Outreach Methods

Doorknocking

Door Listening

Why Door-to-door Listening?

Approaching members of your local community to invite them to take part in Actions or Community Assemblies. The process of knocking on people’s doors and simply listening to what they have to say is both humbling and empowering, and if done with care and consideration, it can foster strong links across a local area, helping to initiate a local movement and/or help an existing one gain momentum.

What Do I Need to Consider?

Throughout the door-to-door listening process it is important to remember that you are approaching people’s homes/businesses/places of worship and that people may not be able to talk or may not want to. If someone does not feel like they have time to engage with you, then listen to them and respect their wishes – their home is their private space, and they are entitled to feel safe and free from hassle.

It is also important to try to avoid making assumptions: avoid judging someone on their race, gender, religion or age, and/or what their house looks like or the area in which they live. Everyone is different, knock on someone’s door with an open mind and with a willingness to connect and learn.

With door-to-door listening it is vital not to have an agenda, do not knock on the door with content that you want to peddle through as this will prevent you from being able to actively listen. Listen, genuinely listen, and let the person whose home you have knocked on guide the interaction. Do not try to equate their experiences with yours or interrupt with questions. Questions you might have will be related to your perspective and they will work to interrupt someone’s flow or make the conversation change direction.

Step by Step Guide

  1. Knock on the door. Take a step back once you have knocked so that people can open the door without feeling like their space is being invaded.
  2. If a child answers the door, do not introduce yourself, ask to speak with an adult.
  3. Introduce yourself slowly and clearly, making eye contact and avoiding making fast movements. Think about your body language – having your arms by your side and visible will make people feel more relaxed than if you have your arms crossed or your hands in your pockets. The aim is to make people feel at ease.
  4. Explain who you are, why you are there and that you are representing either your Local XR group or your Community Group – it is important to be transparent.
    1. A good introduction would be “Hello, my name is _______. I am here on behalf of ________ and I am knocking on doors to better understand the issues that matter to people and their families in the local area.”
  5. It is important to give people the option of whether or not to engage, so follow this short introduction with a question, such as “do you have some time to talk to me about the issues that matter to you?” If people do not want to engage, move on. This is their home and you are a visitor.
  6. If people want to engage with you, then actively listen to what they have to say, keeping in mind your body language throughout the process. Let them guide the interaction. Do not interrupt, argue with them or outline your opinions. If you need to take notes, then explain why you would like to and check that this is ok with those you are listening to. Ideally, however, do so after the process as this will ensure you are fully present when you are listening.
  7. Be engaged. You may wish to highlight that you have heard what they have said by nodding along or making small sounds of agreement.
  8. If someone asks you questions, engage with them, but try to ensure that you avoid stressing your opinions if it may make people feel uncomfortable about expressing theirs. If a natural point arrives at which you can ask a question, prioritise asking probing questions that seek to understand their perspective better. Do not ask prying questions about personal information – people are entitled to privacy and such questions can alienate.
  9. Thank the person for their time and for sharing their views and feelings.
  10. If you feel there has been positive engagement and a genuine connection, then before you depart you may wish to give the person more information about your Local Group or any local events happening. However, if there is no right time to do so, then leave this step out.
    1. Be prepared with leaflets and sign up sheets if they are interested but don’t push it upon them.
  11. Follow-up your door knockings - if you’ve forged a relationship with someone, you should be the one to follow it up. Keep track of where you’ve had meaningful interactions.

Top Tips:

How to use Door Listening as a Local Group:

GOOD LUCK!

You could try virtual door knocking!

  1. Log in, find ‘Directories’ on the left-hand side of the screen.
  2. Click ‘Neighbours’.
  3. Click ‘Message’ to contact individual people with your invite!

Happy knocking!

Online Outreach

See also the Social Media page.

How to do ONLINE OUTREACH before Rebellion

We are all crew and social media is an immediate and direct means of communication, so we need as many rebels as possible to use online outreach to help make this Rebellion a success. 

Leave no virtual stone unturned!

METHOD ONE: online outreach to your Local Group rebels

Most Local Groups have lots of less active rebels - people lead busy lives, but in the run-up to Rebellion, many will understand why Local Group outreach is revving up. 

Then, to maximise attendance, it’s time to DIG DEEP - we’re in rebellion mode!

