We’re going to RootsCamp in DC in a little less than three weeks, we have space in our van, and I hope you can come along.

What’s RootsCamp?  It’s two days of powerful conversations with some of the smartest progressive folks doing online organizing today. If you are working to make change and want to do your online work in a smart and strategic way, this is for you. It’s a great chance to meet, learn from and teach other progressive organizers in an open, collaborative atmosphere.

And it’s free.

Organized by the non-profit New Organizing Institute in Washington, DC, the 6th annual RootsCamp is happening the weekend of February 18th and 19th in Washington.  There is a minivan of people splitting costs on the drive from Toronto (~$120/person for transport), and we have 2 spaces left.  I hope you’ll consider coming along with us.

I have been to Rootscamp twice now, and I have been really impressed at how an unstructured and free event can be so enriching.  I have learned about organizing and messaging strategies and tactics – both online and on the ground – from people at the heart of movements like the Obama campaign, MoveOn.org and directly from inspiring political yodas like Marshall Ganz. There’s even a career fair for all kinds of progressive jobs (in the U.S.)  If you are trying to make change for the better, this is a great opportunity to grab some mid-winter learning and inspiration, and make sure you have a Canadian posse down in DC.

If you are interested in joining us, or know someone who would be a great fit for this conference (and will be good with a 10 hour van ride) please get in touch with me at eric@squair.ca

I recognize this is really short notice, and I hope you can make it.

Eric.

That’s why I am offering a five-session hands-on course on Google Analytics I call “How to Make Smarter Decisions About Your Website“

Normally, I don’t like giving workshops focusing on specific tools. Often, it’s a case of recommending specific tactics before people have defined the larger goals of an organizations’ online efforts. Second Life, FourSquare or Twitter do not necessarily fit the particular needs of your organization.*

But Google is different.  You have no choice but to make decisions more strategically when using these tools for measuring and improving your online work. I don’t feel reluctant to recommend these specific tools to anyone who is publishing anything online – a website, email newsletter, blog or social media campaign.

By adopting some free Google tools, you will automatically be more strategic and effective in your online publishing – these are big boasts. Below are three quick reasons why I think this claim holds up.

1.  These tools answer  the basic question: How are we doing?  They tell you regularly, in numbers, what’s working, and what’s not. How many websites would be vastly improved if they were focused on these two questions?

2. These tools work best when you define your goals and audiences. This automatically gets you thinking, simultaneously, about what your key performance indicators are, as well as your key audiences. They give regular, clear updates how well you are meeting your goals, how you are connecting with specific audiences, and gives insights into how to do better.

3. These tools don’t assume you have any specific technical knowledge. Sure, there is some jargon and new concepts to learn when using these tools, and there are different levels of sophistication in their setup. But anyone responsible for a website is much better off being familiar with these concepts – it’s some of the most valuable learning you will do about online communications.

This event is going to focus on three things that, in my experience, people find really helpful to know more about:

1. Google Analytics
2. Google adwords / Google Grants
3. Google Keyword Tool

If you can’t make this event, please get in touch, as I will be offering it again in the fall.

[* I mention these three particular tools because, at different times, many people thought that each of these tools was THE answer to their online communications challenges. They were very eager to hear advice on how to make the most of them, but not necessarily interested in questioning why that specific tool might help solve their challenges.]

They also know that every piece of information you require in your sign up form reduces the number of people who will complete the form and subscribe.

So what’s the optimal information to ask for, in my opinion?

Based on some simple research I conducted, I think email subscription forms should ask for only three things:

1. the subscribers email address,
2. first name and
3. postal (or zip) code.

That’s it.

Valid email address
Why you need the supporters email address is obvious – you can’t send email if you don’t have an address.  It’s an open question whether people should be asked to confirm, by clicking on a link in and email, if they truly do want to receive updates from you. I think if you send them a good welcome email that explains clearly that they can unsubscribe at any time, this should take care of the few ‘prank’ signups that will inevitably occur.

First name
Knowing the recipients’ first name helps you send emails that are far more compelling, simply by addressing them personally. We all ‘know’ that when we subscribe to an email newsletter, we are getting one copy of an email that was sent to thousands of other people on the list.  But another part of our brain also ‘knows’ that the most important emails are the ones that are sent by people who know us, and they send it directly to us. So we have an expectation that to be important, and email has to be directly addressed to us by name, not ‘Dear friend’.  Including the first name in the salutation of the emails you send is a simple but effective way to increase the reader engagement with your email.

Postal or ZIP code
Collecting this information helps you move your relationship with your subscriber beyond simply sending them emails. And if you are running a campaign, at some point you are going to have to move the relationship beyond the computer.

