The People Lead Event Toolkit

Overview

The time for action is now. The horrifying siege at the Capitol on January 6, encouraged by a desperate fascist and his allies, showed how critical it is we fix our warped democracy once and for all. We must impeach Trump immediately and prevent him from holding office ever again. And we must reform our democratic institutions so they can no longer ignore the will of the people by obstructing legislation, suppressing voters, and gerrymandering their districts.

We won. In 2018, we flipped the House. In November, we won the White House. And now thanks to the tireless work of activists and Indivisibles in Georgia, we took the Senate. We worked hard for this, and we should be proud. It’s clear Indivivisibles made an enormous impact in this election, and we have the power to push for immediate impeachment and democracy reform.

We have a mandate for change. We need to build a truly inclusive democracy so we can build the progressive future we all want. Indivisibles played a key role in holding the House, defeating Trump, and taking the Senate. And we aren’t going anywhere. We are still here to hold MoCs accountable. We have the mandate and the time to influence their policy priorities is now.

We need to make sure Democrats are using their power to move quickly to impeach Trump and disqualify him from office, and to pass democracy reforms so we’re never in this precarious position again. Democrats need to prioritize this right away and avoid cutting bad deals with Republicans. It’s also crucial we pressure Republican MoCs so they feel the heat and limit their attempts to stall or weaken legislation.

That’s why we’re organizing both virtual and in-person nationwide week of action from January 11 to January 15. Congress is scheduled to be in recess, unless they return for impeachment hearings. This is an opportune time while MoCs are back in their home districts to get their attention and tell them what we want. And we’ll be amplifying our message online and through the press.

We named this day of action The People Lead because the people delivered a huge victory and defeated Trump and took back the Senate. We’ve earned a mandate to demand transformative change. Join us!

Contents of this toolkit

• Policy Goals
• Targets
• Talking Points
• Planning your event
• Planning an in-person event
• Planning a virtual event
• Sample press materials
• Links to further resources

Policy Goals

We have two major asks for this week of action: Impeach Trump and pass structural democracy reforms. Here are the steps to impeach Trump and disqualify him from future office:

• Congress must return from recess
• The House must draw up articles of impeachment and move quickly to vote on them
• The Senate must hold a speedy trial to convict him and bar him from holding office again

You don’t need to be a lawyer to advocate for impeachment. The important thing is that your MOC knows that you want them to start this process now, and that this crisis shows how important it is to reform our democracy. Here’s what we mean when we say democracy reform:

• Pass the For the People Act (HR 1), a democracy reform package that would quickly and effectively strengthen our democracy and empower voters
  • Requires members of Congress, Vice Presidents and Presidents to divest their assets and disclose conflicts of interest, and Presidents and VPs to disclose their tax returns
  • Institutes strict revolving door requirements to keep corporate lobbyists from moving back and forth into government
  • Fight racial and partisan gerrymandering at all levels of government
  • Institutes public funding for elections to reduce the power of corporate money in government
• Grant statehood for DC, a key democracy and racial justice issue. DC would be the first majority BIPOC state and would give residents representation in Congress. We want statehood for DC and self-determination for Puerto Rico and other US territories.
• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR 4), named for the civil rights icon and vital to ending voter suppression
  • Restores the Voting Rights Act and overturning voter ID laws and other suppressive laws that target communities of colo
• Reform the Courts, so we can set the course for a less hyper-partisan process for selecting and appointing judges, undoing the damage to these institutions caused by Trump and McConnel.

