What to do during and after your meeting

During the Visit:

• Introduce yourself and district.

• Start on a positive note by finding common ground. For example, if your legislators recently expressed support for something related to your issue, thank them.

• Clearly explain your position with facts but when possible, make connections to personal experiences, anecdotes, feelings and/or knowledge.

• Explain how the issue affects you and the people of the country you are advocating for, make sure they understand the human ramifications and how counterproductive is for the U.S to engage in those actions.

• Have the legislators clarify their position on the issue.

• Ask them to take some specific action.

• If you don’t know the answer to a question, say so, but offer to get an answer.

• Thank them and give them the folder with fact sheets, op-eds and a letter/petition with specific policy requests.

After the Visit

• Meet again with the group to debrief. This can help in recognizing what worked and what can be improved on in the future.

• Send a thank you letter to the legislators summarizing your priority points.

• Record a video, write a tweet or a post (with a photo of the meeting if you have it) about your meeting and ask others to be advocates on your issue too.

• Maintain ongoing communication with legislators and their staff through letters, calls, and visits.

• Find out when legislators will be home in the district and organize a local visit