Our CEO, John Aristotle Phillips, will be a guest on the Digital Politics internet radio show and podcast this afternoon discussing fundraising, voter targeting, and GOTV efforts. Go here to listen live at 12pm PST/4pm EST: http://wsradio.com/. You can also hear the podcast here.
John will be joined on the show by Stephen Hershkowitz, partner of the law firm Sandler, Reiff and Young and former assistant general counsel at the Federal Elections Commission; and Peter Pasi (Executive Vice President) and Ben Olson (eCampaign Director) from emotive.
2009 was a year when new strategies and technology were employed in the world of political communication, sometimes with dramatic results. The credit for this behind-the-scenes brilliance goes you – the campaign staff and political strategists worldwide for whom excellence is a habit.
We want to give you the recognition you deserve.
Nominate yourself or a colleague today for a spot one of the Aristotle Campaign Dreams – the only awards of their kind that pull together the best and the brightest campaign professionals from both Democratic and Republican campaigns. Each team is comprised of 12 members in the following categories: Campaign Manager, Legal, Compliance, Campaign Scheduler, Polling, Direct Mail, Fundraising, Press/Media Relations, Opposition Research, Voter Contact, Web Design, and Mobile Campaigning.
Submit your nominations at www.aristotle.com/excellence. There is no limit to the number of nominations you can submit, there is no charge for submitting, and you should feel free to nominate yourself. Deadline for submission is Friday, March 19.
In the past, when I would get home from the annual PAC Conference or Innovate to Motivate, I would go through a series of withdrawal emotions – first, exhaustion.
Sessions all day and “networking” all night, I always needed to catch up on sleep. Once I was back at work, I would feel overwhelmed. There on my desk would be the large binder with notes, session information, legal questions and contacts I didn’t want to forget. Anxiety would set in, then reality – I had a job to do and I needed to catch up on emails, so I would push that large pile over to the corner until I had time.
We never have time. Our jobs, especially in light of the last year, have increasingly become more hectic and multidimensional. After almost 10 years of attending the winter conferences, I have some advice to pass along that I was given while I was managing the U.S. Chamber’s PAC.
Make the effort to stay in touch with new contacts. Even something as simple as friending new contacts on Facebook helps. You never know if you will need something, or more importantly, can help someone else. Or who will become your friends outside of the industry. In 2002, I was six months on the job, just out of college and arrived to my first conference early. I had lunch with Sheree Anne Kelly with the Public Affairs Council to learn more about the conference. Eight years later, I am still grateful for that lunch and the natural friendship that followed. PS. Congrats to SA for her recent promotion!!
Read your notes again. This may seem weird but I would take the notes from sessions and open up a document and type. What this did was allow me to see what I thought was important to remember and to look at that piece of information, after the conference, to see if it really was still relevant to what my PAC could do and what it was already doing. There are so many great ideas but you can’t incorporate them all. Take the top few and think about how to make them work for your PAC.
Audit. There are more audits than just financial. Have an outsider look at what you do – communicating with PAC members, how you raise money, which events work, who you write checks to and the effect it has for your organization. I would ask someone from the outside to look in – either a recent contact or, if you really want to jumpstart your PACs potential, an organization with experience, such as Aristotle. Our PAC staff has actively managed some of the most successful PACs in the country and the knowledge pooled together has had amazing results for our clients.
Lastly, I still have my notes from the last nine years of conferences and all the binders and session handouts that seemed relevant to my career. Yes, I’m a proud nerd. My last suggestion is to keep what matters and what you can see yourself using over the years. Although I was sad to miss my first conference season in my career, I am thoroughly enjoying my newest challenge, motherhood. And I can’t wait to bring the little man along next year to meet all of the amazing friends I have made over the years.
While grassroots was certainly the name of the game at last week’s Public Affairs Council Conference in Orlando, a Saturday morning session focused on a different perspective – grasstops! Your organization’s grasstops advocates are those who have personal relationships with key decision-makers or elected officials. Leveraging these relationships can mean the difference between success and failure in your advocacy efforts!
Ilona Piaskowy from the Association of Public Television Stations and Robert Sommer from Rock Entertainment Management presented great strategies and best practices for identifying, engaging, and utilizing your grasstops advocates.
1. Maintain regular communication: Ilona discussed the monthly conference calls she has with her grasstops advocates, and the importance of follow-up if you think a member’s interest is waning.
2. Planning and strategy: Robert reminded the audience that grasstops advocates are usually very busy people, so it’s best to be strategic with your requests and not overwhelm them. Think about what each advocates is best suited for, and what tasks they are most likely to follow though on.
3. Preparation and training: Both presenters discussed the importance of properly training and preparing your grasstops advocates so they feel comfortable talking to legislators and elected officials about your goal.
This was a very interesting session, because both Ilona and Robert provided case studies on cultivating grasstops at their respective organizations. It was a great way to wrap up the conference!