Key Members of Congress

It’s important to send a movement-wide signal to MoCs. That means every single MoC, regardless of their party, is should be a focus. That being said, there are some MoCs that we want to make sure to either put some extra pressure on, or show some extra appreciation to. They are:

If we win the Senate:

• Speaker Pelosi, CA
  • Decision maker in the House
• Senator Schumer, NY
  • Likely to become Majority Leader
  • Decision maker in the Senate
• Senator Peters, MI
  • Current ranking member of Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee which has jurisdiction over the D.C. statehood bill
  • Could become the chair of committee next Congress in a Dem trifecta scenario
• Senator Stabenow, MI
  • Member of Democratic leadership, current ranking member of Senate Finance Committee which has jurisdiction over democracy reform legislation; potential to be chair of committee next Congress in a Dem trifecta scenario
• Senator Manchin, WV
  • Swing vote on policy, strategy, and process. He could make or break our efforts to pass democracy reforms.
• Senator Sinema, AZ
  • Currently does not support DC statehood and could prevent us from passing it even if we control the Senate
• Representative Sarbanes, MD
  • Lead sponsor for H.R. 1
• Representative Nadler, NY
  • Chair of the House Judiciary Committee which has jurisdiction over democracy legislation
• Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC
  • Lead sponsor for H.R. 51 which grants DC statehood bill
• Problem Solvers Caucus members
  • Conservative Democrats who will try to block transformative change in the House
• Progressive Voting Bloc potential members: these MoCs will be our biggest champions and need to feel supported next year
  • Representative Ocasio-Cortez, NY
  • Representative Pressley, MA
  • Representative Tlaib, MI
  • Representative Omar, MN
  • Representative Garcia, IL
  • Representative Cori Bush, MO
  • Representative Bowman, NY
  • Representative Mondaire Jones, NY

If your MoC isn’t on the above list, you should absolutely still pressure them. Some will be very supportive of this campaign, and others we will need to really push. Do a little research on your MoC to figure out where they likely stand on Trump, democracy reform, and other progressive issues. Have they made any statements? Have they been receptive to progressive ideas or other campaigns you’ve run? One way to break it down is whether they are supportive, unreliable, or problematic and then determining your strategy for them. This will help you get specific on your tactics and messaging.

Supportive Members of Congress

These MoCs are publicly supportive of democracy reform and other key progressive issues, almost all will be Democrats. For these MoCs, we need to provide positive reinforcement that will inoculate them to bad ideas and messages from conservative Democrats like the so-called Problem Solvers caucus. We need them to stand firm and not accept bad deals with Republicans. This campaign will demonstrate that we will show up for them when they show up for us.

Unreliable Members of Congress

These MoCs may have indicated some support for our issues, but haven’t made a commitment, or they’ve implied that the ideas are “radical.” They probably have a track record of cutting bad deals or voting with Republicans on bad legislation. The strategy for these MoCs is to remind them that we will support them if they listen to their constituents, and their constituents demand democracy reform and big solutions to our pressing issues. This provides political cover for them.

Problematic Members of Congress

These MoCs include most Republicans and a few conservative Democrats, like the Problem Solvers. The Democrats in this category often voted with Trump and the Republicans or cut bad deals. We likely won’t be able to persuade many of these MoCs, but we can publicly show that many of their constituents support these issues which will make it harder for them to dissuade others or stall the process. We can still make them very nervous.

