organize Personal Story: - Connecting with your mission and what drives you. Goal of YOUR organizing: - Electoral, Advocacy and or Community Tactics: - Voter Contact is the Backbone of Grassroots Activism -- Canvassing -- Phone Banking -- Texting -- Media >> SLIDE 8: Organizing Principles - 101 Connection: - Connecting with your mission and what drives you. - Organizing is more important than in the moment activism. - Organizing is about building relationships and connections. - Organizing is about meeting people where they are and building. - Organizing is about knowing your stuff, making your case and meeting metrics. Goal: - Who are you and why should the voter matter what you are saying to them? >> SLIDE 9: Organizing Principles - 101 Tools: - Organizing is a tool to build power within communities Question: - How should you engage a voter in your community? - What are some tactics you think you can engage a voter? - What are qualities of a Good Organizer? >> SLIDE 10: Know Your Numbers - Data Data: - Having a firm grasp of where your margins of voting is critical - Example: Muscogee County, Georgia ALT Text: Graph of Muscogee County, Georgia; Turnout for Registered Black Voters versus Black Population with 2020 Census Numbers overlayed >> SLIDE 11: Know Your Numbers - Data Tools: - Municipal, County and State Board of Elections – Free Data - NGPVAN, Catalist, L2, Civis, TargetSmart – Paid Data - Data Analytics - Models of Voters and Groups - Win Number Exercise – Calculate Your Win #: - Year 1, 2 and 3 of Electoral Review; Take the Total Voted Vs. Registered - Average the Turnout Over the Last Three Elections - Determine the Expected Turnout - Expected Turnout Divide by Average Turnout (Round Up) = Win # >> SLIDE 12: Know Your Numbers - Targeting Targeting: - Not all elections are the same and not all voters perform equally. - Campaigns and advocacy programs are short term entities and can have limited resources. - Grouping voters in your area and precincts: -- Democratic Base Voters – Voting More than 65% of the Time -- Swing Precincts -- Republican Base Voters - Super Voters Chart showing a support matrix in terms of propensity to vote on the left and level of support on top. Starting from low, to unknown, to high. The chart determines if one is a "always voter", "sometimes voter", and a "never voter". >> SLIDE 13: Volunteers – Make or Break Volunteer Recruitment: You need to be able to motivate family and friends first Obama Trump Snowflake Model What You Will Most Likely Experience Image showing an organizer in the middle, connecting with four neighborhood team lead, then that person connecting with four people and growing exponentially from there. >> SLIDE 14: Canvassing, Phone, Text How Do You Engage Voters: Canvassing: - One of the oldest, most versatile and most effective methods of contacting voters - Very timely and resource intensive – by far the most effective tactic Effectiveness: - More personal of an appeal to voter or on an issue, increases likelihood of support - Cheaper than direct mail, paid media or visibility - Ability to target and micro-target voters - Conversations allows you to gather information and adjust if needed Rate of Return: - Suburban Turf – 15 attempts per hour; 6 contacts = 40% - Urban Turf – 20 attempts per hour; 8 contacts = 40% >> SLIDE 15: Canvassing, Phone, Text How Do You Engage Voters: Phonebanking: - One of the most inexpensive, effective and resource efficient tactics to deliver message. - Persuasion results vary, but allows for you to reach more Effectiveness: - Given the geography of one’s turf, phonebanking can allow you to deliver a message to more than you could knock on their door - Cheaper tool because of remote and predictive dialer options - Ability to target and micro-target voters - Passes on the universe Rate of Return: - Dialing by Hand – 30 attempts per hour; 10 contacts = 33% - Predictive Dialer – 150 attempts per hour; 40 contacts = 27% >> SLIDE 16: Canvassing, Phone, Text How Do You Engage Voters: - Texting: -- Texting is a tactic that has a 40% return when used in a sequence after a previous series of engagement. -- Bulk Texting -- Peer-2-Peer (P2P) = Easy Two-Way Conversations Over Text --- Text from a real, local number --- Personalized texts to each recipient --- Send hundreds of texts in 15 minutes -- Reshaping how you communicate - 10DLC - Effectiveness -- Open Rates For Text Messages = 82% -- Reply Rate For Engagement = 25% -- Action Rate People saying, YES! = 8 - 10 % >> SLIDE 17: Digital – Social Media How Do You Engage Voters in a Digital Space: - Where are people consuming information? -- Phones -- Digital Platforms - Facebook - Instagram - TikTok - SnapChat - Advertisement -- Banner Ads -- Streaming >> SLIDE 18: GOTV – Get Out The Vote Game Time and Finishing Strong: - Now that you have identified your voters, delivered a message to them, marked whose supporting and not…you need to make sure they take action! - Everything you have worked towards is leading to this period… -- Once people start voting or taking action, the pool of people to persuade decreases. -- You want to maximize your resources - Early Voting & Vote By Mail (VBM) - Absentee Ballots - Election Day >> SLIDE 19: Advocacy Engagement How is this different from Electoral Engagement: - Advocacy while motivating voters to action, it is not about a candidate… - Has the ability to bring those who might support an individual to rally together for a common cause. - Non-partisan - Tactics -- Know the Target --- Who do you need on your side? Who do you need to persuade? Research… -- Know the Issue --- You must be more knowledgeable than everyone in the room. -- Know the Solution --- Don’t just be the megaphone, be ready to offer options to solve >> SLIDE 20: Summary What have we learned: - Time - Research - Data - Tactics - Passion - Sprint vs. Marathon >> SLIDE 21: Contact Information Khalil Thompson Managing Partner Strategies for Change Group khalil@strategiesforchangegroup.com