From the Hill to the Net, Grassroots Professionals Share Best Practices
for Mobilizing Citizens and Communicating with Lawmakers

Capitol Advantage Conference to Focus on Building Better Relationships
Between Citizens, Legislators, and the Media

Washington, D.C. (November 17, 2004) - More than 250 government relations professionals will gather in Washington, DC on November 19, 2004, to discuss proven strategies for recruiting and engaging activists in winning advocacy campaigns. The daylong program, hosted by Capitol Advantage, will bring together experts in the fields of traditional and digital grassroots strategies with Hill staff, media representatives, and leading associations, trade groups, and companies to define the future of citizen-policymaker relationships. As part of the program, the Congressional Management Foundation will present new findings on how citizens can communicate most effectively with Congress. Capitol Advantage, the nation's leading provider of grassroots advocacy solutions whose 1,500 customers include AOL, Yahoo!, AARP, and the American Bankers Association, will also release the results of a groundbreaking study of organizations' use of online advocacy tools to communicate with Washington and state capitols.

The conference will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center Conference Center at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC and will feature leading public affairs and technology strategists , including: Mark Mellman, Democratic pollster and President of The Mellman Group; David Winston, Republican pollster and President of The Winston Group; Bill Schreiner, General Manager of Community Programming at AOL; Karen Kuhlman, Legislative Director for Representative Brad Carson (OK-2); Tim Ruder, Vice President of Marketing for Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive; Brad Fitch, Deputy Director of the Congressional Management Foundation; Gary Nurenberg, Freelance Television News Reporter for WUSA-TV9; and Pam Fielding, President of e-advocates.

Panelists will discuss strategies and tactics for strengthening organizations' relationships with their grassroots supporters, cutting edge tools including Capitol Advantage's next generation advocate relationship database that tracks the interests and actions of supporters online, and share success stories for building relationships with advocates, media, and policymakers. The annual event is offered as a free service to organizations that depend on Capitol Advantage's award-winning grassroots engine, Capwiz™, for their online advocacy and civic participation member services.

Other speakers scheduled to present at the conference include: Dawn Latham, Director of Public Policy for the American Society of Association Executives; Courtney O'Callaghan, IT Director for the Feminist Majority Foundation; Dianne Quebral, Associate Director of Grassroots Advocacy for the National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions; and Adrian Atizado, Assistant National Legislative Director for Disabled American Veterans.

About Capitol Advantage
Founded in 1986, Capitol Advantage provides grassroots advocacy products and services to more than 1,500 organizations, including some of the nation's largest and most respected portals and media companies, as well as trade associations, nonprofit organizations, corporations, educational institutions, and other organizations. Capitol Advantage's Capwiz™ is the leading online grassroots product. For more information or a product demonstration, contact Capitol Advantage at (703) 289-4670 or (800) 659-8708, or visit their Web site at www.capitoladvantage.com.

About e-advocates
e-advocates, based in Washington, DC, is a full-service Internet advocacy consulting firm dedicated to helping public affairs and advocacy organizations harness the power of the Internet to achieve legislative and political priorities. The firm received the American Association of Political Consultants highest award, the 2004 Pollie Award, for the best National Issue Advocacy Internet Campaign. e-advocates President Pam Fielding is a leading expert in the field of cyberpolitics. Fielding is co-author of the acclaimed book, The Net Effect: How Cyberadvocacy is Changing the Political Landscape, which highlights how the Internet is reconnecting citizens with government. e-advocates is a subsidiary of Capitol Advantage. For more information, contact e-advocates at (202) 962-3955, info@e-advocates.com, or visit their Web site at www.e-advocates.com.

For more information, please contact:

Kathy L. Black
Capitol Advantage, LLC
(703) 289-4670
kathyl@capitoladvantage.com