Talking Points 

• We are holding this event because we want our MoC to know: we will not just wait for Trump to leave office as his threat level to our democracy continues to increase. In the wake of the coup attempt at the Capitol, we need to impeach, remove, and disqualify Trump from every holding office to save our democracy. Once we save it, we demand bold, transformative change to reform our democracy and other pressing issues.
• We resisted the Trump agenda for four years, flipped the House, and defeated Trump. It’s time for Congress to work for us. It's also crucial that the House and Senate send a strong message that the United States will not tolerate attempts to usurp democracy, now or ever.
• For Democrats: First and foremost, we expect our MoC to work to impeach, remove, and disqualify Donald Trump from public office. We demand they stand firm in favor of what will help their constituents. If they fight for us—and don’t make bad deals with Mitch McConnell—we will have their back.
• For Republicans: They must face an explicit choice as to whether or not they will fully and completely reject Trump and Trumpism and ensure that he can never hold elected office again. We need them to stop obstructing progress. We will hold them accountable.
• We demand our MoCs to take quick action to impeach, remove, and disqualify Donald Trump. Now. The House must act quickly to pass Articles of Impeachment. And the Senate must hold a trial and remove Trump from office and then vote to disqualify him from ever holding federal office again.
• Our priority is to save our democracy. Our country is facing a number of crises related to the pandemic and so we need Congress to take immediate action to pass a recovery package that puts families first and that meets the challenges we face.
• We demand our MoCs take quick and bold action to fix our democracy.
• We got here because our democracy is rigged against the people in favor of the Republicans, the wealthy, and corporations.
• Specifically: one of the first legislation Democrats pass must be reforms to our democracy. We’re mobilizing to send our MoCs a clear message that we demand they move quickly to pass bold and transformative democracy reforms. Indivisibles spent four years resisting the Trump agenda and doing everything possible to put Democrats in a position to govern. Now we want them to use it to deliver big wins for us, starting with democracy reform.
• We want H.R. 1, DC statehood, and court reform. To save our democracy, we must pass H.R. 1, The For the People Act, statehood for DC, and rebalance our courts. That’s what we mean by democracy reforms.
• We demand Congress takes quick and bold action that reflects our values. Indivisibles spent four years resisting the Trump agenda and doing everything possible to remove him from office. Now we want Democrats to use their majority and the power of the White House to deliver big wins for the American people.
• We will hold every member of Congress accountable. We want every MoC, regardless of party or chamber, to know that we’re watching and expect them to deliver wins for the American people. We’ll hold Republicans accountable for their obstruction, and Democrats if they sacrifice their values.
• We know the Biden agenda goes through Congress. We will also hold President Biden accountable if he fails to live up to his promises, but Joe Biden needs Congress in order to move his legislative agenda. That’s why we’re focusing on MoCs to make sure they’re fighting for big progressive change at every turn.

Planning your event

Decide what kind of event you’ll host. Before you do anything, you’ll want to decide what kind of event you are hosting. You can either do an in-person or virtual event. We believe in-person events, especially at legislative offices, are most likely to get press but due to the pandemic there is the consideration of your and your participants safety. We also know that in-person events may not be possible due to COVID in some places and aren’t accessible to everyone. If you do decide on doing an in-person event, we strongly encourage you to limit the number of participants to no more than 3-5 people. Even one person showing up can make an impact.

On the other hand, we are in the midst of a global pandemic,  so we get it— you might not be comfortable being out and about.  Either way, your participation is essential. Why organize an event? Here are three important reasons. 

First, events drive engagement, both for your group and for the campaign. By running an event, you can bring in new people (who might not be able to attend in-person events) and retain your current members. If you’re not a group leader, you can use the specific date and time of an event to get friends or other activists to help you. Maybe they will end up being your Indivisible group co-founders!

Second, organizing an event and registering it on the national map, whether it’s in-person or virtual, helps us create a national narrative. Our goal is to help activists and groups run 200 events across the country, which will show widespread, powerful support for democracy reform. Even if it’s one person at an office or holding a sign on a busy street, it will help us tell the story to national and regional media which will make it more likely for your work to be covered by local media. And it’ll help all of us more effectively lobby our MoCs. So make sure to register your event with the issue focus The People Lead!

And finally, adding a virtual event to this campaign helps include people with disabilities. Planning these events are an opportunity for folks with disabilities to lead or show up when they might otherwise be excluded because of lack of accessibility. When we host an event, especially when people with disabilities have ownership in the planning process, we can make sure to address the needs of folks across the disability spectrum and include people who might not be able to take action

If you’re doing this in a small group or on your own, one of the most effective actions you can take is to visit your Member of Congress’ (MoCs) office. Showing up there lets them know that you’re a committed constituent to whom they are accountable, even if you’re outside. We recommend doing this at your Senator’s office (if your House Rep isn’t Sarbanes, Nadler, or Norton) but your Representative’s office is a great choice too if you don’t live near your Senator’s office.

