Idea Center - November 2009 Archives
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A Volunteer's Story: Lisa Miles APR
As we mentioned in our last post, we are pleased to launch a year-long project capturing the stories of association volunteers. We’re picking up on the National day of Listening, StoryCorps project to encourage Americans to collect and share stories.
We begin with Lisa Miles’ story as told to Carol Blattau. Lisa, president of Miles Public Relations, is the consummate association volunteer. Her passion for her profession fuels her passion for her volunteering. And she has cultivated this passion through the Maryland Chapter of The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA-MD).
You’ve got to have the passion for it…you’ve got to love the industry…you’ve got to love the profession…and you’ve got to have gotten something positive out of the association you’re a member of in order to become a volunteer. This is my second time around on the board, and it is because I am loyal to PRSA and because I feel I owe PRSA a lot in terms of my career, that I’m willing to give back.
Lisa first joined PRSA in 2000 as a place to network and learn more about the PR industry. While attending a chapter event, another member invited her to join a committee. She soon found herself immersed in the association. Over the next eight years, Lisa served in a variety of positions including committee member and committee chair for the Best In Maryland Awards, treasurer, membership chair, president-elect, president, past president, and assembly delegate. She is also the APR chair advising candidates who are preparing to sit for the APR accreditation, the only professional certification program open to public relations professionals (which naturally Lisa holds). This year, she was elected president-elect once again.
One advantage Lisa finds to being involved in her association is the opportunity to keep on top of the trends and issues in the PR industry. “Being a board member, I’m encouraged to attend the monthly meetings so I get a better sense of what’s happening in the industry.”
But PRSA MD is more than just monthly events. There is also a strong networking system, which says Lisa exists because members treat each other as colleagues instead of competitors. There have been a number of times she’s called on colleagues. She shared this recent experience:
I called Jeff Davis because social marketing is still very new for me. From knowing Jeff through PRSA and working on committees with him, when I was charged with social networking for one of my clients, I was able to call on Jeff and ask for help. I asked 'will you meet with me and teach me the basics.' I would never have met him if not for PRSA MD.
For Lisa, association volunteering means putting in the time, effort and resources into an organization to further and better its cause. It’s also a way of giving back to an organization that has given so much to her.
Editor’s Note: We are seeking your stories, which we’ll gather, create an archive and share for all to read, find motivation and celebrate the thousands of volunteers who make associations rich. To share, just contact us and we’ll set up a time to talk. Or send us your story to cblattau[at]marinermanagement[dot]com.
National Day of Listening & Association Story Project
Today – the Friday following Thanksgiving – is National Day of Listening. It began in 2008 when StoryCorps launched the effort to encourage Americans to start a yearly tradition of listening to and preserving a loved one’s story. It’s an effort to collect stories that will surely grow more valuable with each passing generation.
While the day set-aside is November 27, you can gather your stories all year long. StoryCorps makes it easy by providing a Do-It-Yourself Instruction Guide and special toolkits.
This day has spurred a year-long project here at Mariner to collect and share the stories of association volunteers. Over the next year, we are seeking your stories. We will gather them, create an archive and share these for all to read, find motivation and celebrate the thousands of volunteers who make associations rich. To share, just contact us and we’ll set up a time to talk. Or send us your story.
We’ll start off the sharing with a story from a Public Relations Society of America Maryland Chapter volunteer in our next post.
As you consider your story, check out the many that have been shared through the Day of Listening in its archive of broadcast stories and in the New York Times bestselling book, Listening Is an Act of Love. Incidentally, 100% of the royalties from the sales go directly to supporting StoryCorps’s work to record, preserve, and share the stories of everyday people – as do donations.
We’re looking forward to an exciting year-long project and hope you’ll join us. You’ll be in good company as many organizations have joined the project including NPR, American Library Association, the Corporation for National and Community Service/Americorps, Corporations for Public Broadcasting, local public radio stations and community organizations across the country.
A Volunteer Lesson from Nutcracker Ballet
As a ballerina wannabe, it was natural that the headline in the Stillwater Gazette would catch my eye: "More than roles for ballerinas." It came to be through my Google Alerts for association + volunteer. The teaser simply said "Every year the parents of "Nutcracker" ballerinas and cavaliers are asked to log at least a couple of volunteer hours to support their children. ..."
