#ElectionDay2022 with GenX & GenZ

How do a Gen X mom and a Gen Z kid are spend their first election day far apart? We’ll show you…

This is the first year my kiddo has lived away from home. Teen advocate Yara is now a freshman at Johns Hopkins University, which makes me proud. But I’m also proud they’re spending Election Day with the Sunrise Movement up at my old campus at the University of Wisconsin - Madison to mobilize students there. I’m still here in St. Louis where Yara graduated high school from last spring. We’re both doing our best to keep up the election momentum and do everything we can for our issues on Election Day. This is what it looks like based on our texts to each other through the morning. 

MOM: I started the morning early dropping campaign signs off at several polling locations around University City. A great use of my newly repaired Subaru. It was very heartening to see lines already going out the door and wrapping around buildings! I was a little sad I couldn't convince any friends to come out and about with me at sunrise, but that meant I got to listen to Weird Al Yankovic really loudly as I drove.

Image: Cindy with campaign signs by the car

YARA: "Hey, do you want a Hot Girls vote sticker?" is my favorite tactic to get people to text their friends right after they leave the polls. These stickers are even more popular than candy!

Image: Hot Girls Vote sticker with 
a code to scan for the Sunrise Movement

MOM: I have to admit that phone banking is not my favorite type of election work, but I gave it a go today. I reached a few people, but the best part was talking to text bankers Marge and Julie and eating donuts. And then our Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine showed up! Always fun to spend time with the person you're volunteering for. I ended up politely taking my leave saying, "I may be your worst phone banker, but I'm going to my next shift where I'll be the best poll greeter!"

Image: Cindy and other volutneers with candidate
Trudy Busch Valentine

YARA: Sunrise Movement is hanging out by polling places at UW-Madison, spreading the word about our favorite thing - VOTE TRIPLING! When people come out of the voting booth, they feel really good, and if they text three friends in that exact moment, data shows that it's super effective in turning people out. Like, "Oh shoot, Emily's out there right now! When am I gonna do it?"

Image: Yara on a campus mall with clipboard and stickers

MOM: I'm off to my poll greeting shift now. This picture is a cheat because I haven't yet done it, but this is what poll greeting looks like! I took a picture with these nice poll volunteers this morning while I was putting up signs. I had no idea they were Trudy Busch Valentine's kids until she tweeted it out with a note that her children were helping. I'd like to be clear that I'm in no way related to the Busch nor Valentine family, but I would like her to be my senator.

Image: Tweet from candidate Trudy Busch Valentine
about her poll greeting kids with Cindy in a picture with them

EVENING UPDATE.....

MOM: Here is what poll greeting really looked like for me. Lots of smiles for my "Votes for Women" Mickey Mouse ears. One young voter came to the polls and just wanted to know who was for better health care. I loaded him up with literature my candidates at all levels of his ballot and he even got to talk to some candidates. I marvelled that there are still people who rely on those personal poll greeter interactions for their decisions. Most mid-term voters, like me, arrive with a sample ballot pre-filled out. 

Image: Cindy with another volunteer and Missouri 
State Representative candidate Melissa Greenstein

YARA: After canvassing across from UW Memorial Union, we moved over to another polling location. Mom loved my picture in front of the iconic Bascom hill that she used to sled down with her best friend on cafeteria trays in the winter. (MOM: I never could have imagined in 1992 that this photo would happen in 2022)

Image: Yara holding a clipboard in front of big
letters on Bascom Hill that say "BADGERS VOTE"

!!!UPDATE!!!

CNN says, "Dane County, WI is reporting huge turnout with long lines & calls to bring in extra poll workers. The turnout from the campus is tremendous." Could it be because Yara and the Sunrise Movement are out vote tripling? Why, I do believe so!

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Advocacy Made Easy: Text Banking

Feeling anxious about elections? Don’t have a lot of time? Don't like to talk to people or have mobility issues? Sounds like you should join a text bank!

