Blood7

DONATION NOT DISCRIMINATION   

Organising your information picket

An 'information picket' is an opportunity for you to raise awareness of the National Blood Service (NBS) policies and encourage people to give blood in place of those who cannot. Planning a picket or demo can be quite time-consuming, but a well-organised event is sure to attract attention and raise awareness of the issues. Before planning yours, read the tips below to make sure you've got everything covered:

• Organise an event team and give everyone on the team specific responsibilities, such as liaising with the police or media, putting up posters and making banners. Let other students' unions in the area know what you are planning to do; they might be interested in getting involved and could help with some of the organisation.
• Make sure you all agree what you want to achieve with this event. The aims of our campaign are to increase donations from those who are allowed to donate, and to raise awareness of the discriminatory policy. It is not our aim to stop people donating.
• Get permission for your picket - save yourselves lots of hassle by getting everyone on side and fully informed before you start organising. If you are protesting on your campus you will need to get permission from the appropriate person, though this will vary depending on the institution.It may be the students' union president or college principal or vice-chancellor.
• If you're planning to hold a picket outside a blood donation centre away from your campus, make sure you let the NBS know in advance. Write a letter to explain how many people you expect to attend, what times you will be there, and what you will be doing (eg handing out information, talking to donors).
• Make sure you emphasise in your letter that the aim of your information picket is to encourage more donations and not to intimidate donors. Try to make the tone of your letter friendly and relaxed, and invite donor session staff to come and talk to you during the day (this would also be a good way of finding out if you have managed to increase donations on that day). Give them your contact details and ask them to call you if they have any questions.
• It is a good idea to let the police know what you are doing in advance, although you are not legally obliged to unless you hold a march or rally – in which case you will need to get permission from the local authority, and you will need to inform the police ahead of time. We are encouraging our members to hold information pickets or demonstrations, rather than rallies, as they are easier to organise and a more appropriate way of distributing information and engaging people in conversation.
• A really effective picket does not need to have huge numbers of people, and, in fact for this issue, large crowds may be difficult to handle and intimidating for donors. Instead, make sure you have a group of people who are fully informed about the facts and can discuss the issue with passers-by should they need to. Try to look friendly and approachable, and engage donors in conversation. Thank them for giving blood because you can't! Gather as much information as possible before the event to distribute to passers-by. Use the blood pack, campaign posters and briefing sheets to let people know about the policies of the NHSBT. Make the event colourful and fun! See the colourful campaigning info sheet for more information.
• Don’t forget you want as many donors as possible to turn up on the day! Let everyone at your institution know about the donation session, and ask them to give blood if they are allowed to - and make sure they take a donor card into the session to pin to their checklist. Ask your friends, put posters up in halls of residence, get an article in the student paper, or an item on the student radio station if you have one.
• Let local journalists know what you're doing, and invite them to attend. See info. sheet on talking to the press for more tips. Don't forget to collect signatures, using the petition provided, and to send your petitions in to NUS LGBT campaign so that we can present them to the Minister. Unless you have got permission from the blood donation centre you will not be allowed to have a table for your materials, so make sure you have other ways of distributing and carrying them. Make sure you bring lots of clipboards and pens!
• Keep a count of the number of people that you have encouraged to give blood on the day. An important part of the campaign is to promote the act of donating blood – it would be great if you can tell journalists how many extra people you’ve brought along to the session to donate.