RP Booths at Iowa County Fairs

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Yeah that looks good. Thanks IPSecure.
 
IDefendThePlatform said:
TV is awesome. I think at the Pottawattamie fair I'm gonna put aravoth's Stop Dreaming on constant repeat.
Click to expand...

Stop Dreaming is OK, though I find it a bit annoying as some of the quotes are a bit long and suddenly go away as you are almost to the end, reading it. Paul's language is also a bit high brow in some of those quotes too. Newspapers are written at the 8th grade reading level for a reason. It would be a good one to put in the mix, but really for something like this you want a mix and not all of it political, but more for crowd bait.

Political but also visually and acoustically stimulating = good crowd bait:





Just fun for crowd bait:



These are good - especially if you have a HS/college audience:

http://mediatedcultures.net/mediatedculture.htm

-t
 
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Bump for volunteers - anyone who can reasonably get to Iowa for a weekend, this is a great way to help out.

A couple questions: (1) Logistics: Is there going to be a central group of people that is in charge of securing booth space at the fairs for which we have volunteers signed up? What is the expectation of a volunteer (i.e. do they need to bring tables, banners, materials, etc., or will some of this be provided in some way)?
(2) IDefendThePlatform - Do you still need/want help prioritizing this list?
 
malkusm said:
Bump for volunteers - anyone who can reasonably get to Iowa for a weekend, this is a great way to help out.

A couple questions: (1) Logistics: Is there going to be a central group of people that is in charge of securing booth space at the fairs for which we have volunteers signed up? What is the expectation of a volunteer (i.e. do they need to bring tables, banners, materials, etc., or will some of this be provided in some way)?
(2) IDefendThePlatform - Do you still need/want help prioritizing this list?
Click to expand...

1) So far I've contacted just a few fairs and printed off a few applications for space rental. I'm planning on continuing to do this as we get more volunteers. I guess since
I'm in Iowa its probably a good role for me, although I wouldn't turn down any help in this area.

2) Yes, that would be great. I've been updating the list in OP whenever I can, but it still needs more info on attendances, cost, and application deadlines, etc.. so if you or anyone else wants to jump in on that it would be very much appreciated.

The other thing is that I know that the official campaign here in Iowa is at least considering doing some fairs, so at some point we will need to find out their plans to avoid duplication of effort. I don't know exactly how many fairs they will be able to get to with the manpower that they have, so I definitely think we can step up and help. Of course, we can't "coordinate" cuz of the freaking FEC but obviously they can check in on us at anytime and hopefully we can get a look at their plans as well.

I'll post more on the fairs that I've contacted, etc tonight after work.
 
Oh yeah banners and whatnot...

Not sure, but I'm open to suggestions?

I'm thinking we could probably coordinate shipping banners from one group of volunteers to the next after each fair, and most of the fairs I've looked into so far will rent us tables and chairs. So the basics should be covered, but it would probably be up to each group of volunteers to do anything else beyond that, such as the TV in the above pic.

If we were allowed to communicate with the campaign, or if they just jumped in and started coordinating everything, then they might be able to share other equipment type stuff with us (Tents, literature, etc..)
 
Different questions - sorta...
1) What fairs can we get into? What has the best cost/attendee ratio?
2) We could use a calender - many of these are going to happen at the same time.
3) How many supporters can we get to man them? This and the next question really determine our limit.
4) How much can we raise to rent booth space, etc.
5) we could use a calendar of when supporters are available.
6) supporters again - can we get the old Iowa Meetups back up? For less expensive fairs, they could raise funds and staff them.
7) calendar again - what is the cut off date to get booths?
8) on a central group, really locals are best for signing contracts, but I do see a place for a central group to do the research (tons!), raise funds, recruit volunteers, and help with coordination / information between all the local groups. Lets use local meetups first, and then a pool of out of staters for other fairs?
9) put out a call for people with folding tables, chairs, tents, big screen TV's/LCD's/laptops and then look at possibly purchasing if we come up short. We could also plan a banner making party.
IDefendThePlatform - where are you in your research - need some help? Should also partner w/ Roxic on student outreach so we are doing 2 things at once.

Now about those Meetups... I believe these are the cities where we used to have a Meetup in IA, but don't currently:

IA: Britt, Burlington, Carrol, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Corning, Debuque, Fairfield, Hampton, Humbolt, Iowa City, Newton, Sioux City, Urbandale, Washington, Waterloo

That's 16 cities. We could probably eliminate a few because they were small. It costs $72 dollars for 3 groups for 6 months, but someone posted a 50% off code, so that's $36 for 3 groups for 6 months. If we could get 4-5 to step forward and start 3 groups each, we could get the state to where it was at it's peak last time. Remember, we had ~1,000 supporters in IA. We should have one group that is central for coordination, though one of the Des Moines groups may already have that role - if they will work with us out of staters.

