Volunteer Engagement - A Strategy

"Anyone can walk up Parliament Hill all by themselves.  

If you want to climb Mount Everest, you need a team."
(With apologies to John C. Maxwell "17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork"
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"There will be two types of voters in the next election:

• those who will be voting FOR Stephen Harper, and
• those who will be voting AGAINST Stephen Harper.

Our job is to find those who will be voting AGAINST Stephen Harper and get them to vote LIBERAL.

In order to win this election, each riding has to:

• raise $100,000
• recruit AND train 500 volunteers
• have conversations with 50,000 voters multiple times"

Gerald Butts, LPC (O) Campaign College, Hamilton Ont, 29 November 2014

To recap:

• Raise $100,000
• Recruit AND train 500 volunteers
• Have conversations with 50,000 voters multiple times
• Identify those voters voting AGAINST Stephen Harper
• Get them to vote for our candidate on Election Day

Teamwork Makes The Dream Work - You Need Trained Volunteers
Studies over the last two decades have shown that it's conversations that win elections.  The most effective way to do this is the door-to-door canvass.  Combining it with technology like Liberalist and miniVAN can produce very dramatic results on election day.  

Given the size of a riding and the fact there are over 50,000 voters, it's next to impossible for the candidate to do it all alone.  It requires a team of trained volunteers who know how to canvass and carry on those one-on-one conversations.

The Challenge - Growing The Team - Recruit AND Train Volunteers
Having won the nomination for the riding, you probably have a core of 15-20 committed volunteers from your nomination campaign - people who are self-starters, who show initiative, who know how to get the job done, and who will deliver when given the assignment.  Add another 25 or so from the other candidates' teams and you might make it up to 50-60 volunteers at this early stage of the game.  We now have to ramp that up to 500 TRAINED volunteers.  

Times Have Changed
While some volunteers may have done canvassing in previous elections, today's campaign environment has changed.  Goals and objectives are different.  Technology has become the game changer.  New volunteers will definitely need to be organized and trained.  Many in the core group will need refresher training.   

Phone-banking by volunteers in today's Internet-connected world is new.  Who'd 'a thunk you'd be doing "virtual" phone-banking on your SmartPhone with your tablet or iPad at hand while sitting in Tim Horton's!!  Whaaaattt!!??  You mean we don't go knocking on every door in the neighbourhood trying to convince everyone to vote our way!!??  Liberalist and mobile apps like mini-VAN have changed door-to-door canvassing to say nothing about how they've changed GO-TV action on election day!  Even the acronym "GO-TV" is relatively new.  The old-timers still call it "scrutineering", even though it bears no resemblance to sitting at the desk all day in the polling station.  And we haven't even touched on phone banking, data entry, planting signs, and the myriad of tasks and assignments that make up a successful election campaign.

"Training" Is Not Training - It's An Opportunity For Social Engagement
Next to "Politics In The Pub", training is one of the best ways to keep volunteers engaged, motivated, and interested in the campaign.  The social aspect of this type of event is unlimited.  The possibilities for a training curriculum are endless.  

Training becomes the first step in getting volunteers engaged in the campaign.  It's the start of making those important connections.  A progression of training courses can build relationships and identify those volunteers capable of taking on increased responsibility.  

As a minimum, training should include: 

• An Information Session to start the engagement process ("Volunteering - The Important Road Ahead").  Making those first connections with the volunteer will determine whether the volunteer stays engaged or decides to drop out and drift away.
• Door-To-Door Canvassing ("Change On The Doorstep").  What are the goals and objectives?  What information do we come away with when we leave the door?  Dropping the volunteer in the middle of the lake and telling them to swim to shore is not a good idea!  
• Phone Banking ("Calling For Change")  What do we want them to say?  How do we want them to say it?  Studies have shown the effectiveness of a robo-call is 10%, for a paid caller 25%.  Put a volunteer into the equation and the effectiveness of phone banking starts to head north of 60%!  
• Get-Out-The-Vote (GO-TV)  What is our objective?  Why are we doing this?  What will the impact be if we pull it off successfully?  An effective GO-TV strategy can mean the difference between a close race and a solid win!
• How To Use miniVan & Liberalist  The information garnered from the door-to-door canvass and phone banking can mean the difference between a win or a loss on election day.  That information is at the heart of our GO-TV activities.  The old garbage-in-garbage-out moniker of the 60's and 70's holds true in today's digitally-connected world.  Recording and uploading results becomes very important.  And it starts with some good training on the apps.    
• PowerPoint Presentations, Conversations & Takeaways  The memory retention rate for a presentation by itself is less than 10%.  Throw in some conversations on past experiences, add a "take-away" handout, and the memory retention rate goes up to 60%.  Existing LPC PowerPoint presentations can be the basis for presentation materials supplemented by "take-away" handouts.  Always include something to take-away.

