Hello and welcome to Mastering the Art of Planning an In-Person Advocacy Conference. We look forward to spending the next hour with you. Before we get started, we'll each provide a brief introduction of ourselves and then we'll jump right into it. So I'm Donna Mask and I am the Vice President of Governance and Meetings at the American Osteopathic Association. I have over 20 years of experience in the business events industry and I've been involved in many advocacy conferences with three different associations of various sizes. Hello I'm Colleen Bagnasco. I am the Vice President of Event Strategy and Industry Relations at Association Management Center. I have over 30 years of experience in the event industry and the nonprofit sector and look forward to presenting with Don here today. A brief introduction of what we'll be speaking about today is, you know, really it's the importance of advocacy with lawmakers and why an advocacy conference and what makes an advocacy conference so important. And really the genesis of an advocacy conference is to really is to move the organization priorities forward to support the profession and to support its members. And some of the learning objectives that we are seeking to achieve during this presentation are as follows. We would like to provide information on how to plan and execute an advocacy day conference by providing the necessary steps that are involved in planning an advocacy day from start to finish and to ensure that there's a meaningful impactful event. Creating advocacy engagement, so to provide the tools that would be needed for attendees to successfully engage with lawmakers and creating a buzz about the message and what and what your organization could be advocating for. The first session overview, here are the things that we're we were going to cover and take a deep dive into. So Colleen, did you want to quickly kind of give a highlight of these seven items? Sure. Thanks. We're going to certainly be talking about the planning essentials, really focusing on, you know, the date, the venue, the importance of planning effectively. And then moving into the logistics. There is so much involved with planning an advocacy meeting from transportation, security, the timing of the event. So walking through that, discussing the different, you know, how do you come up with advocacy issues? What is important to the organization and getting in front of lawmakers? Then moving into the advocacy engagement and really creating that buzz. It's important that everyone is really on the same page, delivering the same message. And then, you know, creating more of that snowball effect where you're creating buzz around your advocacy initiatives. And then moving into the hill visit, a lot of, you know, just the overall, you know, etiquette with a hill visit, being prepared, knowing what to expect on site with transportation. And then it doesn't end there, really following up with post-conference. And we'll get into some further detail with that as well. Yes, definitely. OK, well, why don't we dive right in here, Colleen, and we'll hit the first bullet of planning essentials. So one of the things that's important when you're looking at planning an advocacy conference is understanding when Congress is in session and looking at the holiday calendar and the different pieces and aspects of that. And while you can host an advocacy conference when Congress is not in session, it is more impactful to ensure that there are lawmakers and that Congress is in session when you're hosting your program. The other piece would be venue selection. So most, as we know, when you advocate, you go to the Capitol Hill, to the state or Senate side and meet with those lawmakers. Prior to, and we'll talk a little bit more about the training aspect here, but really looking at the venue and if you would like to be in D.C., in the city, or looking at Virginia and weighing both of those options, because their price point can vary whether or not you have a room block or are planning for your pre-conference activities in downtown D.C. versus Virginia. And usually the venues in Virginia tend to be less expensive. And so if you're looking to bring more leaders into your conference, perhaps selecting a venue that has a lower price point, specifically with hotel room rates, which could average anywhere between $100 to $150 less per night in Virginia versus D.C., would be something that that should be considered. The other side of that is if you are looking to host in Virginia, you would have to add the expense of shuttle transportation for your attendees from Virginia to the Hill. So really looking and weighing those options and what makes the most sense for your particular group. And then moving into budgeting, certainly, as you mentioned, it makes an impact whether you're in D.C. or in Virginia. And you want to make sure that you're planning, you know, financially and allocating those funds for travel expenses, for meals, especially bringing advocates in from out of town, which most are. And really, I think building into the budget, planning for those unexpected expenses, including last minute travel changes, especially in this environment that we're in right now. And then moving into the, you know, registration process and deadlines there, you know, find an easy to use like a registration platform, collect all the necessary information and details, especially around accessibility needs, provide clear confirmations and reminder emails or text messages, and then confirm attendance of certainly the key stakeholders and any speakers and policymakers that you have attending. And the other thing I'll add with registration as well is is setting those deadlines and working with the provider that will be doing your scheduling to ensure that your registration