Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 27, 2015

'The Center for Public Integrity recently reported on how some trade associations were turning to public relations and advertising instead of lobbying to influence legislators. They point to the lack of disclosure rules and expansive outreach as factors in this shift. While these groups still spent money on lobbying, public relations and communications are receiving more resources and attention.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 12, 2015

'This year marks some very important milestones for me. ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leadership Program otherwise known as DELP celebrates its 15th anniversary. March will be my 5th anniversary with my current employer. June will be the 1st anniversary of Generation Advocacy. August marks the 5th birthday of Association Advocacy Chick. I’m very excited about all of this.

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Association Advocacy Chick

DECEMBER 2, 2014

'I have a confession to make. This past June, I gave birth to my baby. Now that my baby’s 6 months old, I felt it was time to show them off. Introducing Generation Advocacy. No, I have not gone Hollywood and gave a child a weird name (although we could call them Ginny for short). Generation Advocacy is the name of my new business. GA, which is what I affectionately call it, is my advocacy training/PAC management/general government relations consulting service.

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Association Advocacy Chick

SEPTEMBER 30, 2014

'In August, ASAE introduced the 2015-2017 Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan as well as new policies on religious diversity and accessibility. We asked the D + I Committee’s Immediate Past Chair and 2008-2009 DELP Scholar Mariama Boney to talk about their important work. Association Advocacy Chick: What are some of the responsibilities for ASAE’s Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Committee?

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Association Advocacy Chick

AUGUST 25, 2014

'To recap #asae14, some sessions were great; Others not so much. People had particular feelings about the opening and closing sessions. Nashville pulled out all the stops to welcome attendees. We all had fun at parties, yadda, yadda, yadda. But it’s all over now. The sessions. The networking. The receptions. So now what? Do we go back to work as if nothing happened?

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Association Advocacy Chick

AUGUST 5, 2014

'Hi all! Just a quick hello before we head to Nashville for ASAE14. I was going to do a “tips on prepping for ASAE annual post”, but there are already a ton of great posts on this topic including this , this and this. I want to take this opportunity to plug some of the Diversity Executive Leadership Program (DELP) and diversity+inclusion activities at ASAE this year.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JULY 2, 2014

'One of the highlights of being a DELP scholar is our annual reunion. For most of us, it’s the only opportunity we have to see each other and immerse ourselves in all things DELP. No matter how large our group gets or how unique our experiences are, there’s been one constant in my seven (!) years as a DELPer: Detroit. The Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau supports ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leadership Program.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JUNE 24, 2014

'Congratulations to the DELP class of 2014-2016! Soon you will meet in DC to receive a formal orientation on all things DELP and ASAE. Afterwards, your class will travel to Detroit to meet your fellow DELPers for our annual reunion. There will be some laughs, some happy tears, some learning and a lot of fun! Before we get there, let me share a few words of wisdom with you. 1.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JUNE 3, 2014

'The Washington Post recently published an article about the changing landscape of lobbying. The article highlighted lobbying firms in the DC area who are shaking up their approach to Capitol Hill. One group models their operation after tech companies including open workspaces and compensation structure. Another ended the practice of billable hours.

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Association Advocacy Chick

MAY 14, 2014

'As most of you know, I’m a lobbyist for a membership association representing mental health professionals. I love what I do and more importantly, I love the issues that I work on. Mental health is not an easy topic to discuss especially on Capitol Hill. It’s a fact that our current mental health system needs improvement. However, there’s disagreement in Congress on the best course of action.

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Association Advocacy Chick

APRIL 29, 2014

'I’ve worked for my current employer for over four years now and there’s been one constant throughout that time: our interns. Our public policy internship program is a paid internship for two psychology graduate students to work in our Public Interest Government Relations office in DC. The interns spend one year with us learning how psychological research can be applied to public policy.

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Association Advocacy Chick

MARCH 21, 2014

'Last month, actor Seth Rogen testified before the Senate Appropriations Committee to ask for more research funding for Alzheimer’s disease. Organizations are well aware that star power sells and having a celebrity spokesperson can help bring attention to your cause. In fact, Ben Affleck was also on Capitol Hill that same day giving testimony.

