2019:Advocacy/How to talk about advocacy so that people do not fall asleep?

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Advocacy/How to talk about advocacy so that people do not fall asleep?

Ebadi · Sunday 14:00 - 14:30

Title

How to talk about advocacy so that people do not fall asleep?

Description

Good advocacy depends on good communication - ability to tell convincing stories and use the right metaphors. And good communication is something that all advocates struggle with. We are used to complicated, expert language and in-depth arguments that we use while conducting advocacy within expert, policy-making circles. At the same time all advocates know that they cannot do their work alone. That it is imperative to engage a broader community of activists, partners and supporters.

The aim of the session is to share experiences of advocacy communication and storytelling by people who are engaged in advocacy on an everyday basis. The speakers will share the experiences of Communia Association and Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation with copyright reform advocacy in Europe. We will present projects that explore novel approaches to communicating our goals. "Future Not Made in the EU" is a speculative design project that demonstrated long-term results of bad copyright law. "Shared Digital Europe" is a vision of digital regulation that aims to shift discussions from the level of details, to talking about a vision of the world that we'd like to see. We will share our philosophy of communicating, and talk openly about challenges we face.

Relationship to the theme

This session will address the conference theme — Wikimedia, Free Knowledge and the Sustainable Development Goals — in the following manner: Advocacy is a tool, through which we can engage organisations and individuals in attaining together Sustainable Development Goals. Advocacy is about connecting with people and convincing them to engage in making the world better. If done well, it can translate abstract concepts like the SDGs into stories, themes and examples that people understand. Good advocacy depends on good communication, or even on good storytelling - which will be the topic of our session.

Session outcomes

At the end of the session, the following will have been achieved: We hope that as an outcome of this session we can create a list of "DOs and DON'Ts" of advocacy communication. Participants will also gain a better understanding of what good advocacy communication looks like.

Video on Commons

Session leader(s)

• Alek Tarkowski
• Natalia Mileszyk

Usernames

• Tarkowski

Affiliation/country (if any)

• Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation (Poland) / Communia Association (Europe)
• Centrum Cyfrowe Foundation (Poland) / Communia Association (Europe)

E-mail contact (optional)

• atarkowski@centrumcyfrowe.pl
• nmileszyk@centrumcyfrowe.pl

Session type

Each Space at Wikimania 2019 will have specific format requests. The program design prioritises submissions which are future-oriented and directly engage the audience. The format of this submission is a:

• Roundtable discussion forum

Requirements

The session will work best with these conditions:

• Room: A room that is good for workshops / discussions, something not too big.

• Audience: People involved in advocacy efforts or interesting in starting advocacy work.

• Recording: No need.