Rebel Ringers Handbook

Learn what Rebel Ringers do, and how to sign up and make calls. Come along to one of our sessions to get trained and get started! Sign up via: https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/rebel-ringing-events

• What is Rebel Ringing?
• Getting started as a Rebel Ringer
• Guide to using CallHub
• Calling Tips
• About Rebel Ringing Parties

What is Rebel Ringing?

Rebel Ringing is a simple phone call to another rebel, using a script, to invite them to connect with the Rebellion in some way.

Rebel Ringing is all about our personal touch. It's a lovely way for rebels to keep in touch with the wider movement via real human interaction. It is impactful and empowering for you as a caller, for the person you call and for the movement as a whole when ringing campaigns happen at scale.

Rebel Ringer volunteers made thousands of calls in the lead up to The Big One in 2023 alone. This team helped reconnect rebels, some who had not been active for a while, for whatever reason, and steered willing activists to the information and resources they needed to get them to London's amazing 60,000+ people rebellion.

Rebel Ringing is crucial to mobilisation, and it's proven to work.

To get started, join this Telegram channel where we'll share our next drop-in and training sessions.

Rebel Ringers really enjoy this part of XR's work. As part of this team, you'll get to hear what other rebels are up to around the movement, share great stories, often create many new fantastic connections between rebels around the UK and keep our objectives rolling by keeping rebels feeling connected.

Rebel Ringing is a flexible way to help in remote XR work. Our 'phone bank' of XR offers the chance for you to have laughs and meaningful conversations with rebels (and potential rebels) everywhere. We guarantee that chatting with receptive people can be one of the most rewarding jobs you will do. (Even those who don't want any more contact are polite!)

What makes this work so rewarding is that we only contact people who are interested in finding out more about what's happening locally, regionally and nationally. Working with a party of ringers, or independently if you prefer, you will get full support to inform and engage as many people as possible about XR's activities and support.

You will need a phone with free calling minutes, a laptop or tablet, and a free hour or two. Work with others via Zoom, or call in ways that suit your schedule. We ask for an hour or two per week commitment. Every call counts...

Here's a 2 minute video made with one of XR's founders, Gail Bradbrook. Hear what she has to say about Rebel Ringing

Our Rebel Ringer Tools

• Join our Rebel Ringers announcements Telegram channel for info on drop-in sessions and calling campaigns.
• For our drop-in and training sessions, we use Zoom. This way we can get questions answered quickly and share information, or help debrief each other if needed between calls.
• We use another Telegram channel for general support and chat which you'll get access to once you've signed up. Bring your enthusiasm and questions so we all learn.
• Our scripts and contact lists are hosted on CallHub which you need to run in your browser (eg Chrome, Edge or Safari) to log call details.
• We use our own personal phones to make calls and send texts, so volunteers need to ensure they have free calls and texts to do this work.

Signing up as a Rebel Ringer

It’s very important for us to protect the data of all our Rebels. To sign up as a Rebel Ringer, we ask you to fill in a form where you agree to abide by our Data Protection Agreement, as well as our Volunteer Agreement.

Sign up to be a Rebel Ringer

Once you’ve signed the form, an email will be sent to a Coordinator of your Local Group, who will be asked to contact us to vouch for you. If you don’t have a local group, please send us an email at rebelringers@rebellion.earth and we will arrange a meeting or you can come to a drop-in session. If you can get another Rebel to vouch for you, who holds an official role, or is widely known in your area, that works too!

Getting started as a Rebel Ringer

Rebel Ringing Training

We host drop-in session (called Phonebanking) most weeks where we provide training and support. Sign up for an upcoming session. Take a look at the Telegram Announcements channel for updates! We encourage you to come along to at least one drop-in, so that we can help you find your way around CallHub, and also try out role-playing a call in a supportive setting before getting let loose on Rebels at large!

We also have a primer video available to get you started, watch here.

Creating Your CallHub (Call Script and Notes) Account

Once one of the team has approved you as a Rebel Ringer, you will receive your CallHub username in an email with the heading ‘Welcome to CallHub – Activate your agent account now!’ When you click the link in the email and set up a password, you will have access to make calls with CallHub. Remember, to keep your password safe somewhere, but if you do forget it (it happens!), we can sort another for you...

Click here to log in to your CallHub account.

