Cars line the street, and every chair is filled with smiling people. The room hums with anticipation. Whether you are the candidate or an elected official, you are uplifted by the energy and eager to get started. I remember this feeling at my first HQ campaign kickoff party. We had plenty of snacks, and I gave a brief speech. It was a simple, casual opportunity for team building and networking with those who believed in my candidacy from the beginning, and we all benefited from the camaraderie in the long run.

District events are the bread and butter of constituent engagement, whether you are campaigning or in office. Events give you the opportunity to connect, inform, educate, and engage with the people who voted for you and everyone you represent. A successful event will energize attendees and build hype around your candidacy, while a bad one can suck the air out of the room and leave the energy of a deflated balloon.

Planning

It is a good idea to schedule an event every month or two while in the office, and even more frequently during a campaign, but be sure you have internal clarity about the purpose of each one. Some common objectives include constituent listening (e.g., a town hall or roundtable); policy education or rollout; community service or celebration; coalition engagement; and recognition (of local heroes, nonprofits, or businesses).

Stay in touch with the pulse of the community and plan in concert with standard calendar events such as holidays (Veterans’ Day, 4th of July), while also leaving room for fresh ideas you’d like to highlight (small business of the month, a service project with local Eagle Scouts, a phone bank specific to a policy issue). It is wise to define one primary goal and a few supplementary goals to guide format, invitations, and messaging.

When choosing a format and venue, align them with your objective and your district culture. A mix of small, recurring events and larger, sporadic gatherings is ideal. To build trust and relationships, schedule regular office hours and coffee chats, either at your office or at a local establishment. To elicit honest feedback, small listening sessions and roundtables with cohesive interest groups are ideal. Broad engagement requires larger crowds, so consider a regular town hall – it can be in person, with a digital option to allow participation by both committed and curious constituents.

Be thoughtful about your invite list and be sure to include local officials and civic leaders who may feel slighted if not included. Once the event starts, be sure to recognize them by asking them to stand, pointing them out, and thanking them for taking the time to join you. There are always a handful of local officials who will take non-recognition very personally and never forget it.

Optics

Optics are essential, so always be sure you and your staff have confidence that you can fill a room. It is better to have standing-room-only in a smaller venue than to have many empty seats in a large auditorium. Start small and scale up as you gauge interest by headcount. Don’t be shy about asking friendly constituents to host an event at their private homes or businesses. They may enjoy the opportunity to invite their friends and neighbors to interact with an elected official, and the homey, intimate setting helps you present yourself as accessible and trustworthy. On the other hand, they also use libraries, schools, and community centers as familiar settings for those who may wish to attend but feel intimidated by a private setting. One of my most enthusiastic and reliable volunteers was always ready to support our events but always needed a friend to be with her. She felt nervous about the logistics of navigating new locations, including parking and security.

Additionally, be intentional about hosting at a venue that is or is not overtly partisan. Try to find a balance between building camaraderie with your base and engendering nonpartisan goodwill. For every red meat sign, wave, or potentially polarizing topic or guest, consider doing something in recognition of a community leader or gathering a team to help with a service project or charity run. My campaign team and I participated in 5Ks across the state. It was a fun, low-key way to be visible (we wore our team shirts!) and met people in a friendly, non-political manner.

Media visibility is key to amplifying your message and community engagement, but don’t surprise attendees with a press presence if it doesn’t suit the occasion. A “listening” event may be relatively quiet if attendees feel reticent to ask questions due to a prominent media presence – most people don’t want to end up on TV inadvertently. When appropriate, designate a press area and a spokesperson to manage the flow. If you are taking questions from members of the media, be sure you are prepared to answer uncomfortable questions and to be fluent in a few core messages you feel in control of, which you can use to ground the conversation if it starts to go off the rails.

One way to work with media at semi-private events is to invite a single journalist from a publication that would like an exclusive article. I would often ask a writer from The Free Beacon, NPR, or The Union Leader (or similar outlets) to observe an event, speak with attendees, and interview me afterward. Many of these pieces provided an inside look at my candidacy, as well as POVs from my supporters, and we were able to share them widely for months past the event.

Ethics and Authenticity

Your event must comply with ethical guidelines and legal requirements.  Hopefully, you have a trusted and capable staff member who can ensure compliance with campaign vs. official activity rules, gift and food restrictions, lobbyist attendance and sponsorship rules, and the use of public funds and staff time.  Don’t forget that even if you are technically following the letter of the law, perception matters greatly.  If something is perceived as a misuse of funds, it can trigger an entire media cycle about the possibility of wrongdoing, which will be interpreted by the public as an indictment of wrongdoing despite your innocence.

After a particularly fantastic event hosted by the supportive owner of a famous motor speedway, I was plagued for nearly a year by an ethics violation complaint filed by a notorious political operative.  My finance manager at the time was young and inexperienced, and the aspect of the event under scrutiny was unique and uniquely confusing. In retrospect, I would have forgotten that feature, or the entire event, to avoid the resulting controversy and hassle.

People will remember how they felt more than what was said, so structure your event agenda for maximum engagement. Some principles for effectiveness include starting and ending on time; keeping formal remarks brief; building in time for Q&A early or for each topic, rather than just at the end; considering a moderator to create distance from you while enforcing respectful discussion; and acknowledging challenging issues without defensiveness.  It is smart to set clear rules at the outset.  Inform the audience of time limits, the scope of topics, and the need for civility, so you or the moderator has a set of rules to refer to, and attendees are less likely to take offense at their enforcement.

Authenticity is valued in an elected official now more than ever. Do your best to communicate clearly and consistently while preserving your natural communication style.  Don’t feel like you need to read from a script to avoid making a mistake.  The audience is rooting for you by and large.  They want their concerns heard and to know you care, but most people don’t expect miracles. Clearly explain your role and authority and distinguish between what you can influence and what you genuinely cannot.   

I had the opportunity to discuss foreign policy at a town hall in a prestigious university auditorium alongside a senior foreign policy expert. It was a daunting prospect, and I was very nervous. I was not a foreign policy expert. I was only a state legislator. I was afraid I would have nothing of value to contribute to the conversation and, frankly, was terrified of tough questions. But I did it anyway.  We both handled queries; if I didn’t know the answer, I said so and passed the question to the expert.  No one seemed to mind, and it turned out to be a successful event.

Follow-Up

What you do after the event can enhance the overall experience. Be sure to thank your attendees for their time and attention – everyone likes to feel noticed and appreciated. Follow up by mail or email to share promised resources, notes, or next steps depending on the issue. And of course, make a point to follow up on commitments made – be that information on a regulatory code, getting a speedbump installed, or resolving a visa issue.

Work with your staff to document and track feedback. Events are great opportunities to gather intelligence, not just appearances. You will find that specific issues and concerns recur – an easy way to demonstrate you are listening is to turn those into points of regular communication. Keep your constituents current with updates and reminders through email and social media posts. Integrate insights from your legislative or oversight work and share them with your constituents.

Lastly, remember that there is always room for improvement. Consider the event’s original goal and how it performed. If something does not go well, do not hesitate to make changes next time. You will find that consistency and responsiveness over time will build trust more than perfection ever could. Remember that you are not there to be seen, but to demonstrate accountability, accessibility, and readiness to act.

Written By: Honorable Marilinda Garcia, Capitol Leaders Fellow