On Saturday the Young Democrats of Arizona’s leaders of working and young professional chapters met in Phoenix to discuss recruitment, street teams, and best practices.

The discussion began on street teams for both advocacy and collecting vote pledges, specifically brainstorming locations:

• Bars, coffee shops, and local hangouts
• Sports events
• Cultural events
• Concerts
• City, community, and county events

Street teams are an example of peer-to-peer organizing, so you should look for places where young people live or hang out. In Maricopa County there are bar districts, ASU games, county events, First Fridays in Phoenix, and tons of concerts and local events.

Stan Williams, Executive Vice President of YDAZ, talked about how to engage with young people at these places. It is important to be friendly and talk to people as you would if you were hanging out there yourself. You can’t wait for people to come up to you, you have to go talk to them. Another important tip is to make sure that the action you want them to take, whether it is signing a vote pledge or a petition, is as easy as possible.

The other big topic discussed was recruiting and maintaining membership of a young professionals chapter. In Arizona members from these chapters tend to either be alumni of university chapters or brand new to the organization.

One of the big draws of a young professionals organization is that it is an opportunity to meet new people and friends. Once a person has graduated from high school or college it is no longer as easy to find people that are close in age with similar interests. A lot of people that have never been involved before are looking to find new people.

Young professionals groups should be somewhat consistent. Members tend to have busy schedules, so it is helpful to know that meetings are always on the second Thursday of the month at 7 or whatever the time and frequency may be. The way for someone to find out when a meeting or event is should also be consistent. If the group has a web page, the meetings should be posted. If an email or Facebook message goes out about each meeting, you can’t forget to send one a certain month. If you do, people may think that the meeting isn’t happening.

Finally, it is important that the group’s officers and members are inclusive. Being overly cliquish can turn potential members off, and talking above their heads using political lingo can make them feel that they don’t belong or are too behind the curve. Young professionals are going to vary greatly in how much they are going to put in to an organization, and a person who is only able to come to some social events should not be looked down on. Many of those people will eventually do more if your organization does a good job being inclusive and creating events that people want to attend.

Every area and young professionals organization is different. Share your ideas and experiences with street teams and young professionals in the comments.

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I decided to come up with a little 125×200 online button for people to put on their blogs, websites, myspace pages, etc. Just copy and paste the HTML code from the text box below.

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Earlier today I wrote two posts about vote pledges: Vote Pledges and Why They Work on Future Majority and Vote Pledges are Valuable, Even in Heavily Democratic Areas on the Young Democrats of America Blog.

From Vote Pledges and Why They Work:

The concepts of peer-to-peer and vote pledges were developed after extensive research on marketing behavior and social psychology. Social psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini from Arizona State University explains the power of commitment and consistency in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion:

Once we have made a choice or taken a stand, we will encounter personal and interpersonal pressures to behave consistently with that commitment.

The process of a young person signing a pledge to vote for a Democrat in November is a commitment to take that action, and they will be much more likely to actually do so in order to be consistent: “Once a stand is taken, there is a natural tendency to behave in ways that are stubbornly consistent with the stand.”

From Vote Pledges are Valuable, Even in Heavily Democratic Areas:

We have often talked about the research showing that a young voter who votes for the Democratic Party in three consecutive elections will likely identify themself as a Democrat for the rest of their life. We have also talked about how the Millennial Generation is more mobile than any other. Just because a young person is living in a highly Democratic area now, there is a good chance they will eventually live in places that aren’t.

The environment for collecting vote pledges and peer influence is much better in highly Democratic areas, so young people are more likely to been involved in social networks where being a Democrat is looked upon highly. By starting them on the path of becoming a life-long Democrat in areas where the peer reinforcement is supportive of the Democratic Party, the chances of success are very good. If and when they move to another location where the culture is not as supportive, the Democratic Party will already be a part of their identity.

Please go check out the posts in their entireties and leave comments with your thoughts. Also, don’t forget to sign the vote pledge at yda.org/votepledge and to encourage your friends to do the same.

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