Protests with a Plan

How to organize and plan a protest:

1. Incoherent messages are fine from the Assembly, but the primary organizers have to be organized. Home-made signs can be all over the place. The more the better. That’s fine. The color and signage look good on TV.

2. Create a theme - like “We want Senator So-and-So to resign for voting for this bill.” Or, “We want the Bill Repealed!” etc. Have a definitive purpose to your Assembly. A central theme will also help public speakers to focus. And don’t be afraid to personalize this. Put it on your Senators, Congress people, and the President. That’s what they are doing to anyone who objects. Remember, they made it personal first.

3. Speakers have to be prepared for the media. If you are an organizer, or the “face” of the event - take an hour to prepare. You don’t need to know everything about your cause. Just find 2 or 3 things - hard facts - you can point to and credibly say - this is wrong, here's how to make it better. It is critical. Not only have a primary message against something, have a message FOR something. People like leaders with solutions.

4. Pass out talking points, just in case Joe or Jane Protestor gets buttonholed by a reporter.

5. This is all about image. If you don’t present the media with a professional, organized and, unfortunately, scripted image, they are going to make their own, and it won’t be favorable.

6. Recruit some help to pack the area around people being interviewed for background. God love the guy in the crazy Uncle Sam suit, and you certainly need some comic relief, but these folks will quickly become THE story because they are colorful or controversial i.e., Good TV. Welcome their support. Maybe give them a minute on the mic. However, mainstream folks have to be the majority. Boring looking, and diverse Americans around the camera. No offense to anyone. Anytime a TV camera comes out, a certain number and type of attention seeker will flock to it. Now is the time for Grandma and Grandpa, the Plumber, the Young Executive, and the Homeschooling Mom to flock to the camera as background. Don’t be shy. Remember, how do you want your cause to be presented by the media? As crazies? Or as Concerned Neighbors?

7. Have an Agenda and a Time. We’re going to Assemble at this Time. We’re going to have a Sign-In Table. We’re going to have a Sign-Making Area. We’re going to have speakers at 10:30. We’re going to March to the Senator’s Office at this time and demand she resign. We’re going to end with Chants, and a Call-to-Action for the next Protest. That, and Protestors want to know what’s going on. If they become unsure, they leave. Organization wins, and it also intimidates the opposition. And the opposition is going to start showing up.

8. Share the Day’s Agenda with the Media. You have to create your own press. Sell it to them. They love good stories.

That’s it. Get a Message. And Get It Out.

UPDATED:

Be sure to have a signup sheet where people can put their emails and other contact information for future events.

Also, consider printing up some postcards addressed to your local Representative and Senators. They should say that they’re from the protest, and carry an organized, standard message. Get people to sign them, and solicit donations for postage, then mail them. Local mail from real constituents makes an impression.

Also, encourage them to contact local media after the event, and either compliment them on their coverage, or politely criticize it, as appropriate.