Training is an important part of the mission of Texas Democratic Women. Our goal is to prepare TDW members and Chapters for effective action in Texas politics and victory in November.
You may select any of the following workshops to be presented in your locale. Workshop presentations will be tailored to fit the amount of time and level of detail requested. Click on a linked title, or Contact Us for more information.
This workshop will give you suggestions about how to attract new members to
attend your chapter’s meetings and, also, how to motivate them to become involved in
chapter activities. As the words connote, “growth” means ways to increase the number
of new members in your chapter. “Retention” addresses actions and activities that
encourage members to renew from year to year and, even better, to become more
active in chapter activities.
Trainers will give you specific ideas on programs that are effective in various
areas of the state, both urban and rural. Through question-and-answer, you can
explore which ideas might work best in your geographical area. Trainers will provide
actual “how-to” steps, as well as the details in the programs that they recommend.
This workshop provides basic ways to do effective fundraising. The Trainers will
suggest various types of projects and then give you the details regarding how to plan
and carry out the projects.
Trainers will suggest materials, such as forms, notices, flyers, advertising, etc.,
that can be used with the various projects. They will give you their experiences in
fundraising projects that were successful and why they were successful..
This workshop addresses two (2) areas of mentoring: (1) how more experienced
members can mentor and help younger members become more active in TDW and (2)
how your chapter can mentor and sponsor first-time candidates running for office. Note
that this is different than the workshop, “Campaigning 101,” which is designed for
candidates themselves. This workshop will provide suggestions to chapters about how
they can support and mentor candidates.
The Trainers will provide tactful awareness to TDW veterans regarding how they
can step back and turn over the reins to younger members and provide guidance to
those younger members in the process. The Trainers also will describe various ways
that your chapter as a group can support first-time candidates in non-financial ways.
The Trainers will suggest materials that may be useful.
This course is intended to benefit first-time candidates but can also benefit returning candidates. It presents the “how to” of going out into the communities to create broader name recognition and generate more votes.
Trainers will present specific action plans on various topics, such as:
Through question-and-answer, the trainers will give the participants individual guidance and help solve their specific problems.
The chapter Treasurer has four tasks: (1) monthly Treasurer’s reports to the chapter stating the amounts of available funds, expenditures and receipts; (2) entering and updating new and renewing members’ contact information in the TDW.org membership database; (3) sending TDW the chapter’s annual dues and also the dues for individual members in a timely fashion; and (4) scheduled online reports of the chapter’s financial activity to the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). A person who is organized and enters the amounts when donations or expenditures are made will do well as Treasurer.
Trainers will go over the requirements of TEC finance reports, explain TDW’s dues structure, and describe how to submit dues to the TDW Treasurer. Trainers will explain the TDW Membership database, how to access the database, and how to take advantage of using the database for full benefit. Trainers will address the advantages of using Google Drive as online storage of chapter documents and data.
TDW recommends that attendees use their laptops during this workshop and be situated in a venue with reliable Internet access. This will provide a better hands-on learning experience.
Since this workshop is directed to chapter treasurers only, it will be presented via telephone or online meeting application.
In this workshop you will learn how to add or change content on your chapter’s website. As you may already know, TDW provides each chapter its own website at no charge. TDW’s webmaster will help install your website initially. Then your chapter maintains and updates the website. If you ever have technical problems or functions that you cannot do, TDW’s webmaster will help you remedy the problem.
TDW recommends that attendees bring their laptops and that the chapter choose a venue with reliable Internet access. This will provide a better hands-on learning experience.
Basically, there are two (2) types of content to be revised on the chapter website: (1) text, i.e., words, and (2) photos. Trainers will show you how to revise and update both of these. They will explain the various tools in the website program that allow you to change the appearance of the content, such as different colors, fonts, images, and other tools. After attending this workshop, you will have all of the basics that you need to publish an informative, up-to-date website to attract new members and keep current members informed.
This workshop addresses the primary social medium used by the average person, Facebook. The workshop also mentions Twitter and Instagram, the other two social media most frequently used.
TDW recommends that attendees bring their laptops and that the chapter choose a venue with reliable Internet access. This will provide a better hands-on learning experience.
Trainers will show you how to set up your chapter’s Facebook page, and discuss what information is desirable to post on your chapter’s Facebook page. Trainers will instruct how to post content, including photos, and will explain “best practices” in posting. Trainers will give a similar but more brief explanation of Twitter and Instagram.
In this workshop, you will learn the value of advertising your chapter and its activities via both traditional advertising and on the Internet. The primary emphasis of the workshop is online advertising, using online vehicles, such as your chapter website, social media, emails, Mailchimp or Constant Contact.
TDW recommends that attendees bring their laptops and that the chapter choose a venue where there is reliable Internet access available. This will provide better hands-on experience for attendees.
Trainers will briefly discuss the basic principles of advertising. They will describe the differences in the various online advertising media regarding the purposes of each. Trainers will present the basics of each online vehicle in a brief format, with a view to how each of the different vehicles are designed to reach people who use the Internet.
This workshop is presented at the same time as Creating Graphic Art and PowerPoint Presentations. See those descriptions for more detail.
This workshop is useful to learn how to better engage your audience at meetings with the content you are presenting. There are many studies showing that if people hear and see a message at the same time, the retention rate increases greatly. Using PowerPoint at your monthly meetings will give a more “entertaining” atmosphere and can help increase members’ interest in becoming more involved in chapter activities.
