What's your best opener to engage passersby while tabling?

"Do you have a minute to write a quick note to your member of Congress letting them know you're concerned about climate change? You'll get a cookie for your efforts."

We like to get folks to engage to take an action and then reward them with cookies. Maybe sounds ridiculous, but it works! Once they've written their letter, then we can chat with them in more depth about their interests and our climate solution.

So, Jillian Romsdahl‍ and I led a tabling breakout last week at the June conference. The question multiple people wanted the answer to was "How do we get people to stop and talk to us?" Here are some of our answers, their answers, and a few extra. I hope others will add more to our list!

Climate openers
Jillian suggests making eye contact, and she likes to ask people "Are you concerned about climate change?"
Debbie likes to say "Would you like to take action right now on climate change? It'll only take a few minutes."
or "Would you like to give Congress a piece of your mind on climate change?"

As people come by, catch their eye, smile and say, "Hi, do you have a quick minute to talk climate change?" 
[If you catch someone looking] "Would you like to learn more about our group?"
"Would you like to write a letter to your congressman?"

Tell them about an upcoming local activity ( monthly meeting, Beer Bust, Margarita Social, etc), and have a printed list of dates and details.

Ask if they'd like to be added to your roster so they can get notified of activities. Assure them they are not committing themselves to a meeting. We need to grow our numbers to influence Congress.

Volunteer Suzannah Ciernia‍ shared in a tabling webinar that she starts conversations with "Can I tell you the good news about climate change?" If the answer is yes (usually is, who can resist hearing good news) she then tells them about the bipartisan bill or the CSC.

A conference attendee uses "What do you think CC stands for?" You're probably standing at a climate change sign, and so when they answer correctly, give them a star or sticker as a prize.

Generic non-climate openers
Several conference attendees shared that they don't use climate as an opener at all:
If you're at an event, you can start with a generic conversation opener that isn't related to climate at all, just to get people talking.
"Hey how are you doing [at the farmers' market] today, did you find [some good food]?"
Then you can connect it to the food being grown and sold there.
The ones that stop on their own, you can start by asking a question about them, "What brought you here today?" something like that, often that lets us know where to go next with the person

"How are you enjoying [this event] so far?"
"Isn't this a great event? I'm having so much fun."
Comment / compliment something they're wearing as an opener.
What kind of dog is that?; I like your hat; I like your t-shirt; sure is a pretty day; thanks for stopping by

(Special thanks to Susan, I think some of these are yours :-) )

Other attractions:

Candy, donuts, COOKIES are a good sure-fire attraction. One younger conference attendee vouches for free food working especially well on college campuses. I've even seen pizza at a college tabling event.

Have a volunteer bring a dog, lots of people will stop and pet, or let their children play with the dog while you talk to the parents. (That volunteer's main job may need to be just dog- and dog people- wrangling.)

Have something visual that people are drawn to looking at. Maybe visual art, maybe life size figures of politicians.

See CCU webinar on Creative Tabling for more. 

Option: Assign your best person to just attract folks
If you have one team member that is especially good at getting folks to stop, and others who are shy, assign that first person to be a "Greeter", and when someone stops for them, the Greeter will direct them to another CCL volunteer: "Let me direct you to [other volunteer] who can [answer all your questions / let you know how you can take action]."

Behavioral Research
One attendee shared that research shows : when you give people the option to leave, then it increases the chances that they will stay. Example: "Just curious, do you have two minutes, would you like to answer a few questions about the environment?"
Just the fact that you're respecting their autonomy opens them up to say Yes. Once they do, you can continue:
"Are you worried about what's happening with the climate?"

Final note
As you can see, there's a huge variety of openers and different ones will work on different passerbys and for different volunteers. The "magic opener" is the one that resonates most with you, the one that you feel comfortable with.

Add your own in a reply.
Enjoy your tabling conversations!
 

Are you concerned about the Environment?

