Town Hall Case Study

A Congressional client was looking for a simple, efficient, meaningful way to discuss current issues and stay in touch with constituent concerns right from her office. iConstituent responded by:

Enabling robo-dial technology so she could immediately reach thousands of constituents at once using Telephone Town Hall.
Training her and her office to take advantage of this effective, easy-to-use tool that's popular with constituents and legislators alike.
Providing personal connection with constituents in a controlled setting, allowing the office to select the questions they want to address and stay on message.

" As lawmakers begin their August recess, small groups of protesters are taking over town hall meetings on health care and other issues. The resulting scenes are showing up on YouTube.

It gives the impression of such a firestorm of opposition that if you don't view it in context, you get a completely misleading idea of what goes on here,' says journalism professor Alan Schroeder.

Schroeder teaches at Northeastern University and has written several books on the history of televised debates. He says the town hall format – for presidents and for members of Congress – has always been vulnerable to this kind of takeover.

For now, several lawmakers have switched to phone conferences or what they call tele-town halls to try to connect with their constituents in a more controlled environment. "

--All Things Considered, National Public Radio, August 4, 2009