 Much, Dr. Rogan, for that really kind introduction. And I appreciate the opportunity to join you this evening for a conversation about advocacy communications. On this first slide, I've included a copy of the Virginia Dental Journal for a few reasons. One, I'm going to be covering a variety of communications approaches, things we think about at the VDA when talking to our members and policymakers. I recognize I'm speaking to a group of dental journal editors. And that journal format continues to be a communications tool that I know our members value. I saw Matt in Dennis yesterday. And he told me that emails can be overwhelming. He often doesn't read them. But he reads our journal cover to cover. And he subscribes to our text alerts. Every member takes in information in a different way. And with so many social media platforms, advertisers vying for their attention, the physical print magazine continues to be an important method for us to reach our members. So I'm grateful to be here. The second reason I have it on the opening slide is because this particular cover of the Virginia Dental Journal was about advocacy. It was a play on the iconic Geico commercial, if you remember, so easy a caveman can do it. But we wanted to convey to our members in a creative way that advocacy was easy and that we were making it easy for them to be advocates for good oral health policy. In this case, a tele-dentistry bill that passed in 2020. And three, the reason I wanted to include it was to say off the bat, this magazine was sitting on my desk the day I arrived for my first day of work at the VDA. So I wanted to say, we have an amazing team here. And a lot of the things I'm going to be talking about this evening are things that I can't take credit for, but are reflective of the really good work of the folks who are at the VDA. So I just wanted to share that and say, we're not perfect by any means, still learning, and still trying out new things when it comes to communications and advocacy. And I can say, I don't always practice what I preach when it comes to best practices, but I hope to cover some approaches today that you'll find useful and hope you'll have some takeaways that can add value or perspective to the work that you do for your members and readers. So the learning objectives for this evening, I'm going to give a quick definition of advocacy communications, at least what it means in my mind, identify models of communications support for government affairs objectives, identify some communications tactics to move members to higher impact engagement and support of your policy goals. And I'll provide an overview of some tools to support advocacy communications campaigns. So what is advocacy communications? It's a pretty broad term. It captures a lot of what a dental association does. At the VDA, we advocate for our members with third party payers, with lawmakers, regulatory bodies that have an impact on the profession. Broadly, when I talk about advocacy, it's activities of your association that promote good policies and regulations defend against bad ones. A typical dental association has a council on government affairs, dedicated government affairs staff, maybe contract lobbyists, attorneys, all of whose role it is to understand the law, set the agenda, and government affairs priorities for the association. You may also have a PAC with its own board and staff that ensures the association remains at the table for important discussions that impact the profession. So where does communications fit in? And the staff who manage and develop outreach strategies around communications. Where do the people who nurture various communications channels of this association fit in with those efforts? Every association is different and organized differently. But I would argue that the best associations find a way to integrate the volunteers and staff with expertise and knowledge of communications channels and best practices into the planning, execution, and following up with impactful messages for each audience important to the association. Having a well-fought-out nimble communication strategy as part of your association's advocacy efforts not only increases your chances for short-term success but can help association members better understand the value they get out of membership and create the habit in your members of speaking up for the profession. And I'm gonna use the word a lot tonight, habit, because I think that's what we're really trying to do is get our members to a point where they're not just being asked to do something and do it, but it becomes a matter of routine for them and they are out on their own identifying those opportunities where they can be advocates for the profession through their professional relationships in their communities. So I'm gonna present a couple of models of communication support and ask a rhetorical question which you would prefer. The first one, top-down approach, government affairs operates independently, maybe a small group request communications help is needed. They dictate tactics to channel owners. They make requests for foreseeable needs at the last minute or even worse, they don't. If you have an association like this, you're gonna have missed opportunities, frustration, inconsistent messaging, and the result is your members are going to be disengaged. I would say a better model is one that's proactive. Communications and marketing experts are participating in government affairs planning meetings. Everyone from members to staff can articulate the high level message behind the associations, advocacy efforts, communication specialists, make channel and tactic recommendations based on their expertise. Advanced planning allows the team to pivot when circumstances change and the result is a clear message. You identify new opportunities and the members can see the impact of what you're doing as an association. So where do you start internally? I'll tell a personal story off the bat. My first job in politics in Virginia, I was a tracker and for those who aren't familiar with political campaigns, the tracker is the staffer usually right out of school who follows the opposing candidate with a camera, goes to all of their public events and watches for inconsistencies, watches for moments where they accidentally tell the truth and finds opportunities for your campaign to exploit those and