A meet-up is a simple, welcoming way to gather before a local action, like No Kings Day or tabling at your local farmers market. You pick a place to meet up, spend a little time grounding together, and then head into the action as a group. It’s low-lift, high-impact — and helps move people from one-time action into deeper organizing with SURJ.

Meet-ups are powerful because they:

• Create a sense of community and support before showing up

• Make it easier (and less scary!) for new folks to take action

• Give people a way to connect with SURJ and learn how to get involved

They’re also a great entry point for SURJ circles and chapters to take meaningful action together—without needing to plan a full event from scratch.

Why now? 

• We know people are fired up—but showing up for the first time can feel intimidating. Meet-ups offer people someone to go with, a reason to stay, and a path to keep going.

Crowd canvassing is getting out to where the people are gathered to build our base and organize more people into long-term, sustained action. It’s a bit like door-to-door canvassing except it’s out in public meeting people– who we know are with us– where they’re at! In this case, we’ll be focusing on canvassing at mobilizations, protests, rallies, and marches.

As we navigate the waves of a turbulent time, we’re seeing record numbers of protests and record numbers of people emerging to meet this moment. We all know the feelings that motivate us to take action: rage, fear, grief, and hope, but most commonly, the desperate feeling of wanting to do something. As people get activated, many of them for the first time in their lives, this is a crucial moment of possibility to cultivate and grow the powerful, durable movements we need to win the world we deserve. Mass protests and mobilizations are powerful and are a crucial component of fighting back against authoritarianism, but they aren’t enough for us to win. To win, we need people who are committed for the long haul, showing up again and again, alongside their friends and neighbors. 

Most people who show up at rallies, marches, and actions are looking for ways they can feel impactful, part of a plan, and connected with others who are feeling outraged too. Our role as organizers is to give people the invite they’re looking for to do something beyond showing up to a protest for a couple hours.

• Get to the event early

  • Show up before the event begins to talk with people while they’re getting settled or waiting for the event to kick off

• Enter at the edges

  • Circulate around the edges of the crowd or in parts of the march where you can move around to talk to one or two people at a time. It’s way easier to talk with someone who’s not standing right in front of the speaker/bullhorn or crammed into a crowd.

• Practice

  • Walking up to a stranger to start a conversation can feel scary, but we’re more likely to do it if we know exactly what we want to say to start. Practice with a buddy or partner beforehand, so it feels second nature when you’re at the event

• Be curious and listen

  • Ask open-ended, curious questions to get people talking so you can hear about what matters to them, what moved them to take action, or what they’re looking for

• Have your materials organized

  • Be sure to have your fliers printed out and ready to hand to people as you talk with them! A clipboard can be super helpful for keeping everything in order AND being able to easily collect their info on a sign-up sheet or show a scannable QR code

• Canvass with a buddy

  • It’s great to have a buddy for safety reasons and to support each other!

1. Identify a local action or event you want to canvass at

2. Find canvassing crew

   • Invite at least 2 other people from your chapter, circle, or community to join your canvass

3. Set a meet-up time

   • Plan to meet up about an hour before the event: 30-45 min for a huddle or check-in and 30 min to canvass the crowd as people arrive

4. Gather/print materials

   • Print a paper sign-up sheet. 

     • The best way to actually get sign-ups is for you to take down people’s contact info on pen and paper. Old fashioned? Yes. Effective? Also yes. 

     • If you just hand a flier to people with a QR code, they most likely will tell you they’ll sign up, then walk away and never sign up. We promise.

   • Print fliers 

   • Print signs.

   • Stickers – we’ll send out stickers later this summer you can use too!

5. Meet up for your canvass

   • Go-around check-ins/introductions 

   • Go over the plan for your canvass

   • Go over the script (sample script here)

   • Practice in pairs

   • Create a text thread for everyone to communicate with each other

   • Set a collective goal for # of conversations and sign-ups

   • Set an end time to re-convene and celebrate

   • Set people up in pairs (if that’s what you decide on)

   • Check how everyone is feeling and launch!

6. Crowd canvass

   • Check in with your crew every 20-30 minutes via text if it’s a large event or face to face if you’re working close by

   • Share stories and celebrations as you make progress toward your goal

7. Debrief

   • Go-around: how are you feeling? What’s one celebration/success you’d like to share and one learning you’d like to share? 

   • Tally

   • Celebrate

   • Next steps

8. Follow-up

   • Follow up with your canvass volunteers by text within 24 hours to appreciate everyone and your success

   • Within 48 hours, send a photo of your sign-up sheet to submit@surjaction.org, so we can add them to our overall tally and make sure they’re signed up. We know it’s a pain to enter paper signups and want to help!

Hi there! How’d you hear about this? Want a sticker? (hand them a sticker if you have one) 

Thanks _____! Great to meet you. Could I ask what brought you out to this action today?

[Listen, ask curious questions like:

• Why does that matter to you?

• Who in your life has been impacted by that? 

• What do you hope we can do together as a community/movement?]

Thank you for sharing that with me. I really resonate, I’m here because….

… And I’m a member of SURJ– Showing Up for Racial Justice. It's amazing to see so many people out today! At SURJ we're really focused on making sure people know what to do when they wake up tomorrow, instead of just feeling overwhelmed by the news. I know that the only way we can put an end to this rising violence and authoritarianism is if we stay connected to show up together in the fights ahead. We need each other to be able to win the changes we need.

I’d love to invite you to check out SURJ! We’re holding a [mass meeting/action hour] on [date] at [time] where we’ll be connecting with others who share our outrage, talking about what we can do, and taking action together. I know there will definitely be other people who share your concern about _____ and like you want to get off the sidelines and get into strategic action. Can you join us? 

Great, sign-up here on my sheet, and I’ll get you registered for the event.

[If they will sign] Awesome, thanks for signing up. And here’s a flier with more info and a QR code for the link to sign up, so you can share with friends.

[If they won’t sign] No worries, can you scan this QR code and sign up right now? It takes about 1 minute to do on your phone. [Once they sign] Here’s a flier with more info and a QR code for the link to sign up, so you can share with friends.