Telephone town hall meetings are one of the most significant technological advances implemented by the Congress in the past two decades. However, until now little research or guidance was available to help congressional offices make the most of these communications tools. As part of this research project, CMF tested out novel methods designed to improve constituents' satisfaction with telephone town hall meetings. These methods were based on previous research CMF conducted using online (webinar-based) town hall meetings.
CMF research shows it IS possible to improve the constituent experience. In before and after surveys, constituents were more likely to view the Representative favorably after they had participated in a telephone town hall meeting. Even if their question didn't get asked.
Constituents like to know they were heard and that their participation made a difference, even when they disagree with the result. There are many ways you can follow-up from telephone town hall meetings, though you need to balance the effort required against the value gained to both the Member and constituents. There are better ways of following up than responding one-on-one to constituents whose questions weren't addressed during the meeting.
Why You Should Do This
Prior to our experiment, 92% of citizens had never participated in a telephone town hall with a Representative or Senator, though 64% strongly agreed and 29% agreed that they would like to be informed of future telephone town halls. This number remained high after participating in a session, with 91% saying they would like to be informed of future events. Offices that aren’t hosting telephone town halls are clearly missing an opportunity to connect with their constituents.
What We Learned
Extend the life of the meeting. With a fairly low effort, you can engage more people simply by posting information about—or audio or video from—the meeting on your website and social media. You can also get the word out via paper or electronic newsletters and mentions at in-person venues. Making it accessible to others who did not attend helps to demonstrate an interest in being inclusive, transparent and accountable. Answering some of the questions there wasn't time for—including a tough one or two—also helps engender trust. It has the added benefit of ensuring the response is shared with more people, which broadens the impact.
Keep the conversation going. There are a variety of ways to integrate town hall meetings into the work of the office to keep them alive without creating much extra work for staff. For example, if staff members capture the first names of constituents, their towns, and questions asked, they can be referenced in other venues. Same with quotes. Those interactions can become small moments for blogs, newsletters, floor speeches, meetings, and social media posts. For example, "I thought about Sarah from Capitol City in committee today. She asked me about x at my last town hall meeting, and . . ." By referencing what happens in the meetings you not only keep the conversation going, you demonstrate that you're listening and that the meetings are worth attending.
Build on it. Instead of viewing each meeting as a separate event, think about ways to link them together and build on them. Start a notification list of people who want to be invited and develop relationships with them. Create a Twitter hashtag and/or a private Facebook page for ongoing discussion among participants and weigh in from time to time. Facilitate a series in different ways to get different types of feedback. Include some staff-led events that follow up on the meetings. If you build enough momentum on an issue, you might even consider establishing an advisory group on an important topic.
The way a meeting is facilitated can make all the difference between a resounding success and a train wreck. In a town hall meeting, the Senator/Representative is the star of the show. She doesn't have to be a master orator, a comedian, a wonk, or anything in particular, but does need to be authentic. The event should be structured around the Member's strengths as a speaker and host and also take into account what constituents need and expect. Every meeting planner and facilitator also knows that you should be prepared for the unexpected. In the end, the most important goal of any town hall meeting is for constituents to feel respected and heard.
Why You Should Do This
After participating in a telephone town hall meeting with their Representative, constituents were more likely to have a positive opinion of the Member. They viewed the Member as significantly more accessible and compassionate, and they were more likely to feel he understood people like them. They were also more likely to describe the Member as fair, qualified, and knowledgeable and less likely to describe him as dishonest or weak.
What We Learned
Make it interactive. Whether it's in-person, on the phone, or online, there are many options for making a town hall meeting more interactive without losing control of the event. Ask questions via poll or show of hands to help understand the sense of the room. Stream live video and invite questions via Facebook or Twitter. Q & A isn't the only—or the most engaging—way to facilitate a telephone town hall meeting
Think legislator, not candidate. In the current political environment it's hard not to be partisan, but telephone town hall meetings should be venues for all constituents, even if they disagree with the Member. Dissenting voices are important to hear, but they will not speak—or attend—if they do not feel welcome and their questions don't get answered. We also found that people who support the Member also preferred neutral, more inclusive events, as well.
Any successful meeting requires advance preparation and knowing what you're trying to accomplish. CMF offers a range of resources to get you started, including a checklist for hosting events. When you've got the basics of planning and preparing for an event down, consider adding some elements to get more out of the events.
Why You Should Do This
Douglas Wagoner is the Communications Director with Congressman Larsen's (WA-02) office. He discusses his office's participation in the Congressional Management Foundation's Congress 3.0 project, specifically their participation in the experiment on telephone town hall meetings. By participating in CMF's experiment, Douglas saw how focusing on a single, relevant issue can increase engagement and the constituent experience and make for a more substantive town hall experience.
What We Learned
Plan your process. Have your goals clearly in mind and develop a process that accomplishes them. Also consider what constituents will be expecting. If you know constituents will want to vent, plan a process that allows a little of that then moves as quickly as possible to a more productive exchange. Consider involving a moderator or a panel of constituent stakeholders to take some heat off the Member, but still make him the star of the show.
Prepare the Member. Many Members are conducting telephone town hall meetings with little preparation, running from a political event, committee meeting, or floor vote to jump on a call. Members should have a minimum of 15 minutes preparation time to relax, focus on the task at hand, review remarks and (if appropriate) demographics of the audience. Given that telephone town hall meetings usually include thousands of constituents, it is wise to build in just a little prep.
Personally invite people. Constituents like to be personally invited to attend meetings with a Senator or Representative, and they are more likely to participate if they've been invited. The event shouldn't be construed as exclusive, so post it publicly, as well. Just try to personally reach out ahead of time to people you especially want to hear from and/or those you don't normally interact with.
Prepare your boss to keep comments short. Members of Congress tend to ramble on with many talking points, but keeping comments short is important in telephone town halls which have no video component, especially at the beginning of a call. Introductory remarks should be very brief (1 minute or less) and include a warm welcome and instructions on how to participate. Our observations showed that Members who did "introductions" for longer than 3 minutes started seeing participants hanging up the phone. Plan to get to constituents' questions as quickly as possible. Telephone town hall meetings are as much about listening as communicating the Member's activities and stances on policy.
Focus on a single issue. While some telephone town hall meetings necessarily need to be "general," meetings on a single topic have the following benefits. First, Members can better prepare for the calls. Second, the constituents' learning experience increases – legislators become "educators" as well as leaders. Consider also developing a neutral 2-page overview on the issue for people to view ahead of time (CRS and CBO are great resources for developing these) so everyone is on the same page. Do NOT include partisan or biased information in the documents. Constituents' trust level increases when leaders demonstrate the strength to offer a balanced view of a topic.
I recently had an irresistible proposition for a member of Congress: "What if I could show you a technology which, in one hour, would make thousands of your constituents consider you accessible and fair, increase their trust in your judgement, and triple your approval rating on one of the toughest issues Congress faces?"
CMF partnered with AmericaSpeaks to showcase a model that Members can utilize to conduct large-scale, deliberative discussions with constituents that promote a meaningful dialogue.