| A Guide to Congressional Visits |
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Organizing a visit with your member of Congress is easier than you think, and a powerful way to share your views with an office. If you are planning a congressional meeting for the No Soldier Left
Behind week of action August 18-22, e-mail Rebecca Griffin, Political
Director , and she will guide you through the process. Here are five easy steps to follow for a successful visit. 1) Schedule your meeting. Call the district office of your member of Congress and ask for the name and contact information for the local scheduler. Most offices will ask that you fax or email a written visit request. This request should include:
To increase your chances of getting a meeting, propose a range of available dates. The No Soldier Left Behind week of congressional action will be the week of 8/18, so start by asking for a meeting sometime that week. Send your request at least 3 weeks in advance, and call to follow up about a week after you send it. If your representative of senator isn’t available, it’s still very useful to meet with a member of his or her staff. 2) Build your team. Even before you send your visit request, you should have in mind 2-4 people who live in the district that you’d like to bring on the visit. To the best of your ability, try to gather people who represent different interests in the community (parent, faith leader, union member, etc.). If you have your team assembled before sending the visit scheduling letter, include their names and affiliations in your letter. A good visit should include no more than 4-5 people speaking, though you can bring additional people for support. You should check with the scheduler to find out how many people the meeting room can accommodate. Make sure everyone on your visit team is willing to stay on topic and share the floor with your group. If you have people interested in coming who are unable to attend, have them write letters and deliver them as part of your meeting. 3) Prepare and practice. A good congressional visit starts with good research. Know where your representative or senator stands on the issues you plan to discuss, and briefly research his or her background. Check his or her website for their most recent statement on the issue. Click here to find your representative’s voting record and cosponsorship of important legislation. You can also click here to get our full guide on developing an "ask" for your member of Congress, as well as a list of relevant legislation. Make sure your team meets before the visit, even if it’s just an hour before the meeting. Decide who will cover what points, and who will take notes. It can be helpful to have everyone practice his or her part of the meeting so everyone feels comfortable and prepared, and the meeting will go as smoothly as possible. Remember that you’re trying to persuade your representative or senator to take action, so use arguments targeted at him/her, based on his/her voting record and personal background. For example, if the representative comes from a health care background, you could mention the poor service our veterans receive or list some health care organizations opposed to the war. It’s good to bring one to two articles supporting your points; they should be short and from well-respected sources. Be clear on what your group will be asking for, based on your member of Congress’ record on the war in Iraq. Have your “ask” written down for everyone’s reference. While it is important that you convey the general reasons your community is against the war, the real accountability comes from asking your representative to take a clear action. Make sure it is something your member of Congress can do (for instance, don’t ask a representative to cosponsor a Senate bill). The clearest asks are usually to vote a certain way on an upcoming bill or to cosponsor a piece of legislation. If your member of Congress is already doing these things, you can ask for something different like a speech, press release, or opinion editorial outlining a clear strategy for ending the war in Iraq. You will probably not get a definite answer, especially if you meet with a staff person, but asking clearly for something specific gives you an action to follow up on and a way to measure the success of your grassroots efforts. 4) Get the most out of your visit. The day before your visit, call the office to confirm. Be sure to show up 5-10 minutes early, and dress professionally. It’s often a good idea to have your team meet somewhere near the office 45 minutes-1 hour before the meeting. Start the visit on a positive note, even if the member of Congress has a bad voting record on foreign policy. Be polite, and thank them for taking the time to meet. Try to build a connection or common ground, even if it’s small talk—for example, the fact that you went to the same high school as the representative is enough to build a more positive meeting. Your job in the visit is to get as much information as you give. Listen carefully, take good notes, and ask good questions. Usually the representative or his/her staff person won’t make a firm commitment in the meeting—that’s okay. Grassroots advocacy is an ongoing process and real action on their part will require follow-up on yours. Again, even if you strongly disagree with the representative or senator, remain polite—don’t interrupt and don’t be disrespectful. The goal of the meeting is to build a bridge with the office, not burn one. 5) Evaluate, follow-up and plan next steps. After the meeting, take 5-10 minutes with your team to evaluate the visit. What went well? What points resonated the most? What follow up is needed? Be sure to send a thank you note to the office within a few days after the meeting. If you promised to send additional information, send it ASAP. Follow up with a phone call 2-3 weeks after the visit to check-in on actions you requested. 6) Report back Send your notes, photos, stories and more to Rebecca Griffin, Political Director and post them to your local meetup.com group. |
