IBC Masterclass

Thank you for taking an interest in developing your animal rights advocacy skills. The skills in this training increase the percentage of people who go vegan, or take steps towards it, after speaking with you.

Other forms of communication exist and they are not invalid. All we ask right now is that you commit to giving this method a try, and see the impact it has on your own conversations.

On behalf of the animals, thank you for being here.

Most people assume that being good at vegan outreach means memorising facts and figures so you can teach them to people on the street.

That assumption is very common, and it is worth spending a moment on why it fails. You can spend weeks watching outreach videos and reading nutrition research, building a stock of details to bring up in conversation, and still find that almost nobody is compelled by any of it. Facts and logic do matter to some people when they make big decisions. Feelings and emotions matter to almost everyone. Think about why you went vegan yourself.

Most of the people we speak to in the street already hold vegan values. They consider themselves animal lovers, or they say they do not like seeing animals suffer. Their actions are simply out of alignment with those values.

If most people already hold vegan values, what is missing? Clarity. The objective of outreach is to help people reach the moment where the connection lands.

The thing that most often gets in the way of clarity.

What it does to a conversation

The inner conflict produces:

• Extreme discomfort
• Anger and defensiveness
• Misdirected emotions

People experiencing it may deny, rationalise or ignore the information. If you have done outreach for a while, you have had someone misdirect their anger at you, and been told that you are the problem, that you are pushing an agenda, or that you have been brainwashed. Understanding the mechanism is what stops you taking it personally. You were very likely once there yourself.

The harder half of the pair, and the one that significantly alters your success rate.

Is she evil?

A thought experiment used in the live workshop. Picture a young girl eating a piece of animal flesh, and answer the question at three different ages.

So what is interfering at 26? Possibly misconceptions about health or cost. Possibly social pressure. Possibly she has just moved out on her own, knows no other vegans, and has no idea how to take action.

Good people acting against their values

A second, shorter experiment. Do you think child labour and unfair working practices are good and moral things? Almost certainly not. Now: in the last two years, have you bought at least one item of clothing without being 100% sure it could not have come from child labour or unfair working practices?

The point being made is that lots of good people sometimes act against their own values, through ignorance or negligence. The comparison is imperfect, because buying animal products definitely supports animal exploitation where the clothing might have done. The principle still holds.

Why your attitude reaches them

For some people you are the first vegan they have properly spoken to, so the impression matters. You want them walking away saying you were kind and supportive and seemed to be on their side, rather than saying that the vegan was an arsehole.

Around 93% of communication is non-verbal. Your body language and facial expressions carry how you actually feel. You have vibed with someone without being able to explain why, and failed to vibe with someone else the same way, because most of it happens subconsciously.

Pre-vegans

Give people the benefit of the doubt. They may not be evil at all. They may be experiencing cognitive dissonance or lacking clarity, and what they need right now is a good conversation with a good vegan coach. Think back to yourself before you were vegan. That person was a pre-vegan who had not made the connection yet, and extending the same reading to the people you meet changes how you speak to them.

This training on its own will not make you a master of vegan outreach. Watching a two hour guitar tutorial will not make you Jimi Hendrix either.

For most of us this is a new way of communicating, and it takes time to absorb. You will make mistakes, which is genuinely useful, because every mistake is something to learn from.

Why debates backfire

Traditionally a debate is two experts exchanging ideas so an audience can decide who is right. For the two people inside it, the goal is to win. Which makes the other person a loser, and nobody wants to be a loser.

That dynamic triggers defensiveness, and it pushes people towards intellectually dishonest arguments as an ego response. Studies show that two people entering a debate with opposing views leave more convinced of their original position. That backfire effect still applies if you are the nicest and most respectful person in the world.

Debates do have a place in vegan activism. Spectators are neither winner nor loser, so they can weigh the arguments freely. On a stage or in a YouTube video, winning a debate is genuinely good for the animals. For one to one conversations on the street, inspire instead.

What a coach does

Teaching is generally one-sided, with the teacher providing instruction. A talented coach knows exactly which question to ask to draw out the information you already have, then adds their own expertise to fill in the gaps.

The second version might sound implausible. The questions in the next two sections have a track record of producing it.

