By John Whitesides

WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) - Be polite. Be specific. Don't argue. Don't threaten. And whatever happens, don't take it personally. Students and activists participating in a mass lobbying effort on Capitol Hill on Monday to build support for Tibet got a crash course be forehand from the experts, who told them to keep it simple. ``Don't get discouraged, you can't have a bad meeting, '' Steve Rickard, director of Amnesty International's Washington office, told some of the volunteers who fanned out to keep more than 200 appointments with congressional staff and members after Monday's Tibet rally on the westlawn of the Capitol.

``The meeting is going to be a success because you're here and it happened,'' said Rickard, one of a panel of experts who coached participants on what to expect. The other panellists, who included congressional staff members, told volunteers to keep their spiel brief, be persistent and remain calm and courteous, even in the face of hostility. Most of the advice was grounded in common sense. ``It's really important not to threaten. Don't threaten a politician, ''Carolyn Bartholomew, an aide to Representative Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said.``Don't even imply that if they don't do something you won't vote forthem in the next election.

It really doesn't work,'' she said. The lobbying campaign, organised by the International Campaign for Tibet and Students for a Free Tibet, was designed to capitalise on the momentum of Monday's rally. At their morning prep session, the amateur lobbyists were coached to push pending House and Senate resolutions calling for negotiations between the Chinese government and the Tibetan government-in-exile and expressing concerns about reports of repression and human rights abuses in the region. Mary Beth Markey, director of government relations for the International Campaign for Tibet, said organisers hoped both houses of Congress might take up the resolutions before President Bill Clinton leaves for his trip to China on June 24. The volunteers, who came from throughout the United States, were to callon members of Congress from their own states or districts, which Rickard said gave them an advantage. ``When they hear it from what they consider 'real people,' it takes on a special urgency,'' he said. Several of t

he participants said they had spoken to someone from a congressional office before, but others were still uncertain about the task before them. ``What exactly are we supposed to be asking for?'' a Wisconsin volunteer asked another participant. They were coached to push for a commitment from staffers to at least speak to their boss about Tibet, and to follow up.``The role of a congressional staffer is to keep their options open. They don't want to commit to anything,'' Rickard said. ``Your role, of course, is just the opposite. Don't let them get out of the meeting without committing to something. ''But staffers and members were busy and might be called out of meetings or forced to cut them short, the panellists said. ``One of the lessons is patience and the second is don't take anything personally,'' Bartholomew said. ``But you do want to be polite.''