Real Deal Vigil Toolkit
Thanks for hosting an event on December 12!Our vigils will be simple, dignified and effective. Hosting a vigil is easy - just choose a location, bring some candles and pass out a short message (provided) for people to take turns reading. It can take less than an hour to organise (although the more time you put in the better it will be) - and Avaaz members in your area will be invited to attend.
This pack contains a simple 5 point guide to organising your action. If you have any further questions after reading the guide just drop us a line at info@avaaz.org.
The game plan
This December world leaders are gathering in Copenhagen to forge a new international climate agreement - essentially our global game plan to stop dangerous climate change. But not just any deal is good enough - it has to be a Real Deal: and that means Fair, Ambitious and Binding.
The whole world, including 200 civil society organizations representing tens of millions of individuals, as well as many governments and virtually every climate expert and scientist, are coming together around what's being called 'the Real Deal'. It's a simple 3 point deal: fair, ambitious and binding. Its concrete benchmarks are our spin protection against politicians dressing up a bad deal as a heroic victory.
Your event will be one of thousands taking place all over the world on the same day - we want it to be the largest global day of action the world has seen. Our message: The World Wants A Real Deal.
Here’s how every event will make a difference:
National pressure - in global negotiations every country makes a difference, for better or for worse. The problem is most of the time international negotiations aren’t closely followed at home - but having events in your country shows your government that this time we’re watching keenly, with the power of a coordinated international movement to name and shame those countries that hold up progress.
World media - to create a world media story takes a world in action. We need to show journalists that this is more than just another protest: it’s a global coordinated day of action on a massive scale. We know that this works-- our Global Wake Up Call in September and the 350 day of action in October both generated massive coverage this year. Now, in the heart of the Copenhagen talks, the media moment is even more important. By holding an event you’re showing that your community cares and each event adds to the scale we need to impact on the global media.
Photographic evidence - Taking a great photo of your action is super important, and quality video footage is even better. It is evidence that people from all around the world have the very same ambitious goal for our planet: a real climate deal. Photos will be distributed to global press to tell our story and, critically, they will also be delivered to world leaders in Copenhagen.
5 Step Organising Guide
- Pick location and register
- Recruit
- Materials
- Invite press
- Reminders!
1 - Pick a location and register your event
Register your event at www.avaaz.org/en/real_deal_hosts
Great places to hold your vigil could include in front of a politician's office or government building, at or in front of a significant landmark (great for photos) or in another public place that is central and easy to get to. If you are in a rural area, you may want to do it in a symbolic or beautiful place nearby - by the sea or river, in a desert, by threatened farmland, or by a snowy mountain for example. Keep in mind that many people will have Saturday night plans, so it's really important to choose a central location with good transport. As soon as you have picked a place, register your event at this link:
www.avaaz.org/en/real_deal_hosts
We can then invite others in your area to attend the event and anyone near you can find your vigil on the map.
NB: In some places you may need to get a permit to hold a vigil. But don't worry most of the time it is very easy to get: just call your local police department or town authority to find out.
2 - Invite friends, family and colleagues to come
This is the key to making an event great. A vigil of 5-10 people can be very powerful, but the more people attending your event the more impact we can have. By far the best way to turn out a good crowd is through your personal networks. Vigils are particularly powerful if they are inter-generational -- so don't forget to invite parents, children, grandparents, and grandchildren to join in -- as you know climate change affects all of us.
Use your unique event host page (there's a link to it in the email you received after signing up) to invite friends, family, colleagues and others. Send invitations to the usual suspects (your local environmental groups) and unusual ones too (like sports leagues, faith groups, unions, youth groups, and professional associations, music groups that can sound the alarm).
Avaaz will also send an invitation email to other Avaaz members who live close by to the event. Anywhere from 5 to 50 may RSVP, but you will know ahead of time by checking your personal host event page (which can be found in the event confirmation email sent to you).
Other recruitment ideas include talking at local events; meeting with organizations; pitching the idea to your workplace; or going online and using facebook, myspace, twitter and youtube to promote your event. And to make sure it’s big, before the event, you should ask everyone who has RSVP’d to bring at least one other person.
You may want to delegate some key roles to attendees:
Photographer - taking a good photo of your event is super important. We will ask Avaaz members attending your event if they can be a photographer, but it's better if you can assign this role to someone you know, and who you know will come.
