Conservative Future » Best Practice

How to write a Blog….

guest author — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:32:46 +0000

By Alex Clarke

First thing to say is that blogs are not scary literary mountains to climb; they are in fact possibly the easiest of writing as they are so personal and as yet so open. In my other life the moment I bring up writing I bring up planning…and it is the same with writing a blog, it is divided into roughly 4 sections:

Introduction – scene setting, this is usually depending on your topic either a quick sentence, or might end up being rather longer. If you are running a speaker event, its where you describe their career and background of the topic they are talking upon. If you are holding a fundraising event, the introduction is where you tell everyone what it is in aid of….with most CFs it might well be yourselves…which is fine.

Description – if you are running a campaign it is important to explain it, coherently – think about what you are going to say, then write it, check it and if you are anything like me write it again. If its event this is where you describe such as what things were on offer? Did you have crazy snooker: where a variety of obstacles are put on the table to make the game more interesting…you win if you manage to pot within a certain number of shots. Perhaps you went for the more traditional choice of apple bobbing…how successful was your MP if they came.

Conclusion/Summary – did you succeed with your campaign? Or did you achieve the goal for that part of the campaign, if you are writing about an event did the audience enjoy the speaker or did everyone decide the apple bobbing was more fun than crazy snooker?

Continuation – what will you be doing next? Always end looking to the future as it provides imputes and interest for people reading it to maybe come and join in – my own CF has done very well thanks to people reading the blog entries on the CF website and then coming down to see what we are up to.

The most important thing though for a blog is writing style…it must be approachable, it must be interesting, a blog is your advertisement for your CF and what it does. A well written blog which draws in the reader is your aim; or in the case this blog entry…one in which the reader is still awake and interested at the end.

The next most important thing is language chosen; you may have a degree in Medieval English literature; but writing your blog on ‘ye olde english’ is not going to be good for its readability! The same with text language, I would take LOL – as Laugh Out Loud my best friend swears its Lots Of Love; in the end it is better to just write everyone was laughing heartily – there is no word limit in a blog so my advice is let your language be complete and straight forward.

The benefits of regularly updating the CF website are not only the increased ‘e-presence’ of your own CF and the spreading of good ideas around to other CFs; but also the creating of a richer tapestry of CF activities nationwide.

To submit all you need to do is send it to Richard Jackson at the National Executive.

Good luck and if you have any other problems…I recommend you reading other peoples blogs and other entries on Conservative Future site.

For info and help on blogging email richard.jackson@conservativefuture.com

Epsom & Ewell CF hosts Allan Sykes from the UKNDA

Does your branch have a website?

admin — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:52:40 +0000

This might seem like a slight obvious question, but many branches do not have a website. Tools like Facebook mean that some branches have not bothered with an independent online presence – and you must!

We need to be much more professional in the work we do and a good website is a very easy way to do this.

For over 18 months we’ve had CFBranch.com – a free website hosting offer for branches. Thanks to the kind support of Politicos Online any branch can setup a free website in seconds.

We’ve also had a specific template design made for CF branches to use. Examples of this are: Portsmouth CF, Bristol University CF, and Fylde CF.

46 blogs currently use this free service and make sure your branch is one of them!

Is your branch on Twitter?

admin — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:27:10 +0000

The official Conservative Future Twitter account, @ConsFuture, has just broken the 2,000 mark for supporters – is your branch one of them?

Twitter is one of the leading names in new/social media (although Facebook is trying very hard to stop it) and provides an easy way for CF branches to spread their message. You can setup an account for free in a few minutes, and it allows you to share a short simple message with people across the country.

Not sure what Twitter is all about? The website Mashable has put a very useful guide together that tells you all about Twitter, and how to get started.

Tweetminster is a useful website that lists UK politicians & political commentators who are on Twitter.

Several members of the national organisation are also on Twitter; you can follow the National Executive members here, the Regional Chairmen here, and the Area Chairmen here.

So have a look at the guide and make sure your branch gets on Twitter!

Launch of branch chairman mailing list

Michael Rock — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:02:18 +0000

Today sees the launch of a newsletter specifically for our branch chairmen, with an invite to all branch chairman to sign up to a mailing list within Google Groups.

They will receive a monthly newsletter from us – at the same time as the main newsletter that goes to all CF members – but theirs will be much more detailed. We will also send other updates every now or then to them.

We want to be able to offer them as much support as we can – and make sure they are aware of the support they can receive from us.

If you’re a branch chairmen then click here to signup.

We hope this list will be another step forward in improving communications in the organisation.

Involving young people in local democracy

Steve Ricketts — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:21:50 +0000

The Conservative Councillors’ Association has produced a new document: Involving young people in Local Democracy.

I commend the willingness of the CCA Board to embrace and encourage young people to get involved in the democratic process in local communities.

When I attended the CCA Board a few months ago I expressed the need for us as a Party to make Council Chambers more representative of the populations that they serve.

I commend Merrick Cockell (Chair of the CCA Board) and his excellent team for looking at ways for us as a Party to engage with Young People.

The average age of Councillors across the Country is about 60 and as much as we need people from this age bracket we most certainly need more young people. We need young people from all walks of life – These could be young professionals/skilled workers/manual workers/business people – We want a cross section for the sake of Britain! The future of this country is at stake!

Click here to view the document.

Where is your local Conservative Future branch?

guest author — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 23:05:32 +0000

From the Blue Blog: Richard Jackson looks at some of the ways Google Maps are being used by the Party’s youth wing.

The great strength of Conservative Future is not primarily in the national organisation, but in the CF branches located across the country.