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Association Advocacy Chick

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

'Last week, I was among the honorees of Association Trends’ 2014 Salute to Association Excellence. For those not familiar, the ceremony honors those who have contributed their time and talent to the association community. I was among 7 who received the 2013 Leading Association Lobbyists of the Year award. Normally, I’d try to downplay receiving such a distinguished honor.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 21, 2014

'I value the opportunity to give back and pay it forward. Most recently, it has come in the form of giving advice to younger professionals looking to start or develop a career in government relations. Within the last three weeks, I’ve received no less than four different requests to discuss my career and offer any tips on starting out. I don’t mind helping.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 6, 2014

'As we begin a new year, we often reflect back and determine what we’d like to see in the new year. I’m no different. It’s kinda hard to describe 2013 in simple terms. It wasn’t a bad year for me. I turned 40. I traveled to Hawaii for the first time. I had my first learning lab at ASAE annual. I dove head first into the wonderful word of Android (surprise!).

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Association Advocacy Chick

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

'I’m always talking about the need for associations to use social media in their advocacy efforts. With nearly every member of the House and Senate on at least one social network, there’s opportunity to push our issues beyond the traditional email action alert. Just this morning, I read a piece on how Members of Congress are starting to use Google+ and Google Hangouts in communicating with their constituents.

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Association Advocacy Chick

OCTOBER 16, 2013

'During my organization’s annual meeting earlier this year, I did an advocacy training for some early career psychologists of color. As I was talking about the important role our members play in our advocacy efforts, I was asked the following question: If our members are so important to the process, why do we need someone like you on Capitol Hill?

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Association Advocacy Chick

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

'Earlier this week, we learned that the American League of Lobbyists (ALL) is considering a name change that would drop the word lobbyist. In a letter to the ALL membership, the Board expressed a need to rebrand the organization to reflect the updated responsibilities of a lobbyist. However, the group maintains that the mission to define and defend the role of lobbyists will not be affected by a possible name change.

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Association Advocacy Chick

AUGUST 27, 2013

'For weeks, I’ve been debating how I was going to blog about my experience as an interim manager. Was I going to sugar coat it and say that everything was wonderful or do I focus on the gory details? Neither. I’m going to be honest. As I alluded to in a previous post, my boss unexpectedly resigned in early March giving two weeks notice. She had been offered a great opportunity that she would’ve been foolish to pass up.

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Association Advocacy Chick

AUGUST 9, 2013

'From July 31 – August 7, I traveled thousands of miles to attend 2 conferences in 2 cities on 6 planes in one week. You see, APA and ASAE annual meetings have the tendency to overlap in schedule. However, typically it’s during the years when APA is in DC. This time around, I had to fly to both meeting locations. APA’s meeting was in Honolulu (insert JayZ’s Hard Knocked Life here) and ASAE was in Atlanta.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JULY 24, 2013

'Last week, I had the pleasure of serving on a panel on networking hosted by the Public Leadership Education Network otherwise known as PLEN. PLEN seeks to connect college-aged women to those who work in public policy. My panel included Peggy Tighe who a consider a legend in the lobbying world and Kelly Biggs, someone to keep an eye on in the future.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JUNE 11, 2013

'Congratulations on your selection to the 2013-2015 Diversity Executive Leadership Program! Consider yourself among the very fortunate to have this opportunity. This program is competitive. Very competitive. For many of you, this was your second, third or even fourth application. And you finally got in. If you think the hard part is over, think again.

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Association Advocacy Chick

MAY 21, 2013

'For the last two years, I’ve written a post in observance of May is Mental Health Month. This time around I want to focus on stigma. Webster dictionary defines stigma as a mark of shame or discredit. Well, there’s nothing shameful about having a mental illness. However, society believe otherwise. It’s stigma that prevents us from reaching to those who need help because we don’t want to be associated with someone with a mental illness.

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Association Advocacy Chick

MAY 6, 2013

'You may have noticed that my blog posts have slowed down to a crawl. My goal when I started Association Advocacy Chick was to produce fresh content at least twice a month. However, it seems like I’m lucky to get one post up per month. While the mind is willing, the time just isn’t there right now. Don’t worry. I have no plans to stop Association Advocacy Chick (or blogging for that matter) any time soon.

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Association Advocacy Chick

APRIL 2, 2013

Last Saturday, I did something that I’ve never done before: I took an exercise class. I tend to work out at home where I felt I could be as uncoordinated as possible and didn’t have to worry about anyone but my dog. However, on the invitation of my good friend Taice, I went to a Zumba class in Laurel, MD. I was concerned I wouldn’t be able to keep up.

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Association Advocacy Chick

MARCH 1, 2013

I’m a huge fan of the hit ABC drama Scandal starring Kerry Washington. Washington plays Olivia Pope, a person who makes a living “fixing” things whether it’s covering up a liaison in a congressman’s office or throwing a presidential election. With its legions of fans taking to social media daily to discuss all things Scandal, the show decided to embrace the chatter.

