One-on-one meetings are an essential component to successful advocacy and serve as a tool to establish, maintain and build relationships in organizing. Each conversation is unique, however, they generally involve you and a member of the community exchanging ideas and thoughts in a face to face conversation on the issue at hand in order to build a relationship, identify shared interests and/or concerns, and explore action steps that the community member can take regarding this issue. If there is a distinct “ask” included in this 1:1 it should be determined before the meeting (i.e. volunteering for a phone bank, hosting a house meeting, etc.). Some organizations bucket 1:1s into three categories:
-
Recruitment/Introductory 1:1
- These meetings are typically the first in depth conversation with a community member and the goal is to establish a connection and build trust. There may or may not be a call to action in this conversation.
-
Maintenance 1:1
- These meetings occur regularly with community members and are a chance to catch up, debrief on any actions or updates, and offer coaching.
-
Escalation 1:1
- Once a relationship is established and you recognize a community member is ready to take on more responsibility and leadership, they can hold an escalation 1:1. The goal of these conversations is to recognize the community members achievements and propose a new leadership role or responsibility. If your organization uses a Ladder of Engagement to track and increase member engagement, this conversation is an opportunity to introduce the next level of leadership within the organization. Connect with your Partnerships Success Manager on how to track this within Organizer so that members move up the Ladder of Engagement.
Use the following agenda template to plan for any type of 1:1 conversation. All of these steps may not be relevant to every 1:1 conversation, however, you should fill in the talking points/questions for each section that will be relevant for your meeting.
Purpose
Why did you set up this meeting? Be upfront with your intentions.
Introduction
Who are you? What is your connection to this issue? What drives you to solve this problem? Why is this conversation important?
Ask questions/listen
Ask probing questions to learn about the community member’s story, values, interests, responsibilities, and resources. You can make connections and share your motivations as well, but should focus mostly on listening and learning about the other person.
Some probing questions can include:
- Why is this issue important to you?
- Have you always felt strongly about this issue?
- What would happen if you took action on this issue? What would happen if you didn’t?
Agitate
Identify grievances/concerns that came up in your conversation and discover how it is affecting community members. The goal of this section is to agitate the community member so that they feel compelled to take action.
Educate
Give factual information about the issue that answers any questions that came up during the conversation. Tell the community member what it would take to fix the problem, who has the authority to fix the problem, and what actions have already been taken to fix the problem.
Inoculate
This section is a chance for you to be upfront about any backlash, retaliation, or messaging from the opposition—and provide evidence-based refutations. It also provides an opportunity to address people’s fears, and (if relevant) come up with an action plan for any retaliation.
Invitation to Action/Commitment
Throughout the conversation, you should evaluate what (if any) ask you will make of the community member that could move your efforts forward.
Some asks may include:
- Attend a rally
- Sign a petition
- Introduce you to another community member who is connected to this issue
- Phone banking for your cause
- Join your organization as a member
Organizer tip: You can build a 1:1 script in Organizer to fill out after the completion of the meeting to ensure that no important information is lost. It is important to collect detailed and accurate data from these meetings so that you can track your support, identify potential leaders, and ensure follow up actions have been taken. Visit the Help Center Articles on Creating a Script and Deploying and Managing a Script for more information.
Resources
View the Organizing and Advocacy Playbook as a PDF
Background Information
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Learning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Planning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Implementation
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Execution
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Reflection