CCF hosted the 4th Annual Communicators’ Retreat in Grand Rapids, Michigan! With over two dozen attendees from congressional offices and industry, we spent three days learning about hot topics in the climate and clean energy world.
The Communicators’ Retreat aims to arm communications staff with the skills they need to effectively message climate and clean energy priorities to audiences who may not be traditionally engaged. We do this through panels and presentations, including one on polling and message testing for Republicans, as well as a panel on creating a clean energy narrative for the Republican trifecta in Congress and the administration. We also learned about different pathways congressional staffers may take after working on Capitol Hill and how to leverage artificial intelligence to make a communicators’ job a little easier.
We heard from clean energy expert, Ed Rivet of the Michigan Conservative Energy Forum, about local initiatives happening in Grand Rapids and throughout the state. On a tour of Lake Macatawa, we heard from conservationists, Kelly Goward and Lexie Kasper from the ODC Network, on their work to improve water quality and conserve local watersheds, including how they message these projects to regional communities.
Finally, Holtec International President Kelly Trice joined us to teach us all about the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant, the first nuclear power plant in the United States that will be brought back online after its decommissioning.
The Communicators’ Retreat is one we look forward to every year, and the 4th Annual did not disappoint!