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ross11988
09-17-2007, 10:49 AM
Well its my first meeting today, just wanted to get some tips. A guy from my group is bringing banners, and Im bringing 80 Ron Paul DVD's to give out. Just looking on what points to bring up during the meeting and anything else. Thanks Guys

specsaregood
09-17-2007, 10:51 AM
Well its my first meeting today, just wanted to get some tips. A guy from my group is bringing banners, and Im bringing 80 Ron Paul DVD's to give out. Just looking on what points to bring up during the meeting and anything else. Thanks Guys

Get every members phone name/phone/email combination. That way you can call then to make sure they get out there to help at events. Emails are easier to ignore/miss. If you really want people to show up at events, you will want to be able to call them.

BLS
09-17-2007, 10:57 AM
Find out who in the group is willing to do things to get out the name.
Ultimately, recruitment is what you are looking for.
Then make sure you get some slim jims and bumper stickers, and organize.
If you're the organizer of the group, try to get EVERYONE involved.
Have them introduce themselves, talk about how they became a fan of RP, etc.
The key is to make everyone feel like they have a role. But not more than they are willing to take on.

Agreed on getting phone numbers, emails, names, etc.

Throw out topics like "how can we spread his name" and let it run it's course.
People will come to a conclusion, and if acceptable by everyone, then organize HOW your going to do it. THEN DO IT.

Good luck. PM me if you need any more help.

a2planet
09-17-2007, 10:59 AM
Have a really thorough list of tasks to get people involved with right away.

-Getting lists from county clerks of voter lists, for door-to-door campaigning.
-Getting lists from county clerks of precinct delegates, for letter-writing. PRECINCT DELEGATES ARE KEY PEOPLE. They're the ones that decide who goes to state convention.
-Find out when and where every GOP meeting in your area takes place. Typically the state GOP website has a list of them--you want all supporters showing up for all of these! The GOP needs to see us as GOP people, not as outsiders. Also, much important information about the state primary is discussed at these things.
-Getting web-savvy people together for a web team. Get a website or at least a page.
-Getting literate people to write good letters to the editor.
-Assign some very dedicated person the task of finding out about major local events (sports games, fairs, gun shows, etc)
-Assign another dedicated person the task of calling everybody in your group to see if they can go to such-and-such event.

That should be plenty to get people started.

Rivington Essex
09-17-2007, 11:01 AM
Here is something I have collected from the forum.

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A Goal, Some Strategy and Some Tactics: Use what you want and Discard the Rest!
This is a list the San Antonio MeetUp leader put together for his Meetup group. A MD leader added input and a New York coordinator has edited suggestions from other sources.

Goal: We Can Win
We have 45,000 supporters who have joined Ron Paul MeetUp groups. If each supporter convinces 15 other people to support RP, that’s 675,000. If they can recruit another 10 people to support Ron Paul, that would be 6,750,000. And if those people get 10 more people to support RP, that’s a whopping 67,500,000. Add it all up, that would win the general election.

Start: Just Do It
The most important thing to do is start by hosting your first MeetUp. Any restaurant, church or bar will do. Several leaders said that it was important to get active early. Meet and talk, but then do something pro-active like hand out literature on a busy street (and bring a pen to get e-mail addresses of potential voters). That will get you another 5 to 10 names and possible MeetUp members. Now you are on your way!

Some Strategy:
The first thing a candidate needs is name recognition. Several people who have worked on campaigns before say that a voter must hear a name 5 times before he remembers the name.

The best way to get name recognition is to use 3-5 advertising mediums in 3-5 days. A medium is simply the way you communicate (newspaper, tv, radio, phone call, e-mail, banner add, op-ed, letter, street fair etc. )If you could put up a billboard, drop a direct mail, and do phone calls all in a week, that would improve name recognition. Some studies say one message has only a 2% effectiveness, but when a consumer is hit with 3 messages from 3 sources in 3 days, the effectiveness increases to 30-50%.

So think about that when you do events. You can make your event 10 times more effective by communicating 3 times in 3 days. Put up signs all at once in your neighborhood, drop them a direct mail piece the next day, and then try to call them the following. 2 messages via 2 sources is better. 3 messages via 3 sources is better. You get the point.

