NCADP 2009 Annual Conference: Training for the Long Run

Holiday Inn Harrisburg East

January 22 - 25, 2009

Workshop Sessions of Interest to Students

Basic Arguments Against the Death Penalty: This quickshop provides the main arguments against the death penalty: what are the key messages and when should they be employed?  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Building Your Membership Base Through Event Planning: Our movement has many allied organizations, but how do we find the active abolitionists among their members?  This workshop presents a model of membership building that centers on carrying our message to other groups by getting on the agenda of their events and meetings.  Participants will leave knowing how to identify potential opportunities, reach out and negotiate access, make the presentation and sign up new members while not wearing out your welcome, and close the deal with proper follow up.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Capital Punishment Curricula for College and High School Students and Teachers This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Catholic Theology and the Death Penalty: Specifically for Catholics, everyone is welcome for this review of current Catholic teaching about capital punishment.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Cultivating Your Elevator Speech: The first in a series of communications training programs at this conference, participants will enhance their skills at speaking concisely against the death penalty using the most powerful messages.  Whether you’re a seasoned activist or new to the issue, it is always useful to know how to marshal your arguments and present them it at the drop of a hat.  This interactive training will help you make the most persuasive and effective messages against the death penalty.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Effective Tabling and Outreach: You are taking advantage of opportunities to reach the public or targeted audiences at various events.  How do you draw more people to your table?  How do you get more of them to sign up?  Are you ready to state your case?  This quickshop provides the answers.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

How to Organize a Race to Heal: Supporting Local Anti-Death Penalty Campaign: NCADP is launching a new on-line initiative to enable individuals to fund raise for their state organizations and support efforts to assist murder victim and death row family members.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

On-line Social Networking and E-Advocacy: Looking for tactics to mobilize your membership through the Internet? This session takes a look at action alerts, blogging, and social networking sites.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Organizing a Speaking Tour with Voices of Experience: There is no better way to engage the public than to put them face to face with someone who understands the issue from personal experience.  Whether you bring a single speaker for a one-time event or tour for a week with 20 speakers, there is much to consider if such efforts are to be as effective as possible.  Hear a sample presentation and leave with a how to manual and lists of available death row survivors, murder victim family members and death row family members.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Racism and the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania: Racial disparities in the application of the death penalty are more blatant in Pennsylvania than in most other states.  Learn how racial bias plays out in Pennsylvania and what PADP and others are doing about it.  This session includes recent academic research and an update on the case of Mumia Abu Jamal.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Resolved:  Resolutions Build Membership and Energize Campaigns: Whether it’s a call for a study, moratorium, abolition, or action in a particular case, working with civic, community and faith groups to help them take a stand on the death penalty helps build membership and move a campaign forward.  Participants will learn how resolution efforts fit into larger campaigns, what kinds of groups to approach and how to approach them, planning for passing resolutions, the different kinds of resolutions, and most important, what to do once your resolution is approved.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

Speaking Innocence to Power: This session will examine the rise of the innocence issue and look at how campaign strategists are using increased public awareness of the risk of executing the innocent as one of the most powerful arguments in the debate.  Oklahoma Death Row Survivor Curtis McCarty will share his experience.  This session will be presented on Friday, January 23, 2009.

The Bible and Contemporary US Death Penalty Law: “But it’s in the Bible!”  There are many references to the death penalty throughout the Scriptures, but does U.S. law live up to the strict guidelines and limitations on executions set forth in the Bible?  Join us for a lively and informative examination of the U.S. death penalty through the lens of Hebrew and Christian scriptures.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Using Visibility Actions to Support Your State Campaigns: Do billboards, yard signs and bumper stickers make a difference?  Is it worth it to do that 300 mile march?  Is there a place for nonviolent civil resistance or other direct action in a mainstream, strategic legislative campaign?  Get the answers as we explore ways that visibility actions can be important parts of strategic campaigning.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.

Working at the Local Level to Support Your State Strategy: Whether it is an individual wanting to volunteer a few hours a week, a church or student group seeking to make a tangible contribution, or a chapter of a state organization, the most important thing is to take actions that feed in to the state plan.  Participants will learn about core abolitionist strategies and leave with a clear understanding of how their work locally builds capacity to pass legislation at the state level.  This session will be presented on Saturday,  January 24, 2009.