Articles

Planning Your First Washington Lobby Day, Part II

By Robert E. McLean, CAE
ASAE's Government Relations, May 2003

There's no turning back now. The preliminary arrangements have been made for your association's first annual training seminar and lobby day. You've set the dates and meeting rooms. You've assisted your members in scheduling appointments with senators and representatives. Even the plane tickets have been purchased. Your members are eager to participate in this momentous event, ready to start learning effective lobbying techniques, and looking forward to putting those tips to immediate use when they meet with members of Congress.

But are you ready? Before your organization is truly prepared to hold its first Washington lobby day, several details must be ironed out. You must set the agenda, create and print documents, invite speakers, and plan a debriefing session before your event. Heeding the following suggestions will help ensure you're prepared for the big day.

Organizing the deliverables

Early on, establish a list of documents you'll need to write and design, setting deadlines for printing, to ensure your work is done before members arrive.

In addition to marketing materials, you'll need to prepare:

• an event agenda,
• legislative fact sheets,
• a tip sheet for conducting a meeting on Capitol Hill,
• lists of important congressional committees, and
• a survey for participants, to gauge the results of your event.

Be sure your budget also supports purchasing a good congressional directory for each delegate.

Setting the legislative agenda

Next, it's time to start answering the big question: What will your members discuss on Capitol Hill? While your association may have several issues to address during the 108th Congress, don't overwhelm your delegates or the members and staffers they'll meet. An agenda with three or four issues, backed up by single-page fact sheets, is ideal.

Before anthrax slowed down mail addressed to Capitol Hill, some organizations would mail their legislative agenda and fact sheets to every office on Capitol Hill. A less expensive alternative is to post these materials on your Web site the week before your event. Be sure you inform your delegates as soon as the material is posted so they may in turn notify the legislative aides who will be asking for which topics they need to prepare.

Inviting trainers and speakers

When members receive clear, concise information they can understand and convey on the Hill, there's a better chance they'll be successful grassroots lobbyists. The y'll also be more likely to return for next year's event. Whom you place at the podium--and for how long--is an important decision.

Trainers and speakers can provide motivation and information. Your organization's officers, the motivators, should kick off the event. For information, always include one or two speakers who can teach your members how Capitol Hill works (it may have been a few years since your members took a civics or political science class), as well as a few people who can address the details of your issues.

Focus a session on effective communication with members and staffers. Most of your members will arrive expecting to meet with experienced staffers who have time to devote to the topic at hand. In reality, the majority of staffers with whom your members meet will be young, inexperienced, and suffering from short attention spans. A suggestion: Try role-playing a visit with a member or staffer.

Should you invite a member of Congress to speak?

Unless a leadership member or the chair of an important committee is available, more associations are cutting back on the number of members they invite. Why? Members are difficult to schedule, usually late, and prone to cancel (always last- minute). They also may choose to talk about issues more important to themselves than to your organization. Conversely, staffers are more reliable and more likely to stick to your issues. A bipartisan panel of staffers from an oversight or appropriations committee, for example, can make for an informative and lively session.

Planning a debriefing session

As soon as your delegates return from the Hill, they will want to talk--about their problems and successes. They'll want to share their experiences with someone and ask for help with situations they failed to anticipate. Most associations respond to this need in one of two ways: a debriefing room or a reception.

Although a reception on the Hill to follow your lobby day is a good opportunity for members to mingle with staffers and the few members they attract, it can be very expensive. A smaller event at the host hotel will cut your costs, but turnout may be low if most of your attendees are heading out of town. These events are generally more successful with larger groups and associations with larger budgets.

One alternative is a debriefing room, a place for delegates to grab a drink and speak with an association staff member. In addition to valuable reports on the offices that delegates visited and reaction to your legislative agenda, you'll learn how effectively you've trained your activists. Your host hotel will probably offer you a small meeting room for this purpose at little or no charge (depending on how many room nights you've booked and how good a negotiator you are).

That's a wrap

For most organizations, the first Hill day is not a complete success. Your best source for improving the event next year? Your members' suggestions. Survey them; the results may surprise you. An association I once worked for dramatically changed its event, primarily in response to members' requests. They wanted more training and fewer speakers--and no members at the podium. They wanted one planned event with their fellow members, but they also requested one night where they could go to their favorite Washington, D.C., restaurant. We thought few of them would get appointments on Monday afternoon; they told us otherwise and asked for training to end at one o'clock. Critique the experience at post-event meetings: one among association staffers and another with the hotel's salesperson and catering manager. Hold these events shortly after your Hill day, while memories are still sharp, and always write down your ideas for improving the event. Share your survey results--good or bad--with hotel officials. If you change the event in response to members' requests, let them know you're following their advice.

Ready, set, go

When organizing an event, certain aspects will be planned incorrectly, overlooked, or completely forgotten. However, you can plan for unforeseen circumstances by learning as much as possible from others who have hosted lobby day events. This, in combination with following the suggestions offered above, will put you well on your way to planning a successful and memorable event.