Steps to Effective Meetings with Members of Congress and Staff

The pandemic has changed advocacy in Washington just as it has changed work in offices everywhere, and in ways that are likely to be permanent. Meetings used to be almost exclusively face to face. If you couldn’t get to Washington it was difficult to get your message across. Zoom meetings are happening with more frequency.

In-person meetings are still the best way to advocate, but Zoom and other platforms open up the process to many more people.

The following suggestions apply whether you are meeting in-person or remotely, or in Washington or at a district office near you.

Before the meeting, plan well
- Review the legislative calendar to know when Congress is in session in Washington. That’s when your legislators are more likely to be at the Capitol, rather than somewhere back home in the district. You can ask for a meeting with your legislators in Washington or back home during a recess.

- Schedule your meeting with a legislator several weeks in advance; their schedule fills up quickly. If he or she is not available, see the staffer who directly handles your issue.

- Legislators and staffers have to know about a wide range of issues and you may be bringing one they are not familiar with. Sometimes they don’t focus on an issue until a vote is coming up on it. It’s an advantage if you’re the first one to discuss a particular issue with them. Staffers are often young and look inexperienced, but they usually know a great deal and their bosses rely on them for information and recommendations.

- Send a brief outline of the discussion topic to the person that you will be meeting with. They will appreciate this because it will help them better prepare for the meeting. This is also another way of reminding them about your meeting.

- Research the elected official’s biographical information. You may find you have something in common. Also look up their committee assignments in their bios. Committee work takes up the bulk of their time; it’s easier for them to help you if your issue is one related to their committees. This is also where they usually have the most expertise.

- Contact the elected official’s office two days in advance and reconfirm your appointment. Try to find out how much time has been scheduled for it.

- If there are multiple people scheduled to speak during the meeting, coordinate in advance the order in which everyone will speak, who will speak about certain issues, etc. If some are constituents and others are not, have the constituents go first. - Stay on topic and try not to have more than two items you want to discuss. Plan to be brief. Assume you will have 15 minutes to say everything even if the allotted time is longer.

- No one should veer into off-topic issues.

- Plan ahead to ensure that you and your group will arrive at the office at least five minutes in advance. If you are going from meeting to meeting, make sure you have enough time between meetings to get there. Do not be late. Being five minutes early may mean you get an extra five minutes in your meeting.

At the meeting use your time wisely

- Have a one-page summary of the issue, your position and what you are asking for. Other material can be added as background. Bring enough copies of your information to the meeting so that everyone in attendance has one.

- Be direct and to the point. Be specific about your “ask”: “Please support/cosponsor (or oppose) Bill Number ___,” or “Please help us to ____.” An “I wanted to get to know you and tell you about our organization” meeting isn’t usually as productive. Use common sense if you find yourself in disagreement on something: Be polite, listen and don’t interrupt.

- When talking about specific legislation, refer to it by its official title and number (For example, H.R. 1378, the Do No Harm Act). If there is not a specific piece of legislation, be clear about the way the lawmaker can help your cause, perhaps by introducing a bill.

- This is one of the most important aspects of the meeting: add personal accounts of how this piece of legislation affects you, your family, or someone that you know.

- Look for signs the meeting is going well (you are being asked questions) or not (no questions, no notes taken, the closing of the notebook). If you sense that you are meeting with someone who just doesn’t have a lot of time, wrap it up.

- Often, legislators don’t know when votes will happen and staffers have unexpected events come up that disrupt their schedule. They tend to have more meeting requests than they are really able to deal with when Congress is in session.

- Find ways to show that what you are asking for helps the legislator’s district or state. Job creation or job retention are always important considerations. So is saving the
government money. Any way to localize the issue is helpful.

- Offer to provide letters of support from as many people and organizations as possible. Lawmakers like to have something that shows that their constituents asked them to take a particular position, in case opponents later say: “Why did you support that?”

- Remember that YOU are the person who can explain the importance of secular issues and you will know more about this than the legislator or their staff. Also remember that they don’t expect you to know everything about an issue or the entire legislative process.

- Offer to be a resource for them on secular issues. If you are discussing an existing bill, they should be pleased to be able to learn about it from you. If you are asking for help with an important matter that isn’t a bill, they should be happy to have the opportunity to help, especially if you are a constituent.

- Think of the meeting as beginning to build a relationship.
Legislators and especially staff don’t have control over their schedules. They often don’t know when a vote will start or another legislator will call or drop in. Be flexible. Be ready to continue the meeting walking down the hall.
Feel free to ask questions.

- At the end of the meeting, be sure to thank the legislator or their staffer for their time and suggest follow-up actions. Offer to send them any additional information that pertains to the issue.

After The Meeting:
- Follow up with your legislator or staff member.

- If you are with a larger group that met with different legislators during the day, get together afterward and share what you learned, including which legislators and staffers seemed helpful or not, what you learned about the prospects for your bill, etc. Create a one-page evaluation sheet for each meeting to help preserve that information. If getting together isn’t possible, designate someone to receive everyone’s meeting results.

- Send the legislator or the appropriate staffer a thank-you note. Thank them for agreeing to do whatever they agreed to do.

- Don’t hesitate to remind them later if they haven’t followed through on an action item. Sometimes you just need to bump things up on their to-do list.

- Stay in contact with the legislator and the staffer you spoke with. Send an article that would be relevant to your conversation, for example. Let them know when you see how they voted on an issue.This ensures that there will be an open line of communication, if and when you would like to set up a meeting with them in the future.

- If you met with your lawmaker in Washington, D.C., get to know someone in their local office who also handles your issue. They will not be as directly involved with legislation, but they still can help you.

- Look for opportunities to attend events or town hall meetings with legislators when they are in your area or neighborhood. This will help them get to know you and remember what you’re interested in. They are more likely to help if they think they will keep running into you.

After the meeting
- Follow up with your legislator or staff member.

- If you are with a larger group that met with different legislators during the day, get together afterward and share what you learned, including which legislators and staffers seemed helpful or not, what you learned about the prospects for your bill, etc. Create a one-page evaluation sheet for each meeting to help preserve that information. If getting together isn’t possible, designate someone to receive everyone’s meeting results.

- Send the legislator or the appropriate staffer a thank-you note. Thank them for agreeing to do whatever they agreed to do.

- Don’t hesitate to remind them later if they haven’t followed through on an action item. Sometimes you just need to bump things up on their to-do list.

- Stay in contact with the legislator and the staffer you spoke with. Send an article that would be relevant to your conversation, for example. Let them know when you see how they voted on an issue.This ensures that there will be an open line of communication, if and when you would like to set up a meeting with them in the future.

- If you met with your lawmaker in Washington, D.C., get to know someone in their local office who also handles your issue. They will not be as directly involved with legislation, but they still can help you.

- Look for opportunities to attend events or town hall meetings with legislators when they are in your area or neighborhood. This will help them get to know you and remember what you’re interested in. They are more likely to help if they think they will keep running into you.

Steps to Effective Meetings with Members of Congress and Staff

Before the meeting, plan well

At the meeting use your time wisely

After the meeting

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