Before the Meeting

1. Understand your legislators’ point of view.  Familiarize yourself with the member of Congress (e.g. district or state, voting record, key committees) www.thomas.gov or www.cqpress.com.  

2. Decide what you want to accomplish prior to the meeting.  If your legislator supports your position, thank them for their support and ask them to take a lead role in recruiting other legislators to supporting the issue.  If the legislator opposes your position determine how to best present different perspectives and experiences to appeal to your legislator.    

3.  Review the background on the issues.  Develop talking points and practice your presentation prior to the meeting to determine which points are most important and how much time you have to make them. Develop relevant stories for illustrating key points.  Stories are more memorable than random facts and statistics.  

4.  Designate a speaker who will "make the case" for each talking point and keep track of time.  Upon arriving at the office, check how much time you will have and adjust accordingly.  

5.  Be prompt, patient and flexible.  It is not uncommon for legislators to be late.  Meeting with a staff member is as important as meeting with the member of Congress.  Staff are generally just as knowledgeable about the issues and have significant influence on the legislator.  Staffers brief the legislator, write floor statements for debates, and draft legislation.  You often have a longer discussion with staffers and time to ask them questions about the legislator’s position.  Give staffers the same information and respect you would give the elected official.  


During the meeting

1.  Begin the meeting by thanking the member/staff.  Thank them for taking the time to meet, state the purpose of the meeting and thank the member for a positive stance he or she might have taken on an issue.    

2.  Introduce each member of the group.  Include their name, relevant affiliations and city/state if you are a constituent.

3.  Explain why you have come to see them.  Keep it simple and illustrate the impact of the legislation.  Share your personal experience and highlight how the specific legislation would affect your work as a health care provider, the lives of your patients, and public health in general.  Present the main points, implications of the legislation and the reason for your involvement.  

4.  Be factual.  Make sure you have cited resources for the information you are presenting.

5.  Make it local.  Talk about how the issues will affect the legislators' district or state.     

6.  Listen.  You are there to learn how to be a more effective advocate for your cause.  You will learn by listening to what they have to say about their position.  Try to have a conversation with the member/staff and listen to what he/she is interested in or concerned about.  Write down any information you learned about the member's position or concerns you may have from the meeting.  Share this information with your members and use it to develop strategy for your next visit or follow up communication.  

7.  Ask.  Stay on message.  Don’t bring up individual requests.  Make sure you have a specific ask that is specified in according to the appropriate house or senate bills for your congressional visits.  Identify it accordingly, e.g., House bill: H. R. ____, Senate bill: S.____.  Ask how they feel about the issue and ask directly for your legislator’s commitment to vote on your side of the issue.  Ask how you can help them move the issue.  Some of the things you may ask your elected officials for is to introduce or and/or support legislation, co-sponsor legislation and/or oppose efforts to introduce, change or reverse legislation.    

8.  Be responsive and ready to answer questions or to provide more information.  You do not need to know every answer.  If you don’t have an answer to a question, offer to research the information and get back to the office as soon as possible.  

9.  Give.  Leave a brief summary of the legislation addressed.

10.  Thank.  At the end of the meeting, thank the legislator or staff for their time and willingness to listen.  Invite them to meet with you back home in your district/state.

11.  Exchange Contact Information.  Before leaving the office, ask for an email address or card so that you can stay in touch with a specific staff member. Leave your contact information and offer to serve as a resource on health care issues.  Let him or her know that you are willing to provide information and statistics on the subject.   


After the Meeting  

1.  Take Notes.  Immediately following the meeting write down any information you learned about the member's positions or concerns you may have from the meeting.  Share this information with your members and use it to develop strategy.  

2.  Assign Action Items.  Designate specific follow-up issues to specific members of the group in order to improve accountability.

3.  Follow- up.  Every member of your group should send a thank you note reiterating your message/ask.  In the letter, reiterate your key points and any commitments the member made to you.  Include any follow-up information you promised to provide.