Engineer's Guide to Influencing Public Policy (The Phone Call)

Organizing an Engineers' Day at the State Capital is an excellent way to increase the influence of engineers on the legislative process, while creating a high-visibility event that can generate new interest and enthusiasm for section-level professional activities. By meeting with state legislators, IEEE members can develop advocacy skills and build relationships with their state representatives that will pay off in the future when key arises arise. Building a strong network of experienced grassroots advocates is also beneficial to IEEE-USA's government relations program on both state and federal issues. Most importantly, it can be a fun and rewarding event for the individual participants.

The following brief guide provides tips, a planning check-list, and sample programs for an Engineers' Day at the State Capitol. It is intended as a resource for the event organizer(s), who can also call on the advice and assistance of the IEEE-USA Washington office and its PACE Network in planning an Engineers' Day event.

From an organizing perspective, the first two keys to having a successful Capital Day event are getting broad participation from interested IEEE members and delegating the planning responsibilities so that you are not overwhelmed with details. Five simple steps will help you achieve these goals:

Once you are committed to organizing a Engineers' Day, your first step should be to organize a planning/steering committee. Your steering committee should have a chair, a treasurer to develop funding proposals and keep tabs on the budget, and coordinators for publicity, appointments/scheduling, and advocacy materials. A vice chair should be designated to keep things on track when the chair is otherwise engaged. You can also add additional volunteers in more specialized roles. Also, if it is a multi-society event, make sure every participating organization/group has a representative(s) or at least an identified contact person.

Among the most important and time-consuming tasks are funding your event, deciding the topic(s) to be lobbied on and preparing the supporting material; publicizing your event, developing your program, and setting up the appointments and materials for your visits with legislators. Each of these is covered briefly in the following sections and a planning check list is appended to help you through the planning process.

The initial hurdle is finding money to support your event. The budget for an Engineers' Day at the State Capitol should be relatively modest. Participants can be asked to pay their own travel and lodging expenses. Plan for the budget to cover the cost of materials and meals, and a meeting room (if you can't obtain one for free in the State Capitol), plus any incidental expenses. Box lunches should suffice unless you're organizing a more formal event with a legislative speaker(s). Funding for an Engineers Day at the Capital can be obtained through your section's professional activities fund by working with the Section Chair or Section PACE Chair. You can also submit a funding proposal as an IEEE-USA PACE Section Project. For information on how to submit a proposal, see: http://www.ieeeusa.org/pace/funding.asp.

Depending on the nature of your Engineers' Day event, and whether or not you engage in "lobbying" (i.e. attempt to influence specific legislation, as opposed to just getting to know your legislator and talking about general issues of concern), and also how much money you and/or your participants spend, you may need to do the following:

Picking a good day for your event requires careful consideration. You need to consider not only what's best for your volunteers, but also what works best for your legislators and the legislative calendar.

Most state legislatures hold 60-90 day long sessions starting in January or February. Some legislatures only meet every other year. Others meet year round, but may reserve large portions of the year for hearings and developing legislative proposals. Start by checking out your state's legislative calendar to make sure your legislators will still be in session when you want to hold your Engineers' Day. You can find links to state government web pages at http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/guide/legweb.html or at http://www.loc.gov/global/state/stategov.html.

Once in session, legislative proposals move very quickly. If your goal is to lobby a specific issue or bill, then the best time for a visit is when that issue or bill is hot, e.g. before a key hearing or vote on the measure. If you are just trying to build relationships, then the best time is when your legislator's are in the State Capital but the legislative calendar is light.

Having a strong turn-out is important to make your event worthwhile, to attract speakers, and to get attention from the media. An event with as few as 20-25 participants is viable, but the goal should be to get 50, 100 or more. To attract the desired number of participants, you will need to have a publicity plan.

Don't wait till all the program details are finalized to start publicizing your Engineers' Day event. Take advantage of the section newsletter, e-mail, and web site to spread the word well in advance. Pass around sign-up sheets at section meetings and other gatherings of local members. Set up a web page where individuals can go to get the latest updated information and materials.

