Cllr Abi Baker is our brilliant Organiser in Guildford. Here, she writes about how the Guildford team have started using their lunch hour to hit their canvassing targets.
For councillors, candidates and activists, canvassing can seem like a hugely daunting task, especially in the run up to an election when our contact targets are high, and time is short.
As with many big tasks it is easier if you can break it down into smaller more manageable chunks, canvassing is no different.
With more people working from home on a regular basis, we have more opportunity to speak to them during the day. Instead of trying to cram it all into a couple of evening sessions a week we can go out in the daylight, when people aren’t trying to have their dinner or get kids to bed! It also gives the opportunity to talk to residents who perhaps would not open their door later in the day or early evening.
In Guildford we have started canvassing sessions which we call “Lunch Time Bites”. This is where a group of activists head out during their lunch hour to knock on doors for anywhere between 40 minutes and an hour. It is short, sweet and doesn’t take a large chunk out of anyone’s day. We cut turfs that should be manageable for 3-5 people to complete in an hour, meaning the teams can get a real sense of accomplishment when they finish a turf.
It is amazing how much this has improved our contact and attempts rate since we started these sessions. We have set ourselves some ambitious targets, but not everyone is able to join us at the weekend or in the evening, so it has made this campaigning activity much more accessible for our volunteers.
Another positive is it has encouraged new people to get involved. If you have a volunteer who has never canvassed before or is perhaps a bit nervous about joining in, asking them to come along for an hour is much less daunting then inviting them to a full action day.
Not only has it improved our volunteer numbers, but we have also been able to use the lunch time bites to target areas that are not always a priority for us, leaving weekends and evenings free to focus on our target areas. We have managed to cover an entire Borough Ward already this year where we currently have no councillors and that has not been canvassed since 2019 since the start of the year.
We want to dispel the myth that we only turn up at election time and this is how we plan to do it.
Our activists who are part of out “lunchtime legends” team really enjoy their time out on the doorstep. Some of them because it helps them meet their targets each month and some because it gives them a break from their day job and a good reason to get outside in the fresh air. We have found it useful for our candidates who are short on time as well, as again, it puts less pressure on them at a stressful time but gives them the opportunity to engage with residents.