Advocacy 101: Powerful Voice

Changing the world surprisingly isn’t such a far-fetched idea. In fact, people have been doing exactly that for hundreds of years. As long as there is someone willing to speak out for something they believe in, change is possible. And that goes for you too, no matter how old you are.

Change is about voice, powerful voice. How can you get your idea to reach as many people as possible? Well let me just tell you this, if you have an idea and you’re prepared to advocate for the change you wish to see, chances are that other people have the same goal too, but are just too shy to own it. The moment they see you advocating for their idea, people will get behind you and the change will only grow from there.

So how do we get to this? Well you need a simplistic idea and general knowledge of the situation. Use the EPIC structure when writing or giving a 30 second speech to make sure you’ve thoroughly covered your point. You never know in the journey of your life when you meet someone influential that can take your fight to the next level. Capitalize on those moments by having your EPIC speech prepared.

E – Engage:

This is your introduction and being able to tie it to recent newspaper headlines can effectively draw people in.

1. The headline is appropriate to your topic – highlight the good things about the publicity but then talk about what more can be done

2. The headline is completely different and irrelevant to your topic – question why a cat is getting more local publicity than global poverty (for example)

P – Problem:

Let the reader/listener understand why you think this is a problem. Personal experiences/stories are much more effective than quoting stats as they are fairly common knowledge. Don’t make up something if you don’t have a story but look into personal pieces the media has done related to your issue.

I – Inform of solution:

Yes there are always solutions already available but typically lacking in application. For example the existence of world poverty is an issue and this could be better addressed by Canada contributing our promised 0.7% of our GNI as opposed to 0.24% as we currently stand at.

C – Call to action:

Depending on your audience you want to make sure your call to action is appropriate. If you are writing to the leaders of the political parties themselves, you want to ask them to prioritize your issue in the upcoming federal elections. If you are talking to your neighbor, ask them to write to the leaders of the political parties about your issue too. Unfortunately not every letter is published and in the hope to reach the most people it is important to have a balance of quality and quantity.

Together we can make a difference to combat the issues that matter to us and to see the world become a better place in our lifetime. We are the future and must protect that future that is so often overlooked by people hoping to stay in power for only the next couple years.

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