Text banking, like phone banking, is an advocacy technique employed especially during election season. True to its name, it's based on phone texts, so there is absolutely no vocal conversation between you and the voter. Last night, I joined MomsRising for their 2022 #MomsVote Texting Challenge. Why were moms gathering on Zoom to text total strangers? Because there are over 75 million registered mom voters in the U.S. If every single mom voted, we’d be well on our way to building a country that works for everyone.

Image: Ad for the MomsVote Texting Challenge

Image: Training slide saying we were texting moms
in certain states who need a friendly nudge to vote.

MomsRising, a non-partisan advocacy group taking on critical issues facing women, mothers, and families, says research shows that personalized messages are one of the most effective ways to mobilize voters. They had already directly reached millions of low frequency mom-voters via phone, social media, direct and hand-written mail. Sending mom-to-mom texts is the final layer to making sure that the growing wave of mom-voters continues to grow and is gigantic on Election Day. Volunteers had already sent two million texts this election season. We were part of the last push!

Four Facts about Text Banking 

I’d spent hours writing GOTV postcards to other moms and loved it, but been resistant to text banking because of misconceptions I held. Within minutes of the Zoom training, I felt rather silly for not trying it earlier. They quickly set four big worries to rest:

1. No one can see your phone number

MomsRising used a platform called “Impactive,” but any good text banking software generates a phone number for you. Responses back to that number run by the software, not to your personal phone.

2. You can pick a different name

If you’re worried about securing your identity, just type in a different name! I was “Erin” for the night, but by the end, I decided it didn’t really matter since they couldn’t see my phone number nor any other info.

3. You can use your computer instead of your phone

This part is important if, like me, you are of a certain age requiring reading glasses! No squinting or hunching over your phone unless you prefer to do it teen-style.

4. You don’t have to text your responses from scratch

I mistakenly thought text banking was going to involve constant typing. Nope! The platform has pre-written responses to the common questions like, “Stop sending texts” or “You have the wrong number” or “I already voted.” Most of the time, you just select the right response from the list and take them off of the list if they opted out.

How it Works

With those concerns out of the way, we moved onto the actual action. The name of a mom would appear along with pre-written text about voting information. All I had to do was click on the send button. Easy! It only took 5 minutes or less to send out 200 texts, at which point it prompted me to check the inbox.

Image: Text banking screen

Most of the time, there was no response. But every 500 or so, someone would text back with one of the common responses. The most unusual response of the night was, “I don’t like my kids. Don’t text me.” Oh no! We’ll never know what that was about, but I hope that mom has a better day tomorrow. For now, we just removed her from the list.

Image: Me smiling on the zoom screen with wine
in hand, wearing an "I Voted" sticker.

For most of the session, I found I could just tap the return key to send messages with my right hand and drink wine with my left hand. I don’t know any other election work offering THAT level of ease and comfort!

Fellow volunteer Jen Lofquist said, “I enjoy feeling like I’m reaching out to voters directly and efficiently.” I agree! I thought it was pretty cool we texted a handy link to give people their voting information. I kept envisioning some mom running around doing mom things, thinking, “Oh no! I forgot to find out where to vote tomorrow,” and then seeing my text pop up.

A Comfortable Space

In less than two hours, volunteers generated 230,000 more texts. The MomsRising text bank Zoom was exactly what I needed to settle my nervous jitters the night before Election Day: a non-partisan space to take action with a bunch of friendly, supportive moms. Text banks for other organization can more issue focused if its for a specific cause or more partisan if its for an individual candidate. I hope you find one that is comfortable and perfect for you!

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

World Polio Day Action for 2022

Image: Shot@Life volunteers in Uganda pose with fingers held close together
indicating how close we are to ending polio 

“We are THIS CLOSE to ending polio!”

That was the tagline for polio eradication campaigns back in 2012. Celebrities like Bill Gates smiled from airport advertisements holding fingers close together, showing a little tiny gap representing how close the world was to eradicating this terrible childhood disease from the face of the Earth. When I travelled to Uganda with the UN Foundation for the Shot@Life campaign, I got to be in a “this close” picture, too! I wondered if we would be done with polio in 10 years’ time?

