Creative Actions Brainstorm ­ 1­1.5 hour workshop template If you are organising a creative actions session ­ ​
can you please let us know​
? Introduction: ​
This workshop session template is to support a small group to help come up with action ideas after watching the web workshop on creative actions planning​
. You might need to take a quick break in between the web workshop and this in­person session. It can vary between 1­1.5 hours depending on which sections you choose to focus on and at what stage in your planning process you are at. You will want to adapt this to fit your particular groups needs ­ you might want to use it all or only some parts and adapt timings. Remember! There are many good ideas out there, the goal is to find the ​
right​
idea that matches your goals. A good brainstorm will get lots of ideas into the air, perhaps you want to try and narrow the ideas down to three or four ideas to develop a bit more before choosing. ​
You should have someone or a few people who volunteer to facilitate the session and should prepare this session​
. The facilitator’s or facilitators’ role is to keep the meeting going, and that people have the chance to speak. Having a strict time keeper to support you may be very helpful. Background​
: Creating social change is about storytelling: helping people see what other stories exist that aren’t being told, and sharing what other stories are possible, and enacting them. Our goal is to challenge the dominant narrative of fossil fuel investment ­ that making profit for a small group of people is more important than our communities and our planet. By providing an alternative story or possibility, you are providing a choice. Articulate that choice, and then invite people to choose for themselves. A well­designed action explains itself​
, with the audience reaching their own conclusion, rather than feeling like they are being told what to think. Think in terms of stories: ​
What is the story your target is trying to tell​
about themselves and their relationships to communities and climate. What are they saying? It’s too risky to divest. It’s something they need to review and think about. They are already taking climate change seriously. They have a fiduciary duty to maximise profits. They prefer to change institutions’ practices through shareholder engagement. Divestment won’t have an impact, others will pick up the shares. We will continue to rely on fossil fuels for decades to come. Their endowment is not a political tool. If we only let their side of the story be heard, it seems inevitable. ​
So what story are we trying to tell?​
Investments in fossil fuels is morally wrong because 80 per cent of the industry’s carbon reserves cannot be burned if we are to avert irreversible climate change. Investments in fossil fuels is financially risky. Public institutions are breaching their fiduciary duty by gambling on high­risk carbon assets. We have the solutions but the fossil fuel industry is holding us back. We can create energy that’s democratically controlled by our communities, instead of major corporations. But we need real investment in this future and divestment from the fossil fuel industry. The goal of this session is to look at how we can intervene in the existing narrative through our actions.​
How can your action embody this narrative shift, rather than just tell it? ​
Show don’t tell​
. WORKSHOP OUTLINE Materials needed: ● A print out of this template/your agenda ● Flip­chart/big sheets of paper and board pens ● A wall or flip chart boards ● Tape/blu­tak to hang things up ● Post­it notes and spare pens ● Print out of the ​
Creative Actions Manual ● Snacks! (You can encourage to each bring their own to share.) Room set up: Get everyone in a circle, with a space for everyone to be able to see a flip chart or wall. If there are lots of people, try two circles ­ one inner and outer. Try to make sure everyone will be able to see each other. Have the broad agenda written up on a flip chart paper so everyone knows the direction of the evening. Email a broad agenda round to everyone if that is useful. TIME EXERCISE GOAL DESCRIPTION Introductions/ warm up Make sure everyone [5 mins] Names + action:​
stand in a circle. One at a time someone says their knows each other and name and does an action. The rest of the group repeats that person’s name creating a safe space and their action. Then you go on to the next person. where a team can (suggestion) 10 mins build and thrive for brainstorming [5mins] Mingle: ​
Within the space of the room, or within your circle of chairs get everyone up and walking within the space. The facilitator will ask the group 3 questions, one at a time, giving the group 1/2 minutes per question (if it’s a small group, why not do this in pairs?). The facilitator sets the task: ­ “In the next minute tell as many people as you can why you are here today”. Give the group a minute to interact. Then move on. If you need to get the group to be quiet you might want to make a particular sound to show the moving on. ­ “In the next few minutes, tell as many people as you can what skills you bring with you.” ­ “In the next few minutes, tell as many people as you can about an action that you have seen which inspired you.” 5 mins Identifying the conflict To explain clearly WHY ​
