Workshop presentation on advocacy lessons from the Wizard of Oz including tips for surviving a media interview.

1. Advocacy Lessons from the Emerald City
ZERO TO THREE
National Conference
October 4, 2018
Slides posted at http://slideshare.net/pcawv

2. Why should we get involved?
If not now, when? If not you, who?

3. A Framework for Changing Public
Policy
Good Public
Policy
Electoral
Politics
Base
Building
The Wellstone Triangle
Wellstone.org

4. Advocacy Lessons from the Emerald City

5. You know
better than
most about the
storms families
are facing.

6. Every social movement began
with three words...

7. Brainstorm:
What are the skills and tools you
need to create social change?
Which do you think is most
important?

8. The answer to every problem
is a person.

9. One-to-One Relational Meetings
• Face to Face
• Scheduled and Purposeful
• 2 people
• Exploration and Exchange:
• What matters to you?
• What matters to me?
• Can we work together?
• Commitment

10. Purposeful Curiosity
Sample Questions:
• Where did you grow up?
• How did you get from there to here?
• When did you first start doing
[whatever the person does now]?
• What were you doing before that?
• How did that change come about?

11. Define Goals
• What do you want to
accomplish or change?
• Assess the situation.
• Map out your course.
• Be aspirational!

12. Use your brain
• Use good strategy.
• Determine effective
messaging.
• Identify tactics and
activities.

13. Impact and Winnability
Impact
Issue
Issue
Issue
Issue
Winnability

14. Use your heart
• Be passionate about your
cause.
• Self-interest drives action
– to move people, speak
to their self-interest, not
yours.
• Desire overrules need –
people have needs;
people seek wants.

15. The Action Connection
1. Your Desired
Action
2. Your Audiences
3. Their Desires
4. Overlap
5. Core
Message

16. Be courageous
• Be willing to take risks.
• Recognize that
challenging authority can
be daunting.
• Support each other in
overcoming their fears.

17. Identify your
opponents
(and their weaknesses)
• Who opposes our desired
action?
• How can their opposition
be neutralized?
• Divide and conquer.

18. Behind the curtain
• Don’t be distracted by
majesty of the Capitol.
• Lawmakers are real people
with real lives.
• Lawmakers want to look
good to their followers.
• Most things are viewed
through “green glasses”.

19. Be kind to the
gatekeeper
• Be sure to nurture a
relationship with the
receptionist, scheduler, etc.
• They are juggling many
demands.
• Show them kindness and
you will be rewarded.

20. There’s no place
like home
• Connect with lawmakers
at home.
• Engage your family,
friends and neighbors in
your advocacy.
• Remember these
decisions affect
people’s lives.

21. “You’ve had the
power all along. You
just had to learn it
for yourself.” -
Glinda

22. Working With The Media
To Tell Our Story

23. Developing media strategy
• What is the problem or issue?
• What is the solution or policy?
• Who has the power to make the necessary change?
• Who is the opposition? What do they believe?
• Who can be mobilized to apply the necessary pressure?
• What messages need to be developed for which groups?

24. Developing story elements
• Identify authentic voices
• Use evocative symbols
• Use compelling visuals
• Develop media bites
• Calculate social math

25. Calculating Social Math
Social math is the process of translating large numbers to be
interesting to journalists and meaningful to audiences.
Using familiar things, break down numbers by
• Time (# per year, month, week, day, hour)
• Place (enough people to fill classrooms, school buses, a
stadium, a specific city)
• Dollars (spent on ice cream, shoes, coffee)
• Ironic comparisons (highlights value by comparing to less
important things)

27. Social Math

28. The average 12-oz can of soda contains about 10
teaspoons of refined sugar.
Social Math

29. Developing media bites
• Keep it short 8 - 10 seconds
• Talk about what is important
• Avoid jargon
• Evoke a picture
• Present a solution
• Frame from the social/policy perspective rather than
individual/behavioral focus

30. Media bites
• Smoking a “safer” cigarette is like jumping out of a
10th floor window rather than a 12th floor window.
• Having a no-smoking section in a restaurant is like
having a no-peeing section in a swimming pool.
• AMC Theater large popcorn has 1,030 calories and
57 grams of saturated fat. That's like eating a pound
of baby back ribs topped with a scoop of Häagen-
Dazs ice cream.

32. Do your homework! Be prepared! Even
in your specialty a brush-up is needed.

33. Speak in 30 second quotes (or less).
Long answers are rarely used. Boil
down everything you want to say
before you say it.

34. Don’t go off the record when
talking to a reporter.

35. Lose your temper and you will
definitely be on the evening news.

36. Cry and you will definitely be on
the evening news.

37. Never lie. A reporter never forgets.

38. If it is appropriate, smile when
answering a reporter’s questions.

39. Be yourself. No technical jargon. Make
sure that someone with a 10th grade
education would understand what you
are saying.

40. Dress conservatively for television. No
bright colors. No thin stripes. If you are
on a set avoid wearing blue or green.

41. Don’t say, “no comment”, it makes you
sound guilty. Try, “I’ll find that out and get
back to you.” Then think of a good answer
and get back to them.

42. A simple yes or no to a question will keep
you from being quoted. Rephrase the
reporter’s question in the beginning of
your answer.

43. Do not repeat a negative. It
reinforces the opponent’s frame.

44. Relax. Don’t get paranoid.

45. A good interview offers information,
education and entertainment.

46. Read a newspaper (and Twitter) before your
interview.

47. In a television or radio interview consider
every microphone, every camera to be on at
all times. Don’t say or do anything you
wouldn’t say or do in church.

48. Top Secret

50. Identify 3 talking points and
stick to them like glue!

53. Bridging can be used to
•Return to “islands of safety”
•Deal with difficult questions
•Stay on the subject

54. Common Bridges
•Again…
•The key point here is…
•Let’s take that a step further…
•Let me add…
•That’s important, but the real issue is…
•You should also know that...

55. What if you can’t avoid the
question?
Touch briefly on the topic
then BRIDGE.

56. Reporter Traps
The
Negator

57. Reporter Traps
The
Paraphraser

58. Reporter Traps
The
Silent Lamb

59. Reporter Traps
The
Intruder

60. Reporter Traps
The
Phantom

61. Practice
Bridging

62. Other Tips
•Know how your interview will be used.
•Don’t fight narrative with numbers.
•If they give you a portrait, bridge to a
landscape.
•Practice, practice, practice.
•Choose your messengers carefully.

63. What is it we want…
What policies help children and families thrive?

64. Parental
resilience
Social
connections
Knowledge of
parenting and
child
development
Concrete
support in times
of need
Social and
emotional
competence of
children
Family Protective Factors

66. • Target 4.1 Policies that govern child and family
services are equitable and responsive.
• Target 4.2 Workplace and other policies support
families in raising children.
• Target 4.3 Land use and community
development policies are designed with
consideration for how they affect young children
and families.

69. We can do it.
We have before.
Just as the United States made
a commitment in the 1960s to
address poverty rates for
seniors, we need to make the
same level of commitment to
address child poverty and the
prevention of child
maltreatment.

70. A snowflake is one of nature’s
most fragile things...
But look at what they can do when they stick together!

71. Jim McKay
Policy Director
National Alliance of Children’s
Trust & Prevention Funds
Jim.McKay@ctfalliance.org
304-617-0099
Contact Info
http://slideshare.net/pcawv
Cailin O’Connor
Senior Associate
Center for the Study
of Social Policy
cailin.oconnor@cssp.org
608-438-6018