Look at that teaser again and notice the phrase "asked to log at least a couple of volunteer hours to support...." Parents respond to this graciously because (1) it's expected, (2) the expectation is fairly minimal and there are plenty of quick jobs like poster-hangers and greeters, and (3) they are asked. There's a great lesson here for associations. What if we presented volunteering as an expectation? And backed up that expectation with a host of short-term, ad-hoc positions, and then simply asked?
The story goes on though as the reporter discovered that two volunteers in particular put in about 20 hours a week from September through the December performances as the ticket managers. One of these parents explained that she was putting in lots of unfocused volunteer hours and it was "time to take responsibility for something." The ticketing job was a match for her skills.
Notice that she became more involved after her ad-hoc experience. Plus, she became involved because there was a job that matched her skills. Two more lessons for us in associations: draw members in through small jobs and help volunteers match their skills to larger jobs.
Even though associations have been around as long as many community organizations, we have much to learn from them. They have invested in their volunteers and their volunteer development programs far more heavily than associations.
What can you learn from C3 and community service organizations?
The Surge of Volunteerism
The Washington Post had two articles celebrating volunteerism in its Sunday edition: one focused on the surge of new volunteers while the other captured the volunteer experience as Travelers Aids at local airports and train stations. Both captured the optimism that can be found in these challenging times if we bother to look. Both also confirm that volunteering is alive and well in the US. That's good news for associations and nonprofits in all sectors.
There's one other message: volunteerism is triggered by the need to be needed. And that's a message that we don't listen to nearly enough.
Robert McCartney reports that new volunteers are motivated foremost by "a desire to assist at a time of social distress." He reflects on reports by Madye Henson, president and chief executive of Greater DC Cares, which recruits, trains and places volunteers for 750 nonprofits and schools across the region who said they will smash last year's record year of connecting 12,000 volunteers to jobs. She estimates they will supply more than 20,000 volunteers this year with the majority of newcomers having not volunteered previously. She attributed this surge to "people recognizing that the level of need is greater now than at any time in recent memory."
Andrea Sachs in her article on Travelers Aid relates a very similar message: volunteers are driven to fulfill the mission to help any stranded traveler. And like the reports from Henson, volunteering is on the rise and in fact Travelers Aid at Dulles will be doubling their force to 400.
In The Decision To Volunteer, ASAE reported similar findings that association members are driven to volunteer because they need to make a difference; they are helping others. According to the research the social reasons for volunteering - desire to help others, support a cause or profession and act on compassionate instincts is ranked most important for any kind of volunteering - trump the professional reasons. Why? Because ultimately if we are going to give our time, we're want it to count.
If volunteerism is alive and well, then associations can succeed in attracting volunteers. We can succeed, that is, if we take the time to make sure our volunteer positions are meaningful and that we let members know these jobs are indeed helping others. The test for meaning is simple: does the task further the mission in a demonstrative way? Are yours?
Student Volunteering Breaks Records
There's no truth to the statement that the next generation isn't developing their own tradition of volunteering. One group of students from 526 SUNY Potsdam have made their mark by putting in with more than 1,490 hours – an astounding 62 days – of volunteer service as part of the Office of Experiential Education's Make A Difference Week. SUNY reported this was an increase of 16 percent in student volunteers and a 70 percent increase in volunteer hours over last year.
These students aren't an anomaly. According to my Google Alerts which averages 24.4 reports each day on volunteering, young people and students around the world are putting in the hours.
The tradition of volunteering continues with each generation - if you want them in your association you just have tap into their new traditions which are characteristically group activities; one-time, make-a-huge-impact tasks; and events that encourage meeting new people and forging important networking contacts.
Great to see the tradition alive and well!
Building Engagement: PRSA MD Slowly but Surely
It surely seems odd that a public relations professional chapter wouldn’t be an early adopter of the new media. But we weren’t. Our members were – and are – curious though. It’s that curiosity that gave us the platform for entering into social media sphere.
