WASHINGTON — With the inauguration just hours away, thousands of demonstrators are flocking to the nation’s capital, soapboxes in hand, to let the country know what is on their minds.

Demonstrating is no easy task, though.

Without the proper strategy, getting a message across to a large audience will be about as effective as the “Caution: Contents are hot” warning on a McDonald’s cup of coffee.

Jos‚ J. Rodriguez, co-director for the D.C. Anti-War Network, is a veteran.

Since 1986, Rodriguez has been helping organizations demonstrate.

This year, Rodriguez says the heightened security surrounding the inaugural events is disappointing to the Anti-War Network.

“Before, there were no restrictions,” he says.

“They put a damper on an individual’s ability to exercise their First Amendment rights. But we will comply with the new restrictions.”

The Anti-War Network plans to use a stage and a sound system, but Rodriguez says none of that really matters when it comes to being provocative.

The group has a permit to erect a stage in McPherson Square, a park about two blocks from the White House.

“There are limits on how big your signs can be, but all you need is three words, big and bold,” he says.

“A sign is great because a newspaper can take a picture and reproduce it and show many other people the action you have done.”

Rodriguez says some demonstrators plan to march to Lafayette Square, adjacent to the White House, and stage a “die in” to protest the war in Iraq.

There, they are apt to be arrested, he says.

Andrea Buffa, national organizer for the protest group CodePink, agreed that being visual is important.

“We live in a very visual society, so you need to get your message, visually, out to the American public,” she says.

Buffa noted a group cannot stop at signs — actions and chants are also important.

But Buffa says a group’s message is first and foremost.

“You need to have your message in as many aspects of your demonstration as possible,” Buffa says.

Some demonstrators don’t need a crowd of people, signs, chants or even a location near the inaugural events.

The group Not One Damn Dime plans to boycott consumer spending of any kind throughout Thursday.

“We realized it was a good idea,” says Massachusetts spokesman Jesse Gordon. “People have power as consumers. I haven’t seen this idea be really valid since Martin Luther King.”

Gordon says he feels this tactic will be far more effective than sponsoring a march to deliver a message of unhappiness to the Bush administration.

“We did that already in 2003,” Gordon says. “And Bush called it a ‘focus group.’ What it takes to send a message is for us to be conscious of our consumer habits and power.”

Gordon says the spending boycott is just a warning shot to the Bush administration. Not One Damn Dime will set other no-spending dates long after the inauguration is over.

“This is just the beginning,” Gordon says.