Campaign Analysis
What was your favorite part of preparing for your campaign ?
Creating my website , which served two purposes : showing people what I was about and then demonstrating that on the website itself . I spent a lot of time creating a colorful , eye-popping webpage to show off my design chops , and I also used sans serif fonts and screen reader alternative text on all images in order to show how I ’ d implement one key aspect of my platform , making the scrapbook more accommodating for the vision-impaired .
What was your favorite campaign event ?
Meet the Candidates ! It was a great chance to meet with individual delegates from so many different chapters so that I could hear what they prioritized looking for in a historian , answer specific questions in more detail than Open Forum allows , and quell any concerns .
What do you think was the strongest part of your campaign ?
My one-on-one campaigning : I pushed myself to get my face and ideas out there , because I recognized Historian , being low in the gavel order , was probably not the role people follow most during elections . I went to every social event I could in order to bond with people , attended a dance in a very sweaty and cursed banana costume to become a meme ( hey , campaign stunts for the win ), and simply asked people — at the farmers market , in the lunch line — if they were willing to hear my pitch or take a flier . Surprisingly , a lot of people allowed me to slide into their conversations with my pitch , sometimes leading to some great conversations .
What in your campaign would you have done differently ?
Find ways to boost more traffic to my website , because I was so proud about how I explained my platform goals with clarity and detail ; realistically , though , I would also do the converse of making my fliers less dense and simpler in their messages , to accommodate the shorter attention spans I know we all struggle with .
What tips do you have for speeches ?
Recognize that speeches happen during a pretty long GA , and as much as people want to be civically engaged , this part can go by in a blur for them — so try to make your speech a little bit fun , a little bit engaging , maybe do some call-and-response to shake things up . I got people laughing by structuring my speech around some advice from Q . Cicero on how to win an election , and I think that captured a lot of people ’ s attention .
What ’ s one suggestion you have for candidates running for your office ?
Remind yourself why you ’ re going for this role , as Historian — if the platform and how you see the role is an extension of you and your values , campaigning will be second nature . It ’ ll be easier to show others your platform ’ s significance ( answer the underlying questions : “ So what ? Why do x or y , as you propose ?”) and , by carrying yourself according to your values , you ’ ll be subconsciously campaigning for yourself with everything you do .