Before any of the questions, you have to open the conversation without triggering the reflex that makes people walk away.

Event formats

The approach itself

Picture yourself walking through a city centre, minding your own business, when a stranger walks up with a smile and says hello. You assume they want something: a charity signup, double glazing, a broadband package, your driveway cleaned. Plenty of people are conflict averse, and the reflex is to look down, cross the road, or pull out a phone and fake a call.

Standard event guidance says to wait 30 to 60 seconds before approaching someone watching the footage. When they turn and leave just as you set off, the usual assumption is that you waited too long. Often something else happened: they clocked you walking towards them, and left because of it.

1. Come in from the side Never from behind, which is startling. Move around as though you are going to stand next to them and watch the footage together.
2. Angle, do not face Turn roughly 30 to 45 degrees towards them without looking directly at them, so you are still watching the screen alongside them.
3. Open with a question

   Do you know what's going on here?

   If they need context, point at your shirt logo or a sign and explain who you are.

   We're all volunteers from a group called We The Free. We're not trying to sell anything today. There are actually thousands of groups just like ours all around the world, and we basically go into busy places, city centres, and show people this footage and talk about where our food comes from.

   Do not pause. Go straight into question 1 without leaving a gap for "no thanks, I'm not interested."

Four objectives, mapped onto the three As. Seeing the footage builds awareness, identifying feelings surfaces values, naming the problem generates accountability, and finding the solution produces action.

Our movement has finite time, money and volunteers, so spending them well matters. Three things that look like objections and are not.

Objection Whac-A-Mole

The trap where your conversation turns into an arcade game. They pop up with "plants feel pain", you whack it down with central nervous systems. Another pops up with "are those leather shoes", and down that goes too. You spend the whole conversation rapid-firing at objections.

Should you be afraid of objections?

No. Objections are your greatest tool. There is a large body of sales training around "getting to no", covered well in Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. Weak salespeople want to hear yes. Skilled ones want to reach the objection so they can help the person past it.

Almost nobody has zero objections to veganism. Even people who went vegan from a single documentary usually had objections before that moment. Talking at someone continuously so they never get the chance to raise one wastes the opportunity.

The six common genuine objections

This is tricky at first and takes practice. It is worth it.

1. Listen, do not interrupt Demonstrate that you are listening and make them feel heard.

   You may have heard the protein question a thousand times, and you may be rolling your eyes internally. For them it might be the first time they have seriously considered veganism, so create the space.

   No private planning

   While they talk, resist silently assembling your rebuttal. That is exactly how you miss their actual point, their real concern, and their signals.

   Listening body language

   • Mm-hmm, and nodding
   • Turning slightly towards them to give them your ear, the natural gesture everyone recognises from dogs
   • Open posture, open palms, no clenched fists
   • Be attentive and present
   Record your own conversations

   Clip a lapel mic to your shirt, hide it in your beard, or put it in your pocket, and listen back afterwards to critique yourself. James found he was talking at people about 80% of the time while they tried to squeeze a word in edgeways, and he had genuinely believed those conversations were effective.

   A good coach flips that ratio: roughly 20% you asking thought-provoking questions, 80% them exploring their values while you give them your time, space and attention.

2. Acknowledge Confirm that you have understood them correctly.

   If I understand you correctly, this bothers you, but your concern is ______. Is that correct?

   Stronger, using the emotion word you memorised at question 5:

   If I understand you correctly, this makes you feel heartbroken, what happens to these animals. But your concern is that adopting a plant-based diet would have a negative impact on your health. Is that correct?

   This does two jobs. They feel heard, and you avoid burning the conversation solving the wrong problem because you misheard them.

3. Empathise Establish commonality, because we are more influenced by people we have things in common with.

   Feel, felt, found

   I understand how you feel. I felt the same way. What I found is…

   Worked through on a health objection:

   I understand how you feel. When I first started thinking about going vegan I felt the same way. What I found is I felt much healthier, I had more energy, I practically jumped out of bed in the morning, and I even lost some weight.

