The presentation that changed my life

Ten years ago, I listened to a presentation that changed my life.

I was on my way to a session at a conference and noticed a crowd of people outside of the doorway of a room. I didn’t know what the topic was, but if so many people were standing outside, it had to be a great presentation.

I forgot about the session I was headed to and joined the scrum.

The presenter shared how organizations used randomized controlled trials — the same kind of experiments that are used to test drug treatments — to determine the most effective methods to increase voter turnout.

The control group got nothing.

Treatment group A got one version of a piece of mail.

Treatment group B got another version of a piece of mail.

And then the organization measured how many people registered to vote to determine which piece of mail was the most effective.

I couldn’t see the presenter or her slides, but I was fascinated. I had no idea that organizations were using science like this.

After the conference, I devoured all of the research I could find.

I started with working my way through all of the content on the Analyst Institute site and discovered new methods for not only voter turnout, but for increasing the likelihood that an elected official will meet with a constituent, suggestions on how to design a patch-through call program to move elected officials on an issue, and other topics.

And then I learned that there was a whole body of research related to community organizing, building political power, and social movements. I followed citation after citation to learn what tactics and strategies are the most effective for recruiting, retaining, and mobilizing volunteers and how to move volunteers into more and more leadership in the organization.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve worked with about a dozen organizations — Sunrise Movement, Free Press, Movimiento Cosecha, and others — to help them incorporate these evidence-based methods into their work.

This year I created a study group — We’re a Nerdy Movement — to help more people become better organizers, campaigners, or digital strategists.

The study group is a 12-week 36-hour online program that teaches evidence-based methods for recruiting, retaining, and mobilizing volunteers, activists, or members and the principles behind the tactics to help you adapt them to your context.

The study group might be a good fit for you if you:

• Want to learn how to move people who are very concerned about an issue but sitting on the sidelines into active participation.
• Struggle with moving people who sign-up on your email list to take leadership
• Aren’t sure what tactics organizers should use to increase the likelihood that people will stay involved.
• Want to increase the effectiveness of work groups and teams of volunteers.
• Are adapting your in-person organizing model to a virtual one because of coronavirus.
• Want to be in a community with other people who are grappling with these challenges.
• Are open to learning from a range of disciplines and organizations

Registration is open till Friday and may not open again until 2021.

Learn more and register for the We’re a Nerdy Movement study group.