We are building a movement to take on the biggest challenge of our time: climate change.

The scale and rate of the climate crisis are well beyond the point where we can avert catastrophe through individual action alone. To achieve the transformation we need, we must come together to work on collective action, and for that we need to organize.

Why Organize?1 Hour

Good organizing requires the investment of our hearts (motivation), our heads (strategy) and our hands and feet (action). These skills of motivation, strategizing and structuring collective action can be taught and learned, and are critical leadership skills for campaign development and movement building. Organizing requires three things: Leaders who recruit and develop other leaders and coordinate them in leadership teams. Building relationships, community and commitment around that leadership. Building power from the resources of that community and using that power strategically to achieve clear goals and outcomes.

What is Leadership?
Leaders are those who do the work of helping others to achieve purpose in the face of uncertainty. One of your jobs as a climate organizer is to identify and recruit volunteer leaders to work with you to build a campaign to win policies and actions that match the challenge we face. But what type of leader should you be, and what are you looking for in others? Sometimes we think the leader is the person everyone goes to, like this : But what does it feel like to be the leader in the middle? What does it feel like to be the arrow that cant get through? What happens if the leader in the middle drops out? Sometimes we go to the other extreme and think we dont need a leader, because we can all lead which looks like this (see right): Sometimes this works. But whos responsible for coordinating everyone? And whos responsible for pushing the whole group forward when you cant reach a decision? Who takes ultimate responsibility for the outcome? Organizers are those who can ultimately be held accountable for meeting campaign goals. However, organizers are also responsible for coordinating and empowering others to take leadership, which requires delegating responsibility (rather than tasks) and holding others accountable for carrying out that responsibility.

Remember, we dont yet have all the volunteers and leaders we need in order to win the scale of solutions we need. A good organizers job is to reach out and find leaders in your community who can help you recruit and coordinate others well. These leaders will be the backbone of your local campaign and you must be able to trust them to delegate responsibility to other dedicated reliable people, and to follow through on commitments. You may be the leader in the middle, or part of a leadership team in the middle, guiding volunteer efforts and being held accountable for outcomes, but you will be deeply reliant on your relationships with others for success.

Key Organizing and Leadership Practices:

DISORGANIZATION Divided Confused Passive Reactive Inaction Drift LEADERSHIP Build Relationships Interpret Motivate Strategize Mobilize Accept Responsibility ORGANIZATION Community Understanding Participation Initiative Action Purpose

Shared Values Narrative:

Organizing is rooted in shared values expressed as public narrative. Stories help to bring alive motivation that is rooted in values, highlighting each persons own calling, our calling as a people, and the urgent challenges to that calling we must face. Values-based organizingin contrast to issue based organizing invites people to escape their issue silos and come together so that their diversity becomes an asset, rather than an obstacle. And because values are experienced emotionally, people can access the moral resourcesthe courage, hope, and solidaritythat it takes to risk learning new things and explore new ways. Each person who learns how to tell their own story, a practice that enhances their own efficacy, creates trust and solidarity within their campaign, equipping them to engage others far more effectively.

Shared Relational Commitment:

Organizing is based on relationships creating mutual commitments to work together. It is the process of associationnot simply aggregationthat makes a whole greater than the sum of its parts. Through association we can learn to recast our individual interests as common interests, an objective we can

use our combined resources to achieve. And because we are more likely to act to assert those interests, relationship building goes far beyond delivering a message, extracting a contribution, or soliciting a vote. Relationships built as a result of one on one meetings and small group meetings create the foundation of local campaign teams, rooted in commitments people made to each other, not simply an idea, task, or issuerelationships create a source of new social capital.

Shared Organizational Structure:

A team leadership structure leads to effective local organizing that integrates local action with national purpose. Volunteer efforts often flounder due to a failure to develop reliable, consistent, and creative individual local leaders. Structured leadership teams encourage stability, motivation, creativity, and accountabilityand use volunteer time, skills, and effort for effectively. They create the structure within which energized volunteers can actually accomplish real work. Teams strive to achieve three criteria of effectivenessmeeting the standards of those they serve, learning how to be more effective at meeting outcomes over time and enhancing the learning and growth of individuals on the team. Team members work to put in place five conditions that will lead to effectivenessreal team, (bounded, stable and interdependent), engaging direction (clear, consequential and challenging), enabling structure (work that is interdependent), clear group norms, and a diverse team with the skills and talents needed to do the work.

Shared Strategic Objectives:

Although based on broad values, effective organizing campaigns learn to focus on a clear strategic objective, a way to turn those values into action. National campaigns locate responsibility for national strategy at the top (or at the center), but are able to chunk out strategic objectives in time (deadlines) and space (local areas) as a campaign, allowing significant local responsibility for figuring out how to achieve those objectives. Responsibility for strategizing local objectives empowers, motivates and invests local teams. This dual structure allows the movement as a whole to be relentlessly well oriented and the personal motivation of volunteers to be fully engaged.

Shared Measurable Action:

Organizing outcomes must be clear, measurable, and specific if progress is to be evaluated, accountability practiced, and strategy adapted based on experience. Such measures include volunteers recruited, money raised, people at a meeting, voters contacted, pledge cards signed, laws passed, etc. Although electoral campaigns enjoy the advantage of very clear outcome measures, any effective organizing drive must come up with the equivalent. Regular reporting of progress to goal creates opportunity for feedback, learning, and adaptation. Training is provided for all skills (e.g., holding house meetings, door knocking, etc.) to carry out the program. New media may help enable reporting, feedback,

coordination. Transparency exists as to how individuals, groups, and the campaign as a whole are doing on progress to goal.

Build Your Team30 Minutes

Why do organizing teams matter?

The most effective leaders have always created teams to work with them and to lead with them. Take for example Moses, Aaron and Miriam in the story of Exodus, or Jesus and the twelve disciples in the New Testament, or Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, and the Indian National Congress Working Committee of the Salt Satyagraha. Leadership teams offer a structural model for working together that fosters interdependent leadership, where individuals can work toward an outcome together, with each person taking leadership on part of the teams activity. At their best leadership teams recognize and put to productive use the unique talents of the individuals who make up the team. Team structures also help create strategic capacitythe ability to strategize creatively together in ways that produce more vibrant, engaging strategy than any individual could create alone. During the Salt March, the field structure created multiple layers of leadership teams to engage people creatively and strategically at all levels of the campaign. Each town they passed through had a leadership team that coordinated local neighborhood leadership teams of volunteer leaders. At every level the people on leadership teams had a clear mission and the ability to strategize creatively together about how to carry out their mission. This structure created multiple points of entry for volunteers, and multiple opportunities to learn and exercise leadership.

So why dont people always work in teams?

We have all been part of volunteer teams that have not worked well. They fall into factions, they alienate each other, or all the work falls on one person. Some aim to keep the pond small so they can feel like big fish. So many of us come to the conclusion: Ill just do it on my own; I hate meetings, just tell me what to do; I dont want any responsibility; just give me stamps to lick. Theres just one problem: we cant become powerful enough to do what we need to do if we cant even work together to build campaigns we can take action on. The challenge is to create conditions for our leadership teams that are more likely to generate successful collaboration and strategic action.

The criteria for team effectiveness.

A great deal of research on teams has shown that three things help to make a team more effective: The output of your team matches the goals you need to meet to win on your campaign. The team is learning over time how to work together better. Teamwork supports individual growth and learning. In short, the team is meeting the campaigns interests by meeting goals, while at the same time meeting each participants interests by giving them room to learn and grow.

The conditions that can get your team off to a good start:
Your team is stable, with clear boundaries. You can name the people on it and they meet regularly. Its not a different, random group of people every time. Your mission points you in an engaging direction. The work you have to do is clear, its challenging, it matters to the campaign youre working on and you know why it matters. Your team works interdependently. Everyone should have a roughly equal share of the work, understanding that each part is necessary to adequately reach the ultimate goal. Thus, the success or failure of one will have an effect on all. One way to encourage interdependence is to have clear roles based on the work that the team needs to do to succeed. Good teams will coordinate and help each other. Good team members will communicate well when they need assistance. No one is carrying out activity in a silo thats secretive to others. A good team will have a diversity of identities, experiences and opinions, ensuring that everyone is bringing the most possible to the table. You have clear rules. Your team sets clear expectations for how you will respect and empower each other during your work together.

Story-telling is one of our most powerful tools as organizers and movement builders. The following sessions developed through close collaboration with Marshall Ganz and our friends at the New Organizing Institute discuss why story-telling matters and some methods for harnessing the power of stories most effectively.

Introduction to Telling Your Story & Story of Self 1.5 Hours

Background
The majority of these sessions will focus on story-telling in the context of actual public speaking (to all different sorts of audiences). However, the substance of these ideas can extend to story-telling through other communications processes as wellthrough email blasts, blog posts, online social media, even through the campaign itself, making your campaign the vehicle for telling and creating a collective story. But for now, just keep that thought in the back of your mind and lets dive into it.

Story-telling is a practice of leadership

Your story is the why of organizingthe art of translating values into action through stories. It is an iterative discussion process through which individuals, communities, and nations construct their identity, make choices, and inspire action. Each of us has a compelling story to tell Each of us has a story that can move others. As you learn this skill of story-telling, you will be able to tell a compelling story that includes elements that identify yourself, your audience and your strategy to others. In addition, you will gain practice in hearing and coaching others to tell a good story.

Why Tell Stories? Two Ways of Knowing or Interpreting

Leaders employ both the head and the heart in order to mobilize others to act effectively on behalf of shared values. In other words, they engage people in interpreting why they should change their world their motivationand how they can act to change ittheir strategy. Many leaders are often good at the analysis side of public speakingand focus on presenting a good argument or strategy. Alternately, other leaders tell their personal storybut it is often a tale of heartbreak that educates us about the challenge but doesnt highlight the choices and the potential for hopeful outcomes.

Our story-telling work here is an effort to tell a story that involves the head and heart AND moves people to use their hands and feet in action. The key to this story-telling is understanding that values inspire action through emotion. Emotions inform us of what we value in ourselves, in others, and in the world, and enable us to express the motivational content of our values to others. In other words, because we experience values emotionally, they are what actually move us to act; it is not just the idea that we ought to act. Because stories allow us to express our values not as abstract principles, but as lived experience, they have the power to move others too. Some emotions inhibit action, but other emotions facilitate action. Action is inhibited by inertia, fear, self-doubt, isolation, and apathy. Action is facilitated by urgency, hope, YCMAD (you can make a difference), solidarity, and anger. Stories mobilize emotions that urge us to take action and help us overcome emotions that inhibit us from action. The story-telling method we will work through here combines a story of self, a story of us, and a story of now. The process of creating your story is fluid and iterative and can start at any place. Once you develop your story of self, story of us, and story of now, youll probably want to go back to the beginning to clarify the links between them.

A story of self tells why we have been called to serve.

The story of self expresses the values or experiences that call each person to take leadership on climate change. The key focus is on choice points, moments in our lives when values are formed because of a need to choose in the face of great uncertainty. When did you first care about being heard, learn that you

were concerned about climate change, wanted to protect the planet, wanted to ensure clean air, clean water for yourself and others, learn to love nature or appreciate being outdoors, care for social justice or overcoming social strife linked with resource or climate issues? Why? When did you feel you had to do something about it? Why did you feel you could? What were the circumstances? What specific choice did you make? A story of us communicates the values and experiences that a community, organization, campaign or movement shares and what capacity or resources that community of us has to accomplish its goals. Just as with a person, the key is choice points in the life of the community and/or those moments that express the values, experiences, past challenges and resources of the community or us that will take action. For example, tying a current effort to win a campaign to a past campus campaign victory and describing the effort it took to win, the people who worked hard to make it happen, their capabilities, their values, etc. is a story of us. A story of now communicates the urgent challenge we are called upon to face now and calls us to action. The story of now articulates the urgent challenge in specific detail. It also includes a description of the path we can take to achieve goals relative to the missionthe unique strategy or set of ideas that will help us to overcome the challenge we face and succeed. The story of now includes an ask that summons the audience to a specific action they can do to achieve our collective mission. Finally, the story lays out in detail a vision for the potential outcome we could achieve if our strategy succeeds.

Linking Self, Us, Now

You are looking for the link between these three stories, the place where they overlap, to help explain why you are called to this work of building a clean energy future, why we are called to act with you, and why we are called to act now. This means being very selective about the story you tellfor example not trying to tell your whole biography when you tell your story of self.

The Three Key Elements of Story-telling Structure: ChallengeChoiceOutcome A plot begins with an unexpected challenge that confronts a character with an urgent need to pay attention, to make a choice, a choice for which s/he is unprepared. The choice yields an outcome -and the outcome teaches a moral. Because we can empathetically identify with the character, we can feel the moral. We not only hear about someones courage; we can also be inspired by it. The story of the character and their effort to engage around values engages the listener in their own challenge, choice, and outcome relative to the story. Each story should include the challenge, the choice and the outcome. Its not enough to sayI was scared. You need to sayI was very scared, I needed to decide, and when I did, I learned it was possible.

Incorporating Challenge, Choice, and Outcome in Your Own Story

There are some key questions you need to answer as you consider the choices you have made in your life and the path you have taken that brought you to this point in time as a leader. Once you identify the specific relevant choice point, perhaps your decision to choose an environmental career, dig deeper by answering the following questions. Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge? Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage (or not)? Where did you get the hope (or not)? How did it feel? Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do you want us to feel? A word about challenge. Sometimes people see the word challenge and think that they need to describe the misfortunes of their lives. Keep in mind that a struggle might be one of your own choosinga high mountain you decided to climb as much as a hole you managed to climb out of. Any number of things may have been a challenge to you and be the source of a good story to inspire others.

Peer Coaching 101

DO
Say what works first in the story, focusing on specifics. Identify both the CHALLENGE and the HOPE in the story. Clarify choice points, the moment when one thing happened instead of another. Connect the dots in the narrative, helping to illuminate how someone got from here to there. Look for themes. Ask questions about the intended audience and the desired action or response.

DONT
Offer vague, abstract "feel good" comments, unless youve established the context. What does the story teller learn from you did a great job, as opposed to, the way you described your moment of choice made me feel very hopeful because... Make value judgments about the story tellers voice or the validity of the point they want to make. The key here is that a person find ways to express themselves in their own voiceword choice, humor, metaphor, etc. Of course they need to know if choices theyve made communicate what they want to communicate. Think about what youre going to say about your story while someone else is saying theirs. You should allow yourself to take a risk with your story by diving in. Focus on others stories so you can help them with their efforts and then you can get the same sort of help from them. Underestimate the power of someones story. If it doesnt work for you, think about why it doesnt, and more importantly, why it would for someone else.

Team Work: Practicing Your Story of Self

GOALS
The teamwork youre asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of self. One goal is for you to begin learning how to tell your personal story of why you are called to organize to help win a clean energy future. Another goal is to begin learning how to coach others stories by listening carefully, offering feedback, asking questions, etc. In this way you can develop leadership in others, as well as yourself. Be prepared to take some risks, and support your team members as they step out on the limb themselves! A final goal is to practice working as part of a team. As you work together, think about the dynamics in your team. Practice your norms and help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles. 1. 2. 3. Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping time. Take time as individuals to silently develop your story of self using the worksheet on the next page. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each othereach person takes 2 min. to tell their stories and the group has 3. min to offer feedback. Story of Self Coach leads the team in giving feedback to each storyteller. NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell your story. Stick to this limit. Make sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This encourages focus and makes sure everyone has a chance. 4. Choose your most able story teller to tell their story before the larger group. 10 min Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a third time. 45 min 5 min 10 min

WORKSHEET
Story of Self
What are the experiences and values that call you to take leadership on climate and clean energy? If youre having trouble getting started, here are some key elements and types of experiences that may have contributed to your current choice to take leadership as a community organizer on clean energy.

FAMILY & CHILDHOOD Parents/Family Growing Up Experiences Your Community Role Models School

LIFE CHOICES School Career Partner/Family Hobbies/Interests/Talents ExperiencesFinding Passion Overcoming Challenges

ORGANIZER EXPERIENCE Role Models First organizing experience First awareness of the environment A key moment in nature Your current experience in Power Shift

Focus on one key storyone event, or one place or one important relationship. Take some time to think about the elements of your story in the context of the challenge, choice and outcome. In this case, the outcome might also be the thing you learned, in addition to what actually happened. Remember, the purpose of story of self is to begin to create common ground with your audience by telling a story that reflects the values that brought you here to work on building a clean energy future, and where those values come from. So choose a story of self that reflects values you will later call on in your stories of us and now.

CHALLENGE

CHOICE

OUTCOME

What was the specific challenge you faced?

What was the specific choice you made?

What happened as a result of your choice? What hope can it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:

Coaching Your Team's Story of Self As you hear each other's stories, keeping track of the details of each persons story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team's stories.

Name

Challenge

Choice

Outcome

Notes/Themes

Story of Us 1 Hour
Now that youve had a while to reflect on both your own personal story lets shift to telling the larger story of our movement. Remember that an organizer doesnt just tell his or her story, and talking just about the science and policy tends to make peoples eyes glaze over. Thats why its important to talk about the story of us so as to implicate and engage people in your activism. A story of us communicates the values and experiences that a community, organization, campaign, or movement shares and what capacity or resources that community of us has to accomplish its goals. Just as with a person, the key is specific points in the life of the community and/or those moments that express the values, experiences, past challenges and resources of the community or us that will take action. For example, tying a current effort to win a campaign to a past campus campaign victory and describing the effort it took to win, the people who worked hard to make it happen, their capabilities, their values, etc. is a story of us.

Team Work: Practicing The Story of Us

GOALS
The teamwork youre asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of us. One goal is for you to begin learning how to tell your communitys story of why you in particular have the capacity to help address climate change and build a clean energy future. Another goal is to begin learning how to coach others stories by listening carefully, offering feedback, asking questions, etc. In this way you can develop leadership in others, as well as yourself. Be prepared to take some risks, and support your team members as they step out on the limb themselves! A final goal is to practice working as part of a team. As you work together, think about the dynamics in your team. Practice your norms and help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles.

