stop the meter day of action - how to organize a petition drive
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How To Organize A Stop The Meter CRTC Petition Drive On Saturday, February 26th at 1 PM, communities across Canada will take part in an action calling on the CRTC to stop the meter on Internet use, and prevent the introduction of new punitive fees. Big telecom companies have unleashed a corporate government lobbying and PR campaign, designed to muddy waters and confuse Canadians about new Internet usage fees. Our response: unleash the creativity and ingenuity of Canadians. People from all walks of life -‐-‐ innovators, educators, students, entrepreneurs, and everything in between -‐-‐ are getting together on February 26th to educate our fellow Canadians about Internet metering (usage-‐based billing) and related issues. The primary goal of this action is to continue to put pressure on the CRTC, and let them know that Canadians want open, accessible and affordable Internet service. To do this we need to help our fellow citizens understand the implications of usage-‐based billing (Internet metering). Though the CRTC is currently reviewing its earlier decision, this is far from being over. To help you take the appropriate steps to organize your own local petition drive on the 26th, we have created this step-‐by-‐step organizing guide: Step 1 Join your local Stop The Meter Facebook event page and your local Digital Action Team
Google Group. Find out how at http://openmedia.ca/local
Step 2 Identify a central meeting location. It might be a public square, a coffee shop, or a campus. This is where Stop The Meter supporters will meet, discuss walk-‐routes, and reconvene once they’ve finished a productive day of getting people to sign the Stop The Meter petition.
Step 3 Publicize this central meeting location on your Stop The Meter Facebook event page to
your friends, and by email. Step 4 In your local Digital Action Google group, identify a local organizing coordinator. This
person will help bring everyone together and coordinate the logistics on the day of the petition drive.
Step 5 In you local Digital Action Google group identify a local media relations coordinator.
This person will reach out to your local media, attempt to arrange pre-‐petition drive interviews, and invite all local media to the meeting location at 1pm on Saturday, Feb 26th. For more information on media outreach strategies click HERE.
Step 6 If you feel there is sufficient local interest, call a Day of Action planning meeting
sometime before February 26th.
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Step 7 Promote the Day of Action petition drive meeting location far and wide! Use your Stop The Meter Facebook event page. Send emails. Tweet the event details. Put up posters. Talk to your friends. Update your Facebook status. Send out a media advisory to all local media contacts. (OpenMedia.ca will send out event media releases to all National Media outlets). Send the event details to local newspapers to include in their “What’s Up This Week” section. Anything else you do to help encourage local Stop The Meter supporters to join in on February 26th helps – don’t hold back!
Step 8 Appoint one person to design and print petition drive “walk maps.” You really want to
have a sense of where your supporters are, and who they’ll be collecting the Stop The Meter petition signatures from. A good idea is to print 10 – 30 route maps (depending on how many people you expect), which cover a 5 – 15 block radius from your meeting location. Once people start showing up on the 26th you can pair people into groups of two or three, hand them a route walk map, and send them on their merry pro-‐Internet way. The key is to ensure people come back to the original meeting location to drop off the signed petitions once they are done. The point-‐person will then mail all of the collected petitions to the OpenMedia.ca office in Vancouver (the mailing address is at the bottom of all the petitions).
Step 9 Download and print hundreds if not thousands of the “Data Usage Tickets.” These can
be distributed to anyone you come across during your petition drive who is accessing the Internet (e.g. in coffee shops). Find your city’s ticket HERE.
Step 10 Download and print 5 – 10 “Volunteer Sign In Sheets.” We encourage all local
volunteers who show up on the 26th to “sign-‐in” before heading off to do their petition drive. This way your local organizers can empower local pro-‐Internet supporters to get involved as we continue to push for open, accessible, and affordable Internet in the long-‐term.
Step 11 Be Creative! Feel free to dress up as “Meter Maids” or Internet Cops. Make signs. Bring a
camera or video recording device. Take pictures and share, share, share! Step 12 Have fun helping to save the Internet J For The Internet, Glyn Lewis Coordinator, Stop The Meter National Day of Action www.openmedia.ca [email protected] www.twitter.ca/galewis44