iConstituent

600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Suite 340

Washington, DC 20003
Phone: 202.355.9348 Fax: 202.355.9356
E-mail: [email protected]

Thank you for choosing iConstituent to conduct your upcoming iTownHall, a “telephone town
hall” meeting. We are excited that we have earned your trust and confidence. Please know
that our entire team will work to ensure that this event is a complete success. Below is an
outline of steps that you must have completed 48 hours in advance of your iTownHall
meeting.

What You Need To Do To Prepare For Your Call

Software Requirements:
Please make sure that all computers being used for the event have the Firefox web browser loaded and installed.
The iTownHall dashboard is fully compatible only with Firefox, which can be downloaded for free at
www.getfirefox.com.

Record Outgoing Messages:

About 5 minutes before the meeting is scheduled to begin, the system will begin calling to invite your audience
to participate. Dialing will continue for about 20 minutes. It’s important that the host record the following
outgoing messages in their own voice so that your audience will hear him/her when a connection is made.

NOTE: All recordings must be in place 24 hours in advance of your iTownHall event.

Defined below are the three types of required messages. (We have provided some sample scripts on the
following pages that you are free to use if you wish.)

1) Live Answer message: This message is played when a person answers the phone. It invites
them to stay on the line if they’d like to join the call.
2) Answering Machine Message: This message is played when an answering machine or voice-mail is
detected.
3) Post Call Voicemail Message: This message is played after the call has ended. It is meant to give
those participants who were unable to ask their question live during the meeting an opportunity to speak
by inviting them to leave a voicemail with their question along with further comments. Please make sure
to request that your attendees leave their contact information and email address so that they can be
signed up for your e-newsletter. (This message will only heard by live participants at the end of the call.)
4) Announcement Call (optional): You have the option of recording an announcement message to be
broadcast the day before your event. This message can be very helpful toward increasing awareness
and participation in your event. Additional costs are involved, so please consult a Sales Representative
for further details. (We commonly see a 15-20% increase in participation by using this to announce your
iTownHall. This advance dial-out also has the added benefit of ensuring the quality of your phone list.)

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How to Record Sound Files

NOTE: For proper sound quality, these messages should be recorded using a landline with a handset. Avoid
using speaker phones or cellular phones.

To Record:
1. Call our automated recording line at 800-619-5518.
2. Enter your PIN followed by the # (pound) key.
3. To begin recording, press 1.
4. Recording will commence at the sound of the tone. Press the # (pound) key when you are finished.
5. Recording will stop and you will hear the following options:
• “To save and record a new message, press 5” (additional options below)
• “To listen to the recorded message, press 1”
• “To erase and re-record, press 2”
• “To continue the recording, press 3”
• “To finish recording, press 4 or just hang up”

Sample Scripts
We have included several suggested scripts for you below. You are free to write and use your own scripts for
any part of your iTownHall meeting, but if you’d like to use or rewrite these scripts, you are welcome to do so.

NOTE: Before recording your messages, you MUST get prior Franking Approval for all scripts that will be used
for outbound messages.

Live Answer Message (Automatically placed in call)

“Good evening. This is Congressman/woman ________________.. I am calling tonight to invite you to join me on
my “live” telephone town hall meeting occurring right now. Please stay on the line and you will be instantly
connected!

Answering Machine Message

Good evening. This is Congressman/Senator_____ calling you on (date & time) to invite you to join my live
telephone town hall meeting, but it appears that you are unavailable. If you happen to be on the phone
right now, please join us by pressing 1 on your phone keypad. You can also contact my office at XXX-
XXX-XXXX to sign up for our next telephone town hall meeting. To learn more about my positions on various
issues please visit my website at www.xxxx.xxx.gov. Thank you and have a nice evening.”

End of the Call Voicemail Box Message

“Thank you for participating in my Telephone Town Hall meeting this evening. I am sorry I was unable to get to
everyone’s question tonight but please leave my staff a voicemail with any questions, comments, or concerns
from the call this evening. If this is an emergency, then please contact my district office tomorrow at XXX-
XXX-XXXX. Thank you again and it is an honor serving you in our district.”

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Announcement Call: (Optional)

We strongly recommend an Announcement Call to publicize an upcoming iTownHall, a traditional town hall
meeting, or any other upcoming event. Please refer to Step 5 above to record your announcement message.