   When you cannot share their position

   Someone says they love the smell and taste of bacon. James once owned a shirt saying everything is better with bacon, and now sees the dismembered body parts of the friends he works to save. Honest empathy on that specific point is impossible, so go one level up and empathise with the value you share:

   I understand how you feel. Like most people, taste is one of the most important things in my life. Having delicious tasting food matters to me, and I love getting together with friends and family and sharing good food. Fortunately, what I found is I enjoy my food more now as a vegan than I ever have in my life.

   Empathise on the value you share, rather than the opinion that divides you.

   Vicarious empathy

   When you lack credibility for a specific claim, route it through someone else. A self-described big guy telling a bodybuilder that he is the healthiest he has ever been will get dismissed on sight.

   My friend had exactly the same concerns when he first started thinking about going vegan. He was worried about his training, his recovery time, his muscle growth, getting the right macros and micros. What he found is he had explosive energy, his workouts improved, his recovery improved, and his friends at the gym started asking what his secret was. Most of them are on plant-based diets now.

4. Ask questions Past, present, hypothetical future. The hardest part of the whole training.

   Find a similar problem they solved in the past or are solving in the present, then apply that same method to their future as a vegan. Section 12 breaks this down in detail.

5. Reiterate Confirm understanding and play back three steps to success.

   So you're going to research vegan meal prep ideas, ask your friend where he gets his protein powder, and go shopping for the ingredients.

   The rule of threes

   People remember in threes. Sun, sea and sand. Blood, sweat and tears. Stop, drop and roll. Marketing campaigns and public information campaigns use it constantly for this reason.

   Voss's rule of three

   A different idea with a confusingly similar name: getting the other person to agree to the same thing three times in one conversation, which triples the strength of the commitment. Applied here, find three angles on one action. "You're going to do some research. Where will you do it? How will you do it? Who will you ask?"

6. Present solutions Fill in the gaps with your own expertise. This is the first point in the framework where you share what you know.

   Experienced outreachers are effectively vegan experts, and the urge to share arrives much earlier than step six. Holding it until here is the discipline, because people believe what they say.

   Do not hand out homework

   A stack of leaflets, websites and a long list of documentaries makes going vegan feel enormous. Pick one or two highly relevant resources instead.

   Take out the closing card, which carries We The Free on one side and 3movies.wtf on the other, leading to a library of vegan resources. Take a pen out, get down on one knee, and write your one or two specific recommendations on the back. The physical act of a personal recommendation is part of what makes it land.

   • Bodybuilder: The Game Changers. Pitch it with enthusiasm, because it is about elite athletes going plant-based for the athletic advantage rather than for ethics.
   • Cooking and taste: Challenge 22, a free mentor programme that answers questions, helps with cooking, and connects people with a nutritionist.
   • Convenience and eating out: HappyCow, which maps vegan restaurants anywhere in the world. Free to use on the web.
7. Gain agreement End with a call to action. Always ask for it.

   Be direct, and use their name if you have it:

   So Bobby, I've really enjoyed talking to you, but I'm really curious: will you do it?

   A softer alternative if the rapport is not quite there, which leaves the ball in their court:

   Will you do anything differently following our conversation today?

   If the answer is no because vegan food tastes like crap, that is simply another objection, and you work it.

We cannot tell you exactly which questions to ask, because it depends entirely on the person in front of you. Here is the method underneath it.

We want to help them overcome the objection they face. We could simply tell them the answer, except that people believe what they say. So we ask questions to find out whether they already hold the knowledge to solve their own problem, and the simplest route is finding out whether they have solved a similar problem before.

Three tenses, two at a time

Find a similar problem in the past, or one they are solving in the present, then apply that method to the present or the future as a vegan. A future framing that works well:

Imagine a month from now, you can't sleep at night, you're tossing and turning thinking about what happens to animals, and you know you can no longer contribute to this. How would you solve this problem?

Drill into the specifics

Vague answers are useless to you. Keep going until you have the actual mechanism. Here is the bodybuilder meal prep example played out:

Then move it across:

How would you learn which plant-based foods are protein rich? Where would you look? How would you decide which website to trust? Where could you find vegan meal prep ideas? Do you know any vegans at the gym who could tell you where they buy their protein powder?

A second worked example: cost

A student says they cannot afford expensive vegan food. The misconception usually comes from seeing a fifteen pound plant-based burger on a pub menu without fries, without realising that is a speciality item carrying a huge markup.

