PART 1: Scheduling an Appointment  |  PART 2: Preparing for the Meeting  |  PART 3: The Meeting  |  PART 4: Following-up after the Meeting

 

 

Part 3: The Meeting

 

• Be on time. Staff in most Capitol Hill and district offices are very busy and work on tight schedules. Remember that their time is very valuable.

• Establish a rapport. After introductions and handshakes talk about things or relationships you might have in common. For instance, maybe you have a mutual friend, or you both went to the same elementary school. Thank your senator or representative for all that he or she does on Capitol Hill to represent your state or district.

• Select a spokesperson. If several people will attend the meeting, select a spokesperson. If everyone there will have a role, select one person to move the meeting along in a timely manner.

• State your purpose. For example, you might say, "Congressman Lee, we are here to talk with you about increasing the minimum wage. Our organization would like to have your support for including the Mariana Islands and other US territories in federal wage and hour laws.”

• Make the issue real. Personalize the need for livable wages.  For example, have someone describe what it costs to meet the bare necessities of housing, food, transportation, health care, etc. in your community. 

• Paint the little picture and the big picture. After you discuss how the issue of minimum / livable wages has affected you or someone that you serve, provide statistics on how the stagnation in the minimum wage has affected people in your district as well as in the state and country.

• Make a clear request. Tell your member of Congress exactly what you would like him or her to do, and don’t leave without learning the legislator’s position on your issue. For example, you might say that you would like for your legislator to vote for legislation that would make all federal labor and employment legislation applicable to US territories such as the Mariana Islands.

• Answer all questions truthfully. If a legislator asks you a question, answer it to the best of your ability. If you do not know the answer, apologize and let your legislator know that you will find the answer and let him or her know.

• Summarize your major points. At the end of the meeting summarize your major points and your request.

• Leave promptly. Do not extend the meeting past your scheduled time. Your legislator is on a tight schedule. Staying past your scheduled time could distract the legislator from your conversation.

• Follow-up. Send a thank you letter to the member of Congress or his or her staff for meeting with you. Use your thank you letter to reiterate your major points.

 

Common Pitfalls

 

 

There are many mistakes that people frequently make when meeting with a Member or staff that you can easily avoid through good planning. Some of these are listed below.

 

• Staying "on message".

   

  One of the easiest and most common mistakes is to stray away from the message you want to deliver. Sometimes, the Senator/Congressmember or staffers may even try to drag you "off message" with questions about topics that are not related to your issue. 

   

   

  Be polite, but firm. If they persist, you can also tell them that if they want to discuss other issues, you’d be happy to come back for another meeting for that purpose.

   

   

  Sometimes, members of your own group may begin straying off message. The best way to avoid this is to rehearse the meeting, and to make sure everyone understands the importance of staying on message. You can even work out among yourselves some subtle signal or form of interruption to use if someone strays too far off message.

   

•  Getting tripped up by questions that are too detailed.

   

  Often staffers will, for whatever the reason, pick out some small aspect of whatever issue you're talking about, then they'll proceed to ask more and more detailed questions that almost nobody would be able to answer. Sometimes this happens because the staffers are genuinely interested, sometimes it occurs because they want to put you on the defensive by pointing out your lack of knowledge. In either case, it is best to direct the meeting back to the areas you know best. Politely point out that you have no answer for them now, but would be happy to either get back to them with the information, or, if appropriate, give them the name and phone number of someone else who can help them.

   

   

  It is also perfectly alright to say that you just don't know. You're there to talk about the aspects of the issue that you do know. Restate the main message for your meeting. Hence your best response might be to say something like, "I really don't know, But I do know that workers in US territories will be more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse as long as federal labor and employment laws do not protect them.” 

   

• Not clearly identifying what you want the Senator/Congressmember to do.

   

  When you meet with the Member or his/her aide, you will spend a considerable amount of time explaining who you are and giving background information about your issue. During this process, you will most likely find that the person you are speaking to seems very agreeable and concerned. However, just because they agree with you in principal does not mean that they will support your position on a specific bill. It is absolutely critical that you communicate a clear understanding of what you want the Senator or Congress member to do. You may have to directly ask him/her, "So, can we count on you to vote for this bill when it comes up in committee?" The member may try to hedge and may never answer your question directly, but at least they should know exactly what you want them to do.

