Lately I’ve been writing about how event planners can get even more impact out of their events by leveraging the resources at their disposal, in order to help create positive change. This time I’m going to give you a prime example of how things can also work the other way around: anyone with a cause in mind can use events as a powerful tool for facilitating the change they’d like to see come about.
Bill McKibben lives down the road from me in Middlebury, Vermont. Bill is the co-founder and global organizer of an organization called 350.org, which is focused like a laser beam on the challenges of global climate change. His latest book is Eaarth: Making a life on a tough new planet.
One of Bill’s talents is that he is a very effective storyteller. And if you listen to what he’s saying, he’s actually a pretty scary guy. (If you want to see what I mean, check out this Charlie Rose interview from last year.) And that’s the point, of course. Bill and 350.org have built their overall strategy based on assembling groups of people and getting them engaged and empowered to take action to steer things in a more positive direction. That’s a great example of using the power of events to create change.
I recently had a chance to chat with Bill about EventsForChange. Here are some excerpts from my conversation with him:
As an activist, what part do live events play in your overall strategy for 350.org?
They’ve been at the heart of our strategy. In 2009 we coordinated 5,200 simultaneous rallies in 180 countries, and in 2010 7,400 in 189 countries. CNN called the effort “the most widespread day of political action in the planet’s history”. Our emphasis is on very widespread and beautiful action, that we can then gather images of to make more than the sum of its parts.
You have talked about the need to “build political will”. Can you give a couple of best examples of how you have used events to educate, inspire and move people to action?
Well, when we did the earlier domestic version of this–called StepItUp, spring of 2007, we had 1,400 events in all 50 states. And two days later both Obama and Clinton, then running for president, adopted our goal of 80% emission cuts. It was pretty neat.
While planning 350.org events, how do you incorporate strategies for altering the perspective of people who are largely disinterested in the climate change issue?
Many people do that in their own communities. We don’t exactly plan the events–it’s more like a potluck supper. We set the date and the theme, and people come up with remarkable stuff in their own places.
What role does storytelling play in the process of planning 350.org events?
It’s more in the aftermath. We tell the stories of these events constantly, in words and in pictures.
What has proven to be the most challenging aspect of organizing events to support the mission of 350.org?
The globe is a big place.
EventsForChange 
May 30th, 2011 at 9:44 pm
Some gripe about the climate impact of events but this is a good reminder that without events we would be disabled in our ability to dialogue and engage about important sustainability issues. Whether it be a grassroots activist gathering, green tradeshow or an international climate summit, events can make a positive contribution to solutions, rather than just doing more(and less) harm. Thanks for the reminder!
May 31st, 2011 at 10:12 am
Good examples, Shawna. There ARE situations where an event or meeting may not really be necessary (including some in the workplace), such as when the main agenda items center around 1-way transfer of information–that can be achieved a lot of different ways. But to truly engage and inspire people to action, we need to create shared experiences that are thoughtfully designed.