If your MoC doesn’t have an office in your area, you can send the same message by having your event in a high-traffic area; have people line up with signs on the sidewalk (six feet apart of course). This will give you the opportunity to effectively amplify your message and attract media attention through holding eye-catching signs and making yourselves as visible as possible. 

If you decide to not do an in-person event, there are a lot of ways to take action virtually. We will have the biggest impact if we are coordinated across a specific time frame, the week of recess, making a collective demonstration of our people power. So plan your event between January 11 and January 15. The most effective events will engage new and returning members of your group together to directly pressure your MoC, while amplifying your message online or through traditional media. This is an opportunity to get creative! Think of ways you can bring people together, drive the overall message and your constituent power. 

Actions such as hosting a Zoom meeting with your MOC, creating a community room in which everyone is calling the MOCs office, and hosting a Zoom gathering where participants write Op-Eds or Letters to the Editor together are great examples of things that are effective and fun. We’re living in a virtual world - let’s get creative! 

Organizing events over a single week makes a big show of our collective power, and helps us drive the national narrative. Your event can be any time on that day, and you can definitely host both in-person and virtual events throughout the day. Below, you’ll find guidance for hosting either an in-person or virtual event (or both). And remember, your local organizer is always available to you as a resource and thought partner! 

If you need some extra help planning your event, you can join our office hour on Saturday, January 9th at 3p ET, register here.

Planning an in-person event

Set a location and time.

Start by figuring out when you’re going to have your event. It may be helpful to check in with your team to see what’s most convenient before finalizing a time. Since in-person events  are small, you’re not trying to recruit large numbers for, you can be more flexible about the timing. In terms of location, we’re recommending district offices if you have one (if your MoC doesn’t have one yet since they’re newly elected, you can select another meaningful public location). Some district offices will be closed with staff working remotely, but you might be able to drop something off in or outside the building, making it clear you were there. And it makes a great visual.

Make a COVID plan.

There are a few health and safety precautions that we expect every event to follow (outlined below), but we also encourage you to think about if there are additional items you want to add to your events. Based on the location, consider how many people you want to have present at one time. We recommend no more than 3-5 people—but even just one person can make an impact! 

1. Wear a mask! And make it a requirement that all attendees wear masks! Have extra masks you can give to participants who may forget to bring one.
2. Stay at least 6 feet apart—really, keep a safe distance from one another. 
3. Follow any local guidance/regulations, including any limits on the number of people per gathering. Even if you don’t have local limits on people per gathering, keep your events as small as possible. 
4. Keep in mind that folks have different circumstances and risk factors, so make sure there are different ways for group members to participate. 
5. Ask participants not to join in person if they feel sick or have any concerns about recent exposure to COVID. Consider creating a questionnaire during the sign-up process that asks participants to confirm the following screening questions:
   • I am not showing any COVID-19 symptoms (e.g. fever, dry cough, sore throat, fatigue)
   • I have not had contact with others with a confirmed positive test of COVID-19 in the last 14 days 
   • I have not traveled to restricted countries or states in the last 14 days 
   • I will wear a mask for the duration of the event

Set your agenda and invite speakers.

Given the size of these events, it’s important to consider your agenda and if you want to have any speakers from the early stages so that you can keep an eye on who/the number of people you recruit to join. These events should be short, so limit the length and number of speakers.

REGISTER YOUR EVENT ON THE INDIVISIBLE MAP.

For both in-person and virtual events, make sure to register your event on the map here, using The People Lead for the “Event Issue Focus.” Registering your event helps by making it easier to tell a national story about the grassroots activism for this issue. For example, we can tell the media we have X number of events happening for this day of action, increasing the chances we’ll get national and local coverage. It also helps new Indivisibles find your group! If you need to, you can check the “Make Event Private” box which means the event won’t show up on our event page.

Start recruiting.

This is going to be a very unique type of recruiting. Since you’re only looking to have a handful of folks join, you can determine the best way to assemble that group. Do you want to take volunteers who are lower-risk and feel comfortable going out in person? Do you want to start with a steering committee? Just remember, everyone should be allowed to determine their own risk level and what role they can take on. 