deadlines fall within the time frame that the that's needed to create the scheduling and the appointments with those with those lawmakers. All right, Colleen, let's talk a little bit more about logistics. All right. So transportation. So certainly navigating D.C. could be very challenging logistically. So you want to plan your transport, reach out to your transportation company well in advance. You want to factor in, I mean, you know, traffic times, times of day, any road closures and build that time into your agenda and schedule accordingly. And again, you want to make sure that it's certainly accessible, asking that information and registration up front, planning with a transportation company and with the venues as well. Right. And then with that comes the vendor coordination, so the catering, working with the hotel, if you're offering either a breakfast or lunch or dinner of something of that sort, coordinating the audio visual with the with the hotel photography is always important. So looking if you wanted to have an official photographer to capture the the training piece prior to or and or also with having a photographer travel with some of your leaders to some of the appointments to capture that as well. So a lot of different logistical pieces and coordinations with with the vendors. And we already mentioned the shuttle, the shuttle companies as as well. And then additionally, what has been beneficial to some groups is having a seating chart when you're doing the training and seating the the attendees by state. And the reason that that is important is during the training session, for the most part, it's the state. The attendees of the same states are usually assigned together to go to the different lawmakers to advocate for the issues that are relevant to their primary residency and where their voting area is. And we found that in seating the groups, the attendees by state, it does help with the training. So if folks don't know each other, it gives opportunity for the attendees to meet each other, right, to network to and then maybe come with some common goals to or common threads that they may have with with each other or in their practices or in their in their professional jobs. And that that that cohesiveness will carry through when they're talking to to the lawmakers. OK, so advocacy issues here. Obviously, the advocacy conference, the main piece here is to is to get in front of the lawmakers, as we mentioned, and to identify and advocate for the issues that are important to your organization. And in looking at that, there's a couple of different pieces to take and take into consideration. It's how did how do we define the issues to advocate for? Well, it's really looking at what does the membership want? What is what is a hot topic with with the your professional members or your organization or the profession that you're serving? And what is additionally, what is the current landscape of the of the current administration? And what are those laws that could be impacting your organization? And then what is your organization's current policy as well on some of these issues? And so it's kind of taking all these things into consideration and putting together two or three issues that you can identify and you can start to build so that your attendees have the resources they need to speak to the various lawmakers and to move the organization forward to help themselves as professionals and really move the profession forward. And then as far as, you know, engagement, certainly you want to start off with training. It's determining those, you know, two to three advocacy issues, communicating that across constituents and having advanced and in-person training if possible. So that everyone has a unified message when you're meeting with lawmakers. I think it's really important to have that role playing, go through different scenarios, to have effective communication techniques and to communicate the message clearly, focusing on, you know, the agenda for the day. I think it's really important to stay, be mindful of everyone's time at the meeting, follow the agenda, get your point across, you know, have the talking points. And, you know, certainly to avoid partisanship and, you know, to just be positive overall. Addressing and framing the message with a personal story I think is really critical and really to make that the focus because it will invoke feelings and make your conversation more interactional. Right. Exactly. And it's really great to also consider putting together an attendee workbook, which would have the sample talking point. It will have the issues, the two to three issues along with sample talking points. So again, weaving in the talking points for the issue with your personal story, as Colleen mentioned, because personal stories resonate so much better with individuals when you can tell a personal story or tell how this particular issue could impact you and your profession and either personally or professionally. Right. And so kind of weaving that in. So having these materials of the issues and then like the talking points along with some logistics that are important for the day is a useful tool for the attendee to actually have with them and carry with them during their meetings. And then additionally, what is beneficial is to provide a folder of materials with the fact sheets that support the issues as which is a leave behind, which is leave behind information. So that folder is leave behind materials that has these fact sheets in it that after you're done speaking with the lawmaker, you can leave this folder with their with the lawmaker or their or their staff so that they're reminded of of the issues even after you have departed that that you're advocating for. And lastly, talking a little bit about the scheduling of of