Idea List #2 - Variety Mix
Idea List #2 - Variety Mix
Ways To Get People Talking, Making Change, Making News, & Voting
Shift the Country is a unique nonprofit set up to drive voter turnout with ideas that people & groups can use for activities to raise a ruckus, to influence the narrative, & to get voters fired up. We can compel change that creates a more equitable, resilient, & sustainable democracy.
HOW TO DO THIS: Pick An Idea, Get Started
Use this or any other Shift the Country idea list from the Take Action page to help us make big shift with a zillion actions everywhere.
Use this idea list in combination with the “Big Shift Guide.” See the Take Action page for more. Ideas here may be general; or may be focused on an issue like a hot messaging topic or critical part of society. Idea List #1 lists ideas by activity type.
Get some people or a group to work with. Any individual, group, or coalition can do this. 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.
25 Ideas
For activities, events, engagement, & pressure —
Storytelling Circles.
Storytelling Workshops. Invite people from various groups or host workshops for specific groups. Teach the skills for telling stories in person & online & also for getting the word out to get news coverage & to share stories widely.
Storytelling Community Events. For example, the Des Moines Register in Iowa has worked with storytellers over several weeks prior to an event, gives people coaching to help them tell their story, and sells tickets to events.
Poetry slam — on any hot topic, or a set of topics.
A banned book festival, sale, or mobile library.
Banned book giveaway for a holiday — such as Halloween or Christmas.
Banned book drag queen story hour; intended to increase both literacy & awareness. For any highly sensitive &/or potentially controversial events, consider risk management & security; see Big Shift Guide for other considerations.
Any kind of PRIDE event, celebration, food & fellowship gathering, awareness-raising, solidarity, or other event.
Security &/or solidarity for any targeted groups in local areas as needed; including mosques, temples, churches, etc. Consider coalitions for this work & longer-term commitments than one-time support. Consider working with & supporting existing groups with expertise & established approaches. Consider coordination with businesses, law enforcement, & other local institutions where possible to increase strength, capacity, visibility, funding, etc.
Create long-term local task forces &/or coalitions to support any targeted communities or groups as per the idea above.
Online activism to counter hate group activities in local communities. Again, consider coordination and support to established local groups where they exist as per the two ideas above.
“Light Up the Darkness” Vigil, Festival, “Night,” or Party. Have event in a park or inside space with partial darkness availability & electrical access. Have people bring neat lights from home to a park or inside space. Or use drones, strings of light, hanging lights, etc. Program can include anything that fits the metaphor… inspiration, lighting up corruption, countering darkness like evil & hate, etc. Consider safety like proper extension cords; manage tripping hazards, encourage battery-operated or low-power LED lights, etc.
Drone show, fireworks, or other high-profile community event with a specific political focus, message, or metaphor. Programmed drone shows have incredible flexibility.
Solidarity & Support Circles.
Solution-Finding Circles, or Creative Collaboration Circles — for political action & ideas, or for like way forward finding &/or navigating this intense time.
Giving Circle, or Giving & Action Circle.
Join a local board or commission; get appointed to one; or run to get elected to one. Many local, township, regional, or county boards & commissions have vacancies that need to be filled. These are great opportunities to make shift happen in a huge range of areas from elections to who gets to develop land to local laws. These positions may be extra effective if the people filling the spots are in coordination with coalitions & groups.
A movie in the park! Or on a garage wall. Or outside. Or inside a mall. The LEGO Movie is a great one with several takeaways related to this work, but there are tons of good ones & they don’t have to meet a specific purpose except getting people together. Lots of people & groups also now have projectors & screens.
Movie night — invite an action/political group out to a movie theatre or to any gathering space as a way to get people connected & to build community (such as the Barbie/Oppenheimer phenomenon in 2023). Could be a single event or regular recurring movie nights.
Connection training/workshop/session — On any topic about connection, or on connection overall. Could include how authenticity helps build connection, how being present can help build connection, how being vulnerable helps build connection, etc. Could include basic of how to do it, how to be open to it, how to create follow-up, etc.
Connection & community workshops/training as part of the power of intention & agreements (from our parameters). Discuss or train on “The Four Agreements” or “The Fifth Agreement” — how they can help us do connection & community-building to strengthen our connections, to act in integrity, etc. The five agreements from don Miguel Ruiz are: “be impeccable with your word; don't take anything personally; don't make assumptions; always do your best; and be skeptical, but learn to listen.”
A “Phone-A-Friend” program of some kind for connection/community & also for relational organizing… for outreach, for checking in on people, for mutual aid, for looking after vulnerable populations, for Whole Communities disaster resilience-building, etc. Can likely be done more effectively through a coalition with local nonprofit organizations, churches, etc.
Media Literacy &/or Recognizing Disinformation/Misinformation Events, Training, Conversations.
Artificial intelligence (AI) awareness sessions for political work, disinformation, media literacy, etc.
Critical Thinking Sessions. Conversations/discussion/workshops. May be especially relevant for conversations about science, public health, conspiracy theories, war, etc.
Check out the Take Action page for the main Big Shift Guide & for more Idea Lists.
“Light up the darkness.” — Bob Marley