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If you’ve been following this series religiously (you have, haven’t you?) you’ve wrapped up the 110th, prepared your team, helped your advocates and started preparing for a tough budget environment. All that remains is to use this downtime to get one new idea going. Here are some options to consider:

Isn’t it Time for a Blog?: You’re reading this one, right? A blog can be a great way to provide up-to-the-minute advocacy information to that core group of people that really care about your issues. This is a great time to set something up: just in time for the new Congress.

Explore Webinars: Effective advocates always need more training. Your organization can meet that need without travel costs and expense through online webinars and audio conferences. You can use free resources like Yugma or Free Conference Call to get started.

Set up an Online Class: Many organizations are enhancing their online learning options through an online class. Look at sites like Moodle.org for free and low-cost platforms to provide this type of service. Or, you can create a simple HTML course to be made available through your website.

Social Media: Whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or YouTube, there are literally hundreds of new ways to interact with your advocates – and for them to interact with Congress. Use the next couple months to pick one of these sites to explore more thoroughly. At a minimum, you’ll learn more about how citizens across the country are already using these tools to talk about your issues. Shouldn’t you be part of that conversation?

If the thought of exploring these web 2.0 tools has you overwhelmed and you aren’t sure where to begin, just drop an e-mail to webtools@advocacyguru.com and an autoresponder will send you an article with a host of free and low-cost online sites to explore. Oh, yeah, and auto-responders. That’s another one to look in to!

If you’ve followed all the steps outlined in this series of posts, you’ll be better prepared than most for the 111th Congress. Happy advocating!