Next: Great Resources
The Official Campaign has a web site for grass roots organizers
http://www.ronpaul2008.com/get-involved/

There are a few good web discussion pages to ask questions.
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/ and http://ronpaulforum.com/
Go here when you have questions or have a success story. Don’t be afraid to post. The people in this forum are nice and polite. Sign in, ask a question, post a story, and brainstorm an idea.

This is also a good list to join:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RPMeetupOrganizers/

Many states have started their own state leader Meetups, and a national one is here.
http://ronpaul.meetup.com/511/

Step 1: Things You Can Do Every Day

1. Email or call your friends & family and let them know about RP. This is the number one way to build support. Your words will carry more weight with people you already know. If they are supportive, ask them for e-mails of Republicans they know. You are on your way.

2. Register to vote Republican. In most states you need to be a registered member of the party to vote in the Primary. Bring voter registration cards and get your MeetUp group to do the same.

3. Become a Republican delegate. Go through the process and get yourself into the Republican National Convention and get RP nominated. Nothing else we do will matter if we don’t have enough delegate votes at the national convention.

4. Become a Republican Precinct Chair. You will have more influence on the Republicans in your precinct.

5. Walk your neighborhood and knock on doors. Have literature and bumper stickers. Return with a yard sign if anyone wants one.

6. Write letters to the editor in any publication. (See below for hints)

7. Be Polite: When talking with other people, NEVER belittle anyone’s views or beliefs. NEVER preach to them. ALWAYS direct them to Ron Paul and his views. Ron Paul can sell himself better than any of us can. Even Ron Paul supporters have various views and beliefs. Be prepared with knowledge, but if you don’t know just direct them to his web site or www.RonPaulLibrary.org.

8. Go into random chat rooms and web forums and ask if anyone has heard of Ron Paul. Engage anyone who responds and get a conversation going. Try to get others to join in. (For Example Soldiers Voices Forum)

9. Pick an issue or two that are the main reasons you support RP. Seek out local groups dedicated to that issue and start making contacts and getting involved with those groups. These are target rich environments that can help build support exponentially. (See Segment the Market below.)

10. Wear a Ron Paul shirt or a Ron Paul button on your shirt. Put a sticker on your laptop. If people ask, get their e-mail addresses. Invite them to your MeetUp.

11. Put one or more bumper stickers on your car. Put them on the windows, they are easy to remove later. Write Ron Paul 2008 in Shoe polish or soap on your car windows. If you don’t want to put a sticker on the car, attach it with a magnet. Attach multiple stickers and give them to people if they ask.

12. Arm yourself with business cards at all times. Leave them EVERYWHERE. Cash registers, car windows, the credit card slot on gas pumps, atm machines, send one to the teller at the bank drive through after your transaction, in your gyms locker room…. EVERYWHERE.

13. Stamp or write on your money. It’s not illegal. It’s only illegal if you render the bill unusable. This is incredible exposure with very long term staying power that will change hands many, many times and generate many conversations.

14. Keep bumper stickers and yard signs in your car at all times for anyone else you meet or talk to who wants them.

15. Carry www.RonPaul2008SA.org cards for anyone who wants to get involved with the RP 2008 SA Meetup group. Ask for people’s e-mails and invite them to your MeetUp.

16. Nail campaign signs to any pole where it is legal. (Utility poles are normally off limits and dangerous) Use a ladder whenever you can. If you put it out of reach, it will stay up for a really long time. This is excellent exposure.

17. Stand on the corner of a busy intersection by yourself with a sign. It doesn’t have to be a large group. Wear a hat and sunglasses if you’re shy!

18. Visit www.RonPaulForums.com often and keep up with the latest postings on Strategies for Success and Campaign Materials.

19. Participate in any phone or mail campaign the national campaign seeks help with.

20. Find land to put up 2’ x 4’ and 4’ x 8’ signs on. Major roads, FM roads, freeways.

21. Reference the list of campaign material suppliers and order what you can. Distribute, Campaigning is marketing. It’s a numbers game. A campaign manager once said a person needs to see a candidate’s name 5 times to vote for him.

22. Stamp or write on everything you mail.

23. In your email signature, put www.RonPaul2008.com

24. Display a yard sign. Display two yard signs.

25. Call in to talk radio shows. We hate to point you to Rudy, but he has a great data base of all the talk radio stations in the country and their phone numbers.

http://www.joinrudy2008.com/getinvolved/calltalk

26. Write RonPaul2008 in chalk on the sidewalks of your college campus.

27. Buy copies of the Ron Paul issue of Republic Magazine and leave copies in any waiting room that has magazines. Leave flyers at the doctor’s office.

