Fireside21

We hope that you saw the recent article by Fireside21’s President Jeff Mascott in The Hill. When an e-mail just isn’t enough addresses how to better engage with your constituents with your web site and new media tools like YouTube and Twitter:

We are stuck in a paradigm where individual constituents submit an online form to their congressmen detailing their concerns, and then wait for an e-mail response that is likely prepared by a congressional staffer.

The world has moved forward beyond this model, and so should Congress.

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Lance Armstrong wants to one-up his record as seven-time GC Champion of the Tour de France next year. A recent Vanity Fair article goes into great depth about Armstong’s motives and the Livestrong campaign of his Foundation.

Here’s an except about fan mail that got me thinking:

Somehow, Armstrong has managed to work into his schedule enough downtime to answer thousands of letters from kids with cancer and leukemia, in a personal, non-form-letter way. “These days I’ve been doing these video messages,” Armstrong told me. “I’ll sit there with a little camera and record a minute-long video and just give a shout-out to them and e-mail it. They love it. They keep it forever, show it to their family and friends.”

I know of some clients who have implemented a “Mail Bag” feature on their web site and others include videos on their legislative issue pages, but if someone is doing video responses to constituent mail, please let me know.

Now, it certainly isn’t practical for each and every message, but it would be a lot more interesting than a form letter.

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) recently released their draft report, Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue. It is only a draft because they want to hear from YOU!

The report examines the trend of increased constituent email to Hill offices, the role of advocacy campaigns and the systems and procedures in place to manage it all in your offices. The report does an excellent job of identifying the “stakeholders” involved, namely you in Congressional offices, your constituents, issue advocacy organizations, vendors that provide software for advocacy and vendors the provide software for constituent mail management.

The reality of the situation is that staffers have a very hard time keeping up with all the mail coming in…and that’s not going to change anytime soon. The CMF recently extended their public comment period until July 28th, so take a moment today or next week to:

1. Download and read the report (PDF)
2. Take the CMF Survey to register your feedback

Kudos to the dedicated team at the CMF who have been the leaders for years in examining these issues, bringing the relevant parties together and moderating the discussion.