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"Go Solar in Arizona" Step-by-Step
Energy Efficiency/Solar Town Hall Meeting Community Outreach Program

Solar Advocates can either follow the step-by-step process below to setup their own Energy Efficiency/Solar Town Hall Meeting or you can call the Arizona Solar Power Society at 602-326-0940 and we will set up everything for you.

Planning a Energy Efficiency/Solar Town Hall Meeting

Here is a step-by-step solar community outreach template that can be used by solar advocates and communities to plan, research, find a venue, select a host, line up speakers, and market a Energy Efficiency/Solar Town Hall Meeting to the general public.

1. Planning Successful Solar Community Outreach Programs
2. Selecting a Venue to Host a Solar Community Outreach Event
3. Defining the Primary Message to Be Delivered
4. Identifying Community Decision Makers to Host Solar Events
5. Identifying Energy Efficiency/Solar Subject Matter Experts
6. Building a Congruent Panel of Speakers
7. Send Invitations to Solicit Speaker Participation
8. Post the Community Outreach Meeting on Local Event Calendars
9. Hire a PR firm to Generate Free Publicity with Local Media Outlets
10. Place advertisements in Newspapers, Newsletters and Business Journals
11. Write up summaries, take pictures and make videos of the event
12. Post them to Meetup, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube.com to Create a Viral Marketing Campaign
13. Document Internet, Print and Broadcast News Coverage to Show Your Success
14. Track the Number of Solar Installations Generated, Jobs Created and Reduced Carbon Emissions
15. Post Testimonials from Satisfied Solar Customers Saving Money on Their Energy Bills

1. Planning Solar Community Outreach Programs

The best way to raise awareness for energy efficiency and solar installations is to conduct community outreach programs. Producing big events that are free to attend is one of the best ways to educate large groups of people quickly. If 100 people attend and they tell five of their friends, suddenly you have 500 people that understand the importance of reducing energy consumption and using solar energy to heat water and generate free electricity.

You would be surprised at the number of people that do not realize that there are hundreds of millions of dollars waiting for them that will pay up to 70-80% of the solar system and installation costs.

Community Outreach Programs should include the following topics:

1. Energy Efficiency
2. Solar Thermal Hot Water Heaters
3. Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Arrays

For each topic, there are two classes of customers:

1. Residential
2. Commercial

For each class of customers there are multiple pools of money available to subsidize portions of the system and installation costs and finance agreements that can be used to pay for the out-of-pockets costs:

1. Federal Tax Credits/Federal Tax Grants
2. State Tax Credits
3. Utility Rebates
4. Energy Efficient Home Mortgages (203K Loans)
5. Power Purchase Agreements
6. Energy District Finance Programs
7. Feed-in Tariffs

2. Selecting a Venue for a Solar Community Outreach Event

Selecting a location is very important to the success of the event. The event needs to be large enough to handle the projected attendance. Possible venues include convention centers, chambers of commerce, economic development offices, public libraries, schools, churches, movie theaters, fair grounds, Rotary Clubs, American Legion Posts, feed stores, and many other types of local social gathering spots including the local coffee shop.

3. Defining the Primary Message to Be Delivered

Following the outline above, you should host multiple events that cover important topics on energy efficiency, solar thermal water heaters and solar power arrays. You should invite subject matter experts to discuss the technologies, the financial incentives available to help customers pay for the installation as well as the potential return on investment.

4. Identifying Community Leaders to Host Solar Events

   Identifying the right community leaders to host important solar community outreach programs is a very important part of the process.

   Good places to start include: Chambers of Commerce, City Councils, Community Services, Congress of Neighborhood Planning Committees, Design Review Boards, Economic Development Advisory, Environmental Councils, Industrial Development, Planning Commissions, Re-Development Commissions, Utility Boards, etc. These groups of people are managed by the people that make the decisions for your community.

   Most of these groups hold open meetings that the general public can attend. Before each meeting there is usually an agenda that is posted that describes what issues the group plans to address at the meeting as well as a formal process that anyone can use to request an opportunity to speak at one of these meetings to bring up new topics they would like to see added to the community's agenda.