to make the voters aware. So I was doing that. I spent a lot of time on the road, more time on the road than I did in the office, finding the events of the opposing candidate and attending them. One day when I came back, I found that my desk had been given away to our new coalitions director. It had been a long trip in Southwest Virginia and I find all my things had been moved and I needed to find a new place. So I picked up a folding table and moved it over outside of the office of our communications director at the time. And I hadn't been particularly thoughtful of why I did it at the time, but I'm extremely grateful I did because not knowing a lot about political campaigns, I was able to hear all of the calls he had with reporters, hear a lot of the meetings that he had with our policy staff, other staffers and really started to understand what I needed to be looking for to do my job well. That's just a quick anecdote, but I think it's something that's informed how I try to approach when I'm starting a new job or working, I think fighting your way into the room and then coming in with solutions. I think the most junior staffer was allowed into debate prep because of that because I was able to understand and hear what they were trying to do and say, well, if you're looking for what he'll say in response to that, this is what he's been saying on the trail. And I think one of my favorite quotes that I think encompasses a lot of that is that a well-run movement can absorb limitless volunteers. I think this is equally true when it comes to an association as it is in political campaigns. Good campaigns have the organizational structure and priority placed on feeding and channeling the energy of the volunteers who come to you offering help. And I should add, those volunteers may not be offering help in a way that seems like they're actually offering. They may be offering help in a very pointed way that questions what your priorities are. But the difference between a well-run campaign that can build advocacy habits and one that's coasting or in decline is how it responds in those situations. I think it can be tempting to hear someone vent with what you, to you seems like an unfair accusation, shut down avoid confrontation. And to be clear, there are some situations where there may be someone who's just at odds with the mission vision of your association and they're not the right fit. But if someone comes to you in good faith and is frustrated that your association isn't doing what they think should be a priority, a well-run association can find a way to channel that energy so that they're not outside criticizing you but inside and have that energy directed. Just to give a couple of examples, someone comes to you with, I think, an issue that is top of mind for all of us as far as workforce issues. So I don't see the association doing enough on this, what's being done, channeling that energy. Say, well, here are the steps we're taking right now as an association, but also here's an open board seat on the workforce board that advises the governor. We would love to recommend you to serve on that board. Another example, and this is one that I think we have heard and I'm sure other associations have heard, I don't see the VDA talking about a certain issue. It's important to me, what's being done. You have an opportunity as an association to bring them in and say, we would love to have you serve as an expert as we're doing media pitches around this issue. Talk to them, understand them, understand. Second of all, where are they getting their information? Are they someone who is primarily looking at email? Are they someone who's only subscribed to your texts? Do you have their email? And this has been the case. Do they have a typo in their email? So they're just not aware of what you're putting out. Those conversations are important in being able to channel the energy of your members and a successful organization can do that and channeling it can pay off really well in the long run. This will not be a revelation to you, but when you're talking about advocacy in terms of public policy, legislators and lobbyists are really busy. In Virginia, the VDA has been around for 150 years. The Virginia General Assembly has been around for 400. They're the oldest continuously operating legislative body in the Western Hemisphere. And we have 140 part-time legislators who work there. They have day jobs as attorneys, doctors, teachers, and we have actually a fantastic state senator who works as a pediatric dentist. They're in Richmond for only 60 days on even years, which this has won 45 days on odd years. And this year they decided on more than 3,100 bills and resolutions, decided how to spend a $60 billion budget, although I should say in this particular year, they went over time on the budget and waited until almost July to decide on that. But they're busy, they're being stretched in a lot of different directions. Your lobbyists, government affairs team have personal relationships with legislators and they operate as trusted sources of information on oral healthcare as they advocate for good policies where good communications and organized advocacy around your issues come in as they create an environment in which your lobbyists can walk into a legislator's office already primed for success. This is a quote, I'm always associated with Haley Barber actually in preparation for this presentation. It appears he was quoting Stephen Covey, but it's something he said quite a bit. Haley Barber was a lobbyist turned governor taking a different path than many other elected officials take in terms of you see it much more commonly people serving in office and then getting into lobbying, but it's something he said a lot and what I took from it is you have precious time with the attention of your audience, whether it's voters, legislators, your members, you have to keep the main thing, the main thing. Don't waste your time getting distracted on tangents, getting bogged down in technicalities. When you're messaging in support of policy, you have to focus your message. So four things in messaging to lawmakers, you have to be direct. If we're creating a form message to go out from our membership to a legislator, we put in the subject line, please support House Bill X that does Y without the bill number, the legislative aid who tracks constituent