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New Staff Workshop! Excellence is Not an Option
Over 85% of our long term consulting clients have experienced an increase in financial and human resources, as well as an increase in senior management recognition, after adopting our government relations performance strategies. This workshop was created based on the habits of excellence most often manifested by our high-performing clients.
In this interactive workshop, you’ll learn:
- The three reasons why government relations professionals do not receive the organizational respect they deserve
- The one type of meeting you must initiate that will guarantee you are seen as a strategic team player
- Over 10 habits of personal and professional excellence you can immediately integrate into your daily work performance
- How to gain visibility without “bragging”
- How to think, behave and perform strategically, rather than constantly fighting fires
- The common behaviors made in every staff meeting that can threaten your advancement
- The technique to guarantee that you will be seen as a strategic asset to your team and organization
“Amy’s discussion of common problems and pitfalls were clearly articulated and very helpful. I just wish that we had more time!”
Ann Aquillo
Director, Government Relations, Scotts Miracle – Gro
Next Level Grassroots Advocate and PAC Recruiter Development
"Our advocates are very diverse in capabilities
and experience, which requires an innovative approach to advocacy training
and motivation. Amy is able to bring a pragmatic,
baseline understanding of advocacy
to new folks, while energizing old hands with new ideas
and insight -- not an easy task. Our Board members
loved Amy's approach to understanding legislative motivation and achieving
success in advocacy. Amy is a ball of energy!"
- Renee Cummings,
Director Membership & Grassroots Development,
AOPHA
There are lots of "entry-level" advocacy and PAC training workshops. We are known for our ability to bring an advanced level of information and capabilities to experienced advocates, and to accelerate the progress of new advocates. We specialize in catapulting "stuck" grassroots advocates and PAC recruiters to be better, quicker, and more influential when communicating with their influence prospects.
It's one thing to teach your advocates how to communicate with legislators. We teach them how to influence legislators. We don't believe that influencing legislators and PAC prospects is a "soft skill." There is a science to influence, and we incorporate the latest scientific findings with real world stories, a multi-media approach, and application exercises to maximize the learning and entertainment factor necessary in all engagements.
Our grassroots advocate and PAC recruiter development services include workshops, keynote speeches, and consulting collaborations.
"I have
been to numerous grassroots/advocacy training seminars
and they tend to be advocacy 101 with little or no information
from which to grow or improve your grassroots network.
You presented new ideas, new ways of looking at the
familiar and new ways to think creatively about the
challenges of keeping our grassroots advocates informed
and interested in participating in our agenda.”
- Jane Weirich, American
Cancer Society, Regional Advocacy Manager
“You are the real deal!
Your PAC workshop was one of the best presentations
I've ever heard. Informative, and filled with energy
and new ideas. You were a big hit with our members,
and you will definitely be invited back.”
- Barbara McConnell,
Executive Director, Food Industry Association Executives
Video - See Amy
in action! View her video below.
Positioning Yourself for Influence Success: Secrets of High-Performing Advocates that are Safe for Everyday Use
The ultimate goal of any advocacy effort is not just to advocate and educate, but to successfully persuade your legislator to support issues vital to your industry or profession. To achieve this, your advocates must stand out from the more than 10,000 other interest groups registered to lobby the U.S. Congress and state legislatures.
In this workshop, you'll learn the communications and influence tactics used by the most effective grassroots advocates and professional lobbyists, all supported by the latest social science research as to what really works. . . . and, you can use these ethical influence tactics in your daily work and personal lives.
"What Amy taught us can be used in any environment; with co-workers, family members, and customers. I was taking lots of notes and could have listened to her for two more hours."
-Joan Coleman
President, AT&T Kentucky
Do you know. . . . .
- Why "passion" for your issue makes you a less persuasive advocate?
- The role empathy plays in winning over your legislator, and how to demonstrate it?
- The 3 pillars of credibility that determine whether a legislator is really listening to you?
- The #1 reason competent, articulate advocates become less persuasive when talking with a legislator? (and how to overcome it)
- The way to quickly build trust with lawmakers?
- Why relationships are the "gold standard" of influence?
- Over 30 ways to build relationships with your lawmakers?
- Why "being nice" gives you an influence edge?
- The #1 obstacle to building good relationships with legislative staff, and how to overcome it?
- How appealing to your lawmaker's desire for personal consistency can favorably persuade them?
- How to leverage the legislators' personal and political context in your favor?
- How to become the "go to" person for your legislator on your issues, even if you disagree with him or her on most issues?
- The 10 mental attitudes of superior grassroots advocates?
If you want to learn how to be a more influential advocate (and person) join us for this workshop. You won't look at grassroots advocacy the same way again.
"I
have been a member for six years and have never heard
anything like this. The importance of using stories
to influence legislators was very valuable. Amy is
passionate, well-informed, and uses diverse ways
of presenting information. Loved the humor!
- Janice Hacker, Kentucky School Board Association,
Kenton County Board of Education Member
In It to Win It: The Mental Attitudes of Superior Grassroots and PAC Advocates
"We have hired Amy numerous times for our annual Key Contact training event. On our program's 10-year anniversary, we asked her back to present a special motivational talk to our experienced Key Contacts, as well as our "rookie" volunteers. I heard so many great comments about her talk. Our employees are naturally motivated and enthusiastic, but Amy took it up a notch so that our veterans and rookies alike walked away with renewed energy and dedication to their tasks."
- Lori Cherry
Manager, Legislative Awareness
Southwest Airlines
There are some grassroots and PAC volunteers who have been at it for years and never grow weary. They always engage, they communicate the right message to the right legislator at the right time, and they develop meaningful relationships with their elected representatives. They are the ones who allow staff members to sleep at night. How do they differ from other advocates? What's their secret for staying motivated?
Because Amy conducts highly customized workshops, she has interviewed hundreds of these high performers and knows what makes them stand out among the "warm body" advocates. She integrates their actual triumphs and trials into an entertaining, funny, encouraging, and motivational keynote. It's great for sending your advocates back to the district (or to the Hill or State House) with a renewed sense of purpose, focus, and motivation.
After hearing Amy, your volunteers will want to stay in it to win it.
"Till Death Do Us Part - 105 Ways to Build Relationships with Your Elected
Officials"
How to build a credible relationship
beyond just attending fundraisers.
"I have always been
very active in politics by holding fundraisers in my
home. I really did not think that I would have a lot
to learn from this workshop. However, Amy has such a
unique way of presenting new information. I gained new
insights that will make me even more effective in building
relationships with my elected officials."
- Joy Myers, National Audubon
Society
"How to Survive and Thrive in a Crowded Room"
Stop watching your advocates huddle
together at political events. Teach them how to maximize
their time at every event, be comfortable, stay on message
and have fun.
“Influencing
“Up” the Legislative Food Chain” *
Upward influence
is difficult, especially when you're trying to persuade
busy, powerful lawmakers to support your cause. This
presentation is for political and grassroots activists
who need to influence their legislators. It covers:
- Establishing a relationship with the legislator;
- Finding points of similarity;
- Guarding and enhancing your advocacy's credibility;
- How the legislator is likely to think about your
issue, and the "triggers" that will place him or her
in your corner (or the opposition’s);
- Necessary checklists to review before approaching
the legislator.
* Scientific influence workshops
delivered with Kelton Rhoads,
Ph.D.
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