• Don't waste time.

   

  At the beginning of the meeting, you will probably be asked your name, where you're from, etc. A sign-up sheet may be passed around by the aide. Try not to allow this to take too much of your time, as the meeting is most likely time-limited. If you only have one-half hour, and you spend twenty minutes on introductions, you've only got ten left to make your point. Be cordial, but move through introductions quickly.

   

   

  In addition, you have to strike the delicate balance of making sure that the staffer understands what you are saying, but not repeating yourself too many times. The group leader should keep track of time and keep the meeting moving along.

   

• Don't overplay your hand.

   

  There are two ways in which people frequently do this. The first is by trying to answer a question that they really don't know. If you don't know an answer, you should offer to get the information, then immediately get back to the more general points of the meeting. If you ever give a legislator or a staffer bad information (even if you don't mean to), you may be permanently discredited and your meeting will end up doing more harm than good.

   

   

  The second mistake that gets made is when someone in the group tries to threaten the legislator electorally (i.e. "If you don't do what we say, we'll get you voted out of office"). The threat of being voted out of office is always over the heads of elected officials, and they don't need it pointed out – they implicitly acknowledge it just by meeting with you.  Advocates representing organizations should never, ever do this. Use grassroots pressure to generate heat on an elected official, not individual meetings.

   

• Being too casual, shrill or rude. Again, anytime you meet with staffers, treat them with the same respect you would give a Senator or Congressmember. When referring to a Senator, whether s/he's present or not, always say either "Senator Smith", or you could say "The Senator" when referring to him/her in the third person. Unless the Senator tells you to, never, ever use his/her first name.

   

   

  It is also important, even when talking about emotionally-charged issues, that you remain composed. This is not to say that you can't express emotion - you should, as it helps convey how serious this issue is. But you must still be able to make a clear case for your issue. Sometimes a staffer, generally out of ignorance, will say things that seem outrageous, inappropriate or even offensive. Don't let this put you on the defensive or shake your train of thought.

   

   

  Occasionally an individual in your group will, out of frustration, try to pull a sort of "citizen's rank" over an aide by saying something like, "You work for me, so you'd better listen to me!" This is guaranteed to be self-defeating. Congressional staff, while they do ultimately work for the taxpayers, are much more directly answerable to the Member of Congress. This sort of approach will generally mean that your meeting will be unsuccessful. If, for some reason, you feel that a staffer is being unhelpful or inconsiderate, you are actually much better off dealing with it by writing to the Congressperson.

   

• Not wrapping up the meeting effectively.

   

  Many times, people will come away from a meeting with a Senator/Congressmember or staff still not sure what was agreed to or done, or which way the Member will vote. To avoid this, at the end of the meeting, recap anything that you think was agreed to by the Member or staff. For example, you might say to a staffer, "So you'll be talking to the Senator this week and you'll get back to us with a response by next Wednesday?" Make the staffer answer yes or no, or even "I'm not sure". Just make sure it’s understood that you expect them to follow through on what they've promised.

   

   

  If the staff or Senator/Congressmember agrees with your position and tells you this during the meeting, make sure you ask that the Senator/Congressmember talk to other Members of Congress about your issue. A strong ally in Congress is always your best lobbyist.

   

 

 

The meeting itself — a typical format:

 

 

1. Introductions:

 

a. Who you are and what you do in the community

 

b. Provide a typed agenda and copies of your request for the meeting

 

 

2. Acknowledge your Senator / Congressmember for any previous actions

 

 

3. Issues presentation:

 

a. Involve all your partners

 

b. Perhaps show a video

 

 

4. Make specific requests and ask for their answer right then:

 

a. If they are unwilling to make a commitment, set a date to follow up

 

b. Carefully record any questions/ objections/ concerns

 

 

5. Make a plan for the next step/ follow up

 

 

6. The next day, send a "Thank You" letter

 

 

 

Back to Appointments

 

 

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