1. 2. 3.

Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping time. Take time as a group to figure out who your us is and then begin developing your story using the worksheets below. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each othereach person takes 2 min. to tell their stories and the Group has 3. min to offer feedback. Story of Us Coach leads the team in giving feedback to each storyteller. NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell your story. Stick to this limit. Make sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This encourages focus and makes sure everyone has a chance.

5 min 10 min 30 min

4.

Choose your most able story teller to tell their story before the larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a third time.

10 min

WORKSHEET
Story of Us
Remember, the purpose of the story of us is to create a sense of community among individuals who may or may not yet see themselves as a community and to give them hope that they can make a difference. Your goal here is to tell a story that evokes our shared values as your audience, and shows why we in particular are called to take responsibility for action now. Your story of us may be a story of what weve already done together, challenges weve already faced and outcomes weve achieved. Or it may be a story of some of our shared heroes, challenges they faced and outcomes theyve achieved. Hearing how weve met challenges in the past gives us hope that we can face new challenges together. Brainstorm all the stories you know of about your audience and their collective story and experience. Your story of us may change each time you are talking to a different group of people.

Who are some of the uss that youre a part of? (Your generation, your learning team, the international climate movement, 350.org) Which us is most relevant as an audience here at this workshop?

What are some stories of this audience that give you an indication of their shared purpose and the goals of this group? What are their values? What are some shared stories that give you a sense of the strengths and capacities of your audience/ community? What are some stories of your generation or of the climate movement that give you the belief that together they could work to join you in creating real tangible change in the world?

Now choose one of the stories you brainstormed above to flesh out in vivid detail.

CHALLENGE

CHOICE

OUTCOME

What was the challenge we faced? What specific choice did we make? What happened as a result of our What action did we take? choice? What hope can it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members On Your Story Here:

Coaching Your Team's Story of Us

As you hear each other's stories, keeping track of the details of each persons story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your team's stories.

Name

Challenge

Choice

Outcome

Notes/Themes

The Story of Now 1.5 Hour

Now to the third part of this story-telling method. Many elements of the Story of Now should be familiar. Theres a challenge, but instead of being in the past, its in the present. Theres hope, but instead of something that happened in the past, its in the future. And theres a choice, but instead of being a choice we once made, its a choice we must make now. And thats why its a story of now. Linking Your Story of Now to Story of Self and Story of Us Now we know why youve been called to a particular mission, we know something of who it is you want to call upon to join you in that mission, so what action does that mission require of us right here, right now, in this place? A story of now is urgent, it requires dropping other things and paying attention, it is rooted in the values you celebrated in your story of self and us, and requires action. The Elements of a Story of Now The strategyyour plan to achieve your goal. A strategic hopeful choice that each person in your audience can make A specific ask for each person that involves a commitment of time, resources before they leave. A vivid description of what collectively can be achieved if we take action together. Why It Matters The choice were called on to make is a choice to take strategic action now. Leaders who only describe problems, but fail to identify action that their community can take to address the problem arent very good leaders. If you are called to address a real challenge, a challenge so urgent you have motivated us to face it as well, then you also have a responsibility to invite us to join you in action that has some chance of success. A story of now is not simply a call to make a choice to actit is a call to hopeful action. What is Strategy? The story of now is a story of strategyhow my action, added up with other peoples action could, with a reasonable amount of hope, be expected to achieve a clear outcome that would help us meet our goal. The challenge of strategy is building toward key peaks of collective action that arent random, and dont just happen and dissolve into nothingness afterwards. The challenge is identifying actions that will help to build capacity and momentum that can launch your campaign toward the next peak, and the next peak, until you have enough power to win the change you seek. Often when working on our story of now we realize we really dont have a clear, actionable or motivating

strategy. Working on story of now can be a way to re-evaluate our strategy and to engage others in strategizing with us.

Strategy is motivated. We strategize in response to urgent challenges or unusual opportunities to turn our goals into specific outcomes. Consider Gandhis salt marchto what challenge did Gandhi respond? What was his motivating goal? Was his goal just to halt the British monopoly on salt production, or was it to make progress toward the goal of achieving freedom from British rule? How did he turn a large goal into an achievable but meaningful outcome? Strategy is intentional. Strategy is a theory of how we can turn what we have (resources) into what we need (power) to get what we want (outcomes). It is a hypothesis that we can use certain tactics to achieve specific outcomes. What clear outcome was Gandhi trying to? How could poor Indians reasonably believe that the action they were being asked to take could make a difference? What clear outcome were they trying to achieve? How would they know if they had met it? Strategy is creative. Challenging the status quo requires making up for our lack of resources, with greater resourcefulness, like the story of David and Goliath. Creative strategists dont just fall back on the same old tactics to build their campaigns. They look for tactics that will build power by engaging as many people as possible, and they think creatively about how to turn the resources they have into what they need to win. For example, during the salt march, the resignations of local leaders refusing to submit to British rule was a creative way to meet an urgent strategic needgathering more people to move the march ahead. Strategy is a verb (Something we do), not a noun (something we have). We can see that repeatedly in the story of the salt march, and this is a core strength of the 350 campaign. As we work toward our outcome we need to build in time to learn from our successes and failures and to adapt our tactics to become more and more effective. We constantly seek out new opportunities that could help us mobilize more people or resources for our effort, and we think creatively about how to turn challenges into opportunities.

Four Strategic Questions

1. Whats the Motivating Goal: What threats to your common interests must you face? What opportunities must you act upon?

2. Whats the Outcome: specific, focused, measurable (how will the world be changed?). On what outcome can you focus? What outcomes are nested within that outcome? How much time do you have to achieve these outcomes? What is the scope (time) and scale (size) of this outcome? 3. Which Tactics will you use? Why these and not others? Criteria include: Will it influence the outcome youre hoping to achieve? How? Will it use your resources creatively? How? Will it create organizational capacity? How? Will it develop leadership? How? 4. When will you use them? Consider the dynamics of campaigns, which tactics will you use when, what will be the sequence, how can you make the most of momentum, etc.? As you work on developing your strategy as part of figuring out your story of now, remember that strategy is not something done by an individual alone in a secretive dark corner somewhere. Strategy is best created in a strategic team. It is very important to think about who serves on your strategy team, how it works, and how well. Does your team have a clear common purpose? Do you deliberate well together? Do you operate with consistent norms? Is it clear whos on the team? Is your teams authority to strategize clear? As you continue to create your strategy in the face of new challenges and opportunities, your story of now will become clearer and more focused.

Team Work: Practicing The Story of Now

GOALS
The teamwork youre asked to do here is to coach each other in how to tell your story of now. The goal of this team work session is to focus on outcomes you could work together to achieve to advance your common interests. Which urgent challenges or opportunities do you have to face? What could you achieve if you could face them together? What are some possible outcomes? What might be some of the tactics you could use? How might you continue to strategize together? As you work together as a learning team, continue to think about the dynamics in your team. Practice your norms and help your other team members take leadership on their chosen roles. 1. 2. 3. Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping time. Take time as individuals to silently develop your story of now using the worksheet on the next 2 pages. Tell your story to your team members and respond to each othereach person takes 2 min. to tell their stories and the group has 3. min to offer feedback. Story of Now Coach leads the team in giving feedback to each storyteller. NOTE: You have just 2 minutes to tell your story. Stick to this limit. Make sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This encourages focus and makes sure everyone has a chance. 4. Choose your most able story teller to tell their story before the larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a third time. 10 min 30 min 5 min 10 min

WORKSHEET
STORY OF NOW
Use these questions to help you to put together your story of now. You should draw on your own current work on climate change to fill in the answers to the questions below. Take a moment to reflect here on your challenge. What makes it urgent to you and your audience? Why must you collectively take action now? Once you have identified that, you then need to lay down your strategywhat you think you can do together to confront the challenge. Most importantly, what is the action step that people can take to join you in collective action towards a solution. Why is it urgent to take on clean energy now? What makes it urgent relative to other problems? Who are you serving in your community and the world by taking on leadership in this area?

What is your strategy to help alleviate the problem, create real tangible change? How will you know that you have developed an effective solution? What will the outcome look like if you are successful?

What is the single most important first step(s) can people take to join you in this strategy? What form will their commitment take? Is it clear what they should do? Is it clear when they should do it?

Now flesh out your story of now in vivid detail. CHALLENGE What is the challenge we face? What images make that challenge real? CHOICE What specific choice are you asking us to make? What specific action should we take and when? OUTCOME What specific outcome could happen as a result of our choice? What hope can it give us?

Record Feedback/Comments from Your Team Members Here:

Coaching Your Teams Story of Now

As you hear each others stories, keeping track of the details of each persons story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your teams stories.

Name

Challenge

Choice

Outcome

Notes/Themes

 Build a movement - 1.5 hr People power - 1.5 hr Get creative - 1.5 hr

Build a Movement
Introduction
When we think about the word movement, what images come to mind? The US civil rights march on Washington, that ended with Martin Luther King, Jr. giving his I have a dream... speech; Germans from east and west climbing and pulling down the Berlin wall; Gandhi, in his white robes, marching among hundreds of thousands of working class people across India; Nelson Mandela speaking to hundreds of thousands after his release from imprisonment on Robben Island. But movements arent just about marches and speeches and breaking unjust laws (though those are all important). Theyre also about building trust, leaders, and sustainable organizations that can win the solutions we want. The raw materials of movements are campaigns, leadership, trust, and a certain sense of moral solidarity. The focus of a movement is solving a deep-rooted cultural problem. Movementbuilding requires three big pieces: 1. Organizing for big change - were talking transformational change, not just winning a single campaign. 2. Bringing new people on board - Our first instinct when organizing is to first start with people we know. To bring new and diverse people on board, we must take a step further and engage in deep listening and collaboration with other people and organizations. 3. Ensuring a sustainable movement through trust, commitment and leadership - Movements that succeed are ones that last years. Building trust, commitment--and especially leadership--from the ground up, is critical. Its easy to forget about these three pieces while in the heat of organizing a campaign or big event. Since most movements go on for years (and often decades), its important to balance the need for short-term campaign wins with the long-term vision of the movement. In the sections below, well give you some ideas and tips on how to integrate movement-building into your day-to-day organizing.

Organize for Big Change

Weve all had that conversation with a friend or colleague that ends this way: Well deep down, the real problem is Even though they might be right, getting into an ideological argument over which is the deepest problem that ails humankind (of which there are many) doesnt usually help us do organizing. On the other hand, weve all worked with groups that are focused on one event or on solving a very small problem, and seem somewhat adrift in the vision department. Its easy to get bogged down in the day-today of campaigning and organizing, or get distracted by tasks that seem to need immediate attention, and forget that were in the middle of a crisis and an opportunity to wean our country off of dirty energy. Thats why we need to keep reminding ourselves that this is a transformational movementa mass movement to significantly change the direction our civilization is headed. Articulating and sharing a bold, vision of what your local group (and the broader movement) is hoping to accomplish in a few months, years and decades is a great way to get everybody on the same page right at the start. Telling your personal stories that display your values are great ways to get this process started. Sometimes, its useful to discuss your goals as a group, and write down local, state/province, national and international goals, where applicable: Scale Local State/Province National International 6 months 1 year 3 years 5 years

Remember that a movement is diversethere are many paths to reach the same goalsand that cultivating diversity at the strategic level and at the personal level is important to building power. Being a movement-builder and an organizer means keeping your eye on the long-term ball while taking advantage of immediate campaigning opportunities, whether they are elections, dirty energy fights or building solutions from the ground up. One thing is for sure: balancing what may seem an impossible goal with the immediate steps that need to be taken to get there is an artone that is both difficult and intensely satisfying. Practical Tip: Recruiting, The Personal Touch When planning out a campaign or event, identify people that you would like on board as volunteers or collaborators, even if you dont know them well. Learn what other groups they belong to, and what they are passionate about. Send them a note that ties their passions to the climate change movement, and follow up with a phone call. If possible, set up an in-person meeting, and share why each of you are involved with the movement. Be patient and dont ask for too much right off the bat.

Bring new people on board

Our tendency when we organize anything is to work with the friends we already have, in the networks we already know about. And thats a very good ideaits how everyone starts. But you can make whatever action or campaign youre planning far more effective if you work hard to reach out to people you dont already know. This sounds like common sense, but it doesnt happen often enough. Look for shared passions. When we need help with something, we turn first to our friends, then to a wider circle of people who are still within our comfort zone. Sometimes they are friends of friends, but sometimes its the people who share our faith, our associations, our passions who can help even more. Its important to include people who share your vision for a better world but choose to arrive there by different channels. While its understandable to feel shy with strangers, theres also much to be gained from reaching out. Ask for help early. Whenever you ask people to participate, it holds more meaning when they have had some say in how the event unfolds. The earlier you pull people into the decision-making, the more likely it is that they will become a new ally to work with in the futureeven if your event is planned on a snappy timeline. Think like a fellowship. Diverse collaborations work better as a team than as a hierarchy of leaders. If nothing else, that diffuses any issues about whether one organization is more in control of an action than another, since at least some of the people involved will probably represent some sort of institution in your community. When inviting people to participate, ask them to be your fellow organizers. Share responsibility. Youll also be more likely to pull in people who will pitch in because they want to rather than because you asked them for help. Go Local - After you have your list of fellow-thinking groups, you may still want to look for ways to get more people involved in what youre planning. Find the other groups in your community who have regular Practical Tip: Find Fellows To recruit lots of people to the growing climate movement, you need to set aside rivalries and forget what you dont have in commonand focus on what you do. Who should you ask? Environmental organizations (of course) Schoolteachers, especially in science and civics (teachers are a great way to get word out to students and other young people) Religious groups that have dedicated themselves to public service in the community Outdoors clubs, from mountaineering groups and Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, to bike riders and Farmers and other local food producers Local restaurant owners, especially those that specialize in local foods or vegetarian menus. Residents of neighborhoods near dirty-energy sourcesthey have to deal with more of the effectsand social justice groups working on their behalf. Labor unions, business associations, community centers and Mayors offices.

meetings. Maybe its an environmental group, but maybe its a volunteering group or a humane society. The group should have a goal that doesnt conflict with what youre doing and an infrastructure with a track record of success. That way, you kill two birds with one stonenot only will you connect with people who are active in your community and have an established network in place, but you get to extend the reach of the climate change movement by contacting a group less tied with it already. Do Easy Favors Easily - Look for easy ways to help the people who help you. If you ask a local group to donate money or services to your event and they ask for something easy in returnlike publicitygive it. For example, you might ask an outing club to help spread the word to their members or a local band to provide a sound system. They might say yes, but on the condition that you put their logo on your website, the kind of thing that helps them and doesnt hurt you. Say yes, and fast! In fact, dont even wait for them to ask. Offer it to them first. Doing favors is also a good way to quell tensions. If you have created a webpage for your group or action, it may have a blog or other venue for writing under a byline. When that personwe all know oneinsists on making a political speech during your logistical meetings, ask him or her to write an article about it so that everyone can have the opportunity to hear and consider the point. The chance to be heard in public will often be enough to get everyone back to work on the tasks at hand. Conclusion - Often an individual needs to get thing things started, but the realization that you dont need to always carry all the weight paradoxically means that there are times when you feel strong enough to really leadto put everything you have into a campaign for a couple of months, confident that there will be someone else to take the reins in the future. One of the things we have learned is that you can become acquainted with folks by going to parties with them or sharing a common interest. But you become friends with someone by working with them and depending on themas you and your fellow organizers will discover.

Running Meetings and Delegating

Start out by having a planning meeting well ahead of time. Invite all people who might be interested to get involved in the planning of your event and your local campaign, and brainstorm what kind of action you may want to host. Oftentimes an event can be a great focal point for bringing diverse groups and individuals together to collaborate. Here are some tips on getting people involved: Make it personal - You can find interested folks by sending emails or text messages to your friends, talking to people in your workplace, school or place of worship, making announcements at meetings of related groups, or putting up posters in key places with meeting information. By far the best way to get somebody to come to a meeting is to ask them personally: a one-on-one conversation is more effective than a group email or putting up lots of posters (though those help, too). Unlikely Allies - Reach out to the usual suspects to get involved - your local environmental or conserva-

tion group - but also think about faith groups, sports leagues, schools, civic societies, labor unions, and other organized groups in your communities that may want to get involved. Theyll bring new people into the process, and new and valuable perspectives. Attend meetings of other groups you think might want to get involved and pitch in to help with their work, then be sure to announce to everybody there how to get involved with your climate activist group. Run a good meeting - Theres nothing worse than sitting through a meeting where one person talks the whole time and nothing gets done. There is an art to running an effective, dynamic meeting. Here are a few tips that will help you get the job done: Make sure to have an agenda with approximate times for each item, and circulate it ahead of time. Leave enough time for others to make their points, but try to stay on schedule. Circulate the agenda before the meeting, and ask for input. Assign somebody to run the meeting (a facilitator), and a note-taker to write everything down and distribute the notes to the group. The facilitator and note-taker could be yourself, but its often better to delegate those tasks to somebody else who may not be distracted by other leadership tasks. Sometimes it may be appropriate to agree on hand signals ahead of time to make sure that the conversation moves along. Listen, understand and share ideas with others; understanding is different than agreeing, so you should learn to understand and accept even opposite opinions. The leader uses his/her heart as well as his/her head. The leader has an open mind and is nonjudgmental but rather accepts others for what or who they are. Stay positive and have fun. Smile at everybody. It makes communication much easier. It is very important for the leader to enjoy what she/he is doing, and to have a sense of humor. She/he has a humble spirit and can laugh at him/herself. Circulate the notes after the meeting, with action items delegated and clearly highlighted so that people on your team will know exactly what they need to do before the next meeting. Decide on a next meeting time. Delegate - Make sure everyone goes home with something to do - and be sure to follow up with those people who were assigned a role or responsibility. Setting deadlines and goalposts along the way can help you and your team succeed--it may seem awkward at first, but your friends and colleagues will Practical Tip: Assign Homework Homework doesnt sound like much fun, especially to anyone who has just graduated from college. But heres the idea: at the end of a meeting or a round of emails, everyone (absolutely everyone) should have something to do. Whatever it is, by the time the next meeting rolls around, that person is accountable for realizing a piece of the groups goal. Make sure everyone has a range of possible tasks to choose from. Why does this help build collaborations? Because each individual member feels ownership of the project as a whole and can feel proud of making a contribution to the group. Homework doesnt have to take the effort of a term paperan assignment can be as small as calling one more person and inviting him or her to the next meeting, or as big as obtaining funding for the action.

love the feeling of accomplishment after a job well done. (See the Build Leaders section for more tips on delegation.) Be equal - You may have learned about the issue first, and called the first meeting, but make sure that you treat your fellow organizers as equals. Each person in your group has talents or skills that will be critical to the effort; let them take responsibility for parts of the planning process and make sure to include everybody. Learn from your mistakes - It is ok to make mistakes; the important thing is to learn from them. Make sure that the whole team also knows about your mistake so that they dont repeat it as well. A leader will be criticized from time to time, and she/he should accept it and act upon it. A leader is not expected to know everything, but is able to learn from others, especially his/her teammates. The leader has faith in people. Make it fun - Fun is probably our number one strategy. People are much more apt to be a part of the effort if theyre likely to have a good time doing it. Good ways to keep morale up are to work with others, bring food and beverages to meetings, be positive and creative about your planning (no idea is too crazy!), hold meetings outside, and try opening or closing meetings with a song or game.