Delegate and determine roles.

Any event is a great opportunity to develop leadership within your group and empower folks to take on new responsibilities. Even though you’ll have a small group in person, you can still involve folks who won’t be joining the day of—like helping with props, planning or media outreach. 

Invite reporters.

Invite reporters who have covered your MoC. Read recent stories about the race, looking for the “bylines” of people who’ve written them. Check in with any guest speakers to make them aware media are invited, and see if they can offer any help bringing them. If reporters are able to make it, mention at the beginning of the event they are there, so participants are aware. If they can’t make it, send them the press release afterwards. Make sure to send out an advisory, see a sample here.

Make a social media plan.

The press isn’t the only way you can amplify your message. If you’re showing up to an office, you can use Facebook or Instagram live to broadcast your event online, which can inspire others to call, email or tweet their MoC. The campaign doesn’t end after the event so whatever your action is, make sure to take lots of pictures and videos to post afterward! 

Create a visual component.

We’re still organizing in a different world that we’re used to during this pandemic. Since we can’t have big in-person rallies, a potent tool is using creative, unique visuals to catch the attention of the press, constituents, and your MoC.

What is the message you want to convey if a picture is captured and there is no description? This is an opportunity to get creative! If you have supportive MoCs what is the message you want to make sure you deliver to them? If you have MoCs that are unreliable or problematic, how do you deliver the message to them? We’ll have brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas together but here are a few to get your started:

• Deliver a big print out of a letter signed by your members demanding action on democracy reform
• If you have a supportive MoC, you could deliver balloons or flowers welcoming them back, and reminding them that you’ll be in touch….
• Drop off items representing how many calls you made to get your MoC re-elected

Sample event agenda

• Meet at X location at X time
• Make sure everyone is wearing masks if not pass out masks to the participants that forgot
• Drop off your visual component in our outside of the office
• Deliver remarks to the press or via Facebook/Instagram live
• Take pictures and videos and head home to post them

After your Event 

Send a thank you email. It’s a good practice to send a quick follow up email a day or so after your event to reiterate your appreciation for joining, share any resources that came up during the event, and remind folks about your call(s) to action. 

Thank speakers and volunteers. Send a specialized follow up and thank you to your event volunteers and to any special speakers you had at the event. This can be a handwritten note, phone call, or email depending on what makes sense in the circumstances. 

Hold a debrief. Regardless of the size of a project or event, debriefing is an important habit to get into. This can be with the main event planners or with a larger portion of your group. Spend time digging into what went really well and what can go better next time—then make sure you have a way to capture all these great learnings for future events. 

Follow up individually with attendees. After you do outreach to all your attendees, make a plan to follow up with folks individually—especially those who haven’t been to events with your group before. Recruit others in your group to help call through the attendees to thank them for joining, build a relationship, and see how they want to get involved in your group. 

Send reporters a press release, photos/screenshots, and stories. Even if no reporters make it, which happens, you can package up some highlights for them afterwards in case they can use them in their coverage of the race later. Write a press release. Get quotes from any guest speakers. Send screenshots. One long email with a bunch of attachments is OK. 

Post your pictures and videos! Keep amplifying your message by posting pictures and videos of your event online with the hashtag #ThePeople Lead.

Planning your virtual event

Choose a date and time

The People Lead week of action is between January 11 and January 15, 2021. Organizing events on a single day makes a big show of our collective power, and helps us drive the national narrative. Your event can be any time on that day and you can definitely host both in-person and virtual events throughout the day.

Hosting a virtual group meeting or rally

One of the best options is to bring people together virtually via Zoom, Google Hangout, or another platform to meet each other, learn about democracy reform, and take action together. This could be a big virtual rally where you invite community leaders to speak, or an event similar to your regular group meetings dedicated to the campaign. The key is to give people a way to take action while you have them. Include a section on your agenda to make calls, send emails, write LTEs together, etc.