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Association Advocacy Chick

FEBRUARY 5, 2013

As we bid a fond farewell to the 2012-2013 NFL season, here are some lessons learned that may provide valuable to those of us in the association community. 1. Never underestimate your young talent. Rookies made a name for themselves this season. Andrew Luck. Robert Griffin III (2013 NFL’s Rookie of the Year). Russell Wilson. Three rookie quarterbacks who led their teams to winning seasons and the playoffs.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 18, 2013

Lance Armstrong admitted he lied about doping during his illustrious cycling career. Manti Te’o is either the victim or the perpetrator of a hoax involving a non-existent girlfriend. Recent media coverage on these popular athletes has forced us all to take another look at what’s real and what’s not. More importantly, we’re getting a first hand look at what some people will do to reach a certain point or take advantage of others.

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Association Advocacy Chick

JANUARY 4, 2013

Welcome to 2013 where we just witnessed the 113th Congress being sworn in. There’s a lot to celebrate. There are 95 bright-eyed and bushy-tailed freshmen ready to change the world for the better. For the first time ever, we’ll have 20 women serving in the Senate. The House of Representatives is the most diverse we seen in a long time. Perhaps the best thing about the swearing-in of the 113th Congress is that it marks the end of the 112th Congress.

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Association Advocacy Chick

DECEMBER 18, 2012

To: You. From: Me. Re: Out of Office. As of Friday December 21, I will be out of the office for the rest of the year. 2012 has been busy, thrilling, tiring, upsetting and fulfilling all at the same time. Association Advocacy Chick continues to grow slowly, but surely. My iPad toolkit for lobbyists post was republished and circulated widely within the advocacy community.

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Association Advocacy Chick

DECEMBER 4, 2012

Looking back over 2012, I’ve done a number of presentations spanning from advocacy to middle children. Whenever I prepare for a presentation, I start by drafting notes. Notes are a great way to organize your thoughts and ensure that you stay on topic. Recently, I was asked to give remarks to student members in town for a visit. As usual, I sat down and sketched out what I wanted to say.

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Association Advocacy Chick

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

One of my passions in life is ASAE’s Diversity Executive Leadership Program otherwise known as DELP. I’ve talked about DELP a number of times and have featured many of my fellow scholars in my blog posts. However, the program seems to still be a mystery for many people. That mystique has led to some misconceptions. Well, it’s time to clear the air about what DELP is and more importantly, what it’s not.

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Association Advocacy Chick

OCTOBER 31, 2012

The following post is a reprint of a guest post I did for XYZ University in September 2012. A special thanks to Sarah Sladek for allowing me to participate! Go to virtually any association’s website and you will find advocacy listed as a membership benefit. Is it really a benefit? Which of your members would rank advocacy among their top five reasons for joining your association?

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Association Advocacy Chick

OCTOBER 10, 2012

This week, CBS Sunday Morning, one of my must-watch shows on tv, dedicated their opening segment to lobbying. The segment, entitled Behind the closed doors of Washington lobbyists was to give viewers a fly on the wall account of the lobbying industry, considered the third largest in DC after the federal government and tourism. While I applaud CBS for covering this topic, I felt it did very little to combat the negative view of the lobbying profession.

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Association Advocacy Chick

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

The Ignite session from ASAE 12 is now online on ASAE’s YouTube channel. Once again, I was honored to participate in what’s become the most fun and nerve-wracking presentation I’ve ever had to give. So if you missed the session or want to hear me retell the story of how I got that band-aid on my chin at age 3, check out the video below.

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Association Advocacy Chick

SEPTEMBER 14, 2012

For those of you who have taken the Certified Association Executive (CAE) exam, you may be familiar with the 3-day course offered by ASAE called the CAE Kickoff. The kickoff, formerly known as the CAE immersion, gives attendees an overview of the 9 domains covered on the exam as well as tips for approaching and preparing for it. Last week, I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Brian Pallasch from the American Society of Civil Engineers on Domain 6: Government Relations (GR), Public Policy and

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Association Advocacy Chick

AUGUST 31, 2012

My last post was about my experience in Dallas during ASAE12. This time, I wanted to give you the highs and lows of the conference from the perspective of my colleagues in the Diversity Executive Leadership Program aka DELP. Outside of our annual reunion, ASAE annual is the only other large gathering of DELP scholars. During the conference, DELP held its annual breakfast Sunday morning prior to the opening general session.

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