Depending on the nature of your event, you may also want external publicity as well. Publicity for your event or cause makes legislators stop and take notice and bolsters your influence. A press release sent to the local TV and print media a couple days before or immediately following the event may prompt an interview or story. Use the press release to explain the "who, what, when, where and why" of the event, and what was accomplished. If you have pictures and video to offer, it makes your event more attractive to the media. If offered an interview, try to use a spokesperson who is well-spoken, knowledgeable on the issues, and who projects a good public image. In addition to media contacts, you can describe your issue and event in a letter(s) to the editor of the local newspaper. Contact IEEE-USA's Communications staff (202-785-0017) for help with media contacts and advice and assistance in dealing with the local media.

Most Capital Days are organized around a specific issue or topic of concern. It may be a particular bill before the state legislature that affects engineers and the practice of engineering, such as licensure and registration (e.g. software engineering licensure). It may be a broader concern such as K-12 educational reform, support for state technology development and extension programs, or proposed laws like the Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA). In picking an issue or topic for your Engineers' Day, it is important to select one that is of broad concern and where there is a reasonable consensus on what should be done (or not done). There is no sense bringing a large contingent of engineers to the State Capitol to argue against each other.

An alternative approach is to pick several (non-conflicting) issues and let your participants choose which issue or position they wish to discuss in their visits. This requires more preparation and can also dilute the effect if there is an overriding issue of concern; however, it does encourage broader participation.

It is possible to organize an Engineers Day around a broader theme or issue that isn't related to specific legislation. The goal in this case is to improve your legislator's awareness and appreciation of engineers and the importance of their work. For example, you could devote your Engineers' Day to raising awareness of engineers and their contributions to the state and community during National Engineers' Week. Or you could use the visits to highlight a problem or specific need, such as the need for more state technology extension resources to support local entrepreneurs.

Knowing what key legislation is pending that can affect engineers in your state, and that would be good subjects for an Engineers Day event, requires some effort. Again, IEEE-USA, your employer's state government relation office, and/or your section PACE government activities coordinator should be able to assist. Your section may participate in a State Legislative Council along with other societies, with access to a lobbyist and legislative information. Your state's NSPE-affiliated professional engineering society may be willing to offer information and assistance. You can visit the National Governors Association (http://www.nga.org), the National Conference of State Legislatures (http://www.ncsl.org), and the State Science and Technology Institute (http://www.ssti.org) web sites for news and information on important state issues. You can also research bills pending in your state legislature on-line (in most states). A follow-up call to the bill sponsor will help provide background on the bill and the key interests.

The program should be geared to the nature and desired outcome of the event, and the available resources. Three sample programs are provided below. The first is a basic half day lobby program that works best with experienced grassroots advocates. The second program expands to a full day to allow additional time for issue briefings and participant training/practice, which is good for larger groups and inexperienced participants. The third program is a full day workshop-oriented event, which is well-suited for large groups where not all participants will be engaged in legislative visits.

Whatever your program, it is important to reserve time in your schedule before any actual lobby visits to review the issues and leave-behind materials and for some basic advocacy training (see the next section).

If time allows, you may want to have the speakers come in the morning and at meal functions, and devote the entire afternoon for visits. Don't expect legislators to be available all day, however; plan to end by visits by 4:00-4:30 p.m. unless your legislator has requested a later appointment.

Try to hold your event in the state capitol where you will be lobbying. If there is a legislative office that you are working with, they could help you with getting a room, and they may be able to provide someone to talk on the bill or issue.

You can expand your basic program by adding a formal sit-down breakfast, lunch and/or dinner with keynote speakers (e.g., a local legislator, legislator who introduced a key bill of interest or who holds a key leadership position, or someone from the Governor's office, such as the Lt. Governor or the head of the state technology development agency). If you have a healthy budget, you might even consider organizing a reception or barbecue, and inviting state legislators to join you there. To encourage section participation, you can also jazz up your event by adding other activities other than legislative visits, such as a tour of the State Capital or other historical landmarks, a special dinner, or trip to the theatre, shopping, etc.

12:00	Assemble (Box Luncheon)
12:30	Welcome and Introduction -- thank everyone for being there.
12:45	Issue Briefing -- Speaker(s) to review key issues, Q&A
1:15	Review of Advocacy Skills -- Speaker(s) on how to make a successful visit
1:45	Break-Up Into Groups/Distribute Materials
2:00	Lobby visits start
4:30	Debrief -- reconvene at local establishment to relax and review.

