by Kelsey Gibb, president of the University of Idaho's student animal rights organization
1. Smile and be nice—no matter what.
No one likes an angry activist. Always, always, always be friendly and respectful to the people you interact with. Regardless of what is said, you want to make sure that you and everyone tabling with you take the high road at all times—no exceptions. If confrontations develop explain your position while resisting the urge to defend it—being a voice for animals is always the right thing to do, and people who attack you for it will learn more from your silence than they would from your words that they would ignore anyway.
2. Give away free things (and be sure to advertise that they're free!).
People, especially students, are drawn to free things. At the University of Idaho (an agricultural college in an agricultural state), we worked hard to make sure that our group was thought of as friendly, nice, and positive to make people more open to our message; giving away things with no strings attached was a great way to do this!
The free things can be free for you also—we had a "free hugs" table for International Hug a Vegetarian Day where we gave away lots of free stickers and literature along with the hugs—free, and fun, for all.
DVDs are super fun to give away—it's rare that people will turn down a free DVD (when offered with a smile, at least) and the video footage is very effective at motivating people to stop eating animals!
Last but certainly not least, stickers, stickers, stickers—not only do people love them regardless of their personal views on animal rights, they'll want to share them with their friends! This helps you—and more importantly, animals—in two ways: It provides random opportunities to talk about animal rights later on, and it "brands" your campus with an animal rights message!
Remember, peta2 will give you free DVDs, stickers, and literature to table with and will keep you stocked all year long!
3. Educate yourself and make sure that your group members do the same.
The Web site peta2.com is just one of the wonderful ways that you can learn about and stay up-to-date on the many different animal rights issues in existence. Don't get me wrong—I'm certainly not saying you have to be a self-taught genius to help animals, but it certainly won't hurt if you can talk intelligently about animal rights issues. If nothing else, read the literature that's on your table during down time you may have while tabling—it might surprise you how much useful information is packed into one leaflet!
4. Table frequently.
Speak out for animals as often as possible. The more you table, the more animal rights awareness is raised on your campus. People know you're serious about what you believe in, giving you—and animal rights—more legitimacy. Tabling is like celebrating—there's always a reason for it, and if there isn't you can create one, promoting a club event or a veggie holiday or just tabling for animal rights issues in general. If you run out of ideas or simply need a little encouragement, the folks at peta2 will be more than happy to help you out.
