How to get your new county party off to a good start
Here's is a first-hand account of how Ken Bisson in Steuben County, Indiana, publicized, organized, and
conducted the first meeting of a new county Libertarian Party.
First I'll tell you a bit about my county. Steuben County has 30,000 people with 7,727 voters in
November 1998. Of these, 49 voted straight-ticket Libertarian while 1,517 cast straight-ticket Republican
and 1,006 straight-ticket Democrat ballots. The Libertarian Party statewide candidates matched the
statewide averages of 2%-4% here. There has never been a Steuben County meeting of Libertarians before.
The first non-Bisson Steuben County resident joined the LP after I did an OPH [Operation Politically
Homeless] booth here July 1997. As of February 1999, there are seven LP members here (four of them
Bisson family members!).
In advance of the meeting, I mailed inviting letters to the three LP members (not in my family), nine
folks whose names I had collected at the '97 OPH booth and six other friends or prospects on my list. I
had the meeting listed in the "Community Calendar" area of the local daily and local weekly newspapers.
A reporter from each paper called back and did a story, which they also printed this week.
Last night I phoned nine of the above invitees. I was told eight would be attending and I expected
six. I arrived at the meeting site (Pizza Hut) 10 minutes early and found two people already there. One of
the LP members had brought a friend! Within the next eight minutes there were 11 of us there. Everyone
was actually early! Of the seven Steuben LP members, five attended. (Only my two teenagers were
missing.) The six non-members were a diverse group. That was perfect for the meeting I had planned.
I used the Advocates "Seminar 1" technique of starting with a few passes around the table with each
person answering easy, getting-to-know-you type questions. Everyone gets involved and gets to share a
bit about their interests. I then explained the growth of the Libertarian Party, and shared that as more and
more people joined us, they should find an active group they could "connect" with. The group at the
meeting represented the type of folks that would be joining in the next few years -- politically interested
people with a respect for individual responsibility.
I told them that by learning what type of group they would like to join, I could develop a type which
new members would enjoy. Our purpose at the meeting would be to explore the opportunities. I then
asked Ellen (my wife and fellow Libertarian) to lead 20 minutes of "brainstorming" to collect ideas about
successful local groups they had joined in the past and suggestions of what they would enjoy in a Steuben
County Libertarian group.
We then selected five of their ideas for more discussion. They included concepts like the timing of
meetings, subject matter, goak, and locations. Everyone felt comfortable sharing their ideas and
contributed. After a brief Q & A opportunity, I closed with a final "roundtable" asking each attendee to
share a "highlight" of the evening. This is another valuable Advocates technique. It gives the meeting a
clear ending and everyone leaves with a focus on something they enjoyed as a result of their attendance.
On the way to the car, I had three people offer to help man a future OPH booth and two other general
offers to help in the future. Most importantly, Ellen and I had FUN. We are eager to move on from here
and build a Libertarian group in our community! I think we're off to a great start.
