HINT: APPLY THE RULE OF THREE -- Summarize your points in three, quick, easy reference statements or talking points.
Following are tips that will allow you to maximize your visit with an elected official:
1. Know Your Elected Official: You can find information at www.leg.state.fl.us about your elected legislator. Information will include their educational background, hobbies, interests, bills filed, and other personal information. Reviewing this will allow you to better understand their position on issues. You can often determine where a legislator’s interests are by the bills they file.
2. Requesting a Meeting: It is always easier to schedule a meeting when Legislators are in their home districts. Once they arrive in Tallahassee, their time is limited and you are competing with hundreds of people asking for their attention. Your influence with elected officials is critical. That influence is created through connections, and those are best made “back at home”. Maximize your success by visiting with elected officials in their “off time” when you can have more of their undivided attention. When requesting a meeting, be succinct in why you are requesting the meeting. Always let the scheduler know how many people will be attending the meeting.
3. Respect Staff Members: Because of the harried schedule of elected officials, you will often visit with an assistant or aide. Understand often the assistant/aide may be more familiar with your issue than the legislator, because it is their responsibility to educate and prepare the legislator for issues on which the elected official will vote. These individuals are critical to getting information to the elected official and may also control access to the elected official. They are your best link to the elected official.
4. Be punctual: Never be late for a meeting with an elected official, and always expect to wait when you arrive in their office. An elected official’s time is not their own, and often they are running late. Be respectful of time constraints, by being prepared to shorten your message if needed.
5. Plan Your Meeting and Focus: Make an advance appointment if possible. If you are “dropping in” for a visit, understand you are less likely to see the elected official, and more likely to see a staff member.
The time you will have with an elected official will be limited. It is rare to have lengthy face‐to-face meeting time, so you want to make the most of the time you have. Begin with thanking them for their time, state the reason for your meeting, and thank them on your way out the door – even it you disagree with their position or don’t reach consensus on an issue.
If you are participating in a group meeting plan your meeting with your group members so that you don’t talk over each other, keeping duplicate position statements to a minimum, and that the message is concise. Select an individual in your group who is the “expert” and can best speak to the issue.
6. Stay on Course: Be prepared to articulate your message in a concise and focused manner. If you don’t feel you are hearing the response you desire, never argue with the elected official. Instead, stay on topic, state your position in a positive manner, and never interject your personal feelings on issues not related to what you are there to speak on. Understand you may not always agree with an elected official, but you must always be positive. Never engage in a battle of the tongue. Your purpose is to educate the elected official/legislator, not debate them.
7. Your Request Should be Specific: The goal of your visit is ACTION! Have a concrete ask – refer to specific issues and have the bill number or agenda item number. Provide support and documentation for the request, re‐state the request, and leave understanding what the elected officials’ action will be. Always offer to follow‐up with additional information if the elected official requests this. And, then follow up. There is not anything worse than offering to provide further information, and not doing it.
8. Always Provide Factual Information: Don’t fall victim to the trap of providing information that is not factual. It is always better to say “I don’t know” than to provide information that is not factual and have an elected official use that information in a public forum. You will never regain the trust of the elected official. If you provide information at your visit and later find that the information has changed, always follow‐up letting the elected official know of the change.
9. Leave Reference Materials: If you have information that will further assist the elected official in becoming educated on your issue, leave the information with the elected official or with their staff. You don’t want to leave volumes of unnecessary information, only that which will document or further justify your position on an issue. Again, remember to summarize a fact sheet that can provide three key messages on your issues. Your elected official will be much more likely to recall this concise information, especially if it is repeated throughout your communications.
10. Follow Up: Be sure to inquire if and when the elected official would like you to follow‐up with them. You want to keep your issue fresh in their minds without being pesky. Always send a thank you note to the elected official for their time, and never underestimate the value of a hand‐written note. Be sure to track the ACTION that your elected official took, and if it was positive for your issue, thank them again.
11. De‐Brief and Report: If you are visiting with a group, schedule a time after your meeting(s) to summarize what occurred and who will be following‐up. If you are attending a legislative visitation event, there will most likely be a report that should be made. Assure someone is taking charge of that responsibility, and offer yourself as a source for the event coordinator if more information is necessary.
12. Don’t Wear Out Your Welcome: It matters not how well you know an elected official, you must create a balance between meeting to “catch up” and meeting on issue. Their time is valuable and they will hold you in higher regard if you are mindful of that. The old cliché “You can only go to the well so often” is especially true with elected officials. Be aware not to ask too often.
Remember, you can never say “Thank You” enough, and plan to take advantage of public forums in which to thank your elected official.
