It’s another Saturday so for those who tune in, welcome to a Saturday Diary of Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic Campaign. Each week, we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns, and once a month we look into “Horrible mistakes you should avoid” (last Saturday of a month). If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide.
For those who have been following, you know that our candidate, Jessica Jones, is preparing her run for a state senate seat. Jessica has done a pretty good job following the prior steps of this diary series, from making contact to controlling expenses.
This week, we’re covering the portion of campaigns many candidates dread: handling meetings where the candidate is expected to attend. Meetings range from public donor oriented meetings to private gatherings of real business. This week, we’re going to break up internal meetings and public meetings, and discuss the general rules about how to make your meetings most effective.
Internal & Party Meetings
Candidates will often need to participate in internal campaign meetings which involve planning, scheduling, goals and input from staff members. You will also need to attend party (closed) meetings, these are meetings where you will work with your campaign, whether it is field, a mail program, or just general input.
In order to run a successful internal meeting, here are the basic rules.
1. Start on Time, End on Time. Internal meetings are about getting your items done in quick order, having a clear discussion of goals and progress. Meetings that are setup with vague start times or vague end times are the sign of bad planning. If you set up an hour meeting and you end in 45 minutes, fine. If you setup a 1 hour meeting and it goes two hours, then you need to re-evaluate your meeting strategy. Table items that are taking too much time to review at a later date. Do not dwell on single topics that cause your meeting to drag or get into conflicts.
2. Internal-External Meetings: Don’t Go Alone. Jessica gets asked to attend a meeting with her county/state party in relation to her campaign work for a mail program. The last thing Jessica should do is show up to the meeting alone. Candidates often feel as though these meetings are designed to be friendly and as such, only they need to attend. This is a bad plan. Take at least one person with you in order to make sure you can feel out the ideas being proposed. Candidates frequently get roped into plans that do not fit their campaign goals or strategy because they “didn’t want to say no”. Having someone attend with you gives you someone else in the room you trust who can act as another point of reference for whether the idea is good or not.
3. Internal-External Meetings: Don’t Agree immediately to suggestions. Internal-External meetings are meetings with anyone outside of your campaign. These can be printers, media designers, state or county party representatives or another campaign. These meetings can involve many intricate points of discussion. Don’t feel pressured to decide immediately on whether or not anything suggested at a meeting is right for you. As noted above, don’t go alone. Before you attend, however, commit yourself to a 24 hour waiting period. Listen dutifully to the ideas, respect the presenters, and be up front: I need time to consider. Snap decisions are rarely good, they are also the decisions you regret or second guess later. If a proposal made is very good — most are — there will be no harm in waiting 24 hours to say “yes, let’s do this.” Outside-external decisions are almost never so urgent they have to be made “on the spot”.
4. Internal Meetings: Ban Technology. I admit, I love my smart phone. I bet the candidate does too and everyone on their staff. Internal meetings aren’t the place for them. This is a meeting of you and your direct campaign staff (if you have one), which in small campaigns like Jessica Jones may be 2 or 3 people who are either paid or consistent volunteers. You’ll find you get through the meeting much faster and people understand the point better if you avoid having people whip out a cell phone every few minutes.
5. Avoid Meeting filibusters (Both). If you find one person is monopolizing the majority of time with minimal input, reset and ask for more input of others in attendance. Nothing leaves people more unhappy than feeling as though a meeting is one directional 100% of the time. While a candidate or presenter will have a majority of time, the need to get input from other members in the room is important if you want the meeting to have value. People who do not participate in a meeting in any open way often feel as though their ideas are dismissed or they later refuse to buy into the concept, with the caveat they had no role in the results.
Public Meetings
Now that Jessica is past the internal & party meetings, let’s talk about something very different: social and organization meetings with people in public. These can range from gatherings at a fundraiser to attendance at a public forum. The rules for these meetings will be VERY different from the rules of an internal meeting.
1. Social Meetings: Show up slightly late, leave early. Jessica is a busy candidate. More importantly, she needs to appear busy. People who fund Jessica’s campaign want a candidate who is hard working to win votes. Social meetings, functions that are held around her community can reflect gatherings at bars, diners, houses. Candidates who arrive before start time and stay late seem as though they are not busy, that this meeting is all they have to do. This is a bad sign for potential donors and supporters.. why do they have so much free time? Is something going wrong?
Great candidates get this and they try to schedule things tight in order to make sure they can get as much done within the time they have. Arriving shortly after a meeting starts, and leaving somewhat early isn’t rude; it is effective management of your time Arriving slightly late gives you a chance to quickly meet all the attendees, leaving slightly early gives you a chance to leave while the room is full so that you can address a full room with the fact you have to get back to work. It allows people to talk about your efforts and raise money and resources later.
2. Social Meetings: Control yourself there, sparky. Social meetings are exactly that, social. A lot of these meetings will have food, maybe some alcohol and lots of hands to shake. As a candidate, Jessica needs to know that she shouldn’t overindulge. Avoid lots of eating, or too much drinking at a social event. The reasons for this are obvious. Feel content to walk around with a bottled water if need be, but don’t let nerves encourage you to drink too much or find yourself chewing away at appetizers when you need to be talking to potential voters/donors.
3. Public Forum Meetings run by the party: On Time, Not Early. Invited to attend a local legislative forum or candidate public meeting for your party? Be on time. Show up in line with the start of the meeting, no more than a few minutes early. You may need to stay slightly later in order to meet with potential voters afterward. Remember, though the people who attend these meetings are already “in the bag” voters for you. They are firm Democrats who come to Democratic party social meetings. They understand you need to convince more undecided and independent voters, as well as Democratic party members who may be registered but stay at home.
4. Public Forum Meetings: Independent Outside Groups. In many communities, local newspapers, chambers of commerce, PTA, etc. hold gatherings for candidates. The rules that apply to a Democratic party organized meeting applies — except you need to budget time to make sure you can stay late. These meetings are attended by more who are undecided but are decision makers for friends and others. Be prepared to mix, talk, and explain your positions. Whether it is a League of Women Voters function or a community gathering, give yourself some time to network here. With that said, still avoid being the “last person to leave”.
5. Keep track and follow through. When we talked about private meetings, I pointed out you want to make sure you have one person other than yourself with you in those meetings. The same is true in a public meeting, but for a different reason. Public forums will introduce you to a lot of names, people, places. It is important for you to keep track of those items so that you can follow up with the people you meet. Being able to hand out business cards may let them contact you, but you need to keep track of why they may want to address you. Having someone with you at public forum meetings can help you keep track of “who’s who” and build your list, from future donor/volunteer or a vote you can persuade.
6. Prepare to be an extrovert. Smile. Be friendly. Do not stand in a corner or by the food or your table at all times. If you are hoping to raise money at a Democratic meeting, do not point people to the back of a room and say “you can give money there”, walk around and hand out your remit envelopes or donor opportunities. Shake a lot of hands, be friendly. If you are going to a public or a private meeting, your interpersonal skills are important as a way to make sure people are comfortable with you as a candidate and want to support you.
Next Week: ARGGGH! #3: Sympathy Isn’t a Shield.
Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only).
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.