Maine Resistance Summit Workshops

The following workshops are being offered during the March 5th Resistance Summit. Please select two sessions when you register here.

Fundraising: Raising the dough to grow your movement
Being able to fundraise for your cause is a crucial element to sustaining a movement. Learn some fundraising basics to help keep your organization in the fight for the long term.

Media Basics
Traditional media is still the most common way to get your message out to the masses. Learn how to set up a press event and get media to cover your message in the clearest way possible.

Introduction to Social Media
Don’t know your Facebook from your Twitter? We’ve got you covered. This workshop will cover some basics of social media as well some of the new ways people are using it to organize and get their message out.

The art of conversation: One on One’s
Organizing is all about building and maintaining relationships. One on one meetings are the most important tool for identifying leaders and recruiting them into leadership teams. Regular one to ones are also critical for building and sustaining strong relationships in which both partners grow and learn together over time.

Building Coalitions
A successful movement relies on cooperation from organizations and individuals from all walks of life. Getting everyone at the same table isn’t easy. This workshop will cover how to build a coalition and how to maintain those relationships for the long term.

Phone Banking  and Canvassing
Dialing and door knocking to reach your members
Whether you're getting out the vote, turning out your members to an event, or fundraising to sustain your organization, phone banking and door-to-door canvassing are some of the most important tools in an organizer’s arsenal. This workshop will go over the basics of phone banking and door-to-door canvassing for your causes.  

Running a successful meeting
Have you ever been in a meeting that didn’t go well? Maybe it was too long or not engaging. As an organizer, at some point you will likely end up in a meeting or having to put one together yourself. This workshop will go over some of the best practices for running a successful meeting including crafting an agenda and making sure your attendees are engaged and participate.

Forming a group
So you and several like-minded individuals have a cause you believe in, what do you do next? Form a group! This workshop will cover some of the basics of getting your group off the ground and how to bring other supporters to your cause.

Lobbying your state legislature
Now more than ever we need to keep a watchful eye on the legislature in Augusta. In this workshop, learn more about how state government works and how you can directly lobby and influence your legislators on important issues.

Diving deeper: Race, Gender, Gender identity and Class in Our Movement
The success of our movement will be defined by who gets a seat at the table. Often in social movements, women, people of color, the poor and other groups are marginalized or excluded. Join us for a discussion about how our individual organizations and our movement as a whole can be intentional in our efforts to be inclusive and give a voice to those who are often voiceless.

Running for office
The next two years will feature hundreds of open town council, school board and state legislative seats. Don’t wait for the right candidate to run for these seats - you are that candidate! Hear from current elected officials about their experience running for office and opportunities for upcoming candidate trainings.

Understanding worldview and messaging
Why do some words or phrases evoke certain images or cause people to react in the way that they do? This session will discuss how our movement’s worldview affects how we talk about the issues.

Making the personal political: Storytelling
Storytelling is one of our most powerful tools as organizers and movement builders. At this training, we’ll focus on storytelling in the context of actual public speaking (to all different sorts of audiences). However, the substance of these ideas can extend to storytelling through other communications processes as well—through email blasts, blog posts, online social media, letters to the editor, one on ones, even through the campaign itself, making our campaigns the vehicle for telling and creating a collective story.

Organizing 101
So you’re fired up and ready to go, but don’t know where to start when it comes to organizing for your cause. We’ve got you covered. This session will discuss the theories of how change is made in our communities and some of the basic principles of organizing  . If you are brand new to activism, this is the workshop for you.

Writing Letters to the Editor
The letters to-the-editor section of your local newspaper presents an ideal forum for getting your message to its readers, your neighbors, legislators or members of your congressional delegation. Learn how to craft a compelling letter and get it printed in your local newspaper to help shift public opinion on your causes.

Basics of Direct Action
Sometimes a rally isn’t enough. What if you need to escalate your campaign to get the attention and response of an elected official, or big corporation? Direct Action has been key to all meaningful social change in this country. This session will explore the history and the basics of strategic direct action.  

Unions and workplace organizing
Our country is stronger when workers can come together and fight for better pay and protections in their workplace. Organizing workplaces in the 21st century means thinking outside of the box and approaching workers in non-traditional industries like retail and food services. This session will discuss the ways labor groups and workers’ rights organizations are taking the fight to the workplace in Maine.