Telling People About Your Group

These are just some of the ways we’ve seen Local Conversations be successful sharing news about their upcoming gatherings.

1. Personal Invitations

Getting out the word can be as simple as extending personal invitations to friends and friends or colleagues who are interested in Strong Towns topics: financial resilience, walkability and biking, transportation, housing and so on. You might also find new collaborators at a neighborhood association meeting, city council or planning commission meeting, at school or church, while out for a walk, etc.

2. Online

We see many people using existing online platforms to invite others to an upcoming meeting. They are creating announcement posts on Instagram and Facebook. They’re using sites like Nextdoor or  neighborhood listservs. Others send out email invitations to acquaintances they have a feeling will resonate with the work of the new Local Conversation. 

One recommendation is to not rely ONLY on your group’s social accounts, if you have them already. (It’s totally fine if you don’t.) Think about where people in your community are already gathering online: a popular local Facebook group, a city subreddit, and so on.

3. Using Your Networks

A local Strong Towns group isn’t in competition with other local advocacy groups, such as those working for biking, walkability, more and better housing, safer streets, etc. In fact, what we often see is that the Local Conversation becomes a hub where all of those more issue-specific groups are coming together. Build relationships with the folks in those groups, find where the work of the Local Conversation is going to overlap with others, talk about possibilities for collaboration, and ask if they can help spread the word about the Local Conversation meeting.

4. Advertising

One final way to get out the word is the old-fashioned way: You can advertise your group using old-fashioned posters at coffee shops and parks, or on community bulletin boards. I’ve heard of groups who now set up tables at community events.