Parties for the People: Undecided Voter Fair Program Guide

Transcription

1 Parties for the People: Undecided Voter Fair Program Guide Summary During the fall semester of 2014, UT Votes hosted their first ever Parties for the People: Undecided Voter Fair. This event came from the general feeling that while students can register rather easily given that organizations are providing that service while tabling, many students feel as though they don t have enough information to make an informed voting decision. The goal of this event was to provide resources for students to come and talk to members of partisan student organizations and learn about both sides in one place to make more informed voting decisions. UT Votes set a date during early voting, booked outdoor space outside the campus polling location, organized with the help of other campus partisan student organizations, and headed a 4-hour event that distributed nonpartisan voter guides and increased electoral awareness. This program guide offers an outline to planning a voter fair. We provide a general outline to the steps UT Votes took, offer tips from UT Votes experience, give brief take-aways useful to any university or college organization, and present various planning templates and flyer examples. Table of Contents I. Planning outline page 2 A useful guide full of planning suggestions, including links specific towards UT and comments on UT Votes 2014 experience. II. Event items list..page 5 III. Advertising strategies..page 5 IV. Monthly planning template.page 7 Use this template to plan month-by-month for the event and important organization dates and deadlines throughout the year. V. Organization template. page 8 VI. Organization contact spreadsheet.page 9 VII. DigiKnow signage example..page 9 VIII. Campus flyer example.page 10 IX. Event space photos...page 11 1 P age

2 I. Planning Outline First steps Envision decide on a date secure indoor/outdoor space contact student organizations Envision the event plan with officers what the event will be and what it will look like o Also think of your audience and where the event can be held. How will you get people to stop? Will you rely on foot traffic and passersby, or will this be held indoors and require more advertising? o UT Votes 2014 experience: Our event relied on foot traffic of students passing by; aiming for those that might not be as civically active in their daily lives. UT Votes envisioned a space and event where one folding table stood for each position on the ballot. At each table, one student volunteer from each participating organization would stand and be prepared to provide information regarding the candidate their organization supported. They would also provide UT Votes a half page of textual information on that candidate; then, UT Votes would combine the candidates onto one handout, therefore supplying students with one concise takeaway handout for each position. This turned out to be more ambitious than we realized we could not staff enough volunteers for each position. Instead, we had multiple folding tables lined up with painted posters of the state ballot positions and the student volunteers covering all four positions (Senator, Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General). As takeaway information, the participating student organizations supplied their own candidate information and swag, and UT Votes handout out nonpartisan voter guides from the League of Women Voters. Take-away: Think big and detailed, but be prepared to scale down. Decide on a date o Pick a date with enough relevance to your audience: We went with choosing a date during Texas early voting period. o UT Votes 2014 experience: We selected the second last day of early voting, which in hindsight might not have been the best day as we ran into many students who had already voted early and expressed that they would have found our event useful earlier. In addition, due to UT passing periods, we would choose a Monday or Wednesday instead of a Tuesday/Thursday (shorter classes = more passing periods = more foot traffic). Take-away: Keep your University class schedule in mind. What will attract the most students? Book event space o Booking event space procedures differ by university. Most schools allow registered student organizations to request event space, often through their Dean of Students or student organization portal. UT Votes chose to book outdoor space near the polling location on campus. o UT only: Booking outdoor event space: Requires event meeting with Student Organization Center staff Contact: Elisa Ramos ramos@austin.utexas.edu If work order needed tables, chairs, other supplies delivered, a second meeting will be needed. If a parking pass is needed personally to help with delivering supplies, it can be done but according to SOC needs at least 2-3 weeks notice. 2 P age

