Mike K., who gave a presentation on best outreach practices at our July 11 meeting, has given us a written primer:

Living in the Bay Area, most of us are somewhat used to being yelled at in the streets, and while many of us are excited to spread the political revolution that Bernie Sanders has called for, we must consciously recognize the art of engaging our audience or risk becoming another piece of background noise on the politically active streets of cities like Berkeley and San Francisco.

Three big rules will help your public outreach to have a larger impact: 1) Stay positive, 2) gauge your audience, and 3) SIGN UP VOLUNTEERS!

Stay Positive

A wise person once said you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, and the same principle holds true for voters. There is a reason Bernie has never had to run a negative campaign ad. Also, when distributing material from Bay Area for Bernie, we would like all volunteers to uphold basic human values and empathy.

“Have you heard of Bernie” or “Are you interested in Bernie Sanders?” are a couple of good ways to approach someone who has noticed your signs, buttons, or t-shirts while doing public outreach. It’s a great way to stay positive and begin to gauge your audience all at the same time. While it might not be as catchy as “Join the Revolution” or “End corporate fascism!” when we yell those at our comrades on the street, many of them will pass us by, having been socially trained to ignore the cry. Instead, try to engage people with cries for affordable education and breaking up big banks.

Gauge Your Audience

While staying positive means avoiding radically charged words at initial outreach, it’s important to begin gauging your audience once you have engaged them. Many people will have already heard of Bernie Sanders, but may be afraid of his association with the word socialism or may believe another candidate has better qualifications. In these cases, do not avoid the topic, but talk them through what democratic socialism means to Bernie sanders. There are a lot of examples of him explaining it out there. Remember, the more you can bring the conversation back to Bernie and not get off topic the better.

Once you have established who Bernie Sanders is, and possibly what he means to you, most people will let you know what topic they have an interest in by asking. It is incredibly common for someone who has stopped to talk with you to ask about a particular policy or his stance on a particular issue.  But if they don’t, feel free to ask them if they are considering voting in the primaries and the reasons for their choice. Their answer will let you know what type of conversation you are going to have. If you have a Hillary supporter, it would be best to avoid bashing the Democratic Party. We have often also seen plenty of people come at Bernie on individual issues from the left.

There are even GOP members out there who can and will support Bernie and his message, so it would even be in poor taste to bash Republicans before trying to understand whom you are talking to. We may disagree on many issues, but if they will vote for Bernie on one of theirs, it’s best not to scare them away. If you are afraid to speak to conservatives we highly recommend reading George Lakoff’s book “Don’t think of an Elephant” to understand how to try and frame the discussion.

Oh no what if I don’t know about the issue they care about or the answers to their questions?

Never fear. While we encourage everyone to learn as much about Senator Sanders as they can, we do not expect everyone to be an expert. Instead, it’s ok to direct people to three main web sites to learn about Bernie’s policies and stances on any topic. BernieSanders.com is the first spear head and will answer most peoples questions. OntheIssues.org is another great resource that will answer almost any question on Bernie’s stances (and also demostrate a consistency in his 20 years of Congress). And last but not least, the resource Isidewith.com demonstrates to most people that they agree the most with Bernie Sanders, even if they currently think they agree with Hillary, Jill Stein, or Rand Paul.

Sign Up Volunteers

The last big thing to remember is to help grow the support base, because as Bernie says, “They may have the money, but we have the people!”

It may seem like passing out as many flyers as possible is a good strategy, but in reality it means a large waste of both money and trees as most will find their way into the trash and many people handed flyers never read them at all. Instead, due to the environmental and financial cost of the flyers, they should be passed out to people who are specifically asking for more info but are too shy or in a rush to speak to a person. They can also be used as a great business card to hand out to people who are looking for a way to contact Bay Area for Bernie or who are on the fence about signing up for the contact list. You can also give  a small number to someone who is looking to distribute them at a club or communal housing.

You will find many people who are already attracted to the message, and even quite a few who will consider volunteering on the spot after learning what Bernie stands for (or at least staying up to date with our calendar and activities) and it’s important to get them signed up right away. Make sure to ask everyone to sign up so that the ranks grow and we can staff even more outreach events and more phone banks, and possibly even send people to battleground states where they are needed. Even if you fill up your sheet, start collecting email and names on a blank sheet of paper. Remember, Bernie doesn’t have the money to pay a large campaign staff so this will take some major grassroots organizing!

The last and most important rule is to have fun. If people see you enjoying yourself, then they will be more likely to join us in the coming months.