Using eImpact on Capitol Hill with TAO
In-person meetings are the best way to influence and impact, if you can get your message across clearly and quickly. This is especially true when meeting with a Member of Congress. They are busy, usually behind schedule, and often overloaded with information.
In these high-value meetings, every assocation needs to cut through the noise, and eImpact can help.
The Great Tech DC Fly-in
We saw a great example of this last week. The Technology Association of Oregon (TAO) participated in the CompTia Fly-in on February 14, where tech associations from around the country joined forces in Washington, D.C. to advocate for workforce development, education and infrastructure investment.
Led by executive director and CEO, Skip Newberry, TAO is a leading industry association in the State of Oregon, and an eImpact power user.
View the full TAO eImpact report here
Skip knows that tailoring the message for each meeting is key, but with his staff busy back in Oregon, Skip didn't have resources to research, design and prepare fact-sheets and issue summaries for each meeting.
And, as usual, his schedule was still being confirmed up until the last minute.
Getting ready
Using eImpact, Skip was able to create data-rich, engaging fact-sheets for each of his 5 meetings in just 2 hours. He emailed links to these reports ahead of time, and had eImpact loaded on an iPad for use during meetings.
The reports have a very intuitive, logical layout. We were able to place several eye-grabbing stats at the top of the page, then, as a user scrolls down the report, we were able to provide increasingly richer and more complex data using maps, charts, and graphs.
- Skip Newberry, TAO CEO
By getting specific, he framed the message in terms the Members could relate to - how issues like workforce development and infrastructure investement will measurably improve the economy for specific parts of the state.
For Congressman Defazio, it was the number of jobs in the tech industry as compared to the traditional economic driver, Forestry.
For Congressman Schrader, he showed the highest paying industry segments and occupations.
The Big Show
Over the afternoon, Skip had five meetings with a mix of staff, Representatives and Senators.
In each meeting, Skip used eImpact on an iPad to provide context and reinforce his main talking points with facts.
During the meetings, the fact we could pass a tablet over to a policymaker for him or her to get a quick snapshot of economic data while we verbally provided more context was fantastic.
- Skip Newberry, TAO CEO
Senator Wyden exploring the eImpact Report with TAO CEO, Skip Newberry.
After the meetings at the Capitol, Skip and his team at TAO were able to make their message persist by sharing the reports with staffers as well as on the TAO website, blog and social media channels.
The evening after the meeting, Skip had already received specific follow ups from nearly all the Members' staff.
Following the meetings, we heard from several staff of elected officials that they would love to receive access to the dashboards we created for purposes of crafting talking points for their bosses. In this way, eImpact enabled us to engage policymakers and then make it as easy as possible for them to incorporate key data points into their speeches and narratives.
- Skip Newberry, TAO CEO
Better Meetings, More Influence and Impact
Using eImpact, TAO delivered its message in a specific, measurable and highly enaging way.
The speed with which we were able to create customized, interactive reports for elected officials based on last-minute info from their staff about topics they would be interested in discussing was incredibly valuable.
- Skip Newberry, TAO CEO
The data to make your message relevant and actionable.
Because eImpact had all of Skip's economic impact data ready to go, he was able to find the right information quickly and easily.
Minutes for clean, engaging meeting materials.
Using eImpact's report builder and data tools, Skip could create high-quality, professional looking collateral quickly.
Presistent, informative resources for Legislative staff.
By sending the interactive reports to staffers before the meetings, Skip was able to provide a valuable resources that ensured his messages and brand were front and center.