This is a stream-lined program for experienced With this program, you can start earlier in the day, beef up the lunch with a keynote speaker, and/or add a dinner (with or without speaker) or other event.

8:00	Breakfast -- continental breakfast
9:00	Welcome and Introductions
9:30	Issue Briefing -- review of issues, status, messages and materials
10:15	Break
10:30	Advocacy Training -- Speaker/videos on how to make a successful visit
11:00	Role-playing exercises
12:00	Lunch (Speaker optional)
1:00	Group Meetings -- collect in groups/distribute materials/leave when ready
1:30	Lobby visits start
4:30	Debrief -- regroup at meeting room/local establishment
5:30	Reception/Dinner (Optional)

This program is designed for participants who may not be familiar or comfortable with visiting their legislators. The emphasis here is on advocacy training. After being briefed on the issues, the participants go through a two part orientation; the first part involves a presentation by a lobbyist or experienced advocate (or legislator) and the second part is role-playing exercises. After lunch, participants break up into their groups (if appointments are organized around groups of constituents) to get directions from their group leader and collect their materials before setting out on their visits.

8:00	Breakfast -- Keynote (legislative update by State Legislator)
9:00	Panel 1 on Key Issues -- moderator, speakers, Q&A
10:15	Break
10:30	Panel 2 on Key Issues -- moderator, speakers, Q&A
12:00	Luncheon - Keynote (Lt. Governor/State Official)
1:00	Advocacy Training -- Speaker(s) on how to make a successful visit
1:30	Break-Up Into Groups/Distribute Materials
2:00	Lobby visits start
4:30	Debrief -- reconvene at local establishment to relax and review.
5:00	Reception (Optional)
6:00	Dinner (Optional)

The focus here is on an informative public affair program, to which is added legislative visits. The program can be targeted at state legislators/staff officials and their staffs and/or at society members and the general public. With this program, you could continue the panel sessions into the afternoon, add concurrent panel sessions or workshops, and/or start with lunch, moving the panels into the afternoon and pushing the legislative visits over into the next day.

As part of your program, it is important to reserve time for training your volunteers on advocacy skills and how to conduct a successful visit with a legislator. The training should emphasize the need to respect the legislator's time, to come to the meeting with a clear message and deliver it effectively, to stay on message in the meeting, and to follow-up with promised information. You can arrange for someone to review basic skills in a brief presentation. IEEE-USA can also provide you advocacy materials, including a video tape demonstration. See for example, the tips and materials available on-line in IEEE-USA's Engineers Guide to Influencing Public Policy (http://www.ieeeusa.org/forum/guide/index.html).

It is also very effective practice to have your participants' role-play visits. Use the role-play exercise to anticipate likely questions and develop good answers, as well as a quality control mechanism to make sure your group leaders are able to keep their groups focused and on message.

The main objective of an Engineers' Day is to create opportunities for interaction with State Legislators and their staff. So a major component of the planning will be arranging the appointments for legislative visits. There are two ways to handle this. You can provide participants with a directory of state legislators and ask them to schedule their own visits (keeping you informed of times so that you can keep a master schedule). Or you can collect the necessary information from your participants and make the appointments on their behalf. This is especially helpful if you anticipate that more than one participant will want to visit with the same state legislator (so that you can organize them into groups).

It is very useful to require advance registration for your Engineers' Day, and to ask that participants pay a registration fee up front. This not only provides you with the necessary contact information, but also having an affirmative commitment and advance payment makes it less likely they will back out at the last minute. By publicizing the list of registrants in advance of the meeting, you will also make it harder for participants to back out without cause.

As your receive registrations, break down your participants by state legislative district, looking for overlaps. If the registrants haven't identified their legislators, most state web pages provide a utility that lets you determine the legislator or legislative district by entering a zip code. If not, then your public reference librarian can assist. Block out participants into manageable groups if more than one if planning to visit with a single state legislator. Pick an experienced, well-spoken individual in each group to serve as group leader.

