Early Bird Deadline - May 11, 2012 | Hotel Cut-Off - June 18, 2012
Follow us on Twitter at @NAED_org and get involved in the conversation using #NAEDFlyIn12

What is the NAED Congressional Fly-In?
The NAED Congressional Fly-In provides members with a platform to communicate their thoughts and concerns to their elected officials in a meaningful and impactful way. Constituent visits to a Congressional office have a greater impact for businesses than an e-mail, fax or letter. Face-to-face meetings also provide the opportunity to build a relationship with Members of Congress and a chance to network with your industry peers from across the country. The NAED Government Affairs team will host its 2nd annual Congressional Fly-In in Washington, D.C. on July 11-12, 2012.

2012 is an election year and there is no better time to remind Congress about their commitment to you than when they are seeking your vote for re-election. If you find the thought of arranging a meeting on Capitol Hill to be overwhelming, let NAED take care of the work for you. In preparation for your visits on the Hill, NAED will conduct an orientation webinar for all participants prior to your trip to D.C. This will help all participants feel more comfortable meeting with members of Congress. Your elected officials want to hear from you. There is strength in numbers and participating this year you can help make the voice of the electrical distribution industry heard loud and clear!

2011 NAED Congressional Fly-In Recap
At the 2011 NAED inaugural Congressional Fly-In, over 35 distributor companies and various trading partner member companies were in attendance. In all, more than 100 private meetings took place with Congressional representatives and key staffers from their districts. NAED members also heard from U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-KY in an exclusive appearance for 2011 Fly-In participants.

Need another reason to attend the 2012 Congressional Fly-In? Watch the video below.

Contact us at 888-791-2512 or governmentaffairs@naed.org  for more information.

View our other Government Affairs materials.  

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Wednesday, July 11

1:00 - 1:30 p.m. - Registration Opens
Phoenix Park Hotel Lobby

1:30 - 4:30 p.m. - Orientation and Advocacy Training
Phoenix Park Hotel Ballroom
Stephanie Vance, the Advocacy Guru at Advocacy Associates, LLC
Hear from Stephanie Vance of Advocacy Associates on how to effectively meet with Members of Congress and their staff. Hear about issues affecting the industry and how you can be an effective advocate.






5:00 - 7:00 p.m. - Welcome Reception and Dinner
Phoenix Park Hotel
Get together with your fellow electrical industry professionals to talk politics and industry issues.

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Thursday, July 12

7:30 - 8:30 a.m. - Breakfast and Keynote
Phoenix Park Hotel
On the morning of the Fly-In, Congressman Jim Jordan, proud representative of Ohio's 4th district, will discuss the importance of advocacy in the industry. In Congress, Jim has emerged as a prominent defender of the taxpayer's pocketbook through his work on spending issues. In his time as Chairman of the Replication Study Committee's Budget & Spending Task Force, he introduced the only balanced budget alternative to President Obama's budget in 2009. As one of the most conservative members of Congress, his efforts have earned him recognition from Citizens against Government Waste, Family Research Council, Americans for Tax Reform's Friend of the Taxpayer Award and the 2011 Weyrich Award for "national Legislator of the Year".

Directly following Jordan's Keynote Presentation, Fly-In participants will head out in D.C. to "hit the hill".

8:30 - 9:00 a.m. - Advocacy Training Wrap Up
Phoenix Park Hotel
Stephanie Vance, the Advocacy Guru at Advocacy Associates, LLC

10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. - Meetings on Capitol Hill
Capitol Hill
NAED will set up the meetings for you. Be sure to wear your walking shoes because we will be pounding the pavement all day!

11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - Lunch
Rayburn Gold Room 2168 of the Rayburn House Office Building
Find some time in your busy meeting schedule any time between 11:00 and 1:00 to pop in and grab a box lunch and recharge your batteries for the afternoon. This room will also be available until 3:00 as a place for you to rest in between meetings.

4:00 - 5:00 p.m. - Hospitality Hour
Phoenix Park Hotel
Feel free to stop by after your meetings for drinks and snacks before our optional "wrap up" session begins.

5:00 - 6:00 p.m. - Optional Wrap Up Meeting
Phoenix Park Hotel
If you are unable to get an evening flight home, we will be hosting an informal recap/reception to review the day's events. Attendance is optional.

Hotel Information

Phoenix Park Hotel 
520 N. Capitol St. N.W.
Washington, D.C., 20001
Phone: 1.202.638.6900
Toll Free: 800.824.5419

Housing Information

Room Rate:  $225

Online Reservations: Click here

Reservations by phone: If you would prefer to book your reservation by phone, please contact the Phoenix Park Hotel at 1-202-638-6900. Make sure Group Reservations knows you are with the 2012 NAED Congressional Fly-In group to get the group rate. 

*Please call the hotel directly at 202-638-6900 to make any changes to your reservations.