3 3 P age o The West Mall rally space (the outdoor location of our event) allows amplified sound from 11:30-1:30. The cost to access this equipment is $10. They accept cash or IDT. UT Votes experience: The sooner you settle on a date, request your space ASAP. We originally had wanted to host the event on a Wednesday, but the outdoor event space we wanted was already booked a full month in advance. In addition when booking your space, account for an hour of set-up time and an hour of break-down time. Take-away: Book space early. Because some universities have different procedures, it is useful to designate one organization member in charge of booking the space, learning the space and event rules, and attending any of the necessary event space meetings. In case something happens on event day, this person acts as event contact and is in charge of knowing the space regulations and can be contacted in case any issues arise. Contact student organizations o Create a spreadsheet of all the student organizations you wish you contact. Search student organizations in the university organization database. o Send out s to organizations and their officers (see our template on page 8). If possible, have a contact for the organization as well as the head officer (President or VP). o o Attend student organization meetings. Ask to attend student organization meetings so that you can briefly talk to their membership about the event and express your interest in having them participate and be represented. Bring handouts and a volunteer sign-up sheet Follow-up with leadership in an that they can forward to their members. Include link to a Facebook event page and a digital volunteer sign-up. Maintain strict nonpartisan-ness In order to be truly nonpartisan, be sure to invite ALL partisan student organizations, regardless of party affiliation. Work to have each main political party represented. While this can be challenging, it ultimately makes for a more politically inclusive event. In addition, it can help to improve student organization relationships. Promote respect and civil discussion. Secondary Steps The event is a GO but what next? Plan your event space in detail and advertise! Plan the space o Once you have space approval and know where you ll be getting tables, set aside time with your organization to create a floor plan of the space. Make a list of the tables you ll need and for which positions, then draw a layout of the space. Imagine how students will both approach and move through the space. Do you need a greeter table? Where will it be? Are two greeter tables on either side of the event space better? Where will your volunteers be positioned? For far away can students see your event? o Use a whiteboard to do this, then transfer to a sheet of paper so on the day of the event you can put together the space efficiently, giving clear tasks to different volunteers during event set-up. UT Votes 2014 experience: We had a space set-up that required students to walk up some steps to talk to the student representatives (our greeter tables and other handouts were at the bottom). In a sense, we wanted students to

4 begin at the greeter, walk up to the student representatives, then come back down and finish on the other side with Project Vote Smart s Vote Easy Quiz. Many students were reluctant to make the full walk up the steps, even though it was short. While it looked great especially from far away (we had large posters on the tables at the top), it was not as engaging as we had hoped. In hour 3 of our 4 hour event, we moved the tables down from the steps and onto the same level as students passing by. It was more engaging for the representatives and more approachable for those students passing by. Take-away: Even if you plan everything down to the last detail, it may not go exactly as you envision it. Be flexible, and use the feedback from those around you to make unplanned changes if it helps those working the event and those attending the event. Invite additional groups to participate o Don t be afraid to invite additional campus organizations if you have the event space. Consider inviting diversity or social activist groups. You can offer them tabling space and a place discuss issues important to their organization to attending students. o UT Votes 2014 experience: We included additional tables for the Annette Strauss Institute, Project Vote Smart s Vote Easy quiz, and a sign-up table for TurboVote. Advertise o Advertising and marketing is essential to getting your event out there and on the students radars. Page 6 lists the various advertising and marketing outlets available to universities. Many of the UT specific portals (e.g. Hornslink) have equivalent alternatives at other universities; contact your student organization center to learn the best ways to promote student-run events. After the Event So your event was a success, but what happens after? Follow up and document the process. Follow-up with students o For students that attended the event and which you have s for, send them an thanking them for stopping by, and include a reminder to vote. Follow-up with the student organizations o Send a thank you to each student organization that helped with the event. This will show that you appreciate and recognize their help. It also promotes and encourages a close organizational relationship that can be useful for future events. Discuss with membership what worked and what didn t o After the event has wrapped, plan a meeting with your organization membership to discuss the successes of the event as well as what you could do differently in the future. Use this as time to celebrate your hard work, document the program, and plan your organization s next steps in campus engagement. Write up an informal summary of the event o Blog about the event. Explain what it was, the impact and logistics of the event, and what your organization hopes events like an undecided voter fair can accomplish. Get quotes from participating student organizations, your members, include pictures of the event. Post the write up on a blog or through your organization s website. If possible, send it to your campus newspaper as an op-ed or news article. 4 P age