   Before interacting with these organizations or asking to be put on the open meeting agenda, you should attend several open meetings in order to learn how the organization works. Learn the format and the procedures the groups like to see followed. Some government bodies will have a website and some even make it possible to view or listen in to the open meetings via the Internet. This is an excellent way to learn how meetings operate and how to best communicate with important elected city and town officials.

   Each group usually has a board of directors or a council. Each member will have their own set of pros and cons on issues that affect the community. It important to learn who the members are that support solar and those who do not. It is also important to learn what types of questions these members usually ask of constituents. When approaching anti-solar officials, make sure that you well thought out responses to negative questions or concerns before you step into the meeting. If you want to succeed it is very important to generate a long list of questions that you think you might be asked. Develop a well polished response for each question. The worst thing you can say is "I don't know." People who do not know usually do not have much credibility.

   Please note that the members of these councils usually have a heavy load on their plates and are pressed for time. The goal is to be quick, precise and be completely prepared before addressing them in an open meeting.

   Once you have identified potential hosts that seem to be pro-solar or pro-environment, put together a hand written invitation that explains the who, what, where, when and why details of the event. Also explain why you think they would be the best person to host a solar community outreach program and how it might help them build better relationships with the people that vote for them and keep them in office. Reducing or eliminating electricity bills, reducing our dependency on foreign oil and making our state a better place to breathe are all topics that sit well with the general public.

   It also helps to develop message points for them to use when they host an event. Prepare them with the facts and figures that back up the business case for migrating to energy efficient solar buildings. Inundate them with interesting background information, which is backed up by third party, independent research reports, white papers and government studies.

   Turning community leaders into solar subject matter experts will not only make them a great host for your event, but also will provide them with sufficient written information that can be used to educate other community leaders and provide proof that moving toward energy efficiency and alternative energy is a very good business decision.

5. Identifying Energy Efficiency/Solar Subject Matter Experts

Once you have identified a community leader to serve as a host, the next step is to line up a panel of energy efficiency and/or solar subject matter experts to confirm the business case for your energy efficiency or solar community outreach event.

It would be wise to include one or more of the following subject matter experts:

Energy Efficiency/Solar Installation Companies - The most important speakers will be people that work in the energy efficiency and solar installation businesses. They are familiar with the different technologies that are available, can explain the installation processes and know how to process the paper work needed to obtain rebates and tax incentives. Most companies will be glad to speak at events because they know it will lead to prospective customers that want to make their homes and businesses more energy efficient and find ways to produce free solar power.

Utility Companies - All regulated utility companies are required by law to promote their energy efficiency programs and renewable energy programs such as solar, wind and geothermal. They are required by the Arizona Corporation Commission to conduct community outreach programs and are always looking for new and cost-effective ways to reach the general public. Attending community outreach programs helps the utility meet their yearly requirements and they will be glad to come and speak at your events.

Economic Development Leaders - Most towns have an economic development council or planning and zoning committees. These officials make good speakers because they understand the economic impact of the jobs and revenue that will be spent in their towns on the products and services needed to complete these types of installations.

Elected Officials - Members of Congress, Arizona State Legislators, and Arizona Corporation Commissioners like to attend these types of community outreach meetings because they understand the importance of energy efficiency and renewable energy for their voting districts. Mayors, City Council Members and Chamber of Commerce Leaders also will enjoy speaking at Solar Community Outreach Programs.

Local Bankers - Senior members of banks also make good speakers. They will be instrumental in developing financial programs needed to finance energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Sometimes banks will work with third party lease finance companies such as Solar City, REC, SunRun or 1BOG to arrange community-wide finance programs.

Law Firms - Senior members of law firms will have interest in attending these events because they it will lead to new prospects that will need help filing corporate paperwork, articles of incorporation, tax structures and starting new lines of law practice such as writing cost-effective power purchase agreements.

6. Building a Congruent Panel of Speakers

   As the organizer, it is your responsibility to line up a panel of congruent speakers. The series of powerpoint presentations should flow in a logical manner like chapters in a book.

For example, you might invite this series of speakers: the Mayor, the owner of a Solar Installation Company, a utility company executive, a member of the local economic development council, and a local banker, real estate agent or title company.

