Help reach out to voters in your community, or in key battleground states, by hosting a voter contact event using Neighbor to Neighbor.

By hosting a call or canvass, you will be helping Barack by engaging and inspiring volunteers, and reaching out to voters around you or in battleground states about the issues you care about and the issues that this country cares about. When you offer your time and resources by hosting an event, you'll be sending a powerful message to the special interests that dominate old Washington politics when they see millions of people getting involved in this movement.

The new online organizing tool we've launched, Neighbor to Neighbor, allows you to gather with other people in your neighborhood and contact voters near you at their homes or over the phone. Using our Neighbor to Neighbor online tool you can get a list of your neighbors to call or canvass, or you can get a list of voters in battleground states near your home state to call.

This guide will provide you with all the tools and resources you need to host a successful Neighbor to Neighbor event, and walk you through the process of using Neighbor to Neighbor. It is organized into three sections -- Before, During, and After your event – to help you prepare. You should read all sections so that you know what resources the campaign has to offer you and your event attendees, and learn about what you can do to create a successful voter registration or voter contact event.

Step 1: Register your Event

Take a moment to register your event online. Be sure to select "Canvass" or "Phone Bank" for the event type, depending on the type of voter contact that you are doing. Posting your event online means you can get your own web page for your event, invite others to your event, track RSVPs and send details and reminders to the attendees.

Remember, make your event searchable if you'd like to allow supporters on My.BarackObama to RSVP. Make your event unsearchable if you wish only to invite friends and family. The more people you have at your event, the more voters your group will be able to reach together.

Step 2: Invite Friends, Neighbors, and Colleagues

Start with people you know. Think about friends, family, colleagues and neighbors, despite their political affiliation or past political involvement. This is a chance to bring people together who have been involved since the primaries or who were recently inspired by the Convention, people who have a hunger to help organize for the last two months of the campaign. Aim to invite a few dozen people to your event, and try to ensure you have at least 15-20 people there to attend your event.

You may also want to reach out to your larger community. You can find your local My.BarackObama group and invite members to attend by emailing the group’s listserv. You can create your own event flyers and post them at your local coffee shop, grocery store, or library.

Encourage all of the people you invite to RSVP for your event so you know how many people to expect. Also, don’t forget to send an email to all of your attendees using the Email Attendees link on the Manage Your Events page a day or two before your event to remind everyone of the event’s details.

Step 3: Learn How to Use Neighbor to Neighbor

To lead a successful voter contact event using Neighbor to Neighbor, you should begin by becoming familiar with our online organizing tool. Go to "Create Account" and choose your preferred email address. If you already have a My.BarackObama account, please login directly with your username and password. Make sure you record your login information for future use.

To learn more about Neighbor to Neighbor, and to help your event attendees learn more, please view our training videos about calling and canvassing with Neighbor to Neighbor here.

Event Flyers
Create a personalized event flyer.

Sign-in Sheets
Use this sheet to have all your guests sign in.

Issue Flyers
Think about printing out flyers detailing Barack’s positions on important issues.

Obama Merchandise If you’d like to provide your attendees with buttons or show your pride with an Obama t-shirt, you can find these items and others in the Obama Store. Make sure to allow for shipping time.

During Your Voter Contact Event

You should allow about four hours for a successful voter contact event. This time includes signing in your event attendees, downloading voter lists, printing off materials, voter contact time, and entering in your results.

Suggested times: Please don't begin voter contact earlier than 10 a.m., or contact voters any later than 9 p.m.

0:00 Guest Sign-in
Make sure everyone signs in. Wait a few minutes to get started to make sure you don't miss anyone who might be running a few minutes late.

0:05 Welcome from Host
Introduce yourself and share your story. What inspired you to get involved in the campaign and why are you hosting this event? What are one or two experiences in your life that led you to take leadership in this campaign? Then outline what you have planned for your voter contact event and what you hope to get out of it. How many people are you trying to reach? How many people would you like each attendee to personally contact?

0:10 Group Introductions
Have everyone introduce themselves and share their own story about what inspired them to get involved. This will help lay the foundation for or solidify the neighborhood team you'll be working with for the final two months of the campaign. Build as much camaraderie as possible, and have fun getting to know other supporters.

0:30 Training
You can view a training video here from your computer during the event. These videos will review the basics of using Neighbor to Neighbor for voter contact.

1:00 Download Voter Lists
Using their My.BarackObama log in and passwords, have your event attendees log in and download voters to contact. If you are going canvassing together, you can print off a list for a few people to share and complete together. Remember, if you are canvassing door to door, to print off flyers to give out to your neighbors as well as your walk lists.

If you are phone banking, have each attendee bring their own laptop and cell phone. Each attendee can then log in and get their own list of voters to contact, and make calls from the lists on their computer. If you don't have wireless internet, or would not like to give out your wireless password to your attendees, make sure to ask your event attendees to print out their call lists and bring them to your event.

1:20 Begin Voter Contact
If you are canvassing, plan your walk routes, exchange cell phone numbers, read through your script, and get started! Remember the buddy system, and make sure everyone knows where they are going. Plan on being out for about three hours. Bring pens and something to write on, it's absolutely imperative that you keep track of your conversations as you go so you can enter them online when you're done.

If you are calling, you can call directly from the names on your computer, entering the results of your conversations as you go along. Make sure to read through the script before you begin so you are comfortable on the phone, and prepare for possible questions by reading through our of our website to learn about the issues that you and the voters you talk to care about.

3:50 Gather together and Enter Your Results
When you're done contacting voters, it is essential that you log back in to Neighbor to Neighbor and enter your results if you were canvassing or calling voters from a printed list. When you log in you will see a place to report your contacts - if you were canvassing your dashboard will ask you to Report Voter Contacts across the top of your screen, and if you were making calls you can click on "Make Calls Now" and click on the "make call" button next to a voter's name to enter in your results.

Entering in your results will help us to lead a more efficient, productive campaign and learn more about the voters we are trying to reach.

4:00 Wrap Up

Thank guests for coming and plan the next time you are all available to meet again. Also encourage your guests to help out in other ways, like voter registration drives or making a contribution to the campaign to help us pay for our 50-state strategy.

This agenda is meant only to be a suggestion to guide you in your activities. Feel free to organize your Neighbor to Neighbor event according to your preferences.

Capture Information
Enter your sign-in sheets online.

Give us your Feedback
Share any feedback or problems you and your event attendees had.

Thank your guests.
Send thank you emails to all of your guests and let them know once you’ve submitted the rest of your information.

Congratulations!
You just helped Barack get one step closer to victory! It’s people like you who make this campaign for change possible.