Scheduling A Meeting With Congress

Walk through the process of scheduling a meeting, including step-by step instructions on how to use the Appointment Setter Log Tool. This training is specifically for CCL liaisons or appointment setters who are scheduling our House or Senate lobby meetings during CCL's national lobby days.  Follow this guide to learn a streamlined process, while keeping in mind you may know what might work best with your Congress member and staff.  For advice on setting up meetings outside of CCL's national lobby days, see In-District Lobbying Plans.

Before You Get Started 

Helpful Terms: 

• Constituent - A person who is represented politically by a designated government official or officeholder.
• MOC - Member of Congress (House or Senate)
• Scheduler - Congressional Staff who sets in-person meetings with the Congress Member and/or staffers
• Legislative Staff - Staff employees of House or Senate members. Various roles include the Legislative Director (LD), Legislative Assistant (LA) Legislative Correspondent (LC) and District Staff.  Some are referred to by their subject matter responsibilities, such as an energy/environment aide, who may be preferred staff for CCL lobby meetings. 
• Appointment Setter Log: The tool used to keep track of your progress throughout the appointment setting process. 

Location of Meetings:

• DC - In-Person Meeting in Washington DC on Capitol Hill:  Legislative Director or energy aide have offices in DC. The Congress member may be here when Congress is “in session.”
• In District: At office in the Congressional district. The Congress member may be here on weekends and during “recess”.
• Virtual: Zoom, Teams, Skype, conference call, etc.

Create Meeting Objectives 

Before you send your meeting request, consider the agenda of the meeting and how it will be of interest to the Congress member or staffer. Discuss it at your chapter meeting or with other members of your team. 

• Be sure to update the reason for your meeting request or it might be denied if the scheduler thinks it is repetitive. How are you advancing the conversation?
• How can you deepen your relationship with the office and move your MOC up the ladder of support? Some Congress members have met with CCL before, so it’s important to know exactly why you want to meet with your MOC. 
• What are the known priorities of your MOC? Part of the request process is getting to know your member. Make sure to review the Getting to Know Your Member of Congress training video.
• How will your reason to meet pique the interest of the Congressional office? Try to include fresh and new information in your meeting objectives to show that your relationship with the MOC or staffer is progressing. 

Is your MOC or staffer brand new to you? 

Consider setting up part of your meeting as a “get to know you” session. Use any of the ideas in the In-District Lobbying Plans training for more information.

With Whom Do You Want To Meet?

Decide on the type of meeting you want before sending the request. Do you want a face-to-face meeting with the member of Congress or is a staff meeting a better option for your meeting objectives? The request process is slightly different depending on the type of meeting requested.  We suggest you still start your request process with the MOC’s scheduler in either case, but you can suggest a staff level meeting if that is your preference.  

Face to Face Meetings

Consider a face-to-face meeting if you have not had a recent meeting directly with the MOC. The office scheduler is the person who handles these requests. If you recently met face-to-face, the Congress member’s scheduler may see your request as unnecessary. Even if you request a face to face meeting keep in mind about 75-80% of meetings are staff level.  Members are often called away for votes or other meetings.

If you do have a face-to-face meeting with the member, you must have a constituent attend. Having a tentative list of attendees sent with the initial request will help move the process along. Check with your fellow chapter members ahead of time to determine who can attend. Do not promise a constituent will attend if you are not sure.

Staff Level Meetings

Staff meetings might be more productive than meetings with the MOC depending on your meeting goals. Be sure you know who deals with climate policy in the office.  It is very important to meet with the person who knows the issue and works with the MOC on the topic so you make best use of everyone’s time.  If you meet with the right person you will have more time to discuss policy details, concerns and endorsements, and to share resources.  We still suggest you start with the MOC’s scheduler.  You might mention that you know the MOC is busy and would like to meet with the key staffer.  By mentioning the name of the correct Legislative Staff in your original request, the scheduler will understand the depth of the conversation you want to have and will avoid setting up a meeting with the wrong person.  The scheduler will often then hand it off to the staffer or suggest you contact the staffer directly.  You might forward the schedulers suggestion to give your request to the staffer extra weight. 

Requesting a Meeting and Using the Log Tool 

Keep in mind that the meeting request steps mirror the Appointment Setting Log's action steps. When you move forward in the scheduling process, you should be updating the Appointment Setting Log at the same time.

Getting Started

• If you are listed as the designated appointment setter or primary liaison for your MOC, you will get an email six or more weeks before the lobby event asking for confirmation that you are setting the appointment for your MOC for that event.
• Please click on the link to confirm or decline (do not click reply). If you’re not able to make the appointment, select NO and please suggest a co-liaison or someone you have been in contact with that you know is willing to make the appointment instead.
• If you are able to make the appointment, please select Yes and you will receive an email that provides a personal link to access and update the Log. Click on the link to open up the Log and get acquainted. 

MOC Office Preferences and Log Step 1  

Contact the office to confirm the MOC office preference for appointment setting (whether the request should be sent by email, or webform submission). Hill staff change jobs frequently so you may need to confirm the information for the current MOC Scheduler and key Legislative Staff. Sending a request to the wrong person can delay the process and create unnecessary work for the Congressional office and you so please make sure your information is correct. If you are in regular contact with the office and you have current information, this step is not necessary.

