A common mistake made by Councillor candidates is that they act like current Councillors. It’s good to visually portray that you’re up for the job, but you don’t need to do the actual Councillor type work. The worst thing a candidate can do during an election is try to go to every event in the City.
As summer event season kicks off a candidate needs to evaluate where they are and when. A lot of candidates love the hand shaking and the media coverage of an event, it’s a personality trait that drew them to politics. The problem with events is that it’s super hard to ID voters at them. Events are time suckers and if the candidate or campaign is hosting the event it is a budget burner.
The hours a candidate takes attending events are often better spent door knocking. Remember, door knocking is how a candidate connects with voters while collecting decent data.
That being said, you need to keep up appearances and be an active community supporter – there are some events you should be attending. When choosing what events to attend or not to attend, some things to consider include:
- Is it something you are passionate about? If you have always supported the local homeless shelter and attended their golf tournament every year, then stick with them and go again in election year.
- Is it a prior commitment? Don’t bail on an event you already said you would attend or help out with. Ditching a community group/organization will not win you any votes.
- What time is the event? There are prime door knocking times that you do not want to be stuck in banquet hall. If the event is early in the morning then go for the liquid scrambled eggs and door knock afterwards.
- Is the event in your ward? If there is a ribbon cutting ceremony at the new hair salon at the other end of town – stay away. Stick to events where your voters are.
For sitting Councillors, unfortunately you don’t have much of a choice on some events, however you do need to say “no thanks” sometimes.
If you do not focus your time on your own election (ID’ing vote), your opponent may be getting all the event invites after E-Day.
Keep Knocking,
KEITH
For City Campaigner members I’ve uploaded a post in the portal on some event tips like:
– ID’ing votes at community events.
– Optimizing attendance with social media.
– Getting in and out of the event quickly.