The Revolving Door Syndrome
In any organization people will come and people will go.  The question is NOT whether people will come or go.  That IS going to happen.  The question is WHO will come and who will go.  And that question will be answered by how well we engage and train our volunteers.  

I've attended more than 5 events for 4 campaigns over the last 6 weeks.  At each event, everyone was asked to sign in - name, phone number, e-mail address.  Except for one event, I didn't receive an e-mail or a phone call acknowledging my attendance, telling me when and where the next event was, and asking me to get involved with the campaign.  In the one event where I did receive an e-mail, it was sent out 7 days after the event.  

And then there's the quality of the training.  Throwing a volunteer into the middle of the lake and expecting them to do a door-to-door canvass, phone banking, or election day GO-TV activity 30 minutes before the event isn't "training".  Training involves stating expectations, presentations, handouts, demonstrating how it's done, role-playing, practice, matching inexperienced volunteers with experienced volunteers, taking the volunteer out on a real canvass and showing them how it's done.  It includes  mentoring, and monitoring.   And most importantly, establishing that relationship.  

Ramping It Up
If we apply the "20-80" rule to a group of volunteers, the more volunteers we train, the better our chances of developing a solid cadré of volunteers who can do the door-to-door canvass, phone banking and, most importantly, GO-TV activities on election day.  

If we limit the involvement of our volunteers to a select few, there will be burnout, loss of interest, and a reduction in support and enthusiasm.  I've seen community team leaders put out the call for volunteers to canvass and I've been the only one to put my hand up.  We have no choice.  We have to grow the cadré of volunteers.  We have to train them and keep training them so that we end up with both boots-on-the-ground volunteers and a select group of key volunteers who can keep all elements of the campaign machinery running smoothly, in high gear, and ready to put the campaign into overdrive on Election Day.  We need to grow the team.  

Get Out Front And Stay Ahead Of The Game - Make It Happen!
The first step in volunteer engagement is to ENGAGE the volunteer.  Talk to each person individually at the time of the event.  Or better yet, talk to them as soon as they walk through the door.  There's nothing like a good pep-talk from the candidate or a key volunteer to energize the team.  Thank the person for attending/ volunteering/ canvassing.  We've heard complaints about not having enough volunteers for canvassing events.  This is what happens when we aren't able to engage our volunteers, train them properly, and keep them engaged.  

We collect information on attendance and participation - the sign-in sheets.  This includes e-mail addresses.  Prepare a draft "Thank You" e-mail BEFORE the event takes place.  If it's a canvass event, state what the results were (150 households canvassed, 90 conversations, 75 supporters identified).  Include links to the photo album (see below).  While we won't know the results until after the canvass, at least we'll have a draft of what we want to say ready to go.  A few hours after the event we should have the e-mail addresses entered (data entry - a good assignment for a volunteer), the results known, and ready click on the "Send" or "Schedule" button.  Timing is everything!

Many of our volunteers may not be able to attend the event.  Include them ALL in the e-mail.  Don't neglect them.  It's another way to keep them engaged.  

If the context of the e-mail isn't appropriate for visitors and guests, prepare another e-mail that's targeted specifically to them. "Sorry you couldn't make it to last weekend's "Days of Action" but here's a link to some photos of the event.  We'd love to have you join us for our next one to be held on ...... Click on the big red button below to join in the fun!"

Before we hit the "Send" button, make sure we've included the details of the next event - what, where, when.  Include a link (and a big red "Sign Up" button!). 

Create Memories! - Take Those Photos
Throughout the event, have volunteers take photos - our group of volunteers,  the door-to-door canvass, the training event.  If it's a Q&A or information session where we have a guest speaker, make sure we take photos.  Take advantage of the photo-ops.  Everyone keeps their eyes open for the "super-luminaries".  Look for those "in the moment" situations where a photo will animate the event and bring it to life.  Create an on-line photo album.  

• Print them and post them on the campaign office walls. 
• Make a PowerPoint presentation out of the photos where the photos keep rolling on a flat-screen TV, data projector, or monitor.  
• Post them on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media platforms, along with comment that explains and emphasizes the event.  

A photo by itself is a "non-event".  It won't go anywhere.  Comment by itself is also a "non-event".  Combine the two and we have the potential of going viral.  Photos with comments are memory-joggers for the campaign community ("....hey, remember when ......").  Creating memories is another way of keeping our volunteers engaged.  

Growing The List
Now that we've thanked our guest/ volunteers for participating in our event, it's time to grow the list.  There's several ways that we can do this using digital media.

Riding association members represent one of the best sources (and most neglected) of potential volunteers.  They've joined the party for a reason - to get our candidate elected or to defeat the incumbent.  Make sure we include them in celebrating the success of  the event.  At the same time we send out the e-mail to our volunteers, send the association members an e-mail (or include them on the e-mail list).  If necessary, change the context of the e-mail so that they get that special invitation to our next event.  