Build Leaders
So many of us who are passionate about climate change dont think twice about putting in long days and long night thinking, strategizing and working to solve the crisis. Its that energy and commitment that forms the heart and soul of this movement. But too often, especially after a particularly arduous event or campaign, we find ourselves burnt out, having to deal with flagging energy and passion. Sometimes, life events happen that we cant even predict that might get in the way of our organizing. As you become an experienced leader in this movement, its incredibly important to bring others around you into leadership as well. Often, it will be easier for you to accomplish a discrete task much more quickly than somebody less experienced than you. However, the more you impart your experience and train others to do the work that youve been doing, the more impact you will have. Simply put, the art of leadership and means multiplying your ability to make change by effectively managing others, and helping them become leaders. Here are a few tips on how to build leaders: Assign roles - Everybody likes to feel important, and most people tend to invest more in the work, if they have specific roles and responsibilities to fill. You dont need to do this at the first meeting, but its often useful to identify a media coordinator, spokesperson, logistics, fundraising, partnerships and team coordinator (to name a few). Bank on existing skills, develop new ones - People on your team will have a variety of skills and experiences. Before assigning roles, take the time to meet with each team member over coffee or beer and learn about their lives and what brought them to this work. Youll be surprised (and they may be too!) by how many skills they can bring to your team. If you have specific skills that might be useful for your team, take the time to coach one or more people to fill those roles so that they can develop new skills, and you can grow your teams effectiveness. Be explicit - Were nice people. We care about the planet and each other, and often, we dont want to seem bossy in meetings or as part of our organizing. Now is the time to get over that fear. To be an effective leader, you must be very clear about what you expect from others. More often than not, we dont have high expectations of our team-members, because we dont know if theyre committed, and we compensate by not asking a lot from our team members, or asking in a mushy, unclear way. Instead, the best way to respect peoples time and skills is to talk with them, figure out how much they can accomplish, and ask that they complete a task or responsibility by a specific date. Be respectful, courteous, and always openly accept feedback, but make sure to be explicit about your expectations. Listen - This is perhaps the most important management skill. Practice active listening. Get to know your team members and find out what they bring to the table, and what their hopes and dreams are. If your team members and volunteers are feeling stressed, find out why by holding a meeting or talking with

each person one-on-one. If you find yourself talking a lot, take a step back and let others participate--encourage those who dont speak to step up and offer their thoughts. Generate trust - Corporations are built on money. Movements are built on trust, which bonds us together much more strongly than money every could. Trust your co-organizers and team members to have the right intentions and do good work. If you start from a place of trust, people will feel comfortable joining and committing to your team. Foster creativity - Encourage your team to take the time necessary to brainstorm any ideas, no matter how crazy they may be. Even as you stay focused on key campaigns and goals, creative thinking can help you and your team stay engaged and develop new and exciting ways to tackle challenges. Manage, dont micromanage - As leaders, we often think were experts at everything. But lets think about that for a minute: if Im the best organizer there is, wouldnt we have won national climate legislation a few years ago? Wouldnt my community be 100% clean energy right now? As managers and organizers, our focus should be on sharing skills we do have, and learning skills from others. Try to delegate responsibilities or roles instead of delegating tasks. For example, ask a team member to take on the responsibility of designing, printing and posting flyers around town, rather than describing exactly how you want the posters to look, which print shop to use and where exactly to post the flyers. Youll save yourself a lot of stress, and at the same time give opportunities for your team members to be creative and develop new skills.

People Power
Introduction:
This session IS a starting point for thinking about how to escalate our movement This session IS NOT a step-by-step how-to guide for non-violent direct action Discussion: What does people power mean? Weve mentioned past social movement already -- the Indian independence movement, the US civil rights movement, South African independence -- and we could go on and one. How did those movement use people power? Why might the climate movement need to think more about people power? What role do these ideas have to play, and what is it we want to accomplish? Actions that rest upon the strategy and concept of people power often take the form of mass action or breaking the law -- non-violent civil disobedience. As one of the most tried and true strategies throught social movements in history, lets focus for a moment on this subject. Here are some ideas to consider when planning civil disobedience actions -- not all of them will apply to all contexts, but these are a few of the perspectives we believe might be helpful when escalating of the climate movement: Non-violent: Our actions must be infused with the spirit of Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and other peaceful protesters before us. No violence, no property damage. We subscribe to how our friends at Peaceful Uprisings put it: We recognize a nonviolent movement as the most effective means of creating a just and healthy world. Strategic: Though no one effort will win all that is fully needed, we can pick targets that will have especially key impactscoal-fired power plant, new fossil fuel infrastructure developmentstargets that if blocked will serve as both symbolic and practical victories. Furthermore, our actions should never stand alone as just prideful statements of principles, they must be connected to a larger movement striving towards the broader solutions that science and justice demand. Large and/or Sustained: We need large actions, with many members of the general public. Think hundreds and thousands. So don't concentrate on the kind of tactics that only a few hardy specialists can carry out; we're not going to have hundreds of people rappelling or scuba diving. But not all actions need be large, so long as they are sustained. 1,000 people getting arrested on one day can have an impact, by so can 100 people, one at a time over 100 days. In fact, if that were to happen, very likely our numbers would grow beyond a thousand long before we approached the 100th day. Locally-grounded, Globally-connected: Our actions must be rooted in the communities where they are held and be organized hand in hand with local groups and activists. To the extent that climate change is a global issue, we must act in community across great geographic distance as well. Dignified and non-alienating: Our actions need to stem from our sense of dignity as humans and respect for all around us. We need to engage onlookers, not alienate them. We have to have effective

ways of keeping provocateurs and incendiaries at a distance, and attracting the kind of people who actually influence the rest of the public. Discipline will matter. Civil disobedience isnt inherently the domain of die-hard activists, and it is our aim to engage the wider public in participating in such actions. Symbolic: We don't think for a minute that we can actually physically shut down the fossil-fuel economy for any meaningful period; it's too big. We need to aim for effective symbolic targets -- say, dirty, old coal-fired power plants -- and use them to make clear the need and opportunity to cut carbon fast. Symbolic actions help tell stories; stories help build power by connecting people to the change were trying to make. Open: We need to be transparent and open in our planning, not reliant on secrecy. We'll need to do our work certain that law enforcement is looking over our shoulders; our method can't be surprise. Beautiful: Much of what we consider beautiful is unraveling due to catastrophic climate change. We embrace and enlist beauty in the effort to preserve this planet. Resourceful: We don't have unlimited resources. The cost and complexity of these kinds of actions can mount quickly. As with all things environmental, frugality and simplicity are virtues.

Team Work: People Power Brainstorming

Goal: The purpose of this exercise is to imagine real world examples of where different forms of people power and non-violent direct action might benefit our movement 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gather and review the agenda. Answer: what real-world people power strategies and actions can you imagine for the climate movement? Brainstorm. Open discussion. Choose 1 or 2 possibilities that excite the group the most. What would be the primary goals or objectives for the ideas you have selected? What are the main concerns, problems, risks, with the ideas? Reflect on what youve learned most from this session as a whole. Prepare 1 or two comments, questions, or proposals to share with the larger group. 11 min 10 min 3min 11 min 5 min 20 min

Get Creative
Introduction Roles of Art and Creative Communication in Social Change
Why art? Art is about communication. We use art to explain, both to ourselves and to others, what is happening on our planet. Art can change the way a person or a whole society thinks about something. Both art and creativity have the power to reach people in new and exciting ways. We are often bombarded with facts, rhetoric, campaign slogans and data -- yet sometimes this important information alone does not motive people towards social change. We need to try something new. Lets get creative. Creativity has a long history as an integral part of every social movement. Think about the freedom songs of slaves, the powerful music that transformed the way the western world viewed itself in the 60s, or the grafitti that spread across Cairo during the 2011 Egyptian revolution creativity is how we express our world-view, and how we share that with others. Art as part of social movements also has a history of helping to visualize (or to put into words) a common thought held by a society. Many songs, paintings and performances have resonated deeply by connecting with something many people were already feeling about a certain subject. Each part of the world has its own traditions of using arts for social change. DISCUSSION: Before going further, what examples can you think of where art or any form of creative communication had an impact in a project you were involved in -- first think about personal experiences and later well think more broadly? A second try - If you have tried something before and it didn't work, don't just try it again (unless repetition is part of a reasonably hopeful, longterm strategy): get creative. Learning to harness the power of art and creativity can enliven, amplify and deepen any project or event. Art can play a number of different roles in helping to make a Paint Idea:
Perhaps get a local group to paint a scene that has to do with your project as the background and then paint the words in a contrasting color or white over it.

Practical Tip: Also, take note if your newspaper publishes images in black and white or in color. If it is in black and white, make sure to use lots of contrast in your pieces by contrasting light and dark tones. If it is in color, go colorful (or pick a color theme)!

Practical Tip: Remember sound and video clips are often short in the media, so try and create a chant or skit/action that can be cohesive if seen or heard for just a small part. This can be hard, but don't worry you have a whole lifetime to practice.

project a success. It can unite people by creating a space for people to work together, it can keep people motivated by keeping things interesting, it can create a lasting impact and it can bring new people into a project by appealing to them in new ways. Creativity is a very versitile tool, that can be used in countless ways. Art as Uniter - Art has the ability to bring people and groups together. Working on a common project is a great way for people to physically work together to make something real happen. This sense of working towards a common goal can be a great tool for bringing different people and diverse groups together. When people are working with their hands on a project, they have their minds and mouths free to talk to each other in a relaxed and communal atmosphere. This is a great resource for growing your team and creating a space for people to communicate to each other about the different projects they are engaged in. Art as Motivator - The climate crisis isn't going away anytime soon. We need to make sure our movement continues to enjoy its work so that it can continue for the important years ahead. Being creative keeps things fresh and perhaps creativity's most important function is that its fun! Art and creativity are great ways to keep people motivate and to create quickly obtainable goals that can be met through collective action. Organizing a group to make art for a project, campaign or event is also a great way to pull new people into your projects and to bring in new creative energy. Art is lasting - One more great thing about creating art is that it is long-lasting. A mural painted on a wall, for instance, can last years and be seen by thousands and thousands of people- just by being where it is. A song can spread far and wide, and powerful images get picked up by others and used in other actions and even other continents. Art is also inviting - If people see a beautiful image as part of an event or on a poster advertising the event, they are more inclined to be curious and ask what is happening and to want to participate. By making actions visually inviting, it is sending a message to people that this movement is something they want to be a part of. Remember the words of Cade Bambara, The goal of the revolutionary artist is to make revolution irresistible. Performance Idea: You can make up a short skit with basic characters (ex. The good guy, the bad guy and the people). The way in which these characters reacts can parody the contemporary situation or act it out. Masks can be be easily made by printing out politicians faces and glueing it onto cardboard, or by painting images on cardboard and putting eye holes in (or using it as a hat). Don't feel the need to create illusion, if you want someone to represent a factory in a skit but you don't have time to make a costume just give the a sign that says factory, the audience will understand best the simpler it is.

Ways Creativity Can Help You Organize

We have already talked about what art and creativity can do in a general sense, now we look at a few specific ways in which using creativity can help you in organizing an event or in bringing together a community. Outreach (before an event) - One major way in which creativity can play an important role is in outreach before an event. Creative projects have the ability to generate a buzz around themselves, so making something even a little abnormal might help to get people talking about your event before it happens. Consider doing a creative stunt the week before the main action to get some press before the upcoming event. Many people often find out about events only after they are over, by trying to generate press and a buzz before the event you can increase participation at your main event. As your energy will probably focused mostly on your event, creativity can provide a great solution where you get a lot of visibility and exposure out of a little work. Invite the press, getting some exciting pre-event photos into a local paper is a great way to get the word out. Grow your team - A creative project can be used to grow your team and bring new people into a project. Asking people to do something fun, like helping to paint signs or organize a concert, might be a way to engage people for the first time in organizing without immediately plugging them into less fun tasks like phone-banking or paperwork. This is also a way to integrate new people quickly into a team, as it gives people time to casually talk, listen, reflect and laugh while building trust and community. By working constructively on a project, its easy for people to feel like they accomplished something tangible, and to leave with a sense of accomplishment.

Get Creative, Get Press

1. Photos - Newspapers love a good photo, so a great way to ensure that you get good coverage in the media is to help them get that great photograph, sound clip, or short video clip. Also, by creating a strong visual, you also have much more control over how your event gets represented in the press. If your aim is to get into the newspaper think about what photo opportunity you can create to ensure that press gets a great image or organize a specific moment during the action that can visually capture the essence of the whole action. Making a visually exciting image improves your chances of getting covered, and colorful images look great online and in the press. 2. Sound - If you are aiming to get on the radio, think about how to make your event sound dynamic. Perhaps making drums out of buckets, asking people to bring pots and pans, or making marrachas by putting small rocks, rice or beans inside soda cans will make a great background sound for a radio interview and will help to amplify the number of people there. 3. Video - When using the internet to communicate, videos can be one of your strongest and most important tools. Always organize a specific person to document (both with video and photographs) any action,

and organize someone who will take responsibility for creating a video from that action. Often the quicker you can get a video out after an action - the more impact it will have. Nowadays, its common that many, many more people see a video of an action than the action itself, so it is worthwhile to think about the video as an important part of the project.

Basic Tools for Creative Change:

As creative communicators, there are endless tools at our disposal to create art that can amplify our message. Here are a list of some of the most common (at least in our teams experience) tools used by people to communicate for social change. Note: All of these tools can be made using recycled or repurposed materials especially cardboard. Banners - Perhaps the most simple way of communicating, but very important. This is basically just writing your message very large so it is easy for people to see, both as they pass and in the press. Think carefully about what message you put on your banner, keep it simple but understandable. For many people, this is all they will see. While you want to make sure this is clear and easy to read, don't be afraid to make it creative that will help it to stand out (People see banners all the time make yours get noticed). The more beautiful it is, the more likely it is to get photographed and the more depth and context it can give to the words written on the banner. (Tip: Don't put dates on your banner so you can use it again and again). Stencils - Stencils are a great way to reproduce an image multiple times. This technique can be used for groups to make their own t-shirts, to make flags, or to paint directly on walls. Songs/chants - Never underestimate the power of a good song or chant they can last for years and spread quickly. Make up your own and see where it goes! Perhaps create new words to a traditional or popular song. This is also a fun project to work on while you are doing something else in a group, such as traveling somewhere, or anything physical that allows your body to work while you sing and talk. Puppets/Masks - Masks and puppets can be easily made to communicate in an entertaining way. Puppets can interact with each other as theater or can stand alone and still communicate clearly (imagine a puppet local politician holding a bag of money). Puppets look great in photos, (and politicians hate seeing themselves depicted at protests). Contastoria - This simple technique is a great way to visually share more complex information. Its sort of like a powerpoint presentation that can be used on the streets, with no electricity and as much theatrics as you like. Imagine it as a big book, with just a few pages that a group reads aloud, often rather loudly.

Conclusion
Group Art Projects as a Mirror for Social Change Many of the principles involved in communal art projects are the same principles used in creating social change. Both involve people working to create something new or to make something better or more beautiful. Art is an inherently optimistic view of the human relationship to the planet; it embodies the belief that anything can become valuable, functional and beautiful. Creativity shows us that there are endless possibilities to recreate a situation and that there is nothing so bad that it cannot be made better. These lessons can be carried into the world around us, acknowledging that things are not always as permanent as they seem and can be changed with a bit of creative thinking. Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.- Bertolt Brecht

Team Work: Creative Campaigning Brainstorm

Goal
The purpose of this exercise is to imagine real world examples where different forms of creative messaging and communication might benefit our movement and specific projects you plan to work on. 1 2 Gather and review the agenda. Answer: what real-world creative approaches can you imagine for projects youll work on or for the climate movement more generally? Brainstorm. Open discussion. 3 Select 1 or 2 ideas the group is most excited about and decide what the next steps are to make the idea real -- who will organize the efforts, what materials are needed, how will you access materials, etc? 4 Select ideas to report back to the rest of the group 3 min 10 min 5 min 12 min

Other resources:
Banner Making Guide: http://www.350.org/banners Franke Jamess 6 Tools for Climate Change Art: http://www.frankejames.com/debate/?page_ id=6012 eARTh guide: http://earth.350.org/get-involved/make-your-own-art/ Artivist Guide (coming soon!)