If you know your supporters postal code, you know:
- where they live (roughly)
- who their elected representatives are
- whether or not to invite them to an event
- their approximate income level

Imagine how useful this information is when you are organizing campaign events, asking them to contact their elected officials or beginning to fundraise.

Why did they sign up?
There’s one more piece of information you need to collect when you ask people to sign up to your email updates: why they signed up to your list in the first place.

At this stage, this is as simple as recording the ‘source’ of the signup. Was it an online petition on a certain issue? Did they attend an event, download a report, or make a donation to a particular campaign?  It makes a world of difference if you have some record of what compelled the signup in the first place – you now have some small hint as to what they value about their relationship with you.

If you are asking for every last personal detail of your email subscribers, you are likely losing more potential signups than you need by asking for too much signup information upfront.  If you truly need that information in the future, people will give it when they are ready.

Admittedly, two tests are not enough to close the book on the issue, but they do represent a sample size of close to two thousand individual signups.

We are delivering a blogging workshop for a group working on water issues, with members across the country. We have developed short instructional videos and exercises to explain the main learnings of the course, and follow up with webinars to review and discuss the work.

It’s been a great process so far – it wraps up next week – and we hope to be delivering more of these online workshops in the future.

If you are interested in participating in the Blogging for People Who Should workshop but don’t live near Toronto, drop us a line and we’ll let you know when we run the first online workshop open to the general public.

A few days ago I finished writing up a simple content plan for a modest campaign microsite. I thought it would be useful to share what I came up with, a bit of a template for the type of content to consider when you are trying to engage people in an issues campaign.

This particular campaign was for a Canadian medical issue, and there was an opportunity to influence the relevant decision makers in the near future. No two campaigns are alike, of course, so there is no single template that can cover all campaign site possibilities.  You might decide to include only some of this content, depending on the complexity of the issue, the audience of the campaign (broad or specialized), the target of the campaign (corporate, government, particular decision maker),  the ask (to stop some harm or provide some benefit)  and the information/enthusiasm ratio of the campaign at that moment.

Overall, the goal of the site was to get people to send a message to the campaign target (and sign on to support the campaign if they wished). This call to action was repeated on every page – more subtly in some places than others.  The simple site will have six separate subpages, each using different content and structure to support the overall goal of getting people to take action.

Very simply, here’s an outline of what we are developing:

1. A home page that highlights the call to action – in this case sending messages to the campaign target
2. A jargon-free and accessible explanation of the issue, with emotional appeal

3. Simple ‘infographics’ that can be used to quickly and compellingly describe the issue, and can be shared online
4. Simple stories that demonstrate the affect the issue has on real people
5. More information about the campaign, how effective they have been, and why they can be trusted
6. A page solely devoted to getting people to take action – it answers the two key questions of “why me? Why now?”
7. A page that explicitly encourages people to spread the campaign on social media, by showing who else is involved, and presenting simple opportunities to spread the issue.

Here’s a ‘cut and paste’ of the simple content outline I developed, with the name of the issue and identifying detailes removed – we haven’t launched yet!

Home page
The goal of this page is to get people to take action on behalf of the campaign.
It does this three ways:

1. Showing people they can take action, and quickly explaining why this will help bring about a change they want to see.
2. Showing that this is a campaign that is active and current, and that people are supporting: on this site, on Facebook, etc.
3. A quick summary of the issue and why it’s important, with links to deeper explanations (The Issue, About the Campaign and Facts and Figures pages) if they need more persuading.

[There is some great research on landing page design to encourage signups. This book is a great start.]

The Issue
The goal of this page is to persuade people to take action.
It will do this by telling an emotionally compelling story ending with a call to take action. The copy will make a direct, emotional appeal as to why the issue  is important to the reader, and why it should be supported.
It will link to ‘Real Stories’ and ‘Facts and Figures’, for those who need more convincing.

Facts and Figures
This page has two goals:

1. to present facts that, at a glance, tell a story about the importance of the issue and
2. to present self-contained infographics that are optimized for sharing on social media.

The 3-5 infographics on the page will do this by presenting a bold, compelling and easy- to-understand story about the need for the change we want to see.

The infographics will need to be:

• easy to understand at a glance,
• make minimal use of text explanations
• challenge viewer’s assumptions: tell them something they didn’t know
• reference something they are familiar with to give a frame of reference

Real Stories
The goal of this page is to present strong stories about the issue, putting a human face and emotion onto the issue.
It will do this by telling the stories of several Canadians who are affected by the issue in Canada.
This page is intended to further the case for taking action: while the Issue and Facts page make that case from different angles, this page puts the personal and emotional aspects into the mix.

