Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010 26-09-2010

Contacting Supporters
Handout Workshop ISO 26-09-10
By: Nick Leon & Anouk Platteel

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010

Introduction:
Perhaps you already have a lot of supporters, or perhaps you are just starting to think about how to get your first active supporters. No matter your situation, improving the contact with your supporters will always be beneficial. In this handout we explain in short the best practices from our parties(VeSte Wageningen and UReka Twente), but the tips and tricks can be used for any kind of representative. Having supporters is important and they can help you in many ways. They can help promoting in the elections, give you feedback on important subjects as well as supplying possible successors. It takes time and success is not always guaranteed, but when successful the advantages can be very great. They handout is written as a further elaboration of the training, it is mostly meant as a extra document to read through after the training. For this reason, the explanations and information found in this handout is kept short. Hopefully you find the training and this handout useful, so you can make coming year a big success.

Contents
Contacting Supporters ..................................................................................................... 1 Handout Workshop ISO 26-09-10 ................................................................................... 1 Introduction: ................................................................................................................... 2 Why would you want a supporters group? ....................................................................... 3 But who do you want to recruit? ...................................................................................... 4 Methods of recruiting supporters ..................................................................................... 5 What can you offer the supporters? ................................................................................. 7 Taking it to the next level, extra ideas to think about ....................................................... 9 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 9 Contact: ........................................................................................................................ 10

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010

Why would you want a supporters group?

There are many benefits to having an active supporters group. Some benefits are obvious, but it can go much further than the standard benefits. First the obvious: the main purpose would normally be to get more input from the people that vote for your party, improving your work and increasing the chance they will vote for your party again. Furthermore they can help with polls for important subjects and help you getting better known by the students. But the benefits go much further than that, because if you can successfully bind these students you can do much more. What are the extra benefits beside the above stated? Firstly an active supporters base can help volunteer with organizing activities like elections for instance, because they can help reach more other students in the same time. This reduces the work of the faction/party so they can focus more on the important discussions in the council. If you can let these students promote you with their friends during the year it can save a lot of the feeling that your party is only present during elections. Look at it like a study associations, where members help organize activities. If you really have some motivated students, you can even fill special committees with supporters to let them help you on different topics. Think of an Internationalization, Elections or Financing-committee. Not merely focusing on activities, but where these students can do very useful mental work for the party, and even for the university. Many students do not want to be a part of a council, but these would perhaps like to be part of other discussions for improving their school. Another benefit is that these supporters can show the difference between you and other parties. If the gap between you and the students is small, chances are greater they will vote for your party. If you can show that you have supporters in the party, it shows you take the representative roll very seriously and thus making it easier to join you. These supporters can help provide other students of valuable information like changes in the regulations that the school wouldnt communicate itself. Perhaps it is not really a concern for you just yet in the start of the year, but there is another big advantage for having active supporters, namely: successors. The last couple of years it has become more and more difficult to find good successors for many student organizations. But if you already have many people active in your party, they can supply or greatly help looking for the coming year. And when supporters themselves go to the council themselves, they will already have fast knowledge of the subjects and tasks of the council, reducing the time needed at the start of the year. In short, the benefits: o More commitment among people o Use supporters in workgroups and Ad Hoc committees Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon 3

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010  Better input and representation Good for visibility and perhaps campaign  Reduces Council only exists during campaign feeling of voters Differ from other council-parties Helps organizing activities Helps spread the word with important activities and subjects Successors; Long-term knowledge Always keep in mind: purpose for supporters

o o o o o o o

So there are many reasons to try and get supporters for your party. But before you can use these benefits of active supporters, the question firstly is: who do you want to approach for become a supporter?

But who do you want to recruit?

