1/21/12

What Smart Citizen-Lobbyists Will Be Wearing To Lobby Day


Your organization is getting ready to go to Olympia. You want to make sure that legislators know that it is your organization’s members dominating the Capitol Campus on Lobby Day. You could order 500 t-shirts – again. And again, after Lobby Day, you will probably wind up with a couple hundred extra larges and extra smalls …

For some groups, at least, buttons are better and stickers are superior. Here's why:
  •  They are a lot cheaper than t-shirts. 
  • One size “fits” all.
  • It’s easy to transfer them from raincoat to sweater and back. Whether you are outside or in, you will always be able to educate and inform.
  • They can “double” the size of your group. (Here’s how: During lunchtime, grab a couple of the more extroverted members of your group, a bag of extra buttons, and visit the cafeteria. Here you will find a lot of people with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Assign one section of the cafeteria to each person in your mini-group. If you guys hurry, you can inspire hundreds of diners to wear a button in solidarity with your group.)

Here are my secrets to successfully using buttons and stickers.
  • It’s best if your group’s members wear one button/sticker on their front sides, and one on  their back sides. This way, people will see your message whether you all are coming or going.
  • Make sure the buttons/stickers are large enough so that people can identify your group from a distance, say a couple hundred feet.
  • Make sure people can read your group’s name and message from a distance – for instance, in a hearing room, the distance from your seat to where your senator is sitting.
  • Be prepared to accommodate people unwilling to wear a pin or sticker. Have a hole punch and string at the ready so that you can transform stickers and pins into lanyards. 
  • Carry/wear extra buttons, pins, and stickers so that you can share them with lawmakers, their staffs, and other potential supporters.
Two more thoughts: Made-in-the-U.S.A.  Union.