Here we are in 2022, and the answer is…not quite. 

Back then, polio was still endemic in three countries. Now it’s only wild in two countries: Afghanistan and Pakistan. To show you the progress in even just the last few years, look at this graphic about Afghanistan. It shows a drop from 56 cases of polio in 2020 to only 1 case in 2022!

Image: Graphic showing a reduction of polio cases in Afghanistan since 2020

But the troubling news is that the pandemic caused us to lose some of our vaccine coverage gains. Polio popped up in places previously considered free from it. A case in Malawi was detected this year...more than five years after all of Africa was declared free of indigenous wild polio in August 2020.

Analysis showed the strain in Malawi was linked to a Pakistani strain. That was a wake up call for us to stay vigiliant in countries with no polio, so that an outbreak cannot take hold if the virus is imported via travel.

Similarly, a polio outbreak in New York City this year likely came in through international travel. We need to keep up vaccination rates to avoid pockets of unvaccinated individuals where an outbreak can take hold. As long as there are new babies born, our job of vaccinating is never done!

What can we do today?

Call Congress

Image: Graphic with the phone number to call Congress on World Polio Day, 
October 24th. The phone number is 202-902-6614.

Join Shot@Life volunteers like me across the country who are calling our senators and representatives to encourage their support of global vaccine programs! Call 202-902-6614 and ask to be connected to one of your U.S. senators or your U.S. representative to leave a message for them about global immunizations. You can use this sample script below. You can call three times, once for each senator and once for your representative!

“Hi my name is __ and I’m a constituent of Sen/Rep __. I’m calling today to talk about global childhood immunization programs and why Sen/Rep __ should support fully funding U.S. government global vaccine activities in FY23. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the suspension of vaccinations, jeopardizing decades of childhood immunization progress. This means supporting global health systems like USAID, UNICEF, Gavi, and the CDC is more important now than ever. Thank you!”

Here's a pic of my and my friends getting together to call on Zoom!

Image: Eight smiling people holding phones on 
zoom screens

Post on Social Media

Please spread the word on social media by retweeting Shot@Life or using these sample posts. You can use the hashtags, #VaccinesWork, #WorldPolioDay, or #EndPolio.

Thanks to U.S. leadership & because #VaccinesWork, polio cases have gone down 99.9% worldwide since 1988. However, recent detection of the virus in the U.S. and U.K. remind us that polio anywhere in the world is a threat everywhere. #EndPolio

Thirty years ago, polio was paralyzing 1,000 children in 125 countries every single day. Today, that number has fallen 99.9% thanks to U.S. support and the tireless efforts of frontline health workers, communities, and global partners. #WorldPolioDay

The cost of complacency is high: if we fail to eradicate polio, we could see thousands of new cases every year within a decade, costing $33 billion by the end of this century. Now is the time to #endpolio for good.

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

What Can We Do About Imposter Syndrome?

Image: Cynthia wearing a mask

Let’s talk about Imposter Syndrome.

It’s come to my attention that some people don’t think I suffer from Imposter Syndrome. I want to correct this today and write a few words about how I deal with it, hoping this post might help others. Keep in mind, I’m not an expert or a therapist. I’m a mom, advocate, and author who has an active inner critic…one that worked overtime during my book writing process!

Who Experiences Imposter Syndrome?

Imposter syndrome is an insidious thought pattern which makes us doubt our skill, talents or accomplishments. It gives us a persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. 

Imposter syndrome creates such anxiety that we might censor ourselves precisely in moments when we should speak out for others or take risks for our own good. It can keep good advocates from sharing their stories to powerful people. It can keep people trapped in unhealthy cycles when persistent inner voices say things like, "You don't deserve to be here" or “You’re not good enough for this job” or “You don’t deserve a promotion.” It can prevent us from reaching out for needed help. Worst of all, it can drive us into abysmal mental health even when we are successful, damaging ourselves and our relationships.

