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HOW TO APPROACH HUSTINGSTOM SHARMAN, Policy Communications Manager, The Green Party of England and Wales

JAMES LLOYD, Volunteer Consultant, Former special advisor to the Lib Dems

31 JANUARY 2015

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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Your objective at hustings Connect with the audience Give people positive reasons to vote Green What else

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Exercise 1: In pairs… What do the audience want to see? What would good and bad look like?

Ex

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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People think in 3’s 1st, 2nd and 3rd in

a race: gold, silver, bronze

Film trilogies

Language: — ready, aim, fire — ready, set, go— lights, camera, action— the good, the bad

and the ugly

Storytelling: beginning, middle, and end

http://www.visualthinkingmagic.com/rule-of-three

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What this means for us… Group things in 3s If you have more things

group them in sets of 3s

All Green Party policies can be grouped under:

1. Economy2. Society3. Environment

(Yes – we know that everything is connected!)

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Where this framing comes from… Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 2011 General Election

— 2008 General Election: 7% vote,9 MPs

— 2011 General Election: 11% vote, 14 MPs – record result!

Economy (Jobs): 100,000 green jobs Society (Child poverty): 100,000 kids

out of poverty Environment (Cleaner rivers): All our

rivers and lakes safe to swim in Known as: jobs, kids and rivers

http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2008/ http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2011/ http://campaignhandbook.gef.eu/for-a-richer-new-zealand-successes-of-a-green-campaign/

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Exercise 2: In pairs… What does the Green Party stand for? Answer in 3s:

— 1 from Economy— 1 from Society— 1 from Environment

Then (if time) 3 from Economy, 3 from Society, 3 from Environment Quick fire: 3 sound bites How would you prepare better in the future?

Ex

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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Empathy, values, action Empathy: I understand the

problem you face Values: I care about the

problem you face and here is why

Action: this is what I am going to do about it

Conversational feel Remember: it’s not about

convincing your opponents – it’s about convincing your audience

Make a note of people’s names and use them in your answers

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Remember… whatever you think of him now… Nick Clegg won the leaders’

debates in 2010 This wasn’t an accident He prepared for them

thoroughly He used the empathy, values,

action approach

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Exercise 3: In groups of 4… Take it in turns: 1 person asks a question 1 person gives an answer using empathy, values, action Rinse and repeat!

Ex

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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What do you do if you don’t know the answer?

1. Don’t make up policy on the hoof!2. Do use the empathy, values, action approach.

Fire a difficult question at me!

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Your objective at hustings

Contents

Rule of 3: framing our policies

Empathy, values, action

Dealing with difficult questions

Swords and shields

1 2 3 4 5

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Swords and shields

I know everyone in the Green Party secretly loves a military metaphor Swords = issues to go on the attack with Shields = issues people will attack us with – we need a

rebuttal ready

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Here’s one I made earlier…

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Drugs

The trade and cultivation of cannabis will be decriminalised under Green policy, along with possession of Class A and B drugs for personal use. Anti-rave laws would be scrapped.

Prohibition does not prevent drug use by adults or children

We aim to minimise drug use and reduce the harm it causes

We would regulate raves and make them safer

Telegraph sword Green Party shield

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Brothels

All elements of the sex industry will be decriminalised, and prostitutes could no longer be discriminated against in child custody cases

No attempt to end prostitution through prohibitive laws has worked

Criminalisation leaves sex workers vulnerable The law should not regulate consensual sexual

activities between adults where those do not affect others

Telegraph sword Green Party shield

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Al Qaeda

Merely being a member of al-Qaeda, the IRA and other currently proscribed terrorist groups will no longer be a criminal offence under Green plans, and instead a Green Government should seek to “address desperate motivations that lie behind many atrocities labelled ‘terrorist’,” the policy book states. Terrorism, it adds, “is an extremely loaded term. Sometimes governments justify their own terrorist acts by labelling any groups that resist their monopoly of violence 'terrorist’.”

Telegraph sword

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Al Qaeda

ISIS is a violent and horrific organisation – anyone involved in it should be dealt with through the criminal justice system.

Anyone who is involved in violence – be it the violent act itself, the planning of violent acts, or the financing of violent acts – is a criminal and should be dealt through the criminal justice system.

Green Party shield

Being a member of the Green Party means signing up to a commitment to peace and non-violence, as reflected by our commitment to the abolition of Trident nuclear weapons and our opposition to the Iraq and Afghan wars.

People should be free to believe in whatever they want to – but supporting organisations that use violence against members of the public to advance their cause is a criminal act and should be treated as such.

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General line on the PSS* The Green Party is a democratic organisation in which our members - now more than 50,000

people - decide our policy. Our members come from all walks of life - most of them are ordinary people, not professional

politicians. Some of our policies could be better written but that is the result of opening up politics to those

outside of the Westminster Establishment - something we are determined to do. Our General Election manifesto will set out our key policies for the next parliament and will be

released in March. Judge us on that.

* Policies for a Sustainable Society - our Policy Website

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Exercise 4: In small groups…1. What are the Green

Party’s sword issues?2. What are the Green

Party’s shield issues?

Feedback from groups:— What additional help do

you want?

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Thank you