Preparing For CCL Summer Conference and Lobby Day

Making Moves and Moving Congress: CCL's Summer Conference & Lobby Day is taking place June 8 - 11, 2024. Attendees will gather in Washington, D.C. for three days of conference programming followed by a day of lobbying members of Congress on Capitol Hill. This page walks through important details regarding recommended training, the lobby meeting appointment setting process and team creation, and how to plan and best prepare for lobby day.

Most Important Training and Resources

The below training is recommended to get you ready for the conference & lobby day and familiar with the Asks we will be making to Congress. Click the links below to RSVP for the live sessions, or you can watch the recordings. Note: political dynamics are unpredictable and can lead to changes in our Asks and training between now and lobby day.

• Lobby Training #1: Primary & Secondary Asks (Mon. May 20th, 8 pm ET)
• Lobby Training #2: Legislative Plan and Q&A (Thursday, May 23rd, 8 pm ET)
• Conference & Lobby Day Q&A (Tuesday, May 28th, 8 pm ET)

If you’re new to CCL or you have never taken CCL’s Climate Advocate Workshop, we strongly encourage you to attend this workshop live during the conference on Sunday, June 9th at 10:20 a.m. Or if you prefer to complete the online version ahead of time, sign up and attend the live virtual session  on June 2nd, 2 p.m. ET or watch a recording. This workshop is required to lobby with CCL, so plan to attend the virtual or in-person version (or both!). Lastly, if you are under 18 and interested in learning to lobby, register here to join the online Youth Lobby Training, by youth for youth, on Sunday, May 19, 2024.

Additional Training Opportunities

In addition to the 2024 Summer Conference & Lobby Day specific training listed above, we offer our Core Volunteer Training series (especially great for new-ish volunteers) to help you get ready to lobby.

• Lobbying Basics: Transformative Power of Citizen Advocacy (Thurs., May 2nd)
• Lobbying Basics: Planning and Practicing Your Meeting (Tues., May 14th)
• Understanding Congress Basics (Tues., May 21st)
• Lobbying Training: Review of Leading a Lobby Team (Thurs., May 30th)
• CCL's Policy Agenda (Tues., June 4th)

For the Working With Congress series training, CCL now offers an interactive design to help provide a more engaging learning experience.

Registering for the Conference

Everyone is invited to participate in the conference and lobby day, regardless of your level of experience in CCL. You can visit our registration page to register.

Registration deadline: May 20, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET.

NOTE:

• Only register one person per transaction/ticket.
• If you are registering for multiple people, do so in separate transactions.
• Failure to do so will cause issues with our lobby scheduler.

Walk-in Registration

• Available for the conference only (June 8-10).
• Walk-in registrants will not receive a lobby day schedule (for June 11th).

Lobby Meeting Appointment Setting & Lobby Team Process

Lobby Meeting Appointment Setting

Lobby meeting appointments with Congressional offices will be made by designated CCL Congressional Liaisons or Appointment Setters.

• If you are not a liaison, please do not try to set an appointment (you can learn about becoming a liaison here).
• If you’re not sure if there is a liaison or you need help, contact your Regional Director or State Coordinator.

Lobby Team & Schedule Creation

Lobby teams and schedules are coordinated in conjunction with CCL State Coordinators and Regional Directors and a software program that prioritizes constituents and existing liaisons to be placed in their district meeting if possible.

Additionally, we cross reference the availability volunteer lobbyists provide during registration, and place them into appointments based on: 

• their availability
• congressional district
• and the need for volunteers to fill meetings where we do not have any or enough constituents to fill the meeting.

Lobby Team Size: 4-6 people per meeting, depending on the number of people we have participating in Lobby Day.

Estimated Meetings per Lobbyist: We estimate each volunteer lobbyist to have 2-3 meetings.

NOTE: We will do our best to put constituents in their congressperson’s meeting though sometimes there are more constituents than space in an office. 

We kindly ask volunteer lobbyists to love the schedule received. The process of coordinating the schedule is complex and changes have domino effects. Congressional staffers have requested a limit on the number of attendees.

If for any reason one cannot attend a meeting we ask they notify the meeting leader, which can be found on one’s personal lobby schedule.

Lobby Meeting Dates and Times

Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2024,
Times: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. You will be asked about your availability for lobby day during registration.

Schedules Notification: Registered attendees (registration closes May 20, 2024 11:59 p.m. ET sharp, no exceptions) will be notified of their lobby team members and schedules by June 5, 2024. 

Lobby Meeting Planning

Lobby meeting preparation matters whether it’s your first time lobbying or your tenth! While part of the conference programming will include lobby day training, we strongly recommend attending (live or watching the recording) the training sessions listed above before you arrive in D.C. so you start to get familiar with the concepts of the policies we’ll be lobbying on. 

Given our busy conference agenda, we recommend lobby teams begin preparation ahead of the conference. We have made a suggestion in the following chart of times you can use for planning in D.C. based on the time your lobby meeting is scheduled. Based on past lobby days, 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. are the most popular times for lobby meetings, so we have included time in the conference schedule to plan for these meetings. Other meeting times are suggested during meals and free time. A list of available space will be shared during the conference opening session and at the Registration Desk. 

Each lobby team will have a person designated as the lead who will coordinate the planning for the lobby meeting. You will be notified in advance if you are designated as a lobby team lead. If you’ve not led a lobby team before, you can check out the Leading a Lobby Team Training. 

Team Members (non Team Leaders): Expect to hear from your Team Leader to arrange time virtually or in-person at the conference to plan your meeting. If you don't hear from your Team Leader, you can also contact them. All contact information for your team will be on your schedule which will be emailed to you on Wednesday, June 5th. 

Lobby Team Leaders: Individuals selected as Lobby Team Leaders will be alerted of such by Monday, June 3rd. We ask Team Leaders to contact their team members as soon as you receive your schedule on June 5th (via email and/or text) to arrange a time for a conference call, group email or check-in ahead of the conference if at all possible to prepare for the meeting. See above for planning options in DC. All contact information for your team will be on your schedule.

You can find out how to access a bio for each Member of Congress here. The CCL Appointment Setter (often the CCL Liaison) will be listed on your schedule and may have valuable suggestions. Where no appointment setter is listed, this appointment was probably set by CCL staff or interns. If no constituents can attend in person but the appointment setter arranged for one to join by phone, this will be noted on your schedule along with any other special notes. Please include them in planning as needed. Generally they introduce themselves and mention their concern about climate and then turn it over to the team in the room.

More information & Contact

• Check out the FAQs on the Conference Website for more information. 
• If you have questions about lobby day, please email liaison.coordinator@citizensclimate.org.
• If you have questions about the conference, please email conference.inbox@citizensclimate.org.

• (0:00) Intro & Agenda
• (4:22) CCL Lobby Days
• (16:13) CCL Conference Overview

• Alison Kubicsko
• Mindy Ahler

• View or download the Google Slides
• Download the video

• (0:00) Intro & Agenda
• (4:22) CCL Lobby Days
• (16:13) CCL Conference Overview

• Alison Kubiscko
• Mindy Ahler

• Download the podcast

• Meeting Minutes Form
• Meeting Plan Template
• Congressional Bios