correspondence has no easy way to report those messages. We put in the first sentence, I am a constituent. And in the signature line, we put the advocate's name and address. If they choose to edit the message, we allow it. And in fact, we encourage personalization. I think that has more of an impact when a legislator receives a personal message that stands out. But it's important for the legislator to know that this is someone they were elected to represent. That's their job. I've seen other advocacy groups flood messages to everyone on a certain committee that's deciding their bill, inviting people from all over the state to spam their inbox. And I can tell you, being on that side, it's not typically appreciated. So be direct. This is what we want done. This is the bill that does it. And I'm your constituent asking you to do this. Be simple. As I said, legislators are busy. There could be dozens of reasons your legislation is important. But you need to identify simple terms to convey your message to a lawmaker who likely doesn't use terms like carries or occlusion on a regular basis. In the 2022 General Assembly session, we asked for a 30% increase in dental and Medicaid reimbursement rates. Our message to lawmakers that we included on print handouts at our lobby day. Costs have gone up 60% while reimbursements have been unchanged. Dentists are dropping out of the program because they can't operate sustainably within it. And a 30% increase will make a difference in closing that gap, allowing dentists to treat more patients in the program, increasing access to care, problems impacts and solution in three sentences. Keep it simple. Something our lobbyists reinforce with us as we're creating those handouts. Be visual. A picture or graph that demonstrates a trend confirms your messaging in a way that words can't. I include on this slide a graph that we used. And there are a lot of different ways we could have conveyed it, but we're just trying to tell them everything has gone up in inflation since our last increase in the Medicaid reimbursement rates while they've been flat. This is including things that they vote on to increase, like college tuition and fees in terms of approving them. A picture or graph that shows just how long it's been and how consistently everything else has increased makes it clear to them. This is a problem. This isn't sustainable. And repeatable. Similarly too simple, but worth repeating. One of my favorite compliments to our advocacy efforts came from a legislative aide as he was leaving our lobby day reception this year. He said he was amazed that each member he spoke with had the exact same message about Medicaid reimbursement rates along with their own personal story about why it was important and that he would be taking it back to his legislator. If a legislative aide hears your pitch and leaves agreeing with you but can't articulate the issue themselves, they won't be able to convince colleagues to support the issue or be able to bring it back to their legislator to fully brief them. That's where your physical handout helps but if it's locked in their head and they can articulate it, it's harder to lose than a handout. It can be a repeatable anecdote of the harm of a policy. For example, dentists are dropping out because it costs them more to treat some patients than they get in reimbursements through the program or just simplifying the stats. Costs have gone up more than 60% we're asking for a 30% increase in reimbursement rates. Seems reasonable. Make it easy for members to engage. This is the other side of the equation. How do you get members to engage? The first step is education. Member education is important both in terms of them understanding the priorities and impact of the association's advocacy but becoming advocates themselves. Members won't advocate for an issue that they don't understand. Start with an easy action. Your easy action can be send this form letter to your legislator. Takes a couple of minutes for them to review, send it, always follow up with a thank you message and whether immediate or following up days later or follow up to allow them to take a more impactful action. For our most recent campaign we had an automated message that went to action takers from our association CEO said, thank you for taking action. Please share this action with your colleagues. And if you haven't already scheduled an in-person meeting with your legislator please reach out to our government affairs director Laura Givens to set that up, including her email. Not everyone's going to do that. Most people will stick with the easy action but for those who are willing to they're gonna be in the universe of people who took that easy action. And as soon as they have it makes it easy for them to do it in the future. It can be intimidating going to your first event especially if you're a dental student going to your first lobby day not knowing what kind of questions you're gonna ask speaking with a legislator not wanting to be on the spot and not knowing the answer to their question. But once you do it once you realize they're there to represent you it becomes much easier. And so our role as an association is to make each step that our members take along that road towards becoming more engaged advocates as easy as possible for them. And finally, thank them for taking action. Make it easy for them to thank their legislators and make sure your advocates know that you appreciate them as members for taking action and that their actions are making an impact. It's giving you a media outreach. Media outreach plays a significant role in the policy arena. And the media landscape is changing a lot. I know Virginia is not unique and that we have had a lot of consolidation among our print newspapers. We have had some, almost all of them cutting staff, fewer reporters and they're trying to adjust to digital outlets trying to adjust to the new advertising revenues with Google, Facebook, taking up such a significant portion of what you would use to come through local media outlets. There are advantages and disadvantages to that from an association standpoint and making pitches. Some advantages you could see when we get a piece placed whether it's an op-ed or a pitch that a reporter does and one paper in Virginia, they're two major owners of all the paper, nearly all the papers in Virginia. So if it