During today’s training sessions, we will talk about how you can promote the International Rebel Assembly and recruit participants for your hub. This training is made up out of three parts: (1) our message, (2) using an invite list to recruit participants and (3) using social media effectively.

Also make sure to check out Training 1.

You can follow this training by watching back the recording of our livestream, or by reading the article below.

Introduction #

First, we’ll talk about what message we’ll use to recruit people for this event. We’ll talk about what principles our international network of rebel hubs is fighting for, why we’re organising this event, what the event will be like, reasons to convince people to join us and how participants will be able to sign up.

After talking about our message, we will talk about how you can use an invite list for one-on-one outreach to recruit participants for your hub. We have created a Google Sheets invite list for all hubs, and we’ll show you how to use it.

“Then, we’ll train you in how to use social media effectively to promote your hub online. We’ll talk about setting up your own social media accounts for your hub, and we’ll talk about what kind of material we’ll provide to you to help you as part of our Social Media Kit.

Important to-do's #

There’s one important thing to do for all hub coordinators: Please fill in our participation form before next Friday the 20th.

It is really important that all hub coordinators fill in this form this week, because we need the information before we open up the call for participants on the 23rd.

If you still have people who’re helping you organise who aren’t in the WhatsApp group, send a message to Vaan.

1. Our message #

What are we fighting for? #

• Equal rights for everyone, no matter your race, ethnicity or skin colour, no matter whether you're gay, bi or straight, cisgender or transgender.
• People power. A fairer society where money and power are divided equally. A society in which everyone is represented.
• A liveable planet. It's time to tell the truth about the climate and biodiversity crisis, and act accordingly.

What unites us? #

We are activists from all sorts of different backgrounds, fighting for different things. What has brought us together?

Well, at Activist Handbook we believe all our fights are connected. Only by showing solidarity and by working together can we stand strong against injustice.

At Activist Handbook, we are terrified of what is to come when it comes to the climate catastrophe and the biodiversity crisis. During our lifetimes, we will have to deal with more and more deadly disasters like floods and droughts. At this moment right now, animal species are going extinct at a faster rate than was the case when the dinosaurs died out, which will mean a collapse of the natural ecosystem and increasing rates of failing crops. Many of us will have to flee our hometowns permanently and have to rely on the solidarity of others to shelter us.

And this is what truely frightens us: when our political leaders won’t be able to deliver their most basic promises of safety and order, as we’re all fighting for a chance to get access to limited food resources, they will start looking for scapegoats. People to blame all of this on. And the most vulnerable of our society are always the first victims of scapegoating. Refugees, women, LGBTQ+’ers will be the ones hit hardest by the climate crisis.

And this is what motivates us to keep going: even if we cannot stop the climate crisis, we must do everything in our power to build resilient communities. When shit hits the fan at the very least we must be there for each other in solidarity.

Why are we organising this event? #

We are ambitious: we want to change the world for the better, stop the climate crisis, bring an end to inequality, and stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable of our society.

But changing the world is not easy. And that is why we are writing a handbook for activists. To learn from each other how to make a positive impact in our community as activists.

Our goal is to build an international network with fellow change-makers across the globe. Because individually, we are too small to make a difference. But together we are strong.

What will the event be like? #

In short, this is what the International Rebel Assembly will look like:

• Hackathon format (sprint like event)
• Meet locally, connected internationally
• Write guides for activists

Examples of articles you could write for Activist Handbook during the event:

• How do I organise an impactful campaign?
• How do I recruit volunteers and keep then involved in the long run?
• What tactic is most effective to reach my goals, a petition, a march, a blockade, handing out flyers, using social media to get atten$tion?
• How do I get news media to pick up my action?
• How do I prepare a speech for during a protest?

Reasons to join #

These are some reasons for people to join your hub:

• Learn about impactful change-making
• Make friends with fellow local & international activists
• Produce something concrete in short amount of time

What if people are hesitant to join? #

Here are some common reasons for people to be hesitating, with some responses that you could give:

• Dunno much about writing: We'll train you, we're all learning
• Not sure if I have the time: It's only 2 days, no preparation required
• Not sure if I'm an activist: Activism = Collectively taking action against injustice

How do participants sign up? #

To join your hub, people should fill in our online form, which will be available in multiple languages. Then, we'll add them to a WhatsApp group for your hub & an international announcement channel.