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win -Mahatma Gandhi

 Build a Campaign Introduction90 minutes Tactics1 hour Strategy40 minutes Plan an action90 minutes Engage your officials70 minutes

Build a Campaign
Introduction
Team Work: Everyones a strategist!
Goal The purpose of this exercise is to identify experiences we have in achieving a particular goal and some of the factors that allowed us to succeed -- both within our control and beyond. Agenda TOTAL TIME: 20 min.

1. 2.

Gather in small groups, each person with paper and pen or pencil. Choose a timekeeper. Individually think of a time in your life when you successfully worked to convince someone or some institution to get something you (or your team) wanted. It could be a past campaign, or a time when you needed to convince your parents or your boss to let you go on that tripanything in between is fine. Draw or write the story (stick figures are great!)

4 min 6 min

3. 4.

Share your stories with the groupbe sure to include your goal, and how you worked to achieve your goal. Now answer the following questions as a group: What were the elements of your stories that were in your control that allowed you to succeed? What were the external factors that allowed you to succeed?

5 min 5 min

Youve just evaluated a campaign strategy on some scalewhat are some of the factors you came up with as a group that will be important to take into account when building a campaign?

Weve talked a bit about campaign strategy, and how we as citizens can organize towards a goal and we will go more in depth on that later on. Now, lets take a minute to go into a little more depth about building a campaign.

So what exactly is a campaign?

A working definition of campaign (n.) is an organized course of action to achieve a particular goal. Now, not every organized course of action is a campaign. For example, while making yourself a grilled cheese sandwich may be an organized set of actions that reaches the goal of feeding a hungry climate activist, its missing a few critical pieces. Lets break down our definition into two key parts: 1. An organized course of action 2. A particular goal Its helpful to think about a campaign starting with what you want to achieve the goal and then moving backwards through the organized course of action. Part of deciding a course of action is coming up with your Theory of Change. This is an if/then statement that describes your expected outcomes if you take a particular course of action (i.e. If I show my local leaders that Im getting to work making my community climate-friendly, then they will take the initiative to do the same on a City- or Nation- wide scale.) Questions to consider when developing your theory of change: 1. What change do we want? 2. Who has the resources to create that change we want? 3. What do they want? 4. What resources do we have that they want or need? Heres the theory of change we use at 350.org: If people organize in their communities across the world, then over time we will generate the political will necessary to overpower our opposition, and pass strong international and national climate policies. We run a lot of different projects, but they all lead to the common goal of a national and international climate policies commensurate with what science and justice demand. All of the actions we organize bring us closer to achieving that goal, and thats why were all here today. This workshop will help us refine our organizing skills so that we can make our actions more powerful, and our longer-term campaigns successful throughout the world.

Goals, Targets and Tactics

While we may all have the same particular goal, the way we go about getting there may be different. Its important that we all show a unified front, build people power behind the 350ppm target and climate solutions. However, each organizer will have to decide on national, regional or local goals that link to the international aim. In the past, climate activists have taken on a number of related issues, including: local food and agriculture clean water human health human rights wildlife conservation free speech peace and security fossil fuel development toxics sustainable development indigenous rights faith, religion and spirituality education womens and LGBTQ rights labor oceans and water forests poverty social justice / minority rights Pick a local issue that matters to your community, and research how it links to climate change and the 350ppm target. 350.org has fact-sheets on many of these, but it may be helpful to go to the library, talk to leaders, follow the newspapers, radio and TV shows and search on the internet to find a goal that is appropriate.

Make it SMART
Your campaign objective should be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Realistic, and Time bound. This means you should specify what exactly you want to achieve and (hopefully) by when. You should be able to clearly measure or envision your achievement. Although your objective should be ambitious, make sure that it is possible to achieve in the time that you have specified for it. In the case of 350.org, were pushing for national and international climate policies commensurate with what science and justice demand. Its specific, because it calls for exactly what we need, and identifies the 350ppm target. Its measurable,

because we can measure CO2 in the atmosphere, and tell whether weve passed a global deal that gets us there. We know its ambitious because scientists say that if we take action now, we can avoid catastrophic climate change, but its going to take all the countries in the world working together to get there. Its realistic because weve built movements and made global transitions before, and it has been successful. Finally, we know that we only have a few years to enact legislation for clean energy and climate before we pass the scientific tipping points, so we are time bound. When you decide on what local issue you want to link up with 350.org, make sure that your objectives are SMART. Its good practice to write it down so that you can explain it clearly to people who join your activist group.

Targets
Now that youve learned about goals, lets come back to the first part of the definition of campaign: an organized course of action. Its not enough to know about a problem and complain about it. Your job as an organizer is to talk to as many people as possible, engage, inspire, and build people power such that it becomes impossible for the decision-makers to ignore us. Its important to know who those key decision-makers are and what their interests are in order to have the most impact. It wouldnt make sense, for example, to stage a protest on the front step of the Finance Ministers house if its the Environment Minister who decides on your countrys forest protection policy. If youve done enough research about who holds the power, what institutions make decisions, and are following recent developments, you will be able to tell where you may be able to have some influence. Building power is hard work, but anybody can do it. One way to start is by identifying all of the stakeholders (groups, individuals, companies) related to your goal, and figuring out how much influence they have on it. Above is a simple diagram that shows what a typical community power structure might look like. Later on, In the Strategy session, well show you how to create your own power map (dont worry, its not as complicated as it looks!) One final, but important point: make sure that you stay focused on your targets while staying nimble. Its easy to get sidelined barking up the wrong tree, and never realize that there were other opportunities to apply pressure in different ways. Targets can change throughout a campaign, but it should always be clear who/what they are.

Team Work: Goals and Targets

Now that you know how to choose goals and targets, take a few minutes to think about your own local goals, and how you will use locally relevant issues to mobilize people in your community around 350. Think through what the end result of your campaign might be make sure its SMART! Agenda TOTAL TIME: 50 min. 1. 2. 3. 4. Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping time. Take time individually to think about 3 goals for your local group that you think could link 350.org to local issues. Discuss with your team each of the goals, and review SMART for each goal. Power-mapping 15 min 20 mins 5 min 10 min

Write down 3 goals: 1.

2.

3.

Choose your best goal, and use SMART to evaluate it: Specific

Measurable

Ambitious

Realistic

Time bound Activity: Power-mapping (20 minutes) Power-mapping is one helpful activity for identifying targets and honing your strategy. The idea is to map out your potential targets, and the institutions and individuals who influence your target so you can begin to understand possible points of leverage. A power map can be a useful visual tool to help your team understand power, and see possibilities for campaigning.

Heres an example of a power-mapping activity that you can use with your leadership team at home. Step 1: Choose your target. Its best if you choose a person, rather than an institution, as it easier to understand what specifically might influence him or her. Step 2: Map the influences on your target. Now with your team, begin placing people and institutions in your community on the map. Youll see that there are two axes on the mapone indicates how influential that person is to your target, and the other shows whether that person is for or against your position (or neutral). Be sure to think really broadly about who is connected to your targetthink work, political, family, religious, and neighborhood ties. For elected officials, be sure to look at their major donors and key constituencies. Step 3: Take a step back. Discuss with your teamwhat do you notice? Where do you see opportunities to get to your target? Highlight the people or institutions on the map in one color with whom you have good relationships. Highlight in another color the people or institutions who you believe you could influence. Step 4: Make a plan. What opportunities exist to influence your target? Discuss how your strategy could shift to take advantage of those opportunities. powermap:

Tactics
There are many ways to influence decision-making on an issue. In this section, we will discuss some basic tactics that you can use to pressure targets to move toward your campaign objective. Think of each tactic as a tool in your toolbox to make change. You can pick and choose, combine them and create new ones depending on who your target is and what their interests may be. Note that a discussion on tactics should always come after deciding on campaign goals and making a power map. That way, you can be sure that your tactics serve the final goal of your campaign. For example, it wouldnt necessarily make sense to chain yourself to a tree if your goal is to secure sustainable development assistance for your village and your target is your finance minister. Unless he has some connection with treesor that tree in particularyour tactic doesnt match up with the goal or target. Recognizing the creativity within ourselves and our organizing communities is just as critical as raising enough money to pull off something big. Effective actions are supposed to make people think outside the box, and so they need to be out of the ordinary. Our world is changing at a breakneck pace, and as activists, we need to keep developing new, innovative tactics to get out messages and flex grassroots muscle. What makes a good tactic: 1. It has a built-in theory of change: If ___________________________then _________________________. 2. It fits within your strategy 3. Its creative and fun! Below is a list of common tactics that you can use in your community to affect change. This is by no means meant to limit you use your imagination and you will come up with new, exciting ones.

Petition
One basic way to get your message heard is to have supporters sign a petition about a certain issue. If youre working on getting the town council to put up a solar panel on your school, for example, it could be helpful to have all the students and teachers sign their names to a statement. Two key pieces of a petition are the target (make sure you have a very clear one) and the delivery. Running a petition without a public delivery is like climbing a mountain and deciding to turn around before you reach the top.

Make sure that you plan a public delivery, and that the local media covers you delivering the petition, so that everybody who signed it feels like their voice was heard, and all those who hadnt heard about the petition learn about the issue.

Boycott
A boycott is a very effective way of targeting companies or businesses that are blocking the way, either because they perpetrate injustice on people and the earth, or because they support groups or government agencies that do. Boycotts can take many forms, but involve avoiding purchasing goods or services from a business, and encouraging others to do the same. If a business leader does not feel the need to change his or her tune on an issue after being asked repeatedly, you can hit that business at its bottom line. Boycotts are typically sustained, public actions, and are most effective when widespread, and combined with other tactics.

Good Media, Bad Media

The news media, both online and offline, have enormous sway on stakeholders and the general public. You can use tactics like penning op-eds, running advertisements and Public Service Announcements (PSAs) on radio, TV, online and in print. You can use the media to publicly shame opponents or vaunt allies. We will talk more about using media effectively in the Spreading the Word session. Using viral online and guerrilla media can get a simple symbol or slogan into stakeholders and the general publics minds. Putting the number 350 in places where people dont expect it, or spreading a meme through online social networks are ways to influence decision-makers and the public in more subliminal ways.

Road tour/Bike Ride

Many of our friends and allies have used caravans or road tours to spread the word about climate action and garner press about solutions. While road tours are relatively resource-intensive, they can be very rewarding. In India, for example, a group of Indian youth climate activists drove two electric cars from village to village around the country, spreading the word about climate change, collecting stories of local climate solutions and building a network of dedicated supporters in strategic locations. You can run a road tour in cars, trucks, on bicycles or even on foot!

Party/Concert
Music is a big part of our lives, and in the past it has provided a lot of the spirit for social changeits hard to imagine the civil rights movement without the freedom songs that helped give people courage and solidarity in the face of real brutality. But environmentalism has never been a particularly musical move-

ment; it has tended to be highly rational, to make more use of statistics than perhaps it should, and less of guitars and drum kits. A concert will entertain your core audience, attract passersby, and get musicians involved. Often, three or four songs performed between speakers or activities are enough from any one act. And dont forget to send thank-you notes to musicians after the eventthey have (hopefully) given you for free what theyre used to being paid for.

Rally/March
This is our bread and butter. The team behind 350.org have organized and attended hundreds of rallies and marches. Why? Because they are fun, easy and often the most effective ways to get people involved from the smallest village to the largest metropolis. They can be celebratory and fun for the whole family, and still garner media and become moments of public pressure. Rallies and marches, if done right, can uncover a movement that may have previously been invisible at a local, national or international level. They can also provide the energy and morale boost your group needs to continue the hard work of solving climate change.

Education
A huge part of your job as a climate organizer is to educate the public and your elected officials about climate change and how it connects to your community. Giving a presentation or putting together a teachin can be a downright radical act in some places in the world. Facts are often our best friends in the fight to stop climate change, but make sure that you keep the language at the level of the people youre talking to. Too cursory, and you wont get your point across; too technical, and participants eyes will glaze over before you can say 350.

Getting high-profile people to repeat your ask

Sometimes it takes the right messenger to put your issue on the plate of the decision-maker. Thats why so many advocacy organizations turn to people like Bono and Angelina Jolie to talk about their issue and the solutions they seek. You dont have to get a movie or rock star, but having a few influential people in your community on board is a useful tactic to pursue, as people are more likely to listen to people they know and trust.

Lobbying
A sometimes daunting word, lobbying is nothing more than sitting down with an elected official and asking him or her to take your concerns into account. Its fairly easy to set up a meeting with a politician or official. Make sure youre brief, to the point, and have a solid, actionable ask that he or she can move forward with. Its good to go with a partner or a small group, but avoid making threats or being too angry.

Stay positive, but be firm about what youre asking for. (Check out our Engage Elected Officials session for more on this topic.)

Stunts
Sometimes you have to spice things up to get attention, and you need to find new ways to get your message across to a broader audience. Stunts are all about getting attention- its about using theatre or a direct action to catch peoples attention. The best stunts often use a bit of humor or touch on the absurd: for example, using puppets, street theatre, costumes, flash mobs, or props. The goal here is to use art, theatre, or the element of surprise to catch the attention of people who otherwise wouldnt notice your event. Some examples: 350.org recently used a massive street theatre presentation, complete with huge 20 ft puppets of politicians with bags of money, to draw attention to the dirty work of the US Chamber; A union recently held a large scale flash mob on Capitol Hill where everyone sang about fair wages; Greenpeaces broke into a coal0fired power plant, scaled the stacks, and painted Quit Coal on the side of an urban coal plant. These are all examples of stunts.

Direct Action and Civil Disobedience

Direct action is a way to take action outside normal social/political channels. Direct action should always be non-violent, and usually targets people, groups or property that characterize the issue. Civil disobedience is the active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government, or of an occupying power, without resorting to physical violence. When a climate activist drops a banner on the smokestack of a coal power plant or occupies a government building, that is direct action. When all other options have been exhausted, sometimes direct action can be used to directly pressure a stakeholder if he/she will not change his/her position after using other strategies. Direct action and civil disobedience should always be non-violent, so as to show the opposition that we are willing to reconcile differences as soon as they realize that they are morally wrong. If your group is considering direct action, make sure that you have exhausted all other options, that you have evaluated what the results may be, and accepted the risk, and have planned logistics for any eventuality ahead of time. Direct action should not be taken lightly. Direct action and civil disobedience are also often discussed as escalated tactics as they generally have more severe risks and consequences associated with them, but they are also often considered a strategy unto themselves more than just a tactic. Well discuss strategy more later, but for now, suffice it to say that particular acts of non-violence civil disobedience can be a useful tactic in the context of a larger cam-

paign, but in some cases that civil disobedience can be the essence of the campaign as well, embodying a full strategy of resistance against an injustice.

Creative Tactics
Dont get stuck using the same tactics over and over they will get boring for you, less exciting for participants and less effective politically. There are a whole host of creative tactics you can use, from arranging a flotilla down a local river, putting together an activist art installation, doing street theater, holding a vigil or prayer service, or any other publicly engaging action. Invent a new one yourself!

Team Work: Tactics

Goal: To understand the toolbox of tactics that is available to a campaigner, and when those tactics should be utilized.

Agenda TOTAL TIME: 45 min. 1. 2. Gather in your team. Timekeeper begins keeping 5 min time. Look over the three campaign situations provided. 20 min List and discuss what tactics might work in each 3. case, and why. Review the goals for your campaign, and write down some tactics that may work in your commu4. nity. Discuss with your team why the tactics you chose might work. 10 min 10 min

Below are three campaign situations that an organizer might run into. Think through and discuss the best option in terms of targets and tactics it can be either one or a combination that will work

1. You are trying to get your Mayor to agree to fund the installation of a photovoltaic solar panel array on the primary school in your town. Despite repeated attempts to set up a meeting with the Mayor to discuss this opportunity, she does not respond to your requests, and avoids bumping into you and other prominent members of your climate action group while walking around town. What do you do? Tactics:

Why:

2. Youve been working with a local pickle-making factory to green their practices, since they dump hundreds of gallons of briny garlic water into a nearby estuary daily. They recently introduced recycling bins into their employee cafeteria and put bike racks outside the main office, and now market themselves as

the first green pickle producer in the province, even though they are still dumping hundreds of gallons of waste water into a fragile marine ecosystem. What do you do? Tactics:

Why:

3. Youre deep in the planning process for your next public event; Youve gotten a group together and decided to focus your efforts on convincing your MP or Senator to vote for an upcoming bill that will regulate carbon dioxide emissions from all power plants and factories. A group of private power plant operators in your district that have hired professional lobbyists to oppose the bill. How can you effectively use your event to put pressure on your representative to do the right thing? What combination of targets/tactics might work? Tactics:

Why:

Now, review what the goals and targets are for your local/regional/national campaign, and think about what combination of tactics may work. Remember that the order and timing in which you apply each tactic matters sometimes it helps to think of campaigning as a game of chess, and try to anticipate a few moves ahead of where you are. Write down how you might apply tactics to your campaign here:

Strategy
What is strategy? Strategy is your overall plan to turn the resources you have into the power you need to win the change you want. Some like to think of it this way if tactics are the tools, targets the nails, and goals the finished building, then strategy is carpentry. Strategy is: dependent on the resources and opportunities you have creative always changing, as the political and movement landscape changes (we like to say Strategy is a verb) Leverage Leverage is our potential capacity to build power and influence our targets decision-making to get what we want. Leverage can come in the form of votes, money, or even reputation. [from MoveOn, paraphrased] Why story is an important part of strategy In other sessions of the 350 workshops curriculum, we cover how to tell your individual and community story in order to motivate people to action. Storytelling is also an important part of strategytelling your own story of change, instead of your opponents story or the dominant story, can be very powerful. By getting your story out through the media, spokespeople, social media, campaign materials and your actions, you can work to shift the assumptions that make up the dominant story about the issue youre working on. Checklist: Questions to ask when developing a strategy Sometimes when we develop a strategy, its easy to zoom in too close on the goals, targets, and tactics, and forget to look at the big picture. By zooming out and thinking about the strategy as a whole rather than its individual parts, we can remember to ask ourselves some critical (and often common sense) questions before committing ourselves to a line of action that might not be strategic. Here are a few to ask your group as you begin to focus in on your strategy: What are our opportunities (upcoming events, elections, connections)? What are our limitations (financial, time, etc.)?

