Training Tuesday with the DFA: The Art of Email Engagement

"Successful emails will build your online community, increase activism, and raise you money. It is also the fastest most accessible way to send your message out to supporters... Compared to the other online strategies, email is by far the most effective strategy to inspire action and raise money."
-from Democracy for America's Campaign Academy Training Manual

The Art of Email Engagement.: In the last five or ten years, email has exploded as a campaign strategy and, without question, Democracy for America (DFA) has led the way on running effective email programs. We were fortunate enough to get to sit in on a DFA Campaign Academy training on the art of email engagement. Today, we bring you the top five email Do's and Don'ts according to Matt Blizek:

Do's Part 1:


Do's Part 2:


For those of you wondering about Zephyr Teachout's other best practices and tips for emails we turn to page 139 of the training manual (You don't have a training manual? Well you'll have to attend a training next year):

Zephyr Teachout's Tips and Best Practices for Emails
• Draft drunk, edit sober.
• Aim for the amazing. Shoot for the moon, and if some fall flat, so be it.
• Tell a story! Each email is a short story with a moral.
• Think in images! Plunge people into a world. Make your message visceral.
• Read your emails out loud to someone before sending them. Reading out loud will force the cadence.
• Experiment! Be willing to try new stuff and fail. It's a relationship - push the limits.
• Involve a short-term narrative. i.e., a 5 email series in which something from the last email is always engaged - this is a serial publication, and a connection from one email to the next - storytelling over time - is one of your strongest suits for establishing a connection.
• Imagine yourself writing TO someone at all times. Never address a crowd - address a member of the crowd. If you wouldn't send this email to a friend, why not?
• Length doesn't matter - should fit the purpose of the email. That said, when in doubt, be very short.
• Use short punchy paragraphs.
• Link early and often. The same link over and over. In this way it is like a poem or song with a refrain.
• Write for a 7th grade reading level - people read fast online. It will improve your writing, making you less abstract, more concrete, and with fewer clauses.

And last, but certainly not least, the Don'ts:


That's all for this week. Next week we'll have a second round of videos from the Art of Email Engagement, just check back at the Sum of Change Training Tuesday web page at 6:00pm next Tuesday! Oh, and speaking of emails, you can always sign up to receive email updates from Sum of Change!

Training Tuesday with the DFA: Recruiting Volunteers

This week, Training Tuesday will focus on another very important constituency: volunteers. As an organizer, building a strong volunteer base is your most important responsibility. The quality and quantity of the effort you get from your volunteers can make or break a campaign. They not only are giving you work for free (but don't tell them this!! See 'seizing an opportunity' below) but they are your direct representative to your most important constituency: voters. So their work is not only necessary, it must be done to a high standard and you must take it upon yourself to insure they are up to the task. From the Democracy for America (DFA) training manual:

You are a leader. Your job is to get your staff and volunteers to follow you. You set the tone. An energetic and enthusiastic leader will beget a focused and motivated volunteer base."

Our videos today will cover some of the basics of recruiting volunteers and building a lasting network. The DFA is truly an authority on this subject, so without further ado...

--Be Happy When You Ask For Volunteers


--Volunteers Are Seizing an Opportunity, Not Doing You a Favor


--The Volunteer Ask and the 5 Cs


That's all for this week. Don't forget to check back at the Sum of Change Training Tuesday page next week at 6:00pm for Matt Blizek's tips on how to run an effective email program!

Training Tuesday: Online Organizing DFA Style

Matt Blizek, of Democracy for America (DFA), was kind enough to allow Sum of Change to bring a camera to the recent DFA Campaign Academy in Gettysburg, PA. The Campaign Academy was founded in 2004, and serves to "focus, network, and train grassroots activists in the skills and strategies to take back our country," We will be bringing you highlights from different panels for the next several Tuesdays, but for this first Training Tuesday we have something special. This is the only training session that we will be airing in full. We will still bring you highlights from many other trainings, but if you would like to see more of them in full, you will have to attend a DFA Campaign Academy training.

Online organizing has sent shock waves through the political community over the last five years. And DFA was on the front lines throughout. So, without further ado, I present to you, Matt Blizek and Online Organizing:

This first video is the entire panel, it is an hour long but definitely worth the watch if you are doing any online organizing:


From the highlight reel, let's start with Matt's story about his first political contribution:


Matt Blizek on online message delivery:


Here, Matt talks a little bit about the national reach of the internet:


We'll be releasing more videos from DFA's Campaign Academy every Tuesday for the next several weeks at Sum of Change. Check back next Training Tuesday at 6:00pm for the next installment. You can also sign up to get an email alert when we release new Sum of Change videos. And please look into DFA's Campaign Academy.