TDW recommends that attendees bring their laptops and that the chapter choose a venue that has reliable Internet access. This will provide a better hands-on learning experience.
This workshop is presented along with Creating Graphic Art and Online Advertising. See those descriptions for more detail.
If your chapter is like most others, you create your own political and marketing materials. In this workshop you will learn how to design colorful flyers and other materials to use for political events, advertising, announcements, and the like. Distributing eye-catching marketing materials is vital to creating interest in your events and in your chapter.
TDW recommends that attendees bring their laptops and that the chapter choose a venue with reliable Internet access. This will provide a better hands-on learning experience.
Trainers will provide online resources where you can download images for little or no cost. They also will demonstrate how to use computer applications, such as Publisher and Canva, to design graphic art unique to your chapter.
This workshop is combined with two (2) others: PowerPoint Presentations and Advertising. See those descriptions for more details.
Having a central accessible location where your officers, especially your Treasurer, can go to retrieve information about your chapter is extremely efficient. This workshop will explain how to set up a free Google account, called “Google Drive,” where you can store your chapter’s records online, such as your membership roster. The Treasurer can then copy and paste the members’ current information each month for her reports.
This style of records management will also avoid “reinventing the wheel” each time new officers are elected. You can store procedures, bylaws, minutes, and any other information that is necessary for the chapter’s operations.
This workshop is presented with the Treasurer’s Duties, since the Treasurer primarily manages the data for most chapters. See that description for more detail. The workshop will be presented by telephone.
This workshop presents ideas and “how-to” recommendations about how your chapter can initiate, plan, and host events. These include events that will bring in revenue (fundraisers), increase membership, showcase candidates, celebrate special occasions, and other events. Trainers will give you their experiences on what types of events seem to bring the most attention. Trainers will explain what materials are needed, provide resources, and suggest budgeting.
Hosting events not only builds camaraderie within your membership, but it also makes a statement to the community that yours is a viable, credible organization. This contributes to increasing your membership numbers as well.
This workshop teaches how your chapter, as an entity, can become recognized in your community, while also “reaching out” to women in the community. This workshop is, in part, about “branding” your chapter, advertising your chapter by being out there in the community.
Trainers will give you suggestions about events that your chapter can attend as a group, for example, all wearing chapter T-shirts. Trainers will give you resources for affordable union-made T-shirts and banners. You will learn ways to become involved as a chapter in group activities, such as book drives for youngsters, marching in parades, working at Thanksgiving and Christmas food lines, singing carols at seniors’ residential facilities, and other similar events.
You can do good work while becoming known as a viable, credible organization.
This workshop will present various methods of contacting and encouraging women to vote. TDW and the Texas Democratic Party (“TDP”) are working together to reach women because it is believed that women’s votes could be decisive in Texas in this critical November election.
TDW envisions that local chapters will work with their County Democratic parties in coordinating efforts. County Democratic Chairs and their staff members can supply voter lists of particular demographics and gender for purposes of postcard mail-outs, phone banks, block-walking, and a host of other GOTV activities. TDW encourages local chapters to work with their County Democratic Chairs in organizing GOTV activities.
Trainers will teach how to organize your members to carry out activities such as phone banking, block-walking, postcard mailing, text-banking, emailing, and the various ways to reach voters in your particular area. Trainers will describe how to create literature and give you affordable resources for needed materials.
You will learn the basics of lobbying from City Hall to Capitol Hill, the theories of why lobbying is effective, and the “how-to” steps of actually doing lobbying. This is practical training for participating in TDW’s biennial Blue Ribbon Lobby Day when the Texas Legislature is in session, in addition to local lobbying at City Hall.
Trainers will teach you how to prepare summaries of issues that you want to present to lawmakers, explain why you should talk with the elected official’s staff members and specifically which members of the staff are best to contact, and provide tips on how to persuade staff and legislators to consider your perspective on issues presented.
TDW recognizes that women in rural areas face unique challenges. Trainers will explore with each group the particular obstacle(s) they may be encountering in their local community and tailor specific suggestions on how to meet and conquer those challenges.
Trainers will suggest tools and methods for doing the political work that needs to be done that are low in cost and effective in results. Trainers, some of whom are from rural areas themselves, will share their experiences of what approaches work best in persuading women in rural areas to become active in political matters. Through question and answer, you can learn how to adapt these suggestions to fit your community.
Effective leadership results in stronger, more productive chapters. In this course, you will learn methods of leadership that will help you better manage the tasks carried out by your executive board.
Trainers will explain procedures that facilitate organized and results-oriented meetings. Trainers will review TDW policies that promote the mission of the organization. They will give you practical suggestions regarding how to become more effective leaders.
The TDW membership database is the tool TDW chapters use to report the status and contact information of individual TDW members. It is the glue that holds TDW together. Exporting their database file allows Chapters to easily keep their email contact lists up to date, generate a membership roster, and track members’ chapter leadership histories.
Every Chapter President and Treasurer receives a database user ID and password when TDW is notified of their election. Trainers will show you how to access the database, how to use the information it holds effectively, and how the Treasurer actively inputs data to keep your membership current.
This workshop will be presented as part of the training for chapter treasurers, since it is the treasurers who primarily use the TDW database. See that description for more detail. The workshop will be presented by telephone.