What resources do we have (time, energy, creativity, etc.!)? Do we believe the tactics we are employing have the potential to influence our target/reach our goal? Why, how?

Activity: flip the blanket Goal: To understand the distinctions between goals, strategies, and tactics. Agenda TOTAL TIME: 20 min. 1. 2. Gather in your team with one blanket per team. Turn the blanket over (flip it over) without anyone stepping off the blanket. (So no leaving the blanket, leaning on walls, etc.) If anyone the group steps off the blanket, or someone steps on the ground, start 3. over again. Reflect on what the goal was, what strategy was planned, and what tactics were used, and share your reflections with the larger group. 7 min 3 min 10 min

[Activity designed by Nadine Block and published by Training for Change: http://www.trainingforchange. org/node/235]

Plan an action One of the best ways to get the attention of your target/ audience is through concrete events: whether you are planning a festival, a rally, a bike ride, or street theater, there are a few key essentials to lay out before your event. This section will cover different types of events, logistics of event planning, and how to set up your program or stunts for the day of. Remind yourself of the basics As usual, your first step will always be to assess your audience, goals, and message before you plan your event specifics. Involve your core team in discussing and deciding event-specific goals to make sure everyone is bought-in (feels a sense of ownership or commitments towards the idea based on real shared vision or belief in the plan).

Event Goals: examples of specific achievable goals for your event Build power for your local team Sign up 1000 new supporters in your area (to your email or mailing list) Sign up 25 people to visit the office of an government official to talk about an issue Sign up 50 people to write a letter to the editor at a local newspaper Get coverage for your issue in specific local newspapers or blogs Pressure your MP or Member of Congress to vote your way on a specific bill Pressure your city council to act on a local issue Sign up 100 volunteers for a specific local environmental non-profit Event audience: examples of potential audiences for your specific event Local government officials MP or Member of Commerce Local media or blogs (do you want to build a better relationship with local media?) Local residents who are not yet informed about your issue Local residents passionate about your issue who are not yet involved

Recruit your Team, Generate Buy-in

Ever get half way into your event and realize that you seem to be the only one making decisions? The first step to having a good event is having a good team. Tips for getting folks to buy in: Involve them in decision making Give each team member a specific role and title Make sure everyone leaves meetings with at least one action item Figure out what skills and passions people have, and use them Make specific asks Only ask people to do what you would do yourself, never pass off the hardest jobs Explain your goals, and make sure everyone knows what is needed to achieve them Make sure volunteers know how their task is essential to achieving overall goals Once you have buy-in from everyone at the table, be honest about what skills are missing from your group. Next, brainstorm who you know with those skills, and ask them to help. Remember: You rarely get more than you ask for, and people dont know what you need until you ask! Making strategic asks to team members and potential volunteers is key to putting on a good event.

Setting the Program and Lining up Speakers:

Once you have a clear idea of your goals, audience, group and event, you have to nail down your program and speakers. Your program for your event should be built out of your event goals. Whether you are having speakers or performing a stunt, the key here is to lay out, far in advance, how to best deliver your message. Make sure to look at the media section of this guide to find information on identifying the right speakers/ spokespeople for your event, in this section we will only be covering logistics. Logistics and Time Lines: Once you have an idea of what your goals are, make sure you have a timeline and checklist for achieving them. The timeline/checklist is also a good opportunity to test whether your goals are achievable with the people power and time you have available. Readjusting goals after completing your timeline and checklist is never a bad idea.

Activity: Mapping your path to a successful event! Goal: To understand the distinctions between goals, strategies, and tactics. Agenda TOTAL TIME: 40 min. 1. Gather in teams of 6-8 people. 4 min

2.

Read and understand the following scenario: Your team has 5 min decided on a 5 mile bike ride to your state/regional capitol for an event to call on your [government official] to protect the regulate coal-fired power plants, chemical plants, and refineries. Your plan is to have 2,000 people ride their bikes from a local university campus to the lawn in front of the state capitol. Your team is planning to invite another supportive local government official who is a powerful local religious leader to speak, and a hip new band in town that appeals to students to play. You are hoping to have one local grassroots activist introducing the event to invite more people to join the cause. You will need a stage, a sound system or mega-phone, a permit for the space, volunteers to set up, shut down, and do crowd control, someone to coordinate speakers, and someone to liaise with police. On top of all that, you will likely want as many partner organizations on board as possible, especially student groups. Create a checklist for completing the necessary tasks for this event, including inviting and confirming speakers and spokespeople. Create a timeline for completing your check-list. Assign tasks/roles to everyone in the group. Report back to the larger group.

3.

8 min

4 5 6

8 min 5 min 10 min

Key questions to consider: How far in advance will we need to invite speakers to confirm they can come and get alternates if they cant? When should we secure a permit? How many volunteers will we need to sign up 2,000 people and coordinate their travel across 5 miles? How many people will we need for crowd control at the event? Should we assign tasks or specific roles? How do we make sure not to miss details, did we appoint one person to coordinate between different tasks and roles? Will you need funds for any of these tasks, if so, when should you start fundraising? What rolls are needed to make this event run smoothly the day of, and what rolls will be needed to get the event to that point? Other resources: 10/10/10 organizing guide: http://www.350.org/10steps

24 September 2011 guide: http://www.moving-planet.org/plan

Mass action recruitment

Its not always the case, but its very often true that bigger numbers of people means greater impact. But getting lots of people active on climate change isnt always easy, so now well look in more detail at some strategies for recruitment alone. DISCUSSION: Imagine youre hosting a party or sports game with friends. What is effective in making people show up? What is not effective? What is recruitment? Recruitment simply means bringing more people into your local movement to be able to build your power. There are many ways to reach new people, and there are also different things you will likely recruit forin some cases, you will be recruiting simply for people to show up to an event, while in other cases you will be recruiting for more volunteers to join your organizing team. This session will help you set goals for recruitment to an event, and make a plan for how to reach those goals. Why should we recruit? There are lots of reasons youll want to bring more people into your organizinghere are just a few: Creates visibility for your initiative Builds numbers and therefore your power to make change You can tackle larger campaigns with more people Sharpens our own skills and arguments for why were doing this work Keeps us in touch with what people are thinking Brings in new people/new ideas Builds a sense of team/community How should we recruit? 1) With our hearts. People will be most likely to join in when your story and message about your organizing resonates with them. Its critical to empower all of your fellow organizers and volunteers to really connect with the people theyre asking to join you, and to spread the word about the work in a way that demonstrates their passion and how much they believe in what they are doing. Thats why its critical to spend time with your team of volunteers, staff, or friends that are helping with recruitment to make sure they really understand the strategy, vision, and inspiration behind the campaign or event youre planning togetherif they arent bought in, its hard for them to convince others! 2) With our headstime to set a numerical goal! Heres what often happens when people organize events: they spend all their energy getting the permits, setting up the logistics, and confirming speakers that they

leave recruitment at sending a few emails, updating their facebook status and posting up some fliers at the local coffee shop. We assume that since all our energy has gone into organizing this event, that everyone must know about it and be planning to show up! Unfortunately it doesnt usually work out quite that well. Thats why its helpful to start out your event organizing by setting a goal for recruitmentyour goal could be informed by a few different things, such as aiming for an increase over the number of people who attended your last event, or trying to estimate the number of people needed for the newspapers and local government to take notice. Sometimes it can be helpful to see how big other events have been in your town that have attracted media coverage as a guideline. It may feel difficult or like a guess to pick a numberthats ok, do your best to pick a reasonable goal, but dont worry too much, the important thing is to have a goal to work with. Be sure to discuss your goal with your team so everyone is bought into it!

Reaching your goal

Now you need to reach your goal. Contrary to popular belief, if you reach out to 1,000 people over email, phone, or in person, 1,000 people will not show up to your event. The numbers are actually typically far lowerso there are two important things to remember: 1) You need to reach out to more people than you want to actually show up. 2) You need to reach people several times for them to actually show uppolitical campaigners estimate you need to contact someone 3-5 times to get them out to vote, for example.

Practical Tip:
Not all types of recruitment are equalthink about yourselfwhich events are you most likely to make the effort to attend? Those that you heard about from a random group email, a personal email, a phone call, or an in-person conversation? Here are some recruitment tactics, grouped by general impact: High impact: - Tabling (setting up a table with information at other events) - Canvassing (talking with people at public events, on the street, or going door to door) - Phone calls - Creative stunts (street theatre, holding signs on the street corner, flash mobs) - Giving presentations or making announcements at community meetings Lower impact: Mass emails/listserves Flyering at coffee shops and bulletin boards Facebook and Twitter

 Chalking on the sidewalk Advertising: if you have a budget for it, or a creative way to do it!

Engage your officials

Intro Activity: Why Lobby -- Will be explained by the facilitator Know Your Target, and Know Your Power In a few minutes were going to break into small groups and hold mock lobby meetings with our political targets, but first lets say a little bit more about targets and how to best influence them in a lobby meeting:

Our Targets:
Who are our targets? legislators heads of state mayors agencies (Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Minister of Foreign Affaris, Energy Minister, etc) What do they care about? ELECTIONS(if elected) If unelectedPolitical legitimacy in the eyes of the public. Egoseverybody in public office wants to feel like a good person (even if they arent). We have more power over elected officials than over appointees, and we have the most power over elected officials in the year/months leading up to elections. Here are a few examples of how to convey your power indirectly with elected officials: Connections: I am a (mom, student, business owner, doctor, young professional, etc), and I have lived in (town)_____ for _____ years. Im active in my community through (group, group, group) Commitment: I raised $XX for Y initiatize from ZZ donors. Recently I organized/wrote/built __________. Every election season I get involved by doing_______. Your Story: What motivated you to get active on climate change? Ready for More: Im going to stay engaged and organize around climate change in my community for months and years to come! One movement: highlight the diversity amongst your group, or its depth. Tell a story that can be repeated: we are a group of... Our Power: As individuals, citizens have very little power over elected officials, but organized we can be a force to be reckoned with. What makes us powerful and how do we convey our Power?

What makes us powerful? We Organize: I represent my core group and the thousands of folks we talk about this stuff with. Im in a local group that meets Our social networks, our Your Job () Diversity The depth of our commitment Wonky policy background? And how can we communicate our power as a growing movement? Being Organized Sharing your motivation, excitement, and resolve (personal stories, if appropriate).

Small Group ActivityGrassroots Lobbying (45 minutes)

Lobbying Scenario The 350 Law Thanks to years of climate organizing, our champions in the government have introduced a 350 law that will cut carbon, invest in renewable energy, and improve chances for a strong global climate deal. During each lobby meeting, you will explain who you are, tell them a bit about the our organizing work, and urge them to support our top priority: Support on the proposed 350 Law. You do not need to know the officials position on issues to do this exercise, but information on your their voting record is always helpful to gather before lobbying. Overview of this Exercise (45 min) Goal: To practice talking directly with government officials with a team. 1. 2. Gather in small teams and prepare for your meeting. Assign roles, discuss the scenario, and discuss your target. Role-play your meeting. Each group will have a chance to practice a meeting, as well as observe another group in action. A mock Congressional staffer will be assigned to each 3. group for the exercise. When your role-play visits are complete, debrief the exercise with a facilitator and your group. What were the strongest points of both groups? What can you improve to be at your best on lobby day? 10 min 20 min 15 min

Objectives

 Clearly state your connection to your community and , including your personal story. Make a clear, concise ask. Convey the strength of the broader movement beyond your group. Understand where your target stands and know how to respond. Prepare for difficult questions so you feel prepped and ready. Begin to build a long-term relationship with your target and their staff Sample Roles for Groups Leader: Initiate the meeting, the story of the group, and keep everything on track. The Pitcher: Makes the hard ask and is prepared to respond. The Closer: Hand over materials, wrap it up, thank them for their time. Say Ill email you shortly to follow up, and send a follow-up email to the staff and group within the next few days. The Chorus Line: Demonstrate the power of your group, and be prepared to support as needed with organizing anecdotes, personal stories, or responses to questions. Sample Meeting Agenda (10 minute mtg) 1. Introductions (1 min)Keep it short Names and hometown/job/org 2. Statement of Purpose (1 min)Why are you here? 3. Tell Your Story (3 min)Who you are and what youre doing back home. 4. Make the Ask (2 min) Clear statement of our priorities, direct request for support. 5. Listen and respond (2 min) Engage and follow-up. How can you move them forward? 6. Closing (1 min)Thank you, wrap up, leave behind materials.

Lobby Day Tips

1. Practice your roles. Be confident in your roles before the meeting so you can focus on content. Who is going to lead? Tell a story? Take notes? Follow up? 2. Know the message. Practice your core message before you go into a meeting so that you feel comfortable. 3. Demonstrate your power. You represent a strong and growing movement. Use examples from your home town/state to convey the power of everyone you represent who isnt in the roomlocally and globally 4. Connect. Try to make a personal connection during the meeting. Tell your stories, but remember to listen and respond to their comments as well.

5. Make a strong ask. Practice asking a direct question before you go into the meeting. Can we count on you to support our priorities? Yes or no. 6. Stay on topic. Politely steer the conversation back to your key points. 7. Be respectful. Even when you disagree, you can be critical and firm, while being respectful. Remember, your ultimate goal is to win them over. 8. Tell the truth. If you dont know the answer, tell them you will get that information later, or refer them to 350.org headquarters: organizers[at]350.org

HANDOUT:
GUIDE TO PLAYING STAFFER FOR A LEGISLATOR
Thank you for playing the part of a staffer during this workshop. Your role is to facilitate people practicing an effective visit and learning from their experience. Keep it simple, be respectful, and help them get the best practice they can. General tips Stay positive and responsive. This isnt theatre, but is meant to encourage your fellow riders to be confident in their experiences. Allow the group to make its presentation without interrupting. Dont give away your position until they ask. Ask questions when appropriate, but dont overdo it. Make sure they finish in 8 minutes or less. (You might want someone else to be the timekeeper.) After that amount of time, thank them for coming and tell them you have to go back to an important hearing. Not sure what to say? Try this: Thank you for your input. This is a complicated issue but Ill take your ideas seriously. Playing the Part (play each of these roles once): If youre being supportive staffer, assume you support whatever pitch they make, but wait for them to ask. Support positions, but dont initiate ideas. The goal is to urge to them take the initiative. Its OK to ask a question or share an idea slightly off track (i.e. your love for trout or white roofs). If youre playing an ambivalent staffer, its OK to be slightly cynical, but dont beat up on them! Mostly avoid making commitments and offer limited responses.

The Big Picture (10 minutes)

Sustained organizing: Building a Constituency While single actions and individual campaigns are great for recruitment, building a strong movement able to move targets to where the science says they need to be will take years of sustained organizingenough to build a distinct constituency. Multiple campaigns, multiple actions, across multiple election cycles. Why is sustained organizing more powerful than a one-time effort? Once targets are aware of your power, political retribution from our constituency will become a part of their decision-making.Other ways to engage government officials: Ask them to speak at events Attend their public and private events and make contact

Amplify your event so that it gets the attention of more people (and decision makers! to build up excitement for your event and to extend its impact after youre done.

New and Traditional Media

Campaigning is all about communicating. You can be very well organized and have everything detail taken care of, but if you dont spread your story far and wide, people wont know it happened. But have no fear! From getting in the blogs and broadcasting your event on Facebook to getting covered on TV and in your local newspaper, this session will help you amplify your action through new and traditional media.
The goal of media outreach is to amplify your event so that it gets the attention of more people (and decision makers!), both to build for your event and to extend its impact after you are done. Whether you are Facebooking, calling reporters, or sitting down with bloggers, every media hit you get will mean your event is seen by more peopleso start spreading the word!

Why should we engage with the media?

Put pressure on your targets Generate Buzz/Hype around your campaign Educates the general public on our work, puts a local story to climate change Spread the word & recruit volunteers to your cause It can be a great energy boost to group members Advance your campaign Hold officials accountable (positive or negative accountability)

Define your goals, know your audience, and map out your story
Before you start blasting your event around the new media or calling reporters, go over your goals and the story you are trying to tell.

Remember your goals

Dont lose sight of the goals you came up with when planning your event, go over them again as you begin your media outreach. Do you want to influence a decision or policy? Do you want to create awareness? Do

you want to build support for an activity or project? Do you want to change behavior? Keep your goals in mind as you craft your message and tell your story.

Define your audience

Once you have figured what you want to achieve through your communication, you need to think about whom you need to reach in order to meet this objective. This is your audience. You can have more than one target audience groupthis will probably include the targets you developed in the campaign planning session, as well as the people you want to mobilize to join your campaign. Develop a profile of your audiencewho are they, and what do they care about?

Develop your message

Keeping your goals and audience in mind, this is when you want to think about the message of your event. Or, how will you communicate your goals and the reasons they are important to your audience? A good message: Is specific; Communicates clearly to your audience (will likely change depending on your audience); Is linked to something they care about; Is believable and can be backed up by evidence/hard facts; Conveys a sense of urgency.

Develop your story

If you dont have a good story, even the best message can get lost. The story is about a more emotional personal touch to your message. This is the why of your event, and its what people will take away. Facts and figures are great, but they wont win hearts and minds.

What makes a good storywhat will reporters want to cover?

They dont call it a NEW-spaper for nothing. The first thing to understand is that reporters, editors, bloggers, and even folks on twitter are deeply interested in whats new and fresh. By contrast, theyre deeply uninterested in anything they perceive as oldas in yesterdays news. You should therefore always be thinking up new tactics and actions to call attention of reporters.

