1. Online to Offline Engagement

2. What We’ll Cover
• Who’s Online
• Offline Activities
• Choose Your Goal
• Create Your Ask
• Take People Offline
• Provide Resources
• Track Your Progress
• Take People Back Online
• Example

3. Who’s Online?
Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project
April 2009 Survey

4. What People Are Doing Online
Source: Pew Internet &
American Life Project
Surveys 2000-2009

5. Why People Respond
• Engaging them where they
spend a large amount of time
• Tapping into what they’re
already interested in
• Connecting with them visually
through video and pictures
• Timeliness and sense of urgency
• Meaningful action

6. Offline Goals
• What do you want to do?
– Recruit volunteers
– Hold volunteer meetings
– Build leadership teams
– Fundraise
– Collect / deliver petitions
– Visit elected official’s office
– Attract earned media http://www.flickr.com/photos/bordersforatlanta
– Organize a canvass or phone
bank
– Hold a rally

7. Offline Activities to Reach Goals
• What do you want to do?
– Fully-scalable national
days of action
– High-bar national days
of action
– Distributed actions
– Ongoing actions
http://www.flickr.com/photos/couragecampaign

8. Important Principles
• Some principles to keep in mind:
– Clear theory of change
– Keep it simple and fun
– Expect that your volunteers can move the world
wishfulthinking.co.uk

9. Step-By-Step Guide
1. Choose Your Goal
2. Create Your Ask
3. Take People Offline
4. Provide Resources
5. Track Your Progress
6. Take People Back Online

10. 1. Choose Your Goal
• Is it timely and relevant
to your supporters?
• Is it a core part of your
larger campaign
narrative?
• Will reaching your goal
*actually* create
change?

11. 2. Create Your Ask
• Rooted in crisi-tunity (crisis + opportunity)
– Crisis: something bad is happening or is going to
happen
– Opportunity: you can do something to prevent it
• Solid theory of change
– By acting now, this is how you will create the
change you want to see
– Work backward from your end goal, step by step
• Real-world impact
– Participants in offline action make a real impact

12. 3. Take People Offline
• Provide clear ways for online supporters
to engage in offline action
• Post and promote the action widely,
across platforms and communities
• Ask allies to help promote it
• Ask supporters to tell a friend/bring a
friend
• Give a 24-hour reminder email/call

13. 4. Provide Resources
• Create an online resource
center for participants
– Next steps
– Data entry
– FAQs
– Flyers/pamphlets/posters
– Graphics to share online
• Make it easy
• Empower your supporters
• Let supporters connect with
those they met offline

14. 5. Track Your Progress
Monitor your initiatives and track the progress:
• Email metrics
– Open rate
– Click thru rate
• Website metrics
– Visits
– Event sign-ups
– Tell a friend submissions
– Social network activity
– Blog articles / trackbacks

15. 6. Take People Back Online
After the event:
• Use online forms to collect info
– Feedback
– Data
– Pictures and Video
– Personal stories
• Give the next ask to keep the
conversation going and provide
the resources
• Always think at least one step
ahead!

16. Full Circle Engagement
STEP 1: ONLINE
A. Post it.
B. Promote it.
C. Engage people.
D. Provide resources.
STEP 3: ONLINE STEP 2: OFFLINE (at the event)
A. Collect info. A. Provide resources.
B. Provide recaps of B. Collect names, email
the event. addresses, personal stories.
C. Provide progress C. Take pictures/video.
updates on your D. Give the next ask.
theory of change. E. Have a great time!!
D. Give the next ask
and promote it
(repeat the steps).

17. Example: 350.org Day of Action

18. 350.org: Map of Events

19. 350.org: Action Ideas

20. 350.org: Creative Expression

21. 350.org: Taking People Back Online

22. Contact Info
New Organizing Institute
(202) 558-5585
info@neworganizing.com
www.neworganizing.com
www.twitter.com/neworganizing