Day #1
8:15 am - 8:30 am
Registration
Meet CASA staff, grab a coffee or tea, and pick up your name tag!
8:30 am - 9:00 am
Welcome and Indigenous Elder Opening
A local Indigenous Elder will do us the honour of opening our conference.
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Icebreaker Activity, What is CASA, Why a GOTV Campaign?
You will have the chance to get to know each other a little bit through an introductory icebreaker activity, before learning about what CASA does and its purpose for running a Get Out The Vote campaign.
9:30 am - 10:30 am
All About Pledges
This presentation will teach you best practices for collecting pledges and running pledge-driving and voter mobilization events. An overview of CASA’s digital campaign infrastructure, NationBuilder, will also be provided.
10:30 am - 10:45 am
Break
10:45 am - 11:45 am
Try It Out: Pledge Collection and Inputting into Digital System
In this practical session, you will be asked to try some of the techniques you’ve just learned for yourselves. You will be presented with a few specific scenarios and challenges that you will need to react to.
11:45 am - 1:00 pm
Lunch (not provided)
1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Vote Pop Up (Guest Speaker)
Democracy and voter mobilization expert, John Beebe, will take you through a simulated voting experience called Vote Pop Up. At the end of this conference, you will also be provided with the materials to be able to run this simulation on your own campus, to demystify voting and raise awareness about the upcoming election!
3:00 pm - 3:15 pm
Break
3:15 pm - 4:40 pm
Personalized Feedback and Working Time
After having digested all the training and lessons learned from Day #1 of the conference, you will be given some time to further develop your work plan. Each association will also have a scheduled time to sit down with CASA's Executive Director, John Rix, to receive personalized feedback on the work plan they submitted. Those associations who are not listed below will receive feedback on the next day, and should use this time to work as a team. Home Office staff will be available should you need help. The meeting schedule is as follows:
- 3:25-3:35 pm UFVSUS
- 3:35-3:45 pm AUSU
- 3:45-3:55 pm CCSS
- 4:00-4:10 pm CSU
- 4:10-4:20 pm UVSS
- 4:20-4:30 pm ULSU
- 4:30-4:40 pm SAMRU
Day #2
9:00 am - 9:15 am
Welcome
9:15 am - 9:45 am
How to Run a Non-Partisan Campaign
In this session, you will learn how to run a professional, non-partisan campaign.
9:45 am - 10:00 am
Scenarios & Activity on Non-Partisanship
This participatory activity will test you on what constitutes non-partisan and partisan behaviour.
10:00 am - 10:30 am
Using Social Media to Amplify the Campaign
This session will provide you with training on how to use social media to your advantage during this campaign. It will also provide an overview of CASA’s plans to run Instagram contests, which you can use to help collect pledges on your campus.
10:30 am - 10:45 am
Break
10:45 am - 12:00 pm
Elections Canada - Giving You the Right Information About Voting
In this presentation, CASA's Government and Stakeholder Relations Officer will run you through the ins and outs of how voting works at the federal level, when and where your students can vote, and what identification they need to bring. Following this presentation, an Elections Canada representative will join us via video call to answer your more detailed questions.
12:00 pm - 1:15 pm
Lunch (not provided)
1:15 pm - 2:45 pm
Media Training & Practice
Since the GOTV campaign is likely to attract some media attention, we will be providing you with training on how to best participate in media interviews.
2:45 pm - 3:15 pm
Managing Your Volunteers, Phone Banking & Door Knocking
In this presentation, CASA staff will give you advice on how to best manage and show your appreciation for your invaluable volunteers. Voter mobilization tactics such as phone banking and door knocking will also be covered.
3:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Personalized Feedback and Working Time Cont'd & Receive GOTV Materials
After having digested all the training and lessons learned throughout the conference, you will be given some time to finalize your work plan. You will also have a scheduled time to sit down with CASA's Executive Director, John Rix, to receive personalized feedback on the work plan you submitted. The meeting schedule is as follows:
- 3:15-3:25 pm SAMU
- 3:25-3:35 pm KSA
- 3:35-3:45 pm UASU
- 3:45-3:55 pm SAITSA
- 4:00-4:10 pm UCGSA
- 4:10-4:20 pm UCSU
At this time, we will also be handing out the materials you will need to run GOTV on your campus. This will be done one at a time, so please wait patiently until you are called. In the meantime, this is a great opportunity to work with your team on finalizing your work plan and incorporating the feedback you've received.