Every year before the legislative session formally begins, there is a sense of urgency and apprehension. What will be the priorities? How will the parties fracture? Anyone who tells you they know exactly what to expect is absolutely lying.
There is only one thing that truly helps keep the nerves at bay and your goals in sight. Being prepared.
That’s not a cliche– it’s a warning, but it’s actually not as ominous as it sounds. In the world of politics, preparation comes down to making sure you’ve got the right players on your team firing on all cylinders. For some organizations, that might mean finding the right contract lobbyists. For those running point under the dome, this means doing as much work to coordinate with your team as possible.
Here are three things you can do now to make sure you’re prepared for the start of legislative session
- Collaborate with your communications team. Using FastDemocracy, I make sure to have files shared under my known affirmative and know opposition bills as early as possible so that my communications team can independently create content related to legislative happenings, and, because we are on the same platform, I know that they are up to date with where the bill is in the process.
- Coordinate with coalition lobbyists. I double check to make sure that all my bill lists on FastDemocracy are shared with my partners and prompt them for their feedback if needed. This way, I’ll have everything in one place for that quick meeting with a legislator and be ready to pivot from one topic to the next in a blink without running to find my colleague or desperately searching through my email inbox.
- Share with community supporters. Working in the nonprofit space, I can’t overstate the importance of coalitions. However, coordinating coalitions is time-consuming and time is never easy to come by. With FastDemocracy, I cut through the noise by sharing information in a widget on my webpage. That way supporters, donors, and coalition partners can subscribe and follow along rather than wait for my call.
So get your tools ready. Fire up your bill tracker and talk to your people and know this– with the right team in place, working together, you can be the small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens ready to change the world.