What we can expect from in-person events in 2021

Those in the advocacy space can you tell you that events are a regular part of their yearly planning and budget. During the busiest times of the year you can find your schedule packed with back-to-back conferences, galas, dinners, and receptions. However, throughout the past year due to Covid, that all came to a screeching halt and the advocacy world was forced to jump into virtual events headfirst. 

Here at The Zoldak Agency, we understand the transitional challenges well, as we host one of the most widely attended networking events for public affairs, communications, media, advocacy, and marketing professionals in the country called DC Media Peeps. Every six to eight weeks we would gather at Morton’s Steakhouse off Connecticut Ave in Washington, D.C. for great discussions, speakers, and a cash bar. Since then, we’ve had to pivot to a platform that we discovered early on in the pandemic called Run the World - a roulette-style, speed networking software that enables participants to connect with new and old friends and colleagues for 5-minute timed sessions. We’ve received amazing feedback that this is an incredibly fun and effective tool, with attendance growing every event. 

However, our team like many others, realize that nothing takes the place of in-person events. The exposure to people from all around the country who share the same passions is part of what makes the world of advocacy so exciting! For this reason, we were curious what other industry professionals had to say about resuming in-person events. When? How? What will they look like? 

As it turns out, the majority of companies say they plan to resume with in-person events in either Q3 or Q4 of 2021, although there are still some businesses that prefer to be extra cautious and hold out until Q1 of 2022. The events will likely be scaled down in size and several may require that you present a negative Covid test prior to entering the venue. When hosting an event, it’s important that you communicate to attendees what safety protocols your company has put in place, i.e. increasing airflow by hosting at an outdoor venue in a warm weather location, limiting touch points, more automation of on-site management of the event, no buffets and more single servings, etc. 

Perhaps it’s no surprise that the majority of advocacy professionals say they’ll continue to host virtual events even when in-person gatherings resume. They say they’ve witnessed a noticeable uptick in participation from people who would ordinarily be forced to skip an event due to scheduling conflicts or travel inconvenience. We’re considering doing something similar with DC Media Peeps by implementing a hybrid networking event, where some people are in-person and some are virtual. The expected challenge is integrating the two attendance styles, so both are getting a quality experience and feel as though they have the same networking access and opportunities. 

Finally, for conference coordinators or even larger companies planning to return to an in-office work environment, it’s important to have a contingency plan in place if someone were to test positive after interacting with other individuals. For this reason, businesses are planning to work closely with contact tracing apps to retroactively identify and alert those people who attended the same day and/or session with the positive host. This will help avoid mass chaos and fear and instead will only focus on the people who should get tested to avoid further spread.

Did you know? Las Vegas is one of our founder's favorite cities

This year’s Public Affairs Council Advocacy Conference, a gather of more than 450 professionals in grassroots, advocacy, public affairs, government relations, communications, and more, is being held from February 3 to February 6 in Las Vegas. And luck would have it that this is one of our founder’s, Sue Zoldak, second homes!

So check this page each day as she reveals her #LasVegasConcierge tips for conference goers who will be staying at the Aria and exploring The Vegas Strip this week! Questions? Tweet your #VegasConcierge questions at @SueZoldak and she will answer them in real time! Don’t forget the conference hashtag #Advocacy20.

Speaking of the conference hashtag, check out our Social Wall so that you can keep up with all that is going on whether you are here or following from afar!

Wish to book a one-on-one with Sue during the conference? Click here.

Issue #1: Welcome to Vegas

Hi, Sue here! Here are my first set of Vegas tips:

1. Have plenty of cash if you plan on grabbing a cab from the airport. Taxis may attempt to collect a $3 fee for every credit card fare. Also, beware of the “should I take the freeway to avoid traffic?” scam. The answer to that is always, “No!”

2. Looking for a great breakfast away from the Aria, check out the wonderful breakfast Market Café inside the Vdara right across the way! They make some of the best Brioche French Toast and they serve breakfast all day. The Vdara is also entirely smoke free.

3. Did you know? The air inside the Aria has a slight vanilla scent! It has one of the most advanced air filtration systems on the entire strip.

4. If you can, a visit to the Aria Spa is never a disappointment. The Ganbanyoku Heated Stone Beds are some of the best places on earth to take a nap. Just not during conference sessions! Don’t forget to take advantage of the hot and cold plunge pools, the Shio salt room, and the view from the spa exclusive pool.  No question, this is one of the highest rated spas on the Strip.

5. Looking for a quiet place to read or check emails? There is a bank of couches flanking a fireplace in the walkway leading towards the secret spa entrance. Just follow the signs to the Spa and you’ll see it on your right. This is the quietest spot inside the hotel.