The work that CF branches do is varied and worthwhile. Examples include the Exeter City & East Devon branch that helped clean up local flood damage and the Cities of London & Westminster branch that raised £3,800 selling Remembrance Day poppies. CF branches also all make a huge contribution to supporting Conservative candidates by providing an effective and large campaigning force.

With over 180 CF branches we needed a way to easily allow a potential member to find their local branch; this is where Google Maps has come in. Using the free technology we now have a branch map, which lists every CF branch in the country. The Google Maps technology has enabled us to produce it simply and make it easily accessible to members and potential members. By visiting the branch map you can zoom in on your local area and then see the closest branch to where you live, it then lists contact details so you can get in touch.

This is not the only use we have for this simple tool. We have just launched a map for the Norwich North by-election; showing the constituency outline, the location of the campaign HQ and local travel information. Other uses include the campaigning map which lists all CF campaigning events and the ‘CF backs NO2ID’ map we are launching soon, which will list all our University branches that have passed motions against ID cards.

There are near endless possibilities for this technology and it has greatly improved our online presence. These maps look both aesthetically pleasing and allow the user to view data in an easy format.

No related posts.

CF TV – get involved!

admin — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:15:57 +0000

I hope you will have noticed the launch of our Youtube channel: Conservative Future TV. Making videos is another great way to show a particular message in politics, as seen by the success of WebCameron. We want CF branches to promote themselves as much as possible and this is why we have launched our Youtube channel.

We want CF members across the country to be able to record their own videos and then send them to us so that we can get them online for all to see. These can be: campaigning events, event reviews, debates, policy launches etc

How do I take part?

Simply record a video and send to me. You can use anything from a basic digital camera to a mobile phone. You can record one continuous video, or several segments. We can edit the video for you as well. Look at the videos on WebCameron and CF TV for ideas on format.

How do I get it to you?

You can either email me the file(s) or send me a CD with them on.

BY POST – Email me and I will give you the address to send it to.

BY EMAIL – You can email me the file(s) if they are each under 10mb in size – simply send to my gmail – rngjackson@gmail.com

CFers raise £3,800 for troops and their families

Edward Hallam — Mon, 11 May 2009 08:30:37 +0000

The cold evenings of last November seem distant, what with all this Spring sunshine, but it’s only a few months since Conservative Future activists from my own branch, the Cities of London & Westminster CF (CLWCF), were out on the streets every night for two weeks and weekends, collecting for the Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal 2008. This is the second year that the branch has taken part in the Poppy Appeal. Last year we raised over £3,100.

This year we beat that total – raising an astonishing £3,796!

I think it shows acutely that even in these worsening economic times the British value their Armed Forces more than ever.

I’m extremely proud of my activists who came out night after night, even in snow storms and lightning, to do their bit. We had some 30 activists out in total, many signing up for consecutive nights. Without our participation many central London stations and locations would have had no collectors at all.

This project has been our most popular of the year, with people coming along for one night and enjoying it so much they came back for more. I hope more branches will take part in this most worthy of campaigns in November 2009.

CLWCF have already pledged to support the Poppy Appeal in 2009, hoping to take our collective fund raising total over £10,000.

If your branch is interested in taking part and needs any advice feel free to contact me – edward.hallam@conservativefuture.com

How are YOU resisting ID Cards?

Edward Hallam — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:39:49 +0000

Today in Manchester Labour’s expensive, unworkable ID Card scheme was rolled out. The government is oblivious to the illiberal nature of requiring people to carry ID Cards, their own incompetence at securely holding our data, or the fact that any and all ID documents have been forged by those with sufficient impetus to do so. ID Cards will be no different. They’re an expensive imposition on every Briton’s liberty which won’t make our nation safer.

On the same day the University of Manchester Students’ Union tabled a motion, backed by UM Conservative Future, condemning the ID Card scheme. Unfortunately the meeting wasn’t quorate, and so the motion never made it, but it raises the question: What is YOUR branch doing to resist ID Cards?

Students will be amongst the very first people to be affected by ID Cards, and Conservative Future joined forces last year with NO2ID to resist this hopeless Labour initiative.

We want every university CF branch to help fight ID Cards. You can start by putting a motion to your Union condemning ID Cards. Unions tend to be receptive to these motions, and we’ve written a draft one for you to use. All you need to do is replace the necessary details with those of your university and make sure it complies with your Union’s rules and regulations.

If you need any help or guidance with fighting ID Cards, tabling the motion, or hosting a NO2ID speaker on your campus then contact me directly: edward.hallam@conservativefuture.com

More details and resources on our campaign page.

Students from Cornwall act to oppose ID cards

guest author — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:29:40 +0000

By Nicholas Galvin.

On a grey misty morning, twelve young and rather drowsy conservatives roll up on the 05.42 from Penzance carrying with them not just a hangover, but an important petition. This petition contains hundreds of names collected from the Combined Universities in Cornwall, demanding the government drop the outlandish, exorbitant, and worryingly invasive ID card system and its database. Many students were shocked at the plans that have been outlined, and especially irritated that the Labour Government are aiming the initial roll out of cards at students themselves.

After emerging from our stupor, we enjoyed an excellent breakfast in St. James Park followed by a tour of the Palace of Westminster, a very worthwhile and excellent experience. For Lunch, we were treated to both aptly named London Ales and the company of George Eustice, ppc for Camborne and Redruth and head of CF, Michael Rock where much was discussed. Refreshed and reinvigorated we again departed for Westminster. On arrival we presented the Falmouth and Exeter students’ petition against ID cards to Chris Grayling MP (Shadow Home Secretary) who kindly agreed to pass the petition to the appropriate authority. Twelve weary students then headed back to the far west, buzzing with new ideas and with a certain dreaded respect for the term ‘sleeper train’.

If you want to find out more about why we should reject Labour’s ID Cards then click here.

50% of Students will not vote