5 II. Event Items Below is a list of items both used and suggested by UT Votes. While not all are necessary, they help in rounding out a successful event. Some items require a cost (T-shirt orders, snacks, etc.), while some are free or can be created for low cost (posters, renting a camera). League of Women Voters voter guides o Austin - o Great to have at event and for tabling. Must order far in advance and hard copies do cost money. Begin contact request in August. Candy/chips o An inexpensive and effective way to get students to approach tables. You can also offer easy and affordable food like pizza to those who attend the event. T-Shirts o Organization T-shirts look great in photos, unite volunteers, and make great swag to pass out to students. They can be rather expensive, so budget accordingly. o UT Votes experience: 70 T-Shirts ordered for event (ordered from Sanctuary Print Shop, given out to students who volunteered and to students who went through and talked to our student organization representatives. Camera o In order to have professional looking photos and to save money, UT Votes checked out one Canon DSLR camera from UT ITS, free of charge. Laptops o Project Vote Smart interns volunteered during the event to promote their Vote Easy quiz, which required laptops. UT Votes checked out two MacBook Pros from UT ITS, free of charge. PVS had their own table at the event and many students took the quiz online. Posters/balloons/decorations o For outdoor space, balloons add a great decorative and attention-grabbing touch. Posters are also an affordable way to decorate, and can also be used to write sharable social media hashtags. Tablecloths o If you have tablecloths readily available or can budget for disposable ones, they can make your overall event more attractive (especially if you re using plastic or wooden folding tables supplied by the university). Tabling handouts o Handouts that explain where students can find their polling locations are useful (online resources by the state are the most nonpartisan). Also include voting dates and deadlines on a handout. Adding information about where they can read further on candidates and ballot issues also makes for well-rounded take-aways. o This event is a great way to advertise future organization events and meetings, supply candidate handouts, and distribute organization information such as social media accounts, websites, and history. It is useful to create and print numerous copies of information and promotional material for interested students. And don t forget sign ups! 5 P age

6 III. Advertising Strategies It is important to get the word out there as much as possible to increase exposure of your event. While some of these strategies can begin as soon as you have a date and event space booked (Facebook event creation, advertising at tabling, s), most of these can really begin about 2-3 weeks before deadline. Facebook event page o Creating a Facebook event first to act as the online hub of your event is strategically most useful. That way, when creating a Hornslink event or advertising on Twitter or through s, Facebook has all the information on one place and people can selfreport their attendance. Hornslink (UT only) o Through Hornslink, you can create an organization event that will be viewable by all student organizations and added to the UT events calendar. o University Unions DigiKnow television signage (UT only) o Signs are for one-week periods. Instructions on image size (1920x1080) and submission can be found on the website. Submissions can be made weeks in advance. o A-frame sign (UT only) o You must complete an online request in order to put the A-frame up anywhere on the UT campus. Reservations are for two weeks, Monday through Sunday. There are two locations for A-frames: the West Mall and Speedway. o Advertising at voter registration tabling o Since you ll be determining the date of the event in advance, you ll have plenty of time to advertise using handouts and flyers at voter registration tabling. Campus flyers o Kiosks around campus, no staples o Smaller handouts for dorms Contact University newspapers and other student presses o Send out s to the University newspaper and radio station. These outlets are always looking to profile interesting events on campus. Include a brief description of the event, the date and time, and explain what makes the event unique and important. UT Votes 2014 experience: As the election heated up and came closer, we received s from students in the journalism department who needed to cover an election event for a class. These are great opportunities to get word out on the event and promote the organization. s o Undergraduate s o UT Votes/Organization s o Ask the student organizations helping with the event to promote it at their meetings and to their listserv. 6 P age

