10 Ways to Make the Most of Your Rally:

Observations and Inspiration from the #TaxMarch

Another Saturday morning. Another round of political activism. On this beautiful spring day I decided to take a hands-free approach. Armed with my phone to take/tweet pictures, enough pockets for my stuff and my hands free to applaud at the proper moments, I really wanted to capture a piece of the resistance in our democracy that’s secretly stolen my heart: the signs.

At the Women’s March I spent far too much time juggling my sign, my phone and my copy of the U.S. Constitution. I missed pictures of some of the best signs, pictures I think generations from now will define this time in our collective history. So today I figured I’d try something different.

Because I arrived in observation mode I was more attuned to some of the other details of this event. And, since I’m already planning to join in next weekend’s March for Science, and I do a lot of work on events myself, it seemed timely to share a few observations and suggestions.

“This is What Democracy Looks Like” (photo montage: J. Melvin)

I share these specific suggestions in the hope that they will prompt you to organize and bring people together in as powerful and dedicated a way as the people today did for the Tax March. Based on what they did, with a few simple tweaks (mostly in the realm of communication at the event) you can build on their incredible efforts to make yours even more significant.

Here are some suggestions — many because they did so much right today and some because a few details were missing — that will make whatever rally you organize or go to even more effective.

1. Make sure to have a clearly-identifiable information booth. Even if it’s a little table with balloons marking the spot. People have questions, and if they care enough to get up early on a Saturday morning, among them might be the next candidate for the State house or your next communications director. In the process of providing information they want, you might make a big and valuable connection. Rather than just show up to chant, why not give them an easy way to get more involved (on top of that, while so many have done so much impressive organizing, a common concern right now is that the resistance is fragmented… when people come together it is a chance to collect them and find ways to organize better and more).
2. Have a prop that provides a great photo opp then tell people how to use it. This morning, “Chicken Don” was in residence in Chicago and the emcee encouraged people to take a selfie with it and tweet it to the President. This was one of the smartest things I saw today. It’s a great unifier (which is what the people who come to a rally are seeking) and it will increase the impact of your social media.

3. If you have people with badges that look official, make sure they know at least the schedule of what’s happening. There were a lot of volunteers and they were definitely noticeable in their lime green safety vests but I’m not 100% sure what a lot of them were doing. Neither were they. I know because I asked them.

Also, note to self, if you have a megaphone, people are going to ask you questions. There was a great guy on a megaphone today who was inviting people to “write on our anti-Trump wall — all are welcome” (the copywriter in me loved that irony) and I witnessed many people go up to him and ask questions. He was forced to say, “that’s not my area of responsibility.” A few people walked away frustrated and I felt kind of badly for him.

But the wall was really cool.

4. Have a great sound system and set up a great, theme appropriate playlist that will energize people. Don’t start and stop it and leave big silences. Play only songs that are upbeat and theme-appropriate (today was great: they played everything from “Wanna Be Starting Something” to songs about why can’t we all get along). It did occur to me to suggest “Money, Money, Money” from The Apprentice but then again I’ve had a little too much of that lately so I decided not to go search out the DJ.

5. Be ready to go 15 minutes before your scheduled start time (stage should be set up and music should be playing). Generally, this would just be because when things seem organized and professional it is easier to keep things peaceful and directed. This time, I’m actually secretly pleased that I got there before things really started — I found it very funny that they were still inflating the giant Chicken Don while they put up the stage bunting. It was intriguing to see a whole group of musicians start to arrive (turned out they were the Sousaphones Against Hate and they played a special rendition of the “chicken dance” to get the crowd going — I’m telling you, these guys played to their quirky strengths) but it did strike me that had that stuff been done sooner it could have also started more promptly.

6. Five minutes before scheduled start time, make the following announcements: thank the crowd for coming and tell them you’ll be getting started “with a program that will last approximately xx minutes and feature x# speakers including [insert name of most famous person here].”

Whoever makes this announcement should state their name and their role. I’d been wandering through the crowd and heard a lot of people asking people with badges about the program and no one seemed to know what was going to happen. So I went over behind the stage and found the guy who had already announced “we’ll be starting in 15 minutes” (the information I could find on line said it was starting at 11 and it was already after 11) and suggested he announce the speakers. He was great — he jumped back up on stage and did, and got a big round of applause. Then people knew what to expect. It was getting hot out as the sun rose high in the sky and it helped to know what to expect. It probably kept a few people around who didn’t really know what to expect.