METHOD TWO: online outreach to friends, family, peers and colleagues

We have a job to do - mobilise the population, so people you already know are an easy audience to ask, and there’ll be lots of great talks coming up:

METHOD THREE: online outreach to community groups

We have much work to do to increase diversity and representation within our movement, so your Local Group outreach rebels can also promote the ‘Heading for Extinction’ talks to as many community groups as possible. Lots of groups and organisations empathise with saving biodiversity and human life.

Feedback amongst your Local Groups - share top tips about what’s working well, or not so well, in recruiting people to talks and trainings, and set your Local Group a target for numbers attending. Check in regularly on whether this is going to be achieved, increasing efforts if necessary. 

How to Host a House Meeting

What do you feel about the Climate Crisis?
And what does it mean to you to be part of Extinction Rebellion? Then, there’s how do your family, friends, neighbours and colleagues feel, too? Sometimes, it can be hard to have a conversation about all this because the science is shouting we’re heading for extinction and it can feel like the world doesn’t want to hear the truth.

How a climate conversation can bring people together.
The planet is running out of time, so by hosting a house meeting, you’re doing your rebel-best to grow the movement, especially as we countdown to Rebellion. Coronavirus has had huge impacts - from global to individual, and as rebels and Local Groups, and we acknowledge going to Rebellion is a personal choice, and we respect each other’s decisions. If you aren’t able to attend a rebellion on the street, rebel by hosting these meetings and help spread the truth.

Where?
It’s really up to you - it could be on a video platform which is accessible, or a social gathering for a small number in an open space, or even at work - host as many meetings as you can.

When?
Try multiple time variations - your friends, family and contacts are probably free at different times. And by hosting, many more people will engage with the climate crisis more deeply.

How?
How you invite people is important - don’t round robin everyone. Make it personal - preferably with a call, emails and messages are easy to ignore! Perhaps tailor your groups - pockets of friends, family groupings, and people connected by faith, background, or interests; people are probably more likely to come if they know someone else, so let them know who’s invited/coming to encourage attendance. If someone declines, ask why - there’ll be valuable learning here.

Be ambitious!
For this rebellion, aim to invite everyone you know to one, with probably no more than 6-7 per meeting to give everyone time to contribute meaningfully.

What happens in a House Meeting?
Start with introductions - not everyone may know each other, and everyone shares why they have come.
Then, choose the following method you’re most comfortable with (this takes around 15 minutes):

  1. Give a short talk - cover why you joined XR, your tipping point, the science that keeps you awake at night and the facts you wish you could forget… what you think about peaceful mass civil disobedience… the government response to the ecological emergency… why we must build back better. Be vulnerable with your fears, express your love and rage… And remember, you don’t have to learn a talk off by heart - you can have crib notes to help! Also, you can offer to share some facts links with your guests, so they can do follow-up research too, after the House Meeting.
  2. Or you can show a short film of a 15 minute talk (you can receive this link if needed, from LG coordinator)

What happens next?
After this 15 minutes or so of you chatting, it’s your guests turn to talk and share how what they’ve heard has made them feel (this part takes around 30 minutes).

Next steps for engagement, or not?
Of course, it’ll be great if any of your guests want to now join XR, but not everyone will, so acknowledge that and thank everyone for sharing their thoughts and feelings. Your goal is to make everyone feel comfortable, and also give a range of options for involvement:

For guests keen to join our next Rebellion Offer a follow up space where they can chat in more depth with you, and direct them to your Local Group meetings or actions. Connect them to NVDA and Know Your Rights trainings in your area - this is vital.
Please buddy any guests who join the movement, it will help them feel supported and stay engaged.

How to wrap up the House Meeting

Well-being suggestion to host:
Giving this personal talk, sharing the science and hosting the discussion can be draining, especially if you host more than one. Many of your Local Group rebels will hopefully also be hosting them, so please check in with each regularly to support each other.

Street Outreach During the Rebellion and at Actions

When Nonviolent Civil Disobedience has been most effective, it has taken place on a foundation of connected and organised communities. Actions are our primary way to get into the public eye but our actions alone are not enough. We need to use these actions to start conversations, to tell the truth and to open our arms to all who wish to join us.

Talking to Passers By

Part of our purpose as rebels is to Tell the Truth, so engaging with the general public during a Rebellion is vital. Some might be a bit annoyed with you/Extinction Rebellion, so it may be useful to have some de-escalation training under your belt, but most are simply curious!