Approximately 2-3 weeks before the event, start calling state legislators to schedule the appointment. Ask for a 15 minute meeting, but if you are lucky you may find it stretches to 30 minutes or more. Try to meet with the representative, but if this is not possible then ask to meet with their aide who handles your issue of concern. . Although you may be disappointed to meet with an aide, in most instances these are the people who actually make things happen, so don't take that visit any less seriously. Provide a contact for follow-up in case the legislator has to cancel or reschedule the meeting.

Once the appointments are made, advise the participant of the time and place, and ask them (or the assigned group leader if there are multiple participants making the visit) to reconfirm the appointment just before Engineers Day.

As you make the appointments, keep a master schedule, which includes visitors, legislators, locations, and key contact information.

Approximately a month before the event, you should also develop an issue brief and talking points for use by participants on each issue(s). It can be distributed in advance of the Engineers Day to help participants prepare. The issue brief should define the issue of concern (including the bill name and number if relevant), state the action requested, provide supporting reasons, and list other useful information sources. It should be no more than one page, front and back. If one is available, a topical IEEE-USA position statement can be used for this purpose. The issue brief is a "leave-behind" which will be given to the legislator along with the visitor's business card or contact information as a summary of the visit.

Also, develop a one pager with the desired message and talking points that you want your participants to deliver. This is for their use only, and not intended to be given to the legislator. Participants should be allowed to pick and choose the points that they want to make from the list, and to add additional points if relevant, but they should stay true to the basic message.

No matter how carefully you plan, schedules will inevitably go awry. Participants will not show up and/or will leave early. Meetings will run long and overlap into other appointments. Legislators will cancel or try to reschedule appointments. Your participants will have to bear the brunt of these situations, so train them to be prepared and flexible for any eventuality. Try to maintain a "command center" as a centralized source of information and response.

Finally, it is possible to pay "cold calls" on legislators without a previous appointment. This is not a preferred method and the likelihood of success is much lower, but this may be the only option if you haven't been able to make a previous contact. Just go to the legislator's office, identify yourself as a constituent, and ask if you could speak with the legislator for five minutes on the topic of choice. You may be shunted to a staffer, or the legislator may let you walk with him down the hall as he goes to his next appointment (one of the reasons why lobbyists are called lobbyists). Be flexible and take advantage of whatever opportunities are offered.

At the end of a hectic Engineers Day, you will want to take a moment and have your participants savor what they have accomplished. An informal gathering, reception, or even convening at a local restaurant is a good way to cap off the day.

After their visits, the participants should come back together to help debrief their visits. This can be done in a meeting, less formally as part of a reception or social gathering, or with forms to be filled out and submitted. What you want to know is how the visits went. Was the state legislator receptive to the issues/concerns? Will he/she support or oppose the bill as requested. Did the visitor promise them more information or some follow-up action? And don't forget to ask your participants if they found their participation to be useful, if they were satisfied with the arrangements, and if they have any suggestions for improving the next Engineers' Day.

The next important follow-up is to have each visitor or group send a thank-you letter to each office visited. Use the thank-you letter to remind the legislator what the visit was about and what actions (if any) you are asking them to take. You can provide your participants with a model response, but encourage them to send their own thank-you letters. Also, don't forget to say thank you to any speakers on your program for their time, and to any other individuals or organizations who provided resources or assistance.

Finally, remember that your Engineers' Day will be most effective if it is part of coordinated and sustained government relations program. Legislators will pay more attention if they know that you are proactive and committed. Plus, you can't expect to get to every legislator on only one day. Try to make your Engineers' Day an annual event, and work closely with your section/region government activities coordinators to support other opportunities for legislative follow-ups.

There is nothing more rewarding than feeling that you have helped make a difference. An Engineers' Day at the Capital can energize your section, help attract new volunteers, raise public awareness and appreciation of the engineering profession, enhance your influence in the State Capital, and help legislators make sound decisions on important issues and key bills. Organizing an Engineers' Day can take a considerable investment of time and energy, but if you make use of the resources available to you and find partners to help spread the burden, the rewards should far outweigh the effort required.

Engineer's Guide to Influencing Public Policy

Organizing an Engineers' Day At the State Capital

Organizing an Engineers' Day
At the State Capital