6. The air is dry in Nevada! Don’t worry, there is a Pressed Juicery on site, right across from the Starbucks. Perhaps an Elderberry Wellness Shot will help you stay on your toes in session and avoid that caffeine crash!

7. Looking for a fun scavenger hunt find? In the lobby of the nearby Waldorf Astoria, rumor has it there is a mini Veuve Clicquot vending machine. The golden coins needed the operate the machine are available at the…??

8. Crystals Shopping is for more than just luxury goods. Check out the mixed media installation by James Turrell while you are there, and other art on display in the permanent and rotating collection.

Tweet me questions at @suezoldak for ongoing tips during the conference and think of me as your #Advocacy20 #vegasconcierge. xoxo, Sue

The Zoldak Agency wins yet another coveted Pollie Award

In the heart of wine country in Napa Valley, The Zoldak Agency took home a 2019 AAPC Gold Pollie Award for Best Website in Public Affairs at the 2019 American Association of Political Consultants Pollie Award Gala this April. This is the The Zoldak Agency’s sixth Pollie win in only our fourth year of eligibility. We are proud to be recognized by our peers of judges for our high quality work year after year across the categories. Congratulations to all of the other contenders and winner in the 2019 Pollie season. Cheers from Napa, California! See you in Washington, DC — our home turf — next year!

The Zoldak Agency wins four 2018 Pollie Awards

The Zoldak Agency is the proud recipient of four 2018 Pollie Awards, including second prize in the Overall Best in Show category that pits all entries against each regardless of medium. Our trophies:

2018 AAPC Gold Pollie Award Winner – Best Use of Social Media in Public Affairs Division

2018 AAPC Silver Pollie Award Winner – Best Internet Advertising in Public Affairs Division

2018 AAPC Silver Pollie Award Winner – Overall Best in Show in Public Affairs Division

2018 AAPC Bronze Pollie Award Winner – Best Use of Internet Radio in Public Affairs Division

As our second year as an agency, we are ecstatic to be recognized with such honor by a jury of our peers. This follows our 2017 Gold Pollie Award for Best Digital and Internet Campaign in Public Affairs Division, which we won in our very first year in business.

The Pollie Awards are one of the most sought-after awards in the political communications and public affairs industries. Awarded by the American Association of Political Consultants and dubbed by Esquire as the “Oscars” of the political campaign world, winning a Pollie is always one of the pinnacles of our agency year.

We thank all of our clients and partners who helped make these campaign wins possible.

A full list of 2018 winners, awarded in Nashville, Tennessee on April 13, 2018, can be seen here.

The Zoldak Agency congratulates client on being named finalist for 2017 Templeton Freedom Award

We congratulate our client, the Beacon Center of Tennessee, on being named a finalist for the Templeton Freedom Award, which will be awarded on November 8th.

We are thankful to have been a part of the “End the Hall Tax” effort by leading the digital and social media advertising campaign, which was noted for being, “…one of the most sophisticated digital advertising projects in the liberty movement to date.”

“Beacon Center scored a major victory with the repeal of the Hall Tax in the wake of its compelling research and communication campaign,” said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. “This is the model of effective public engagement that should be studied by others who want to rein in tax-and-spend governments.”

Awarded since 2004, the Templeton Freedom Award is named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. The award annually honors his legacy by identifying and recognizing the most exceptional and innovative contributions to the understanding of free enterprise, and the public policies that encourage prosperity, innovation, and human fulfillment via free competition. The award is generously supported by Templeton Religion Trust and will be presented during Atlas Network’s Freedom Dinner on Nov. 8 in New York City at the historic Capitale. The winning organization will receive a $100,000 prize, and five additional finalists will receive $25,000 prizes.

To read more about the Beacon Center case study and the Freedom Award, click here.

Quoted in the media: Sue Zoldak on women in PR

Sue Zoldak is quoted in the Business Insider here on why women may have an upper hand in PR, as well as her support of women Republicans running for office. Sue is the Communications Chair of RightNOW Women PAC.

"Women are slightly better listeners and that sounds like the opposite of your role as a communications person, but in order to effectively counsel someone on communication you have to really understand that person," Zoldak said. "I think women are more open to having a more intimate and emotional connection with someone at work than men are."

Read the full article.

The Zoldak Agency and the Hall Tax: Client campaign inspires

The “Beacon Center repeals the Hall Tax” campaign is a finalist in five categories in the 2017 Reed Awards, including Best Public Affairs Campaign, Best Advocacy Social Media Campaign, and Best Online Advertising Campaign.

The most crystalline political lesson of 2016 is, perhaps, that no politician or issue can survive without the support of average Americans. As the Zoldak Agency looks back over the last year, our wonderful clients, and their many proud accomplishments, this lesson stands out; not the least because the Wall Street Journal touted one of the Zoldak Agency’s 2016 digital advocacy campaigns as living proof of it.