About the Campaign
The goal of this page is to establish the campaign as a credible entity, one that can be trusted with supporter’s email addresses and is likely to bring about positive change on the issue.
It will accomplish this with accessible copy that demonstrates that

1. this is a campaign run by (and for) people.
2. the organization has a track record of making a difference in the issue
3. there are several organizations and individuals that trust and collaborate with the campaign, implying that visitors can trust the campaign as well.

This page may work as a personal letter from the lead campaigner. It definitely should NOT be a dry, third person account of organizational structure, goals, mission etc. Those can be mentioned, but put in compelling “We are passionate people effectively fighting on this issue” narrative.

Take Action
The goal of this page is to optimize signups.
It will do this by being clear and easy to use, with very few distractions. There will be some social proof that this is not a dead issue (other people are taking action) but otherwise the form and page should be clean and focused on the task at hand.
The copy should be brief, but answer the question of “Why should I take action, and why now?”

Go Social
The goal of this page is to illustrate the extent of the uptake of this campaign, and make it easy to get involved with the campaign through social media.
This page will reflect the Facebook and Twitter activity of the campaign, and the issue in general. It will have sample content to share, including infographics and banners.

Because I promised they would be here, my presenter slides with notes are here in PDF (1.6Mb).

I couldn’t make it to too many sessions (I had to leave early from two great talks – one by Jaime Woo and another by Darren Barefoot) but from what I did see it looks like there were a lot of people learning how to to up their online game.

My session was about the importance of user-centered design when creating websites. Admittedly, the subject matter is not as flashy as the latest social media campaigns, but I feel like a good design and testing process is crucial to being effective online. I covered the five stages of successful website redesigns and covered basic usability testing according to the bible of such matters, “Don’t Make Me Think“. It was a quick hour and a half, and I was encouraged by the great questions and comments from the audience.

There were two main take aways I hope people took away:

1. Satisfy the cat.
   This is my favourite cat video.  If you work on the web, it will be yours, too. Every time decisions are made abut your organizations website, get everyone involved to watch it.
2. Test early, test often.
   And read a copy of this book! (“Don’t Make Me Think” by Steve Krug)

If you don’t offer some kind of food at workshops that start right after the workday ends, people have to scramble to grab something quick (and invariably crappy) or go hungry. And it’s fun to try a few new cheeses each week.

I am a fan of Global Cheese, on Kensington Avenue, a big friendly place where the staff behind the counter constantly offer you sample slices to taste. Aside from being a good business tactic, it’s always a lot of fun to shop there.So imagine how surprised I was when I googled “Global Cheese” and found that, on a local Toronto blog, several people were really vociferous about NOT liking Global Cheese.

Pushy service….switching your order to cheese you didn’t want….selling you over-the-hill cheese….poor grades on health inspections…etc.

There seemed to be a bit of a ping-pong of opinions, pro and con, back and forth on all things Global Cheese, until I came to this comment from the site’s editors.

It seems that someone had been dissing the cheese (and the service, and the cleanliness) at Global Cheese, while talking up another store on the site. Luckily a vigilant editor at the blog put a stop to this vicious smear campaign, and a good cheese shop won’t lose any customers.

I think this episode illustrates nicely the importance of listening to what people are discussing online. In this case, a simple Google Alert for “Global Cheese Toronto” would have sent an email to alert the staff at Global that they were being talked about, and they could have defended themselves. It’s a clear illustration of the benefit of listening to online conversations, something we cover in the second session of the workshop (Download the notes here)

Do you have any Google alerts running? Have you found out any useful information from them lately?

(Cross-posted from www.bloggingforpeoplewhoshould.com a  site for a blogging workshop I run at 215 Spadina Ave.)

There aren’t a lot of website tools for organizations in Canada looking to create effective online petitions, build their email lists or put supporters in touch with their Members of Parliament.  Make Poverty History Canada has helped develop open source software to do exactly these tasks, and wants to share it with other organizations for free.

So Make Poverty History sponsored a workshop for activists to learn more about the tools on Saturday at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto.  A Hackathon was organized for the Sunday, where open source software developers gathered to work with the code to improve it, learning and sharing with each other in the process.

Here’s a few key learnings from the weekend

Workshop for Online Organizers

1. The power of these tools is that they put Canadians in touch with their elected representatives.

These tools are useful for creating online petitions, allowing people to send messages (email or fax) to specific decision makers – members of federal, provincial or municipal legislatures, or corporate targets – and growing an organizations email list. There is only one commercial option with that kind of functionality in Canada, and it’s not free.