You could just tell them that rice, beans, vegetables and legumes are the cheapest food in the shop. Instead, start in the present:

When you go shopping, what are the most expensive items you buy? Is it the rice and broccoli, or the steaks and chicken breast? How often do you eat those, every day or as a once-a-week treat? What budget-friendly meals do you cook in between?

Then apply it to the future:

How would you learn to budget when shopping for plant-based foods? Would you eat manufactured vegan alternatives every meal, or occasionally as a treat? Where would you look for budget-friendly vegan recipes? What would you type into the internet? Are there any Facebook groups you could join? Who could you ask for advice?

Two techniques that slot into steps 3 and 4 when someone is still on the fence.

Reframing sacrifice as gain

A lot of people see veganism as something they have to give up. Reframe it as something they stand to gain.

The answer is almost always some version of "that would feel great."

What if questions

For testing commitment when their solutions sound shallow, or when you simply do not quite believe them.

Let's say you try to veganise that beef hot pot and it's really not to your liking, the consistency of the beef alternative isn't right. What would you do? Would you try a different one? Who might you ask for help? Where would you look for support?

What if you get a recommendation for a vegan protein powder and you don't like the taste or consistency? How would you make sure the next one is better? What if the meal prep recipes are complicated, you can't find the ingredients, and you're not getting the gains you hoped for? How would you make sure it doesn't have a negative impact on your health and your training?

Two full run-throughs from the workshop, played straight rather than with curve balls, so that the seven steps stay visible. If your real conversations are constantly full of curve balls and desert island scenarios, that is a sign you are falling into debates.

Talking points for the six most common genuine objections. Treat these as prompts for drawing out solutions the person already has, rather than as scripts to recite.

The questions that come up most often at the end of a live workshop.

Religious objections

These arrive in two forms: that the religion permits animal products, or that it requires them for ceremonies, offerings or sacrifices.

In practice this is usually not the actual reason somebody is not considering veganism. It works as a safety net that lets them avoid confronting their real fears.

Then set religion aside and go looking for the real objection:

So it is possible for me to be vegan and also be a proud member of your faith. Let's put the ceremonies to one side then. Apart from religion, is there anything else that would be difficult? Would it be hard knowing what to cook or where to shop? Are you worried vegan food might be expensive or not taste as good? Would there be any social pressure?

Running the full seven steps on a religious objection also works. Acknowledge that being a good Christian matters enormously to them while what happened to the animals genuinely bothers them. Empathise, perhaps through a religious partner or friend. Ask how they learned to practise their faith in the first place: which prayers to observe, how to dress, how to act, how to treat other people, who they asked. Move it to the present: if you wanted to become vegan without affecting your ability to practise, how would you do it and who would you ask? Add what if questions. Reiterate the top three. Fill in the gaps with something specific, such as the Vegan Muslim Initiative. Then ask for the commitment.

Talking to farmers

The assumption that this framework fails with farmers is wrong. The same principles apply, and the biggest one is refusing to treat them with contempt.

Outreaching a group

Groups arrive together, often young lads being rowdy and trying to stir up trouble.

At a 3 Minute Movie Challenge you can largely design the problem away by separating them onto their own screens and then having separate conversations, which is ideal. At a TV street outreach event you cannot.

Speak to the leader, the influencer of the group. If they are being rambunctious and making jokes at your expense, joke back a little to build rapport. Step slightly outside the framework in tone while still treating them with respect and kindness. If the leader is confrontational and you are clearly not getting through, remember that you have an audience, and winning that one logically is acceptable, because spectators are not losers in the exchange.

When a conversation is going badly

This happens far less once you actually use the method. Jen's account: before the training she thought she was good at outreach and still got into arguments constantly, often walking away feeling terrible. Since implementing the method it hardly ever happens, and it does not escalate the way it used to.

Early defensiveness or anger is a red flag that you have fallen into a debate. Revert to the framework and rebuild rapport.

Know when to walk away. If it keeps escalating, or you feel your own emotions rising and you are not in the right place to handle it, end it cleanly. "Thank you so much for the conversation, I hope you have a good day." We also run a conflict resolution workshop covering de-escalation techniques.

It is impossible to prepare for every eventuality. The most useful thing you can do now is practise.