Making Your First Call

1. JOIN A CAMPAIGN. Sometimes we have a national campaign going on, but some local groups ask for a regional or local campaign. Pick a Campaign you want to join or help the wider movement on an on-going national campaign.
2. Read NUANCE. Some campaigns have a lot of elements to them. If there is one available for a campaign, read the linked Nuance document to arm yourself with as much campaign intel as you can. If you have any questions, add a comment on the document.
3. GO OVER THE SCRIPT: In advance of picking up the phone, do read over the script a few times. See how tweaking words and the flow of the call feel. Think about which parts you’ll put your own slant on and how, then say the script out loud as yourself. Hearing yourself say this out loud really helps you get comfortable and come across as natural.
4. PRACTICE & RING. Make a couple of practice calls, perhaps with or to a friend. You might also try recording yourself on your phone then listening back. When ready, get calling!
5. DELETE NUMBERS. Remember GDPR compliance means you need to remove called numbers and texts sent from your phone’s call history.
6. ENJOY then TELL OTHERS about Rebel Ringing. We always need more callers!

Guide to using CallHub

When you log into CallHub, you'll see a list of available campaigns (if any) as in the screenshot above. The user name in the top right has been blacked out. When you click the 'Resume' button on a campaign, it will show you the campaign's script; you then click the blue 'Resume Campaign' (or 'Join Campaign'). This will show you the details of the person you will be calling next.

What is a CallHub Campaign?

A CallHub campaign basically consists of two things: a contact list, and a script. The script might (for example) include an invitation to join the weekly meeting of a Local Group. The contact list contains details of Rebels specifically intended for each campaign; in this example, it might be a list of people who have signed up to XR in the previous month and live near the Local Group in question.

Join a CallHub Campaign

The CallHub homepage lists all currently active campaigns. To get back to the homepage at any time, click on ‘Calling’ on the right of the ‘Extinction Rebellion’ logo.

Click on the name of the campaign you wish to make calls for, and then click the blue ‘Join Campaign’ button you can see highlighted below.

CallHub Campaign Materials

Each Campaign Script has the following materials.

Links at the top of the script:

• NUANCE DOC: this is a link to a doc with everything you need to know about the campaign; any topics involved, campaign goals, nuances, further reading, FAQs & more.
• AUTOMATED EMAIL: this email will automatically go out to the rebels you have spoken to, it will contain links and other goodies that you have discussed on the call (a preview lives at the top of the script).

The body of the script:

• LEFT MESSAGE: this is a suggested voicemail or text message to send to Rebels who do not answer your call.
• MAIN SCRIPT: this is the skeleton guidance for your chat with your fellow Rebel.

The Main Script

Once you’ve joined a Campaign, on the left hand side is a box with the contact details of the next Rebel to call. The script itself will contain some or all of the following elements:

• An introduction or ‘hello’
• Reminder to check you are speaking to the right person. Families do pick up each other's calls! This can pose risks to rebels if you announce you are from Extinction Rebellion before checking you are speaking to the right person!
• Some information to pass on, or a pitch to prepare for an invitation
• Questions with drop down options and spaces for responses, whether typed or selected from a menu
• The ‘Goodbye’

Call Dispositions

At the end of your call you will set the call outcome, aka ‘Call Disposition’, via the dropdown box on the right of the screen. Here are the options and their explanations.

• BAD_NUMBER: the number you dialled was not recognised
• LEFT_MESSAGE: use this if you left them a voicemail or text message
• MEANINGFUL_INTERACTION: select this if the recipient engaged with you
• NO_ANSWER: if you don’t get an answer
• DO_NOT_CALL: if the person does not want to be contacted by phone for any reason
• CALLBACK: if the Rebel asked to be contacted at another time. You can use the menus to select a time. Remember that you may not be the one calling them back and their preferred time may not happen if nobody is on CallHub at that time! Be sure to tell the person this.

Saving the Call

Once you have typed in any notes for your call, and selected the call disposition, you are ready to save your call.

Most often you will want to make another call immediately, in which case you should click on the green ‘Save and Next’ button to continue calling in the bottom right of the script.

Sometimes, however, you may wish to exit the campaign. To finish your calling session, click the white ‘Save’ button in the bottom left. Then leave the campaign via the ‘Leave Campaign’ button in the top left of the screen.

Deleting Numbers and Messages From Your Phone

At the end of our call session, we have an important job to do to continue to protect our Rebels’ sensitive data. This is as much a rebel protection as a GDPR compliance issue.

We will delete any numbers we have rung during the session from our phone’s call history, plus any texts we have sent. We do this directly after a calling session ... not a day or two later! This way, we adhere to the Data Protection Agreement that we all signed to become Rebel Ringers.

