ORGANIZATION

GROUPS

The Deseret Region is organized on six levels: Neighborhood, District, City, County, State, Region.

Neighborhood Group

The most basic level is the Neighborhood Group. In this group the residents within a neighborhood will gather together to identify and solve problems. Within each Neighborhood Group a representative is elected. The representative gathers within other neighborhood representatives within a district to form the district group.

District Group

A district is an area of a city that is made up of several neighborhoods. The District Group works to identify and solve problems that are beyond the scope of a Neighborhood Group. A representative is elected from the district to gather with other district representatives. These representatives form the city group.

City Group

A City Group identifies and solves problems for the city. And as with other levels a representative is elected. This representative gathers with other city representatives to form a County Group.

County Group

The County Group deals with issues that are beyond the scope of a single city. An elected representative from each county, in a state, form a State Group.

State Group

State groups deal with the issues beyond the scope of a single county. Representatives from each state form the regional group.

Region Group

This group addresses the issues of the entire region.

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OFFICERS

In order to make the various projects successful, and to fulfill the necessary duties, you should establish officers within the groups. These officers will have specific duties to fulfill.

Administrative Officer

The Administrative Officer is any person who elected to oversee the Deseret region efforts in a group. The Administrative Officer oversees all the activities in the divisions and groups under him or her. The AO ensures that all actions which are decided upon are completed.

Financial Officer

The Financial Officer is anyone who is elected to oversee the finances within a Group. The Financial Officer reports to the Administrative Officer. The Financial Officer also oversees all lower financial personnel and officers.

Other duties of the Financial Officer are:
- Keep financial records for the Group
- Authorize Group spending
- Oversee fund-raising operations
- Work with Planning and Publicity officers to determine fund-raising activities
- Work with Administrative Officer to determine Group budget

Logistics Officer

The Logistics Officer is anyone who oversees the acquisition and distribution of supplies within a Group. The Logistics Officer reports to the Administrative Officer. The Logistics Officer also oversees all lower logistics personnel.

Other duties of the Logistics Officer are:
- Communicate with other logistics officers for the transfer of equipment
- Distribute publications

Publicity Officer

The Publicity Officer is anyone elected to oversee publicity within a Group. The Publicity Officer reports to the Administrative Officer. The Publicity Officer also oversees all lower publicity personnel.

Other duties of the Logistics Officer are:
- Oversee and organize publicity activities
- Work with Financial Officer to setup fund-raisers
- Determine effective publicity methods for units
- Write and publish press releases
- Find magazines and newspapers to publish articles
- Organize, create, and publish publications

Planning Officer

The Planning Officer is anyone elected to oversee the planning within a Group. The Planning Officer reports to the Administrative Officer. The Planning Officer also oversees all lower planning personnel.

Other duties of the Planning Officer are:
- Schedule meeting times and places
- Work with Financial Officer to set up fund-raiser
- Request speakers for rallies

Membership Officer

The Membership Officer is anyone elected to oversee the membership needs within a Group. The Membership Officer reports to the Chief. The Membership Officer also oversees all those lower Membership personnel.

Other duties of the Membership Officer are:
- Hand out new member booklets
- Keep unit membership file
- File membership records

Representative

The Representative is elected to represent the group in the next higher group. For example the Neighborhood Representative respresents the Neighborhood in the District Group.

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ORGANIZATION

The chart below depicts the organizational structure of the various Groups.

ACTIVITIES

Members of the Deseret Region will be involved in a variety of activites. One of the most important activies is the weekly meeting. This meeting is where problems in an area are discussed and solutions are found. Other activies may be different types of gatherings and publicity activities.

Meeting

One a week all the members of a Group should meet together to discuss problems in their area and find solutions to those problems. Out of the representatives(not the officers) of a Group one should be elected as Scribe, and another should be elected as Assistant.

The Assistant will conduct the meeting. S/He will introduce the program of the meeting.

The Administrative Officer will act as discussion moderator. His/her duty is to make sure the discussion is orderly and progressive.

The scribe will write down the minutes of the meeting. The minutes are a summarized record of the points discussed at a meeting. These will be kept in a record book that the Scribe will keep and bring to the next meeting.

To start a meeting the after all the Officers and representatives are assembled the Assistant will call the meeting to order. The meeting will open by reading any announcements, such as upcoming events and activities. These announcement may be from the local groups or from supervising Groups.

After this the Scribe will read off the last meeting's minutes. The minutes will contain any unfinished discussions from the last meeting.

