If you can organize a holiday party, you can organize a protest
Holiday parties are even a bit harder!
As someone who has organized dozens of parties and also protests, I believe that they’re pretty similar things. But one involves doing a lot more cleaning beforehand and dishes after! Guests, location, time, date, purpose, props, invitations– if you can organize all of these for a holiday party, you can organize a protest. The holiday party and the protest depend on similar skill sets and face similar obstacles. The biggest differences are that protests tend to have more media coverage and less food. Heck, you could organize a holiday party AS a protest if you host it at the right spot. While I’m being a little silly with this holiday post, I’m also 100% serious. Let’s break it down for those of you who might be experienced with throwing a party but less so with organizing a protest. Here’s the main ingredients that go into both and how your existing skills can cross-apply:
Purpose – Your holiday party has a handful of purposes, most of them are obvious (celebrating the holiday, spending time with family/friends) but some tertiary objectives might be a bit hidden (trying to set up some friends). Having a clear purpose helps you get people to turn out. You could try and host a big party with all your family & friends any day of the year but doing it around a holiday or a major life event makes it much easier to get folks to come out. Same thing goes for a protest– the stronger and timelier the purpose is for it, the easier it is to get folks to turn up. In both cases, the purpose and timing will shape everything else about your event. Think of a protest as a sort of themed party where the theme is a demand. A sort of “protected bike lanes now” party.
Location and timing – Now that you have a theme, whether that’s “Christmas With My Friends” or “We Want Protected Bike Lanes”, you need to pick a time and place. The time & location you pick should reinforce your theme. Your holiday party and your protest have a few natural locations to choose from, the main difference is your protest will likely be in a place where everyone is welcomed – not just you. And much like a holiday party, when it comes to picking the time & date of your protest there will inherently be conflicts with other demands on people’s times so try to pick something that’ll work for your essential audience. Much like how it might not feel like a real holiday party with your best friend, so you’ll schedule around them, your protest won’t feel like a big protest if you do it at a time when reporters & your network have a hard time turning out.
Invitations – Once that’s all settled, now you can start sending out the invites. Make sure to follow-up with folks and get the word out in ways your potential guests will see it. Texts, emails, social media and maybe even *gasp* phone calls are all useful tools to ensure your holiday bash and/or protest is a ringing success! In both cases it’s important to get people the time, date, location, reason for gathering & tone of the gathering, and any other essential information like what to expect or bring. Which brings us to…
Props – Your party/protest theme will determine the props you’ll need to make it a success. In both cases, there is no such thing as “too much” so try and focus on the few things that are essential to have. Maybe that’s a big tree, a ham, some sides and a gingerbread house. Maybe it’s a banner (and a back-up one). As the host, you’re responsible for making sure the essential props are there but that doesn’t mean you have to be the one that makes them. Delegating and asking for help is essential for pulling off a big event. Depending on the theme, people will also bring their own props (pies, signs, themed clothing) which helps add to the event. For either event type, if it’s big enough someone might bring an off-color prop or problematic prop (treyf, offensive posters, etc) and as the host, it’s within your prerogative to have the person put that prop aside or ask them to leave.
Event Program – In a way, both a holiday party and a protest are a bit of theater with a beginning, middle, and end. When you’re organizing either, plan an “event program” that helps reinforce the theme. In either case, the program can be as simple as 1) Welcome people as they arrive 2) When the crowd has assembled (or at a specific time) someone says a few words of welcome to the crowd and explains why everyone has assembled 3) Thank people for coming and encourage them to start transitioning out of the event and go elsewhere. In either event type, the public speaking bit of Step 2 might make you nervous. Remember, as the organizer, you don’t have to be the speaker! You just have to make sure someone fills that role. As for the content, in both cases a simple formula to follow is:
Statement of welcome, introduction and what people can expect from the next few minutes
A line to set the tone
A short story from the past that explains why you are all there now together
A vision for a better future
Thanking people for coming & listening, and end with a call-to-action for them (“call your representative”, “try some of the cake”, “say hi to someone new”)
And depending on the crowd at either event there might be some raucous singing!
So, this holiday season, whether you’re hosting or attending some parties, I hope those experiences and this piece will help you get more comfortable with the idea of organizing your own protest one day. We’ve got to get a lot louder if we’re going to transform our transportation system and protests are an essential part of any activists’ toolbox.
Want to build the skills you need to win your campaign for better transit and or safer streets? I’m here to help! Whether you want a 1-on-1 training session or a group workshop, let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com to set something up. Here’s a bit about what training sessions are like.
Next week I’m sending out in my general newsletter my overall business and advocacy December update. If you’d like to take a peek behind the curtain of this advocacy training work, check it out. You can sign up for those monthly updates here.
Still pretty pleased with my “Bike Lanes Vs. The Carceral State” piece in Convergence Magazine!
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1/18/24 @ 5:30pm PT - Free Online Training “Politically Organize for Pedestrian Dignity'' in special partnership with the "Walking Artist” Jonathon Stalls. Learn more and register here.
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