Aim To:
• Listen to them.
• Share the facts but don’t overwhelm them.
• Shift their frustrations and anger from XR to the system as a whole.
• Invite them to take a step with a small ask or an invitation (leaflets are great too!).

Remember:
• Introduce yourself, be open and honest.
• It’s a conversation, after the first 2 mins listen more than you talk.
• People rarely change their stance in a single moment, you are planting seeds!
• If someone is looking for an argument just step back and “agree to disagree” – there are plenty of other people to talk to!
• For more detailed advice and some answers to the difficult questions have a look at How to Talk Climate at Rebellion and Responses to Hostile Encounters.

Starting Conversations

Some examples of open questions:
• What worries do you have about climate breakdown?
• How do you feel about the future of our food security?
• How well do you think Britain is prepared for the effects of Climate Breakdown?
• Why do you think our government has spent millions on oil and gas bailouts?

Bring the conversation to the fact that our government is negligent by not fulfilling its duty to the people. And listen to the answers, really listen.

Introduce the Demands and Citizen’s Assemblies – wouldn’t it be great to hear what people actually want? Mention France’s recent Citizen Assembly’s outcome, i.e. wanting to make Ecocide a crime under national and international law.

If conversation moves to solutions, this is a great opportunity to invite them to a Community Assembly – we are trying to start the direct democracy process off in our local area! If people have experience of what real democracy looks and feels like, the closer we come to creating popular support for our 3rd demand.

Small Asks

At the end of each meaningful interaction ask people to do one thing to help (judge the right scale for the individual you’ve just spoken to) here are some examples:
• Sign up on Extinctionrebellion.uk – Paper forms get lost, takes time to input and isn’t the most secure!
• Monthly Donation to help us.
• Bring some care packets the next day! With Food, tea or blankets!
• Come to the Community Assembly to have your voice heard.
• Check out your Local Group, here is their email address.
• Come join us on site!

On-the-Ground Signposting & Recruiting

Don’t be afraid to recruit people on site!
People will often come along to check out a Rebellion site if they are passing by, or if they are in a Local Group but haven’t taken a role and just want to help out. We don’t turn people away! Make sure they don’t move into arrestable positions without having done an NVDA training, but don’t hesitate to give them something to do. The best thing you can possibly do is be friendly and welcoming. Be someone they want to keep talking to :)

• Have they signed up on Extinctionrebellion.uk?
• Point them towards the Volunteer Website at Volunteer.Extinctionrebellion.uk or introduce them to a working group on site.
• Make sure to have a list of things people can do to help out that require minimal instruction!

For Example:

  1. Flyers – handing out or flyposting
  2. Sustenance – give out tea & snacks on site
  3. Talking to the Public – have 10 min trainings ready so they can learn and practice!

Outreach Hubs

An Outreach Hub is a pop-up tent where you can find Extinction Rebellion (XR) info and support, meet rebels, pick up vibrant print designs and join trainings and workshops. They also serve as a place of sanctuary where you can pull up a chair and know you’ll be welcomed.

There is a illustrated Outreach Hub Guide on the Cloud explaining how to set one up and what you need.

A lot of the information and advice would also be useful when running a simple stall.

Note that in XR the word Hub can also refer to The Hub, which ties together our online communications tools and has nothing to do with Outreach Hubs.

Rebel Ringing

Rebel Ringing is phone based outreach for Extinction Rebellion and enables meaningful one-to-one conversations with rebels: no cold-calling! It allows us to inform and engage a selection of rebels on a subject of our choice and at scale is a hugely powerful tool.

A Rebel Ringing call could mean:

A call from a friendly person is a powerful engagement tool. We need YOU to help us!

☎️ Rebel Ringing is fun and accessible, it takes only a couple of hours a week but can have an incredible impact. Training and scripts will be provided, and no cold-calling is involved.

We host friendly weekly calling sessions where you can also get trained up, or make calls at any other convenient time. Join our Telegram broadcast channel to find details of the sessions. Local Groups can request their own dedicated campaign to call local rebels.

📧 With specific questions on Rebel Ringing, email rebelringers@rebellion.earth or to find out more you can read the gorgeous Rebel Ringers Handbook!

