How to Craft Effective DFL Messaging for Rural Impact
Sponsored by the DFL Rural Caucus in partnership with National Messaging experts from Connections Lab, George & Lisa Greene and Antonia Scatton
Suggested Donation for Registration: $30 per student or $100 per unit (4 students). Classes will be recorded and made available to attendees.
This is an online workshop through Zoom. Classes will be held on February 25, March 25, April 22, and May 27 from 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm CST.
This four-part virtual workshop will teach you how to find the value in the message and frame it for more meaningful and productive conversations that have a lasting impact on your audience.
Based on field-tested and proven cognitive science research, this series of dynamic webinars is designed to equip rural Democrats with the tools, strategies, and skills needed to amplify our values and expand our influence within rural communities. Participants will gain:
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Effective Messaging Techniques: Learn how to communicate in a new way that resonates with rural voters, enabling them to internalize our worldview and use it to evaluate policies. This training will focus on making complex ideas relatable and accessible.
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Community Building for Local Organizers: Discover strategies to foster a strong sense of community within local units. This will empower organizers to draw in more supporters, build momentum, and activate local networks to spread the message.
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Messaging for Candidates and Elected Officials: Ensure that local candidates and current officeholders feel confident and equipped to align their messaging with our broader strategy, fostering consistency and unity in communication.
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Strategic Messaging for Key Rural Issues: Develop a comprehensive messaging plan for five critical rural issues, ensuring that the message is clear, compelling, and aligned with local needs and values.
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Optional Online Discussion Group: An optional space for participants to continue the conversation, share best practices, and exchange lessons learned from the webinars, ensuring ongoing collaboration and improvement.
By the end of the series, rural Democrats will be empowered to shape the political narrative in their communities, create meaningful change, and drive collective action for a better future.
While this training is not designed to give students a list of exact messages, it will give them a foundation so they can create messaging on any issue that cuts through and connects with whomever they are speaking with.
Meet Your Teachers
George F. Greene has trained thousands of Democrats in the practice of framing in Minnesota and around the U.S. and has worked in media, political messaging, and activist training for decades. He founded the Connections Lab hosting on-location and online training sessions for Democratic activists. They’ve trained candidates and organizers through partnerships with multiple state organizations including the Minnesota DFL and Missouri, Michigan, Washington, and Georgia State Democratic parties. George has been active in Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party and is a long-standing member of the State Central Committee. His work as Chair of MN Congressional District 3 helped make it consistently a national leader in voter contact and voter turnout.
Learn more about Connections Lab here: https://connectionslab.org/
In 2023, they joined forces with Antonia Scatton to create the Turnaround Project, a joint project of the Association of State Democratic Committees. For more than 25 years, Antonia has been behind the scenes, working for, training, and advising political campaigns, party committees, and advocacy organizations across the country. She is an expert in political messaging and framing. She studied cognitive linguistics with messaging guru and best-selling author, George Lakoff, and worked closely with him for more than a year to develop practical ways for people to apply his discoveries about the science of messaging in their day-to-day work.
Read Antonia’s “Reframing America” Substack here: https://reframingamerica.substack.com/
TESTIMONIAL: 2024 Minnesota Election and How This Messaging Worked in the Field
In October of the 2024 cycle, Antonia came to Minnesota and worked closely with the Rachel Bohman for Congress (MN01) campaign to develop and employ strategic messaging. Building off Antonia’s research and work with focus groups, she guided the Bohman team in developing a message around the economy.
See this piece for the basic premise of this messaging
The Bohman campaign began using this message (almost exclusively) in early October. In every situation, the response was immediate and transformative. Voters at the doors were in tears and told the campaign “that they’d never felt so understood”. Staunch Republicans would immediately agree with the messaging and at one Farm Bureau event, an older, very Republican farmer came up to Rachel and told her he couldn’t wait to tell his son what she’d just said. At a large candidate forum, the waitress at the venue started crying – and sought the candidate out afterwards – when Rachel used this messaging during her speech
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This messaging created a connection with the voter which led to a better conversation and created a point of shared values and agreement. As we’ve since heard from nearly every national pundit, focusing on the economy should’ve been our topline message. The Bohman campaign truly feels that this messaging “cracked the code”.