1. Campaign Leadership Team: Your Campaign Staff

2. Message: Issues, Campaign Narrative and Message Box

3. Communications/Media: Press Plan, Earned and Paid Media and Social Media Plan

4. Field Plan and Voter Contact: Targeting, Door Knocking, Phone Banking, Visibility

5. Research: Self and Opposition

6. Finance Plan: Plan to Raise the Money

6.5. Fundraising Budget: Plan to Spend the Money

7. Calendar, Schedule and Timeline: Candidate’s Time, Campaign Timeline, Campaign Events, Visibility and Fundraising Events

8. Technology: Campaign Website, Database, Social Media Platforms

1. Get Trained

2. Discuss with Your Family

3. Speak to Your Employer

4. Get Your Financial House in Order

5. Decide Which Office

6. Conduct Research

7. Assess the Political Landscape

8. Learn Your District or Territory

9. Build Your Kitchen Cabinet Advisors

1. Have specific duties for your volunteers – Phonebanking, Door Knocking, Stuffing Envelopes or other specific duties

2. Have the work prepared when your volunteers arrive - They came ready to work.

3. Tell them how their tasks contributes to the campaign - Your work helps us reach voters.

4. Give them t-shirts - Something about free t-shirts makes people work.

5. Provide healthy snacks and water for them - You can’t expect people to work hard with no nourishment.

6. Give your Volunteers titles – They will appreciate them.

7. Always Say Thank YOU - Instead of knocking on doors for your campaign, they could be inside in the air conditioning.

1. Ask and Ask again – You must ask for campaign contributions.

2. Get Organized – Organize your contacts, addresses, numbers and email addresses in a spreadsheet or database.

3. Recruit a Finance Committee – Recruit family, friends, colleagues, business leaders and community leaders to raise money from their contacts.

4. Be Specific – Ask for a specific amount of money and then be quiet until the other person answers.

5. Follow-Up – Send emails, faxes, letters, texts and phone calls to follow-up on pledges and get the money in the door.

6. Say Thank YOU! – Always say THANK YOU for each and every contribution you receive. Someone sacrificed and contributed their hand earn money to your campaign and dream.

1. Get Trained – Before you decide to run for office, you should seriously consider attending a political leadership training.

2. Campaign for Others – Working on a campaign team is great experience to have before you decide to become a candidate.

3. Prepare for Public Speaking – As a candidate for elected office, you will engage in public speaking and repeat your message thousands of times during your campaign.

4. Join Community Organizations – Join and participate to meet others in different industries with similar interests. Junior League, Urban League, League of Women Voters, Kiwanis and Rotary are a few great community organizations.

5. Join Professional Organizations – Get involved in your professional industry organization, for examples Society of Human Resources Management, National Association of Social Workers and National Society of Accountants.

6. Seek an Appointment – Serving on a local, state or federal Board or Commission is a great way to serve and get experience before you run.

7. Know Community Issues – Attend city council, county commission or legislative meetings to understand the issues in your community. Read you local city and county newspapers, blogs and websites to learn more.

8. Take a Leadership Role – Running for a position on your Home Owners Association, Parent Teacher Association, Sorority or Fraternity.

9. Serve on a Nonprofit Board – Join a nonprofit board around issues of importance to you like animals, the environment, homelessness, civil rights or children. You will serve, expand your skill set and meet leaders in other industries.

10. Get Involved with your Political Party – Attend your party meetings and events to get involved, understand the lay of the land and meet the major players.

11. Volunteer your Time – Volunteer in your community to pass out meals with Meals on Wheels, read to children through a Literacy Association or lead a Girl Scout or Boy Scout.

As a candidate for elected office, you will engage in public speaking and repeat your message thousands of times during your campaign.

You will be using your 30 second, 60 second and 2 minute speeches when meeting voters, participating in debates and during door knocking.

6 Public Speaking Tips
1. First impressions really count. The audience is giving you 30-60 seconds before they make a judgement about you and your credibility so start strong with a story, a powerful statement or your key promise

2. If it’s a speech, don’t spend your first impression on two minutes of thank yous. Get into your message as soon as you can

3. Be yourself when you deliver your talk from your heart and head. Often when people are “on” they stiffen up.

4. Less is more. Speak as little as possible to get your point across.

5. Read your audience.

6. Make sure to take questions and answer them concisely and stay on message

(Public Speaking Tips were created by Lisa Witter, COO of Fenton Communications and co-author of The She Spot: Why Women are the Market for Changing the World and How to Reach Them)

Tip #2 – Campaigning for Others

Working on a campaign team is great experience to have before you decide to become the candidate. Campaigning for others will teach you about all the aspects of a political campaign.

The Campaign Team includes:

• The Campaign Manager works for the candidate, provides strategy and manages the campaign team.

• The Finance Director raises money for the campaign to meet the budget set by the Campaign Manager.

• The Communications Director builds the campaign message and keeps the candidate “on message.”

• The Field Director designs the voter contact plan to reach voters and finds the votes to win the election.

• The Volunteer Coordinator organizes and recruits volunteers for the campaign.

Tip #1 – Get Trained – Attend a Political Leadership Training Program

I have spent the last seven years in training programs all across the country; a weekend in snowy Columbia, South Carolina, a week in beautiful New Haven, Connecticut and five months at the coolest technology center in Atlanta, Georgia.

The training programs have added value during my career as a congressional staffer, congressional finance director, state party deputy finance director and now as a political strategist and trainer.

Before you decide to run for office, you should seriously consider attending a political leadership training. Training programs build your skills, give tactics and plan strategies for your run for office. Training programs provide opportunities to meet new people, develop friendships and expand your network. The training programs varies in duration from a weekend to five months.

Here are a few of my favorite programs:

Emerge America
www.emergeamerica.org
Emerge America is the premier training program for Democratic women. We inspire women to run, we hone their skills to win. Our goal is clear: to increase the number of Democratic women in public office.

New Leaders Council
www.newleaderscouncil.org
The mission of New Leaders Council is to train and support the next generation of progressive political entrepreneurs – those who are leading industries, setting trends, and building institutions that support robust civic and political life in a global America.

The Women’s Campaign School at Yale
www.wcsyale.org
The Women’s Campaign School at Yale is a nonpartisan, issue-neutral political campaign training program. Our mission is to provide the very best training in the world for women who want to run for office or who want to move up the ladder to higher elective office. We train women to run political campaigns and to advance their careers in public service.

Wellstone Action
www.wellstoneaction.org
Wellstone Action and Wellstone Action Fund is a national training center for people interested in progressive change.  We help activists win on issues and elect progressive candidates by training them in the nuts and bolts of grassroots organizing, voter engagement, political advocacy, and leadership development.