Log Action Step 1: Edit congressional staffer names/emails (if needed).

We update the information in the log from a data source prior to each lobby event.  You can see this current information on the right side of the log screen along with a button that allows you to update the information if it is not correct. 

Create and Send Meeting Request and Log Step 2 

Send your meeting request about three to five weeks ahead of the requested time (modify if you know office preference). Remember that securing an appointment usually takes multiple follow-ups. Be sure essential info is included that the scheduler needs to process the request. Here are some tips:

• Include Who, What, When, Where, Why.  
• If you can include our primary and supporting ask(s) please do 
• Double check key staff names and spellings. House emails are in this format: John.Doe@mail.house.gov. Senate emails include the Senator’s name (I.e. Smith) in the format: Jane_Doe@Smith.senate.gov.
• Customize sample email based on your relationship with the office. Edit template or create your own (under 150 words).
• Do not assume the MOC office will remember CCL or solutions we support.
• Send the request to one person only. 

Log Action Step 2: Initial Request Made - Awaiting Response 

This is one of the most important steps! After you send the request, Log this step promptly to allow the CCL support team to concentrate their time on to helping  those who are stuck. 

Log Action Steps 3 and/or 4: Response Received, Follow-up Made - Awaiting Response

If the office responds to your request or if you followed up with the office and are awaiting a response, update the progress in the Log. You may have to wait a few weeks before getting a response from the office. There is also a possibility that they will not respond until the week of the event. Try not to get discouraged! As you build a trusting relationship you can start to delicately ask how to improve your communication with the office.  Observe the office staff’s email style.

Appointment Set! and Log Step 5

• Reply to the office and confirm the day of the week and time.
• Send a brief agenda, your Primary Ask, and relevant meeting materials a few days ahead. 

After the meeting is confirmed, log this step only once (unless the meeting time changes). Log entry is not needed for progress after the meeting is set.
Whenever you use the Log, you will get an email summary of the actions you took which confirms success of your submission. That summary will also have a copy of your Log link for convenience. To check the progress you’ve made, you can view your summarized Log steps on the right hand side of the log portal.

After your meeting, we ask that you submit one report with Meeting Minutes. Please review the minutes for accuracy and submit within 48 hours. There should be one report per meeting submitted, so make sure to confirm who will submit them to avoid duplicates. Please submit a report even if there was not a meeting. You can submit your meeting minutes using the CCL Action Tracker and clicking ‘Log an Action’ → ‘Contact with Legislator’ → ‘Lobby Meeting’. 

Tips!

MOC staffers get 100’s of emails daily. For a better chance at getting a response sooner, keep your emails brief and avoid cc’ing others. Save your sent emails so you can forward your original request if needed. Also, check your spam folders in case their responses end up there. Log your progress simultaneously so that you and the CCL support team can keep track of the progress you’re making. 

If you have followed up three times and there is still no response, you can call the office to confirm the email address or leave a message suggesting that the request may have gone to spam. Mention you will resend the email and would the staffer please be on the lookout.

Keep in mind that less is more! Make it easy for the office to respond and as it gets closer to lobby day, suggest a time: “Will 3:00 p.m. work or can you suggest another time?” We have seen that staffers are more likely to confirm when you suggest times as it makes their lives easier. Keep in mind, every office is different - follow their lead! 

The sample requests below includes all the critical information the scheduler needs to move your meeting request forward.

Please edit as needed or create your own short email request. Be sure you call the Congressional office to update current staffers names and emails before sending--staff of MOC change jobs frequently. 

Generic Sample Meeting Request

Email for members of Congress for Fall 2024 Virtual Lobby meetings

Subject line suggestion: CCL Meeting Request Week of December 9th

Dear [Scheduler],

My name is [your name]. I’m a constituent and a volunteer with Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), a nonpartisan nonprofit climate advocacy group with 231,000 supporters across the U.S. [Add if you are a constituent, an appreciation of the member’s work, or mention a local climate related concern.]
 

We would like to meet virtually the week of December 9 - 13 to discuss Permitting Reform. If the Congressmember is unable to attend we would be pleased to meet with [name of staffer who works on this issue].

[If known, list names and hometowns or zip codes of at least a few constituents who will attend. A full list of attendees is ideal. Check with your state or regional coordinator if you need help with this.]

I look forward to hearing back from you with a meeting time.

Sincerely,

[Your name and contact information], 

Citizens’ Climate Lobby

We are here to help!

If you have any questions, email CCL's Liaison Coordinators liaison.coordinator@citizensclimate.org.

• Intro and Agenda (from beginning)
• Background Terms (1:03)
• Why Use The Log? (6:04)
• Steps To Take & How To Use the Log (9:57)
• How to Get Support & Tips (19:05)

• Appointment Setting Tutorial Log

• Mindy Ahler

• Download Google Slides presentation.
• Download the video. 

• Intro and Agenda (from beginning)
• Background Terms (1:03)
• Why Use The Log? (6:04)
• Steps To Take & How To Use the Log (9:57)
• How to Get Support & Tips (19:05)

• Mindy Ahler

• June 2024 Lobbying Checklist (Google Doc to make a copy of)
• Appointment Setting Log