This last weekend was the Animal Rights Conference 2011. I attended the conference and I’m sharing my notes here on Vegan Soapbox.

These are my own notes and not a transcript. That is, these are not necessarily direct quotes. However, much of what is included here comes directly from the conference sessions and almost all of it is extremely useful and valuable. Take a look!

Previously, I wrote up the notes for the talks “Celebrate The NeoCarnist” and “Making an Activist.” In 2009, we took notes, too. You can see those notes at http://www.vegansoapbox.com/topics/ar-2009/

The notes below are from the session on Saturday morning called “Writing Our Message” described: “Letters, articles, fact sheets, brochures, newsletters, advertising copy – Hershaft, Shoss, Smith.”

My initial thoughts:

• I attended this session in 2009 and I think it’s the same speakers.
• This year they have better handouts. [I think some of the handouts will be available online at the AR Conference website.]
• This session isn’t as well attended as it should be, we need more writers and bloggers!

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Alex Hershaft – “Effective Writing”

• we’re competing with many visual stimuli so we have to make our words stand out
• start with a bang – being the piece with a personal story, startling stats, or a visual
• use short, pithy sentences – each paragraph should invite you to read the next
• close with strong set of conclusions and recommendations
• appeal to feelings and beliefs but focus on purpose (see handout for details on that)

Some types of effective writing:

• Letters to the Editor (edletters) – refer to a recent news item, sound spontaneous and similar (not intellectual), keep it under 200 words
• ads (billboards, bus signs, web ads, etc) – dramatic image, familiar statement with twist, minimal text, your contact info so they can learn more
• fundrasing appeals – start with dramatic personal story, continue with longer than intuitive amount of text, break up into shorter paragraphs and single emphatic sentences, intersperse with boldings and underlines, close with giving imperative and list of ways to give

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Scott Smith – “Writing Our Message”

• Find a way to “pretend you’re normal” because it’s difficult to write well when you’re an activist
• Calm down, slow down, learn to have patience
• Find a way to get your life centered and find respite; we have very justifiable righteous anger but if you’re not centered you can’t really listen to the audience or understand them and you must understand them so that you can write for them
• Be credible and do your research
• Take your time and help editors by proofreading
• Stay within style of magazine/newspaper/etc
• Send in the article, dont ask for an assignment [this is great advice - as the admin for this website Vegan Soapbox I receive plenty of solicitations from writers yet I only have time to deal with the ones that include a submission.]
• Look for outlets for your writing – free magazines and newspapers or blogs
• Open and close your piece with something vivid to make it memorable

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Brenda Shaws – “Writing with Impact”

• let it sit and reread it outloud – that will give you a better sense of your writing
• the biggest problem is that people don’t write anymore
• group emails aren’t as effective as individual letters
• use quotes from within the industry
• don’t focus solely on cruelty to animals, bring in other issues – animal rights issues are human rights issues too
• must have: central focus and call to action
• avoid use of passive voice, use correct verb tense, and proper sentence structure
• use spell check and a thesaurus

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Questions from audience:

• What is most effective way of getting messsage out there? Hershaft: letters to the editor, Smith agrees. Small publications are amazingly easy to get published in
• How to expand your writing? How to write a book? [I asked this one!] Smith: research, Shaws: set up an outline and write little bit by bit
• Is video is more powerful than writing? Hershaft: use of photo and video is great but it just depends on the medium, when you can’t do it yoou must rely on words; include photos or videos when possible

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Sections: Vegan Activism, Vegan Resources
Topics: activism, alex hershaft, animal rights conference, AR conference, ar2011, blogging, efficacy, FARM, notes, resources, Vegan, writing