Image: Cynthia sitting alone in a field of dead grass

It seems like the media usually addresses imposter syndrome in relation to the female experience - Michelle Obama has famously addressed it - but it certainly doesn’t just happen to women! Just about everyone who is part of an oppressed or dismissed group (women, racial minorities, immigrants, youth, etc) feels it at least sometimes, even if they are a high performing individual.

My friend Portia Mount has more than a few words to say on the topic. Let me preface this by saying Portia is a mom I admire. From the moment I met her, she just gave off a vibe of being cool, collected, competent, and friendly. She’s one of those moms who made me think, “I want to her friend, and I wish I could be awesome like her.” It surprised me to find she presented a TED talk about her experiences with imposter syndrome.

Portia co-authored a book called “Beating the Imposter Syndrome.” She and her co-author were stunned to discover in interviews with 100 of their coaching clients, over 90% of them had experienced imposter syndrome at some point in their careers.

The International Journal of Behavioral Sciences published a report which said nearly 70% of individuals despite their gender, age, and work role will suffer from impostor syndrome at least once in their career or lifetime.

So, yeah. More people than you think struggle with this form of self-doubt.

What Can We Do About Imposter Syndrome?

Here are my strategies I’ve come up with by living through imposter syndrome myself (as an engineer and later as an author), learning from authors like Portia who researched it, and going to countless sessions teaching parents how to support our kids.

Connect with Strengths 

Tell the negative thoughts to take a back seat for a solid 15 minutes or more when you commit to thinking positively about your strengths. You deserve far longer, but 15 minutes works as a nice, manageable chunk of time for me. You can even write an actual list to look at later. Friends can be especially helpful for this exercise!

Look at the Hard Data of Success

Look at some inarguable personal successes to remind yourself of times when you have succeeded in the past. Maybe it’s a good performance review, a great test score, a letter of recommendation, or even a glowing thank you note written to you by a friend you helped through a tough time. As an author, sometimes I had to look at the data analytics from this very blog. Hard data confronted my doubt with evidence of people who read these posts and liked what I have to say.

In a recent twitter thread where the original poster asked others how they deal with imposter syndrome, I saw tweets saying they forcefully tell their negative voice to be quiet. Melissa Dumaz, a licensed therapist (@MelissaDumaz), responded with two methods: remembering successes and telling the inner critic to shut up. She said, "I tell my inner bully to STFU! And then proceed to show my inner bully receipts on how amazing and worthy I am!" I love it!

Image: Tweet from @MelissaDumaz giving credit to @StevonLewisMFT for her coping tools

Thank Your Inner Critic for Services No Longer Required

The "shut up" method never fully works for me. Perhaps my inner critic is just like me (makes sense because she actually IS me) and doesn’t like to go away until acknowledged for her value. I had to learn to use a twist on that method, which I heard from an occupational therapist who works with children and teens:

Consider that imposter syndrome is a valid survival method run amok. It’s the part of us that is honestly trying to protect us from embarrassment or disappointment. It’s a useful instinct in moderation, but detrimental when it keeps us from healthy balance and productive risks. So, when the imposter syndrome rears its ugly head, I say, “Thank you, inner critic, for your concern that is trying to keep me safe from embarrassment. But you also keep me from achieving my goals, so YOUR SERVICES ARE NO LONGER REQUIRED!”

What do YOU do to battle imposter syndrome?

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Coordinated Bothering Inspires Action

Image: A colleague and I in a DC lobby meeting

Today, at church, I was struck by a reference to advocacy work in a Bible reading I haven’t read nor heard in quite some time. The focus of our worship service today was Prayer: how we do it alone or together, how it changes us, how it shapes our actions, etc. I listened anew to a passage from the Gospel of Luke that likened prayers toward G-d to advocacy towards policy makers.