2. Invite list #

These’s many ways in which you can recruit participants, but one-on-one outreach is by far most effective way to do so. At Activist Handbook, we’ve been using the invite list very successfully before. For example, the prep team also used it for recruiting hub coordinators.

It’s also useful for keeping an overview of everyone you’re reaching out to. And it’s really a nice way to see what other hub coordinators are doing and be motivated to invite more people.

Using invite lists is actually part of a larger strategy that we use at Activist Handbook to amplify our impact. As individuals, we only know so many people that we can invite. But if you then ask the people that accept your invite to invite friends as well, you create an accelerating chain reaction. So how does this work in practice? In the picture above you can see how (1) the prep team has recruited you as hub coordinators, (2) then you as hub coordinator will start recruiting participants and (3) then those participants can invite their friends to join your hub as well.

It’s important to note that not everyone you invite will join, and that is ok. For example, each of you could invite 30 people. And even if only 5 of them say yes, if they do the same (each inviting another 15 people, with 2 people accepting). Then you end up with a very large hub. So to calculate that would be 5*3 they recruit + the 5 you recruited, so a total of 20 people for your hub.

Like we said during the last training, we recommend you to try and recruit between 10 and 20 hubs, and if you make use of this chain reaction, we're confident you’ll be able to reach those numbers.

We’ve created a document for you to help you make an invite list, and we will also share some example messages with you that you can send to people to invite them to join your hub. We highly recommend you to watch the short video below for an explanation on how to use an invite list to recruit participants for your hub.

3. Social media #

During the third part of this training we’ll talk about how you can use social media for recruiting hub participants.

Why set up social media? #

While most popular social media platforms are owned by big tech corporations, they are still useful tools in growing movements. For the International Rebel Assembly, you can use them to recruit participants for your hub.

Reuse social accounts or create new? #

• Option A: Getting a new group of people together? Then we will set up new social media accounts for your hub.
• Option B: Participating with an existing organisation? Then reuse your existing social media profiles.

We'll create the accounts for you. You do not have to create the profile yourself, we'll share the password with you.

‘Rebel Hub’ or ‘Activist Hub’? #

We all speak different languages, so it is only normal that words have different meanings and connotations. If the word ‘Rebel’ has a negative meaning in your region, you can also call your hub an ‘Activist Hub'.

The Rebel Assembly brand #

Hubs will be able to use their own unique butterfly logo on their social media accounts.

When setting up your social media accounts, make sure to:

• Use consistent name: 'Rebel Hub' or 'Activist Hub'
• Use butterfly logo
• Tag @activisthandbook in bio

Below, you can see an example of what your Instagram profile could look like.

What content to share #

Do share personal looking content:

• ✅ Selfies of you and your fellow hub coordinators
• ✅ Photos of you at protests
• ✅ Screenshots of our video calls & trainings
• ✅ Short videos in story to invite participants

Do not share things the Instagram and Facebook algorithm doesn't like:

• ❌ Illustrations or text on pictures
• ❌ Very long texts
• ❌ More than 4 hashtags
• ❌ Links in Insta captions (link in bio instead)

Tips & tricks #

• 👋 Show people who you are: the more personal, the better. Explain why you think it is important to do activism.
• 🏷 Tag people in pictures and stories (also tag your personal account & repost stories)
• 🙌 Follow to get follows back
• ❤️ Ask friends to like, follow & share
• #️⃣ Use the hashtags: #TrainRebels #UprootTheSystem @activisthandbook
• 💬 Engage with others: Like, comment & send private messages
• 🔴 Go live (if your internet allows): Facebook and Insta will notify all your followers

Social media kit #

We'll share a social media kit with you soon. In this kit, you will find your logo, example posts, template messages and photos you can use.

Up next #

On the 28th of May and the 5th of June, we'll organise the 3rd training. We will publish the recording and written guides soon after that.

We love to hear your feedback, so definitely send us a message.

We’ll schedule one-on-one calls with you: we still have 20 more people who haven’t had their first one-on-one call. And then in June we’ll have a personal check in with everyone. And in July again. There’s almost 50 hub coordinators in total, so it takes quite a bit of time for us to do this, but we find it really important to support you well in the process of organising your hub.

If you still have people who’re helping you organise who aren’t in the WhatsApp group, send a message to Vaan.