Welcome. Welcome, everyone. We should have communication folks and Campaign Managers. Welcome to the developing amplifying your core message session. This is built upon what you heard yesterday in terms of the intro and its great to have the Communications Directors in the room as well so you can now coordinate and understand how the role coordinates with the communications folks to get amplified messages and get the job done. Im going to try my best to make it as interactive as possible, and im good with you all interrupting with questions throughout the presentation so feel free. Feel freeas to raise your hand d ask questions. Great. There is a sheet that should be floating around so please put your name on there and pass it around. I can do the communications after. So, i am the lead for the Campaign Managers and i am also a 2019 grad and i did the track back in 2019 and im a Previous Campaign manager and i worked in iowa prior to managing the congressional race in florida for the 2020 cycle i worked on the campaign in iowa, a regional organizing director and then after pete dropped out i went backpe to florida, the world stopped because of covid but i was lucky to be able to manage a congressional race for congresswoman castor in tampa and now i am not in the political space but i said yesterday im using all u the skills from organizing Coalition Building and my job at the bill and Melinda Gates foundation and i mother Global Policy and Advocacy Team and our team focus is to build coalitions on influential constituency groups that we think are aligned to our issues to help us advocate and domestic issues that we do like k12 education. I particularly work with communities of faith, so its a lot of organizing and Coalition Building and we do a lot of lowercase campaigns to get folks to galvanize and interested. So hopefully it is a good intro but happy to answer more after the session. So heres the agenda we are going to talk about what is a core message and we will go through some tools that can help you develop that and we will talk about building a Communications Calendar and review what owned media is and earned media and you are going to be ready to go with communications once you finish the session hopefully. Ive been having clicking issues the whole time so lets hope thatis doesnt happen. So, the big thing about communications is what are you doing, like what is the whole purpose especially in campaigns. In campaigns, you are framing a choice, presenting a choice to voters to decide who they want to vote for. I often use this as i talk to friends and families that are still nervous about 202014 election and looking at the media and a lot of angst of how could one candidate to be above biden so much and in so many places, it is insane, and i will often go to this like wait until it is a clear choice between trump and biden. Im not going to make predictions but if it is a choice it will be marrow and just as close as it was in 2020. Its not going to be as crazy as weve seen it i think that is the Biden Campaign case like once trump starts talking 24 7 and is the declared nominees noe he is now and its biden that is the declared nominee, its going to be ale choice between the tw. Some folks dont love that and that is the lesser of two evils but that is just how politics works until we get a new system that is in a world i think we all could dream of, right now it stems and unfortunately some third parties that can be a spoiler candidate it is your framing of choice. So this is a really high level understanding of what the whole purpose of communications and campaigns are. So another important thing to take away, how many of you, no wrong answers, no fear, im just curious do you think its important to lead with policies and positions or values . Okay, good. This is really good and at the time that i did the Communications Director track i was an associate vp so i came in but that was a really cool and for me like away values are meant to align people and unify folks. We lead with positions. You are automatically putting people in their corners, and i likeke this example a lot. Im a floridian, so i like to do polling you will see some examples here. This is a good example i think this article from 2020 of how i think values overtook policy. In florida we passed a 15dollar minimum wage amendment which is shocking for the state. Its something i didnt expect to happen and i remember being there at the time and the Florida Democratic party hadnt even seen the lead on this issue. Ta they didnt talk about a lot and i think that is a critique people have looking back. The same time we passed to that, people voted for trump in florida so you had to people that were going there and probably either left the top of the ticket empty and went in order they went in and voted for trump and voted for the Ballot Initiative one can assume since it passed by 60 . In this article i think it cohighlights how that could hapn and i pulled out some statements here. Theth first one is the issue ist super complicated. Maybe i just dont know how to use the clicker. People like the idea of paying workers better. That to me is a value statement, paying People Better into the whole point of workers like workingclass people, that was a value statement and then they went and talked to an employee who worked out of mcdonalds that last part will mean a Better Future for myself or my kids a values statement. Youre not going in there saying 15 minimum wage because the policy it will move x number of people out of poverty, like thats going to lose voters and thats a Better Future for my kids and myself, that you are not sending people into a corner and getting them into a big argument everyone can agree with that. Across the board its not necessarily as left or right issue that is key. Voters across the aisle know that it is impossible in florida and around the country to absolutely survive on 856 per hour which is what the current minimum wage wise, so that last piecewa you can unite