Love and Courage,

The Rebel Ringers

Social Media Outreach: Facebook

Facebook

Use Facebook to individually message as many people as possible, asking them to take action by clicking ‘going’ on the Facebook event, inviting other friends to ‘like’ the XR Facebook page, using the XR profile picture icon, and pledging to attend the rebellion.

Someone is far more likely to attend an event if they’ve had a personal conversation with a friend who is also planning to attend.

  1. Login to Facebook and find the April Rebellion Facebook event, or whatever the event is - this can be done for local, regional, and national events/actions.

  2. Click “going” on the event.

  3. Have a look at your Facebook friends who have also said they’re “going” or “interested” in the event

  4. Personalise this template message:

Hey [insert name], I hope you’re well! I’ve noticed you’ve said you’re going/interested [delete as appropriate] in the Extinction Rebellion [replace with relevant event] event on Facebook.

I was wondering if you are definitely going, and if so, how long will you be going for?

It you are going, it would be great if you could click ‘going’ on the event, rather than ‘interested’ [delete if already clicked ‘going].

If not, then are there any barriers preventing you from going? I’d love to be able to help if I can!

We are all crew, and we need to come together to create real system change. If you haven’t already, it would be great if you could like the Extinction Rebellion Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/ExtinctionRebellion/, and also use an Extinction Rebellion Facebook frame on your profile picture.

This movement is growing, but we need everyone. If you’d be interested in helping to mobilise rebels, then you can use this guide to effectively message your friends on social media, asking them to get involved. Love and rage!

  1. Send the message to all of your Facebook friends who have responded to the event

  2. Invite any of your Facebook friends who haven’t already to like the Extinction Rebellion Facebook page.

  3. Use the Extinction Rebellion profile picture frame on your Facebook profile picture

  4. Pass this guide to your friends after messaging them

  5. Send them a follow-up message the next day to see how they got on with this

  6. Resources: To give to any friends who may be facing barriers preventing them from getting involved:

FlyPosting

XR flyposting is putting up beautiful posters in public spaces to:

Also, you are engaging with a mildly illegal action such as flyposting is a great first step in Non-Violent Direct Action... and it’s fun!

  1. Best in small teams of 2 or 3 people (these can be part of larger groups up to 12 or so)
  2. Assign roles:
  1. Each team will need:
  1. Paint the paste on your chosen spot (concrete, porous surfaces are ideal). Paste over a larger area than the poster. Firmly push you poster flat against the wet surface. Finally, apply a second coat of paste over your poster, brushing out any air bubbles.
  2. Choose spots with high footfall, passing traffic and busy walkways.
  3. Choose symbolic posters, bright colours and simple text. It takes a lot longer to read heavy text.
  4. Be neat. Be creative. People will subconsciously judge
  5. your brand. To have more impact, try grouping posters together covering a solid, larger area of wall. Make sure to keep it neat by having the edges match. If you have more than one design, try playing around. Alternating between different ones and creating deliberate shapes and patterns.
  6. Think about who you're affecting and try to stick to:
  1. Avoid:
  1. Bear in mind that flyposting (generally speaking) is illegal. The good news is that the police and PCSOs have better things to be doing. Just make sure you don't create a situation that forces them to act.
  2. To get hold of some posters, see the ‘how to print’ section below

How To Print

There are several ways of printing flyers, posters, stickers for outreach and actions.

  1. Go to rebellion.earth/act-now/resources/art-group/ to download electronic copies of Extinction Rebellion flyers, stickers, posters etc. You can then modify these to suit your local needs, provided your messaging is in keeping with strategy and aims. We advise working with your media & messaging and actions group closely before producing new messaging or print materials. XRUK design group xrdesigngroup@gmail.com can also offer support and guidance on design decisions and induction into the XR Design Programme. Please note that the logo is strictly not to be used for any commercial purposes. You can then print the materials yourself, either with your friendly local print shop or online at solopress.com. We recommend bond; type paper (unfinished or natural look).
  2. Go to rebellion.earth/act-now/local-groups/ to make contact with nearby existing groups and see if they have any materials you could share.
  3. Contact: xr.printorders@protonmail.com​ to ask about ordering what you need from our central supplier. We soon hope to offer you a range of flyers, posters, stickers and booklets which you can pick from a list to suit your needs with low prices and quick delivery. If you are a small group and finding it expensive to arrange printing for yourself then this could be a good option for you. This is a work in progress.

