When scheduling the candidate, anchor on events and fill in with canvassing, fundraising and small groups.
Here’s today’s tip: When scheduling the candidate, anchor on events and fill in with canvassing, fundraising and small groups.
Scheduling the candidate’s time efficiently is among the most important recurring jobs on the campaign trail. From within and without the campaign, everybody will seem to be pulling the candidate in different directions, so whoever is in charge of their schedule is the guardian, the bad-guy and lynch-pin for the entire effort.
Build the candidate’s schedule around important anchors. These might be big or small events, in terms of people attending, but are vital to the campaign’s strategic interest. This is like filling up a bucket by putting in the big rocks first. Next, figure out the gaps and open time you have and pack things in around them.
Once I schedule that important meeting that acts as my anchor, I’m going to make sure I’ve got a call list for the road, I’m probably going to line up some other local meetings during the parts of the day I don’t want to block walk, possibly schedule some interviews with local interest groups or media. Finally, knocking doors and making phone calls are easy to push in wherever you have dead time.
We’re not looking to just blitz the candidate and wear them out. If downtime is needed, schedule that too. What we do not want to happen is for us to fritter away time without intent. Make a schedule and stick to it. Use what you learn to make the next one better, but constantly strive to be as efficient as possible with the time you’ve got for the campaign!
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