Building a team

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens
can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
- Margret Meed

Building a core group of people is the first and most important step to planning a great event and launching longer-term initiatives. After you have signed up on the website, you should begin to identify the people who will help you organize a successful event and begin to build a lasting and powerful coalition.

Changing up the Mix
Building a team means reaching out beyond the college campus, traditional allies, or your social network. Building a more just and prosperous clean energy future requires involvement from everyone. It is essential to mobilize input and skills from many different sectors of your community. Try to involve different college campuses in your area, local unions, faith organizations, social service agencies, youth/student groups, businesses, community activists, or other leaders.

Getting Folks On Board
Start with what you know: friends, acquaintances, co-workers, etc. Start with those in your core network; move outward from there, and into the different groups within your community. Making the Ask: Tell people why you care. Tell them why you can’t do it with out them. Tell them why they’re essential to this monumental movement. Remind them that this is a wonderful opportunity for all of you to get your community educated, engaged and active. When asking people to join, it’s important to provide clear parameters. Give people a regular meeting time they can attend, and assign clear roles so your group members have a sense of ownership in the event. Every team member will get to choose specific aspects of the event to work - flip to the next page to a list of suggested roles and responsibilities.

Too Many Cooks? Setting Team Size
A functional team requires commitment, so your team members should all be able to dedicate time to working on your event. Make sure you have a core group willing to fill all of the necessary roles. Extra team members are a good idea since turnover happens and things can come up.

Dividing up Roles and Responsibilities
Depending on the scale of your events, you’ll need to divide up responsibilities. Encourage your team members to take charge of a specific role, and set goals for each set of tasks. 

• A predetermined time and place
• A predetermined agenda
• assigned roles for facilitator, time keeper, mood watcher, note taker, food and drink provider, etc…