Acronym

In my first post in this series on preparing for the 111th Congress, I talked about clearing the decks from the 110th (OK, granted: it seems like the 110th Congress will NEVER END!). Nevertheless, try to arrange some semblance of order for the last Congress. Once you do, you’ll be ready to prepare your team for next year. What does that involve? I’m glad you asked:

Review Priorities: The next Congress will see a host of new faces, not to mention a new administration. At the same time, a difficult economic situation will limit the investments that can be made in new or even existing programs. Now is a great time to review that legislative agenda to see what might be possible – and what may be more difficult to achieve.

Develop a Calendar: One great way to get organized for 2009 is to develop a calendar of advocacy activities. Download a sample / template here (note that the dates on the calendar are for a previous year and will need to be changed for 2009).

Identify the “Power Advocates”: Take a look at your database to identify anyone who advocated frequently (or at all) during the year. These will be the individuals you’ll want to cultivate early in 2009.

Train, Train, Train: Use the “advocacy doldrums” of November and December to train advocates through audio conference calls and webinars. Now is a great time to set up a “Preparing for the 111th Congress” session designed to help advocates understand the impact of the elections on your policy concerns – and what they can do to position the organization for success in 2009.

In the next posting, we’ll take a look at quick and easy tasks to assign advocates during the next couple months to help them strengthen their relationships with new and returning members.