The Administrative Officer will then open discussion by continuing previous topics, bringing up new topics, or opening the floor for members or guests to bring up topics.

After all discussion has concluded or time has expired, the Administrative Officer will give control of the meeting to the Assistant. The Assistant will then make any closing remarks and close the meeting.

If you need some ideas for what to discuss in you meeting click here.

Gathering

At least every other week there should a small gathering. Gatherings will be organized in almost all levels. Usually neighborhoods will join together to organize a gathering. There are many different formats for these gatherings. A gathering may be organized so a speaker will address those present. It could also take the form of a parade, or any number of other activities.

The organizing of gatherings should be done by the Planning officer and Publicity officer from each unit that will be involved. They should find a time and place every other week where the gathering can occur. They should also decide on the type of gathering that will occur. There are a few suggestion for gatherings here.

The basis for a Gathering is something that is visible to a large number of people. Gatherings should display professionalism.

Parade

A parade must be organized very well. Before the parade happens any permission from local governments should be received. All members should meet at a specific place and time. Members should at least have banners that they will carry during the parade.

There should be certain section of members to carry flags and banners. Another section should be to hand out flyers, pamphlets, and other publicity. Also music should be played and songs sung during the parades.

The path of the parade should be carefully selected. It should first of all comply with legal requirements. The route should be made so it passes past government building, and other populated areas and business centers.

It is also important to note about the publicity material that will be handed out. Much of our paper materials may end up thrown away in the street. Since it is contrary to our purpose to leave garbage on the street, we need to have a small group following after the parade to pick up any of our materials that have been discarded. We don't want to be part of the trash problem! Units doing marches need to clean up after themselves. But clean up should be done so it is not noticed. The clean up group is not officially part of the march but follow behind walking among the people and pickup up our thrown away materials.

Rally

A rally is when members gather together to listen to a speaker or speakers. These rallies should generally be smaller only a few neighborhoods gathered together. It is important that members invite people who are not members to the rally. This way they can learn more about the Deseret Region. The point of the rally is not to educate members, but to educate people who are not members.

A group of members should meet before the rally to set up the location. Banners should be hung in appropriate locations. They should prepare the area where the speaker(s) will be and where the audience will sit. There should be two groups of chairs with an isle down the middle. Any needed audio equipment should be set up and tested during this time.

Generally the speaker(s) at these rallies should be a member from the area where the rally is taking place. This gives local members the chance to practice giving speeches.

Members attending the rally should bring at least one person who is not a member. They should arrive at the rally five or ten minutes before the start. They should sit next to the person they invited and fill the seating area from the front to the back. Any people sitting towards the back should be asked to move to fill any empty seats in the front.

When the rally starts the speakers and the officer conducting will enter from the back through the isle between the two sections of chairs and walk up to the seating area for the speakers. When the speaker(s) first enters everyone attending should stand up. After the speakers and conductor reach the podium the speaker(s) should take their seat(s). The conductor will stand at the podium and signal everyone to sit down. If the Groups has some flags, they should be marched in ahead of the speakers. The flags should not be posted until the speakers and conductor are in their places. Also the speakers should not sit down until after the flags are posted.

The conductor will then call the rally to order and introduce the speaker(s).The conductor will go over any important business. After this the speaker(s) will begin.

The speaker(s) should speak for fifteen to twenty minutes. During the speeches members should be attentive and interested, even though they will probably have heard the topic before. They should cheer and clap at the proper times.

After the speakers are done the conductor will close the meeting.. No one should leave until after the speaker(s) and the flags have left.

It is preferable that smaller rallies, which happen on the district and city levels, should happen as often as can be done. Large rallies such as on the county and state level is to happen once every month. Large rallies should be conducted in the same way as the local rallies.

The main purpose of a rally is to show other people our purpose and determination as a movement. It is also another way of making people aware of Deseret Region.

Service Project

Identify areas in you Group where service projects may need to be done. Contact government leaders to find out some service projects you can do.

The members of the Group should gather with appropriate clothing and tools for the service project. Projects should be done with maximum effort so that a good impression is made of the professionalism of our organization.

Publicity Activity

The publicity activity is any activity that involves using the members of a groups to inform a large numbers of people about the Deseret Region.

Publicity activities may include:
- Handing out flyer, booklets, etc.
- Putting up posters

The purpose of these activities is to provide many people with useful information about the Deseret Region and how it is beneficial to them.