When you’re setting up your event, here are some accessibility recommendations to think through. We will have some funding available to support these recommendations soon. In the meantime, please reach out to your organizer or to supportteam@indivisible.org with questions. 

• Closed captioning will make your event accessible to people who are deaf or hard of hearing. There are services that will caption your live event which you can use distributed fundraising funds for.
• You could also include an ASL interpreter, which could be a good choice for a larger virtual rally. This resource includes some helpful guidance on working with interpreters for virtual events.
• Follow these tips to make slide decks, powerpoints, and other handouts readable for all of your participants:
  • If you have multiple handouts, consider creating a QR code with links to all materials at the beginning of the presentations
  • Create a view-only or PDF copy of your materials and email them to your attendees 24 hours before your event
  • Use one of the Google Slides and Powerpoint pre-set accessible slide layouts, there are collections for each
  • Use sans serif fonts like Arial or Helvetica
  • Use bold for emphasis, avoid italics and underlines
  • Do not rely on color to tell the story. Enhance with labels, icons or other visual markers
  • Avoid text-heavy slides, transitions, animations and GIFs
  • Use high color contrasts, like white and blue

Sample agenda for a virtual rally:

15 minutes before the event: Speakers join the meeting

• Check to make sure everything your speakers’ mics are working

10 minutes: Welcome & Introductions

• Assign a facilitator ahead of time to kick things off and “MC” your event
• Thank everyone for coming, review your agenda

10 minutes: About The People Lead

• Share why you decided to organize this event. You don’t need to be a policy expert, just share why democracy matters to you.
• Review our democracy reform goals:
• Pass the For the People Act (HR 1), a democracy reform package that would quickly and effectively strengthen our democracy and empower voters.
  • Requires members of Congress, Vice Presidents and Presidents to divest their assets and disclose conflicts of interest, and Presidents and VPs to disclose their tax returns. 
  • Institutes strict revolving door requirements to keep corporate lobbyists from moving back and forth into government
  • Fight racial and partisan gerrymandering at all levels of government
  • Institutes public funding for elections to reduce the power of corporate money in government
• Grant statehood for DC, a key democracy and racial justice issue. DC would be the first majority BIPOC state and would give residents representation in Congress. We want statehood for DC and self-determination for Puerto Rico and other US territories.
• Pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Act (HR 4), named for the civil rights icon and vital to ending voter suppression
• Restores the Voting Rights Act and overturning voter ID laws and other suppressive laws that target communities of color
• Reform the Courts, so we can set the course for a less hyper-partisan process for selecting and appointing judges, undoing the damage to these institutions caused by Trump and McConnel.

5 minutes: First speaker

• Invite a community leader or activist to speak about why democracy reform matters to them and their community. If you have a super supportive MoC, you could invite them to speak as well.

5 minutes: Second speaker

• We recommend between two and three speakers if you’re billing your event as a rally. Just remember they might go over their allotted time a bit. 

15 minutes: Take action!

• Take action together! You can walk your attendees through what to do. Your action items could be…
  • Make calls to your MoC (remember to mute everyone)
  • Write emails to your MoC
  • Write Letters to the Editor together
  • Submit Soapboxx videos
  • Post on social media (sample posts and graphics below!)
• See below for resources on these options

Organizing a meeting with your Member of Congress

Another option to directly pressure your Member of Congress ( MoC) is to ask them to meet with your group virtually. This is a great tactic if your MoC is super supportive and you want to dig into the campaign with them, and make some additional asks like joining the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Or, they might be an “unreliable” MoC who needs a bit of a push. This gives you an opportunity to share your stories about why this issue matters to you. 

We recommend keeping meetings like this smaller, about ten people or less, so you can have a more intimate conversation and make an ask without your MoC feeling ambushed. However, you can always include more people in the planning process. There’s no guarantee you’ll be able to schedule a meeting with them, so we recommend planning a backup action if you can’t get something scheduled, like working together on an op-ed.

