Welcome to Event Coordinator training Part 2! 

1. Learning the Acronyms & Setting up your Technology

• Convention of States uses a lot of Acronyms. Use this Acronym Guide to find the meanings when you run into new ones (Print the Guide)
• Open the email asking you to confirm your new COS email account and click the link inside.
• Download the COS Action App to your phone (iPhone / Android) and sign into it.
  • Watch the App Introduction Video.
• Watch Telepatriot training videos.
  

• National Training Video
• Michigan Training Video
• Join Michigan COS Slack via the email invitations that you will receive.
• Introduction to Slack

2. Convention of States University (2 hrs)

The COS 300 course will give you a more in-depth picture of how the convention of states team is put together while the COS 400 will give you some specific event related training.

• COS 300 Convention of States Culture (57 min)
• COS 400 Leadership  & Activism (58 min)
• (Optional) DC 100 District Captain Leadership Training (1 hr, 40 min) As an Event Coordinator you will be working with District Captains (DC). If desired, you can use this course to help you understand the DC role.
  

3. Your District Numbers, State Representative and State Senator

Before you go any further you will need to discover your Representative, Senator, House District (HD), and Senate District (SD). Use the instructions below to find your legislators and district numbers, and save that information somewhere that you will be able to refer to easily. If you already know all four of these things go ahead and move on to step 4.

• Find your State Representative and House District
• Find your State Senator and Senate District
  

• Print/Download Instructions (text) (text and images)

4. Citizen Builder: Searching for People & Sending Email Blasts

Citizen Builder (also known as Dashboard) is one way you can find and contact volunteers. 

• Watch How to Get to Citizen Builder
• Watch Searching for People in Citizen Builder
• Watch Using Leaders Directory

5. Email Blasts

If you want to contact all the volunteers in your region or alert all the local signers of an event you have coming up, the simplest answer is often an email blast.

• Watch How to Set Up an Email
• Watch Email Checklist
• Watch Crafting Effective Subject Lines
• Read Best Practices

6. Submitting Action Reports

Action Reports are a critical part of uniting all our individual efforts into one focused movement. They can be made through the COS Action App or the COS Website. Watch the videos below and save/print the instructions for your future reference.

• Watch Action Reports from the COS Action app
• (COS Action App) Action Report Instructions: Print/Download (text) (text with screenshots)   This still needs to be created
• Watch Action Reports from the COS Website
  • (Website) Action Report Instructions: Print/Download (text) (text and images)
  • Direct Link for submitting New Action Reports

7. How to Get Started Planning an Event

The first thing you need to do is start attending your monthly Regional Team meetings so that you can connect with other state leaders in your region. (See our regional maps)

If you have ideas for events this is a fantastic venue to bring them up and brainstorm with your regional team. If you aren't sure what to do ask your local team for ideas.


Some options are:

• Gun Shows (best when attended Oct-April)
• Fairs (most often Spring-Fall)
• Festivals (most often Spring-Fall)
• Parades (Good option around national holidays)
• Car Shows
• Letter Writing Parties (Hosted indoors at any time of year in a small venue or home)
• Convention of States information meeting (COS presentation followed by a Q&A. You could set up a location for another leader to present, or set it up and present yourself)

8. You have an Idea, Now What?

1. Discuss it with your Regional Captain. (If it involves any political entities or groups, run it by your State Director as well.)
   

1. Submit the MI Event Request Form (This will request State Director approval, PR Coverage for the event, and the creation of a calendar entry. If your event requires volunteers you may want to include a SignUpGenius Link on this form.)
   

1. Create a SignUpGenius signup sheet. (This step applies if your event requires volunteer support and you want a signup sheet included on the volunteer calendar.)
   

- Video: Creating COS Volunteer Signups with Signup Genius - Getting Started
- Optional Video: How to Create a Sign Up on SignUpGenius - A Tutorial
- SignUpGenius Website

1. After you get State Director Approval, Submit an Event Payment Request Form to National. Cc your State Director on this email (sarah.santana@cosaction.com)
   

*This step only applies if your event requires financial support from National.*
- Video: Event Forms Tutorials
- Video: Mechanics to Submitting the Event Payment Request Form
- Form: Event Payment Request Form

1. Submit Registration to the event venue and followup until you know everything is set.
   

1. Gather supplies and Volunteers
   

1. Do Event
   

1. Submit Post Event (Only applies for events that received funding.)
   

- Video: Event Forms Tutorials
- Form: Post Event Questionnaire

1. Great Job! Take a short breather then start dreaming about your next event.

9. Setting Yourself Up for Success

While you now know pretty much everything you need to get started, the following steps will help you be truly prepared to do this job.

• Save your State Director and Regional Captain's name/number in your phone. Expect to use these numbers.
  

• Plan to attend your Regional Zoom Meetings every month.
  
  
• Save the COS Michigan Website to your Browser for quick access.
  
  
• Get familiar with the Michigan COS Website, the Volunteer Calendar, and the Event Coordinator's Resources Page.
  
• Get familiar with Slack.

If you have completed all these things then call/text/slack/or email your State Director and let him/her know you are done.

• Sarah Santana - (760) 481-2406 - sarah.santana@cosaction.com