Tabling / Stalling Method (from Portland, Oregon)

  1. Canvass - Won’t be the same everywhere

     Los Angeles vs Portland

 Pandemic vs no pandemic.

  2. Design, design, design. Your table, atmosphere, persuasion, are all important.

     Masks, sanitizer handy
 Books, literature, flyers, badges

  3. Opening question. Promising to have an interesting conversation.

     Do you have a second to talk about saving the planet?
 	Variations on this.

  4. Identify and eliminate people who are in active opposition.

     This table is your time to talk to like minded people.
 Have flyers, links, etc, handy for them to find the information they need.

  5. Research, research, research.

     John Locke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZiWZJgJT7I
 
 Gandhi - Swaraj, Swadeshi, Satyagraha

 Martin Luther King

 Know and use the XR demands, in the context of your city, and the national government.
 Ie: Lots of Governments have declared a climate emergency, why not ours?
 Our government declared a climate emergency, but the policy doesn’t match our demands.

 History of Citizens Assemblies (Athens Greece), and the movement for more and more citizens assemblies.
 
 Bonus:	Foucoult - genealogy of ideas, culture, power.

  6. Conversation pattern. What ultimate place will this conversation arrive at before you make your fundamental ask.

     Graph of my typical conversation in the image below
 Some people can pick up something like this right away, and will be off the the races.
 Others will take some time to learn how to make it work. Don’t be frustrated by fumbles.
 
 Conversation pattern is only a guide, feel free to jump in and fill in gaps.
 Many people will not be prepared to discourse on your topics.
 
 Possibly ask them to do the Climate Quiz at https://crisisquiz.online/index.php

  7. Having a good fundamental, non-trivial ask.

     Electronic poll - gathers phone and email.
 	Offering badges/stickers in exchange for them taking it.
 	Balanced poll that makes them think about the movement from different perspectives.
     	Allows them to make use of the conversation you just had.
 	Poll should end in a donation screen, automatically popped up if this is possible. 
 	Scan QR code - they could do it on their phone.
     
 Signup sheet - with phone and email.
 	We are sending out text reminders about events, in person or online.
 	We have an e-mail list.
 	Can I give you a call sometime?
 	What sorts of activities would you be interested in?

  8. Following up:

     Early and often.
 
 Queueing and then sending them into a pool.
 
 Time management.

  9. Fundraising

     Here's a video detailing a fundraising method too! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAkBtwE_67A

How-Portland-Mobilised---Conversation-Graphic.jpg

Street Outreach Skills Training

Handy tips & tricks (see handout below) and how to use 'ALLESHA' for effective street outreach:

Street Outreach Skills HANDOUT with further linked resources

Recording of the training

Sign-up Resources

This page - Local Group Sign-ups - will give you a link to a folder which contains QR Codes and downloadable pager sign-up forms - it also has useful info about Action Network - a way for Local Groups to have an email contact list - there's excellent training on how to use Action Network which is also linked on the page.

Please Note: when you open the folder of QR Codes and paper sign-up forms, scroll down to the bottom for the forms and download from there.

Organising Takes Support!

Thank you all so much for reading this.

Extinction Rebellion relies on people like you to keep up the fight and the hope is you choose to become involved with XR in whatever way you can.

We have lots of roles and if you haven't yet found your place in XR, we’ll find one that allows you to make the best contribution - check out the Volunteer website for the roles currently being advertised or you can create an account and add your skills, experience and amount of hours you can volunteer so groups can contact you.

We do have one more thing we’d like to ask you. XR is funded entirely by generosity, and without you all we couldn't do our work.

As you can imagine trying to save the planet is pretty costly. Fossil fuel companies and polluters have their claws deep into government and are spending millions lobbying politicians to fight legislation that will impact their profits. Basically, they want to make sure it stays business as usual. We can't let this happen, so we're asking for your help.

We want you to become an XR regular giver. They are the most important givers as you allow us to make plans and act in ways that are most effective. We're asking for just £5 a week, but it makes such a difference, if you can give a little more even better or you can choose a donation amount that works for you.

All you have to do is either select the link here or scan the QR code below, and it'll take you to the page where you can become a regular giver. You can give for as long as you feel you can, all the details for contacting XR when you feel you've done your bit, is in the email we’ll send you and it's so appreciated. So grab your phones, give it a scan and give us the support we need to keep up the fight for the future. Thank you!

Fundraising-QR-code.png