Calling Tips

Do...

• DO familiarise yourself with the script you will be using before you start making calls. Take as long as you need to get comfy with the flow and content. Take the time to practise out loud in your own words, before you make your first call. Alternatively, do a practice call with a friend or record yourself on your phone and listen to how this works for you or where you could tweak your tonality or words.
• DO talk slowly. As part of inclusive practice, we need to remember that not everyone can hear as well as we might and people we call may have learning difficulties or not be native English speakers. We are easier to understand and come across as more relaxed and trustworthy when we speak calmly and slowly. It also helps smooth out if we have a strong accent, which can be a barrier when people cannot see our facial expressions or lip read.
• DO smile as you dial. This may seem silly but it actually helps you relax and sets a positive tone. If you smile while you’re calling you will sound friendly. This helps you quickly build rapport with the person on the other end.
• DO be proud that you are doing positive work about which you can feel confident. You are connecting people with what they want to do and with each other. Telephone work gets a bad rap, but you are not selling, your campaign script shows how you are just doing the right thing for the person whom you call.
• DO connect with each person. Imagine that they’re sitting across the table from you. Be yourself so you can engage them genuinely, connecting and asking questions to create a natural back and forth. The more familiar you are with the campaign script, the easier this will become.
• DO speak in the 3rd person about XR; i.e.: "x is happening"; "people in (location) are doing x". This is about sharing information for their benefit, not yours. Avoid: "What I think is..." or even worse, "...what I think people should do is..." People are persuaded by hearing what the prevailing mood of their community is. We’re not persuaded by being told what to do by a stranger.
• DO LISTEN. There is a reason we have 2 ears and 1 mouth; it means we listen better! Rebel Ringer calls are as much about listening as they are about talking. Of course, if time permits, mutual sharing of experience can really leave both sides feeling empowered long after a call...

Don't...

• DON’T feel you have to stick rigidly to the script. In fact, we encourage riffing on it. Rebel Ringing is a tool to allow Rebels to connect. Loosening up means both sides can enjoy a call more.
• DON’T let 'NO ANSWER' get you down. Most of the time people aren’t able to talk or won’t pick up. On average only 1 in 4 calls will result in a conversation, so be prepared.
• Ringing is not a numbers game, but a way to make a connection with another being, who is also concerned about the future of life on our shared planet.
• Don’t APOLOGISE for calling! You are doing an important, positive, empowering job here. People often enjoy being called and helped into the movement. Be proud of Rebel Ringing and happy you are helping achieve the bigger objectives.
• DON’T make assumptions about a person's age, race, gender, or how much they support Extinction Rebellion.
• DON'T judge if they don't want any further calls... Life can be busy.
• DON’T PRESSURE. Rebel Ringing is not like call-centre telemarketing work seeking 'conversions'. We are sharing information and connecting people. If now isn’t a good time for someone to be involved, let's respect that. Let’s be the Regenerative Culture we want to see.
• DON’T FORGET TO DELETE. After your calling session, ensure that the people’s numbers you have called are wiped from your phone’s call and text history. All Rebel Ringers sign a data protection agreement, and this is part of the work.
• DON’T BLUFF. If you don’t know something during a call, then that’s totally fine. You cannot know everything; we are constantly evolving, after all. Be honest and put the question in the Notes and before you go to the next call, if you are in a Zoom party, try to get an answer to their question. Then you can text it to them, or someone can follow-up later on by viewing the notes you left.

About Rebel Ringing Parties

A Rebel Ringer Party with your friends, affinity group or local XR Rebels is not only a lot of fun, it is a way of strengthening your group as well as also being a key tool for growing and strengthening our Movement. Never under-estimate the power of phone campaigns; it's why companies spend so much on this aspect of their messaging... It works!

Please arrange Rebel Ringer Parties for your affinity or local group! If you need any help please ask via our Rebel Ringer Reception channel on Mattermost, or send an email to rebelringers@rebellion.earth. We’ll give you all the info and tips you will need to get hosting.

With a strong base of Rebel Ringers ready to spring into action, we can quickly contact tens of thousands of people to encourage them to join us on the streets for the next big Rebellion. :-)

In the meantime Rebel Ringers will continue to provide that personal connection to let Rebels know about local actions, sources of support and to ensure that as many people as possible join their XR local groups, get involved in remote support, but most importantly, get trained up to organise and stay informed to changes impacting on our on-going Rebellion!