ST. LOUIS • A group of organizers who have held trainings for least 600 potential protesters in the last week have a vision, and they say it's a non-violent one.

“We as a community of people, we aren't going to use violent power,” organizer Michael McPhearson told a group of about 100 who met in a hall on South Jefferson Avenue in St. Louis Thursday night. “We're going to use people power, to change things.”

Included in their plan is one to convene on and shut down Clayton the morning of the first business day after the grand jury announcement in the Michael Brown case.

McPhearson, the co-chair of the Don't Shoot Coalition, joined with Julia Ho, a community organizer with Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment, and others to give the crowd advice on how to protest peacefully and to keep themselves and others safe after the announcement. Another similar meeting was held at the same time at Greater St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Ferguson.

Meetings are scheduled for the same locations from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday.

One by one, members of the crowd introduced themselves by their first names and where they lived – many were from south St. Louis, a few from Arizona, one from Canada. The crowd was diverse, with varying ages and different races. According to a rough survey given by organizer, more than half had been involved in the protests since Brown was shot by Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9. A handful had already been arrested, and about half the crowd indicated they were willing to risk arrest after the grand jury announcement.

“One of the reasons we're here is to have fun and build community,” McPhearson told the group. But he emphasized that people in power don't want to change things. “We're in a struggle that takes a long time to make things happen. In order for it to be a movement, we have to stay in it.”

They expected four areas to emerge as protester “hot spots” after the announcement: the Ferguson police station, the stretch of West Florissant Avenue near the QuikTrip that burned the day after the killing, the business district in Clayton, and the Shaw Neigborhood, where VonDerrit Myers Jr. was killed by a St. Louis police officer last month after the officer said Myers fired at him.

Greater St. Mark and St. John's Episcopal Church at 2664 Arsenal Street are expected to open their doors as “safe spaces” for protesters, where they said police will not be allowed to enter. They also planned to "shut down" in Clayton at 7 a.m. on the first business day after the announcement.

They provided people a list of things they might want to take in supply bags with them as they protest on the streets: paper maps, extra clothes, snacks and water, and plastic bags if there's not a bathroom nearby. Goggles and gas masks were also useful to protect against pepperspray and teargas, they said, and they said people can go online to find instructions for how to make a makeshift gas mask out of a plastic, two-liter soda bottle.

One older woman told the crowd that she didn't feel comfortable looking intimidating to police in a gas mask. “We really want to invite police to be at their best,” she said. “The end game isn't to make relationships worse, but to build relationships.”

The leaders indicated that others might not choose to take her approach, and that was OK.

One instructor, who did not want to give her name, gave physical and mental health tips to the group. “The number one weapon of the police is fear,” she said. She asked the crowd to repeat her sentence, and they did. She showed the crowd how to thump their own chests, echoing their own heartbeats, as a grounding tool. “That's going to make you feel human. And that's a dig at them, because they're trying to make you feel less human.”

She used the acronym HALTS to help the potential protesters. H to remember to feed their physical hunger, A to help them remember to watch their anger, L to remember to go home or connect with others if they feel lonely, T for remembering to go home to rest if they're tired, and S to remember to not take things so seriously. “It should be enjoyable, to tear down this system of oppression,” she said. “Somewhat enjoyable. Gratifying is a better word.”

Janey Archey, 60, a community activist who works on anti-oppression training, said she was impressed by the organization and creativity of this new group of leaders. Just as she can teach them about the history of protest movements, they can teach her about new tools, such as apps for communicating or reporting police misconduct. “I love it,” she said.

Lauren Ratcliff, 24, of St. Louis, said she was on the streets of Ferguson protesting in the days after the shooting and planned on protesting again after the grand jury announcement. She said it was refreshing to walk into a room of people who had similar ideas.

“This is legitimately the start of a larger movement, and everyone feels that,” she said. “And the world is watching.”