Okay, now youre convinced you really want extra supporters. But who do you want to reach? Where to look for these students? First question would be: what kind of students do you really represent? All the students, really? Think about it, when you are for instance mostly focused education, having a very big base with all student-organizations could be difficult. Of course you represent them, but a main focus for the supporters improves your profile. You can then put your main focus on study-associations for instance. Dont disregard the other students though, but be fair about which students you really want as active supporters. It makes it easier convince people if you know what you want. It depends on the group you want where you start looking. Lets say you want to reach study-focused students of an university, then what are good places to look? First the obvious: study-associations and/or student associations. They often have a good connection with the students and have a focus on the study. But looking further you can also look for Education Committees(OLC or OpCies), FacultyCouncils in case you have them (FR) or any other important study-related committees. Good connections with these students especially concerning subjects like the OER(Education Regulations) or StudentStatute(Student charter ) can show them the benefit of your party. Say you would like to represent the not-active students as well? These are most difficult to reach because they are not present at many activities. So you cant focus on committees or other groups. The best way to reach them is with standard activities where they will be present: book sales, exams and the introduction. These students often know little about the possibilities outside their studies, keep this in mind when approaching them. Another possibility is looking at sports, but about that in the next chapter.

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010 Lastly, never disregard your own friends and roommates for helping you. Have discussions about the important subjects in the council and see if theyre interested. How more different people you have a supporters, the better you can represent the complete student population. Of course you would like as many supporters as possible, but also think about the added value and see if you for some subject would like to shift your focus. Having too many students with little background knowledge can make it hard to organize discussions with. Always think about how you communicate to all the students, do you aggressively want everyone to be a part of your party or just want to open a door? Both have pros and cons, but it is up to you to see what suits you best. In short: if you look at the above statements, you can ask yourself: what is the added value for these students if they support you? Plainly spoken: do they get free drinks, get to know new friends or will they truly make a difference for the school/university? Every student has his own focus, and this can greatly change the atmosphere of your party. Well focus on this more in the coming sections. But first, how to approach them? Summary: o Which students/ which interests/ which subjects o What is the added value for these students?  Student generally only think about their own purpose  good coffee vs education quality y Every student is different o Students that are involved with important items  Student boards  Students that you already have had contact with o Think about: How to communicate/tone o Ask yourself:  What kind of recruiter are you?  What kind of supporters would you like?  What is the added value of the different groups?

Methods of recruiting supporters

How to recruit these supporters? Now you know why you would like supporters and who to approach, but what is the best way to ask them so support you? Not everyone wants to be a part of your party, though as that may sound, its a fact. However cool and open you are, the world of politics is not for everyone. But how to reach the ones that are interested, or dont know yet they would like to become interested? The best method will always be the personal approach. Talk to them during constitution drinks, meetings or parties. If you speak about your work as a representative and they are interested in a deeper discussion, you can always invite them for an activity. Many Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon 5

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010 students are for some part concerned with education: it determines the quality of their diploma. Of course you cant reach all students at these activities, most of the students present there are board members or other active students. How to reach the rest? First of all: get known. Look at the possibilities to promote yourself at the papers popular at the university or at special activities. For instance organize big events where everyone is welcome or a visibility event where you do something noticeable. At UReka for instance every exam week an event is organized showing an important subject for the party. If people dont know you, they wont join you. You can also think of being visible at the introduction, sport activities or book sales. But do it logically, you really dont want to look too aggressive. Once you are known among the students it is important to be interesting, open and approachable. Important to this respect is also party clothes, show the we feeling. Show what you do as a council, many students have no idea what a council does. Students are generally lazy and already have much information to go through, so keep it simple. Good practices to show this are for instance a Twitter, Facebook, a Newsletter or up-to-date website. A Twitter-account would normally not be the first thing you think of, but it is an ideal medium for short to-the-point updates of your work. As long as you keep the information useful and still fun you can quickly expand your number of followers. You can even start discussions by posting questions to your followers quickly providing you with information. A newsletter and website are quite obvious, but are often disregarded because of different priorities. If students dont know what you do, how can they support you? Communication is very important for every representative. Another benefit of getting known and showing what you do is that more often students know how to reach you for questions. Work with the complaints they give you, listen to their input and give them feedback. How closer you collaborate with these students, the better you will get known and they will see your added value. These students can quickly become a part of your supporters group. The students that are following your Twitter, the Newsletter or send you mail already have shown interest in your party. These students can be regarded as a part of your supporters, and you know how to reach them for input. Now you know some good methods of getting supporters (but not all of course), but what can you offer these students? Summary: o Most important: personal approach and friends o Mail Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon 6

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010  Set up email/questions asked  Newsletter  What to do with the input Twitter Facebook Magazine of newspaper(school or national) Be present at every event Student/sport/study associations  Constitutional drinks React on questions/ complaints of students Make it as easy and accessible as possible  Show the use and possibilities Communicate simple and understandable

o o o o o o o o

What can you offer the supporters?

