Words from the past remind us that with
National People's Action - you won't leave the same

In May, 1983 Shel Trapp, the founding director of the National Training and Information Center wrote this article about the impact of organizing and an effective conference.Twenty years later, his words still ring true.

At a conference I recently attended, I was talking with a fellow after the sessions when he said, “This conference left me the way it found me.” When I asked him what he meant, he added, “I didn’t get anything out of it. There was nothing here for me.”

That’s about the strongest indictment of any conference or meeting that could be given: “It left me the same way it found me.” Perhaps it was because the conference had not impressed me either that I could not easily put this comment aside.

I began to wonder how often does that happen in our work. We continually ask a lot of people to come to meetings and demonstrations and to give up time with the family, leisure time, even days at work. How do we do everything in our power to insure that no one ever gives us that devastating criticism, “It left me the same way it found me”?

The best insurance against this happening to us is to ask ourselves three questions about any event that we are organizing:

1. How does this event move the issue?
2. Is this event giving information or motivation that will encourage people to act?
3. Is this event exciting and fun for people?

How does this event move the issue?
A young organizer once upon a time was having a leadership meeting. When asked what was expected to come out of the meeting, the reply was “I don’t know. I just thought it was time to get the leadership together.” Needless to say, the meeting was a disaster and nothing came out of it.

When organizing an event, it is important that organizers and leaders are aware of not only why the event is being held, but also how this event moves the issue and fits into a larger organizing strategy. If that is unclear to staff and leaders, it will certainly remain a mystery to the people coming to the event. Many of those who attend will probably go home muttering, “This left me the same way it found me.”

Is this event giving information or motivation that will encourage people to act?
I heard recently about a meeting where a group of folks were brought together to talk about the possibility of starting an organization. People attending the meeting got very excited and wanted to know what the next step was, or what they could do to get things going. Instead of being told, “Here are three things that need to be done” or “We need people to do these things; who wants to volunteer?” the people were told, “Well, we are going to have another meeting in a couple of months, we’ll get back to you and let you know when.”

People were given information and even motivation to start organizing, but the call to action was left out and people left that meeting very frustrated. My guess is that it will be difficult to get those people to the next meeting in two months. They have already been to one meeting that left them the way it found them. Why suffer through another one? Whatever information or motivation is given at an event has also got to give direction toward action. The purpose of information and motivation is to get people to act!

Is this event exciting and fun for people?
When we ask people to come to an event, particularly in the evening, we are asking them to give up their free time, their family time, and are competing with over a million dollars’ worth of entertainment (if you can call it that) on TV. With this kind of competition, we will have to put on an exciting and fun event if we are interested in having people come back.

Two years ago, the American Bankers Association held its convention in Chicago at McCormick Place. A boat was rented and a large delegation carne by water to the back of McCormick Place; buses unloaded in front of the building; the crowd was accompanied by a high school marching band; and a plane flew overhead displaying a banner. I was standing next to a police officer. That wasn’t hard; there seemed to be quite a few of them around. He turned and said, “You people put on a class action. “ Certainly, if he thought it was good, the people must be really having a great time. We were right. They were having a good time and have come back to several other events because they had fun and it was exciting for them.

If we can answer these three questions about events that we organize, we may be fortunate enough to go through life never having to hear the most devastating of all accusations:

“This left me the way it found me.”

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