How To Plan An Effective Meeting With Your Elected Official:

1. Requesting your meeting:
  • Contacting your Representative or Senator can really make a difference. You can easily find your legislators by using the links below:
House of Representatives
Michigan Senate
  • Make your request in writing and follow up with a call to the Appointment Secretary/Scheduler.
  • Let them know what issue and legislation (by bill number, if you have one) you wish to discuss.
  • Make sure they know that you are a constituent.
2. Preparing for your meeting:
  • Decide who will attend the meeting. Keep it small, but bring people who represent different groups that have an interest in the legislation like doctors, veterans, religious leaders, school board members, etc.
  • Agree on talking points. It's tough to make a strong case for your position when you are disagreeing in the meeting.
  • Plan out your meeting. Time is limited. Be sure that you lay out the meeting beforehand, including who will start the conversation.
  • Decide what you want to achieve. Asking your legislator or his or her staff member to do something specific will help you know how successful your visit has been.
3. During the meeting:
  • Be prompt and patient.
  • Keep it short and focused. You will have 20 minutes or less with a staff person, and as little as 10 minutes if you meet with your elected official.
  • Be positive. Start the meeting by thanking the legislator for any votes he or she has made in support of your issues.
  • Stick to your talking points. Stay on topic, and back them up with no more than five pages of materials that you can leave with your elected official.
  • Provide personal and local examples of the impact of the legislation.
  • Never make up an answer to a question. Giving wrong or inaccurate information can seriously damage your credibility!
  • Set deadlines for a response. Ask when you should check back to find out what your legislator intends to do about your request. If you need to get information to your legislator, set a clear timeline for when this will happen.
4. After the meeting
  • Compare notes with everyone in your group to understand what the elected official committed to do and what follow-up information you committed to send. 
  • Each person who took part in the meeting should promptly send a personal thank you letter to the legislator. 
  • If the elected official or staff member doesn't meet the deadline for action you agreed to during the meeting, ask him or her to set another deadline. Be persistent and flexible!
If you are meeting with a legislator, let the ACLU of Michigan know what you learned during your meeting by sending an e-mail to sweisberg@aclumich.org. Knowing what arguments your legislator used, what issues are important to him or her, and what positions he or she took will help us make our lobbying strategy more effective.

Key News and Documents

► Read More | Read our 2012 legislative docket

► Take Action | Read our guide to becoming a Citizen Lobbyist

► Blog Article | Read our Summer 2011 Legislative Update

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