Constituent Meetings Training

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What’s a constituent meeting?

A constituent meeting is a face-to-face meeting between a constituent (that’s you!) and an elected official or their staff. These meetings are usually 30 minutes or less, and can happen virtually or in person. You’ll use the time to introduce yourself, share a clear policy ask, and use both facts and anecdotes to encourage the official to take the action you want.

Goals:

1. Make progress on a policy issue: Secure a commitment to act! Even baby steps, like getting your elected official’s staff to have an internal conversation on the topic, is a win.

2. Go on a reconnaissance mission. Find out why the representative may be resistant to taking action, or at least what their public reasons are. Pay attention to their messaging.

3. Connect with the staffer/elected official. Build an authentic professional relationship you can draw on in the future. If they seem receptive and warm, don’t be afraid to show your personality while staying professional. Most staffers are as passionate as you are about one policy issue or another, so tap into that shared desire to make the world a better place.

4. Elevate climate action as a priority for your elected official. Build up a little pressure (in a nice way) — the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

How to be effective:

As a constituent, you’re automatically seen as a credible messenger for how a public policy impacts the district. Lean into that: talk about your experience and keep it local. Speak with humble confidence about the policy (rehearsing your talking points helps with this!), but do not feel pressure to sound like an expert. That’s not what your elected official is looking for from you!

In this spirit, the four magic ingredients for an effective constituent meeting are:

1. A specific request/ask

2. Your reasons for supporting/opposing the issue

3. Information about the impact of the policy on the state/district/community

4. A human story related to the issue

It’s best practice to stick to one ask per meeting. As tempting as it might be to slip in some bonus asks, you risk undermining your efficacy by creating too much homework for the elected official. Note: You can discuss more than just your ask (e.g. you can ask what else they are working on in the climate space), but strive to keep the agenda tight and be sure you’re only asking for one thing. Schedule another meeting in a few months to make your next ask!

Video Call Etiquette

• Arrive 5 minutes early! Collect yourself, do any last-minute preparation, and deal with any technical difficulties.

• Join from a distraction-free environment. That means no loud background noise or people/pets interrupting your video feed to the extent it’s possible to control.

• You don’t need to dress up like you would if you were on Capitol Hill, but make sure any visible clothing is clean and easily passes a test of “would you wear this inside an elementary school?”

• Ensure your display name is professional. Go for your name and location within the jurisdiction of the lawmaker (e.g. Gabrielle - Manhattan).

• Always turn your video on unless the staffer indicates that the meeting will be audio-only.

• Keep your audio muted unless you are speaking.

• These are private meetings unless otherwise stated. Don’t take or share any screenshots without the staffer’s permission.

Language and tone

You’ll probably be meeting with staffers and not the legislators themselves. The level of formality varies quite dramatically between offices. Capitol Hill, for example, can be a traditional place with strictly adhered-to norms. On average, Senate offices lean more toward the formal end than House offices. Besides basic conversation etiquette (don’t interrupt, etc.), below are Capitol Hill-specific tips that can be generalized to other levels of government:

• Express gratitude for positive aspects of your lawmaker’s work (as reflected in the meeting outline template).

• Refer to the elected official with their title attached: either “Senator Murphy”/“Congresswoman Clark” or simply “the Senator”/”the Congresswoman.” You might relax this rule once you have built a friendly rapport with the staffer, but always initially default to this naming convention.

• Mirror the tone of the staffer. If they want to treat the relationship more casually, you can follow their lead. If they keep up a level of formality, you should match their professionalism.

• The more often you reference specifics about the official (committees, legislation they’ve introduced, Tweets, etc.) the faster you can earn respect and build a relationship.

• Don’t presume you know more than the staffer about your policy topic, even if the member of Congress isn’t known for being outspoken on climate. Present your arguments declaratively but humbly, taking cues from the staffer as to how much they’re already plugged into the issue.