http://showaltergroup.com/blog Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:02 +0000 en hourly 1 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2011/05/04/increasing-internal-government-affairs-visibility-through-the-can-you-believe-it-hr-department/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2011/05/04/increasing-internal-government-affairs-visibility-through-the-can-you-believe-it-hr-department/#comments Thu, 05 May 2011 01:20:02 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=918 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2011/05/04/increasing-internal-government-affairs-visibility-through-the-can-you-believe-it-hr-department/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/11/08/how-to-be-a-mediocre-and-ineffective-advocate/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/11/08/how-to-be-a-mediocre-and-ineffective-advocate/#comments Mon, 08 Nov 2010 15:41:21 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=79 1. Reliance on technology as communications panacea. The craze over the latest Internet techniques to communicate with legislators was legitimate in the early 90s. Savvy advocates know the tools are not the answer, but rather the strategy and message behind them. 2. Transfer of knowledge mistaken for motivation. This axiom is particularly salient when we try to convince our insurance industry colleagues, employees, friends and even family members to contact legislators about critical issues. It is why the ubiquitous legislative update provided by a lobbyist...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/11/08/how-to-be-a-mediocre-and-ineffective-advocate/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/03/05/solutions-to-the-social-loafing-lifestyle/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/03/05/solutions-to-the-social-loafing-lifestyle/#comments Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:00:05 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=83 In a previous post, I talked about social loafing. Now I'm going to talk about how we change the social loafing dynamic. Identify Contributions Identify team member contributions. What have coalition members done to advance the cause? Be specific, and enumerate contributions that you want duplicated. Are the contributions distributed to the coalition members or posted on an easily accessible Web site? What about your faithful PAC recruiters? What about your PAC board members who help answer tough PAC questions or find colleagues to help recruit others? Where are their achievements noted? Ditto for your grassroots team leaders. How many new members have they recruited during the last quarter? Who consistently responds to your calls to action? Anyone who has worked in sales knows that...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/03/05/solutions-to-the-social-loafing-lifestyle/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/02/24/the-habits-of-effective-state-advocacy-groups/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/02/24/the-habits-of-effective-state-advocacy-groups/#comments Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:00:31 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=252 The results of the following research have been featured in many of my advocacy workshops, as well as various national and regional publications. In our initial research review, we saw that the specific word “grassroots” was the second highest response as one of the habits of an effective advocacy group. However, upon further review of the responses, we noted that there were numerous responses such as: “active membership,” “lots of members”, and “regular people” that refer to grassroots. Therefore, I am republishing the results. This change affects only the order of the number one and number two responses. The remaining effective habits are the same. While those of us in the government relations profession often debate about the most powerful interest groups and...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/02/24/the-habits-of-effective-state-advocacy-groups/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/21/supreme-court-rules-in-citizens-united-case/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/21/supreme-court-rules-in-citizens-united-case/#comments Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:47:10 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=453 Brett Kappel at Arent Fox: JANUARY 21, 2010 - WASHINGTON, DC - This morning in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the US Supreme Court overturned the ban on corporate and union independent expenditures in federal elections. This opinion will have a major impact on the 2010 elections. Corporations will now be able to spend their corporate treasury money to advocate the election or defeat of federal candidates. Nonprofit groups may also be able to benefit from this decision - as they may have more flexibility to participate in federal campaigns. These expenditures must still be made independent of the candidate’s campaign and will have to be disclosed under existing regulations. Further information on the scope of the...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/21/supreme-court-rules-in-citizens-united-case/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/11/want-to-innovate-first-you-have-to-know-your-strengths/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/11/want-to-innovate-first-you-have-to-know-your-strengths/#comments Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:06 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=433 http://www.coreclarity.net/pages/AboutUs.html. As many of you know, I believe that to improve your government relations performance, you have to work from your strengths, rather than focusing on shoring up weaknesses. This applies to one’s professional life, as well. However, many of us don’t know what our organizational or personal strengths are. Candace will be leading two dynamic breakout sessions where you will conduct your own personal strength analysis to find out what...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2010/01/11/want-to-innovate-first-you-have-to-know-your-strengths/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/12/01/social-loafing/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/12/01/social-loafing/#comments Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:21:17 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=81 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/12/01/social-loafing/feed/ 0 http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/11/06/the-u-s-chamber-of-commerces-free-enterprise-campaign/ http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/11/06/the-u-s-chamber-of-commerces-free-enterprise-campaign/#comments Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:37:39 +0000 Amy Showalter http://showaltergroup.com/blog/?p=3 Amy: I see that the US Chamber is launching a campaign to promote the free enterprise system. Sound familiar? Weren't you advising them to do something like that back in 2007? Kelton: It's interesting all right. A few months ago I heard that USCC was announcing an upcoming influence campaign supporting free enterprise, but I haven't seen any campaign communications yet (other than its announcement). Usually you don't pre-announce an influence campaign; it's not S.O.P. to forewarn people you're going to try...]]> http://showaltergroup.com/blog/2009/11/06/the-u-s-chamber-of-commerces-free-enterprise-campaign/feed/ 0