Meeting Checklist

Before Your Meeting

• Develop a list of officials and staff contacts for each office you want to meet. (This list should include the chief of staff, scheduler and the legislative assistant assigned to your issue of area (i.e., transportation).
• Develop an Issue Briefing Packet, which includes background materials to provide to your staffer or member during your meeting. As a resource for planning this Issue Briefing Packet, NBAA provides general and relevant issue information on the NBAA web site. When preparing the packet, make sure to include:
  • An introduction to your company
  • Examples of general aviation’s impact to your local economy
  • Issues of importance to you
• Call or e-mail the office and schedule a meeting (preferably one to two months in advance). Do not be concerned if you have to wait to receive confirmation of a specific time and date of your meeting. These offices often hold periodic scheduling meetings to process constituent meeting requests.
• Call and confirm one week prior to the meeting.

During Your Meeting

• Be prompt and arrive early.
• Stick to your talking points and only cover one or two of the most important issues to you. Be sure to emphasize your company, number of employees and local economic impact.
• Be sure to hand out your Issue Briefing Packet and business cards before you begin the meeting.
• Ask for your elected official’s support of your issue, but do not make demands.
• Feel free to have an open and honest discussion of issues, but do not argue with the official or staff members.
• Ask for business cards and thank them for the opportunity to meet.

After Your Meeting

• Send a thank-you letter (or e-mail) to each of the representatives or staffers you met with during your visit.
• If you have any follow-up items, such as answers to questions you did not know during your meeting, make sure you provide those answers with your thank-you note.
• Periodically keep in touch with your representative’s office, feel free to share any relevant press releases and media articles of potential interest, or at the very least, send thank-you notes when they accomplish legislative landmarks to encourage the success of the general aviation industry.
• Invite your local representative or staffer to visit your facility or airport.

For More Information

Contact the National Business Aviation Association at:
1200 G St NW #1100
Washington, DC 20005
info@nbaa.org
www.nbaa.org