Effective Tabling Tips

Tabling at your local college campus is a great way to get supporters of marijuana policy reform signed up to help the campaign. If you are not on a college campus, you can collect names and e-mail addresses of supporters in high-traffic areas. Explain to people that they are signing up to receive e-mail updates from MPP about ways they can help. (Then submit your sign-up sheets to MPP so we can subscribe people to our e-mail list, and so you can earn credits.)

Here are a few tips for effective recruitment activities!

Do:

• Smile, make eye contact, and say a friendly "hello" to everyone that walks up. Give your pitch to anyone who approaches the table.
• Ask each person who comes by the table to sign up for our campaign to protect medical marijuana patients from arrest and prison.
• Position yourself in high-traffic areas.
• Tidy up the table as you work and replenish materials as they run low. The table should be aesthetically pleasing and interesting.
• If you represent a group, hang your group's sign or banner to let people know what group you represent. This way, a passerby will see there is widespread support for marijuana policy reform.
• Make sure that any volunteers who are staffing the table or carrying a clipboard have a copy of the Hinchey amendment talking points , and that they know what the amendment would do.
• Make sure people understand what they are signing up for. If you're signing people up for MPP's e-mail list, make sure people understand they will receive a handful of e-mails from MPP each month.

Don't:

• Don't leave the table unattended.
• Don't just sit behind the table. If possible, stand in front of the table and engage people as they walk by.
• Don't have materials in unorganized piles. Place flyers in a visible location.
• Don't let people come to the table or approach you without acknowledging them. Greet everyone who approaches.
• Don't engage a clearly hostile person. Every minute you spend talking with an opponent who can't be convinced is time lost with an ally. Be polite, but firm.
• Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know." If someone asks you a question you cannot answer, simply write it down with a name, number, and e-mail address and say that someone will get back to him/her. You can also direct the person to MPP's Web site.
• Don't put a blank sign-up sheet on your clipboard. People hate to be the first ones to sign up, especially for drug policy campaigns. If you only have blank sheets (in other words, if you are starting a new sheet), fill out the first line yourself.
• Don't fill out the sign-up form for people -- we want to make sure that people signing up for MPP's e-mail updates know that they'll be subscribed to our list, so it's important that they fill out the sheet in their own handwriting. (We won't be able to accept sign-up sheets that haven't been filled out personally by the people signing up.)