Idea List #1 - Activity Types
A Core Starter List Of Event & Activity Types To Get People Talking, Making Change, Making News, & Voting
Shift the Country is pushing engagement, partnerships, & pressure to supercharge democracy. We can reach & energize Americans with activity that gets people talking, making change, making news, & voting. Together we can catalyze widespread public pressure to move the US toward a healthier democracy so we all have greater chances to survive, prosper, flourish, and thrive.
This List Has General Idea Types
For activities, events, engagement, & pressure —
This is a starter/core idea list showing some basic activity/event types/categories.
Anyone can use these ideas in lots of ways to help us all make big shift… with a zillion actions everywhere. People and groups can focus these general ideas on an issue like a hot messaging topic or critical part of society, or adapt any of the additional Idea Lists on the Take Action page. Idea Lists numbered #2 and beyond will have a variety mix of ideas up to 25 ideas per list.
HOW TO DO THIS: Pick An Idea, Get Started
Use this idea list with the “Big Shift Guide.” (Ideas may be general, or focused on a topic or issue like a hot messaging topics, a critical part of society. Any individual, group, or coalition can use these. See the Take Action page for more Idea Lists.)
Get some people or a group to work with. Set a goal to take some action together. Commit. Support each other as you go. Learn & evolve.
Pick any idea/activity/event. Don’t get overwhelmed. Don’t overthink stuff.
Just start somewhere. Use the 5 Things approach & the Big Shift Guide to implement & execute ideas. Work forward from there to ramp up attention, activity, & ruckus. Keep an eye on logistics & communication for max success.
Be creative. This is all flexible, adaptable, & scalable. Adapt any idea to a focus or issue that fits what you or your group are fired up about, you priorities, or where you are.
Create a buzz. The random menagerie of options on these lists are meant to give ideas for action, to plant seeds, & to inspire other options for activity that will get people talking, inspired, engaged, and voting. These lists are intended to facilitate some aspect of the 5 Things, to contribute to the synergy, to be done by communities & coalitions, & so on. It’s all meant to be messy & to get everyday people + news people talking in-real-life, online, & in the media.
Keep at it. Work with the 5 Things to grow what you’re doing, who you reach, & who you’re working with. It’s a good year to go all out.
The General Idea Type List
36 Idea types for activities, events, engagement, & pressure —
COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS. Community conversations, town halls, teamwork sessions, vision/dream sessions, panels, or other forums.
COMMUNITY GATHERINGS/EVENTS.
TEAM OR NEIGHBOR OR SMALL GROUP GATHERINGS. One-time or as a regular recurring series. Can be just for connection & community… or may be for targeted action.
POTLUCK PROBLEM-SOLVING SERIES. Can be for a group or a whole community/town/neighborhood. Plan a regular get-together to address a local challenge over a given period & make a commitment to address it, find support, find funding, bring pressure, bring attention, etc. Can be any topic from food deserts to community health care to revitalizing a neighborhood to countering school board extremism.
VIGILS, EVENTS FOR SOLIDARITY, OR MEMORIALS. As needed for situations that arise in this complicated culture. May be needed or created to show solidarity during or after a loss/disaster/war/tragedy/shooting/etc. May relate to ongoing traumatic issues such as women’s lack of access to abortion healthcare in certain areas. May involve storytelling, candlelight, flashlights, or other visual activities. Certain events may require local permits.
SECURITY, SOLIDARITY, & REINFORCEMENTS. Group support or reinforcements for security or solidarity for impacted, vulnerable, historically underserved, &/or currently threatened groups or populations. Consider coordination & coalition-building with existing groups with experience in these sensitive issues. Consider long-term partnerships for this work due to the risk landscape & potential needs for training & safety provisions. Examples include security/reinforcements for people needing to access healthcare, mosques, temples, inclusive gatherings, etc.
STORYTELLING, IN MANY VARIATIONS. Includes storytelling events, trainings for how to share stories, mentoring for telling stories, social media training, or targeted storytelling efforts like on hot topics. Includes storytelling through art, music, combinations of things, other community events, or social media.
OUTREACH & AMPLIFYING OF THIS STUFF THROUGH THE SHIFT THE COUNTRY APPROACH. Approach existing local groups & local political party organizations to look at these ideas lists for local/regional/state action & coordination. You can work with Shift the Country volunteers or do this locally where you live or do both. To coordinate with Shift the Country, contact us at team@shiftthecountry.com, book an appointment to chat, sign up to volunteer, or find a Shift the Country volunteer event on Eventbrite.
NEW OR EXPANDED COALITIONS & ALLIANCES TO INCREASE IMPACT & REACH. Create coalitions, alliances, & partnerships with existing groups to do ideas from these lists (on the Take Action page) with larger participation… & to share logistics, outreach, & impact. Coalition-building (Thing 2) will be a huge key to making all of this shift happen. It is a force multiplier and an amplifier.
ART, MUSIC, POETRY, TALENT, OR OTHER EVENTS, SHOWS, FAIRS, OR ACTIVITIES.
CELEBRATIONS OR OTHER CULTURAL EVENTS & GATHERINGS. Celebrations or cultural activities through singing, dancing, DJs, karaoke, shows, or group participation events (like dances or karaoke). Seriously a good old-fashioned party with actual fun and merriment can go a long way.