The first step in having a publicity activity is planning. The Publicity Officer and Planning Officer of a group should meet together and determine which activity will be the best to do. They will also decide what day to have the activity on. Activities should generally be planned one or two weeks in advance.

The purpose of the Publicity Officer in this process is to provide his/her knowledge of what publicity will be most effective for the people of that area. S/He will also provide his knowledge of publicity in general.

The purpose of the Planning officer in this meeting is to provide knowledge of the Group schedule. S/He should know what days are best for everyone in the Group.

They should bring their knowledge together and plan out what publicity activities will be most effective for their area. Both officer's should keep in mind which activities have already been done previously. A good variety of activities should be scheduled so that no means is neglected. A Group should not have activities week after week of putting up posters, but seldom handing out flyers.

Also remember that publicity activities are not limited to the main activities discussed in this article. Officers should read the other information about publicity to get a better idea of what is effective. Officer's should not be afraid to come up with their own activities. If you find something that is effective do it. Share effective ideas with your supervising officers, maybe they will be effective in other areas as well.

After an activity is scheduled the other officers in the unit should be informed. They should then inform the members of the Group.

Publicity activity ideas:

Handing out flyer, booklets, etc.

Before this activity starts, the flyers, booklets, etc. should be ordered, or printed out. This should be done in advance so that materials have arrived and are ready one week before the activity happens.

Members should meet at a specified time and place. The available members should be divided into groups of two or three. Each group should be given a large amount of flyers, booklets, or whatever will be given out. Each group will then be assigned a specific area to hand the material out. Each group will then go to their assigned area and hand out the material to everyone they see.

Material should not be simply handed out and forgotten. But the members handing out the material should interact with the people they give it to. They should talk about the Deseret Region. They should inform people and answer questions. They should make sure people know how to contact their local branch of the Deseret Region. If the flyers contain enough information they can be taped or hung of a person's door in a door to door activity.

Putting up posters

Before this activity starts the posters should be ordered in advance so that posters have arrived and are ready one week before the activity happens.

Members should meet at a specified time and place. The available members should be divided into groups of two or three. The available posters should be divided up between the groups. Each group will then be assigned a specific area to hand the material out. The groups will then go to their assigned area and hand out the material to everyone they see. Groups also need to have sufficient tools for putting up posters.

Posters should be put up in places where they can be easily seen. They should stand out against their surroundings. Posters should be put up only in places where they are legal to be put up. Permission should be acquired before putting up posters in certain places and on private property.

PUBLICITY ACTIVITES MUST HAPPEN AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK.

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GET STARTED

It may take some time to get a Group within your area fully operational. However a group can be organized with just one person. At this phase the most important part of the Group is the Publicity Division. Until there are enough members in a Group, Publicity should be the primary focus of all activities.

If you are the first person to organize a unit of the Deseret Region in your area you should start with the City Group. However, if there is already a Group in your city your should contact and join them.

To organize a City Group you must take charge of organizing the group. If you are the first and only person you will need to take on all of the responsibilities of the officers. You will need to function as the Administrative Officer, Financial Officer, Logistics Officer, Publicity Officer, Planning Officer, and Membership Officer.

Your primary responsibilities are to inform other people about the Deseret Region and bring them into the Group.

If, when you are starting the Group, there are two or you, or you have successfully recruited another person, your first responsibilities are publicity and recruiting. These duties should be divided between the two of you. The division of responsibilities should be based upon your skills and abilities.

Once there are three to six people in a group the officer positions should be divided between the people with each person being given responsibilities based on their abilities. However, one person cannot be both the Administrative Officer and the Financial Officer.

When there are seven people in the group six people should have their own leadership position. At this point the group is fully functioning. However members should still be active in recruiting.

Once there are ten or more people in a group the temporary fulfillment of Officer positions is completed. There should be an official election to determine who will fill Officer positions.

If you ware interested in starting a Group in your city please contact us at info@deseretregion.com.

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MATERIALS

Here you can find materials relevant to the operation of your group. For pormotional materials we offer two kinds. The first are free downloadable. They are designed to be printed off at home. The second type is much more professional and can be purchased from our store. We offer these two options so that Groups will have flexibility in their promotional tools.

FLYERS One Sided, Four to a Page
FLYERS One Sided (Purchase at Store)

If you have any requests or ideas for materials please send them to info@deseretregion.com.

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DISCUSSION IDEAS

1. How is electic power provided?
2. What can be done to more localize power production?
3. How much money do people spend on food?
4. What can be done to increase local food production?