Luke 18:1-8 (Common English Bible)

Jesus was telling them a parable about their need to pray continuously and not to be discouraged. He said, “In a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared G-d nor respected people. In that city, there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary,’ For a while he refused, but finally said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.’ The Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t G-d provide justice to the chosen people who cry out day and night? Will G-d be slow to help them? I tell you, G-d will give them justice quickly. But when the Human One comes, will he find faithfulness on Earth?’”

Image: Me receiving prayers from my congregation

Perhaps this translation from the Common English Bible, written in a rather plainspoken way, jumped out at me because the judge’s reason for granting justice is “because she keeps bothering me.” The word “bothering” is very relatable to me as a busy person in 2022. Don’t we all get bothered by inconveniences? And if we get too bothered, aren't we moved to act on the source of irritation?

Besides considering the main point of Jesus’ assurance that G-d will grant justice to us, I also thought about how this depiction of activism mirrors modern day advocacy. Sometimes we can move the target of our advocacy with stories that remind them of their own moral values. Other times, we might use statistics and economic facts to appeal to a sense of logic. Yet whether one or both or neither of those tactics appeals to members of Congress, the thing that always seems to inspire action is something my oldest kiddo calls “coordinated bothering.”

Coordinated Bothering = Good Trouble

Coordinated bothering is what teams of advocates do when we all reach out persistently with the same request for a legislator to take an action.

Image: Me with Rep. Cori Bush at a public
event where I asked about a global nutrition bill

We might start with a request to their aide, then move on to having each member of the group call their office. If they don’t act, we involve more members of the community to write letters or make our requests public by writing about them in letters to the editor. If we see them out in the community, we are ready to ask them questions about our issue directly!

Friendly, polite tactics might give way to more insistent methods, like daily phone calls or more strongly worded opinion pieces in newspapers. We can show up at town hall meetings in a group to keep asking a question until they give an answer. Depending on the urgency or level of injustice, organized community protests might even be the only way to escalate the discomfort of a person like the judge in the Gospel without moral values or respect for others. 

There’s another name for Coordinated Bothering when it grows to a public and loud level. In the context of civil rights, the late Congressman John Lewis called it Good Trouble. He said, "Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year. It is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.

PUPO (Persistence Usually Pays Off)

Image: Me smiling by a 
RESULTS banner

Some senators and representatives are delightful to work with when they are personally motivated to work on our issues. But most need a metaphorical nudge or a shove to get the wheels of action turning. We have to find the point where their appetite for being bothered is exceeded by our persistence.

RESULTS volunteers have a funny little device used to reward each other called the PUPO award. PUPO stands for “Persistence Usually Pays Off.” We used to get a little sheet of stickers with “PUPO” printed on them. We would give them to a team member who made some sort of advocacy breakthrough because of their persistence.

Don’t be afraid to be persistent! I’ve been called “pushy” by a congressman in a face-to-face meeting when pressed him for an answer after he failed to give a “yes” or “no” to my colleagues asking for help for low-income Americans. I could have taken it as an insult, but I saw it as an acknowledgement that persistence is often what it takes to make sure people struggling in poverty get the nutrition, education, and health care they need. To me, feeding hungry people is worth being pushy about!

In America, Congress works for the people. They work for YOU. So next time you wonder if you if you should make that next phone call or write that letter, remember the widow in the Bible with the unjust judge. Be a bother.

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Stop Mommy-ing for Just a Second

I have a lot of work that I should do today before writing a blog, but I gotta stop.

I was just overcome with nostalgia when my photo storage service sent me one of those automated emails with a subject line of "Your memories from this day." A click greeted me with this picture.

Image: My pre-school children holding a picture of the Earth with the
misspelled words meaning "Bread for the World Help Poor."

It instantly transported me back to the circumstances leading up to the photo...

On October 14, 2008, I was a mom with a couple of precocious preschoolers aged 3 and almost 5. My husband travelled a lot for his job, so I spent many days alone without childcare trying to figure out how to enrich their little brains and hearts. Also, I was trying to figure out how to manage a household and find a purpose for myself while keeping them out of trouble!