2. This kind of online engagement is the first rung on a ladder of engagement.

These tools are only useful if they are part of a larger plan to engage with your supporters in a campaign. They are often the very beginning of a relationship with your  supporters, and you need to keep them engaged in meaningful ways to bring about the change they (and you) want to see.

People are justifiably dismissive of “slacktivism“: the low-effort feel-good online “engagement” that has no follow up actions to take.The world doesn’t need more slacktivism.

These tools, if used properly, give you an email list of people who are interested in bringing about the same kind change you want to see. How you ask them to work with you (and each other) to bring about that change is the whole challenge of online organizing.

3. This software is “Free” as in puppies, not as in beer.

What do I mean by that? You still need resources to adopt these tools. You won’t pay a dime to anyone for the software, but you will still need to have someone your org trusts to install, troubleshoot and maintain these Drupal tools. By introducing these tools to the wider Drupal community, I hope to have more people who fit that bill in the months to come.

You can download the slides and speaking notes from the Saturday workshop here, in PDF format, 592K

On the Sunday, a half dozen experienced Drupal developers gathered in the same space – and a few more joined us online -  to learn about the code and make some improvements to how it works. This is the magic of open source software, and the community that supports it: there’s a real commitment to sharing with and learning from each other.

We had six priority upgrades to the code, and each developer tackled one of these improvements. We shared ideas, methods and code, and the results are online here for anyone to download and work with. Many of the changes will make it into the final code, available from Drupal.org here.

And for those who recognized that perhaps the biggest televised event in Canada in 2010 was happening at the same time, I am happy to report that we didn’t miss the game.

flickr.com - Bitpicture

There are a lot of interesting campaigns with online components happening here in Toronto at the municipal level, including this recent amazing victory for a more beautiful city. Campaigns like this could be even more effective if they had simple and effective ways for citizens to get in touch with their elected representatives (or their candidates during the upcoming election).

As it stands now, online campaigns either spend a lot of money to purchase advocacy software, or ask participants to use government websites to find and contact their elected representatives, with no way to record how many messages have been sent, or stay in touch with participants. There is a better way.

The Make Poverty History campaign, who I work with on several projects, has software that makes it easy for people to send a message or sign a petition to their Member of Parliament based on their postal code.  The software also allows people to opt to join an email list to keep up to date on a campaign – a useful way to build a list of supporters. You can see an example of an online action here.

The best part of this story? Make Poverty History wants to share this software with other activist groups across Canada. So they are sponsoring an event in Toronto on February 27th & 28th so you can learn more about it and contribute to it’s development.

The 27th (a Saturday) is meant for activists and communicators – people who will be using the software. There are no technical skills required.  The day will include:

• A quick overview of the tools used in online advocacy: website, email and Constituent Relationship Management systems
• How Drupal software has been used on the Make Poverty History campaign, including how to set up an action using the Connect module (no tech knowledge required!)
• How you can adopt this software for your organization
• Next steps: how we can work together to improve this software, including using it during the upcoming 2010 Toronto elections to engage more voters

On the Sunday (Feb. 28th) the Drupal developers get to work, improving the functionality of the module (which already works pretty well, I might add) If you have something to contribute as an activist or developer, it would be great if you could make it to either workshop. Sign up here.

The software I am talking about is open source, runs on the popular Drupal platform and is called the Connect module. It allows activists to quickly create online petitions or contact forms that send messages (emails, faxes) to recipients (MPs, candidates or corporate targets) based on the user’s postal code or other information.

It is a flexible tool that organizations can use to run online advocacy campaigns and build an email list of (opted in!) supporters. There is some excellent software that does the same thing for Canadian campaigns, but it costs many thousands of dollars a year to buy a subscription – beyond the budget of most community groups. Other groups use software from the US (which has many options for this kind of software) but find that Canadian addresses (and often, a second language) are not supported. Connect, when properly installed and configured, offers a made in Canada solution that solves these problems.

On February 27th and 28th Make Poverty History is sponsoring a set of workshops for both activists and Drupal developers on using this software for advocacy campaigning. The event will be held at the Centre for Social Innovation at 215 Spadina.

If you have an interest in advocacy or open source technology, I would like to invite you to the event – RSVP here.

The event will be useful for anyone interested in online advocacy – there are no technical skills required.

If you are not in Toronto, we will have some capacity for people to attend virtually- likely IRC and Skype – sign up as a “Remote Cyberparticipant” and we’ll send you the details as they become available. If you would like to help organize the day, please get in touch – we can certainly use some volunteers!