Offline Host Recruitment

When running a distributed events campaign, one of the key factors in determining success is your ability to recruit event hosts. While emailing your list asking for hosts is a good start, actively reaching out to potential hosts to recruit them increases the number of hosts who sign up. Generally, host recruitment falls into one of two models: in-person recruitment or phone recruitment.

In-person recruitment can be thought of as the "barnstorm" model, which was a key component of Bernie Sander's 2016 presidential campaign. In this model, the campaign hosted large in-person rallies, where part of the event was asking supporters to commit to hosting campaign events (phonebanks, etc.) at their homes. Those supporters who agreed to host an event were asked to provide details for their event while at the rally – when and where was it going to happen, how many people could they accommodate, etc. – and then pitch their event to the other supporters in the audience. Event hosts and attendees would then come together during the rally. Details about the events that were agreed to at the rally would be entered in bulk by campaign staff/volunteers and would become visible on the main map of events.

While this in-person "barnstorm" model can be effective for campaigns and organizations, other organizations have taken to the phones – directing their volunteers to call through lists of supporters to recruit event hosts. 

Regardless of which method you choose, phone bank or in-person barnstorm – ControlShift's event recruitment tool can make it easier to create and manage these events.

Getting Started

To get started using the offline host recruitment tool, go to your admin homepage > Events and click the Recruit Hosts button. (N.B.: If you're going to ask volunteers to recruit hosts, you'll need to give them the appropriate Team permissions.)

After clicking to Recruit Hosts, you'll be brought to the bulk entry tool, which allows team members to quickly enter information about an upcoming event from a single page. 

After entering host and event information into this form, click to Create. The newly entered event will be made live (and automatically moderated to Good), and the host will be notified that their event is now active.

The team member will see a confirmation banner at the top of the page, which includes details about the newly created event. The event form will also be refreshed so that they can continue the bulk entry process.

After the event is created, the host will receive an email asking them to confirm that they're hosting the event.  If the host already has an account on the site, they'll be automatically sent to the host's just launched view of the event where they'll be prompted to share the event on social media and via email. For users who do not already have accounts on the platform, they'll be asked to create an account first and will then be sent to the just launched view. 

For attendees, these events will look like any other event on the platform. The events will be live and open for RSVPs immediately after creation, even if the host confirmation is still pending.

Pssst: If you want to learn more about running a distributed events campaign, we've collected some tips from organizations and electoral campaigns: https://medium.com/controlshift-organizer/21fc7de8ffad.