Canvassing Training

Procedure 

I. Welcome

Welcome participants to the session and review the goals and agenda. 

II. Icebreaker (10 min)

If participants haven’t met before, take a few minutes to do some of the icebreakers in the slides.

III. (Optional) Overview of PB (15 min)

If participants are new to PB, use the slides to give them an overview of:

• What is participatory budgeting

• The steps of participatory budgeting

• What ARPA money can be spent on

IV. Canvassing

Tell participants:

Goal of canvassing is to sign people up to the mailing list. This allows us to invite them to activities including idea collection (Fall), signing up to be budget delegates (Winter), how to vote (Spring/Summer), and send them updates about PB. 

Participatory budgeting is based on participation. The only way we can get PB to work is if we get people to show up 

2. Canvassing progress 

Share the sign-up progress so far. Explain that almost all of these signups are from canvassing.  

3. Why canvass 

Tell participants that:  

• Recruiting people to whom you already have a connection is the best way to start, but after asking everyone you know, you’ll need to start talking to strangers.  

• Impersonal marketing methods, like social media, newsletters, posters, yard signs help a little, but they are nowhere near as effective in getting people to participate. 

• Canvassing is the best way to sign up people we don’t already know to participatory budgeting. 

4. What is canvassing? 

Tell participants that: 

In popup canvassing event, we go to a large public event with a clipboard & t-shirts and sometimes other materials like a cart, food, and costumes, and tell people about what participatory budgeting is, and collect emails of people who want to vote, participate or volunteer so that we continue to invite them to participate. 

Canvassing is about having a conversation. You listen to people to understand what they care about and help understand how participatory budgeting might help them achieve that. 

Ask participants why it’s important to listen.  

Then tell them: 

Most people haven’t heard about PB and like the idea once they hear about it, so sometimes it's as simple as providing information. 

Other times you need to do help them connect their interests to PB. There are many different reasons people might want to participate – maybe they have an idea for how to improve Evanston, maybe they want to get involved in the community, maybe they want to learn how to be a leader or want something to put on their resume. There are many different reasons they have to participate, but they aren’t going to know they can achieve those through PB. Your job is to ask questions and listen to what care about, then offer them an invitation that connects to their values.  

This requires engaging people in conversation, listening to what they care about, then showing them how participating can benefit them. It is not just reading off a script.   

5. Why participants should canvas 

Tell participants about the importance of inviting everyone: 

Canvassing requires that you ask everyone – when you choose who to ask, you aren’t evening giving them the opportunity to choose, you’re deciding for them. That’s a big responsibility, and that’s why we’re trying to get everyone involved in outreach. 

When you talk to strangers, you are giving them the opportunity to make a difference -- when you don't, you are robbing them of the opportunity to make that choice.  

Tell participants about what they personally gain by canvassing: 

Learning how to talk to strangers is empowering. Not only will it allow you to successfully organize to improve your community, but it will allow you to be comfortable developing many new relationships, friendships, and connections in your community.  

Learning how to talk to strangers is learning how to network--this is a critical skill for anyone who wants to develop their professional and leadership skills. 

6. Why participants CAN canvass. 

Tell participants: 

Most of us find talking to strangers scary at first but remember that no one is born knowing how to do this. It requires many concepts and skills, some of which might be new to you, but ANYONE can learn how to do it. The more you do it, the easier it gets.  It becomes fun to get to meet new people, know your community, and get them involved. 

We’re here to help you learn one step at a time. We’ll show you how to have a conversation, how to approach strangers, how to answer questions, and how to make it fun for you. 

V. How to Canvass

1. Simple script. 

Explain that: 

When canvassing, you use a script to guide the conversation—you don’t follow the script word for word like a play, but as guidelines for a good conversation. You’ll want to practice the script until you can have the conversation without the script. Use the simple script when you are starting out. Once you’re comfortable canvassing with the simple script, start to add in elements from the Full Script a little bit at a time to make your conversations even better! 

Share the simple script with participants.  

Demonstrate the script, then ask participant to practice the simple script it in pairs. 

2. Full Script 

Share the fill script with participants (online or print outs). 

Walk through each piece of the full script (also in the Canvassing Guide) and answer any questions: 

• Setup 

• Framing 

• Hook 

• Purpose 

• Hard Ask 

• Engage 

• Respond to concerns 

• Close 

• Reflect 

3. Canvassing tips 

Go over each of the canvassing tips (also in the Canvassing Guide): 

• Practice your pitch 

• Be safe 

• Canvas at large social events 

• Walk up to people! 

• Ask everyone 

• Be noticeable 

• Listen, be curious, ask questions 

• Asking anyone is a success 

• Reflect 

• Talk shop 

VI. Role-play Canvassing Scenarios (30-45 min)

Ask participants to break into pairs. If you have multiple facilitators, or experienced canvassers who can give feedback, you can assign the pairs to each facilitator. 

If using paper, hand out the scenarios to the facilitators. Otherwise, you can ask the pairs to form a line with 1 person facing the screen, and the other person with their back to the screen and project the scenarios on the screen. 

For each scenario: 

• Ask 1 person to be the canvasser 

• Ask the other person to role-play the voter – they can either read the scenario on the handout or view on the screen 

• Have the pair roleplay the scenario while the facilitator observes 

• Have the pairs discuss the scenario and facilitator give feedback. If you only have 1 facilitator, you can discuss in a large group. 

• Have the pairs switch roles and try the same scenario again 

• Have the pairs discuss how it worked the second time and facilitator give feedback. If you only have 1 facilitator, you can discuss in a large group. 

• If there are multiple facilitators and the pair needs more practice, they can try the scenario again 

• Move on to the next scenario

VII. Practice (optional, 1 hour)

If you have the opportunity to canvass immediately after training, share the canvassing locations with participants and assign them to a location 

Make sure each participant has the necessary materials such as: 

• clipboard 

• pen 

• t-shirt 

• handbills 

• script 

• sign-up sheet 

• (optional) swag or food 

• (optional) table, 1 per pair or group 

Ask participants to go canvassing in pairs and return in an hour. 

VIII. Reflect (15 min)

When participants return, show them how to enter their sign-ups into NationBuilder to send their signups an automated email (Resource 1).  

Ask participants to answer the following questions in pairs or small groups, then share with the large group: 

• How did it go? Was it fun? Interesting? Scary? 

• What was surprising?  

• What worked? What didn’t?  

• How can we improve next time?  

VII Plan next steps (15 min)

Share any expectations about amount of canvassing with participants and list of next events if available.   

Give participants any necessary links for: 

• signing out equipment 

• download flyers and sign-up forms 

• online signup forms 

• where to upload pictures and information for social media 

• canvassing locations and policies 

Ask if they have any questions about what to do next.  

Congratulate participants on taking the first step toward the most fundamental technique of activism and tell them you are looking forward to all the new people they are going to empower. 

After the session 

Send an email with next steps to participants (Resource 2). You can also do this using a NationBuilder form. 

Evaluation

After the training, each new member should write:

• A paragraph on what you learned from the training

• A rating from 1-5 about how well the training helped them learn

• At least 1 I-like & I-wish about the training

You should write a reflection on:

• What you did, what worked well, what didn’t work well, and what you will change about the training next time.