Government Relations & Advocacy
The Nuts and Bolts of Effective Advocacy
Thursday, December 6, 2018
8:30 am - 4:30 pm
Austin Apartment Association
8620 Burnet Rd. Suite 475
Austin, TX 78757 (map)
CAE Hours: 8
$125 TSAE Member; $175 Non-member
Online registration is now closed. Please call 512-444-1974 to sign up.
Advocacy is often a core function carried out by an association’s government relations team to promote and protect the interests of its members. As part of your organization’s advocacy team it’s important to know how to tell your members’ story, develop working relationships with legislators, and what approaches to use to persuade them to support your efforts.
Join us for a full-day workshop focusing on the nuts and bolts of successful foundation to effective advocacy.
Topics include:
- The written (and unwritten) rules of the legislative game
- Organizing Capitol Day and other visits
- Preparing legislative testimony
- Getting your membership involved
- Managing an outside lobbyist
- Marketing your efforts
About the Speaker
Joe Gagen brings an entirely new way of looking at the legislative process. His highly interactive presentations are not only fun but also effective in educating association leaders and their volunteer advocates on how to “do it right” when advocating on behalf of their profession, their organization and their community.
He has conducted well over six hundred successful legislative training and planning programs for numerous national and state associations as well as numerous leadership conferences for volunteer based association members.
Those that attend Mr. Gagen’s trainings are able to:
- Communicate more effectively with public policy makers on issues of importance.
- Better understand the process and the environment in which public policy is made.
- Understand and be able to utilize the key elements needed in devising effective legislative advocacy /communication strategies.
Mr. Gagen, a former TSAE board member, has been involved professionally in political and legislative matters for most of his professional career. Among other things, he chaired the Texas agency responsible for workers’ compensation, served as general counsel to the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee and was a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives. He was executive director of a statewide political organization and served from 2006 to 2011 as CEO for Texas CASA, a statewide nonprofit organization advocating for children in foster care.