you are targeting your target If a smaller group of organisers can identify this before­hand to present to the group that is great, if not, write the sentence up in big on a flip chart and together as a group try to fill in the blanks. Don’t take too long, it’s a quick exercise and try to make sure you have agreement. You can try using hand signals to test for consensus in your group. If people agree with the sentence they give a thumb­up; if they have mis­givings but will support it still, they hold their thumb side­ways. If they block and disagree, they give a thumb down (this is rarely used and if done, the person should offer a concrete alternative. We are targeting ________ because they ________ which is causing ________. 10 mins Understanding the context To understand the WHAT Depending on time, you might want a few people to do this exercise in advance to show the role­play to the whole group, if you have more time, you can get the group to do the role­play themselves. Useful prompts: Think about your local context. What are dominant narratives already surrounding your target? What story do they tell about themselves and how they relate to your community and the world (think both local and global)? What logos, slogans, images, events or places do they use to tell that story? How does your target relate to other emblematic symbols, memes or narratives about the place you are from? What local symbols (food, places, flags, clothing) are locally resonant? (for example, if the bank talks a lot about their loans to local farmers to make cheese, what cheese dishes are emblematic of local culture? ACTIVITY: Make and show the group a 1 minute commercial pretending to be your target. Do this using role­play. What do they say/not say? (use actual logos and slogans if possible). ACTIVITY: Make and show the group a 1 minute commercial saying what your target really is doing. To save time, divide into two groups and have each group work on one of the scenarios each, then present to each other. 10 mins Identify your goal To keep your group focused and successful If you already have a set of goals, that is great. Have them written up on big flip charts to remind the group. ​
[Prompt thought: how does the goal of this action align with an overall campaign strategy and goal if you have one?] If not, goal setting can sometimes take some time. To try and keep it short and sweet, hand out post­it notes to everyone. Give everyone 3 minutes to write down 2­3 goals for the action. Then go round the circle with a person each time sharing a goal they wrote and sticking it up on the wall/flip chart. If someone else has written the same, they should pin it up too. Try to group similar ones together. Once all the goals have been read out try to pick the top 2­3 goals. If it’s not an easy decision, give everyone 2 votes to pick their top two. (If you are working with a very big group, get people to only write down their top goal they would want to share with the group or even break out into 2 smaller groups). 35 mins What tools or tactics will you employ? To begin defining Useful questions: What tactics or tools can you use to create, to meet your your action and how it goals? Think about escalation ­ how does this action build off past actions you can be most effective. have done, while increasing the intensity. Think about risk ­ what level of risk is your group comfortable with? ACTIVITY: ­ [5 mins] Go around (hearing from each person in the circle): Everyone says what they can bring to the group (video editing skills, dancing, rock climbing skills, direct action experience, access to free photocopies, etc.) Write them up on the flip chart ­ [8 mins] Get ideas on the table: ​
What ideas do you have for actions? (Have everyone independently write down ​
clearly​
a few ideas on a piece of paper or post­it notes.) It will help if some people have pre­read the ​
Creative Actions Manual​
which already has good ideas in it, so people might have some suggestions from there or adaptations. The facilitator should gather the ideas and put them up on the wall, grouping similar ideas. Everyone take a look at the wall and put a mark next to ideas they particularly like. Limit everyone to no more than 3 marks. ­ [10 mins] Discuss and improve:​
Discuss the top five, assessing pros/cons/adaptations. If the ideas evolve, re­write them and put them up. See if any new ideas have emerged and see if the group wants to discuss them too. ­ [3 mins] Round 2:​
Have a second round of “votes” for the preferred ideas or do a “temperature check” (read out the top ideas again and everyone in the room stretches out their arms in front of them ­ the more they like the idea the higher their arms go, the less they like it the lower they go.) ­ [3 mins] Check back with your goals:​
Once you have a second impression of the top ideas, go back and compare​
how they each align ­
­
with your conflict, context, goals, and target​
. What seems to be the best tactic/tool that highlights the conflict in a locally resonant context, while meeting your goals? [3 mins] Assess how realistic it is: ​
capacity, feasibility, level of risk, material costs, etc. of each of these actions. Which best meets where your group is at (remember, you can always do the other actions at some other time). [3 mins] ​
If possible, ​
decide on a tactic (or find out what more you need to know before you can decide).​
If you need to know more before deciding, agree who will do what by when so you can reach a decision. 10 mins Next steps So that you don’t lose all your good ideas and keep the momentum going. Decide what still needs to be done:​
write up a list on the flip chart (e.g. get hold of materials; check location) and assign each step to someone in the room. Decide when your next meeting is and who will organise it. 3 mins Meeting closing To finish your meeting on a friendly and more emotional note, aside from all the planning. Stand up in a circle. One person in the circle begins holding an imaginary piece of clay or dough. Without any words and only miming (acting) they make the clay into an object. They pass the object on to the next person in the circle. That person does the same until it has gone round the whole group. Get to know each other outside of the meeting! Go for a drink together?! :) *If you have any questions about the workshop, feel free to contact ​
[email protected]​
and ​
[email protected]​
. Have good gatherings!