Preparing for CCL Summer Conference & Lobby Day
CCL's Summer Conference & Lobby Day is taking place July 20-22, 2025. Attendees will gather in Washington, D.C. for a day 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
Check out our new Lobby Meeting Toolkit
The below training is recommended to get you ready for lobby day and familiar with the Asks we will be making to Congress. Links will be added after each training to 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 & Supporting Asks - Monday, June 30
- Lobby Training #2: Legislative Plan - Thursday, July 10
- Conference & Lobby Day Q&A - Wednesday, July 9
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 Monday, July 21st at 1:30 p.m. Or if you prefer to complete the online version ahead of time, sign up and attend the live virtual session on July 6th, 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!).
Additional Training Opportunities
- Special opportunity from our Braver Angels Action Team (good for all volunteers) - Skills for Disagreeing Better:
- Virtual trainings in preparation for this lobby day (especially helpful for new-ish volunteers):
- Lobbying with Impact: How to Prepare and Show Up Strong for Your Congressional Meetings Thursday, June 26
- Understanding Congress: A Citizen's Guide to Engagement Thursday, July 3
- Lobbying Training: Review of Leading a Lobby Team (tentatively Thursday, July 17)
- These previously recorded trainings can also be helpful:
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. The registration deadline is July 3, 2025, 11:59 p.m. ET. NOTE: you should 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 is available for the conference only (July 20-21). Walk-in registrants will not receive a lobby day schedule (for July 22).
The minimum age to participate in CCL events, activities, and lobby meetings is 13 years old. We welcome children ages 13-17 to attend the Summer Conference & Lobby Day as long as they are accompanied by their parent, legal guardian, or a grandparent. This ensures minors have the proper support and supervision while engaging with our programs through the duration of the event.
Instructions for registering with a minor: The parent/legal guardian/grandparent must register themself for the conference (by selecting a "Conference & Lobby Day" ticket or a "Conference Only" ticket), and also select the "Add On - Minor Registration" ticket ($35). In the registration form, the parent/legal guardian/grandparent will be asked if they are bringing a minor with them, they should select yes (this will serve as the minor’s registration). The minor DOES NOT REGISTER separately. The minor will shadow their parent/legal guardian/grandparent on lobby day, and will not receive their own lobby day schedule.
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 State Coordinator.
Lobby Team & Schedule Creation
Lobby teams and schedules are coordinated in conjunction with CCL Staff and State Coordinators and a software program that prioritizes constituents and existing liaisons to be placed in their district meeting if possible. 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. We try to have no more than 4-6 people per meeting, depending on the number of people we have participating in Lobby Day. We estimate each volunteer lobbyist to have 2-3 meetings. 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. Often there are more constituents than space available in Capitol Hill offices. Sometimes Congressional staffers have requested a limit on the number of people attending the meeting. 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 meetings will be taking place on Tuesday, July 22, 2025, starting anywhere from 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. You will be asked about your availability for lobby day during registration. Since we don't know in advance how many lobby meetings are later in the day, we'd like to have as many lobbyists as possible stay until the end of the day and come to the post lobby day reception. If you need to end your lobby day earlier than 5:30 p.m., when you register please indicate the time you are available until (you can potentially be scheduled for a meeting to start 1 hour prior to the time indicated. For example, if you indicate in your registration you are available until 3 p.m., you could be scheduled for a meeting that starts at 2 p.m.).
Registered attendees (registration closes July 3, 2025 11:59 p.m. ET sharp, no exceptions) will be notified by July 16th of your lobby team members and schedule.
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, it is not possible to designate specific times at the conference for each lobby team to meet to plan. Lobby meeting preparation matters! Given our busy conference agenda, it is not possible to designate specific times at the conference for each team to meet. There will be no formal programming during the evening of the conference on July 21st, we suggest you meet with your lobby teams then.
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.
Lobby Team Leaders: Individuals selected as Lobby Team Leaders will be alerted of such by July 14th. We ask Team Leaders to contact their team members as soon as you receive your schedule on July 16th (via email and/or text) to arrange a time to prepare for the meeting virtually, or schedule something in-person at the conference. All contact information for your team will be on your schedule.
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 July 16th.
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.
Resources
Please check back here after the training sessions begin on June 30.
Please check back here after the training sessions begin on June 30.