people around this idea like who could live on that so instead of saying it can be great but the campaigns are not the time for the wonky policy. It is the time to get a bunch of people around a simple idea of can you live on less than nine dollars in our the legislators are going to want to see the data and the numbers and at the end of the day they will move them as well. In the previous role i remember working for Lutheran Services in florida and one of the programs we ran was head start so my role for policy and communications i would take head start parents to dc to talk to lawmakers and build connections in the District Office and i remember i had literally worked and volunteered against one of the folks we went to meet with. He obviously won and my candidate lost so i was devastated before that like ive got to go and hes not going to support this program. We had programs all over the state so i had to set up meetings with like six congressional offices most of them with them and he was one of two republicans and the only lawmaker that actually met with us and the others were staffers. And at that meeting with the Headstart Program because the Headstart Program was there and it wasnt just me in a suit and tie talking about a Program Helping kids in poverty it was an actual parent that was a Success Story and we had the data to talk about why it was important so we had both and i remember he became a champion for headstart and one of the thingsca he said is im now understanding a program like this is it costs money now but its saving so much in the long run like this is a conservative programs. If i can educate kids early and get them out of poverty and get them into a good education and go to school, we are not paying for prisons, we are not paying for jails and welfare programs down the line. And he actually got it and became a champion of the program. But i think its because we lead with both. We had the data to show kids that go through headstart are more likely to graduate high school and havech a good job les likely to end up in prison and jail and have Better Health outcomes, so we had all that data but we had a parent who brought back to life so you probably need both in the terms of advocacy and especially in the Campaign World what you really want to focus on because you are w talking to the masses, its values, that pulling peoples heartstrings. Where i work we have a phrase when we are trying to get donors and it is the limbic system being the system in our brains with Emotional Learning but we have the data to prove the major donors their money is going for something but its through those stories and values through that people remember stories and values, people remember those faces like you were saying with the head start teacher, they are not going to remember the percentages, so that is definitely part of our process in doing this nonprofit that i love the phrase because every single time in working on any kind of donor communication, i go back through and its part of my editingpr process like wherem i pulling the human into it. Youre willing to advocate and campaign for . I have one volunteer here. Is there a second volunteer . I got you in the jeans, the hat, in the middle. Raise your hand. So lets have you go first. In this example you want this room you want to tell this room why they said like the flavor of ice cream thats your favorite ice cream and tell us why in a very short manner, you dont have to talk about ice cream if you dont want to, tell us what your favorite flavor is and convince us why we should like this flavor and start with your name . My name is casey here on the contract and im kind of really regretting raising my hand. [laughter] even more pressure, thank you. Im e kidding. So my favorite flavor is chocolate and i fell in love with Chocolate Ice Cream when i was a kid and it happened actually there were a bunch of kids standing around in the ice cream truck. Im dating myself here. They showed the pictures on the side of it and picked what it was and everybody wanted the bomb pops and the other ice cream or popsicles that would color your tongue. And i went up there because i had 25cents from my dad, again, dating myself and i decided that i want add fudgesicle. Im going to get this one here and, you know, its chocolate. Ever since then even though actually the fudgesicle would be more than what the other popsicles charged, the cost, i tried to, you know, scrape together enough pennies or dime or whatever extra it was that i needed to get the fudgesicle so chocolate is my favorite ice cream for that reason and to say nothing of the benefit of chocolate to you health wise i think the richness of it and the taste on a hot summer day beats everything. Thank you, casey. [applause] all right. Hi, my name is [away from microphone] its Vanilla Ice Cream and chocolate with nice caramel in there. L and it reminds me of my cousin who was my biggest protector when i was a kid and he would always walk me down to the ice cream shop and protect me from bullies and was always just my biggest advocate and we lost him six years ago. He was a veteran and he didnt fully come back. Great, so what did yall hear in those beautiful stories and, again, thank you for sharing, sorry for your loss. What did yall hear in those stories . Say that again . So they connected it to a story about their life. People can see stuff from their own life in your emotional connection with that flavor. Anything specific and statements im thinking security protection, was that it doesnt work. So both of them had their story to where theyre creating memories with their family and friends and i think thats very pivotalen in developing. Thank you. That is yes. What did you hear . Yeah, i also think your story in particular is a lot about sacrifice of daring to be different because it was something that was important to you and putting aside money and i think thats a conversation we have in politics, research allocation and what Different Things mean