Despite attending an "activist" undergrad school, I've never attended any protests -- since I'm out of the US at the moment I can't attend this one even though

Despite attending an "activist" undergrad school, I've never attended any protests -- since I'm out of the US at the moment I can't attend this one even though I would like to. But here's the question, what can be done to yoke a protest and popular frustration to a particular implementable agenda? It seems that there is a natural tendency in these things to something I can only call "dumb populism" with the loudest people generally making their way most easily to the microphone. I don't know if this is inevitable, but it certainly seems the norm. Any thoughts?