Image: My kids standing at their craft table

I was a novice advocate for Bread for the World, learning new skills to fight global poverty. When I needed a few minutes to call or write handwritten letters to Congress, an old folding table held up with crates became a child-sized art surface to keep them quietly busy. It seemed like I was always trying to sneak in little actions to fight hunger in between my child care duties.

That evening, I’d made dinner and was calling the kids up to eat. Once, twice, three times. I felt like I’d been repeating myself all day long and my patience was running thin. I thumped downstairs yelling something like, “How many times do I like to repeat myself? None! Where are you?” They were so busy they didn’t even turn around until I used my angry Mommy Voice. And then, they turned together and showed me the project they’d been working on for me. Their confused and disappointed eyes told me they’d meant to make me happy, but didn’t know what to do now that I looked mad.

They were holding a sign with a blob that was clearly supposed to be the world. The charmingly misspelled words said "Bred fore the world help pore." (Later, I'd teach them to say "people struggling in poverty" instead of labelling "poor people" but we were a few years away from that nuance and spelling!)

Ah, mommies. Sometimes you gotta just stop. Stop and look at your children for who they are and not what you need them to do. I knew in my rush I was missing the key points of the day, which were:

• They worked together
• They used the crafts for creative expression
• They'd been watching and understanding my activism work
• They were showing me they loved me

So, I stopped. I hugged, asked questions, noticed details out loud, and took pictures. I restored their giggles and their confidence. The mischievous twinkle returned to their eyes. It was a teaching moment for all three of us…a moment I get to share with you today.

As an epilogue, I'll tell you they never stopped watching my activism. They are now both accomplished activists who teach me new things about new issues all the time.

As I stop my busy day once again and smile at that day 14 years ago, I hope all of you are finding moments today to stop and see what is in front of YOU.

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!

Advocacy Made Easy: Birddogging in Election Season

Birddogging is an advocacy tactic used especially around election season. Activists coordinate to seek out elected officials and candidates at public events to question them about issues in front of other people. In hunting, a bird dog will tenaciously look for and flush out a target so the hunter can see it clearly. In election advocacy, you will tenaciously look for events where you can find the candidate and flush out their public statements about your issue, so everyone can see their position clearly. A team of activists can follow a candidate to events all around their district asking about their issue over and over!

Birddogging can be an accountablity tool to keep politicians honest. It could change their position - or just make them stop actively opposing you - if so many people confront them regularly and publicly that they think they're losing public support. But it can also be a friendly relationship building tool depending on how you interact with folks while you do it. I like it best when birddogging helps me to:

• Build constructive relationships with members (or future members) of Congress & staff
• Raise an issue in importance in the community
• Meet allies and potential volunteers in the audience

All of those reasons together make it a great strategy! This post has my best tips I've learned from RESULTS and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.

How to Birddog at Town Halls

Image: A 2018 three-candidate town hall held
at Shaare Emeth Congregation in St. Louis

Town hall meetings are candidate appearances held in big venues like auditoriums, houses of worship, or large meeting rooms in libraries. I wrote a blog with more detail about them here. The main purpose of birddogging for town halls is to get officials to state their views on the record in front of media and a lot of voters. 

At a town hall, a candidate will speak uninterrupted for a while before opening up for questions from the audience. Written questions might be collected on note cards and then sorted by staff or drawn at random. Usually, audience members raise hands to be selected by staffers.

Your birddogging goal will change depending on a candidate's level of support. If they tend to ignore your issue or if they campaigned on it in the past without supporting it in office, this is a way you can apply sharp pressure on them. If they've never heard of your issue, this is a golden opportunity to grab their attention when you know they are listening. If they support your issue, you can reward their position with a thank you and a question that lets them talk about your cause.

