Planning Your Meeting with Congress

Lobbying can be both exciting and intimidating. Being prepared is one way to reduce anxiety. This training walks participants through a step-by-step process for preparing for a meeting with Congress and/or their staff.

Prepare yourself

To prepare yourself, review the instructions below and coordinate with your CCL liaison to finalize your Meeting Plan Template.

For the the November Lobby Day, prepare to submit your plan by October 31st. If you miss the deadline, please send your template to your entire team after you receive the schedule for your lobby day assignments on November 7th, 2019. For team meeting times in DC, see this suggested schedule breakdown depending on when your meeting is confirmed for and who else will be on your team (schedules emailed by November 7th).

Thinking ahead

Do you have materials to bring to the meeting?

• Local endorsements (state and district reports)
• Local published Media (sent to Liaisons monthly)
• Constituent letters
• Thank you card

Plan your appreciation for your member of Congress

We start each meeting with an appreciation. See “press release” tab of the member of Congress’s website for ideas.

Determine your primary goal(s) for the meeting

This will relate to your “ask” below. Some examples:

• Highlight your personal and local stories of climate impacts.
• June Meeting Analysis (this can be a stand-alone goal of the November meeting)
• Respond to topics discussed in previous meetings with this office. (Past objection, question, past misconception, etc.)
• Share resources, such as the REMI Report, Household Impact Study, or Yale Climate Opinion Data.
• Share constituent letters and published media.
• Demonstrating local support from local leaders that may be influential for your member (research your member's campaign site and other helpful sites online to develop a target list).
• Share the success regarding the introduction of the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.
• Ask for advice. Ask questions so the member of Congress/staff feels heard. Build on your relationship.

What is your “Ask” or “Supporting Ask?"

Our Primary Ask is always the same, but liaisons and lobby teams craft more strategic and tailored Supporting Asks before the meeting. See Making Primary and Supporting Asks for more detail.

Determine open-ended questions

The sweet spot is what is relevant to both parties. As you learn about your member of Congress's world and priorities through asking open-ended questions, it makes it easier to identify and frame questions that help them meet you in the middle where both of your priorities can be acted on. 
Suggested questions to uncover common values:

• A majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle believe Congress should take steps to deal with the risks of a warming world. What’s your preferred plan to solving climate change?
• What are your top three priorities for this year? (member of Congress and staffer may answer differently)
• How do you think we can best transition to a clean-energy economy?
• There is strong bipartisan support for keeping our air and water clean. How can we do this while providing a good environment for business?
• The Pentagon reports that climate change is a threat multiplier leading to increased risk of U.S. troops being sent abroad. Would you comment on this?
• If a carbon fee helps the economy and helps keep global warming in check, would you support it?

Transition Questions: If your member of Congress is starting to change a previous position on climate policy in a more supportive direction, here are questions that help provide space to change:

On climate change:

• Who do you listen as trusted sources of information regarding the topic of climate change?
• What commitments do you have to addressing climate change?
• What steps have you taken on climate already?
• How should we respond to the challenges presented by climate change?

On the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act:

• What do you like about revenue-neutral solutions like the Energy Innovation Act?
• What do you find desirable about the Energy Innovation Act? What parts would you be able to support?
• Where do you see the Energy Innovation Act working for your constituents?
• When would you be able to support the Energy Innovation Act?
• In what ways are you committed to supporting the Energy Innovation Act?
• What would you be willing to do to move the Energy Innovation Act discussion forward?
• Given your interest in (X), what specific concerns do you have that prevent you from supporting the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act?

End of meeting questions:

• Who do you work with across the aisle?
• What could we be doing more of in the district to make it easier for you to support the Energy Innovation Act?

Assign meeting roles

At a minimum, be sure the roles below are assigned. For a full list of roles and descriptions, see Lobby Team Roles.

• Meeting leader
• Time Monitor
• Notetaker - confirm the notetaker can submit notes within 48 hours.
• Appreciator - the person who will deliver the appreciation.
• Follow up - the person who will follow up on the team's asks.

Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)

Resources For Preparing To Lobby
(5:59)

Roles in Your Meeting
(19:16)

Supporting Asks
(24:06) 

The Importance of Practice
(38:43)

Sample Practice Meeting
(43:21)

• Elli Sparks

Download PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.

To skip ahead to a specific section go to the time indicated in parenthesis.

Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)

Resources For Preparing To Lobby
(5:59)

Roles in Your Meeting
(19:16)

Supporting Asks
(24:06) 

The Importance of Practice
(38:43)

Sample Practice Meeting
(43:21)

• Elli Sparks

Download this episode.

Find the episode on CCL’s iTunes channel.

• Meeting Plan Template
• Primary Ask Document (Leave Behind)
• Making Primary and Supporting Asks
• Lobby Team Roles
• Meeting Minutes Form

To prepare yourself, research the full suite of resources for planning a meeting with a member of Congress.