Apia Van Training Intropp

VAN Overview What is it and How do I use it?

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Training Guidelines  Talk to and/or Interrupt the Presenter  Ask Stupid Questions (and smart ones)  Relax and Enjoy yourself! 

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Who is here? » Partner Organizations:  First  Second

» Organizational Roles  Volunteers, Interns, Field and Political Organizers, Staff, Executive Director

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Introduction to the VAN

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Training Session Goals 

Develop basic understanding of the VAN •

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Navigating and Driving the VAN • •

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How do I find what I am looking for? Log-in, Use Quick Lookup, Create lists, Call and Walk sheets, request exports

Understand the power of shared data •

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What is it used for and what does it contains?

Importance of consistent data collection and putting it back in

Know available resources for assistance

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What is the VAN? Practically speaking its two things • Database containing registered and nonregistered voter information. – This includes updated address info and phone numbers, Ward/precinct info, modeling scores, census and NCEC data (for targeting)

• Web Interface Tools to help you use the data

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You & VAN & Catalist:

How does it fit together? State Voter File

VAN Database

www.CEFVAN.com

Catalist Database

Commercial Data © ISSI

What can I do with the VAN? » » » »

Create lists based on a variety of criteria Manipulate those lists (adding/narrowing) Save & re-use searches & lists of individuals Contact individuals on your lists through walk and call sheets & record those contacts » Match & import lists from other sources » Bring data about individual contacts back into the system for use in creating/modifying new lists

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Getting Data Back Into the VAN » Bulk Upload » Palm Pilots » Script View » Barcode Scanning » Grid View » Quick Lookup © ISSI

Technical Details » Security » User ID’s and passwords » New User e-mail to set Password  according to strength rules: at least 7 characters, at least 1 letter, at least 1 nonletter character, is not easily guessed

» You must change your password every 30 days » Timeouts » Must Use Firefox or Internet Explorer 7

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