District Captain Training

E komo mai to District Captain training with the Convention of States Hawai'i Action Team! Congratulations on being assigned as a District Captain (DC). Your willingness to step into this important role and become part of a leadership team will help to fulfill the mission of COS Hawai'i by building up the grassroots army of educated and engaged citizens.

As a District Captain, you have been entrusted with an incredibly important role in the fight for liberty. You will be the main leader in your district. You will build and lead the grassroots team in your district in the fight to see the Federal Government reined in by the first ever Article V Convention of States. Fellow patriots will be standing side by side in this fight and will be eager to help you every step of the way!

Basics

1. First Things First

Login to COS University, using same login to the COS website, and complete DC 100: District Captain Leadership Training. Once complete download and save your Certificate of Completion, and send it to your interviewer via email.

2. 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 and install the COS Action App to your phone - Pocket Tool for Grassroots Activists! Sign up to be a TelePatriot - TelePatriot Volunteer Checklist. Watch How to use TelePatriot. [Note: As a District Captain it will be your responsibility to encourage your TelePatriot Volunteers to be involved with calling missions.] Read Intro to SLACK. Download and install Slack to your phone, tablet or desktop (iPhone / Android / Windows or Mac), watch Introduction to Slack. Join the two Slack Workspaces (COS Hawai'i & COSDC) via the email invitations that you will receive. [Note: All District Captains should be on the following two workspaces: 1) Hawai'i COS (coshi.slack.com) - Hawai'i Team discussions, and 2) COSDC (cosdc.slack.com) - National District Captain discussions.]

3. Convention of States University

Continue your COS education by completing more courses at COS University. The following courses are strongly recommend for District Captains:

COS 100 Introduction to Convention of States COS 200 Responding to Opposition COS 300 Convention of States Culture COS 400 Leadership & Activism FUT 100 Welcoming New Supporters GOV 100 Constitutional Literacy LG 100 Convention of States Legal Training LG 200 Convention of States Advanced Legal Training LL 100 Legislative Liaison Leadership Training LL 200 How to Influence Your Legislator LL 300 Mobilizing Grassroots for Legislative Success SCC 100 Content Writer Leadership Training SCC 200 Intro to Digital Communication and Activism

Citizen Builder

Citizen Builder (also known as Dashboard) is where we contact volunteers and petition signers, keep track of volunteer activity, and report interactions with legislators.

Watch Introduction to Citizen Builder Watch How to Filter People in Citizen Builder

District Captains have 4 specific responsibilities in Citizen Builder.

1. Processing Followups (This is when we reach out to Petition signers)

When people sign the COS petition their name appears in the Followup Tool. District Captains are responsible for sending a followup email to all new petition signers in their house district and calling petition signers that have indicated that they want to learn more about volunteering.

Watch Basic Followups Tutorial Watch Volunteer Followup Watch How to remove the Volunteer Learn How to process a Followup with Volunteer Interest

2. Processing Volunteer Applicants

When someone applies to be a volunteer their application appears in the Leadership Management Tool (LMT). District Captains are responsible for processing applications for Volunteer Activists submitted by people living in their House District.

Watch Introduction to LMT Learn How to Process a Volunteer Applicant in the LMT

3. Maintaining Potential Volunteer Lists

When people sign our petition, get a followup email, and come back later to tell our computer system that they are interested in volunteering, the only place they will appear is in a specially crafted list. It is the responsibility of a District Captain to have a Potential Volunteers list and to followup with any individuals who appear on it.

Watch Essential Lists Tutorial (Create both these Lists for your House District) Learn How to process Potential Volunteers List

4. 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 Watch Action Reports from the COS Website Action Report Instructions: Download & Print Direct Link for submitting New Action Reports

How to Do it All

After learning all the parts of a District Captain job it can seem very difficult to break it down into an achievable list of tasks, but never fear, we've been there, done that, and made the list for you already!

Every Week Do these 5 things 3x (or more):

Check for Applicants in the LMT Check Followups Check your Potential Volunteers List for new potential volunteers Check your cos email Check slack via app or website

Every Month Do these 5 things at least once:

Meet with or call all of your assigned volunteers. Call or meet with your Senator and Representative. Make action reports regarding your contact with your legislators. Discuss goals for your House District with your Regional Captain. Attend your Regional Meeting with your Regional Captain.

Join the Weekly DC/VOL Training webinar 9pm EST. Register Here. Watch past webinars here.

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 Grassroot Coordinator's name/number in your phone. Expect to use that number often, especially in the first couple of months. Create a COS file on your computer/laptop and save the following files to it: Followup Volunteer Interest Email, Volunteer Applicant Email Plan 3 days a week that you will login to Citizen Builder and make any necessary calls. There should be no more than 2 days between checking days. (e.g. Monday, Thursday, Saturday) Checking more often is encouraged. Plan to attend state zoom meetings  Save the COS Hawai'i Website to your Browser for quick access.