Advocacy Classroom - What to Know Before You Go!
“Our advocates, particularly first timers, found the Advocacy Classroom incredibly helpful in preparing for their meetings at our recent Advocacy Summit. They better understood what to expect and what strategies work when talking to members of Congress and their staff. Working with the Advocacy Associates team to post and update customized materials was a breeze. It’s a valuable investment for any organization seeking to make the most of their event.”
Heather Schrader, CAE - Meetings Manager - National Funeral Directors Association
Advocacy Associates and the Congressional Management Foundation have joined forces to offer “What to Know Before You Go!”, an asynchronous, online training tool designed to enhance the outcomes of association fly-in events by training advocates to be more effective in their meetings.
Through the combination of the Congressional Management Foundation’s real-world data on congressional/citizen interactions, and Advocacy Associates’ extensive experience in creating exceptional advocacy days, this course will leave advocates feeling confident in how to approach and conduct their meetings, as well as how to make the all-important ask.
This new tool will also improve how legislative offices perceive advocate professionalism, and enhance the likelihood they’ll retain policy information and perspectives. Members of Congress and their staff notice when advocates aren’t adequately prepared. In fact, in a survey from the Congressional Management Foundation, congressional staff were asked how frequently they experience ineffective and even detrimental practices when meeting with advocates. The answers were astounding.
90% of respondents agreed that constituents frequently or very frequently do not have data on the impact on district or state.
87% agreed that these constituents don’t know a legislator’s history on a policy issue
81% agreed that they didn’t make a specific request
55% agreed that they didn’t convey a personal story
And yet these strategies are essential to influencing a member of Congress to agree with a specific position. The “Who to Know Before You Go!” class in the Advocacy Classroom is designed to help advocates understand these important elements and employ tactics to successfully address them in their meetings. It offers eight modules of:
Cutting-edge, data-driven content
Multiple learning modalities
Customizable modules to reflect association-specific policy information
Robust reporting on participants’ progress
The course was developed by DC experts Stephanie Vance, Managing Partner at Advocacy Associates, and Bradford Fitch, CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation. Stephanie and Bradford each have over 35 years of experience in Washington, DC as legislative and association staff, as well as government relations professionals in the private sector. Both have extensive experience in online and in-person advocate training having presented over the last twenty years domestically and international to thousands of advocates associated with hundreds of associations.