the power to take concerted action and put people back at the center

In mid-October, we brought together a number of Quebec accelerators spokespersons for a day of government representation in Ottawa. In addition to taking advantage of the visibility of SMB Week, this visit across the Ottawa River enabled us to forge links with people who are active on the federal scene, and also with each other!

MAIN had also received an invitation from the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce, and the Economy to discuss a report, The Need for an Innovation Strategy for a Data-Driven Economy, submitted last June. It was therefore on these two grounds that we asked our network to join us in Ottawa.

perform as a group with a common angle

The first lesson concerns the importance of good preparation, especially among members of the same delegation, with key messages and a certain choreography of interventions.

The representatives of Quebec accelerators and incubators - 2 Degrés, Cycle Momentum, Esplanade Québec, Garage&co, Institut Innovation Gatineau, La base entrepreneuriale HEC Montréal and Novarium- had a very different experience base when it came to government meetings.

To clearly understand the purpose of these days of presentations, we first established our objectives together in advance, particularly during preparatory meetings. By sharing our mutual objectives, we were able to better define the meetings that would serve as fruitful initial conversations and begin building our address books.

We also set a schedule based on everyone's interests, while allowing for free time so that delegation members could arrange other individual meetings. Before each meeting, we outlined what each person would say. By the second meeting, we already had a good flow of information to be shared between the speakers.

One thing to remember for future meetings of this kind is to have main document on main summarizing the key points, which can be given to the people you meet. This type of document can sometimes have a much greater impact than the meeting itself.

the importance of meeting in person

The second lesson concerns time management. With virtual meetings, it is easier to move from one meeting to another and compress the schedule of a day.

In person, in addition to meetings lasting longer than expected, there was sometimes too little time between meetings to travel between government buildings, especially considering that security to access the buildings is equivalent to that found at airports.

Despite everything, the benefits of face-to-face meetings are invaluable. Human interaction, nonverbal communication, and more fluid conversations are just three items that come to mind from a long list of advantages of traveling to make a first impression in person.

For the record, we met with key individuals in the three branches of the federal government, namely the House of Commons, the Senate, and the civil service, namely:

• Maxime Blanchette-JoncasandSébastien Lemire, members of Parliament responsible for innovation and entrepreneurship, respectively, for the Bloc Québécois;
• Senator Clément Gignac, member of the Senate Standing Committee on Banking, Commerce, and the Economy;
• Senior officials Mark SchaanandCharles Vincentat Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), along with several of their colleagues.

In addition to all these official meetings, we visited theImpact Hub Ottawa offices, took the opportunity to attend a Question Period session in Parliament, and ended the day atInvest Ottawafor lunch with several team members, including Nick Quain, as well as representatives from the Ottawa startup ecosystem, John Nelson fromCarleton University, and Patrick White fromL-SPARK.

Informal communication is just as important as formal communication (and we tend to forget that).

The third and final lesson, probably the most important one, concerns the importance of leaving time between meetings. When the schedule allows for more space, we leave room for spontaneous moments that may arise. Moving between two locations allows informal conversations to continue between people who know each other, sometimes well, sometimes not so well, and who discover they have something in common.

Yes, lobbying days are about time management and preparation, but they are a good use of the present moment, and they are better than a virtual meeting for starting a conversation.

Precisely, these meetings can open doors for you and lead you to return to Ottawa more frequently to continue discussions in person. They facilitate and encourage virtual meetings for closer follow-up as needed. And follow-up, as we know, is often more important than the meetings themselves.

In marketing, we often talk about being top-of-mind. In government relations, the faces we see in person often take precedence in people's minds.

That's perfect timing, as we are planning to send a government delegation to Quebec's Parliament Hill this time, on the sidelines of Sommet des accélérateurs ! If you are interested, please email me at guillaume@mainqc.com.

— Guillaume Lajoie, Head of Communications and Public Affairs