Planning the next action

Momentum dies between events. The next action gets named at the end of this one — or it does not happen.

The end of a town hall is the start of the next campaign step. If the next action is not named publicly at the close of the event (Beat 7), and named again in the 48-hour follow-up, momentum dissipates within two weeks.

What the next action looks like. A specific, dated, doable next step. Three good examples: 'We are holding a sister town hall in [neighboring county] on [date], hosted by [captain name].' 'We are presenting this scorecard to the county commission on [date].' 'We are organizing a delegation to [official]'s district office on [date].' Bad: 'We will keep fighting.' 'Stay engaged.'

Who owns the next action. The county captain or a named partner organization. Not 'the coalition.' Not 'we.' A specific name. If you cannot name the owner at the close, the next action is not yet real and you should not announce it.

Sequencing across the year. Datos Lab's county captain commitment of two events per year typically pairs a town hall in the spring with an accountability follow-up event in the fall — the second event reviews the scorecard updates and what changed since the spring. This rhythm gives officials something to be measured against and gives constituents a reason to stay engaged.

Linking to the 30/60/90. The next action should be one of the 30-day or 60-day outcomes you wrote down in Module 1.4. If it is not, either the outcome was unrealistic or the next action is off-strategy. Either way, name it and fix it.