training

Bumped. -Craig

I've been in Denver at the College Democrats of America convention for the last two days. I will comment on state of CDA in a future post, but first I'd like to share what was my highlight of the convention so far.

During the four hours of the "Be Kick Ass! '08: Training" sessions today, I attend a presentation given by Parag Mehta, the DNC's Director of Training. I was fortunate enough to have caught a training that Parag led at Netroots Nation a few weeks ago, but this was even more engaging and informative. The presentation was geared for College Dems, but many of the tips are applicable to student organizations in general. Here are some things Parag suggested to help campus leaders as they head back to school this fall:

How do you get off to a good start with your group's first two meetings?

First meeting: This is when you should greet new and continuing members and motivate them to get involved. Welcome members, introduce the organization and its goals, have a good time, and get students pumped up for the coming semester.

Second meeting: This meeting should be a work meeting. Show new students that your organization actually cares about doing things. Ideas include leading a phone banking training, voter registration training, or community service project.

Where should you hold your meetings?

There are many lot of options: student unions, student lounges, etc. Don't use a lecture hall or classroom. Students are in classrooms all day and lecture halls don't work as well for a collaborative meeting where everyone feels like they are a part of the organization.

How do you get food for your meetings?

We all know that college students gravitate towards free food, but how do you get food if your organization has little to no spare money? Try going to businesses that you know tend to lean Democratic (Costco, Whole Foods, etc) and ask them if they would be willing to donate some food for your first meeting. You'll be surprised by what they're willing to give friendly student groups.

What do you do about people who don't show up?

When you have your first meeting or event you'll get people who RVSP on Facebook or MyBO say that they'll attend, but then never show up. Instead of simply shrugging it off and letting these people go, keep a list of everyone who RSVPed for your meeting/event. Then after your meeting/event, pull a few students aside who enjoyed it and ask them call through everyone on the RSVP list who didn't show up. A simple message like "hey, I went to this event and had a great time, here's what we did, and I hope you can come next time" can be very effective at pulling these people back in.

Also, make sure to send a follow up message to everyone who showed up to the meeting. Remember to thank them, ask them to bring their friends next time, and let them know what's next for the organization.

I wanted to call your attention to two new handbooks about online politics that came out this week:

Colin Delaney of the excellent ePolitics updated his monster Online Politics 101 handbook (50+ pages). It's an excellent primer on the basics of online organizing - from Search Engine Optimization and online advertising to blogging. It's lacking in case studies to illustrate his points, but if you want to make sure your online organizing/media campaign is following basic best practices, it's an invaluable guide.

Rock the Vote also released a much slimmer guide to New Media Tactics. The guidebook focuses heavily on tactics Rock the Vote employs, including how to best make use of their voter registration widget online.

The Obama Campaign just announced the launch of a summer training program, Obama Felowships. Considering the truly impressive field (and internet) operation the Obama campaign has put together this year, this is a unique opportunity to learn a really good ground game. If I was just finishing school (or still a student), I'd jump at the chance to be on the inside and learn from the campaign.

Introducing the Obama Organizing Fellows

This summer we are looking for people who want to be a part of a new generation of leadership that believes, like Senator Obama, that real change comes from the ground up.

Fellows will be trained on the basics of organizing & campaign fundamentals and then placed in a community to carry out grassroots activities. Fellows will be asked to commit to a minimum of 30 hours per week and will:

• participate in training on field organizing, messaging, and other activities
• organize in a community, working in conjunction with grassroots leaders and campaign staff
• continue to build the movement

Applications are due at the latest by Monday, May 5th at midnight eastern time. We strongly encourage individuals to apply early. Applicants should expect to receive further communication in May. Program participation will start on June 5 and run through the end of the summer.

Note: this is an unpaid position.

Questions? Please email fellowship@barackobama.com.

If Hillary is your woman, or if you're looking to join the movement outside the bounds of the campaign, there are a number of other high-quality training opportunities this summer. A colleague at the Oregon Bus Project sent me a brief email to remind me of them:

"One of the most inspiring things about the Obama campaign is their desire to build for the future and their commitment to training young leaders in grassroots organizing. Organizations like the Bus Project's PolitiCorps Summer, Center for Progressive Leadership's New Leaders Fellowship, EMILY's List Campaign Corps, GreenCorps, and many others are also providing leadership training programs for young progressive leaders this summer. Some of these opportunities are paid, and all of them have deadlines rapidly approaching.

Here is a calendar of trainings for young progressive leaders in 2008."

