austin356
10-15-2007, 11:29 PM
Hello all.
After being in the thick of things since May, I started last month to become disheartened with the way our organization was functioning here in Birmingham. We were busy but not productive, doing things but not getting stuff done. Sending out communications, but receiving few if any responses.
So what I decided was that the current system was not working and if changes were not made, we were without a doubt, going to lose the election in our area. Has anyone else gotten to this point with their meetup group?
Well once I reached that point I began to think about what our weaknesses were and how we could best improve them. Well that lead me to weakness #1, COMMUNICATION. (an example of this is best given by Chris in Memphis, who had a sign waving event in that city. He had a group member drive by, and then stop; then say "hey why did I not know about this event"; Chris then proceeds to tell him he sent out over 1/2 dozen emails about the event; The supporter then responds "oooh, I dont check that email anymore") This example is very very common. Emailing just does not seem to work for us, especially emailing through Meetup where few people use their "real" email address, but rather their spam account. This was basically confirmed when I had <5% RSVP rate for an event posted online and email, then >95% RSVP rate for members that we personally called and spoke with.
Weakness #2; Leadership. The way we were conducting ourselves and our group I believe was not conducive to people breaking out from supporters to leaders.
Weakness #3; Specialization. The division of labor is the most fundamental aspect of economics and productivity. All healthy economies have very high rates of division of labor, all productive businesses have high levels of division of labor. I think what we were doing was not conducive to people specializing in a certain area. I think this leads to a host of other problems, such as lack of ownership in tasks, motivation, etc.
I could go on about other weaknesses and then give some positives, but I dont want to make this too long.
So what I did was begin to form a leadership organization that functions outside of, albeit in conjunction with, the meetup organization. Sort of shall we say a supplement to existing activities.
We created a website; http://ronpaulbirmingham.com that we hope to further expand and use as the base of operations for Ron Paul for Birmingham.
And I have now basically filled all the leadership coordinator positions. I personally selected the people who I thought were best suited (w/ their permission of course), but also asked for volunteers, and left the door completely open for any person whatsoever who wanted to be apart of the leadership to simply say they wanted to and give us an idea of what they could do.
Here are some positions of specialization, aka coordinator positions:
Metro coordinator - did not believe I had authority to put that person in power :)
A pair of Asst. Metro coordinators
Media relations
Campaign spokesman (official campaign employee)
Treasurer
Events coordinator
Internal Communications Coordinator
Technology Coordinator
A pair of asst. Techies
Supplies coordinator
Meetup Group Coordinator
Fundraising Coordinator
Multimedia Coordinator
Signs Coordinator
Administrative Coordinator
Grassroots Action Coordinator
Anyone have any comments on what we in Alabama are doing? Why? How?
Anyone have other stories about how your meetup organization is evolving over time? Do you see any changes as positive or negative?
Am I completely authoritarian for making such changes and instituting structure?
Are other groups at the same point we are? Are others taking action?
Thanks 4 readin'
Austin
....
After being in the thick of things since May, I started last month to become disheartened with the way our organization was functioning here in Birmingham. We were busy but not productive, doing things but not getting stuff done. Sending out communications, but receiving few if any responses.
So what I decided was that the current system was not working and if changes were not made, we were without a doubt, going to lose the election in our area. Has anyone else gotten to this point with their meetup group?
Well once I reached that point I began to think about what our weaknesses were and how we could best improve them. Well that lead me to weakness #1, COMMUNICATION. (an example of this is best given by Chris in Memphis, who had a sign waving event in that city. He had a group member drive by, and then stop; then say "hey why did I not know about this event"; Chris then proceeds to tell him he sent out over 1/2 dozen emails about the event; The supporter then responds "oooh, I dont check that email anymore") This example is very very common. Emailing just does not seem to work for us, especially emailing through Meetup where few people use their "real" email address, but rather their spam account. This was basically confirmed when I had <5% RSVP rate for an event posted online and email, then >95% RSVP rate for members that we personally called and spoke with.
Weakness #2; Leadership. The way we were conducting ourselves and our group I believe was not conducive to people breaking out from supporters to leaders.
Weakness #3; Specialization. The division of labor is the most fundamental aspect of economics and productivity. All healthy economies have very high rates of division of labor, all productive businesses have high levels of division of labor. I think what we were doing was not conducive to people specializing in a certain area. I think this leads to a host of other problems, such as lack of ownership in tasks, motivation, etc.
I could go on about other weaknesses and then give some positives, but I dont want to make this too long.
So what I did was begin to form a leadership organization that functions outside of, albeit in conjunction with, the meetup organization. Sort of shall we say a supplement to existing activities.
We created a website; http://ronpaulbirmingham.com that we hope to further expand and use as the base of operations for Ron Paul for Birmingham.
And I have now basically filled all the leadership coordinator positions. I personally selected the people who I thought were best suited (w/ their permission of course), but also asked for volunteers, and left the door completely open for any person whatsoever who wanted to be apart of the leadership to simply say they wanted to and give us an idea of what they could do.
Here are some positions of specialization, aka coordinator positions:
Metro coordinator - did not believe I had authority to put that person in power :)
A pair of Asst. Metro coordinators
Media relations
Campaign spokesman (official campaign employee)
Treasurer
Events coordinator
Internal Communications Coordinator
Technology Coordinator
A pair of asst. Techies
Supplies coordinator
Meetup Group Coordinator
Fundraising Coordinator
Multimedia Coordinator
Signs Coordinator
Administrative Coordinator
Grassroots Action Coordinator
Anyone have any comments on what we in Alabama are doing? Why? How?
Anyone have other stories about how your meetup organization is evolving over time? Do you see any changes as positive or negative?
Am I completely authoritarian for making such changes and instituting structure?
Are other groups at the same point we are? Are others taking action?
Thanks 4 readin'
Austin
....