Get your event on the calendar

1. Choose a date, time, and location (minimum 2 weeks in advance)

    • Choose a date 2+ weeks from now, so you have time to prepare and promote.

    • Avoid holidays when folks will be busy or traveling.

    • Choose a day and time when you can spend 90-ish minutes at the Hour of Action. The event itself is ~60 minutes, with prep and wrap-up on either side.

    • Choose a cadence. Is this a single Hour of Action? Recurring monthly? Recurring weekly?

  • Look for a place that meets the following criteria:

    • Reliable, free WiFi

    • Seating areas that allow your group size to sit comfortably together

    • It’s acceptable to pull out a phone, laptop, or tablet

    • It’s quiet enough to hear one another and/or make a phone call

    • Access to public transportation

    Get creative! Conference rooms, bars, breweries, coffee shops, cafes, offices, campus common areas, personal living rooms, or backyards…

    If relevant, make a reservation or give an on-site manager a heads up that you’ll have a volunteer group coming in. Maybe they’ll offer a drink discount!

    For a virtual Hour of Action, use a video meeting platform like Zoom Pro (paid) or Google Meet (free) that will accommodate a group for an hour or longer.

2. Choose your climate action

  • Climate Changemakers always has a live Action Plan that you can use during your Hour of Action. It is a suite of high-leverage actions that any volunteer in the U.S. can take to make a difference on a timely climate policy issue. If the featured Action Plan feels like the right fit, just plug in.

  • If you’d like to work on another climate policy priority—perhaps something local or more specific to your community—that’s great. Use the resources below to help you plan and prep.

    Note: If you follow these resources ‘to a tee,’ you’ll replicate the Climate Changemakers Issue Briefing and Action Plan format on your priority. If you want something quicker & simpler, just scale it back. You’ll be successful so long as you offer information on the policy opportunity and a clear call to action for attendees.

    ➡️ Select a policy issue and create your briefing document

    ➡️ Select the action(s) that will make a difference

    Once you’ve prepared your Issue Briefing and set your Action Plan, you’ll need an easy way to share these resources with attendees at the Hour of Action. A simple Google doc often does the job!

3. Create an event page (minimum 2 weeks in advance)

At Climate Changemakers, we use a platform called Luma, and we recommend using it along with us! Luma makes it simple to include your event on the Climate Changemakers events feed and send attendance reports right to Climate Changemakers. That said, please use whatever platform is most comfortable for you and your community. 

To create an event page on Luma:

  1. Create a (free) account on Lu.ma 

  2. Follow these instructions to create your event on Luma 

  3. Download the Luma companion app (if hosting in-person events)

To create an event page not on Luma

  • Other options include: Eventbrite, Facebook Events, or just a good old-fashioned email. We can probably cross-post your event to our feed. Email the link to madeline@climatechangemakers.org and we’ll test the compatibility!

Please note: if you opt not to use Luma, we ask that you include a list of attendee names and email addresses in your post-event survey. Good data is the backbone of good organizing!

Woohoo! 🎉 Your Hour of Action is now on the calendar.

NEXT UP: Move on to the Promote, Promote, Promote! toolkit