Tag Archives: lobby
What Does it Take to Get Legislative Staff to Remember Your Information? How to Prevent “Senior Moments” Among Legislative Staff
Those of you who have hired us for our grassroots advocacy workshops know about the prevalence and power of heuristic persuasion techniques, as well as how to combat heuristic decision making on the part of legislators and their staff. Kristina Miler (not Miller) of the University of Illinois is one of the first researchers to examine how “political and legislative elites” use heuristics to recall information presented by constituents. All grassroots professionals and lobbyists should be aware of Miler’s findings.
Heuristics are mental shortcuts, and their use is rooted firmly in the psychological literature. Heuristics are an efficient way for anyone to make decisions (although there are of course disadvantages to this approach), and legislators and their staff are no different…
Taking Arrows for the Profession
Dave Wenhold of the American League of Lobbyists takes more arrows for the profession. Check out this article.
How to Increase Quality Participation at Your Annual Lobby Day
Annual “Lobby Day” or Capitol Hill “Fly-Ins” are ubiquitous events with lots of legislator and constituent interaction. For purposes of this article, I’ll refer to them as “lobby days”. It’s important for grassroots volunteers to see their legislator “on the job,” and to learn that their lawmaker is indeed human.
In spite of the tremendous benefits, I have observed that the participation rates are much lower than in the past. Organization members cite the universal “I don’t have time” rationale. There are several reasons for this common lament. How do you get past the “I don’t have time to attend” hue and cry and increase quality participation in your Lobby Day?
Evaluate
Do you solicit feedback from your past attendees? When evaluating…
