Preparing For CCL Summer Conference and Lobby Day
Making Moves and Moving Congress: CCL's Summer Conference & Lobby Day is taking place June 8 - 11, 2024. Attendees will gather in Washington, D.C. for three days of conference programming followed by a day of lobbying members of Congress on Capitol Hill. This page walks through important details regarding recommended training, the lobby meeting appointment setting process and team creation, and how to plan and best prepare for lobby day.
Most Important Training and Resources
The below training is recommended to get you ready for the conference & lobby day and familiar with the Asks we will be making to Congress. Click the links below to RSVP for the live sessions, or you can watch the recordings. Note: political dynamics are unpredictable and can lead to changes in our Asks and training between now and lobby day.
- Lobby Training #1: Primary & Secondary Asks (Mon. May 20th, 8 pm ET)
- Lobby Training #2: Legislative Plan (Thursday, May 23rd, 8 pm ET)
- Conference & Lobby Day Q&A (Tuesday, May 28th, 8 pm ET)
If you’re new to CCL or you have never taken CCL’s Climate Advocate Workshop, we strongly encourage you to attend this workshop live during the conference on Sunday, June 9th at 10:20 a.m. Or if you prefer to complete the online version ahead of time, sign up and attend the live virtual session on June 2nd, 2 p.m. ET or watch a recording. This workshop is required to lobby with CCL, so plan to attend the virtual or in-person version (or both!). Lastly, if you are under 18 and interested in learning to lobby, register here to join the online Youth Lobby Training, by youth for youth, on Sunday, May 19, 2024.
Additional Training Opportunities
In addition to the 2024 Summer Conference & Lobby Day specific training listed above, we offer our Core Volunteer Training series (especially great for new-ish volunteers) to help you get ready to lobby.
- Lobbying Basics: Transformative Power of Citizen Advocacy (Thurs., May 9th)
- Lobbying Basics: Planning and Practicing Your Meeting (Tues., May 14th)
- Understanding Congress Basics (Tues., May 21st)
- Lobbying Training: Review of Leading a Lobby Team (Thurs., May 30th)
- CCL's Policy Agenda (Tues., June 4th)
For the Working With Congress series training, CCL now offers an interactive design to help provide a more engaging learning experience.
Registering for the Conference
Everyone is invited to participate in the conference and lobby day, regardless of your level of experience in CCL. You can visit our registration page to register. The registration deadline is May 20, 2024, 11:59 p.m. ET. NOTE: you should only register one person per transaction/ticket. If you are registering for multiple people, do so in separate transactions. Failure to do so will cause issues with our lobby scheduler. Walk-in registration is available for the conference only (June 8-10). Walk-in registrants will not receive a lobby day schedule (for June 11th).
Lobby Meeting Appointment Setting & Lobby Team Process
Lobby Meeting Appointment Setting
Lobby meeting appointments with Congressional offices will be made by designated CCL Congressional Liaisons or Appointment Setters. If you are not a liaison, please do not try to set an appointment (you can learn about becoming a liaison here). If you’re not sure if there is a liaison or you need help, contact your Regional Director or State Coordinator.
Lobby Team & Schedule Creation
Lobby teams and schedules are coordinated in conjunction with CCL State Coordinators and Regional Directors and a software program that prioritizes constituents and existing liaisons to be placed in their district meeting if possible. We cross reference the availability volunteer lobbyists provide during registration, and place them into appointments based on their availability, congressional district, and the need for volunteers to fill meetings where we do not have any or enough constituents to fill the meeting. We try to have no more than 4-6 people per meeting, depending on the number of people we have participating in Lobby Day. We estimate each volunteer lobbyist to have 2-3 meetings. We will do our best to put constituents in their congressperson’s meeting though sometimes there are more constituents than space in an office.
We kindly ask volunteer lobbyists to love the schedule received. The process of coordinating the schedule is complex and changes have domino effects. Often there are more constituents than space available in Capitol Hill offices. Sometimes Congressional staffers have requested a limit on the number of people attending the meeting. If for any reason one cannot attend a meeting we ask they notify the meeting leader, which can be found on one’s personal lobby schedule.
Lobby meetings will be taking place on Tuesday, June 11, 2024, starting anywhere from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. You will be asked about your availability for lobby day during registration. Registered attendees (registration closes May 20, 2024 11:59 p.m. ET sharp, no exceptions) will be notified by June 5, 2024 of your lobby team members and schedule.
Lobby Meeting Planning
Lobby meeting preparation matters whether it’s your first time lobbying or your tenth! While part of the conference programming will include lobby day training, we strongly recommend attending (live or watching the recording) the training sessions listed above before you arrive in D.C. so you start to get familiar with the concepts of the policies we’ll be lobbying on.
Given our busy conference agenda, it is not possible to designate specific times at the conference for each lobby team to meet to plan. We will have one hour set aside in the conference agenda specifically for meeting planning. We suggest you meet with your 3 p.m. lobby meeting team during that time (based on past lobby days, 3 p.m. is the most popular lobby meeting time, so you will likely have a meeting at this time). Teams can also find time to meet during meal breaks and during the evenings when there is free time in the conference schedule.
Each lobby team will have a person designated as the lead who will coordinate the planning for the lobby meeting. You will be notified in advance if you are designated as a lobby team lead. If you’ve not led a lobby team before, you can check out the Leading a Lobby Team Training.
Lobby Team Leaders: Individuals selected as Lobby Team Leaders will be alerted of such by June 3rd. We ask Team Leaders to contact their team members as soon as you receive your schedule on June 5th (via email and/or text) to arrange a time to prepare for the meeting virtually, or schedule something in-person at the conference. All contact information for your team will be on your schedule.
Team Members (non Team Leaders): Expect to hear from your Team Leader to arrange time virtually or in-person at the conference to plan your meeting. If you don't hear from your Team Leader, you can also contact them. All contact information for your team will be on your schedule which will be emailed to you on June 5th.
More information & Contact
Check out the FAQs on the Conference Website for more information.
If you have questions about lobby day, please email liaison.coordinator@citizensclimate.org.
If you have questions about the conference, please email conference.inbox@citizensclimate.org.