Katie Solon had the formidable task of presenting the working session on Saturday morning entitled: Getting/Staying Connected to Democrats Abroad—People, Teams, Tools, Calls, Meetings—I kid you not!
She described the WIKI, wiki.democratsabroad.org, which provides Democrats Abroad members with many helpful tools and information such as:
· A list of officers for each Chapter with contact information
· Get out the vote, voter registration, and ballot request information
· Information on groups allied to Democrats Abroad
· Democratic National Committee Members contact information
· Information on Caucuses and Tax Forces
· Up to date summary of rules
· Guide to doing phone banking
This website can be accessed with a password which is available from the Chapter Chair. We also learned that any member may join in DAG regularly scheduled calls by signing up in advance. There is also access to EXCOM and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Asia regions) calls, plus special web forums on a particular topic, with a guest speaker.
The possibility of starting an Environmental Issues Group within Germany was raised and a few individuals expressed interest. Please contact me if you too would like to see this happen or can offer your assistance.
I had hoped that there would also be time to talk about how Democrats Abroad communicates with us, its members, but alas time was up. At least now though, we have an address book of sorts where complaints and suggestions can be directed.
Text by Maryann Schmunk
Photos by Eric Shambroom