lands in one, it's very likely that that effort you put into getting it printed in one paper will show up in other outlets whereas five or 10 years ago it may not have. And the same is true with TV. There are also disadvantages because newspapers are thin, you have to be much more personalized with a media pitch to get something printed. There are very few opportunities to just have a press release regurgitated on the radio in print on TV. So it takes more effort to actually place those and in my experience. So with local media, I think one of our goals is to cultivate connections with local Dennis. We've had some success with that and one of my favorite things is when we don't hear from the reporter but we hear from a dentist saying this reporter I spoke to a few months ago reached out wants to talk about X issue. Is there anything I should know from the BDA before we go ahead? That is frankly much easier for us because this is the member and the reporter with a direct connection but also the member who knows to reach out to us beforehand to see if there's anything they should be aware of before going ahead and speaking to them. And part of it is just getting to know your members knowing who has expertise in a certain issue who has interest in an issue. I spoke about this earlier but if you have members who are really passionate about the workforce issue have a strong anecdote that can really resonate with readers. Make sure you know who that is and that you have them, you're in close contact with them and can activate them when you're doing something that's in the news around that issue. Make it as easy and painless for your members as possible. That means if you're working on an issue having your talking points, having this is what this reporter has done in the past, this is what to expect. Here's some questions you should be prepared to answer. Making it as easy for them to prepare particularly as sometimes you get media inquiries that come in during the day and say my deadline is tonight. For a member who is seeing patients that day that can be a real challenge to make that happen. The more work you can do to have them prepared, comfortable going into it the greater your chance for success is going to be. And then for a followup understand when a story is going to run set an alert so that I apologize, is there an echo? Okay, set an alert so that the member participated can receive the finished product with the right context from you. And then I wish I could write the stories that run but not every story is going to be told the way the exact way we want to. So understanding and presenting it to the member who spoke with the media with that context having it come from you gives them a chance to fully understand what's going on and allows you as someone working on the association to say this is what we're doing to correct it and what we're doing to follow up with the reporter if it's something that needs to be. But placing that story if you're working on something to support your advocacy efforts is the first stage. It's great when they see it in the wild but if you're submitting an op-ed this is where you can work with your government affairs team to send a note to lawmakers, make sure they see it. It's an opportunity in Virginia for example, we have the Virginia news clips something read by almost every elected official lobbyist in Virginia from the Virginia public access project. If we have a really important story that we want lawmakers to see we will send a note to the editor and say don't miss this, please include it. Knowing where members and lawmakers are getting their news allows you to get in front of them and make sure that you have as many outlets as possible for them to absorb that and digest it. And then there's some unseen benefits of fostering media relationships. This is not a headline you want on the TV. This is a story that ran on the news late last year just ahead of our general assembly session. Eight news investigates the short version of what happened a nine-year-old girl had a traumatic visit to the dentist. The dentist used handover mouth technique in an attempt to calm his patient. Her mom was appalled at the use of the technique. She went to her local legislator to ask for legislation banning the practice in Virginia. This all also happened to be a reporter who had done a piece a few years earlier than an argue unfairly characterized the current opioid prescribing practices in dental offices in Virginia. We could have ignored the piece. We could have criticized the reporting. It's unfair, it left it at that, but the VDA along with our agency reached out to ask the reporter to do a follow-up on the opioid story that included our perspective, told a more complete story of the current state of affairs and along with important messages educating dental patients about opioids and what they should know. The follow-up piece characterized the role of dentistry accurately was one that we were glad to share as an example of the progress being made with members and the general public. And it's in that context of the thoughtful follow-up, collaborative work that this investigative reporter knew to reach out to the VDA for a comment on her story that impacted dentistry. So she reached out to us just for information on handover mouth technique. Is it being practiced in Virginia? What is the view of the association on it? And we were able to connect her with a member who had served on the Virginia Board of Dentistry to provide our background on the technique, correct some of the misconceptions that the mother and the reporter had about its use in Virginia and also importantly to direct them to what we believe to be the appropriate venue to petition for that change in the Board of Dentistry regulatory process rather than bringing it to lawmakers. The story ran, the legislator was satisfied that there was a more appropriate avenue to seek that change. And the VDA member with expert knowledge and briefed on the facts of the immediate issue as well as our history with reporter was able to accurately characterize it. It was a lot of work on that story tracking down all the correct information. And frankly, the story that ran was not one that reflected well on dentistry but it was also one that we were able to get the facts out there and to prevent it from becoming an issue that would have led