28. Hang signs and banners on fences and overpasses along freeways.

29. Put stickers EVERYWHERE where there is a lot of pedestrian traffic.

30. Donate, Donate, Donate. Whatever you can afford every month. Do anything you can to help build the national campaign’s war chest.


Step 2: Segment the Market
Just like Proctor and Gamble segments the shampoo market into dry, blond and curly hair, we can segment the voter market. Try to contact thought leaders in each of these segments: By doing so, these thought leaders become your "Force Multipliers"

Try to get in contact with the local chapters and invite them to your MeetUp. Marketing MBAs like to give segments cool nicknames ... In no particular order, here goes.

NRA gun owners
Anti-War Activists
Pro-Life Advocates
Privacy Hawks
College Leaders
Border Fence Builders
Home School Advocates: A resource: http://ronpaul.meetup.com/801
Fiscal Conservatives
Church Leaders
Log Cabin Republicans
And any others you can think of…


Step 3: Delegate, Divide and Conquer: Try to delegate responsibilities in your MeetUp group. For example appoint a person within your MeetUp who is already an insider and passionate member of each voter segment. Make sure someone reaches out to other people in the state to see if balloting is understood. Appoint a person to collect donations. It is hard to do it all, so try to assign a task to other members and hold them accountable and give them a reward.


Step 4: An easy way to submit letters to the editor:
The GOP web site has an easy form where you can write a letter and send it to up to 5 separate newspapers. If you enter your zip code, it will show the largest newspapers near you and the closest newspapers to you.

http://www.gop.com/GetActive/WriteNewspapers.aspx

They go directly to the papers without being filtered.

Normally when you send one to five papers, a few bounce back if the newspaper address is wrong, but it is still a good tool if you want to hit newspapers with a regional message.


Step 5: Issue a press release and follow up with a reporter.

Here are some reasons for press releases:

• When you start a MeetUp group.
• When your MeetUp group goes above 50 members.
• When you have successful event and to announce the next one.

Normally a reporter will pass on the first story, but the second or third time they get interested. Furthermore, when the reporter needs a supporter quote, he will go to you. If you need someone to write the press release with you, go to one of the resources above and ask for help.

Step 6: Primary Dates Can Be Found here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)_presidential_prim aries,_2008

Step 7: When they say ….
Here are some ways the NY group answers some typical reactions. We try to automatically agree with the person. Then we try to keep it really general. We try to never disagree and we find try to find out their most important issue, or one where they agree with Ron Paul. Niceness counts.

• He can’t win: Answer “Awesome, you have heard about Ron Paul. He won the Fox News Poll after the last debate. He has beaten Rudy in most of the state straw polls. He won the Maryland, New Hampshire and Washington State Straw polls. I am surprised you haven’t seen that.”
• Who is Ron Paul: Answer “Thanks for the interest. He is the only candidate who voted against the War, the Patriot Act, and in 20 years has never voted to raise taxes.” (And your favorite issue)
• He wants to restore the Gold Standard: Answer “Great. Exactly. Ron Paul will restore fiscal discipline to Washington. He wants the government to stop inflation. The gold standard would be one way to do this. He has never voted against an unbalanced budget.”
• Rudy is going to win: “Fantastic. Ron Paul can win too. He is the most searched-for candidate on the web right now. He has won every post debate poll.” (Try to use some official source like “I read in the paper that Ron Paul is the only one who can beat Hillary.)

We Can Win. People like winners and we need to show potential voters that he can win. Winning polls and debates is an asset we have, so lets use it. Tell voters we are winning. It is also something that is general enough to engage people. Just be nice. Get their e-mail. Invite them to your Meetup.

Step 8:
Celebrate little victories. Every small victory is a step towards winning. Post a story on a forum and tell us what worked in your neck of the woods.

Step 9:
This is your campaign. These are just some ideas. Use some, use all, use none.

Step 10
Vote. If we want to change our government, we need to vote.

ross11988
09-17-2007, 11:11 AM
Thanks for the tips, I am the meetup organizer, Im going to try a go down to the post office and get a bunch of voter cards and have a table set up here at East Stroudsburg University