The Political Dance - Presentation for the ALA

Transcript

1. Doing the Political Dance Smart Advocacy in Strange Times Christian Zabriskie of Urban Librarians Unite & Jennifer Manley, Prime Strategies
2. •  Things are pretty crazy right now. •  Offense Vs. Defense •  Right now there are no sacred cows, everything is up in the wind •  New Administration: Learning experience from K street to Wall Street •  Congressional dynamics
3. DO I HAVE to do this? •  Elected officials rely on constituents to help them form opinions on policy and funding. •  It is critical that library users and employees and leadership advocate directly •  Elected officials need to be educated on important issues and how they can help.
4. On Fearlessness
5. Rules To Live By •  Don’t wait until it rains to fix the roof •  Don’t take your champions for granted •  Leverage your ambassadors- boards, friends, etc. •  Play the game •  Be nice to the young ones •  Use the data to drive the message •  Don’t assume you know your detractors
6. Matchmaking
7. Rules to Break* •  Play nice •  Don’t speak until spoken to •  You need to be trained professional •  Ask permission to go new places *NOT the campaign finance ones….
8. Reminders: •  Find the timely message and STICK TO IT •  Take every opportunity to make your point •  Grassroots and Grasstops •  Be everywhere •  You don’t have to be friends to be allies. •  Alliances, Allegiances & Guerillas
10. On Amplification
11. Christian Zabriskie - Yonkers Public Library, Urban Librarians Unite christian.g.zabriskie@gmail.com Jennifer Manley- Prime Strategies NYC jen@prime-strategies.com