Hook Them with a Story Lineeveryone covering the news loves stories, here are a few to try out:
The superlative. Find a way to boast about your action. Is it the first interfaith gathering in the area on global warming? Is it the longest march in Cairo in a decade? Dont make outrageous claims (perhaps the biggest and among the first are useful phrases when you cant prove your superlative without a doubt).

David vs. Goliath. With the media, it can be an asset to be seen as the underdogpeople always root for the little guy. In discussing 350.org, we usually emphasize that we are a handful of youth climate activists and a writer, and hence a little clueless. This has the advantage of being both true and interesting, and has made the impact of 350.org more unique. Strange bedfellows. One of journalisms favorite narratives is the odd couplepeople you wouldnt expect or who normally dont get along coming together. For example: Republicans and Democrats in the US, faith leaders and business leaders, veterans and student activists. Try teaming up with a local union, religious organization, athlete, or artist: any new alliance can make for a good story. Pay attention to current events and link your news to them. Was your elected official recently in the news talking about climate change or clean energy technology? Was your community recently affected by increasing pollution, an oil spill, or climate change related weather event? Take the opportunity to call up the media and relate your action to what they are already covering. The run-up to an international meeting where climate change will be discussed also presents an opportunity to bring local issues to the attention of the media and to generate public debate. Think Visually. Climate change is a challenging issue to conveyits abstract to most people, and happening slower than your typical disaster. Thats why staging actions that help visualize climate change can be very powerful for the community, and the media. One example is a group of activists in Beirut, Lebanon that wrapped caution tape around the city at the potential level of the ocean if it would be inundated by sea level rise.

Use the right messenger

Having a good message is not enough; it is important to use the right messenger. A popular musician or athlete is likely to be a more influential messenger among young people than a scientist or politician. On the other hand, a decision maker or politician may be more receptive if technical specialists and community members deliver the message. You dont have to be famous to be a good messenger. If the goal is reaching an elected official, often they want to know what their voters think. That means community leaders, whether small business owners, moms, or teachers, can often have a huge impact. Everyday people dedicating themselves to action on climate can deliver a powerful message.

Photosthey say 1,000 words.

The visual for your event is as important as your spokespeople, it is one more way to deliver your message to the wider public, media, and fellow 350 volunteers. Your action photo is KEY, its your best tool for leveraging your event in the media and the community after the fact. Here are just a few tips on getting it right:

Plan it: Use your message and goals when coming up with the image you want people to remember. Make sure you plan out photos before the event, and think out what props or signs will help tell your story. Designate a photographer: it could be a professional, a volunteer, a friendwhoever you can find who is reliable and can take a good photo. Put it on the agenda: make some time in your event schedule to get everyone together to take a photo. Nothings worse than realizing everyones gone home before you can take a photo to remember it. Some questions to ask yourself: Will you have a lot of people? Where could you take the photo from to get a shot of the whole crowd? Send it to 350.org: email your photo to photos@350.org so that we can help get it out to your fellow 350. org supporters across the globe! Now you are ready to start looking for and getting media coverage!

Use Online Media to Tell Your Story

The Internet and evolving forms of communicating have made it harder to know what is and isnt media. For organizing, the definition of media you want is any media that people read. Anyone who creates content that is read by a number of people on or offline should be considered media, and you should use any and every type of media to amplify your story and event. There are tons of online tools to help you spread the word online from email to facebook, and from twitter to the blogs. In the previous session, you took a few minutes to analyze your audience. When you are thinking about your new media outreach, think about where your audience goes to find out about local news and events. Thats where you want to be! We feel strongly that the Internet is best used to get people together face-to-face, for action on the ground -using online tools, however cool at times, are not an end in themselves. We see the web as a tool to help save our threatened planet. Tackling global warming is going to require an unprecedented level of collaboration and communication at every level of societyand thats precisely why its so vital that we learn to take advantage of the connections that the Internet provides. The web is just one tool in your toolboxif you dont have a compelling strategy, narrative, and action plan, your Facebook group wont make up for that. So before you start online, make sure all of your outreach is part of your larger strategy. It often takes three or four contacts with a person to get to attend your event, and new media is just one of those opportunities to connect with people! With that in mind

Using online media, you can:

Crowd-build for your event Attract the attention of traditional media Get the attention of elected officials and community leaders Amplify your message after your event

Online tools
When thinking about online tools and media, remember that they are not separate from the offline world. Just like in other mediums, people are more likely to help you out if you meet them in person or talk to them over the phone. Think about including online asks when you talk to people offline. With that in mind, a few tools to help multiply your impact online:

Blogs: A great way to build buzz for your event is to reach out to folks already active and blogging in your community and get them to write or post about your event! Reaching out to bloggers is similar to reaching out to reporters, try to connect with them by phone or in person if possible, or email them if that is the only contact info you have. Introduce yourself, let them know why you care, and ask them to help promote your event. Try offering to write a guest blog if they are short on time, or give them a ready made flyer that they can easily post. Want to really get their attention? Make sure to know what they write and care about before you contact them. Bloggers who write on progressive issues, the environment, biking, or even community events are great folks to reach out to. List Managers. Community organization, online communities, or even informal community groups often have large email lists. Remember the rule above, anyone with a large number of readers or viewers (whether on email, youtube, or a blog) counts as media! Ask folks in control of email lists to send out information about your event. Remember, you can create your own list as well! Update volunteers and supporters interested in your event regularly by email. When your list of supporters gets too long, think about creating your own listserve! Google Groups are a great way to send emails to large groups of people without risking them getting flagged as junk. Social Networking. The first rule of organizing is meeting people where they are at: so get online and start meeting people where they are every day -on social networking sites! Create a page for your event on facebook, tweet about it, and consider looking into what other online communities your supporters are a part of. Friend new supporters on facebook and follow them on twitter to keep them updated on your events and make sure they feel in the loop. Photo sharing. Uploading your photos online after an event provides a one-stop shop for reporters, bloggers, and supporters to pick up images for articles and to send to their friends. A picture is far more powerful than your words in describing an event, and often will move folks who didnt make it to your event to cover it after the fact. Web sites like Flickr [flickr.com] allow you to create centralized online albums of photos and to contribute photos to public pools, or groups of photos around an event, a theme, a city, a neighborhood, or anything else you can think of. Make sure that you tag your photos 350ppm and upload the best ones to 350.org as soon as your event is over. You can also send any photos you have to photos@350.org, and they will show up in our flickr feed automatically. Always upload the highest quality photos your web connection will allow. Practical Tip: Want to get one more invite in to media or elected officials? Add them to your facebook and twitter, and invite them to your events online! Sometimes seeing the large list of RSVPs is enough of an extra push to get a reporter to show up!

Video sharing. There are only a few big players in online video, with the most dominant being YouTube [youtube.com]. After registering on their site, you can easily upload videos and embed any video in your web page or blog. Make sure to tag your videos with 350ppm. If you have a high-quality or very large video you'd like to post, Vimeo is also a good service. Video has the added bonus of making your facebook page, blog, or website more exciting for visitors, and gives your friends and partners a reason to share your content with their friends.

More on emailing: how to become an email guru

Though it may not be the most exciting tool in the box, email is nonetheless the cyber-activists single most powerful weapon. Some tips to writing a compelling email: Keep Your Message Focused. Keep it short and sweet to avoid ending up in the trash. Keep each message focused on one-two action items at the most. Make an ask. Make sure every email you send has at least one clear way someone reading can act on the information you give them. While your rate of success in getting people to volunteer or participate will always be astronomically higher when you call or talk to them in person, email is still a great way to layer your asks, remind people of what needs to be done, and every once in awhile get a few extra volunteers! Examples of clear asks: Come make calls with us on Tuesday at 6pm; sign up to table with us on Saturday between 9am and 1pm; join our next planning meeting Thursday at 6pm. Break Up Your Text. If you absolutely have to convey a lot of information in a single message, make sure to break it up into small chunks. Avoid long, stream-of-consciousness blocks of text. Instead, break down the information using bullet points, underlines, and bold formatting. Nail the Subject. You get fewer than a dozen words, and you need to make the most of them. Make it catchy, use a hook, and keep it as short as possible! Double Check. Ask a friend or colleague to proofread if you can, and make sure to re-read it for content, spell checking, and grammar. Make a video. Consider taking video as a compelling way to get the word out before your event, document your action, and amplify your impact. Make your video stand out: Make a storyboard or quick outline of your video before shooting so you know what shots you need to take, archival footage to find, or photos to include. Focus on whats fun, funny, or what youd want to watch. Avoid the talking head. Theres nothing less interesting than watching 3 minutesor even 30 secondsof a person talking at their desktop computers webcam.

 Choose lively locations for your shoot that are interesting and play up your local angle. Take steady, easy-to-watch shots that can be easily spliced with other video. Keep it simple, and edit quickly. In the case of documenting an action, making a simple video that you can edit and upload quickly is keypeople want to watch that night or in the coming days about the march they just took part in. Dont worry about being perfectjust get it out! Add some musicadding a great song over footage can make a video really come together. Just be sure to credit the artist!

Use Offline Media to Amplify your Story

Newspapers, radio, T.V. news: this is the stuff of traditional media, and its the stuff that gets read and watched by your elected officials and reaches the most people. All of thee mediums offer you an opportunity to reach a wider audience when promoting your event, and to amplify the impact of your event after the fact.
Recruiting media to cover your event is much like recruiting a new volunteer or folks to attend your event: its about building relationships, selling your work by making it seem like the most exciting thing happening, and confirm-confirm-confirming. Getting media requires putting in the time and the effort: building a relationship, sending a quality advisory/ invitation, calling to invite them in person, and confirming they are going to show up. This section will cover timelines for your media plan, the how-tos of advisories and releases, and how to maximize your coverage. Practical Tip: Know your Audience

Working with reporters

Create a Relationship.
The temptation when dealing with reporters is to send a press release and leave it at that. Ignore that impulse! Press releases drift into newsrooms like snowflakes in a blizzard. A better idea: Get to know reporters and editors long before you need them for your story. Call or email and ask if you can meet with a potential contact for ten minutes early in your campaign. Journalists want to know the people in their communities who will be making news, and get a sneak preview of your plans. (Tipthis is also a great way to introduce yourself to bloggers!)

Track the types of stories that local newspapers, radio and TV stations like to cover that fit into the stories youll be pitching. Journalists already writing similar stories to yours are more likely to show up to your event, especially if you let them know youve been paying attention. Which reporter likes to cover stories of ordinary folks trying to fight The Man? Does your local paper always cover events that happen at Central High? Who likes to write about churches or students involved in community life? If you know who reports the sort of story you want to place, youll have an easier time selling your story.

Once in the office, lay out the basic plan for your campaign and how it relates to your community (and how it relates to what they write/ care about), the things you plan to do in the lead-up to your event, and the kinds of people you have involved so far. This isnt the time to press for commitmentsall youre doing is establishing a relationship and demonstrating that youre a helpful source.

Choose a Media Coordinator

The first step to meeting your media goals is identifying ONE member of your team to be your media coordinator. This person will hold the initial meetings and build relationships with reporters and editors they will also edit your media advisories and templates, make follow up calls to press outlets, and coordinate with media at any events. The media coordinator doesnt necessarily need to be on camera, but they should be capable of identifying good messengers, capable and confident enough to speak in public, and optimistic and knowledgeable enough to sell your events to reporters. Your media contact should also be easily availableit doesnt matter how great a person they are if they dont return emails and calls from press quickly! Web-based trainings, media lists, and phone support are all available to media coordinators through 350. orgs central media team: so this is a great roll for a talented person interested in new skills!

Build Last-Minute Buzz

In the final twenty-four hours before your event, you want to create an overwhelming sense of urgency around it in the newsrooms. Dont worry any longer about a single point of contact. Have 6-10 people call the news tips line (leave individual confirmation calls to your media coordinator) for every outlet the day before and of your event. Precisely because news is a last-minute business, journalists are set to cover things on the spur of the moment, and you want to provide that last push to get them into action.

Pitching your story

Tips for pitching your story: Keep it short! Your contact is likely busy, so try to summarize your event and motivations in 3 sentences. Be friendly! Being pushy wont make them any more likely to show up, think about it like you would think about recruiting someone to show up at your event: you have to sell it. Call between 10am and 2pm. These are often slower times of day, so you are less likely to interrupt while they are trying to meet a deadline. Dont forget the details: Who, what, where, when, why, and make sure to ask if they are attending. Have a hook. Why is this news? What makes this event special? Whats the local spin? High school students? Teachers? Local small business owners? Unexpected community leaders or alliances?

Interviewing BasicsAppointing and making a Powerful Spokesperson:

Appoint Spokespeople. This section is full of great skills for everyone, but remember previous advice about messengers. When deciding on spokespeople for your event, choose stories and people who fit into your message. Identify, train, and use your spokespeople as much as possible. Include your most interesting spokespeople in press advisories and releases, and make it clear that they are available for in-person or phone interviews in the week leading up to your event! Spokespeople are great for building excitement for an event, streamlining the message that comes out of your event, and generating press, through interviews, after the fact. They dont have to be famousthey just have to have a hook and fit into your message. What makes them interesting? Sell them like you would sell the storyand your whole event will benefit! Practice, Practice, Practice: it takes time to master the art of using interviews to further your message instead of simply responding to questions. With practice comes confidence: your goal is to deliver your message as concisely and clearly as possible! Keep it short! The trick to getting the story you want in print or on TV is to only give the message you want. Like in the previous exercisetry to practice saying your goals, your personal motivations, and even describing your event in no more than 30 seconds each. Personalize your message. Leave the wonky lingo for the halls of Congress; emotions win supporters and volunteers over facts every time. Use a personal touch as a part of every quote and quip. Some examples: As a mother of a child with asthma, clean air is hugely important to my family. OR As an avid hunter and angler, the ability to enjoy the outdoors is important to methats why I want to see laws in place to protect our environment against climate change. Name your enemies: Once you personalize yourself, dont be afraid to call people out. Is your local elected official holding up progress on bike lanes? Is your Senator leading the charge in climate denial? Or are they selling out to dirty energy industries instead of representing you? Name them. For example: As a mother of a child with asthma, clean air is hugely important to my family. Sherrod Browns vote to gut the Clean Air Act was unacceptable, and it put special interests before the health of my family. If you don't know the answer, say sonever guess! Nothing is "off the record. A great way to deal with this, especially if you are talking to a print journalist, is to offer to get back to them when you have the information they need.

Pivot! If the question they ask you is irrelevant to your story and message, pivot! That means that you move away from the question, usually with a connecting word, and then answer with your own message. Stay calm and confident! Speak slowly, pause if you need to, and try to relax on camerait will make you look more confident.

Activity: Interviews and Pivoting!

Scenario:
You are a part of Columbus, Ohio, USAs 350.org team, and you are hosting a massive bike rally for Moving Planet. Your team is expecting 3,500 cyclists to meet up at the Ohio State University Campus. From there, cyclists holding a 25 foot puppet of Senator Sherrod Brown holding sacks of dirty energy money and other cyclists towing 5 x 5 signs decrying Senator Browns vote on the Clean Air Act will ride across town to a final rallying point in front of the State Capitol. Rally goers will demand that Senator Brown stand with them in fighting for a clean energy future, and the event will end in a rally and program in front of the State Capitol featuring the Mayor of Columbus, Michael Coleman, and a number of local religious leaders. The major demand of the event: that Senator Sherrod Brown stop letting Dirty Energy industries influence his votes on clean air and climate legislation.

1. 2. 3.

Gather in small groups. Using the scenario above and your actual personal story craft a 30 second pitch to media about your efforts. Practice making pitch with a partner. Each try once and provide peer coaching after each person. Reflect on the most and least influential parts of each pitch/ story. What was most compelling? What was superfluous? What should they focus on next time?

2 min 8 min 10 min

4. 5.

Pivot exercise (see below). Return to full group and reflect on lessons from the exercise.

10 min 15 min

Pivot! Now that you have a bit of feedback on what works best from your story, lets mix up! Interviewers rarely ask you the questions you are prepping for: so now we are going to practice fitting your message into any question. Thats when we pivot! After your facilitator shows you what a pivot is, get back into your groups. The interviewers job is to ask an irrelevant or provocative question, and the interviewees job is to take that question and pivot to their pitch. Take 5 minute per group and try it out! At the end, take a moment to reflect on what works and what doesnt. Good connector words? Things to include? Things to leave out? Did you personalize it and then name your enemies?

Record your notes, and own critiques here:

Your media plan and toolbox.

To really maximize your coverage: lay out a timeline so that you dont miss any opportunities. Here, you will learn the basics of a good media timeline and also the basics of writing press advisories and releases. Getting the media to cover your story is an artbut anyone can do itand there is a simple and important formula to follow.

Timeline
Below is an ideal timeline for getting maximum coverage pf your story. As you can see, it can be quite a bit of work. Get started early, designate a person on your team to be the main press contact, and follow the basic timeline below: 1-3 months beforestart building relationships with reporters and bloggers as well as researching who is writing about events/ stories like yours. 1 month beforecommunity calendars! Now is the time to make sure your event is listed in every community calendar in town: try newspapers, blogs, radio shows, organizational websites, etc. 5-7 days beforesend media advisory by email; include info on interesting spokespeople able to do interviews by phone or in-person. 3 days beforefollow up with a phone call to pitch the story and make sure they received the advisory 1 day beforeRe-send advisory, follow up by phone with confirm calls. Day ofconfirm they are coming! Next day: send your press release! Reminder! Do not call reporters to ask if they got your release. They do not have time to respond to every release they receive. Instead, call them to pitch the news and remind them about the release. Be prepared to send another if the first one was misplaced.

