Campaign Corner: Getting the most out of a delivery session

The Campaign Corner series looks to give three tips about commonly asked campaign issues. Do get in touch if you have any questions you would like to suggest.

Today’s Campaign Corner question: We’re organising a mass delivery session next weekend. Any last minute tips on what we should do?

1. Stickers and badges: As Greenwich Liberal Democrats reminded me at the weekend, if you are going out delivering and people see you walking past, it is rather a missed opportunity if they don’t know that the Liberal Democrats have been out and about in person in their area. Not everyone who sees you will see a leaflet later. So make sure everyone has a sticker (or, thinking of the longer term and the environment, a badge).

2. Give people sheets and pens to record casework: if you have a group of people covering a large amount of ground in a short space of time, it is a great opportunity to pick up issues you can then campaign about. Perhaps graffiti is an issue in the area, in which case ending up with a long list of actual graffiti locations means you can take action much more effectively.

3. Give a quick briefing session at the start: how to deliver may be self-evident, but even the most experienced need to know where you are meeting up for a drink or coffee afterwards! The chances are, anyway, that at least one person in the group could pick up a tip such as looking out for the number of meter cupboards and bins to work out how many flats there are in a building and so whether there is likely to be a letterbox  round the back / down the stairs which they have missed.

Want to know more about local campaigning? Campaigning In Your Community by myself and Shaun Roberts should be right up your street. It’s available for only £4 from ALDC and you can read an extract for free here.

Previous Campaign Corners have included:

• Should you still target during a PR election?
• What to do on the doorstep
• How to make Focus leaflets looks better

You can read them all here.