FOCUSED CULTURAL GATHERINGS, CELEBRATIONS, OR CONVERSATIONS ON CERTAIN HOT TOPICS. Cultural gatherings, celebrations, or conversations of any kind can be a way to focus on a particular sensitive issue or topic that people need to talk about, to educate each other about, to do storytelling on, to process and heal from and so on. There are lots of opportunities, ideas, traditions, and rituals that can be combined to create powerful gatherings.
EDUCATIONAL OR AWARENESS EVENTS. Can be sessions, workshops, webinars, trainings, or other group activities. For example… a half-day on banned history, an after-school session on banned books, reproductive health workshops, a historical society educational session, etc.
SOCIALS — FOR ANYTHING. Use this old-fashioned concept as a way to bring people together for ice cream, coffee, etc. or just for the heck of it. Builds connection & community. Could be one-time events or regularly recurring events such as a monthly coffee social. Could have general events or could use varied topics/emphases to reach certain community members to bring certain people together like for networking or volunteering.
CONTESTS — FOR ANYTHING. For example… food, art, framing, talent, ugly dogs, beautiful plants, vegetables from local gardens, absurd political things, etc. Could be high-profile or obnoxious things that get people invested & talking to generate interest, participation, & buzz.
ANY OTHER SHARED FOOD & FELLOWSHIP EVENTS. Could be a dinner, potluck, pitch-in, barbecue, cookout, soup supper, steak fry, shrimp cookout, local food picnic, organic picnic, etc. Be sure to plan for a way to provide food to all participants whether or not participants can bring food; be sure to make it clear that all are welcome whether or not they bring food. Budget & plan accordingly; perhaps by designating a host/sponsor to provide a main course or similar. One key will be to clearly include folks who may not be able to afford or who may not have the capability to prepare food to share for various reasons.
REGULAR WEEKLY OR MONTHLY GET-TOGETHERS. Regular weekly/monthly get-togethers over coffee, adult beverages, desserts, local food, etc. in public places or in homes… to build connection, to grow community, to work on action, to plan, to build resilience, for solidarity, for empowerment, etc. Again, provisions for those who may not be able to afford to bring or to prepare food/beverage items can be made clear to all potential participants.
TRAININGS, PRACTICE, & MENTORING FOR STORYTELLING IN VARIOUS WAYS.
TRAININGS & PRACTICE FOR SOCIAL MEDIA & ONLINE AMPLIFYING. Mechanisms for passing along knowledge & skills for how to put stories, outrage, or advocacy online on platforms like TikTok, Facebook, YouTube, etc. Also may include mechanisms for how to support, leverage, grow, & spread certain info/activity online.
TRAININGS & PRACTICE FOR TRICKY TOPICS. Trainings & practice for awkward, uncomfortable conversations about complicated topics.
NEIGHBORHOOD STUFF. Teams, socials, cookouts, alliances, resilience, phone trees, disaster preparedness, or just looking after each other.
COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT OR VOLUNTEER PROGRESS/PROJECTS. Short-term to long-term (i.e., painting public infrastructure to community art to public area clean-up to helping a group that needs it to community gardening or community food security). Could be a community-wide initiative with coalitions & partnerships between many groups, businesses, & individuals.
MASS VOLUNTEERING ACTIVITY. Can involve big coalitions. Can be high profile or highly visual.
FLASH MOBS OR FLASH VOLUNTEERING. Flash mob activity that’s highly visual, on video, & available to share widely or to get media coverage. Use care & sensitivity with projects, ideas, & areas where attention is focused to be certain area is open to volunteer work & that vulnerable people will not be harmed. Keep higher goal of actual service in mind. Find creative ways to tell the stories with sensitivity to service & to the humans involved.
HIGHLY VISIBLE ACTION, GROUP ACTIVITIES, OR SHARED EFFORTS THAT BRING ATTENTION, COVERAGE, VISIBIILITY, & PRESSURE. Examples: white flags on the national mall & state capitol grounds to memorialize covid deaths; a sidewalk chalk day; a group mural-painting; the AIDS quilt type of effort in the 1980s; etc.
GROW LOCAL CREWS OR TEAMS. Use shift-related names if interested… like “Shift Denver” or “Shift Montana” or “Shift the Front Range” or “Shift the School” etc. Grow a local Shift Crew, Shift Team, Shift Group, Shift League, Shift Alliance, etc... for any kind of local action or coordination. Groups can work at any level… for local, school, county, regional, Tribal, state, coalitions, etc.
DISASTER STUFF. Disaster/emergency preparedness activities, team-building, & coalition work for anything from active shooter awareness/readiness to natural disasters to addressing far-right extremist activities.
RESILIENCE-BUILDING WORK. Any kind of resilience-building (shorter supply chains, disaster preparedness, food security, etc.) can help us better address the intensifying risk landscape in the places where we live. The 5 Thing approach is set up in part to do exactly this sort of thing over the short- and long-term.
PUBLIC PRESSURE SESSIONS, TRAINING, OR ACTIONS.
GROUP ART PROJECTS. Can be highly visual & highly participatory.
FESTIVALS.
PARTIES OF ANY SIZE.
DEMOCRACY CELEBRATIONS — USING ANY OF THESE IDEAS.
POETRY SLAMS OR COMPETITIONS — ON ANY SUBJECT.
BOOK CLUBS / BANNED BOOK CLUBS.
COMMUNITY VISION WORK FOR THE SHORT- OR LONG-TERM.
Check out the Take Action page for the main Big Shift Guide & for more Idea Lists.
“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.” — Theodore Roosevelt, Paris, April 23, 1910