MC - Someone to welcome everyone to the event and instruct attendees on what to do. For a declaration to read, click here
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Sign maker - The event posters look best printed on large paper - you may want to delegate someone to organise this, or to make their own banners and signs. Just remember to use the key messages for the event: World Wants a Real Deal and Fair, Ambitious, Binding Treaty Now. The posters will be be added here in the next few days - check back for here for updates.
3 - Materials
Messages to Read
Don't worry - you don't have to give a speech! But vigils work best when we have some stories to share, so click here for a script. A good way to do this is to pass the script around and ask people to read a paragraph each (but make it clear that people can pass if they would prefer. If you'd prefer not to read do so yourself, ask a friend or attendee to in advance to act as MC.
Posters
We've created some downloadable posters that you can print out. Having big, clear signs is really important both for passersby to know what we are doing and for media and photos. Try to print these as big as you can, and bring plenty of spares for others. The posters are available here.
You can also make your own banner (the most fun you've had since fingerpainting as a kid).
Candles
An essential part of any candlelight vigil. We're asking guests to bring their own, but lots of people will forget or turn up at the last minute and passersby may want to join in so please bring plenty of spare candles! Bought in bulk they're reasonably cheap.
A few tips about candles:
- Plumbers candles (available from hardware shops) are excellent for vigils: cheap, long burning, just the right size and come in big packs.
- Wax hurts. A good tip is to pick up a pack of cupcake papers from the grocery shop. You can cut or rip a hole in them, put the candle through and it will catch all the wax. You can do the same with paper or plastic cups, or simply bring a roll of waxed baking paper or paper towel.
- Alternatively you may like to use tea candles in glasses or paper cups.
4 - Invite the media
Not every event will attract media - but a bit of simple outreach dramatically increases your chances of coverage. Check out our media guide for easy step-by-step instructions on attracting local and national media.
It's important to contact media before the day of your event, and make a few reminder calls to reporters.Here's an ideal timeline:
Dec 9th - send out Media Advisory and letters to the editor, should you choose to write one.
Dec 11 - send out Press Release
Dec 12 - follow up local news organizations/reporters in the morning reminding them of your event.
5 - Reminders!
If you have assigned roles (photographer, MC etc) to people - it's super important to give them a call and make sure they're coming!
The best way to ensure a good turnout for your event is to do a quick phone-around the night before or the day of the event. It only takes a half hour and in our experience increases event turnout by over 40%.
An SMS or email reminder to RSVPs also helps. Remember to include the time, address and directions, plus any other reminders (bring a candle etc).
At the event
Here is the schedule for the vigils. This is what most attendees will expect, so please follow these guidelines.
Bring extra materials - We will ask attendees to bring their own candles and signs, but let's be honest - many people won't. Candles are pretty essential to a candlelight vigil, and signs are really important to get our message across so please bring enough for everyone. See the materials section above for tips and downloadable materials.
Prepare -
- Arrive an hour early if possible (definitely be sure to be there 15-20 minutes early). Your vigil should start at 5:30 PM (or your designated time)
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Hold up a poster so others can find you and be prepapred to answer any last-minute questions from those attending and any media.
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Chose someone to pass out extra signs and candles to attendees who didn't bring their own.
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Chose someone else to distribute media advisories to any press at the event, and get their contact information.
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Place your posters and signs in prominent locations.
Gather - When you're ready to begin, gather everyone up in a central location.
Welcome - The Host or MC should welcome everyone to the event and explain that thousands of others are happening simultaneously around the world.
Read messages - Don't worry, you don't have to give a speech. Just click here to download our vigil declaration, print it off and pass it around the group for each person to read a short paragraph. People can pass if they'd prefer. Then share personal stories about why we are here and how climate changes affects us.
Take a photo - Gather everyone together to take some good photos of your event. A good tip is to get kids front and centre in the photo (for media) and make sure signs and posters are visible.
After the event
- Immediately send in your photos and video to photos@avaaz.org (or hassle your photographer to do so). We need pictures and video right away as we will be producing a video of the vigils to present to leaders in Copenhagen. If you had a photographer at your event please ring them as soon as possible, thank them, and make sure they send their photos to you, or directly to photos@avaaz.org. For large files, upload them to www.avaaz.org/photoupload and email the link to photos@avaaz.org
- Tell us how it went. We will send you a survey after your event - please let us know how you went. We'd also love to hear your suggestions for improvements, and any great tips you've picked up that might help organisers in future.
- Congratulate yourself. What you have just done is amazing - whether your vigil was a small local gathering or a huge event. Thanks for your fantastic contribution to this global movement.
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