wiki:projects/membership-meeting/2013/talking-points

Talking Points for inviting members to the meeting

Please help us with outreach by inviting other members that you know!

Overview

The ideal method of contact is a phone call. If you are really close with people/organizations -- an email might be sufficient. But do try to get a confirmation. The goal is to get 200 particpants (in person and remotely). Calls should be followed up with an email with instructions, dates and times -- see below for draft text. Some of this information about members (phones, current contact, etc.) is available in our members' database but some is not. If you gather information about a member to do the call, please forward the info on to Hilary to update the database. After you have called, please email members@mayfirst.org with the status of the call -- i.e. conversation with ###, left 3 messages/no reponse, ### said they would come, ### said they can't come, etc.

The goal of the calls is to let members know of the upcoming meeting schedule and agendas. It's also an opportunity to reach out to members, remind them of May First/People Link -- and talk to them about what makes us different as an organization.

General Points to make in the call

We don't get much opportunity to actually talk to our members about what our organization is doing and what its leadership is thinking. As a result, many of our members just aren't familiar with that information and so this is an opportunity to make them familiar. Introduce yourself as a member of the current Leadership Committee that was elected last year.

  • Explain that as a membership organization of the progressive movement concentrating on Internet resource and work MF/PL calls together its members every year to make decisions about its work and leadership.

The person will probably ask about what this means and that will be the lead-in for the rest of your talk but, before you talk about the way we run our organization, you could say a few things about what we do in the movement: USSF leadership, APC, various campaigns, privacy issues, lots of "public idea leadership" (including things like Alfredo's columns at This Can't Be Happening), our work around Occupy, etc. These are huge involvements and very important components of our work and mission...and they're probably things people are familiar with and can relate to. They also lead into why we have a membership meeting.

  • This year we will have three mesas/tables conference calls to discuss key issues of importance to the membership of May First/People Link leading up to a face-to-face meeting on October 19, 2013. Each mesa has a theme. All mesa calls are open to all members. These conference calls are not decision-making forums; they are spaces to discuss issues and present proposals for the membership to consider. The calls will be documented on an online wiki and these notes will be open for additional input outside the conference calls up until the deadline.

  • At the face to face Membership Meeting, the mesas will meet to discuss and finalize the proposals for the upcoming year. In this meeting, it will be more feasible for members to attend one mesa as they will be meeting simultaneously, although there will be opportunity for every member to vote on all the mesa proposals. MF/PL voting rules apply -- individual members get one vote, organizational members get two votes.

In the face to face Membership Meeting we will also elect the incoming Leadership Committee.

  • Make clear to the member that no member has to be physically present to participate in these meetings. The initial mesas are by phone and the "face to face" will include remote participation. Include details for how to call in.

Follow up email template

Send a follow-up email. Something like this: It was great to speak with you about the upcoming May First/People Link Membership Meeting Plan. As we discussed in the call, May First/People Link's Membership Meeting is our most important annual event. This is a chance for members to determine the political vision of the organization, elect representative leaders and also connect with each other. We hope you will join and strenghten this process. If there are any questions, etc. please feel free to email me. Here's the plan details: https://members.mayfirst.org/wiki/projects/membership-meeting/2013, please bookmark the dates and RSVP your attendance to members@mayfirst.org

Last modified 11 years ago Last modified on Sep 4, 2013, 8:51:33 AM