Media Advisories
Media advisories inform the media about an upcoming event, like a march or rally: think of it as an invitation. Just like an invitation, the goal of an advisory is to grab the readers interest and make them want to come.
Whats the hook that makes this the do-not-miss event? No need to get caught up in long descriptions, this is more of a teaser: it is sent about a week before your event. Follow it up with a phone call to really sell your event.

It should include:
Who is organizing the event/activity, including what makes them interesting. What the event or activity is, including your hook. (i.e. puppets! Street theatre! Students and elderly people riding bikes together! Etc.) Where the event is, just the name and address is great. When it is, basically just the date and time. Why its newsworthy. (Re-state hook, why it matters, brief background of why now) Heres a sample media advisory for an event (next page):

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/20/11 Contact: Molly Haigh, 907-750-1999, molly@350.org ******* MEDIA ADVISORY ******* Local Families to Rally at Senator Browns Boston Office to Link Clean Air Act Vote to $1.9 Million in Fossil Fuel Industry Related Campaign Support Rally is accompanied by 15 ft Scott Brown puppet holding large bags of money and crowd-funded ads in Boston T stops targeting Brown Boston, MA: This Friday, dozens of Boston area families are gathering in front of Senator Browns Boston office with a 15-foot effigy of the Senator holding large bags of money to protest his recent vote to gut the Clean Air Act and the nearly 1.9 million dollars poured into his campaign by the fossil fuel industry and related front groups. WHAT: Rally in front of Sen. Scott Browns district office of concerned local families with signs, and a giant 15 foot puppet of Scott Brown holding bags of money, denouncing Sen. Browns vote to gut the Clean Air Act. The rally will be followed by a march and chants through Quincy market. WHO: More than 50 concerned local residents. WHERE: Senator Scott Brown's office15 New Sudbury Street, Boston, MA, followed by a march through Quincy Market. WHEN: Friday, May 20th from 12pm to 1pm VISUALS: 15 foot tall Scott Brown puppet, two fat cat puppets named Coal and Oil, children and families carrying signs, chanting, and singing. The campaign drawing attention to his vote will also include ads in the Boston T connecting the dots between Senator Browns recent vote to gut the Clean Air Act and the over 1.9 million dollars of campaign support he received from the fossil fuel industry and related front groups. The ads, which were crowd-funded by Massachusettss residents with the support of climate campaign 350.org, will be going up in the Boston subway in the coming weeks. Both actions are part of a nationwide backlash against politicians that recently voted to gut the Clean Air Act.

Every year, coal pollution results in 251 deaths in Massachusetts. According to OpenSecrets.org, the fossil fuel industry and related front groups poured over 1.9 million dollars into Scott Browns election in 2009. Local residents organizing the rally question whether Scott Browns judgment was clouded when he sided with polluters to gut the Clean Air Act. ###

Press Releases
Press releases are what your ideal article for an event would look like. The goal is to give reporters all the information they would need to write a story, even if they didnt show up. Heres a basic guide to how you can structure your press release:
In an email, the subject line is RELEASE: Your Headline. Copy and paste the rest of your release into the body of the email, and bring print copies to your event. Headline: Include the most important/interesting news, in no more than 7 words. This is your chance to grab attention! Introductory paragraph: Short, hard hitting. Describe the event, including your hook. Second paragraph: Focus on the issue. Quotes from key people: pack in your most interesting information, the punch line, and your most compelling story in miniature to influence the feelings of readers. Make sure to include at least one personal quote, and always a quote by someone from your climate grouppreferably the leader. Next, present and explain the solutioni.e. why you are taking action, and how we will solve the problem. 2nd quote: You can also add a quote at the end of this paragraph. The last paragraph in the press release is your demand. What are you asking for? What is your goal?

Press Release Tips

(from the SPIN Project) Write a strong headline or stacked headline that includes your hook. Make the first paragraph short and hardhitting. Dont include jargon or political rhetoric. No mission statements, unless you hide it in a quote. Keep it short and snappyone or two sentence paragraphs are fine Never write more than a page. Dont be repetitive Use large readable font. Dont overcrowd it with information: let each paragraph have one big idea only. Review the press release: double check every fact, name, date and quote. Get a 2nd pair of eyes! Make sure someone else reads the release and gives feedback before you email it out.

Now you need to put your contact details so that the media can contact you for more information and materials (photos, more facts, etc.)this is also where you include information on speakers available for interviews. Add ### to the bottom of the press releasethis is so that reporters know where the critical information ends. After the contact details, you add the editors notes, which can include: a short paragraph (maximum 5 lines) about 350.org and your local climate groupi.e. who you are, and what you do.

Sample Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 5/ 20/11 Contact: Molly Haigh,907-750-1999,molly@350.org Local Families Launch Campaign to Connect Senator Browns vote to Gut the Clean Air Act to $1.9 Million in Fossil Fuel Industry Campaign Support Raucous Friday Rally at Browns BostonOffice is accompanied by crowd-funded ads in Boston T Stops BOSTON, MA:Starting Friday at 12pm, as a 15 foot puppet of Scott Brown alongside two fat cats named Coal and Oil were hoisted into the air, more than 50 mothers, kids, and community members gathered in front of Scott Browns office to decry his vote to gut the Clean Air Act. Rally attendees held up a jumbo version of an ad they funded soon to be plastered across BostonT stops, the text read: Senator Brown: On April 6thyou voted to gut the Clean Air Act. Was it because dirty energy companies and their corporate front groups poured more than $1.9 million into your campaign last year? Are you working for people or Big Polluters? Vanessa Rule, a Somerville resident and mother of two organizing the rally explains the importance of both the ads and the action in front of Browns office:As a mother of a child with asthma, I find it unacceptable that Scott Brown voted to gut the Clean Air Act, said Rule. We want to know if he took that vote because of the 1.9 million dollars Big Polluters spent to support his election. Rally attendees started in front of Scott Browns office at 15 New Sudbury St, and continued on a march through Quincy market to spread the word on Browns vote, with the puppets rising far above the raucous attendees. This isnt about partisan politics, its about accountability. Scott Brown should be representing his constituents, and this vote to undercut the Clean Air Act put the interests

of big polluters, like coal plants, over our families. It was unacceptable, said Josh Lynch of Jamaica Plain, MA. The ads targeting Browns vote will appear in BostonT stops in the next two weeks. Both actions are part of a nationwide backlash against politicians that recently voted to gut the Clean Air Act, with residents of Ohio taking similar actions against Senator Sherrod Brown (D, OH). Every year, pollution from coal-fired power plants causes 251 deaths in Massachusetts, not to mention countless asthma attacks. The Clean Air Act is the only protection communities have in combating the pollution from coal plants, which includes arsenic, lead, mercury, and carbon pollution that lead to climate change. According to OpenSecrets.org, the fossil fuel industry and related front groups poured over 1.9 million dollars into Scott Browns election in 2009. ###

Review: connecting the dots.

Final tips!
Start by looking at your goals. Figure out your story. Write your media time line, and appoint a media coordinator to see it through. Identify and train your messengers. Reach out to new and traditional media reporters to build relationships. Use community calendars. Leverage twitter, Facebook, and online networking to contact traditional reporters, and promote any traditional media you get through new media to create buzz. Send your advisories well in advance with personal emails, and follow up with phone calls. Use your spokespeople to promote your event through pre-event interviews. Send a catchy press release with a link to photos after the event! Dont forget to contact the 350 communications team if you have any questions! Molly@350.org or Jamie@350.org

Now that youve practiced your story, learned about strategy and campaigning, practiced talking and writing for the media, and thought about how to build a movement, its time to put all youve workshopped into action.

Team Work: Telling Your Full Story

Total Time: 40 minutes 1. Gather in your team. (5 min) Timekeeper begins keeping time. Use the questions below to remind yourself of the key pieces of your stories of Self, Us and Now. 2. Tell your full story to your team members and respond to each othereach person takes 5 min. to tell their full stories and the group has 3. min to offer feedback. (30 min) NOTE: You have just 5 minutes to tell your story. Stick to this limit. Make sure your timekeeper cuts you off. This encourages focus and makes sure everyone has a chance. 3. Choose your most able story teller to tell their story before the larger group. Give them pointers to prep again to tell their story a third time (5 min). Now think back to the stories of self, us and now. How can you best tie together all three? Your role as an organizer is to tell the full story of who you are, the values of the climate movement, and how we can take action. Use the below worksheet and your team to practice telling your full story.

Self
What are your experiences and values that call you to take leadership on building a clean energy future?

Us
What is your reason for believing in the possibility of the people you will be speaking to? What is their story?

Now
Why is it urgent to deal with climate change? What is your strategy to overcome this challenge? What is the first step that each person can take to be part of your solution?

Coaching Your Teams Public Narrative

As you hear each others stories, keeping track of the details of each persons story will help you to provide feedback and remember details about people on your team later. Use the grid below to track your teams stories.

Storytellers Name

Challenge

Choice

Outcome

Notes/Themes

Team Work: Campaign Mad-Libs

This fun exercise will help you and your team articulate what your campaign looks like, and what youve accomplished at this workshop together (and what yo commit to getting done in the near future). Choose one person to be the scribe, and take 15 minutes to fill in the blanks below.

Today we had a ____________ meeting to talk about how our community in

[ADJECTIVE]

_____________________ might build a local campaign to begin solving the climate crisis
[LOCATION]

and move past fossil fuels. As we gathered, we got to know each other, talked about different ideas, and __________________ .
[ V E R B , PAS T T E N S E ]

Heres the plan we came up with so far: on the 24th of September: ___________________
[# OF ATTENDEES]

of people will come together in _________________ to _____________________ for

[CITY] [VERB, E.G. WALK, BIKE]

climate change action. The goal of the rally will be to convince _______________________________ to _________________________________ . From
[YOUR TARGET] [YOUR GOAL] [TACTIC 1]

now until September 24th, we will be _________________________________ , _____________________________ , and _____________________________ to build power
[TACTIC 2] [TACTIC 3]

towards our goal. On Moving Planet Day, well deliver _______________________________________ to

[YOUR PETITION/MESSAGE/PLAN] [LOCATION]

_____________________________ and show that ___________________ is ready to get

[TARGET]

moving to solve the climate crisis! All in all, the meeting was a great success and everyone left feeling __________________ .
[ADJECTIVE]

_________________ said, Meetings can be pretty boring, but that was the most
[PERSON AT MEETING] [ADJECTIVE]

_____________ meeting Ive been to in years. We were so excited to be working together, we even picked a team name ______________________ . We cant wait to meet next
[TEAM NAME]

____________________________ to keep planning for a ___________________ campaign!

[WEEK/MONTH/DATE] [ADJECTIVE]

Wrapping it all up: Whats next?

The most important part of learning how to do good climate organizing isyou guessed itpractice! Thats why the last activity of this workshop is to assign roles and responsibilities, and begin taking action. You are the leaders youve been waiting forchange wont happen without you. So lets start working and solve the climate crisis!

Team Work: Start working!

Split up into groups of folks who will be working together after your workshop: split by city, state, or region of state depending on how you will be working after the training. For a scenario, use the next event you will be working on as a group.
First ten minutes: Talk about the logistics of your next event and what you want to accomplish from the event. What are you goals for your group after this event, how can this event help you to meet your longterm goals? Make a list of how this event could help you build your list of supporters, your long term power in the community, or any other way it could help you in the long term. Second ten minutes: Brainstorm as a group all the things you will need to do to make this event a success, and break each thing into an action item, or something that needs to be done after this meeting. Make a list, splitting it into types of tasks (media, outreach, fundraising, phone banking, resources, etc.), of all of the action items that need to be accomplished. Third ten minutes: Use the last ten minutes to give everyone in your group a role so that they can own their specific action item list of tasks without needing to check back with the group. Some examples of roles: media coordinator, volunteer coordinator, resource coordinator, day-of-logistics coordinator, team leader, outreach coordinator, partner coordinator, etc. Use your list of action items to determine what roles need to be filled. For example, if you need to phone bank to get people to your event, maybe you should have a resource coordinator in charge of finding phones and a place to do calling! Now, assign your list of action items to different people in the group. If someone is not ready to take on a full role, they can assist with some of the tasks of someone else in the group, but make sure that you assign each person at least 1-3 of your action items. Last five minutes: Reflect as a group! What is the benefit of set roles? How can we use roles to make sure that tasks get done? Who will check in with folks to make sure their role is going well and see if they need help?

Organizer Notes
Facilitator notes for the 350.org workshop sessions.

Below are facilitator notes for each of the 350.org Workshop Sessions. We highly recommend reviewing these notes prior to completing the design of your overall workshop and prior to facilitating each particular session.
1. Why Organize
Build Your Team includes a possible 50 minute small group activity

2. Tell Your Story

Introduction and Story of Self Story of Us Story of Now Condensed Session

3. Build a Movement
Build a Movement - Introduction People power Get creative

4. Build a Campaign
Build a Campaign - Introduction Tactics Strategy Plan an Action Engage Your Officials

5. Media
Overview: New and Traditional Media Use online media to amplify your story Use offline media to tell your story Connect the dotsonline and offline

1. Why Organize:
First, we recommend you not dive right into this content as the initial agenda item of your workshop, but rather get started with some overall introductions and activities to get to know one another. When you do commence this session, beware that this is a mostly lecture-based session that introduces some of central theories of organizing and leadership that later sessions will cover in details as we go. We encourage you to allow several opportunities for input from the group as you discuss this theory, allowing for engagement and interaction, rather than just a straight lecture.

Build Your Team

30 minutes is not enough time to do much besides talk about these ideas. If you do have more time, or choose to prioritize more interactive activities, here is an exercise designed to (a) practice what its like to form and structure a team and (b) get your workshop participants formed into groups that can serve as small break-out groups throughout your story telling sessions, along with the worksheet for the exercise:

Team Work: Starting and Building Your Team Mission, Rules, Roles
Goal: The purpose of this exercise is to help you (1) Articulate your teams purpose; (2) choose leadership roles for today based on the talents of your teams members and (3) identify the rules you will adhere to as a learning team.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Gather and review agenda. Choose a timekeeper for this session Establish Your Team Purpose (See worksheet below) Review Team Roles Decide on Team Roles Decide on Collaborative Rules Choose a team name.

5 min 10 min 5 min 10 min 15 min 5 min

Team Exercise One: Shared Purpose (10 min.)

Fill in the blanks in the team purpose area on the worksheet. First, write down the interests your team shares. Then fill in the geographic area that you are working and include a brief description of the people you serve in your area. What kinds of people live in your turf? What are their interests? What will engage them? Examples of a teams shared interest: We share an interest in uniting young people and older people in the campaign for a clean energy future. We share an interest in training more young people in organizing skills to build our movement. We share an interest in creating meaningful local ways for people to get involved in the clean energy movement. We have a shared interest in ______________________ . Our team will provide leadership to organize our constituency in ____________________________. The community we will serve is (briefly describe your community's characteristics). We will engage the people in our community by: Recruiting others to join us, Learning together and coaching each other in organizing skills, Training other young people in organizing skills We will do this by inspiring our constituency, implementing, evaluating and refining strategy, and coordinating action.

Team Exercise Two: Team Roles (15 min.)

1. Review the team role descriptions below 2. Go around the circle and ask each person to tell others what experience and talents they have and what specifically they want to learn in more detail (1 minute each) 3. Discuss roles listed below as well as strengths needed to fill them. Choose roles for each team member to play in your learning team today.

Responsibilities Team Coordinator Coordinate and support team members Create agendas and facilitate meetings that follow an agenda Serve as the resource coordinator for the team, making sure all events are well prepared with appropriate resources Proactively lead your team in identifying opportunities to train others.

You would be good for this role if you . . .

You would probably not be good for this role if you . . .

Can stay focused on the outcome (for this training the outcome of each session is that each participant in your group gets to practice and get feedback on their stories) Listen attentively to others and summarize well Have the ability to identify talents in others and help others contribute their greatest talent to the team

Try to do everything yourself Try to set the teams mission by yourself without listening to others Get distracted easily Are shy and reluctant to speak up in order to keep discussion moving Are too equivocal and have difficulty helping the team move through conflict toward a decision when necessary.

Timekeeper -Steward your teams most valuable resourcetime! -Work with the Team Coordinator to keep the group moving forward toward the desired outcome -Lead the team in scheduling next steps and timelines with concrete deadlines -Hold your team accountable to the timeline youve set together -Have a watch or other timekeeping device -Keep a calendar and stick to it -Understand how to structure activities in sequence to build toward a desired outcome -Are willing to ask your team to agree that you will hold everyone accountable to time and collective deadlines on behalf of the team, in order to build momentum. -Never look at your watch -Think that the last calendar or day planner you bought was maybe in 2002 -Always procrastinate -Are not willing to remind others of deadlines and to hold others accountable to deadlines that they have participated in setting and have agreed to meet

Story of Self Coach Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of self Coach your teammates on story of self Prepare the story of self, part of your teams training on public narrative so you can teach this skill when you return home. Are willing to invest effort in learning how to tell a good story of self Enjoy storytelling Can tell vivid, detailed stories that are carefully selected Are interested in people who they are, where they come from, how they became who they are Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others Ramble Try to tell your whole biography when telling a story of self (have trouble being selective) Are not willing or able to invest time in listening carefully to those you are coaching and asking careful, probative questions of them

Story of Us coach

 Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of us Coach your teammates on story of us Prepare the story of us part of your teams training on public narrative so you can teach this skill when you return home.

