Put Yourself Out There

I have a ten minute walk to the Metro. What a great time to people-watch and mentally prepare for class. The moment right before I stepped onto the escalator at the Clarendon Court House Plaza – that one moment when I’m usually focused on trying not to trip down the escalator steps - I wondered what the best ways were to be persuasive. My conclusion was that you have to put yourself out there.

As we start to brainstorm our campaigns, focus on establishing credibility, and map out our web design, I think there’s something very basic and instinctual that we need to focus on, and that’s the fact that we will be designing campaigns to get inside the hearts and minds of our electorate to win their support. Of course there’s the standard issue statements of “I’m pro this and anti-that,” but I think we need to take risks, put ourselves out there, and try to inspire. Can we use the web to communicate our stance for a cause in a style that’s rational, defensible, and original, yet still innocent enough to electrify, change hearts, and make the cynics roll their eyes? If this can be done, than that has to be at least as persuasive as any “list of things that will happen if the other guy wins.”