In “The Spoils of the Republican State Conquest,” the Wall Street Journal attributes the success of state issue campaigns waged, won, and weighed by Republicans in 2016 to campaign strategies that emphasized communicating with average Americans. The Beacon Center of Tennessee’s campaign to repeal the state’s Hall Income Tax is singled out in the WSJ piece as an example of why communications strategies have evolved to speak to the public instead of just elected officials. An article in the American Spectator also lists the repeal of the Hall Tax as one of it’s top five “most exciting policy victories” for the little guy in 2016.

What is the Hall Tax? After years of trying various strategies to educate the public about the Hall Tax, Beacon’s own polls found that only 17 percent of Tennesseans even knew about it. Existing for years as an asterisk to Tennessee’s proud claim as an income tax-free state, efforts to repeal the 6 percent tax on investment income were impeded by a public that, when they did know about it, misunderstood it as something only a few, very wealthy Tennesseans must pay. This public misperception meant that even lawmakers who agreed with its repeal felt unable to publicly oppose the tax.

Enter the Zoldak Agency.

Beacon’s repeal effort needed more than a shot in the arm, it needed the Zoldak Agency to lead “what its president called an ‘all-out siege’ on the state’s Hall Tax.” Heading digital advertising strategy for the Hall Tax repeal campaign, the Zoldak Agency changed the way people were talking about the tax and built an educated and engaged community of advocates who joined Beacon in demanding legislative action. And, as the Wall Street Journal wrote, “It did the trick. In May the governor signed legislation that will phase out the Hall Tax by 2022.”

First, a new narrative presented the Hall Tax as “not in the Tennessee Way” and explained that it impacted all Tennesseans by punishing those who work hard and save as well as pushing small businesses and families out of state.

Advancing the use of digital in advocacy. With this new perspective in mind, digital content including videos, ads, social media pages and content, and a micro-site were created. The first weeks of the campaign focused on a football-themed “Tackle the Hall Tax” video that replicated an energetic sports news show and targeted to voters in key legislative districts. As views on the video climbed into the hundreds of thousands, the campaign used a technique called geo-fencing to send 15 second animated videos to state lawmakers and their staffers that began with an update on how many Tennesseans had watched the video. The power of the average American shone through and as the number of people who viewed the video grew, the number of legislators who clicked on the ad grew with it.

Achieving high action rates requires time and patience. Once the public was demonstrably engaged, ad data identified ideal advocates for the campaign to ask to take action, such as sign petitions and email legislators. This strategy of patience – educate, engage, then ask to take action once ideal advocates are identified – not only curates a trusting and involved group of supporters but also saves money by avoiding reaching out to those unlikely to take part. Within just a few weeks, a petition to repeal the Hall Tax garnered 4,500 signatures. When the bill to repeal the Hall Tax went to the state general assembly, the campaign asked the signatories to email their legislators – resulting in an astounding 75,000 total emails sent to Tennessee’s elected officials urging the repeal of the Hall Tax.

What’s next? The Beacon Center’s battle with the Hall Tax is over, but, as the Wall Street Journal notes, there’s many more ahead. Luckily for future issue advocacy campaigns, the success of the Beacon Center Hall Tax campaign is proving a fantastic example in its think-tank community, The State Policy Network, which is a federation of 65 free-market think-tanks located across the United States. “When the network’s think tanks gathered in October to compare notes—what’s working in one place that could be adapted to another?—the Beacon Center presented an hour-long case study. ‘This Hall Tax,’ [Tracie Sharp, president of the State Policy Network,] says, ‘has got people inspired now.’”

Coming soon. Look for more ways that the Zoldak Agency is winning state, multi-state and federal advocacy campaigns for our clients in 2017.

Quoted in the media: Sue Zoldak on Cleveland as 2016 RNC host city

Sue Zoldak is quoted in The Atlantic here, on why she is looking forward to returning to her hometown of Cleveland for the RNC.

As a Cleveland native, Zoldak has been serving as an unofficial tour guide for incoming friends, talking up her hometown’s orchestra, its art museums, the historic West Side Market, and “where to get the best pierogis.”

Quoted in the media: Sue Zoldak in The Atlantic

Sue Zoldak was quoted in The Atlantic here as RightNOW Women PAC's Communications Chair, speaking about the importance of downballot elections in 2016.

“A lot of people who normally are very involved in presidential politics are really focused on helping Republicans keep control of Congress,” said Sue Zoldak, the vice chair of communications for RightNOW Women PAC. For Zoldak and RightNOW Women, this means helping more Republican gals win and hold office. Pointing to lawmakers like Senator Kelly Ayotte and Representatives Elise Stefanik and Barbara Comstock, Zoldak asserts, “It’s more important than ever for these women to win these races, just to give that voice to other Republican women and to the conservative movement in general.”