to a legislative fight that we believe to be unnecessary and a distraction from the work we were trying to do during the general assembly session. So the conclusion, relationships are important as is working together with the expertise of the whole team in rapid response situations. I'll say when I spoke with the reporter, I as someone who is relatively new to dentistry was not even aware of handover mouth technique and being able to quickly bring together a team to game plan a response like that in a crisis situation can yield benefits that may not seem like it on the outside but as an association are important to furthering your mission. And another example I'll give is just fostering advocates. This picture here is Tam Nguyen. He was a D1 student at the VCU School of Dentistry this year. The VCU Aztec class president spoke to his class encouraging him to register and attend our lobby day. We had posters with QR codes set up at the school to make it easy to register our government affairs director briefed him and other students to resume beforehand on what to expect at lobby day and the issues we're prepared on the issues we're focused on. The night of the VDA's lobby day we typically have a reception the night before and followed up with a morning breakfast and going out to meet legislators. The night of the reception he was paired with VDA members who could introduce themselves. And after hearing a compelling story that he shared about his struggle as a child to get access to dental care they encouraged him to join them in meetings with the legislators the following day and to share it with lawmakers. To the following day, the Aztec class president who had heard his story shared it with me along with his contact information. We set up a 30 minute call with him during his lunch break at school took notes and turned his story into an op-ed to submit to the Richmond Times Dispatch. And this is again recognizing that members and especially dental students are busy we tried to make it as easy as possible for him to share his story in his own words but not forcing him to sit down and draft a full op-ed as someone who hadn't done that before. And after his peace ran a lot of self-reinforcing mechanisms took him to additional levels of advocacy. He was contacted by the president of VCU to thank him for the message he was shared widely by a dentist and faculty at the school. He was invited to speak about his experience on a dental and his experience with the dental Medicaid program by state health policy podcast. Working with Shannon Jacobs, Dr. Roadcap we were able to highlight his efforts with a Q and A in the next edition of the Virginia Dental Journal. And finally now Tam is a student ambassador for the incoming class who can now speak with conviction from his own experience as a second year dental student about the impacts that those students can have by being a part of organized dentistry. The true value in fostering member advocates is that opportunities will come to them when we're not there and they'll be ready and confident to seize them. I mentioned as the president who spoke to his class I actually got a call last week that as he was walking back from class he saw our governor getting out of an SUV and said hello. The governor came over to speak with him and a few other students and because he had been at lobby day been engaged in our efforts he was prepared to thank the governor for including the full 30% Medicaid increase in the budget in person and a chance meeting. Those are the kinds of habits of advocacy that as an association we're trying to foster. I'll change gears a little bit. One of the other I think valuable things that a communications team can bring to the advocacy process is listening and news alerts. I set up a lot of Google alerts on my computer just on any topic that we're working on along with Virginia. So I can stay aware of anything that the reporters are working on on those subjects. Social media listening is something that typically your lobbyists and government affairs team is not going to necessarily have on the radar but your legislators are going to be on social media talking about issues and the faster that you can identify something that could potentially be an issue for your association the more of a chance you have to address it before it becomes a bigger situation or to take advantage of it if it's an opportunity. Subscribe to email lists and read them whether it's from your state health department governor and state officials if you have a state news aggregator and following other state dental associations. I really appreciated the opportunity to hear the speaker from Michigan earlier in the year who spoke about social media and went ahead and got on their text alerts and as they're dealing with a similar Medicaid issue in their state, it's been valuable to me seeing what they're saying, how they're messaging about it over their text alerts. So I would also encourage you and I believe I have it in a couple of slides but text BDA to 5286 if you'd like to see what we're telling our members. A few tactics and these are tactics that I think are things that we've used with legislators as we're going through the legislative process and creating advocacy messages but one is just the Fankin's Bank message. What I mean by that when we develop a form letter to go out to legislators if you are informing the legislator about an issue and encouraging them to support it but it's a legislator who's sponsoring your bill they could be miffed that we are not educating our members that they are the ones carrying it that they're championing it. So make sure where you have legislators who are advocates who've already said that they're supporting you that you're differentiating those messages and setting it up so that they're receiving a thank you rather than and reinforcing that you appreciate what they're doing as opposed to encouraging them to support something. Hold messages until the time is right depending on what platform you're using there are some that allow you to send a message out to your advocates but hold them until for example a bill makes it to a certain legislative committee that can be valuable in terms of making sure you giving you more time to gather the messages but releasing them at the right time test messages with members and their recipients. I try to keep a