In preparation for our Advocacy Events, Captains in each state will help coordinate outreach to their states’ U.S. Representatives and Senators. You will be receiving a list of people who have registered in your state as well as an information packet sent to everybody who registers for the event. Here are some organizing suggestions.
Arrange a meeting with other people from your state. You will be given a list of other advocates and their contact information. You can arrange the meeting by Zoom, telephone, Facetime, or email. Make certain that everyone has registered for the advocacy event with METAvivor. If you need a Zoom account, contact [email protected]. In the meeting discuss the following:
1. Who has participated in previous Stampedes/GroundSwells or has other advocacy experience? Ask people to share some of those experiences
2. Find out what level of participation each person is interested in.
3. Encourage people to view the webinars, reenactment, and legislative fact sheet on the METAvivor Web Site, especially if they want to take an active role on the Congressional visits. They can also take advantage of our new Advocacy Tool Kit which is also on the web site.
4. For people in the group wishing to participate in the visits to legislators, discuss how you will organize. Some options include:
Designate one person, perhaps with past experience participating in the Stampede, to act as primary presenter in the meetings with each legislator and the remainder of the team adds to this presentation.
Rotate the role of primary presenter for each visit to different legislators.
Have a different person in charge of presenting each different issue.
The meetings should not be any longer than 20 minutes so discussion and storytelling will need to be kept to a specific time.
These are only examples. You do not have to limit yourselves to them. However, you organize the meeting, it is important that each person who wants to, has time to tell his or her story.
6. We encourage you to organize practice Congressional visits, either via Zoom or in-person (small group (six or less) meetings). Congressional staffers typically have a time limit for their meetings, so it is important that participants prepare ahead of time in order to limit their presentations to a few minutes. Here are a few suggestions for participants to prepare for a practice session as well as the actual Congressional visit:
Jot down four or five main points that you want to make in your presentation.
Have the legislative fact sheet, in front of you during the practice and actual Congressional visits to refer, for example, to the names and bill numbers of particular bills.
Encourage everyone to listen to the Congressional Reenactment before conducting their role play of a Congressional meeting.
7. Share the recorded webinars found on the METAvivor website and Stampede/GroundSwell Registration.
Legislative Fact Sheet
A helpful reference sheet in preparing for a Congressional meeting and for reference during the meeting. (Download)
Advocacy Toolkit
A helpful reference on becoming an effective advocate. Advocacy Toolkit
If you have any questions or problems, please contact the Advocacy Team at [email protected].
State Captains/Co-Captains Guide
Family & Friends E-Blast Template (Download)
