How To Get Members To Stay On Message

Let’s talk about how to get members to stay on message when giving legislative testimony or meeting with the media.

There is a lengthy answer to this that I shall try to distill into three main reasons:

1. The volunteer has no understanding of the consequences of their behavior. Even worse, the staff can’t articulate this to them!
2. There is no constructive critique that is shared with the volunteer and other volunteer leaders. When I ask staff “Well, what did you tell the volunteer who screwed up your meeting?” I usually get stunned silence. We can’t change what we won’t call out.
3. Lack of “over learning” their material. Expertise is the result of over-learning. This is why novice influencers (our volunteers) sometimes “choke” in meetings where they are charged with presenting material that is a bit outside their expertise. If we want them to perform well, they have to know their material cold. (And no, the prosaic but ineffective role playing exercises that waste valuable training time and are more for the entertainment of the class than true learning don’t help – more on what does in another issue)