7 IV. Monthly planning template This spreadsheet was created in Google Drive in order for each UT Votes member to have access to the document. Green= Planning detail what planning steps you will take during each month, whether that be recruiting members for your planning committee, researching background information on your topic, scheduling time to speak with administrators, etc. Yellow= Goals for that month write out what your short-term goals are for that month, how you will measure them, and how they relate to your long-term goals. White= Events/Release dates list any major events, campaign kick-offs, information release dates, etc. that you are planning for that month A helpful way to approach this project is to start backwards with your end goal in mind. That way, everything you list will align perfectly with your ultimate project goal. September (sample) Complete Due Date Task Task Category Person(s) Responsible 11th Contact all relevant student organizations via offering them the opportunity to take part in the education event. 25th Meet with those student organizations that show an interest in the event. 30th Finalize a list of involved organizations, and the number of members from each org that will participate 30th Assign candidates to each individual within an organization (based upon preference if any). the representatives their candidates. 11th First Member meeting of the semester: Increase membership and spread the UT votes name using print and virtual media 23rd National Voter Registration Day: An opportunity to register voters while increasing UT Votes visibility by tabling. 30th Goal: Register 100 voters and have them sign up for election reminders via turbo vote. (final results registered Arielle) Measure: Keep track of # voters registered in the spreadsheet, and keep track of people registered for reminders through the turbovote system. Relation: Registering a large amount of voter in the months prior to the event will ensure that there is a large pool of students who are capable of voting in the election. Contact Contact Event Planning Event Planning Membership Voter Registration Voter Registration Joe Joe Joe & Judy Judy All All All 7 P age

8 V. Student organization template Dear [Organization name or Organization officer], UT Votes would like to cordially invite your registered student organization to participate in Parties for the People: Undecided Voter Fair. UT Votes is a nonpartisan student organization that promotes voter registration and civic engagement. This October 30th, as part of the Harvard Institute of Politics National Campaign, we will be hosting an educational and inclusive event with the goal of encouraging low-information voters to take part in our democracy (see description below). If you are interested, please respond to this so that we can arrange a meeting between some of the officers of our respective organizations. We hope to build a constructive and mutually beneficial relationship with your registered student organization! Best wishes! UT Votes Event Description: Preceding the 2014 midterm election, the National Campaign ambassadors from the University of Texas at Austin will organize an accessible and inclusive event that targets student voters, aimed at omni-partisan education on ballot candidates and issues. This event, which will occur during the early voting period on October 30, will consist of an interactive display followed by a panel discussion between members of the campus political community. Outside of the university polling station, a series of tables, each with information about candidates on the ballot, will be set up and represented by members from existing partisan organizations on campus. Passersby will be given a mock-ballot upon which they will check-off the candidates for whom they want to vote as they progress from table to table. Partisan sympathies by those representing the tables are allowed and even encouraged, as long as they are conveyed in a respectful manner that does not dissuade potential voters from participation. Following this segment of the event, a panel will be conducted to further energize the voting public. The objective of this event is to capitalize upon partisan fervor for the purpose of quickly disseminating information, and if efficacy is not present, to instill students with a transient passion for voting. In addition, we hope that this event will temporarily unite those with differing perspectives to achieve a common goal of engaging the public. By reaching out to existing political student organizations (UDems, College Republicans, Longhorn Libertarians, etc.), we can create a more inclusive and representative body- an omni-partisan coalition geared towards students of all political leanings. 8 P age

9 VI. Organization contacts spreadsheet This spreadsheet was created in Google Drive in order for each UT Votes member to have access to the document. Contacted? Participating? Organization President/Contact name Contact Org. Website URL Yes/No Yes/No UDems John Smith Udems.org Yes/No Yes/No CRs Jane Doe Texascrs.com Yes/No Yes/No VII. DigiKnow signage example 9 P age

10 10 P age VIII. Campus flyer example

11 IX. Event space photos These top two photos show the space set-up where the student representatives were higher up above the steps. These bottom photos show how we moved the tables on the lower level with students passing by, which ended up being more effective at stopping passing students. 11 P age