We'll have guests/ volunteers who are new to the campaign.  Perhaps they've come along with a friend who is on our volunteer team.  Make sure we add them to the "permanent" e-mail list of volunteers.  

A friend of mine was volunteering in a riding on the other side of town some weeks ago.  I asked him if he had attended the celebration event held the previous week. 

•  "What event!?"  
• "You didn't get the e-mail?". 
•  "Nope."  

Seems like he had missed several other events.  His name wasn't on the e-mail list so he didn't get the e-mails.  (He turned his volunteerism elsewhere.)  Make sure the volunteers who show up are on the volunteer e-mail list!!  

"Membership Has Its Privileges."- Facebook Walls
A number of years ago, American Express had an advertising program with the tagline "Membership has its privileges."  Their commercials featured exotic vacations, multi-course gourmet meals and the like.  The ads would end with the  tagline "Membership has its privileges" ...... the implication being certain things were only available through your American Express credit card.  You weren't a "cardholder".  You were a "member" of an exclusive club.  If you had an Amex card, you were in an exclusive privileged class.  And not everyone could get an Amex card.  

There's two ways to organize Facebook.  There's your political Facebook wall that's open to the public and is part of your campaign strategy - "Cathy Candidate - Politician".  And then there's the Facebook wall that's a closed group - "Volunteers For Cathy Candidate".  Only those Facebook "Friends" we invite to join the "Volunteers" wall can see the posts on this wall.  And most everybody these days is on Facebook so it's not that difficult to invite our volunteers to join our "Volunteers" wall.  Membership now has its privileges!

Obviously, Facebook is "social media" with most emphasis on the word "social" and less on the word "media".  We need to make this closed wall part of the campaign's social life.  It's where we can keep our volunteers apprised of what's going on in the campaign, immediately post those canvass event photos, promote those special events, and put out the call for volunteers.  It's a piece-'a-cake to post on Facebook!  At the same time, due to the social nature of Facebook, these same volunteers can get conversations going with each other.  That will get a real on-line social gathering started that will be totally engaged in the campaign.  

I belong to two Liberal Facebook walls that are closed.  You have to apply to get in.  The "Friends of the Liberal Party of Canada" closed wall includes people from almost every Liberal riding in Canada.  It's an excellent way to distribute media events, tips-and-tricks, to a whole lot of people who are digitally connected.  And these days, who isn't!  

There are also Facebook walls that are public and are used by the candidate, campaign staff, and volunteers.  Some of these are "Kanata - Carleton Liberals" (110 members), "Karen McCrimmon Politician (1,096 "Likes"), "Catherine McKenna" (1,088 "Likes") and "Anita Vendenbeld For Ottawa - West Nepean" (1,098 "Likes").  Which one of these walls can I make posts to?  If I can't, why can't I post?  What is the strategy with regards to the use of these Facebook walls?

Let's take a closer look at what's happening in our riding.  "Our Riding's Federal Liberal Association" only has 127 "Likes", "Our Candidate" 188 "Likes".  These two Facebook walls have been around for a while.  By comparison, "Our Riding Politics In The Pub" (a closed group) has been up for only a couple of months and, with hardly any promotion, has 195 members.  Do a post on your riding association's wall and see if you can find it. (Left side of the screen below the fold.  Scroll down.)  Now do the same thing for your local candidate's Facebook wall.  

IMHO, if I can't find my post or comment, it isn't a social media site that I'm interested in.  I don't hang around.  Membership DOES have its privileges and that's where I hang out at.  

We have to grow all of the Facebook walls associated with the campaign.  It's one of the ways (and the least expensive) where we can show our supporters and volunteers that we've got a good ground-game on the go and that we need their help to win this election.  

The same has to be done with the other social media platforms.  
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There's lots of other things that could be done.  I've only mentioned a few.  Use the monthly "Politics In The Pub" gatherings to energize our volunteers.  David McGuinty gave a very inspiring talk at the Saturday May 30th LPC Eastern Ontario Boot Camp.  Have David repeat the same speech at a "Politics In The Pub" rally.  We've now got a lot of Liberal MPs elected in our area.  Have them attend our special gatherings.  One-time events like a corn roast or a BBQ are a good reason for a gathering of volunteers - celebrate successes.  Volunteer appreciation nights.  Riding Association AGM's.  The list is endless.  

A strategy isn't very good unless it's implemented.  The next steps are to start.  My suggestion would be to start with training events or 'Politics In The Pub".  Start with some training events in communities throughout the riding.  The local legion hall.  At a school or library in the evening.  Or if someone offers their rec room or house.  

Gotta start somewhere!  Whatcha waitin' fer, eh!?  Gitter-done!

Next up?  Door-to-Door Campaigning.

Copyright R.A. Moore.  All rights reserved.