For questions about the Bus Project's PolitiCorps Program, email emily.kintzer@busproject.org or call 503 233 3018

The DNC Youth Council is getting ready to hold three more trainings on how to become delegates to the Democratic National Convention in August:

Last week, we held our first conference call training on the process to be a delegate from New Mexico. The training was extremely successful and we are eager to get underway with our next round of calls.

Below one will find a listing of some of our upcoming calls. Please spread the word to as many people as possible about these. On each call we will be joined by a member of that respective state's party to go over the process to be a Congressional District, PLEO, or At-Large delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In addition to the specific training, we will be sure to provide information on how to get more involved with the State Party and other youth organizations.

The upcoming calls are:
Georgia - March 31st at 5pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 678-893-3989

Utah - April 1st at 6pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 822-976-6817

Wisconsin - April 2nd at 7pm EST
Phone: 866-810-8093
Code: 822-976-6817

Two opportunities in the youth movement are available:

First, check out the 2nd Annual College Blogging Scholarship. The contest awards $2,000 to a college student who blogs about politics. Applications will be accepted from February 11th through the 24th, and you can nominate yourself or submit an application on behalf of a friend or a young blogger you admire.

Second, the Center for Progressive Leadership is now accepting applications for their 2008 New Leaders Program. The deadline to submit your application is March 15th.

About the program:

10-Week Paid Internship: Once you’ve been accepted into the program, we help match you with a paid internship in Washington, DC. The program will take place from June 6 – August 15, 2008. We’re focused on putting you in a position where you’ll find the work rewarding and the cause personally meaningful.

Leadership Development: As a New Leader, you will have a variety of opportunities to grow as a leader, network with members of the progressive community, and build the skills and connections you need to deepen your involvement in progressive causes:

Training and Workshops: During your internship, you attend a variety of sessions led by leaders in the progressive movement designed to provide you with the tools and techniques you need to become an effective political leader.

Networking Events: You’ll regularly have the chance to meet leaders in the progressive movement and create lasting relationships with mentors and advisors throughout Washington.

Mentoring/Career Coaching: You’ll be personally matched to a leader in the progressive community who will provide ongoing support and coaching during your internship and beyond.

CPL is also offering a New Leaders Fellowship program this year that is 5 months long and links diverse, young leaders to full-time, entry-level positions with progressive organizations and is happening both in D.C. and in select states across the country.

Hey all, here's one more training opportunity to add to the post I made last week. PolitiCorps, the training arm of the Oregon Bus Project, is accepting applications for their summer institute from now until early March:

About Politicorps:
PolitiCorps strives to create the future generation of progressive leaders. PolitiCorps has 3 goals:

• Make an impact in the short term.
• Develop leaders for the long term.
• Incubate creative and innovative ideas.

Summer Institute, Fellows:
PolitiCorps Summer Institute is a political bootcamp consisting of hands-on skills training, innovative public policy intensives, and real-world applications of leadership skills and campaign savvy.

PolitiCorps Fellows learn new ways of thinking about the world. But PolitiCorps is not just a school of thought. PolitiCorps is a place where Fellows learn by doing: they register voters, organize communities, vet public policy white papers, launch media campaigns, and, at the end of the day, make an impact. It’s the only program of its kind—a political immersion and leadership training program designed to engage and prepare college students and recent graduates for a broad spectrum of progressive leadership activities.

More after the jump:

Two opportunities are available for those looking to get their feet wet in the world of progressive public policy.

First, DMI Scholars, the summer training program created by the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is now accepting applications for its summer 2008 program. DMI is one of the premier progressive policy shops, doing really innovative work, especially around the middle class. This is the second year their youth training program is in operation, and spots are limited, so I'd get cracking now. For info on the program and last year's crop of trainees, check out the video below.

Second, the Roosevelt Institution, the nation's only progressive, student-run think tank is now accepting submission for its 2008 policy journal. You can find guidelines for submissions here.

I just returned home after a week at the New Organizing Institute Campaign Bootcamp, and really can't overstate how amazing the experience was. The training was a good mix of technology and communication skills trainings, hearing campaign war stories from the field, and discussing the broader significance of politics and social movements. See my post on the NOI blog for more about my initial doubts and the significance of the "new" in "new organizing."

You might have seen our Simpsons/Family Guy campaign simulation take facebook and gmail chat away messages by storm - and hopefully you put your support behind Lisa! To give a bit of background, the trainees were divided into teams and had to compete for email signups, facebook/myspace friends, and people to come to the MoveOn Live Earth viewing party. To this end, we were given a domain name, Google AdWords account, an account at either Blue State Digital or Democracy in Action to manage our sites, and a bit of time to strategize. If a group didn't have a person who was good at graphic or web design, people were on hand to help. With these relatively minor resources, groups were able to come up with some pretty amazing sites, videos, content, and ideas for outreach.