Are willing to invest effort in understanding how to tell a good story of us Are curious about community stories and willing to spend time developing themasking questions about how a community was founded, who its heroes are, what outcomes it has achieved together, what its hopes are Enjoy storytelling Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others Have patience

Get frustrated easily. (Story of us takes a while to learn well.) Believe that we are trying to motivate everyone in the world to action with us (which dilutes the meaning of our community and our responsibility) Try to make the community youre moving to action too broad without boundaries so that it loses meaning and identity

Story of Now Coach Put extra effort in learning how to create a story of now Coach your teammates on story of now Prepare the story of now part of your teams training on public narrative if you teach this skill when you return home. Are willing to invest effort in understanding how to tell a good story of now Feel urgency Can help others choose strategic action. You understand that scale is built by asking 1,000 people to do the same single meaningful thing (like not taking the segregated bus) rather than giving 1,000 people a laundry list of actions to choose from. Can listen carefully and ask thoughtful questions of others Tend to try to do everything. Youre reluctant to make strategic choices about what to doand what not to do. Are not very creative about actionyou stick to the same old tactics that everyone has always used. Struggle to imagine in vivid detail what a different future could look like if we all act together.

Team Exercise Three: Team Rules/Expectations (15 min.)

Brainstorm group rules on each theme below and how you will self correct if the norm is broken. (If you dont self correct the new rule will be breaking the rules.) [RECORD GROUP RULES HERE]

How we will respect time and the timekeeper so we meet our expected outcomes: What we will always do:

How we will self correct if the rule is broken:

How we will get back on track if someone gets off on a tangent: What we will always do:

How we will self correct if the rule is broken:

How we will respect each other while still giving constructive feedback: What we will always do:

How we will self correct if the rule is broken:

How we will communicate and coordinate after the training : What we will always do:

How we will self correct if the rule is broken:

2. Tell your story:

The content for these sessions was significantly based on the work of Marshall Ganz and the New Organizing Institute. We ask therefore that you do open your first session introducing that background, as outlined in the introductory section. Introduction and Story of Self Story of Us Story of Now Condensed Session Note on overall flow of sessions: Very often it makes sense to split up these sections with other workshop content, like sessions on the science and politics of climate change or beginning to look at some initial skills for developing campaigns. The reasons for that are to (a) provide background on other topics that can substance to some of these next sessions for instance someones understanding of climate politics might introduce key ideas or stories into their story of us, (b) provide time and space for people to digest the initial introduction to the story-telling theory, deepening their understanding with each return to the topic, and (c) to maintain the groups interest and attention, particularly since each section of the storytelling practice has a nearly identical group activity for each. Introduction and Story of Self: This session is split into a 20 minutes introduction and 70 minutes small group activity with the option of adding in another 30 minute video/discussion activity following the introduction (which would extend the total time to at least 2 hours). 20 minutes is actually quiet a short timeframe to introduce such a breadth of theoretical material. Therefore you might want to consider extending the time of this session somewhat, or you just have to make it clear to folks that youll be moving fast and they can go back to review the material in printed materials or again in later sessions as you practice each individual section of the story-telling method. Note on forming small groups: we usually recommend that the groups for these story-telling sessions continue together for all future story-telling small groups activities. That allows for the groups to develop a bit more sense of understanding and trust within them over time. Video Activity: Here is the optional video/discussion activity you can choose to add if time permits. We are eager to hear suggestions of other speeches available online that could serve to replace this speech. So far this speech has proven one of the absolute best in demonstrating the precise methodology we work on in these sessions. If you do stick with this video sure to emphasize with your group before viewing that the purpose of this video is to examine the story-telling qualities of the speech, not to promote or critique particular political views.

ACTIVITY VIDEO REVIEW 19 minute video, and 10-15 minute discussion

Barack Obama Speech 2004 Democratic National Convention http://youtu.be/eWynt87PaJ0 We will watch this video as a model for a story-telling that includes examples of self, us, and now as well as an appeal to emotions. As you watch the video think about the elements of SELF US NOW that you hear in his story. Listen as well for the challenge, choice, and outcome in each of the three areas.

SELF What are his experiences and values that call him to take leadership to elect John Kerry?

US What is his reason for believing in the capacity of the people he is speaking to create change? What shared values and experiences does he appeal to?

NOW Why is it urgent to change? What is his strategy to overcome the challenge? What is the first step that each person can take to be part of the solution?

Do you think he did a good job of telling his story? What worked? What could have been more clear? What are some of the specific details in his story that you remember? What values did he talk about in his story? Story of Us: This whole session is nearly identical to the session about the Story of Self. You should be able to reintroduce the second part of this story-telling method in just a few minutes and get right into the practice exercise, which operates just like the exercise for the story of self practice. Its important to point out that you are now focusing only on the Story of Us in this exercise and people do not need to combine it with their Story of Self or Story of Now. Also, people are often confused by this section, unsure of what stories to tell. The Story of Us, even more than the other stories, depends upon the audience, since the audience should be part of the us in the story. So make sure everyone identifies their audience and crafts stories based on who theyre telling their story to. Story of Now: Again, this session largely functions the same as the first two story-telling sessions, but there is a longer introduction regarding strategy before diving into the exercise. First, if you showed the speech by Barack Obama discussed above, you can open this session with some questions that reference the video again: Do you remember how Barack Obama, in his 2004 Democratic convention speech, got very specific about the fact that there was more work to do? Do you remember how he explained the challenges? Was it with statistics? Or was it with specific people, facing their own challenges, their own choice points. Do you remember how gave us a sense of hope, that we could do something about these challenges? And then,

he wound up with calling on us to make the choice to join the campaign to elect the Democratic nominee, President. He identified a very specific action he was asking us all to choose to taketo go vote for John Kerry. If you have used a different video example during the opening session for story-telling, you can ask similar questions regarding that video to open off the session. And if no video example has been used, just dive right into the introduction. Since much of the content around the notion of strategy will come from actual campaign plans it often makes sense to do this session after some initial campaign strategy sessions, though you can always dive right in as well. When it comes time for the practice exercise, note that its common for workshops to skip to putting it all together at this stage and practicing the full, three-part story, if time does not allow for yet another session later on to practice putting the three parts together. If time does allow, it is worth having a practice session focused just on the Story of Now as it is also time to think deeply on strategy and action plans. Condensed Session: This session is an abbreviated alternative to the above 3 sessions. It largely introduced the same content (as quickly or in-depth as you have time forhence the time range given), followed by a 55 minute practice exercise. If time allows, it is highly recommended that you NOT use this condensed session and go through each portion of the story-telling method one by one, but this session is still valuable if its your only option. Also for workshops that do go through each portion of the story-telling method one by one, you can skip the whole introduction and theory sections and just use the worksheet as the basis for a final session putting the full story together into onecombining the Story of Self, Us, and Now.

3. Build a Movement
Build a Movement - Introduction People power Get creative Build a Movement - Introduction: this session is designed almost exclusively as a lecture, covering a wide range of concepts. Once again, try as best as you can to make the conversation interactive rather than simply a one-way lecture. For example, many of the ideas are actually quite simplesometimes experiences that people can easily relate to, in the context of movement building or not. Offer opportunities for the group to share annecdotes and stories that might help relate each point to real-world experiences. People power: As stated in the introduction to this sections, it is useful to outline for participants what this session is and what it is not. People can easily have very different ideas as to what a session about people power or non-violent civil disobedience might be, and it is best to ensure people have common expectations going into the session. After setting expectations, this session is half large-group discussion about the overall meaning and history of people power in social movement, drawing on the history of past movements. It is important that facilitators have some working knowledge of at least a handful of past social movement to enrich the conversation. At the same time, this session is intended to be much less of a lecture and much more of a collective exploration of the idea of people power and how it can be applied to the climate movement. After this opening discussion, we provide some perspectives regarding strategic action planning for nonviolent civil disobedience. The second half of this session is a small group brainstorming and discussion session, outlined in the session guide. We recommend leaving 15 minutes at the end for a full group debrief as well. Get creative: This session is split into 4 parts: (1) Introduction, (2) Ways Creativity Can Help You Organize, (3) Basic Tools for Creative Change, and (4) Conclusion. There is likely more than can fit into 1.5 hours, so plan ahead which sections you wish to use for the time you have. The materials are designed to be creative, fun and interactive while still allowing for the important points to get across. If time (and space) permit, we recommend incorporating a hands-on group project into this workshopto share with people directly some of the things this session talks about: using art to grow community and to have fun. One idea is to use part of this workshop to plan and organize a creative group photo from the workshop or conference, or to use this session as a brainstorming opportunity for a specific upcoming project.

NOTE: Art and Creativity are used interchangeably throughout the session. We often talk more about creativity, rather than art, as many people have preconceived notions of what art is and whether or not they have the necessary skills to participate in an art project. (1) The initial introduction section: (if you wish to cover everything in 1.5 hours) should be no more than 20 minutes in total. After the very opening introduction why art? try and see if the group has examples of how art or other forms creative communication has been used (either successfully or unsuccessfully) express a message in a powerful wayfirst focusing on personal experiences locally or regionally. You can broaden to other known or famous examples if the group isnt coming up with many ideas of memories of personal experiences, but first try to give the group time to think of some examples. After a few stories or examples, try to start identifying the key lessons associated with each, eventually touching upon all the elements that follow in the guide: a second try, art as uniter, art as motivator, art is lasting, art is also inviting. Invite people to talk about projects they were engaged in where they felt creativity was an important part of the project, and what its impact was. Instead of talking through each element in order and then asking for responses, you can use the next section as responses to peoples comments and stories. For examples, if someone talks about a project used art to unite people, you can respond with the appropriate section. Also, try to identify other properties or reasons for art and creative communications not listed as the conversation cotinuesbe sure to ask for such possibilities, if they dont arise naturally. If time allows, you can close the introduction section with the following discussion: DISCUSSION: Discuss the quote: The goal of the revolutionary artist is to make revolution irresistible. by Cade Bambara. What do you think is meant by this? The Way Creativity Can Help You Organize section is a brief discussion of ways art can assist you in very practical ways. This section can be very brief10 minutesunless you choose to incorporate creative activities such as banner making or photo and video projects, to try a little hands-on practice. (3) Again, this section, Basic Tools for Creative Change, is mostly a discussion of practical techniques. If time and resources allow, it is often best to learn by doing. Here is one possible excercise that requires almost no material resources at all: EXERCISE: Have small groups write three different words into pieces of paper (These words should be relevant to the current political system, or what their project is communicating about). For example: earth, factory, economy, Senate, Parliament, corporations, oil, coal, atmosphere, traffic, Sarkozy, Obama, a frog, a child, etc. Have the small groups create a small skit with one person pretending to be each one of these things encourage them to play around and try new things, all the while thinking about how to parody how these entities are actually interacting in the real world. If you dont have time for an excersize, you can at least ask a brief, basic questions...

DISCUSSION: What are some other tools that we have available to us that can be used to communicate in creative ways. (3a) If time allows and you want to get a bit more philosophical, here are some ideas and activities for getting the group to think beyond just creating art for campaign objectives: Art as Change One thing that often gets lost in the conversation about making art about social change is that art is social change. Many of the crafts that our grandparents (and parents, and us!) knew so well were perfect example of local creative production using local materials. Simple acts such as knitting, crocheting, leatherwork, metalwork, or sewing are acts that speak out for localized production systems and quality and pride in work, while reducing our dependence on overseas and foreign made goods (which often don't last very long). Other activities, such as dancing, singing and playing music are also solutions to climate change, simply because they show us ways to live well without relying on fossil fuels. Generate fun not electricity. Acts as simple as writing a poem are inherently solutions to the climate crisis, because they are moments when we dedicate ourselves to not the production and accumulation of capital, but the production and accumulation of happiness and beauty instead. DISCUSSION: Ask people to talk about a craft their family has engaged in to create their own materials. Do they still do this? Do you? What local traditions from your area are still in practice and how to these promote a sustainable relationship with the planet? ACTIVITY: Have fun! Have someone lead group in a song or dance most people know, or some other fun exercise. At the end point out that you just had great low-carbon time. Conclusion: again, if time allows, you can start off the section discussing the quote by Bertolt Brecht... DISCUSSION: Discuss the quote by Bertolt Brecht: Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it. The final exercise for this session is to discuss ways of incorporating creativity into upcoming campaign ideas or plans. If you want to incorporate a Hands-on project into this section. Below are a few simple ideas for easy group projects that can show people what we have been talking about. Project Ideas: Make your own T-shirts by hand that communicate about your project, ask participants to bring a blank or old t-shirt with them and then paint over it using stencils and latex house paint (note: always but a piece of cardboard inside the shirt so the paint doesn't bleed through to the back). Plan your group photograph - organize a creative photo from your conference/meeting, perhaps by creating a banner or some other prop. Or just forming peoples body into the shape of an image or word.

 Design and paint a mural on a wall - This is a bigger project, but a great way to leave a lasting impact on the space you met in. Longer Term: Invite a local artist to participate in your project from the beginning or to create a project with your group or invite an artist to become the Artist in Residence for your group. Create an Art Build to create art the week before your event. Invite the press.

4. Build a Campaign
Build a Campaign - Introduction Tactics Strategy Plan an Action Engage Your Officials NOTE: If you do not have the time to do all five sessions for Build a Campaign we recommend doing the first two stopping before the Team Work on tactics. That shortened session should be just one and half hours.

Introduction:
Before getting into more full-group lecture and discussion, this session opens with a short small group activity. The activity is then followed by a more theoretical discussion of campaigning, and key elements of most successful campaigns in very broad terms. We included some background on 350.org as a built-in example to the materials, but you are welcome to provide your own examples. When you get to the section about targets, just a quick word of caution to be sure no one is confused by the meaning of the word. We use the word often in reference to 350ppm CO2, but this targets discussion is more focused on people or groups. Try not to take more than 10 minutes for the theoretical introduction to campaigns to allow time for the Goal and Targets small group activity. Lastly, if time allows, or if you choose to replace it with the Goals and Targets activity, you can also do a 20 minute power-mapping activity..

Tactics:
This is another session with a lecture-based introduction followed by a group activity. The introduction should be quite shortonly 10-15 minutes. The sections about direct action and civil disobediece and creative tactics refer also to other sessions in the larger workshop agenda optionsit can be useful to foreshadow other upcoming topics or review past topics quickly at this time. The activity is self-explanatory in the session guide, accompanied by the worksheet.

Strategy:
Strategy is discussed at length during the story-telling sessions of 350.org climate leadership workshops. If you are not doing those parts, we recommend reviewing the story of now session to pull content to here as well. If you already did the story of now, this session is mainly about seeing how strategies fit into campaigns alongside goals, targets, and tactics. First is another short introductary lecture-based section that should be no more than 20 minutes, possibly less. Then there is a group activity for 20 minutes. The activity outlined was designed by Nadine Bloch and used by Trainers for Change, based in the US, but any group challenge that has a clear goal, requires group strategizing, and executing tactics, can suffice to be a fun way to review all these elements.

Plan an Action
This session is divided into a couple parts. We first cover some overall guidelines for event planning much through lecture and discussion form, and checklist and timeline activity. The second part is more focused on recruitment alone. For recruitment, be sure to talk through the content, and if time allows here is an activity for the workshop or as a follow-up exercise when folks leave...

Activity: Recruitment worksheet

In this activity, youll start to work out some of the different activities you could use to reach out to people for your event, and getting down to details about how many people each activity is likely to turn out. That way you can get a realistic sense of what you will need to do to reach your recruitment goal. Recruitment activity example: tabling at local soccer/ football games local families Audience Message - what will resonate with this audience? this will be a fun, family friendly event that shows your support for a safe future for our town # you think you can reach with this activity will be able to talk with 1,000 people over 3 games # you think will actually turn out 100

Your recruitment goal: Totals:

Activity debrief
After beginning to work through the numbers and recruitment work required to reach your goals, now its time to ask yourself: Do we have the team and capacity necessary to reach those goals? What do we need to do to have the capacity to reach our goals? Are there other recruitment tactics not covered in this section that you think would work in your cultural context? Engage Your Officials: This session is written trying to take into consideration all forms of government around the world, but the content is certainly most relevant to democratic countries. The session begins with a question...

Why Lobby?
Propose this question to the group and ask them to propose answers. Help them along or develop answers as you hear them. If you need to begin with a definition or explanation of what lobbying means, by all means clarify that for the group first. A few good answers: to clearly communicate our asks (support X Bill, make a public statement against X coal plant) to clearly communicate our power (we have a central group of 10 meeting once a week and we had an event with 50 people last month, heres some media from our event) to hold elected officials accountable (why didnt you support X?) to gather information about their motivations and political needs (what can we do to get you to support X?) To make sure elected officials factor us into their political calculus This section is all about making sure we have a common sense of the big picture before entering the exercise. Weve started out by engaging our audience, and now were going to discuss more specifics. The first portion is in part review from past sessions, but it adds new layers as well. Setup for the lobby role-play activity is as follows: Divide your group into smaller lobby teams who will role play a lobby meeting with a government official. Each group will have time to prepare their meeting. You can either assign volunteers to role play as the official, or pretend to be an official yourself. The sections following the activity also accompany the activitythey can be used as a reference or worksheet for the groups, including the Guide to Playing Staffer for a Legislator. In closing, we recommend a quick discussion of sustaining your efforts over the longterm, as outlined in the guide.

5. Media
Overview: New and Traditional Media Use online media to amplify your story Use offline media to tell your story Connect the dotsonline and offline Overview: New and Traditional Media: This session is primarily designed as a full group lecture/discussions session. You are welcome to introduce active practice or activities to this session as well, though some acitivites follow in the coming sessions. Use online media to amplify your story: This session is also written in the workshop guide as a lecturebased session. That said, there are countless great examples you can show to the group of effective, ineffective, or at least interesting use of online toolsvideos, websites, e-petitions, etc. We encourage showing some examples as ways to maintain the groups interest and attention. They can also be used to prompt discussion among the groupabout what is really useful for movement building purposes and what isnt. Use offline media to tell your story: This session has a 45 minutes interview and pivoting activity built in after a brief introduction. All the remainder in this session following the acitivity can be offered to participants as a resource when they go back home, unless you have ample time and want to discuss timeline preparation and media advisory and press release writing in detail. Connect the dotsonline and offline: We cover a lot of information throughout the media sessions, so it can be very worthwhile to reserve a bit of time at the end to review many of the key elements and to discuss how online and offline tools integrate together.