Anyone who follows the news knows that political activism has been on the rise. According to a Washington Post-Kaiser Family Foundation poll, one in five Americans has protested in the streets or participated in a political rally since the beginning of 2016, with nearly 20 percent doing so for the first time.

Like these new citizen activists, many professional and trade associations are jumping into federal policy engagement for the first time. But rather than taking to the streets, they are taking to the Hill for a legislative fly-in day during which association staff and members travel to Washington, DC, to discuss their most important issues with members of Congress or the legislators’ staff.

The Academy for Eating Disorders, as part of the Eating Disorders Coalition, recently held its annual fly-in day to advocate for funding and research on the high-morbidity mental disorder. Even though we had experience with this kind of advocacy, we sought expert help to improve our approach. We were smart to do so: The once-a-year chance to educate members of Congress face to face is too valuable for associations to ignore or fail to maximize, says Katrina Velasquez, managing principal of Center Road Solutions, who led AED and the coalition through the reassessment.

“As the saying goes, ‘If you’re not at the table, you are on the menu,’” says Velasquez. “Having your membership physically come in to meet with their members of Congress and staff often has the highest influence on how Congress votes.”

The once-a-year chance to educate members of Congress face to face is too valuable for associations to ignore or fail to maximize.

Velasquez outlines 10 steps first-timers need to take to get a fly-in day off the ground and ensure that their organization’s time on the Hill is well spent.

1. Identify your issue. Focus on the one concern that most affects your members, and then decide on an “ask” for the congressional offices so that they know what your members, as constituents, want them to do.
2. Set a date. Congressional calendars typically become available in December of the preceding year on the Senate and House majority leaders’ websites. Do not hold your Hill day on Mondays or Thursdays, when senators and representatives are leaving for weekend trips back to their state or district or just getting back into town.
3. Create small teams. Meeting rooms will be small, so limit your delegation to no more than six people per legislator. Include those with strong oral speaking skills.
4. Manage the message. One of congressional staffers’ biggest complaints after fly-ins is that they did not understand what the group wanted them to do. This can happen when your members are untrained or when there are several “cooks in the kitchen” and no one person is leading the meeting. Appoint a team leader a month beforehand and train them on the elements of the ask. Your leader should facilitate the conversation and allow other team members to focus on telling the story of how specific legislation would affect them.
5. Manage the message even more. Conduct a one-hour message-training session for your delegation the morning of your fly-in day to help keep everyone on point. Free meeting spaces are available; try booking room 902 or the Russell Kennedy Caucus room in the Hart Senate Office Building. These rooms go fast, and you can only reserve them through a Senate office 90 days prior to your Hill day, so set your calendar.
6. Customize talking points. Members of Congress and their staff focus on one key question: “How does this legislation affect my congressional district or state?” Consequentially, it’s best to develop customized talking points for each member.
7. Create leave-behinds. A one-page document that summarizes your ask will both solidify your request and help your members stay on message. Documents with the entire pitch laid out as an infographic resonate with the mostly young, busy staff who are issue experts.
8. Aim for bipartisanship. Half of your meetings should be with Republican offices and half with Democrats. It doesn’t matter which party controls the House and Senate—you’ll want buy-in from both sides of the aisle, as political tides change quickly.
9. Watch for committees of jurisdiction. Typically, you will schedule meetings with members of Congress who represent the districts or states of your fly-in participants. However, if your members are in a district of a member of Congress who sits on the committee that has jurisdiction over the specific issue in question, these meetings should be prioritized, as they will have the greatest impact on your ask.
10. Follow up after the fly-in. During each meeting, take detailed notes, including questions and concerns raised by staffers and any intelligence they provided. Within one week, using this information, follow up with the legislators you visited to answer any pending questions and ask for their support again.

Planning a fly-in day is often time consuming, especially if your association will also handle travel logistics for your members. You might consider hiring a company that provides fly-in services and ask a stakeholder company to sponsor the cost. But with or without outside help, even if your organization foots the whole tab, it’s time and money well spent on important advocacy work.