Sample agenda for an MoC meeting:

• Introductions and thank you’s
  • Thank your MoC for meeting with you and introduce everyone
• Tell them what we want
  • Tell them that you wanted to meet with them to talk about impeachment and democracy reform
  • Review the policy priorities (for DC statehood, HR 1, John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and court reform)
• Share why this matters to you
  • Decide on a few people to share why democracy reform matters to them. Remember, you don’t need to be a policy expert. Your MoC works for you.
• Make an ask
  • What makes sense to ask your MoC? Refer to the other toolkit for the goals for supportive, unreliable or problematic MoCs.
  • Your ask might be simple like, “Can we count on your support for democracy reform?”
  • You might also ask them to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus, or to post a tweet with their support for democracy reform.
• Take a picture!
  • With your MoC’s permission, take a group picture (via a screengrab) to post online!

Recruit for your event

Did you know we have a resource just for recruiting? It’ll walk you through how to make a plan, how to set a goal, and the most effective way to get sign-ups. Check it out and start making a recruitment plan! It’s a good idea to start by connecting with members who volunteered during the election season; this is a fun next step for those folks. 

Delegate and determine roles

Any event is a great opportunity to develop leadership within your group and empower folks to take on new responsibilities- especially as we move into election season. Depending on the scale of your event, you may want to create teams or just have one point person for specific duties like:

• Facilitator: This person emcees your event, kicking it off and introducing each speaker, or helps keep the meeting moving.
• Tech support: This person will decide on a platform for your virtual event, send out the link, and help any newbies. They are also in charge of muting anyone with loud background noise! Ah, the power.
• Accessibility lead: This person makes a plan for closed captioning or other accessibility needs and reviews any materials with this lens. 
• Speakers: If you’re meeting with your MoC, figure out who will be sharing what and when before the meeting. If you’re hosting a rally or group meeting, invite folks to speak.
• Information Lead: This is your member who reads every Indivisible email and keeps in close touch with your organizer. This person is in charge of making sure everyone in the group is aware of any new updates or info shared from national to groups that affects their events.

Tips

• Remember, you don’t have to be a policy expert or a lawyer for your voice to matter.
• Embrace the mess! Technology may not always cooperate, but staying calm and patient through the glitches will encourage your attendees to do the same.
• Take pictures! It’s less likely the press will cover virtual events (though you should still send out advisories and press releases!) but you can amplify your voice online.
• Reminder, talking points, targets, and overall legislative strategy are in this toolkit.

After your event

Make sure to thank your attendees and speakers, send a follow-up email to your MoC if appropriate, send a press release, and hold a debrief conversation.

Make sure to post your pictures and videos on social media! These events can be powerful and effective but are less likely to garner media attention. So it’s doubly important to amplify your message online

Further Resources

We’ve got some more goodies for you! These resources will help you push out the message online and in the press. You might use them for your event or as a follow up.

Swag request form: Who doesn’t love swag? Fill out this form before 9pm EST / 6pm PST on Thursday, 12/17 to get some rally signs and buttons!

Letter to the Editor guide: MoCs tend to pay attention to Letters to the Editor (LTEs), and it helps spread the word to new people in your area. If you work together to write a lot of them and submit them to multiple newspapers in your area, you’ll increase your chances of them getting published. 

OpEd guide: OpEds are also in the opinion section of a newspaper but give you much more room to make your point. You’ll also need to “pitch” your piece, so the best practice is to work with members of your group on drafting your OpEd and pitching it to newspapers.

Tweet storm page: Use this page to make it super easy to tweet out a message for democracy reform! We also have a full social media toolkit below!

Soapboxx page: Soapboxx is a super fun, easy way to record a video to tell your MoC why you want democracy reform. Original videos get more attention online and help drive our message forward, showing that real people care about this issue.

Social media toolkit: This resource includes sample social media messages and graphics

Graphics folder: Want to print your own The People Lead rally sign? Find the file in our graphics folder!