Changing
The State
Host a House Meeting
What is a House Meeting?
A house meeting is the building block of changing our state. It is the mechanism to recruit new people to our cause. To share our message. To expand your reach. It is simply that, a meeting in your home with 8-12 attendees invited by you. Attendees are often neighbors, family, and friends, who live close by and can be recruited to join the neighborhood team.
House meetings need not be held in someone’s home. A business, GOP office, or restaurant are all great options.
The discussion is led by a staff organizer or by you, and is meant to build relationships and motivate attendees to action.
The primary goal is expanding our volunteers prospect pool, and identifying new potential members of our cause.
House Meeting Planning Timeline
Successful house meetings require some planning. While it’s not necessary to follow this format exactly, it provides a helpful structure.
5-7 Days out
- Establish date and time for the house meeting.
- Confirm that the location is ADA accessible, quiet, and comfortable.
- Create a list of potential invitees (friends, families, neighbors, co-volunteers, local activists, etc.)
3-4 Days out
- Send an email to the local Republican committee and other activist groups with details.
- Call members of personal social network.
- Call local volunteers.
- Write out an agenda for the meeting and gather all necessary materials.
Day Before
- Make confirmation calls to attendees to remind them to come.
- Send a reminder email to the local Republican committee and other groups.
- Print out agendas and other materials (worksheets, Neighborhood Team images, calendars, etc.).
Reminders
- Have a time-keeper to keep the meeting on track
- Have a note-taker to keep track of discussions and questions
House Meeting Sample Agenda
While all house meetings are different, the sample agenda below provides a useful starting place. An agenda will help your meeting run effectively and efficiently.
- 7:00pm: Guests arrive. Sign in attendees, thank them for coming, distribute name tags, agendas, and any additional materials.
- 7:10pm: Host welcomes and introduces staff organizer or Neighborhood Team Leader.
- 7:15pm: Go over the agenda and purpose for the meeting.
- 7:20pm: Go around the room doing introductions with name and personal story, fun questions, or other icebreakers.
- 7:30pm: Discuss 2022 election plan.
- 8:00pm Take pictures, tweet, and update Facebook with stories, quotes, fun.
- 8:05pm Decide on next action and assign a lead or host.
- 8:10pm Begin planning process for next action and assign responsibilities to other team members.
- 8:20pm Close meeting by reviewing decisions and assignments and thanking everyone for coming.
- 8:25pm House meeting ends.
Confirm you have contact information for guests.
House Meeting Asks
An important step in motivating house meeting attendees to take action is asking them to! Use these sample asks to make sure that you are as effective as possible.
- Can you join me for an INSERT ACTIVITY taking place on INSERT DATE?
- Can you hold a house meeting this month and invite some of your friends?
- Can you hold a Debate Watch Party for the next debate?
- Can I schedule a one on one meeting with you for next week?
- Do you know other people that I should connect with?
Best Practices
- Get volunteer commitments during the house meeting.
- Implement the ask and WAIT process. Don’t be intimidated by the awkward silence moment.
House Meeting Follow Up
The purpose of a house meeting is to expand our volunteer pool and motivate people to get involved as part of a neighborhood team. That means follow-up is one of the most important things a host does!
1 Day After
- Enter all contact information into excel or google sheets.
- Call people who were scheduled to attend, but did not attend.
2 Day After
- Call attendees to thank them and confirm their next event.
- Call the lead or host for the next event and begin planning.
Put It Into Action
Now you are ready to expand your network and act as a leader in your community. Change will come to Illinois, but only if we each work to bring more people into our movement. Sign up here to host a house meeting and we’ll follow up to walk you through each step.