to each of us and to some people its not worth allocating the tencents to a fudge pop and we need to find a way to meet everybodys ice cream needs but also find a way to balance the budget so great. Thank you. Yeah, i heard that too and that example helps you realize you can convince people and get them on your side by speaking to values that are shared and common. Crsacrifice, those really what who would disagree with that basically. Its a good its how you can start with framing the choice between you, your candidate and your opponent and you start at the upper right corner with the them on us. So what would they say about us what would they call us, what would they call us communists or socialists or, you know, crazy orst liberal or whatever, right, like what was you want to be truthful. I think the best thing for this exercise is it really go for the gutter and go for dont be shy, be very honest like sincerely put yourselves in the shoes and understand how theyre thinking and what theyre saying. I mean, you can pull direct quotes, like you can go in and look at the website, look at the social middia. Media and what are they saying about us and dont be shy and protect your candidate. Its important to be honest andn truthful here because its going to help you get to the best core message that you can and the best framing and then you move ontoen us on us. What would we say about us. What is our core value. What is the reason that we are running . Why should voters support our campaign and then what will we say about the opponent and what would the opponent say about themselves. So what is your opponents core value . Why are they running, what is in their bio, are they are they, you know, Small Business owner in a community and thats what motivated them to run or are they known entity or maga extremists and a started to get involved in 2016, what is their bio and what is their reason for running . 20 and 15. Lets do these four tables. Can you go to that flip chart . So 15, 20, 22, 19 can go to flip chart. 18 and 17, 12 and 11, 14, 7, this one and then 8. We are going to do elmo versus cookie monster. Take one. I would like yall to do the message box and im going to assign each flip chart to elmo or cookie monster. I want this group here to be elmo. And then this group here is going to be elmo. The message box. You see the message box. Okay. We are tracking one down for you, and make sure you tell me, remind meyo who you are. Hold on a second. Whats that . Whats your question . The other thing i wish we get this. So its very important. You dont want to write long phrases. A couple of words max, dont do long sentences. Elmo is january 6th who marched on the capitol and slapped nancy pelosi on the face. Just violence, just violent instead a of that long sentence. And then cap it at 5 in each quadrant. [laughter] you could bring a mic here, lets start with this group. I would like a brave volunteer from the group to walk us through your your message box on your opponent. So start with telling us who you are and remember, walk us through your message box for your opponent and yourself. Okay. We are team cookie monster. My candidate is cookie monster. And we are representing him against elmo who has challenges himself. [laughter] but we all like people to run for office because we like Public Service but we think elmo needs more time before he gets ready. Great, that sounds what would you say cookie monster about yourself . We haveco extremely good tase over here. Okay. Laser focused, we are motivated. We are funloving, we like to share. We are great foodies, cultural foodies as we said over here. Cultural foodies over here. We love the letter c. We are decisive and you know what you want. Elmo is a bit disingenuous. You cant trust somebody thats happy that much, i get it. Hes naive and doesnt understand what is going on or wins the office. Hes like a dasical. He is the establishment and has his own tv show. Thats the cultural elitist. He is suspiciously well groomed. How is he that well groomed. And hes whining and unrelatable. Its going to be hard for our people in the midwest to relate to someone who is coastal elitist who is running for office. Someone who is living out of the trash can. This is what elmo would say about himself. A bit friendly, optimistic, a teacher and educators, a main character. Hes a star and he has a nose whereas cookie monster does not. Thats great. [laughter] that was great. Hopefully good fun exercise and a way to kind of remember the message box. I think the key takeaway that you want to be thinking about there i would say is, yes. Thank you. And to be thinking about the story that youre saying about yourself, right, like what is your story, your candidate story, what is it that you want people to remember, what is the values that are motivating you and then the same thing for your opponent and be honest about that. Like have an honest take on both ends so that you can truly come out with a core message. The next step in that is to walkthrough it like you have and then come to the core message that you have after youve walked through that, right, so, you know, if you wanted to use this as an example, the yeah, basically you want to walk i want to speed through this. You get it, you kind of walkthrough that and come away, okay, what is my key core message after hearing what the opponent is saying about me and what im saying about the opponent. Great. The other tool, this is the last one. I think theres another slide here that im going to skip, you may have it. Im going skip that. When you go through the message box and you say go through them onox us, would you want to adjust your messages to be able to differentiate yourself or kind of address those messages that they have . Thats a great, thats a great question. Thank you for that. You do and you want to use the us on us in a way of like keeping in your head what your opponent is saying about you and strategically thinking what are my what is my response to that, how do i coun