We attended AR 2009. We = Elaine and Judy (aka “Eccentric Vegan” and “Convenient Vegan“).

For details about AR 2009, please take a look at arconference.org.

These are notes from the presentation called “Engaging The Community”

Speaker 1 – Saurabh Dalal, International Vegetarian Union

• Why engage community? To create better awareness of the practices or rationales of different people or organizations
• Also because it gets media attention to particular issues and recruits new members or volunteers
• Considerations when reaching out:
  be realistic about your goals and how to achieve them
  set tangible, measurable goals
• Social marketing concepts:
  what are the values, beliefs, and needs of community we’re trying to engage?
  what is value of us to  community?
  what are the myths, stereotypes, etc.? Dispel these myths
• Limitations: language barriers, long-term effort
• Potential topics to use to engage other communities: environment, social justice
• Examples: Earth Day worked well, green festivals
• Key ideas: provide something of value to the community you want to engage, make it win-win
• (He spoke too quickly for me to catch everything)

Speaker 2 – Doll Stanley, IDA

• The number one thing in any relationship is give-and-take. Any relationship has a “what’s in it for  me?”
• How to engage hunters, fishers, etc. – treat them like you’d want to be treated. Treat them like a rescue animal. (They may have unacceptable behaviors, but they CAN change.) It all starts with respect.
• Hunters seem to dislike animal testing. But it requires education to get them to change their own behaviors that support animal testing.
• Story about a hunter who was very angry about a local vegetarian… but after some time he came around and is getting involved in dog rescue.
• The only obstacle we face in engaging our community is our own fear

Speaker 3 – Kath Rogers, Animal Protection and Rescue League

• She does vegan education
• “As animal advocates, engaging the community is one of the most important things we can do” (paraphrased)
• The animals aren’t able to express themselves in a way the community can understand
• Motto: “There is no such thing as vegans and nonvegans, there are vegans and not-yet-vegans.”
• Try to do  education without judgment (my thoughts – not possible, but worth striving for)
• Prop 2 helped both sides realize that animal advocates ARE mainstream
• Endorsements – achieved through sheer hard work and asking virtually every business to endorse prop 2
• Story about getting the San Diego Tribune’s endorsement: won through passionate individuals’ letter-writing
• Created a mantra and used it as an elevator speech: “all animals, including those raised for food, deserve humane treatment.”
• Stay focused on the issue: cruelty

These are just notes and not transcripts. I may have misheard or misinterpreted some of the speakers. Take these posts as platforms to jump off, ideas and inspiration, not as the gospel.

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Sections: Vegan Resources
Topics: activism, ar 2009, AR conference, Community, conference, veg, Vegan