very kitchen cabinet of when we're developing something and just doing gut checking. Is this right? Particularly talking about dental issues that I am never rarely going to be the expert in the room on making sure that this is the way you talk about it as well as this is something that's going to resonate with the recipient. Welcome new legislators and get your members on their radar. One of my favorite things when we have newly elected legislators is having something that's not asking them to do something but saying congratulations and I'd like to introduce myself and get on your mailing list as a campaign that we can send to BDA members who live in their district. It's nice for them to hear something that it's just someone welcoming them and not asking them for something but it also is an opportunity for our member to go ahead and start receiving their communications directly, start to form that direct relationship. And it also puts them on their radar. They have an issue with a dentist that they can say, I heard from them. So and go ahead and reach out directly. Always recognize legislators and members who go above and beyond. It's not enough to just send out the campaign whether successful or not. Make sure you're thanking legislators after who supported it but also members who have taken time out of their day, taken time away from their practice in some cases to travel to Richmond and meet in person with their legislators. Make sure they see the impact and that you are reminding them of the impact of their actions and reinforcing it. So some tools to consider an advocacy platform. There are a lot of them out there. I won't say one is the one you need to use. And also we'll note that the features that these platforms offer are constantly changing as well as rules governing their use constantly changing. We use phone to action, but and I remember a few years ago, they made some significant changes in what they were allowed to do. So don't assume that what's best today will be best a year or two from now. The number one priority as you're considering them is that it's easy for your staff to use to quickly stand up a campaign and easy for your members to use to participate in a campaign. So I'd just encourage you if you're considering one, look at several, test them and make an informed decision, but also don't assume that that's going to be your solution forever because there are always a lot of changes going on in that arena. Text messaging, about 90% of text messages are read within 33 minutes of delivery. It's an incredibly valuable tool for what it is and the ability to deliver a short message that's going to reach your audience. What I would say is don't abuse it. Every time we send out a text message, I shouldn't say every time, but more often than not, we'll get at least one on subscribe from a member because it is an invasive method of communication. People will typically turn off alerts for a lot of social media or email or other things, but they don't turn off alerts for their text message. So make sure you're using it sparingly when it's important and when it's something that is really truly important for your members to see. And I would also say use all channels at your disposal as opportunities to grow your text message audience, including print, including in the journal. Use it to communicate in a crisis. Our largest leap in text messages subscriptions came during the early weeks of COVID-19. And we put out frequent email alerts that were getting a lot of engagement from members, but also because we didn't want people missing something at the bottom of each of those communications that said, don't miss an update and subscribe to text alerts by texting VDA to 52886. Some reading and podcasts, I'd recommend. These are just a few, there are a lot out there. The business of politics show is a podcast that I listened to on a regular basis. They have interviews with different people who are in the political arena, talking about new technology that's being used on campaigns. Facts about PACS podcast is, I think, a really valuable resource. It's produced by the National Association, it's a PAC national association, but they have frequent guests from national PACS talking about their approaches to everything from advocacy, government affairs, fundraising, member engagement. And it's a good resource with pretty manageable chunks of conversations. And the third one is best practice digital, and that's an e-newsletter that comes out on a weekly basis. And it's also talking about trends and digital advertising that impact campaigns. Just a few, those are some of the things that helped me stay up to date on how things are changing. And then for some final thoughts, I think advocacy can be a positive habit that you instill in your members. Remember that tools, tactics, and rules are always changing. Stay informed and up to date. And that relationships and trust are still key to getting anything done, but communications can help. And with that, I'll be happy to open it up to any questions or discussion. Thank you, Paul. It's Laura. I received a few questions. One of them has to do with what have, how do you recommend dealing with, so you're the official publication of an association. And so you're working with policies that have been promoted and are being working toward, what if you have a member or maybe a few who are kind of going off on their own and they're communicating with the media and legislators, something that might not be what the association's policy is, but maybe they're, because for whatever reason, maybe they're getting some traction, how should we deal with that kind of issue? Well, and that's a great question because it is a challenge. The best way, in my view, to deal with that is where possible to come to an understanding with the, if it's a member or other group. And so that it doesn't get to the point where they feel that there are recourses to seek the media. But if you aren't able to do that, I think that is where it's really valuable for you to, I think be able to have clear talking points that reflects the position of your association and to respectfully disagree with their issue and say, remind them that we are the association representing the majority of dentists in the state. They're speaking from a place of expertise. These are the consequences of this policy. But it's a