Reply To: Exercise 6: 10 People Closer to Your Field
More reflections and a long list of advice
Reflections
I’ve realized that I was getting a little too wrapped up in scheduling and having calls. It was exciting to talk with so many people and felt good to hear their encouragement. Though no doubt a crucial part of this project, I think I started using the calls as a means to avoid actually developing it. I have tons of advice and ideas to work with now and am feeling a bit nervous about turning it all into something real. But, the gears are turning and I’m making progress! I think as I work through exercise 7, the project will become clearer.
Advice
— Preventing “veg-recidivism” through social groups and support is valuable (It’s hard being the only vegan)
— Don’t try to do too much
— Consider having a detailed structure and plan for the program
— Know what the end goal(s) is
— Learn from challenge 22 and veganuary
— Remain open to criticism and possibilities for improvement
— Make it easy for people to say yes
— Be clear with goals; what am I offering for people and why should they join?
— Consider counterfactuals; can they get this elsewhere?
— Avoid echochambers; make sure to maintain effectiveness and mission
— Start with a low barrier for entry into activism and gradually increase
— What are the effective forms of advocacy/activism that we can do without having to improve communication skills? Maybe people can have a huge impact without going the typical route of in-person conversations and convincing others
— Advocates will likely feel more comfortable talking about it if it is more normalized; this is why social groups can be so impactful – they make us feel more normal and comfortable and confident
— Our attitudes are strongly shaped by the world around us
— Group could follow units from AAC online course?
— Street outreach is very difficult to get feedback on – hard to know how effective it is
— Don’t forget the non-advocates; is there a way to include them too?; Lots of people care about this issue and they just don’t know yet
— Could it scale up? And be run all over the countries?; If so, have occasional virtual meetings with everyone
— During socialization period, I could have different prompt questions (like icebreakers to get people talking to one another)
— Include time for check-ins but don’t let everyone ramble
— Consider who we’re having conversations with; most effective strategy will change depending on who is involved
— Provide critiques from place of support
— Learn how to judge people’s potential receptivity
— Roll with resistance and ask questions; be curious
— Potlucks make veganism easier – they model behavior and make it more socially simple
— People often don’t want to sit and be lectured to
— Make activism fun and engaging for everyone
— Consider the individual: their experience and comfort
— Assign homework like spodek method
— Actively listen and only proceed with conversations after both agree; Don’t reject before listening
— Notice the “hitman” and fade him to be your authentic self
— Use emotions to the benefit of everyone in the conversation; “I’m happy when you say…”
— Remember that speciesism is built-in to our culture; don’t lay blame on the individual
— Be aware of making the issue your own control or winning vs. losing. The issue is the issue
— Make sure everyone participants and is encouraged to participate
— Have multiple angles/entry points to advocacy (i.e., effective donating to offset meat consumption)
— There is a part of everyone that wants to have these conversations, but also an invisible barrier because everyone is afraid of being attacked by the other side
— When talking about food, vegan stuff doesn’t have to taste like animals… does it just taste good!?
— Animal advocacy sounds big and intimidating… it shouldn’t be this way; We should feel comfortable being advocates without feeling extreme
— People want to feel involved with things that will have impact
— Do research on which messaging and organizing platforms to use
— Keep meeting minutes – i could assign someone to do this
— Could have reset meeting every once in a while to set new topics; Everyone could do research before the meeting and bring their interests/ideas to the meeting
— It’s not just the words we say, but how we say them (be aware of facial expressions, reactions, body language, etc)
— Be prepared for conflicts within the group
— Have a plan for mediating disagreements
— Have a simple code of conduct that explains values and rules for group
Referrals/resources to learn from and use:
— Center for Effective Vegan Activism
— motivational interviewing and street epistemology
— Sit-in on vegan toastmasters and learn from what they do; their structure and flow
— Use Johannes’ Effective Animal Advocacy Austria resources to help group find impactful careers, volunteer, and ETG opportunities
— Plant-based universities
— New Roots Institute
— Paula Gonzalez with Challenge 22
— Laura Hart
— Audrey Caplan
— Chris Hendrickson
— Robert Grillo