Preparing For Lobby Day
On Tuesday, November 12th, 2019, hundreds of Citizens’ Climate Lobby supporters will come together on Capitol Hill to help Congress solve climate change.
If you only have time for two
- Planning Your Meeting With Congress Training - to help liaisons and/or local groups prepare their meeting plans.
- Study Guide for 2019 Conference - how we listen and communicate is as important as what we have to say, thus the guide is divided into two categories: Communication Skills and Content Knowledge.
Preparing if you're a first-time lobby day attendee
- Ahead of November you’re invited to explore Community’s Working With Congress Topic page for more detailed training guides on any questions you might have (for example if you’d like learn how to take notes, review the training on how to take great notes in your lobby meeting). Many of these trainings will also be provided via live webinars, for more information see the details of the training schedule below. For example, the Conference and Lobby Day Logistics webinar is available on this page if you click the "Watch" or "Listen" tabs above for a final review.
- Lobby day schedules, congressional biographies and meeting plans will be emailed to all attendees by November 7th, the week ahead of arriving to DC.
- After receiving your assignments, the designated meeting lead will email your team to invite you to plan your team’s pre-lobby meeting(s) to get to know each other, assign roles for meeting participants, and help the team practice the primary ask delivery and select the best fit for supporting asks. The Frequently Asked Questions resource is also helpful to see what kinds of topics have come up often in the past and helpful resources to connect. For details on where and when your team will meet, scroll down to “Meeting With Your Team.”
- For additional insights on what possible print-outs and materials are available to bring, see all resources associated with Working with Congress on the Resources page.
CCL Lobby Training Schedule
CCL offers training opportunities to help prepare you to become an effective citizen lobbyist and team member ahead of your arrival in DC. All of these trainings are available in the form of step-by-step guides and archived videos/podcasts in our topic “Working With Congress,” but if you would like to see the schedule and sign-up for upcoming live training sessions click on any of the specific links below:
- The Transformative Power of Citizen Advocacy, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- Practice Effective Lobbying, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- Planning Your Meeting with Congress, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- Handling Difficult Lobbying Scenarios, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- Understanding Congress & The Legislative Process, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- How to Lead a Lobby Team, (already debuted, click link for training recording)
- Conference & Lobby Day Logistics Q&A, click the Watch or Listen tab above.
Email Brett Cease at brett@citizensclimate.org with any questions you have about CCL’s Training Opportunities.
Meeting With Your Team
On Thursday, November 7th, as soon as you are notified of your assigned lobby meetings we recommend that your teams set up a chance to meet and begin planning as soon as possible. Your team lead will coordinate scheduling your team’s time to practice, but here’s a few additional recommendations to help you prepare:
- Save time ahead of conference. If possible, we suggest reserving time ahead of your travels to be available to meet online (many of our CCL leaders use Zoom.us, a web conference tool with free personal lines). This will allow your team an initial get-to-know-you meeting to familiarize yourself with each other and begin assigning roles/research ahead of the conference.
- Meeting locations ahead of the conference. If your team is arriving to DC early, feel free to use CCL’s specific Omni Shoreham rooms on Sunday to plan further discussions.
- Specific Meeting Planning Times during the Conference. During the 2019 November Lobby Day on Monday, November 11th, we recommend your team designates a place to meet during the following break-times depending on the hour your Tuesday lobby meeting starts. If your team can’t all get together during the conference we suggest you plan on setting a meeting time on Tuesday morning to meet as well.
Suggested Lobby Meeting Planning Times
Tuesday Lobby Meeting Start Time
Suggested Planning Time (arrange with team lead)
8:00 - 10:00 a.m. meetings
Monday Breakfast (8:00 - 9:00 am)
10:00 am - 12:00 p.m. meetings
Monday Lunch First Half (12:00 - 12:45 pm)
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. meetings
Monday Lunch Second Half (12:45 - 1:30 pm)
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. meetings
Monday Dinner First Half (5:00 - 6:00 pm)
3:00 - 5:00 p.m. meetings
Monday Dinner Second Half (6:00 - 7:00 pm)
If you have any questions about your team’s meeting plans, wait until after everyone is mailed their assignments on November 7th so that you know the appropriate meeting lead to contact. Once you’ve contacted your team leads ask Amy Bennett at amy@citizensclimate.org if you have any remaining questions.
Is there an app with the conference schedule?
If you have a smartphone, you can download the mobile app. You can even set your notifications to alert you when updates are made.
- In your app store, search for “Grenadine Event Guide”
- Once downloaded, open the app and enter in the event code: 2019NLD
- From the menu on the bottom, you can access the schedule, speakers, and other event information.
- As we get closer to the conference, we’ll be putting handouts and other information into the app for easy access.
Additional Questions about the Conference and Climate Advocate Training?
For additional questions about the conference program, including whether you should attend the Climate Advocate Training or what session(s) to attend if you’ve already taken it online refer to the "Program & Agenda FAQ" section on the November Lobby Day Registration page here.
Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)
Your Lobby Schedule & Pre-conference materials
(2:56)
Conference Schedule
(13:30)
Getting To The Hill & Capitol Area Considerations
(25:28)
Meeting Minutes Plans
(34:43)
- Taylor Krause
- Sara Wanous
Download PowerPoint or Google Slides presentation.
Download the video.Intro & Agenda
(from beginning)
Your Lobby Schedule & Pre-conference materials
(2:56)
Conference Schedule
(13:30)
Getting To The Hill & Capitol Area Considerations
(25:28)
Meeting Minutes Plans
(34:43)
- Taylor Krause
- Sara Wanous