The project was fun and gave us a little taste of what's needed to put together a political campaign, but we kept running up against the problem of trying to promote a fictional character and needing only email list signups, not votes. I think they might revamp the project to be a bit more realistic next year, but I won't spoil the surprise for everyone and tell you the plan. :)

Mike and the other regular posters on Future Majority often discuss the right's ability to recruit, train, and promote smart young Republicans. The funding and infrastructure on their side is truly incredible, and while the left is still just getting started in this regard, programs such as NOI's are hugely important. They purposely selected young leaders who were doing great work outside the elite Washington political sphere, paid for our travel and expenses, and connected us with employers and trainers who are successful and innovative in the field. If progressive politics wants to attract the brightest talent, there should be more programs like this and fewer unpaid internships.

Hey, this is Erin, guest blogging from the New Organizing Institute Boot Camp in DC. I’m sitting next to Ian and have an amazing view of the Washington Monument from our classroom at GWU. Since Sunday evening, we’ve put in over 30 hours for trainings, activities, and simulations. The level of expertise and enthusiasm in this room is incredible – trainers and trainees alike have been campaign managers, tech gurus, email mavens, field experts, bloggers, candidates and active at any other level of campaigns. Everything has been great, but best thing so far is the campaign simulation group activity. Groups are running campaigns for characters from the Simpsons and competing to see who can build the biggest list of email supporters. The project will culminate at the MoveOn viewing party for the Live Earth concert this Saturday. Show your love for my team (and get stay tuned for a ticket to the MoveOn party) by joining Lisa for President!

Before I begin, I wanted to thank Mike for inviting me to post here and share my my experiences at the NOI program. I'm a 17-year old from Santa Cruz, California, who will be cross posting these entries on my small progressive blog Got Democracy.

The New Organizing Institute was founded in the summer of 2005 by a group of campaign staffers that had experience doing grassroots mobilization in the '04 cycle, and realized that progressives need to seriously invest in training future young staffers in the technology aspect of campaigning. Their first "boot camp" was organized by Zach Exley and Judith Freeman in the winter of 2006. Earlier this year, my friend Barak Wouk and I were both accepted into the NOI's 8-day Summer Campaign Boot Camp from July 1st-8th in Washington DC.

Barak and I arrived in DC a few days early to explore the city and melt in the crippling heat and humidity we were forced into. But, yesterday things cooled down considerably as we made our way to George Washington University for the first day of the NOI Boot Camp. At 3:00 we arrived, and checked in to our dorm rooms along with the 60 other young trainees (mostly recent college grads). In the evening Zach Exley introduced the NOI program to us, gave his story of how he got involved in politics, and told us what he hopes we will bring into the political arena when we leave at the end of the week. It was an inspiring speech that got everyone fired up about the program and our ability to create change.

The main point of Zach's talk was that the internet has brought about a fundamental shift in the people, on a scale similar to the changes that occurred when writing, telephones, and televisions were each invented. He told us that he began his work in the organizing field shortly after college as a union organizer. After years of frustrating experiences and many defeats he quit that job and became a programmer. When George W. Bush first ran for president, Zach gained instant fame for a small parody site (GWBush.com) that went viral after the Bush campaign got nervous and blamed his site for Bush's cocaine rumors. The storm of attention that swirled around his site was only possible because of the internet. Zach then went on to tell the story of how the Dean campaign discovered the potential of this new medium, and compliantly revolutionized the way modern political campaigns use the internet. Apparently the decision to set high fund raising goals (as Joe Trippi advocated) was a dangerous risk that faced a lot of resistance. Zach stressed that tension within campaigns always happens and is a very important process. He asked us all to fight those battles to take greater risks, because progressives can only win when we are willing to take chances and raise expectations.

Then Zach explained how the mock campaign, a major part of the training, will function. The 60 trainees were split into groups based on colors. Then each group was randomly given a Simpsons character (or the one Family Guy character that was tossed in) which they now have to run a presidential campaign for. Each group will create unique websites that will be completely open to the public. The goal of the completion is to get as many sign-ups on our email lists as possible, and get as many people as we can to attend a Live Earth MoveOn party here in DC. I'm on the pink group, and our character for president is Stewie from Family Guy. It should get interesting.

More from the NOI training later this week...