Aristotle is very pleased to announce the winners of the first annual Aristotle Excellence Award, recognizing singular achievement in political campaigns around the world. Held in conjunction with Politics Magazine, the awards attracted a wide array of worthy nominees this year. We’re confident that our 2010 winners can be counted among the very best in our business.
Carlos Fara, Argentina/Bolivia Carmen Fernandez, Venezuela Ajmal Ghani, US/Afghanistan Steven Joyce, New Zealand Mixo Kochakidze, Georgia Necati Ozkan, Turkey Sami Panah, Afghanistan Kostas Sazmatzoglou, Greece Klaus Schuler, Germany Mauricio de Vengochea, US
Congratulations to the winners and many thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination.
For more about the Aristotle Excellence Awards, visit: www.aristotle.com/excellence
January 20-23, 2010
Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando®
5601 Universal Blvd
Orlando, Florida 3281
We’re just a week away from the P.A.C. Grassroots Conference. We had a great time in St. Petersburg last year and know that this year’s conference will be just as successful.
We wanted to drop you a line and let you know that we’ll be back as a sponsor and would love to meet you at the conference – Aristotle’s Grassroots team will be available at our booth in the Resource Marketplace on January 21st. This year we’ve unveiled our Grassroots “Cash for Clunkers” program and we’ll be giving away an iPod Shuffle – stop by to hear about the program and register to win.
If you’d like to set up a time to get together during the conference or if you have any other questions don’t hesitate to contact us at sales@aristotle.com.
Early bird registration for the Women in Government Relations PACs, Politics, and Grassroots conference on Friday, December 11 is going on now!
Discount registration ends November 2nd, so be sure to visit the Women in Government Relations website to sign up soon. Since Aristotle is sponsoring the event, we would love to see you there.
Learn how to transform political program auditions into leading roles in your organization’s show. Industry experts will be on hand to provide insight on topics like legal guidance using social media, lobbying the new administration, and creative fundraising in a challenging economy.
Participants will also have time to grow their portfolios and network with other government relations and PAC professionals during the Networking and Professional Development Lunch.
One of my dearest friends and former Aristotle colleague, Jessica Grounds, is President of WUFPAC (Women Under Forty Political Action Committee). WUFPAC is known for supporting women forty years of age and under running for state and federal public office. WUFPAC is a wonderful group to support and if you have not done so, try to attend one of their events this fall.
WUFPAC’s mission is twofold:
* To help elect more young women to elected office so that young women have an equal voice in shaping public policy.
* To build the seniority of women in Congress by electing women at a young age.
WUFPAC supports candidates who are committed to empowering young women to succeed. They are hosting an event, in September, celebrating 10 years of supporting women. The event will be held on September 24th from 6:30pm-8:30pm. Wear your best Alma mater gear to the event!
It is officially the last week of summer and there are a lot of unhappy kids headed back to school. As a new Dad, I don’t need to worry about sending my 4-month old to school yet, but it is time for Dad to hit the books.
An off election year is the best time to further your knowledge in a specific industry. Over the remaining four months of the year, I will be focusing my efforts on enhancing my compliance expertise as we head into what is going to be a busy election year in 2010. There are a number of reputable organizations offering compliance seminars, training and workshops over the last few months of this year.
I plan on attending the Public Affairs CouncilSeptember Conference Series – it is going to cover a political involvement legal overview and both a grassroots and PAC roundtable sessions. If you plan on attending, let me know, I’d love to get together!
The Federal Election Commission has been hosting a number of great outreach sessions this year and has two coming up this fall. On September 15th and 16th, the FEC will be in the windy city of Chicago, and on October 28th and 29th, there will be an FEC conference in San Francisco. I will be attending the conference in San Francisco as well.
If your PAC is active in a particular state, check out the state’s website – most offer free trainings and have updates on compliance rules listed on their homepages.
My advice is to take advantage of the opportunities now – in a short period of time, the focus will be on fundraising, new compliance requirements and grassroots advocacy. Understanding all the tools and opportunities that are out there can have a real effect on election night for your organization.
On August 3rd, PAC PALS held their first annual golf tournament at the Penderbook Golf Club in Fairfax, VA, and it was a great success! Golfers arrived at 7:30 AM for a continental breakfast and then divided up into foursomes to golf the day away. Prizes were given to the winning team, closest to the pin, longest drive male and female, and even the team coming in last received a prize. A buffet lunch was served and the day went off without a hitch.
I went to the tournament with Lindsey Brooks to present Aristotle at the event, and we enjoyed networking with professionals in the PAC community in an upbeat and relaxed environment. Thank you to Anne Devlin from Abbott Laboratories who organized the event. It was fun and I am sure next year will be wonderful as well!
I’m hoping to actually golf in the tournament next year…time to start practicing!
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It is officially the last week of summer and there are a lot of unhappy kids headed back to school. As a new Dad, I don’t need to worry about sending my 4-month old to school yet, but it is time for Dad to hit the books.
On August 3rd,