Now youve got a big supporters group, anxious to start and help your party to world domination. But what can you offer them? Depending on the kind of students you can offer them several activities. Youll see most of these activities can also be used for getting extra supporters. A good recommendation would be to nearly always combine it with an important subject. This reduces the chance that students get the feeling you replace other student-associations. Base for a council normally is the important school-wide discussions for all students. There are many things you can organize, but for the overview we only discuss four subjects here: discussion lunches, congress, parties and debates. But these of course are only small examples of the possibilities. Discussion lunches is one of the simplest activities to organize. Discussion lunches are easy to organize: all you need is a subject, a location and a budget. This is a good way for opening discussions between employees and students, and making an important subject discussed openly. For instance discussion like BSA or board-financing are very popular. A free lunch always attracts extra students, and often theyll also join the discussions. Organizing a board congress or symposium needs more preparation than a simple lunch. You need to arrange speakers, trainers and a big location. It also is quite expensive in terms of time and money. But it also shows your party has grown and you have the possibility to organize something this big. Here you can discuss several subjects after eachother, and easily update students with the current news from the party. This can also be a good activity as a introduction for new students to know more about your party.

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010 A party (like in: fun party, not political party) is something that is not directly something you would associate with a council party, but still worth thinking of. The main benefit of a party is that it is very approachable for students, and fun to organize. You can use this as a thanks for active supporters as well for getting new supporters. Tip: give the party a subject to remember you by, and perhaps give them the possibility to get to know more about your party. The last option discussed here are debates. Debates can exist in any kind of form, between students, between students & teachers or even with political figures from The Hague. As long as the subjects are important for both parties and there are strong opinions about it(like financing for students in boards), you can get a good debate. A debate is also ideal for looking for successors, there is big chance that students that are good in debate would be a good addition to your party. You can think of many other activities, like letting supporters help with promotion or a special thank you dinner. Always look at the benefits for you as well as the students, if it is beneficial for both parties it most of the time is worth the extra effort. Above all: have fun with the supporters! Summary: o Supporters lunches  How often  Location  Budget  Useful for input: give a subject o Board Congress  How to reach the trainers  How to reach enough students who are willing to participate  Location  Budget problems o Party  How to organize a party for 1200 students with total costs: 150, Risks  Location  Budget/tax-advantage o Debate/discussion  Subject  Timing  How to reach students to participate  How to reach the people debating  Sufficient debate leader  Location o Random activities  Fun actions showing important subjects  Around exam weeks Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon 8

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010 y After the exams, reduces stress and annoyance of students Lowcost, easy to organize and good for visibility on random students.

Taking it to the next level, extra ideas to think about

Once you have a big supporters group, you could think about the next level. For instance you can think about setting up an association where students can become a member of. You can give these members extra room for organizing activities, but also a say in how the party works. So comparable to many study associations these members have a say in the policy of the board. This has many advantages, but also some big disadvantages you have to think of, below of list of discussion points. o Advantages  More contact with the supporters y Special group that can easily be contacted  Possible funding from e.g. membership fee  Extra commitment  Difference between you and other parties  Working crew o Disadvantages  Takes up time to organize  Less flexible organization Every party should look for themselves what is beneficial for them. We cant really give a general recommendation. Think about it and perhaps discuss it, perhaps it could become a goal for the future?

Conclusion
It could take a lot of time and effort to get many students to follow you, but in the end it most of the time will pay back greatly. It can save a lot of time and effort when looking for input from students, supporters can help organizing activities like a campaign and can even save time looking for successors. It makes being a representative less repetitive and distinguishes you from your competitors. You can think of many levels of commitment from the students, but above all, make a plan beforehand: what will you offer, who do you want to recruit and how. Only combining these steps will make you achieve your goals! Perhaps you can even achieve the result in the image right of here Good luck! Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something. - Thomas A. Edison

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

Workshop Contacting Supporters ISO Inwerkweekend 2010

Contact:
If you have any other questions you can always contact us using the following addresses: Anouk Platteel - anouk.platteel@wur.nl Nick Leon - Nick@ureka.utwente.nl

Anouk Platteel and Nick Leon

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