Hotel cutoff:
June 18, 2012. Hotel reservations received after June 18, 2012 will be accepted on a space available basis at the Group Room Rates. Call the hotel directly at 1-202-638-6900 if booking after June 18, 2012.

Availability and rates:
Hotel room rate is $225 (USD). Hotel room rates are subject to an 14.50% tax per room, per night. A deposit equal to one night's stay will be charged after the room is confirmed. Room reservations must be made by June 18, 2012 to receive the NAED guaranteed rate. Check in time is 3:00 PM and check out time is noon. Subject to availability the group rate is available 3 days prior and 3 days post NAED Fly-In dates.

The deposit is fully refundable if a room is canceled three days or more prior to arrival date. No charge for making name changes to room reservations

Registration Information

• Registration forms will not be processed without payment.
• Please submit one form for each attendee. Please keep a copy of your form for your records.
• Substitutions received in writing will be accepted at any time.
• Cancellation Policy: Cancellations received in writing at NAED on or before June 18, 2012, will be charged a processing fee of $100 per registrant cancelled. No refunds will be made for cancellations received after that date. Fax cancellations to NAED at (314) 991-3060 or email rparkinson@naed.org.

NAED utilizes an online registration process for events, click the button below to get started. If you need assistance with your online account, please contact Member Services at 888-791-2512 or click on Live Chat at the top of the webpage. Registration is $475. Save $75 if you register before or during our National Meeting April 25-28 in Washington, D.C.!

What is a “Congressional Fly-In?”
Think of it as a day of sales calls to new prospects. Your objective is to start/build on relationships with policy makers and let them know what’s important to your company. The electrical industry is “a relationship business” and so is government. We’ll arrange a series of meetings for you on Capitol Hill. We’ll prepare you in advance and give you materials to leave behind. Our location, the Phoenix Park Hotel, is a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol and has a room rate of $225 per night. After a busy day of meetings, you can either fly home or join us for an informal debrief reception at the Phoenix Park.


What’s the reason for doing this?
Electrical distribution has a nationwide footprint of locally owned businesses. By bringing our membership to Capitol Hill, we will build relationships, raise our profile with policy makers, and position electrical distribution as a resource when our legislators are considering business or energy legislation. You’re helping the industry and your company!


How much is registration and what does it include?
Your registration fee of $475 covers:

• Costs for arranging your meeting schedule
• A reception and dinner on Wednesday
• Breakfast, lunch and a recap reception on Thursday
• Printed materials for your meeting
• Our consultant/meeting organizer, the Advocacy Guru, Stephanie Vance
  

How do I set up meetings?
We do it all for you. You just show up and talk about your business.


Am I meeting with staff or members of Congress?
Both. Much of this depends on the legislative schedule, committee schedules, votes being taken, etc. Understand that staff plays a critical role in policy making. Our priorities for scheduling your meetings will be to arrange meetings with these members of Congress (meetings with key staff will be arranged if the member is unavailable):

1. Your home state Senators
2. Your home district U.S. Representative
3. Members of key committees, ideally from districts/states where you have operations

How many meetings will I have?
You will likely have about five meetings. Any given meeting may go an hour or start 15 minutes late. It may be ten minutes in the hallway. If a meeting goes short, it’s better to get to the next one early than show up 15 minutes late. 

Your first meeting will probably be scheduled at 10 a.m. and your last probably won’t start later than 3:30 p.m. If your Congressman or Senator is hosting constituent coffee at their office, we’ll let you know and you may want to sneak out of breakfast early to attend.

Our goal is to have a minimum of two NAED members in each meeting (or one member and one NAED staffer). We’ll try to have no more than four attendees in any one meeting. These offices aren’t very big, so a big crowd meeting with a staffer is likely to end up meeting in the hallway due to space constraints.

We will have briefing materials for you in advance, educating you on the NAED policy agenda as outlined by our Government Affairs Policy Committee. We suggest you limit your discussion to the one or two items from the agenda that are most important to you.

I don’t know much about D.C. or legislation, what if they ask me a question in the meeting?
You don’t have to be an expert. We’ll give you enough background on the issues so that you are familiar, but you aren’t expected to be a policy “wonk.” Chances are, we’ll have the answer in your briefing materials, but it’s not up to you to provide detailed information about specific legislation. It’s perfectly acceptable to say, “Our government relations person will follow up with you on that.”

Are manufacturers invited? Reps? Customers?
We are promoting it to distributor members, but the more the merrier. You may choose to bring a vendor or a customer or both. If you’re a manufacturer or rep agent, we’d love to have you participate.

Do I have to be an NAED member to attend?
No. Of course we’d prefer you join NAED, but our objective is to make a strong showing on Capitol Hill. We’re confident you will have such a positive experience at this event that you will want to support your industry association.