Introduction
Thank you for taking such a crucial step to form a Greenpeace Action Pod!
Fighting climate change is no easy task, but it’s impossible if you go at it alone. That’s why we’re so excited for you to build long-term people power in your community, your first step is to organize a kickoff meeting.
By organizing a kickoff meeting you’ll learn and practice the most important skill needed for Greenpeace Action Pods – the ability to bring people together to take action for a common goal.
If this is your first time doing something like this, or you’re nervous, that’s okay and normal! This toolkit will give you everything you need to organize a successful kickoff meeting. And remember, your Greenpeace coach will support you every step of the way.
Timeline
In order to kick off your campaign, it is vital to get everyone on the same page and share the goals, strategies and tactics with your volunteer group, with a kickoff meeting. Over the next four weeks you’ll plan, recruit, facilitate, and do a post kickoff meeting follow up.
- Week 1: Begin recruitment for your kickoff meeting
- Week 2: Plan your meeting and keep recruiting
- Week 3: Hold your kickoff meeting
- Week 4: Post kickoff meeting follow up with attendees and RSVPs
- Week 5: Post kickoff meeting and beyond! Check back soon for updates
Week 1: Recruiting for your meeting
Goal: Add your kickoff meeting to the Greenpeace events page, create a list of 10+ people to recruit, get 5 people to say yes to attending kickoff meeting
1. Pick a date and time for your kickoff meeting.
The date should ideally be around 3 weeks from the day you start your planning process.
2. Decide if your event will be in-person or virtual.
Please note Greenpeace USA’s current guidelines for in-person volunteer events.
3. Add your kickoff meeting to the Greenpeace events page.
If you need help with creating your event, talk to your coach, or speak to a Greenpeace representative.
4. Begin thinking about who you want to invite to your kickoff meeting and start recruiting!
Start by making a list of people you’d like to invite to your kickoff meeting. This includes friends and family, as well as coworkers, neighbors, classmates, congregants, and pretty much anyone who’s in your local area and you think might be interested! Try to get your list to 10 people (at least!). You can use pen & paper, a note on your phone, or a copy of the Greenpeace recruitment tracker.
Recommended: You can recruit Greenpeace supporters in your area to your event by filling out this request form. We’ll make a list of supporters in your area, and text them with an invitation to join!
5. Start recruiting!
Start your outreach by connecting with the groups of people and individuals you brainstormed in the previous step. Remember, it’s important to make your recruitment as personal as possible. For close friends and family, we recommend personalizing the recruitment message since you know them well. For coworkers, classmates, and other people you recruit, you can use the template below, but we recommend personalizing that as well.
Sample text message (please personalize): “Hey [Name]! I’ve started volunteering with Greenpeace to fight climate change, and I’m starting an Action Pod, which is a group that takes action on local and national environmental issues. Our kickoff meeting is on [Date & Time], and I think you’d find it really interesting. Can you make it?”
Make sure to track your recruitment efforts in your personal copy of the kickoff meeting recruitment tracker, the same place you did your brainstorm of who to invite.
Week 2: Plan your meeting and keep recruiting
Goal: Confirm meeting attendees, recruit 1-2 co-facilitators, recruit more.
The second week of planning your kickoff meeting is all about recruitment and preparing for your meeting. In the previous week you brainstormed who you wanted to ask to attend your meeting and started the outreach process. This week you’ll continue the recruitment process for your event and review the meeting agenda, slide deck, and other meeting logistics.
1. Confirm your meeting attendees.
Don’t take it for granted that everyone who signed up will show up! We make sure that the people who RSVP end up joining through the confirmation process. On your events page, go through everyone who signed up, and call/text them, asking if they can still make it. We recommend calling first, then sending a text if they don’t pick up. Below is a sample text to send to your sign-ups:
Hey [Their Name], it’s [Your Name] with Greenpeace! I’m so excited to see you at our Action Pod kickoff meeting on [Date & Time], and wanted to make sure you’re still attending. Let me know if you have any questions 🙂
2. Find co-facilitators
This is a great week to ask people who have already agreed to attend your kickoff meeting for help with meeting logics, agenda and leading the meeting — make sure to ask folks who in their network of friends, family, co-workers, classmates, etc might be interested in attending your meeting as well!
3. Continue recruitment!
If you haven’t finished reaching out to all the personal contacts that you thought about last week, this is the perfect time to do so. Also, if you filled out the request form to receive Greenpeace supporters in your area, you should now have that list which you can contact!
4. Create your meeting agenda.
Think about what you want to discuss in your kickoff meeting, and what order you want everything to be in. Add this information to your agenda so that your meeting will have structure. Here is a sample kickoff meeting agenda to use. To make edits to the agenda, make a copy of the document by clicking on “File” then “Make a copy”. If you want, you can also use a slide deck as a visual aid during your meeting. (This can be particularly useful if hosting a virtual meeting!)
Week 3: Hold your kickoff meeting!
Goals: Get 6 people to attend your meeting.
1. Final preparations.
- Review your agenda with your co-facilitators (if you have) one last time.
- Make sure everyone who signed up receives a confirmation call prior to your event.
- It can be helpful to send out an email one hour prior to your event, with details such as a Zoom link (if remote), or an address (if in-person).
2. Meeting tips:
- Start on time. Wait no more than 5 minutes for people to show up. Waiting longer will set the precedent that it is okay for your members to show up late. Avoid this by setting the standard that meetings will always begin on time, even if people are still trickling in.
- If you’re hosting an in-person meeting, offer food. Fed people are happy people. No need to make a full meal, even snacks go a long way. If you’re not able to provide food, consider making your event a potluck.
- Make everyone commits to doing something after the meeting! Reference the sample agenda for tips.
3. Document your kickoff meeting
If you can, take at least one picture during your event and share it with us! Post your videos/photos in the #event-support Slack channel too!
Week 4: Post-meeting follow up
Goals: Text (or call!) all attendees and RSVPs to follow up with them about the next steps you agreed on together.
Congratulations! You held your kickoff meeting! In these next few days, follow up with your guests, and keep them involved with your local organizing.
1. Thank everyone.
Send out an email the next day thanking everyone for coming and include the date & location of your next event. If applicable, be sure to thank any speakers or other notable attendees for coming with a personal email. Finally, thank and reward your members who helped make the event happen.
If you send out a group email on Gmail or an email client that is not Mobilize, it is mandatory that you use BCC in order to protect the information of members. This is critical to protecting volunteers’ privacy. To do this, put your own email into the “To” section of your email, and add the recipients’ emails into the BCC section.
2. Individual follow-up.
Retention is a key part of growing your group — and that’s why following up with event attendees is a critical component you can’t overlook. Send a text to everyone who attended, personally thanking them for joining your meeting, and following up on their commitments.
3. Debrief with your coach.
Debriefs are an excellent way to capture learnings and think through the next steps. Make sure to schedule a time to debrief with your Greenpeace coach post-meeting.
Resources
- Recruitment tracker template (make a copy to track your own recruitment efforts)
- Sample kickoff meeting agenda (make a copy to adapt this agenda for your own meeting)
- Kickoff meeting slide deck (make a copy and adapt these slides for your meeting)
- Add your event to Mobilize
Questions
Everyone who signs up to participate in this summer of organizing and completes their training in Greenpeace Academy will receive one-on-one support from a Greenpeace volunteer coach. If you have any further questions or run into any issues, reach out to the Distributed Organizing Team at [email protected] or your personal coach.