community-action-night-playbook

A playbook for Open Savannah Community Action Nights

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Open Savannah Community Action Night (CAN) ⛏

Detailed Playbook for Biweekly CAN Events

MORE GENERIC PUBLIC-FACING SCHEDULE TK
Compiled on: Jun. 20, 2018 📅

Compiled by: Carl V. Lewis

Last Updated: Jun. 20, 2018

Mobile Numbers for Core Team in the event you should require assistance:

📲 CARL  at (912) 816-7007;  📲 Caila at ;📲  at

Note: Out of consideration to the volunteerism of the Core Team, you may want to limit text messages to Core Team members regarding brigade matters to an as-needed basis, unless you’re contacting the fellow team member in a social context, or if the individual has stated that they prefer SMS to communicate (like me!)

A.) PRE-EVENT PREPARATIONS FOR COMMUNITY ACTION NIGHTS (CANs!) 👩🏽‍🚒

📅REGULARLY-SCHEDULED CANs TAKE PLACE EVERY 1st AND 3rd WEDNESDAYS OF EACH MONTH AT 6:30 p.m. 📅🥇&🥉

On the day of each CAN, the designated event host will follow roughly the following schedule of tasks:

  • BEFORE 12:00 NOON: Send a reminder email the morning of each CAN to remind our mailing list subscribers to RSVP before 5 p.m. 
    To do this, log in to the Open Savannah Mailchimp Account with the following credentials:

      <--redacted-->
  • 🕐5:15 p.m. - Designated event organizer (typically the Brigade Captain) arrives at Bull Street Labs (or elsewhere, as we should begin doing for purposes of meeting people where they are).

  • 🕐5:30 p.m. sharp - Check Meetup and, if applicable, any Facebook events for the evening to get an estimated head-count of predicted attendees. Take into account any unplanned factors that may influence the count, such as bad weather that would depress turnout or the last-minute announcement of an event with a lot of community interest that would boost turnout.

    • Once you have an estimated attendance count, use 🍕 howmanypizzasdoineed.com or just guesstimate in your head, then call Green Fire pizza on Drayton Street

  • 🕐 6:05 p.m. - Locate the blank Hi, My name is ___ nametags in the OS office, and grab at least two (2) sharpies. Also bring out the sticker basket and the sign-in sheet from Coco’s office. Place these items at the entrance and assign a volunteer to man the station. MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE SIGNS IN AND HAS A NAMETAG. No exceptions. Not even Rob Lingle (well, maybe if you’re Taylor Swift, that’s it).

  • 🕐6:15 p.m. Use the bluetooth speaker in the OS office to turn on some background 🎵 music. This helps lessen awkward silence.

  • 🕐6:20 p.m. - Look at the current project list, which will be sent out by the Brigade Captain via email no later than 24 hours prior to the event’s start. For each project, take a sharpie and an 8.5x11” sheet of paper from the OS office, write down the name of the project and tape it on a table. If possible, spread tables out as much as possible.

  • 🕐6:25 p.m. - We cue up the projector screen to cycle through the biweekly CAN Google Slide deck. You can find that deck on Google Slides. THE URL WILL REMAIN THE SAME FOR EVERY CAN.

B.) Community Action Night Run-of-Show

  • 🕐6:30 p.m. Assuming the pizza 🍕 has arrived in a timely fashion, invite everyone to dig in. Give 10-15 min. for attendees to mingle and eat. At this point, have attendees sit at whatever table they wish.

  • 🕐6:45 p.m. We give the ‘Welcome to Open Savannah Community Action Night’ 3-minute chat
    1. We circle the room for everyone to introduce themselves, briefly explain what interests them in coming to join, and then to name their favorite thing about Savannah.
    2. We ask newcomers to raise their 🙌 hands. A second volunteer takes newcomers into the ‘green room’ (map room) for a 10 min. “Civic Tech and Open Savannah 101” session that encapsulates our mission, vision, operating principles, and core beliefs.
      • For those who know the drill already, we then do one of the following depending upon whether the CAN is a workshop, a project night, or a guest speaker night:
        1. If it’s a workshop night or a guest speaker night, we select an icebreaker activity [LIST OF CIVIC TECH ICEBREAKERS TK] to keep everyone else occupied while those new to Open Savannah do their onboarding session in the green room.
        2. If it’s a project night, we get everyone not in the green room out of their seats to stand up.

          • For projects with a project lead or leads, the project leads go to the table with the sign of their project name on it. Attendees can float around to different tables to see what they’re interested in most, or pick one project to work on from the start.

          • If we have projects on deck that may need a project lead, we give the project elevator pitch and see if anyone present wants to volunteer.

  • 🕐 7 p.m. - After the onboarding session wraps up, the new attendees join the rest of those in attendance.

  • FOR PROJECT NIGHTS: It is recommended that someone in leadership walks the new attendees from table to table to explain the projects to see what picques their interest or is most relevant to their skillset.

    • FOR PROJECT NIGHTS: It is recommended that someone in leadership walks the new attendees from table to table to explain the projects to see what picques their interest or is most relevant to their skillset.