How to Effectively Influence Your Legislators August 22, 2013

1. How to Effectively Influence Your Legislators August 22, 2013

2. Agenda • Introduction • Setting up your Meetings • Hill Meeting Myths • How to Maximize Your Influence • Additional Advocacy & Resources • Q&A

3. Setting Up Your Meeting • Email Scheduler • Follow up with another email or phone call • Persistency & patience are necessary! • Some offices will wait to schedule meetings closer to requested date

4. Setting Up Your Meeting • Offer to meet with Education Legislative Assistant, if Member of Congress is not available • Make sure you get the name of the Education Legislative Assistant so you can email them directly • House emails: firstname.lastname@mail.house.gov • Senate emails: firstname_lastname@MOCname.senate.gov

5. Setting Up Your Meeting • Please complete the online appointment form by Friday, 9/13 • Accessible at http://www.nassp.org/poy-materials • Please contact Jacki Ball at ballj@nassp.org or at 703.860.7338 if need assistance.

6. Hill Meeting Myths • Myth #1: • Practitioners' voices like mine don’t really matter in crafting federal policy • Myth #2: • Meeting with a staff member is not nearly as important as meeting with my legislator

7. Hill Meeting Myths • Myth #3: • My meeting won’t mean much since I’m only on the Hill for a day

8. How to Maximize Your Influence

9. Before Your Meeting • Prioritize your top three to four issues • Do some “homework” • Review NASSP materials • Prepare examples, personal stories and data/statistics

10. Before Your Meeting • Practice your “pitch” • Talking points for each issue • Don’t assume the legislator or staffer knows the issue well • Know your “asks” • What are you asking the member to do? • Cosponsor or support a bill? Oppose a bill? Or support a particular funding level?

11. At Your Meeting • Arrive a few minutes early • Introduce yourself to the front desk & tell them who you are meeting with

12. At Your Meeting • During your meeting • Introductions & exchange cards • Make a connection • Thank them for meeting with you, then go into your first “pitch” and “ask”

13. At Your Meeting • During your meeting • Have a conversation • Allow them to ask questions • Share relevant NASSP handout(s) as necessary • Don’t forget about your “ask”

14. At Your Meeting • During your meeting • Monitor your time and adjust accordingly to cover all your issues • Leave the NASSP folder of materials with the Member of Congress or staff member • Thank them for their time

15. After Your Meeting • Immediately after: • Tweet and Facebook about your meeting • As soon as possible: • Send a thank you email • Reiterate your key points and “asks” • Tell them you are happy to be a resource whenever they need you

16. After Your Meeting • In the next few days: • Reach out to your Members’ local offices (the state and/or district offices) • Invite your Member of Congress to your school to visit • Set up a meeting with the local staff • Share your pictures and experience with your local media and school community

17. Additional Advocacy • Join the Federal Grassroots Network, if not already a member! • Receive Weekly Advocacy Updates • Commit to advocate Members of Congress and staff (including state & district offices) • To join, email Jacki Ball at ballj@nassp.org

18. Resources • Check out all NASSP’s advocacy resources at www.nassp.org/legislative-advocacy • Principal’s Policy Blog www.nasspblogs.org/principalspolicy

19. Resources • Principal’s Legislative Action Center www.nassp.org/PLAC • Twitter @NASSP, @akarhuse, @balljacki • Don’t forget your POY page: http://www.nassp.org/poy-materials

20. Q & A • Type your question into the “question” feature for a response • Thank you and see you soon!