1 / 14

Conducting Congressional Visits 101

Conducting Congressional Visits 101. Adrienne Sponberg ASLO Director of Public Affairs. It won’t hurt…we promise!. Lobbying Congress is much like trying to convince reviewers and editors to publish your manuscripts or fund your grants.

yuval
Download Presentation

Conducting Congressional Visits 101

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Conducting Congressional Visits 101 Adrienne Sponberg ASLO Director of Public Affairs

  2. It won’t hurt…we promise! Lobbying Congress is much like trying to convince reviewers and editors to publish your manuscripts or fund your grants. • You have to have good arguments and statistics to start out with. • Make sure you have the correct audience before you start making your pitch. • Present a strong case for why your audience should care about your issue.

  3. Pre-game Preparation • Develop talking points • Assemble leave-behinds • ALWAYS include contact information • Anticipate questions and have concise answers ready • Two-minute drill

  4. Game On! ‘Help me, help you’ • Thank before you ask • Be respectful even if they aren’t • Stay on message • Stick to your expertise • Do not speak negatively of other constituent groups

  5. Value of Talking Points • Keep you on topic • Get the most important facts across • Coordinated and consistent message • This is particularly important for group advocacy events!

  6. More on Talking Points • Examples of talking points • “flip-flop” and “1st and 2nd most liberal members” • “90% tax cuts go to 2% wealthiest” • For Daily Show fans: “We’ve turned a corner” • More examples….

  7. Constructing Talking Points • Key points to support your argument • NSF BIO funding stagnant • Lowest proposal success rate; 5-10% below overall NSF success rate • Primary source of funding for non-medical biology - 60% • Some fields are almost entirely funded by NSF (ecosystems 90%)

  8. Communicating effectively Instead of: “Congress needs to fund more research because we need to know how humans are impacting the environment” Try: “Research funded by the BIO directorate of NSF is critical to advancing our understanding of the relationship between humans and their environment, and for providing information necessary for wise management of our natural resources.”

  9. Tomorrow’s Visits • You are conducting visits in multidisciplinary teams grouped by state or region. • You will work together today on your region-specific talking points. • Assign a “lead” for each meeting. • The lead should introduce all members of the group. • You will have a society staff member there as back-up, but YOU should lead the meeting.

  10. Tomorrow’s Visits We have this really cool project… An earmark would really help us out!

  11. Tomorrow’s Visits We have this really cool project… An earmark would really help us out!

  12. Tomorrow’s Visits • Remember: this is a COALITION activity. • You are here to represent your societies, not your universities or your research labs. • And besides, a bigger pie means better odds!

  13. What’s in those folders? • Your meeting schedule • Talking points and Budget info • These are for YOUR reference; don’t leave them with staff! • Leave-behind document • Use this as a guide during your meeting. • Make sure to leave this with staff, along with your card (or write your info on the document beforehand.)

  14. Your assignment • You will work in your state groups. • Develop 2 talking points regarding the need for biological & agricultural research. • Draw from your own experience and research interests. • Keep them simple, but relevant. Why would your neighbor care? • Groups will present their talking points for feedback.

More Related