challenge and it is certainly frustrating. And I know many, many, all of us will be in that position at some point. I add there's not a silver bullet, but I think that's where the groundwork that you've put in, the relationships that you've built, the trust you have both with members of the media and the relationships you have with legislators can make a difference. Because no one else speaks for dentistry. I think if you have a dentist who's out there speaking on an issue that's at odds with the association, they're speaking from their personal point of view. The power of organized dentistry is that you speak for dentistry as a whole and no one else can do that. Thank you. Another question was related to the whole process. How do we communicate to members when we've had to compromise on a legislative issue? Obviously a lot of times, sometimes members don't understand why did you do that? This is what we wanted and we agreed to that instead of this. What's the best way that you would recommend that we should make that communication the best way we possibly can to our members so that they understand the process? Yeah, and I think part of that comes with setting the right expectations for members as you go along. Part of it comes from I think making sure that your communications are consistent with what your government affairs team sees as the situation on the ground. But we're not always gonna be successful. You also have to prepare members that we may have to compromise. We may not be able to get it all this year as you're going on. And then I think having constant consistent updates as you're going through the process and even communicating some of the headwinds you're facing. I mean, I'll say in our most recent legislative session, like we started off kind of falling tripping on the outgoing governor did not include any of the increase in his outgoing budget. And for anyone who's worked on a budget issue not being part of that initial document makes any sort of money ask extremely difficult because you are then competing for a very scarce share of dollars that you have to take something out to put it in. And you just have to, I think, communicate each step of the way with your members and bring them along with you. And the members who might be most upset can also be some of the most engaged. So having a, whether it's a webinar to give a briefing, phone call briefings with your lobbying team, those things can be helpful as you reach inflection points in the advocacy process. Okay. Another question had to do with how, what's the best way, the most objective way? Obviously, if you're a communicating voice of an association, your job is to promote that association's policies and the procedures that they're using to try to attain those policies. But what is the place and how would we best accomplish that aspect of presenting the other side? For instance, mid-level providers, I know it was a big issue in a lot of states. And I know some state associations have a particular position and that's fine. But what is the role of the various communications sources in advocacy in presenting another viewpoint in a way that is the most effective? So also one of the biggest mistakes that a lobbyist can make is only giving a legislator half of the issue and allowing them to be surprised by an argument that someone who holds the opposite side makes. I think, and I've been fortunate to work with sort of a very talented lobbyist over the course of my career up until now and what they will do when they go into me with legislators is present the full picture and along with what they can expect to hear from the people who oppose it and then take the further step of this is why we believe our side is the correct one and what's best for the constituents you represent. I think it's, and I think it's a great question. Like you don't want to allow someone else to introduce new information that's going to surprise them and frankly cause a legislator potentially think that they were only given half of the picture by you. Okay. Another question had to do with, this sort of relates to dealing with compromise but how should editors and journalists deal with the issue of an association's support of elected officials who maybe aren't popular or are in a minority in a state's legislature but maybe have a certain role. What is the best way that we can educate the members as to why a state association might also support members of those parties that might not be popular or be seen as effective? No, and that's the time of the question. I mean, we've obviously seen some things at the national level and I think an increase in the volume of certain advocacy groups and others stepping up. I know we were part of a group that was tagged into some social media messages saying, pointing at a donation we made and saying, how can you support this person? And everyone may not agree with me and then that's fine but my position is that those are the moments when you have to have clearly articulated reasons for PAC giving and be able to share with members and to be able to say, we understand if that's something that is going to be a deal breaker for you, this is how we're going to operate and explain to them the reasons for your giving. And it's also where I think as an association you need to know what you stand for. Are we standing for narrow issues of oral health, dentistry or are we going to stand for something that is more expansive? I think members and I think there are different ways to do this but members should feel empowered to stand up for those issues that they feel passionately about and have very strong feelings about. And I think you can even provide them advice, vehicles, make connections with groups that advocate for those issues. But I think you need to know as an association, what do we stand for? What are the issues that are going to make an impact for our members as a whole, recognizing that not everyone's going to agree on some of those issues. And I understand that that's much easier said than done. But I think the more energy as a membership is focused on issues that are dividing us, that divide the membership. I think the less energy there is to go into the issues that really are going to be important and that no one else is going to be fighting except for the dental association. And then another question that came through, everybody