‎7. Hashtags are a force multiplier when used correctly so announce, post or have people with signs letting people know what hashtags to use for the event. You’ve got thousands of people with thousands of friends and if you want to force multiply, you have to tell people how to do it. I ran into some great people from Indivisible606 (I knew it because they had shirts that said so): they were trying to “figure out this twitter thing too.” Had we all been directed on how to share our tweets with each other, the rolling thunder probably would have traveled much further.

8. Get some volunteers to walk around in the crowd taking pictures of signs and tell people you are having a “contest.” Then, later when you need some filler between speakers, you can talk about some of the best signs. I am so impressed at the wit and heart people put in these signs. When I ask if I can take a picture, people are generally really proud of their work and pleased to be asked, so it would be nice to give a few shout outs in front of their thousands of kindred spirits. It might make people talk about it a little more and help motivate them to bring a few more friends next time.

9. Make sure the speakers are high quality and appropriate for the objectives of the event. Two Congressional representatives spoke today. One just got back from Cyprus in an attempt to further unravel the President’s conflicts of interest with the Russians. That provided a strong message of activism. The other was a Congresswoman who outlined five important reasons why Americans should be demanding to see these returns. She also gave the most powerful message of the day, I thought, when she said, “what is happening in Congress is not the most important thing. What is happening out here is the most important thing.” Pretty inspiring to a group of people who took the time to go to a rally.

Then we heard from a state senator who talked specifically about his pending legislation on this very subject.

Then they had a famous person who is famous for other things, among them protesting. That part didn’t work so well, particularly since it wasn’t someone who should have been talking about taxes and transparency. So the bottom line is have good speakers. And have appropriate speakers.

10. Give people at least one specific action to take on this very day… so that it will make their presence even more impactful and meaningful. One of the speakers today in Chicago was Senator Daniel Biss. He told the crowd about a bill he is sponsoring to help avoid a future situation like this with a president who refuses to prove he has no conflicts of interest or anti-American priorities. I hope everyone at the Chicago Tax March will call their state legislators and demand they support Illinois Senate Bill 982, which will keep Trump — and anyone else — off the Illinois ballot in 2020 unless he releases his returns. (If you live in Illinois and you don’t know who your state legislators are, you can go to this handy website and find out by putting in your address and zip code: http://il--nea.capwiz.com/nea/il/directory/statedir.tt?state=IL&lvl=state)

If you don’t want to live in Illinois, you might want to check if there is a similar effort in your state. If there isn’t, call Senator Biss for some suggestions or ask your representative to look into it — particularly if it passes here.

At the end consider sharing three additional actions people can take and then literally ask them if they will do it.

You might include ideas like:

• If you didn’t register for this event, you still can — that way we can tell you about future events
• Make sure to tweet and share your pictures on social media and encourage people to tag themselves in pictures they see so they can get a wider audience
• Mention the TV stations that were there so people can tune into the news and possibly see themselves (people like that… the original selfie).
• Commit to make one call to your Congressperson this week and ask them — again — to demand the President release his tax returns. If we give up trying, they win. We need to proudly say #neverthelessWEpersisted!

Make sure that whatever you are rallying for, you clearly communicate what next steps regular citizens can take to actually move the issue forward. Leaders and organizers should be prepared with this. Thousands put their trust in you by showing up so make sure you can help them become even more engaged citizens. There’s nothing worse than feeling when you get on the train that it was fun while it lasted but it didn’t make much of an impact. And there is nothing worse than the deafening sound of hollow angry rhetoric with no action to back it up.

I was proud to be an American today. I was proud to be a Chicagoan. The signs were delightfully compelling and some of them very funny. I choked back tears when I saw a little boy and his father, standing there on Daley Plaza on a sunny spring morning when a lot of their friends were probably watching the Cubs game. The father had his protective and encouraging hand on his son’s shoulder as his son raised his sign and reminded our Hypocrite-in-Chief whom he really reports to.

God bless America.