Hybrid Lobby Days: Creating Opportunities for Action Anywhere

Whenever we head to Harrisburg it’s always a bit of a whirlwind: exciting, stressful, engaging, and memorable all at once. What our clients get out of Lobby Days, however, is worth every minute.

Take our trip with the Pennsylvania Coalition of Nurse Practitioners for example, where we were joined by over 60 Nurse Practitioners from across the Commonwealth advocating on behalf of Senate Bill 25 and Full Practice Authority. 

With well over 70 individual meetings with legislators, our advocates were able to share personal stories, the benefits of bringing Full Practice Authority to Pennsylvania, and, perhaps most importantly, what the independence of Nurse Practitioners would mean for our healthcare system and patients across the state. 

Of course, to stand out, our nurse advocates also came bearing  Eat’n Park cookies as a great way to break through the noise. When you can walk into the Capitol Building office on a busy day and hear, “I heard there were cookies somewhere!” It's a good reminder that though nearly every organization can put together a lobby day, not everyone hits the “sweet spot” when it comes to leaving an impression.

Now, 70+ meetings (and 180+ office drop offs) aside, it’s really the hybrid elements of our “Hybrid Lobby Day'' we want to focus on. These are what set an organization apart from their counterparts across the state. While we’ve discussed the benefits of maintaining virtual opportunities for those advocates not able to make it to the state capitol, what makes a lobby day “hybrid” largely depends on what you are hoping to accomplish. 

For this Hybrid Lobby Day, we focused on using every platform available to us to ensure we reached every possible advocate. To start, we launched an email campaign through VoterVoice, a letter writing platform meant to connect advocates with their legislators. These emails can continue outside of the Hybrid Lobby Day, but serve as a great way to warm folks up for the day’s actions. 

From there we knew highlighting the many faces of not only PCNP but Nurse Practitioners in Pennsylvania was a must, which is why we launched an hour-long #CommonwealthCaregiver Story Storm. We encouraged NP advocates to share photos of themselves and respond to the question, “What would Full Practice Authority mean to you, your patients, and/or your practice?”

Additionally, we included a poll on Twitter, which worked as a way to educate our audience on key messaging regarding Nurse Practitioners, FPA, what FPA could mean for PA, and give folks following at home another way to engage.

Finally, and perhaps our favorite part, the DCS team hosted “Advocacy After Dark: NPs for Senate Bill 25” – a live Zoom call for advocates at home. The nearly hour-long evening event included the musical stylings of DJ Darya (you may know them better as Darya Kharabi), a cameo from our friends in Utah (which just became the 27th state to pass Full Practice Authority), a chance to donate to PCNP’s PAC for giveaways, and the opportunity to advocate with friends!

Since advocates were calling “after dark” and we knew senate staffers would be gone for the day, we encouraged NPs to leave “Good morning” messages for legislators just getting in: “Good morning [_______], it’s a great day to support Senate Bill 25 and pass Full Practice Authority!”  To top it all off, for the folks able to donate, we gave away some exciting prizes for three levels of donations. 

Needless to say, developing a Hybrid Lobby Day is no small task, but it does mean guaranteeing the maximum amount of participation from your organization’s advocates. Oftentimes, it’s not a lack of interest, but rather the lack of opportunity that keeps advocates from being engaged and using their voice. That’s where a Hybrid Lobby Day can help.

Interested in exploring a Hybrid Lobby Day for your own organization? Let’s chat.