GEAR up with this New Advocacy Tool
We have many good things to say about PolicyLink’s new online tool for advocates called GEAR (Getting Equity Advocacy Results). GEAR poses probing questions at every stage of an advocacy campaign to help users think carefully about potential benchmarks for progress. And it even offers guidance on that stuff you do regardless of stage: organizing stakeholders, building advocacy capacity, communicating key messages, and conducting research. Take a look and see for yourself. Be prepared to be amazed—by the useful content and the oh-so-purdy colors.
To Make a Story Stick, Keep it Simple
That’s only one of several insights in “What listening to a story does to our brains” by blogger Leo Widrich. Most of us love all kinds of stories: funny or somber, sarcastic or sincere, stories can make the complicated simple and easy to remember. We also seem to be hard-wired to understand and even enjoy listening to stories. This is especially relevant to advocacy. Simple, captivating stories don’t make for a successful advocacy campaign, but they can certainly help.
A Few Words from the APEP Crew
In case you haven’t heard, the world will end today. Now is the time to play some ominous music and reflect. But on the off-chance that we all make it through in one piece, we’d like to say one thing: Happy holidays and best wishes for 2013. Our next advocacy evaluation breakfast is already set for January 30th (more on that later) and, in the fall, the AEA’s annual conference will be coming to Washington, DC for the first time since 1990. So stay warm, drink lots of eggnog, and think happy or snarky evaluatin’ thoughts until “So What?” returns to your in-boxes January 11th.
