[fvc-wat-disc] Sept 8: KPL presentation

[Paul Nijjar]

(CCing to fvc-wat-disc. I do not know whether it will get through
because I do not know if the mailing list has been configured to work
with Yahoo. But I will try.)

Okay, we are booked for a presentation at the Kitchener Public
Library.

I talked with the programming manager at the KPL over the phone today.
She said that if I got a blurb to her by tomorrow then it could be
included in the In Touch magazine. I just sent that blurb to her now
(unfortunately in addition to being lazy my stomach started acting up
this evening, and I have spent a lot of time lying low). Here is the
blurb: 

----

Prime Minister Trudeau has promised to make "every vote count" in
future elections, and the process of electoral reform is currently
underway.  Why might the current electoral system benefit from reform?
What electoral reforms are being considered? What are their advantages
and disadvantages?  How is this electoral reform process structured?
How can we participate in this process?  Representatives from Fair
Vote Canada will address these issues and take your questions.

----

I also made a bunch of other promises and decisions that the Executive
might not like. Here is a summary: 

- The event will be held at the central branch of the library on
  Thursday, Sept 8, from 7:00pm-8:30pm. (We also had the option of
  Sept 1 or Sept 22, and I may have made the wrong choice.) 

- We were originally booked for Meeting Room A, which holds 60 people.
  I implied that we could get over 60 people to the event, so we are
  rebooked for a bigger room (maybe the auditorium? It is not clear).
  Now we have to keep that promise. If only 20 people show up we will
  look pretty bad.

- It sounds as if the KPL is more interested in a discussion of
  different electoral systems, as well as non-electoral system options
  including mandatory voting and electronic voting. However, we should
  still cover the electoral reform process (the committee, Monsef's
  five principles, etc)

- This is a part that will be contentious: the KPL wants this
  presentation to lean towards impartiality, with an honest discussion
  of pros in cons. They are not interested in having us advocate for
  one electoral system in particular, because they do not want to come
  across as being partisan in this issue. I warned the KPL that FVC tends
  to be unkind to FPTP and AV, but promised that I would try to steer
  the direction of the presentation more towards public information
  (Here is what is happening! Here are our options! Here are the
  advantages and disadvantages of each!) and less towards sermonizing
  (Proportional Representation is amazing and you are a stupidhead if
  you don't support it!). I have not seen Byron's presentation in a
  while, but I think that it is reasonably close to something that
  will make the KPL happy. 

- The current format is looking like a 45-minute presentation followed
  by abundant Q&A. This format is not set in stone. In particular, if
  we wanted to put together a panel (with some representatives from
  Keep Voting Simple?) then that would be okay with the KPL too.

  Managing Q&A is going to be tricky, because events like this attract
  people who like to ramble instead of asking questions. Maybe written
  questions are the way to go?

- The KPL can provide a projector. We will provide laptops and other
  equipment.

- We are allowed to have a booth outside the presentation if we want.
  (The KPL told us they will not give us their registration list, but
  that's fine and we were not expecting that anyways.) I am guessing
  we could invite LeadNow and other groups (Keep Voting Simple?) to
  have booths as well, but I do not know for sure.


Next Steps
----------

- Figure out what format the presentation will take. It seems to me
  that Byron's presentation is adaptable if we use a presentation. If
  we want to put together a panel then FVC can be less even-handed,
  but the other panellists might be better at convincing people than
  we are.

- Figure out who will present. My guess is that the natural choice is
  Byron or Sean, since they have done this presentation before. There
  might be other good presenters available as well. I am also open to
  doing the presenting in the worst case. (Really? I am too anxious to
  staff a booth but I can present to a big audience? I guess my ego is
  really that huge.) 

- Work towards getting a good turnout, especially amongst people who
  are not already voting nerds. KPL marketing will definitely help but
  we have work to do as well: 

  + If FVC makes some tweets or Facebook posts, can the rest of us
  retweet/like/promote those items? (Sean says that Anita has a good
  social network, so maybe we can exploit that.) 
  + Can we personally invite friends, family and enemies to attend the
  presentation?
  + We should let LeadNow know that this presentation is happening. I
  can probably email Sylvie if she is not already on this list.
  + We can let people know this is happening via the announcement
  list.

  I am sure there are other promotional ideas as well. We should not
  rest on our laurels about this.

- We should not stop here. Having one prominent organization agree to
  host a talk is good leverage for convincing others. We should reach
  out to the libraries again. It would also be great to hit up service
  clubs (Rotarians, Lions Club), co-ops (we have had good success with
  housing co-ops in the past), church groups, and maybe even the
  remaining electoral district associations (even the Conservatives!).