Operation Democracy Recruitment Guide for Party for the Planet

MoveOn members across the country are gathering for the Party for the Planet. This is a fantastic event to build your Operation Democracy coordinating council. Here's a basic recruitment plan to use as you prepare for your Party. Your goal is to recruit more folks to come to your council's Party for the Planet so that they get a feel for MoveOn and your council, and hopefully join the council as an active member.

Basic Steps:

1. Call the most active members of your council and ask them to help with recruitment before your party.
2. Hold a recruitment night with other folks from your council and make phone calls.
3. If you can't hold a recruitment night, divide up a list of folks to call, and make calls from home.

Tips for the Recruitment Night

• Pick a night -- folks are more likely to be home from work after 6pm.
• Pick someone's home that has space for a few folks to gather and make phone calls. A place that previously hosted Call for Change, or Call for the Climate, should work great. Make sure it gets good cell phone reception, and has a comfortable space for folks to gather.
• Print a list of names to call (see below for tips).
• Invite people on your council to come over at a designated time. Remind them to bring their cell phones and chargers.
• Be sure to have food there! -- ask other folks to bring snacks.
• Once folks arrive, hand out scripts (see below) and make calls for an hour or two.
• Be sure to keep track of how many people say yes they'll come. If anyone is interested in being added to your council, add them using your council tool.

Where can you get names and phone numbers?

1. Council list online: http://www.operationdemocracy.org/team/council/
2. Sign up sheets from previous events
3. Contact your organizer or regional coordinator if you need help getting more names after following these steps. Don't know who your organizer or regional coordinator is? Email planetparty@moveon.org for help.

How do we email people about the recruitment night?

• If they're on your council, use your council tool (http://www.operationdemocracy.org/team/council/)
• If you have a sign up sheet with email addresses, email them through the host tools page. If you can't find the link to your host tools page, email planetparty@moveon.org. (You need to be the house party host to do this.)

Tips on emailing

• Email everyone a week or two before your party, 3 or 4 days before, then again the day before
• Always include the link to sign up for your event. This is at the bottom of your host tools page. It will look something like this: http://pol.moveon.org/event/planetparty/37433

Tips on making phone calls

• Recruit other members of your council to help and divvy up the list so everyone has 10-25 people to call
• Do your first round of calling 3 or 4 days before your Party
• Call through your list twice before leaving a message. Make sure your message has the details about the meeting and how to contact you with questions
• Call folks again the night before meeting to confirm.
• Use the script below to help you

Recruitment script:

Connection:

Hi, is ______ there? Great. This is _____, I’m a member of MoveOn.org’s local Operation Democracy council here in ______[city]. Do you have a few minutes?

If you have met them before –I’m calling because I know you’ve signed up to be on the local council / I know you’ve been an active MoveOn member in this area for quite some time, and I believe we actually met at the ________ event! What did you think of how it went?

If you have not met them before -  I’m calling because I know you’ve signed up to be on the local council / I know you’re an active MoveOn member in this area, but I’m not sure we’ve met yet. Have you been able to make it to any Operation Democracy events lately? What else have you done with MoveOn?

[The goal here is to ask a question that will enable you to connect with the person first and find out more about them. These are a few examples to get you started. Be sure to listen to their answer so that you can respond accordingly….this is huge when making a connection with someone, especially over the phone!]

Context:

I’m calling to invite you to our council’s July 7th Party For the Planet! We’re gathering at __________’s home at _______pm. First, we’ll watch a Virtual Town Hall Meeting with top Presidential Candidates. They’ll be responding to questions submitted by MoveOn members about global warming.  Then we’ll tune in to see Live Earth, the huge, historic concerts on seven continents, sponsored by Al Gore to raise awareness about global warming.  So we’ll have an opportunity to eat, discuss, and enjoy the show!

Commitment:

This is going to be an awesome event and we’re trying to get everyone from the council there! Will you be able to make it?

Catapult:

If Yes -  Great! I’m so glad you’ll be able to make it! I’ll be sure to email you the link to register to attend. That way we can keep track of about how many folks to expect. Just to reiterate here are all the details – (address, time, date). Can you bring anything for the BBQ/potluck?  Do you have family, friends, neighbors that would also be interested?

If maybe - OK. [address concern (i.e. “yeah, I know it’s hard to plan in advance with young kids – if appropriate – ‘bring ‘em along!’)] But we’d really love to have you come if you can make it. It's so important that we build a strong community of council members here in __________ and this is a great opportunity to do just that! Do you think you can make it?

If No -  Darn it! I hate that you’ll miss the festivities, but as far as the Town Hall portion goes, members will receive an email the following day, Sunday July 8th, that will include a link to a video of the entire Town Hall. And members will be able to vote for which candidate’s plan they liked best. So make sure to vote in that.

 [If not on your council -  One last thing, a group of MoveOn members here meet from time to time as a local council to plan local MoveOn events. Would you be interested in staying in touch about upcoming events and meetings? Great.]