Ep 2. Campaign Planning

Election Day has passed, so what comes next? We are not talking about results. We are talking about you, yes you the person who has worked so hard to get us to this point. This episode is about how you can take care of yourself after election day. We talk about what information you need now so you can update your resume when you are ready. More importantly, we also talk about what steps you need to take to ensure you have health care, can access unemployment benefits, and resources to support your mental health. We talk with Arena team member Jessica Angima about mediation and practicing mindfulness during times of transition.

Once polls close on election day, what happens behind the scenes on campaigns? In this episode, we take a peek at one aspect of campaign boiler rooms, election night results. We talk to Charlotte Swasey of Data for Progress about how campaigns analyze results coming on election night and the following days. Charlotte gives us insights into how this election night is different. We also talk about her work on the Election Night Integrity Project, which aims to educate people on evaluating and analyzing results after the polls close in 2020.

Managing a campaign or a team on a campaign always has its challenges. In the final days before an election, you might have a long to-do list and uneaten lunch on your desk. You don't feel like your best self, and now you have to lead a team into these final days. This is your Boiler Room pep talk. We talk with Ashley Pinedo-Carlson of the Management Center, who help us think about how managers can show up for their teams in days leading up to Election Day.

What does persuasion mean during the late stages of a campaign? For some campaigns, especially down-ballot races, persuasion conversations with voters never stop. These persuasion conversations might not take the form you expect. In this episode, Kunoor Ojha and Sara El-Amine help us understand how to have persuasion conversations and how campaigns incorporate persuasion into their voter contact.

Arena, in partnership with ACRONYM, just released a Paid Media Tools Assessment for campaigns. In this episode, we spoke with Sarah Cox, a Media Planner with ACRONYM, about digital media. We talk about the assessment itself, and how campaigns can incorporate ads into their work to reach voters.

Voting by mail is nothing new, but it has not been widely available or easily accessible in every state. In 2020 more states have opened up access to vote by mail. In this episode, Julia talks with Arena trainer Kayla Sabado and Arena Academy grad Liz Luna about how campaigns plan for an election where vote by mail takes center stage.

Since 2018, campaigns have been attempting to harness the power of relational organizing. Julia and Santiago grapple with the question of what is relational organizing? How is it different or similar to other organizing models from the world of union organizing or the 2008/2012 Obama campaigns?  To answer these questions, Julia talked with Greta Carnes about how the Pete Buttigieg campaign used relational organizing to recruit volunteers. Julia also spoke to Robert Reynolds of Vote Tripling about the different ways campaigns are employing this method to Get Out the Vote in 2020.

Having meaningful conversations with voters is a goal of any campaign. Which voters should we talk to, and how do we reach them? Campaign targeting is the art and science of deciding which voters a campaign will reach with limited resources. Santiago and Julia talk about the fundamentals of how campaigns target.  Santiago talks with a pair of outstanding data experts to get a wider perspective on targeting and data. First, we speak to Anna Gilbert about how to approach targeting if you find yourself in a non-data role, and she reminds us that everyone has a role to play concerning data. We also hear from Kate Dahl about the intersection of targeting and reporting. Kate talks about how we use reports to ensure we are having quality conversations with the right voters.

A campaign plan is a road map to success. Every campaign needs one, and in times like 2020, it can be hard to know where to start. In this episode of the Boiler Room, we talk about what planning looks like during COVID and with less than 90 days till Election Day. We also share a conversation Santiago had with Arena Co-founder and board member Kate Catherall at our last in-person Academy (Dec 2019) about the importance and challenges associated with campaign planning.

What does hiring look like on a campaign? In this episode of the Boiler Room, Julia and Santiago dive into the messy hiring processes campaigns can lean on, and how we can make those processes better.  We also speak with Audra Grassia, a Warren and Hillary campaign alum, about how problematic hiring intersects with our campaign culture.