It really doesn't make sense for me to do this, as I already have 6 meetups and don't want 9, also, as an existing meetup owner, I don't qualify for the discount. But if there is someone out there with a PayPal account who is not a current meetup owner, I'd be happy to send them $36 to re-create 3 groups. (must be an established member here).

So what do you think?

-t
 
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Cerro Gordo, North Iowa Fair Mason City 7/20 - 24, 2011 - Att: 40,000 - 1 hour 35 minutes from Ames
 
Clay County Fair Spencer 9/10 - 18, 2011 - Att. 310,000 - Occurs AFTER Straw Poll
 
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Just updated the OP. Thanks malkusm.

I emailed some local YAL groups and the Des Moines, Iowa C4L. Gonna start looking for YALs and C4Ls in bordering states now.

@tangent: I can use all the help I can get on the research on these. What you see in the original OP is basically the extent of it.

Also, I did start a Sioux City Meetup just to try to get the ball rolling, it only has two members right now but I'd be willing to start a few more. I didn't start one here in CB cuz we partnered with Omaha last time and I think thats probably smarter. I'm told we are having a Ron Paul meetup next Tuesday in Omaha to get going here.

I do think seeding the others around the state would be a good thing, just as long as we have a either a central group for coordination or somehow work with the official campaign to keep everybody linked together. Good communication keeps lets everyone know whats going on and encourages the most effective canvassing techniques.

Got any tips on the best "keywords" to use or any other ways to promote the meetups to get more members? Tangent?
 
Just hit up the presidents of YAL chapters at universities of Minnesota wisconsin Illinois Kansas state and Missouri. Hoping for some Ron Paul love. If you guys read this we could really use your help.
 
Malkusm - could you please group your updates together in a single post? You kind of buried my post about rebuilding the IA meetups (#67).

thanks,

-t
 
Our coordination, assumptions and priorities are messed up. It looks like the 3 of us that have been looking up info have been cherry picking, or more likely we are all clicking on all of the links, with no clear distribution of labor. What we should have been doing is saying, I'll take all fairs starting between this date and this one, etc. I looked at the list and said to hell with it. Just focusing on those not in red created more work than just starting from scratch. The list below is the first 4 rows of counties, from the top, of the county map. 42 of them. I sorted by attendance.

Lets look at assumptions and priorities:

Size: Obviously, we want a presence at all the big ones. Where do we cut off what is “big” and a high priority? More to the point, a small fair that a local supporter is willing to staff is more valuable than a mid sized one we can't staff. Small/Medium sized fairs have a couple of other advantages: politicians and political campaigns NEVER visit these places. The impression left is like that of a tourist visiting a foreign country that has bothered to learn the language. (Very good!) Secondly, large fairs are most likely to be near large cities – ie: more liberal, while the smaller and more rural ones are more likely to have more conservative attitudes. Third: a large fair is going to have so much to look at, it's overwhelming and people are more likely to briefly pass by, (hence more need for crowd bait) while smaller ones will have less to offer and people are more likely to linger. One other thing, a 3 day fair with 100,000 attendance is roughly equivalent to a 9 day fair with 300,000 attendance.

Goal: I see too much focus on wining the straw poll and not enough on winning the caucus. Both are important, yet priorities seem to be based, both by distance and date solely on the straw poll. This is a mistake.

Distance: I see distance focused on distance to Ames. This is a consideration for the straw poll, especially if they are going to drive themselves. Within 50-75 miles might be reasonable for putting an emphasis on this, but the PCC stated they will have buses coming from every county, so besides transportation time issues, this is largely irrelevant. What is relative is proximity of supporters willing to staff fair booths. We can divide this into 3 categories of supporters and 3 proximities:

1 – individual or small clusters of identified supporters, probably in the boonies – Prox A
2 – Meetups and YAL chapters Prox A-C
3 – Statewide Fair team probably based in Ames or Des Moines and willing to travel anywhere in the state. Locals and out of state volunteers. Main target is large fairs.

A – Their county (primary)
B – Counties adjoining theirs (secondary)
C – 2 counties away – larger fairs only (or anywhere in the state for the out of state team)

Again, we need to get the Meetups back up!

Staffing density: I see a number of people volunteering to take this fair or that one, this will probably work for a smaller fair that is shorter and has more limited hours. 10Am – 10pm for a week and a half will not. That some of the fairs offer to provide 7-9 staff tickets per booth should tell you something....