is really talking about issues relating to DEI, diversity, equity and inclusion. And I feel that that's being talked about a lot but I haven't really seen much and this could just be me up here on my mountain. I haven't really seen much and how are those issues affecting our ability to communicate regarding our advocacy platforms? What do we need to do, excuse me, to be more aware, more respectful, more proactive? What are some things that we as editors and journalists should keep in mind and work toward? Yeah, that's a really good question. We had a meeting with the Dean of our dental school recently and that was a topic that came up. I think one of the issues is that there is and we have some stark gaps in Virginia where if you look at the demographic makeup of our members who are 60 years and older and the demographics of our members who are 40 years and younger, we're going to look very different as a profession and a lot of those more diverse members are entering their early stages of their career right now and we need to be prepared to incorporate them into the association and make it a place that they want to be because it's going to be a choice for everyone. Is this an association I want to be associated with? And that's not, I think something that I can tell you what the solution is. I think that has to come from our membership and I think all dental associations, state level, the ADA need to get those students into the leadership pipeline early so that they can inform the way we approach those issues. I don't know if that answers your question, but I think it is going to be a very important, I think, topic for the foreseeable future. Thank you. Teresa Gonzalez has a question. Well, Paul, first of all, thank you for the presentation with the group. So thank you for that. That's first. I hear a concept and I heard it in several of the questions so I want to share it. So some organizations take the approach to saving the wells by saving the marine biologist and not necessarily saving the wells, but in general, there are more constituents than there are dentists in the state and they're more dentists than there are and I just want to say almost universally so. If that is so, how much the discussion is reflective of the population in your state is a winning advocacy approach for all stakeholders. I mean, if you would agree to that. The question is what is if the association has a different viewpoint from the population writ large, the constituency, and then how do you through crisis communication or through release of this information, how do you get those groups together? Because everybody wants access, all dentists want access, all patients want access. So where does access meet its difficulty? What is the rate limiting step? And I think we all know that is the payer step. So how do you bring those groups together other than through town halls, et cetera, and what has worked well in the state of Virginia? Over. So, and maybe I don't understand the question. I think what you raise may be difficult to answer in the abstract where the association is at odds with a constituency that someone is representing. I can say what I have heard our lobbyists say and in discussions when we've been talking about how we should approach certain issues is if we're not bringing it to the legislators in terms of the positive impact that's going to have on their constituents, we'd be better off not presenting it. If you can't frame your issue on this is going to improve oral health in Virginia, and here's why, that may not be the right issue for your association. Now, you can have disagreements about the way the impact of a policy. You can have disagreements about whether this would in fact be something that would raise costs or increased access. But if it's not something that the association can present as something that's good for Virginians as a whole, for constituencies, you're going to have a challenge and that may not be something that is going to be a priority. Does that answer your question? It does. I'm not sure the question is answerable. The point is though the constituent, everybody is interested in access to care. That is a universal desire. The question is how do we get groups on each of that together? So access stays the central discussion and doesn't become a sidebar discussion or embargo conversation about who's paying for. Although that is also important. You answered it very well, Paul, but it's something that I observe and I look at states in the bottom quintile of healthcare outcomes, the lowest, of course, Mississippi and then I think West Virginia. But when you look at those states, which is a trend data, what is different there? Assuming everyone is advocating for the same things, right? We want our legislature to be compatible with our constituency. So why does it work some places and why does it not work others? And we just don't know, but those are the fierce conversations which if we don't have a policy we can advocate for is unlikely. There'll be a dramatic change in the future. And there's a reason why many states remain in the quintile, bottom quintile over. Does anybody have any other questions for Paul? Hearing that, I'm going to turn it back over to Richard. Paul, thank you very much for moderating the questions and keeping us all engaged here. And especially I'd like to thank Paul for his wonderful presentation tonight on the advocacy that all of us are going to be involved in whether we like it or not. So again, Paul, thank you for a wonderful presentation. Paul, I have the opportunity I'd like to remind everyone about the annual meeting of AADJ in Houston and I believe registration is open on the website, am I correct? Yes. And something will be going out within the next day or two to everybody that will have another link with more updated information. We're going to start really sending out more frequent reminders about the programming and any updates that'll be coming out. As I said, the first one will be coming out within the next day or two. And then you'll see some things coming out fairly frequently. So, but if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me and we will help you out. Again, thanks to Laura and thanks to Paul for a wonderful presentation. I wish everyone a good evening. Thank you. Thanks, everybody. Thank you, Paul. Thank you, Paul. Good night. Thanks.