Would you like to have your voice heard?

I use, "Would you like to help us solve climate change?"

It often works well, although occasionally I'll get someone who assures me that they already buy organic and have solar panels, and then walks away.

--

Connie Young‍ Ooh, that's a great idea! Thanks David for sharing.

> It often works well, although occasionally I'll get someone who assures me that they already buy organic and have solar panels, and then walks away.

Lisa, ack! I always *want* to lecture people about the need for collective and systemic action on climate solutions, but obviously that doesn't change hearts. What if... (and this is easier thinking this up now rather than in the moment):
 
"Oh, great! Thanks so much for taking those actions. May I ask when / why did you start doing that? Was there a moment?" and try to draw them into conversation about their spark point so that they're reminded and invested before our Ask.

Thanks for sharing everyone. Let's keep them coming.

with gratitude,
Debbie

Get a very big bag of hard, wrapped, candy.  Stand well in front of the table in people traffic. As kids come by check with the parents "does he/she eat candy?", if OK throw candy to kid making a big play on helping them catch it rather than dropping it. Only then engage with the parents and eventually ask if they are concerned about climate change. If "yes" hand over to another tabler then look for another kid. (you can also chuck candies to youth and adults)

Hi,

either "Are you concerned about climate change?  In just 1 minute you can do something about it"  The last part is what usually stopped them.

The guy in charge of tabling for our group told me I'm the champ so since I can't do tabling all the time, I thought it would be best to try to share with other people so they could be champs too.  Of course, there are many ways, but this is what has worked for me.


 The key was letting them know they could actually do something in a minute.

 And it was funny one woman who was going by at first said she was too busy but then she sort of talked to herself and said come on just 1 minute I can't say I'm too busy if it's just 1 minute, it is just too important or something like that.  There is a sort of cognitive dissonance between saying it's important and then saying you can't stop for one minute. But sometimes people really did seem concern but really did not feel that they could stop even for a minute and so then I would try to give them a card to fill out themselves or some other piece of literature and tell them to look on the Web and sign up there.  I don't know where most of the tabling events are, but at the ones I go to, people are walking by fairly fast as they're going shopping at the farmer's market and they typically aren't that eager to stop and often are in a hurry.

 And I also would say when they said they were on too many E mail lists I would make the case that this group was special because they focused on this one issue and focused on helping people know what little things they could do. And that they had a lot of experts studying the political situation so they knew what was the right thing to do at the right time.  And I would say obviously it's hard for one person to make a difference but if we all are coordinated we can have a much bigger effect.

 And I would tell them they could always unsubscribe if they didn't like it or sometimes I would tell them to unsubscribe from other lists that weren't as focused or something like that.

And I would say of course they could do much more, they could do little things or big things, whatever they had time for.

 And like I said I also focused on the positive aspect because some people just are too scared and feel too negative about it and I was able to give them hope. So I focused on the positive news that you could get every week via email about the good things that were happening.

And if they said they were from a different state or country or not a citizen I would say that did not matter that it was International and their opinions and actions mattered.

 I was thinking how I typically thanked them profusely for what they were doing to help,  Telling them they should really feel great about what they were doing, when they signed up or when they signed the card and often they thanked me afterwards. One woman told me my enthusiasm was contagious.

 And perhaps it also helped that I always smile at people and then at least even if they didn't take a card or sign up they had a more positive feeling.

@Debbie Chang  

 Re getting people to stop and talk, I ask, “What do you think about climate change,” and show them the pictorial version of the Yale Communications Six America’s. After they pick one picture, I flip the page, which is on a piece of poster board, and show them the survey results.     

Then I talk about contacting Congress, etc…  I've found this very reliable to get a conversation started. 

Regards, David Sokal, RDU Chapter

@Brett Cease
We got that thing where you put a bean into one of 6 cups

@Rob Johnson

The Six Americas!

https://community.citizensclimate.org/resources/item/19/522