• The Mayor makes a good host because he/she oversees the community and its leaders.
• The solar installation can discuss the benefits of free energy and the cost of a solar array.
• The utility executive can discuss incentive/rebate programs available.
• The economic developer can show how installations will create jobs and inject money into the local economy.
• And the banker can detail creative financing available to help residential and commercial customers pay of any out-of-pocket costs needed.

Making presentations in this manner is a very effective way to explain to the community why energy efficiency and solar installations will benefit not only their own household, but the community they live in, as well as how each household can do their part.

7. Send Written Invitations that Show Your Proposed Agenda

   Send a formal written letter to each of your proposed speakers that outlines the who, what, where, when and why of the event. Suggest a time and date, but be prepared to find a date that will work with all of the parties involved. Make sure that you plan your event far enough in advance that most people's calendars will not be booked.

8. Post the Community Outreach Event on Local Calendars

   Once the event is planned, the speakers are confirmed and the agenda is finalized you can begin posting the event on as many local Internet and organization calendars as possible. Most newspapers, TV stations and business journals have internet websites where they will post your event for free. Other good places to post include internet search engines, craigslist.com, facebook.com, myspace.com, linkedin.com and other social networking websites. The Mayor's office, the Chamber of Commerce and Economic Councils usually have monthly newsletters or email blasts that can be used to make the community aware of your upcoming solar community outreach event.

9. Hire a PR firm to Generate Free Publicity

   If you have a budget work with, hire a public relations firm to write press releases, put them on a newswire service and conduct a media relations campaign to get news stories generated in local newspapers, business journals, newsletters and broadcast media news outlets.

10. Advertise the Event To Generate Community Awareness

    Place advertisements in the local newspaper, business journal, newsletters and broadcast outlets to publicize the solar community outreach event. If you do not have a budget to work with ask the local utility company to help you sponsor the event. All utility companies have very large marketing budgets in place that are setup specifically to market these types of events. They are usually very generous and like to help the communities they serve.

11. Write up summaries, take pictures and make videos of the event

As your events take place, take pictures, make videos and write up a post-event summary. People that attend the events will be eager to tell their friends about solar. If you take pictures and make videos of the event you will be able to use them later to generate more community awareness and promote future events.

For example, here is a video from a solar tradeshow in Phoenix:

12. Post them to Meetup, Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and Youtube.com

A good place to post the information that you record during your events is on popular social networking sites such as Meetup.com, Linkedin.com, Facebook.com, Twitter.com, Myspace.com, Youtube.com and numerous industry BLOGS.

13. Record internet, print and broadcast news coverage to show your success

As you generate news stories with print, broadcast and Internet news website, keep a log and post the articles and videos online so that new solar advocates can find them while searching the internet for information on energy efficiency and solar power topics.

14. Track the Number of Solar Installations Generated, Jobs Created and Reduced Carbon Emissions

Work with local solar installation companies to keep track of the resulting solar installations that occur. Once one home in a neighborhood install solar on their homes many other neighbors will become interested and will follow their example.

15. Post Testimonials from Satisfied Solar Customers

After a month or two interview satisfied customers and post their customer testimonials online so that other prospective customers will be encouraged to make energy efficiency upgrades and install solar water heaters and solar power arrays.

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• What is an Energy Efficient Solar Home?

• What is Solar Thermal Hot Water Heater?

• What is Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Power Array?

• Top 10 Reasons to Go Solar in Arizona

• Call a Local Solar Installation Company

• Advertise on Go Solar in Arizona

• Read Up on Solar Products and Services

• Become an Arizona Solar Advocate

• Build Your Own Solar Community Outreach Program

• Find a Solar Subject Matter Expert

• Take a Solar Training Course to Learn about Solar Energy

• Find a Solar Job

• Support an Arizona Solar Feed-in Tariff

• Promote Energy Efficiency 203k Green Home Mortgages

• Create Green Building Programs for Your City

• Create a Solar Builder Reognition Program for Your City

• Streamline Solar Permits with Incentives and Rebate Options

• Create Solar Educational & Resource Assistance Programs

• Monitor Fraud with the Arizona Solar Watch Dog Program