Step-by-step tips for town hall birddogging:

• Write out your concise question ahead of time, so you can read from it if you get nervous.
• Wear an organizational T-shirt if the candidate agrees with you. They may want a picture with you to show they align with your org's values. If you don't know their position or they oppose you, I suggest no logos, so they won't deliberately skip you. But wear a bright color, so they can easily describe you when they call on you. 
• Arrive early. 
• Be friendly to staff as you enter and ask for stickers or buttons, so you can look like a big fan of the candidate. Ask about the format of how they will take questions, so you can prepare and they can know that you want to ask one. 
• Submit your written question ASAP or raise your hand fast & high each time they call for questions.
• Sit toward the front and spread your team out, so there's a better chance that a few of you will get to ask a question. I like to sit on an aisle where it's easy to get a microphone.
• Be enthusiastic! Clap and cheer during the speech for parts you agree with. They like to call on smiling faces because they hope for positive interactions. 
• Remain standing during your question and don't give up the microphone until they finish answering. You may get to ask a followup question.
• Don't film the candidate on your phone during your turn. Have one of your team record for you and do the same for them. 
• If they dodge a question from your teammate, point that out when it's your turn and ask the question again more forcefully!

How to Birddog at Meet & Greets

Image: Former Senator Claire McKaskill
speaking at a Meet & Greet in a bar in 2018

Meet and greets provide an opportunity for a more subtle form of birddogging. I like to use it more for a relationship building tool than a "gotcha" moment. A meet and greet is usually in a popular community venue like a park, a college student center, or a coffee shop. As with the town hall, the candidate will give a speech. But then, the candidate will personally talk to as many people as they can. They will also pose for pictures. 

Step-by-step tips for meet & greet birddogging:

• Arrive early. Sometimes latecomers can't even get in the door if the candidate is very popular.
• Wear an organizational T-shirt if the candidate agrees with you. When I wear my Moms Demand Action t-shirt to meet candidates who support gun sense policies, I sometimes I get to skip the line because the communications staff wants a candidate picture with that shirt for social media. 
• Be assertive, but not aggressive. Participants tend to crowd around the candidate in an uncoordinated mob. Be persistent and claim your space or you'll be pushed to the back and time may run out before you get a turn. Still, don't shove or be rude. 
• Shake their hand with a firm grip and don't let go until you've said your introduction and they have responded. 
• Ask for a picture together with them. Use that time while you pose to make one last comment.

Image: My Missouri State Senator Jill Schupp
held a masked, outdoor Meet & Greet 
during COVID-19 in 2020

Birddogging in a Photo Op

I've had many experiences where birddogging worked perfectly with those tips. But sometimes it doesn't go according to plan. For instance, how do you talk with them if you only have a photo op instead of a conversation? Sometimes, especially with a sitting senator, a quick photo is all you get!

When I went to see Senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine in 2022, she was having difficulty breaking away from someone using excellent techniques for keeping her engaged. Her aide was trying to keep her moving. I caught the aide's eye and mimed a camera and mouthed, "Can I get a picture?" He saw I was wearing a Moms Demand shirt (she supports us), so he nodded and then firmly intervened to bring her right to me for a photo. 

As we were quickly side-by-side and the aide's camera was up, it would have been odd for me to break away for a talk. But you can see in these sequential pictures, that I leaned slightly into her to say that I hoped she would meet with me and other volunteers about gun policy if she wins the election. Then, she looked at me to respond that she would. Finally, we both looked forward and smiled for a nice picture that was later circulated both by me and her campaign staff. Tah-dah! The whole exchange probably took 20 seconds. But that was the second time I saw her and I will likely see her again, so she's familiar with me long before the election. 

Image: Me leaning into say something to
senate candidate Trudy Busch Valentine

Image: Trudy giving me a response

Image: Cindy and Trudy smiling for 
the camera!

Image: Book cover

Buy an autographed copy of "From Changing Diapers to Changing the World: Why Moms Make Great Advocates and How to Get Started" at my website www.changyit.com or order it from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or any independent bookstore!