Sample Announcement Call Script:

“Hello. This is Congressman/woman ________________. Tomorrow evening we will be calling to invite you to a
telephone town hall meeting to share your thoughts about ___. We will be calling you tomorrow sometime
between XX-XX PM EST, so please just pick up your phone and stay on the line to join into the call. For more
information, visit our website at ___ or call our office at ___. I look forward to speaking with you tomorrow.”

Telephone Dial Lists:

You have 3 options for getting your telephone dial list in place for your iTownhall:
1. If you are a Constituent Vault subscriber, provide us with the list criteria and we will then create the list
and upload it for your iTownhall.
2. You can purchase a list for your iTownhall. This list will be automatically uploaded for your call. For more
information contact your sales representative.
3. You can use your own dial list. To do this, follow these instructions.
a. Save your list in .csv format.
• Be sure to include address and email info as it can be used with the post call results.
• Telephone columns can contain parenthesis, dashes and spaces but any letters or
extra/not enough numbers will render that number unusable.
b. Go to http://itownhall.iconstituent.com
c. Log in
d. Hover your mouse over “Files”, and then click on “List files”
e. Click on “Browse” and select your file on your computer.
f. Click “Upload”
g. Once the file is uploaded, click on the Manage icon (this button looks like a wrench and
screwdriver)
h. Select the Appropriate Columns for the name and phone number:
• Using the “Combine Column” tool, combine the column letters containing the first and
last name in the order that you want them to be, then click “Go” (If Applicable)
• Using the “Change Phone Column To” tool, select the column letter that has your
phone numbers
• Using the “Change Name Column To” tool, select the column letter that contains
your names.
i. Click the “Finish and Back to Lists” link
j. Scrub your list by clicking on the black eraser icon:
• Check all the boxes and click OK.
k. Your list will be scrubbed and you will be given the final list size.

VIP Lists:

NOTE: Please have all VIP lists uploaded and scrubbed by 10 AM the day of your call. Any last minute additions
to your list may change your call tier, and you will be charged for the next tier.

Upload your VIP list using the instructions found above. When you scrub the list, only remove duplicates as the
contacts opted into the call.

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Setup Instructions
Note: The online interface will be available for you to dial in 15 minutes prior to your scheduled start time. If
there is a red box with your last call time in the general information box that means the website interface has not
been initiated yet.

Step 1: Using Mozilla Firefox, go to http://itownhall.iconstituent.com

Step 2: Log into your account
Step 3: Hover your mouse over the “Teleforum” button and right-click on “Client Info”
Step 4: Select “Open Link in New Tab”
a. This tab will display the dial in information for your call, please note the number that you’ll be using to
dial in.
Step 5: Click on the original browser tab (it should still be set to the home page)
Step 6: Hover your mouse over the “Teleforum” button once again.
Step 7: Click on “Go to Teleforum”
Step 8: The system will ask you for your chat name. Enter your first name or an alias and click submit.
a. If the system does not ask you for your chat name it remembers you from the last time.

Moderator Only Steps Screener Only Steps

(To be done one at time by each screener)
Step 9: Using your telephone, dial in on the Host Step 9: Using your telephone, dial in on the Host
number: 877-229-8523 PIN#: Refer to number: 877-212-6960 PIN#: Refer to
your confirmation email. your confirmation email.
a. This information is also available on the a. This information is also available on the
other browser tab. other browser tab.

Step 10: After a message indicating you are being Step 10: After a message indicating you are being
transferred into the TeleForum as a host, transferred into the TeleForum as a
you will see your telephone number show screener, you will see your telephone
up in the iTownHall website interface number show up in the iTownHall website
under the “Hosts” section as “Dial-in interface under the “Hosts” section as
Host”. “Dial-in Screener”.

Step 11: Click on “Dial-in Host” and rename your Step 11: Click on “Dial-in Screener” and rename
line to your own name. your line to your name.

Step 12: Repeat these steps for any others who will Step 12: Click on the “ i ” icon to the left of your
dial in as a host. name between the speaker and S icons.

Step 13: Click on the “Host View” tab. Step 13: Your icon will then turn into a checkmark
and you will be taken into “Screener
Step 14: Click on the “Show Screened Only: ON” View”
button to filter out unscreened callers.
Step 14: Click on the “Show Unscreened Only:
Step 15: Once everyone is settled let the event ON” button to filter out already screened
specialist know you’re ready to start callers.
dialing via chat. (It can take between 3-5
minutes to get people connected) Step 15: Begin screening callers as soon as they
show up in the queue.
Step 16: After people begin to get connected, the
event specialist will walk you through the
process of removing the music hold and
beginning the call.