Tele-Townhall Meetings

Tele-Townhall Meetings has been a workable technology for the past two years, but I only found out about it this evening when I received a phone call from AmericanSolutions.com inviting me to be a part of their Tele-Townhall Meeting. The call offered me the option to stay on the line, listen, and participate. I didn't ask a question, but I stayed on through the whole thing. Newt Gingrich answered questions from people all over America for about an hour.

There wasn't an annoyance factor. Consider the alternatives: Robo calling is an impersonal experience, cold calling puts people on the spot, and emailings are very easy to ignore. This was an invitation to listen, and offered the option to participate.

The convenience factor is huge. Attendees do not have to be aware of it before hand, nor arrange their day so that they could attend. I was called and had the time. Boom. 

Executing a google search I found only 3,710 results for "Tele-Townhall Meeting". I think that shows that Tele-Townhall Meetings has not caught on yet. It is a useful tool for reaching out to people and speaking right to them. Literally. And unlike a lot of other new methods of organizing, it does not demand that people be internet savvy.

I'm glad to see that some Republicans, such as Rep. Jerry Moran, R- Kan.,  have already discovered and been making use of it. More Republicans should take it up. None of my representatives, delegates, or state parties have contacted me this way.  I will be bringing it to their attention. There are assorted attempts to build right-root efforts outside the party apparatus and it would be wise of them add Tele-Townhall Meetings to their communication and organizational arsenal as well.