meetings, something to consider is there are several or a few vendors that work specifically in D.C. in terms of working with the different lawmakers offices in scheduling appointments. And the benefit of utilizing one of these companies is they already have the relationship with many of the staff of the state or congressional leaders. And it's easier to obtain the meetings with the different lawmakers when there's a relationship already in place. So there's, again, several different companies in D.C. that that could help with this. I mean, it is it is money well spent to be able to ease that burden from from a cold call and having another professional company assist with the scheduling of those of those meetings. All right. And so once we have kind of all these pieces in play, it's creating a buzz, right? It's how do we continue to create the buzz of the two to three issues that that we're looking to to advocate for? So obviously, an event hashtag and having all of your attendees take pictures as long as they're able to. Some some of those offices don't allow photos. So but in general, having the hashtag and putting it on social media is always a great way to to show the importance of of what what action is being taken, maybe even a takeover if you have a couple members that you want to maybe do a identify and who are social media influencers. So that's have more of a presence over that day. One of another idea, too, would be a man on the street type of activity where you have someone that's interviewing some of your attendees and talking about the excitement and revving up the excitement of of being on being on the hill. And another thing, too, is that you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, of being on being on the hill. And another thing, too, is to have another piece that has a QR code with your with your campaign. And that can take a leap that has a link with your campaign that can go right to right to some of the lawmakers as well. And I think as you're posting or, you know, even on social media is to ask for a call for action, right for for your peers, for your connections to repost and to share to create more visibility. You know, having the tool kit, which I think it does a great job in advance of having different media graphics and captions that you can easily pull and that you can share with others so they don't have to sit and think about, oh, what am I going to say here that, you know, prepare as much in advance to make it easy for everyone to create that buzz and share that message. Okay. And the hill visit. It's the big day. It's the day that everyone's waiting for. It's super exciting. So we have that buzz created. One great thing to do to really get that buzz going before everyone leaves is gather the group. So whether you're meeting earlier in the morning or halfway through the day, really grabbing your attendees together. Photos always make make good photo ops here, but also creates that excitement, right, of what's about to happen. So looking to do that. The transportation piece, you know, to and from the Capitol Hill, if you're in Virginia, but even if you're in D.C., depending on the location you're at, is having really clear direction on how your attendees are going to get to and from the hill locations is important. And that information can be included in your attendee workbook. So, again, the attendee has that with them the entire time. And then, you know, certainly the attire. Your comfortable shoes and your white coats. Like it's shown in this picture right here. I think it's phenomenal. And there's something about, you know, the attire and having everyone come together and walk together on the hill and take a picture. And whether it's white coats or if it's another profession, if it's, you know, suits or something else, it's always exciting to see one group kind of be together and know that they're there to help the profession that they're advocating for. And, you know, post-conference, I mean, you really want to keep the momentum going. So, you want to gather, you know, feedback. You want to follow up with lawmakers and lobbyists and thank you letters after the meeting. I think that's critically important. You want to stay front of mind even after you leave. It's important to report the outcomes to leadership and to the greater community. Post on social media, share with members what the outcomes were, what you're hoping to get out of it, what momentum has changed. So, critically important to follow up after the meeting. Right. Exactly. And for those of you that may have lobbyists too, having your lobbyists also advocate and follow up with the same messages that all of your attendees were advocating for is important. And as legislation could change, this could also impact different policies of your organization. So, if your organization has a House of Delegates, it might not be the first year, but maybe one or two years down the line, what your attendees are advocating for could impact the policy of your organization in a positive way, hopefully. Okay. Well, in conclusion, we covered essential planning, logistics, issues, engagement, creating a buzz, the visits, post-conference. So, these are the key areas that were covered here in this presentation. And we hope that we hit the different learning objectives that we started off with at the beginning of our presentation. And we appreciate your time. And we thank you for joining us. And here's our email addresses. If you have any questions, you can feel free to reach out. But we thank you for your time. And we hope that you found this presentation helpful. Thank you. It was a pleasure. And I'm hoping you found it helpful as well.

advocacy conference

lawmakers engagement

unified messaging

conference logistics

social media buzz

post-conference follow-ups