Dates: if a fair runs from July 21-26, for venders that sometimes means set up July 20th and tear down July 27th. This is important if you are planning to do another fair 5 counties away that opens on the 27th, or if you are not arriving in IA till the 21st. If you are not set up at the opening, they may not let you set up at all.

Insurance: For small ones, probably not necessary. Larger ones sometimes demand it. There are companies that will offer 1 million of event insurance for a short duration event, and it's cheap.

Literature/handouts: We may be able to get this from the PCC, but shouldn't count on it. We may be on our own here. This could drive up costs substantially, and severely limit the number of fairs we can do.


BLACK HAWK COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 2,000
OSCEOLA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 3,000
DICKINSON COUNTY 4-H/FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 3,500
GRUNDY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 4,200
CALHOUN COUNTY EXPO Est. Attendance: 4,300
EMMET COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SHOW Est. Attendance: 4,800
O'BRIEN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,100
WINNEBAGO COUNTY JUNIOR SHOW & FAIR Est. Attendance: 5,700
BUENA VISTA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6000
IDA COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,500
POCAHONTAS COUNTY 4-H & FFA FAIR Est. Attendance: 6,850
SIOUX COUNTY YOUTH FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,500
PALO ALTO COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 7,600
CHICKASAW - BIG FOUR FAIR Est. Attendance: 8,000
CLAYTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 11,500
HUMBOLDT COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
WRIGHT COUNTY DISTRICT JUNIOR FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,000
FAYETTE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 12,750
LYON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,000
HARDIN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 13,700
SAC COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 14,000
MITCHELL COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 14,500
CERRO GORDO - NORTH IOWA FAIR Est. Attendance: 15,000
WORTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 15,500
ALLAMAKEE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 16,000
FLOYD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 16,500
HAMILTON COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 17,000
BUCHANAN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 20,000
KOSSUTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21000
CHEROKEE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21,000
WEBSTER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 21,600
BUTLER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 22,000
HANCOCK COUNTY JUNIOR FAIR Est. Attendance: 24630
WINNESHIEK COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 32,500
MIGHTY HOWARD COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 34,000
BREMER COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 40,000 July 31-Aug 6 http://www.bremercountyfair.com/
DELAWARE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 42,000 July 11-17 http://www.delawarecofair.com/
FRANKLIN COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 50,000 July 13-17 http://www.franklincountyfair.com/ (Charlie Daniels is scheduled)
WOODBURY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 55,000 Aug 3-7 http://www.woodburycountyfair.com/
DUBUQUE COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 64,000 July 26-31 http://www.dbqfair.com/
PLYMOUTH COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 93500 July 27-31 $115-160 (indoors), $125-150 outoors, tables and tents available for rent. http://www.plymouthcountyfair.org/
CLAY COUNTY FAIR Est. Attendance: 326,500 Sep 10 - 19 $255-$675 indoor, $5.70 - $25.60 per foot of frontage outdoor (price is for whole fair), must carry insurance. http://www.claycountyfair.com/

-t
 
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Literature/handouts: We may be able to get this from the PCC, but shouldn't count on it. We may be on our own here. This could drive up costs substantially, and severely limit the number of fairs we can do.
Click to expand...

This is really a serious concern. The official campaigns refusal to recognize the Meetups/Grassroots may well mean we are on our own here and will have to produce all our own material. This is what I meant about a "potentially hostile relationship" in another thread. :( Right now it seems like if they are not in control and we do things their way, they will not support us. I hope not, but we should plan on that being the case. Unfortunately.

So I guess we should start talking about producing our own materials, how to pay for them and what they should say. As well as distribution of such. At least we will have a lot more control of the content if it goes down this way...
 
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HEY! Imagine this.... A tent with about 12 comfy chairs and a large water cooler where people can cool off, sit and rest for a moment. A large screen TV with all of RP's best of the best playing in a loop!!! A nice sturdy stand at each side of the entrance with all the free brochures. :p

ronpaultent.jpg
 
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nurse_emily said:
HEY! Imagine this.... A tent with about 12 comfy chairs and a large water cooler where people can cool off, sit and rest for a moment. A large screen TV with all of RP's best of the best playing in a loop!!! A nice sturdy stand at each side of the entrance with all the free brochures. :p
Click to expand...

Add fans and offer more than water. Maybe some popcorn.
 
I like that John, Long skinny bags of popcorn with a sticker on it that says "Ron Paul 2012 - Honesty for change"

you know, I bought ink stampers back for john dennis last election. Stamp labels from Walmart with that for cheap.
 
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