Tag Archives: media
How To Get Members To Stay On Message
Let’s talk about how to get members to stay on message when giving legislative testimony or meeting with the media.
There is a lengthy answer to this that I shall try to distill into three main reasons:
- The volunteer has no understanding of the consequences of their behavior. Even worse, the staff can’t articulate this to them!
- There is no constructive critique that is shared with the volunteer and other volunteer leaders. When I ask staff “Well, what did you tell the volunteer who screwed up your meeting?” I usually get stunned silence. We can’t change what we won’t call out.
- Lack of “over learning” their material. Expertise is the result of over-learning. This is why novice influencers (our volunteers) sometimes “choke” in meetings…
How Your Audience Uses Media Can Impact Decisions about Grassroots and PAC Participation
I have found some outside research that should be of interest to anyone who needs to get the attention of their audience. Some of you may find yourself in this group.
Ketchum, a global PR company, conducted research with USC’s Annenberg Strategic Public Relations Center regarding how consumers use media. Their findings have immediate applications to those of us in the government relations profession, which you will see in my commentary after I outline a couple of the findings.
TSG has been admonishing the profession for quite some time that people rely most on personal experiences, word of mouth, and friends when making decisions. They rely on it not only for what kind of shampoo to buy or where to vacation, but…