The focus of PRSA Maryland's educational programming for the year was social media. Our monthly morning workshops explored various tools, beginning with Jeff Davis’s hands-on presentation about Twitter, and inside looks at campaigns in the B2B, B2C and nonprofit sectors. These will be wrapped up this month with conversation with Sean Carton, Chief Creative Officer of idfive, guru and co-author of one of the first books about the Web (The Mosaic Quick Tour series). In October, our annual conference theme was PR Basics with a Twist: Evolving Your Relationships with a Twist.
We also added new categories to our annual awards program, Best in Maryland, to recognize use of the new tools (with a bonus to us of helping identify members who were already active in the social media arena.)
The next step was to launch PRSAMD’s own social media profile. We decided to focus our efforts on the conference. By creating a short-term, clearly definable project, I knew we could get volunteers and we avoided making a huge commitment. We started by gathering the conference speakers and volunteers on a call to brainstorm ideas, craft a plan, and get our initial volunteers. We started a blog More Than PR Basics which served as our conference home base and a Twitter feed. We asked speakers to submit posts and assigned volunteers other topics. Two of us handled the posting. Another handled Twitter. We tagged two others to help with LinkedIn group and Facebook group.
Activity is up in all three areas. Our Twitter following continues to grow. We are still deciding whether to continue the blog – but there’s definitely interest. The test was a success.
The two lessons from this journey are simple. (1) Start with the member – what are they talking about and what will draw them into the conversation. (2) Start with a focused effort that doesn’t seem overwhelming and has an end date.
What lessons have you learned?
Five Minutes - Five Ways to Spread the Word
I just ran across a posting - a challenge sort of - on Acronym where Lisa Junker, one of the bloggers behind Acronym asked us to take 5 minutes to spread the word about our association. She was prompted by a very cool conversation with Andy Sernovitz of GasPedal who’s a word-of-mouth expert (and three-time association CEO) in which he offered up a few idea starters.
It all started with the Lindy Dreyer’s feature in January issue of Associations Now “Get your members talking! Word-of-mouth expert Andy Sernovitz tells you how.” Catch more of Andy's WOM insights in his book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking. The idea goes that in a down economy, word of mouth can make all the difference.
I loved the five ideas Andy gave, particularly the one about building an after-event buzz. One chapter we manage, International Special Events Society Greater DC Chapter (ISES DC) always posts pictures and frequently podcasts following their events. You can find all of these right on the event page making it easy to find and share. The photo gallery is one of the most popular areas on their website.
If a chapter doesn’t have this capability on their website, both Facebook abd Flickr offer great alternatives. Here's an example of PRSA Maryland's new Flickr account and one of ASAE Flickr pools. Flickr is great because in part because it allows people to share their own with the group. heck these out.
Facebook allows you bring the photos, videos and discussions together like PRSA Silicon Valley and Komen Maryland.
I’d like to add 5 more 5-minute ideas:
- Use the “Share on Facebook” quick tool to post a link to your latest e-letter or news clipping about your association.
- Update your Linked In “what I’m doing” to showcase projects or news about your association.
- Give your volunteers 2-sided business cards: 1-side is their “association” profile and the other their professional info. Or just give them an association business card.
- Post a question on LinkedIn’s Answers – get exposure for your association and as a bonus feedback on an issue or challenge.
- Post your event on LinkedIn’s calendar and then share with people in your network.
Need more ideas on WOM? Check SocialFish’s Word of Mouth bibliography.
Could you find five minutes in your schedule to try one of these ideas out today?
Building Engagement: ISES DC Follows Members’ Lead
- We needed a new newsletter editor. The call was answered by an innovative, exciting member … who also happened to be a blogger. Our cumbersome e-letter morphed into a blog.
- A Facebook fan started up an ISES DC group.
- She was on Twitter but didn’t see the chapter so offered to be the ISES DC Twitter voice.
- Driven to organize the planning and execution of the chapter’s major expo, the chair opened a Google Group, loaded up the documents and ran the first meeting using those shared items.
Each of these members has their own social media tool preference and in each case they volunteered to forge the path for the chapters. This wasn’t the case for ISES DC’s first foray into social media last year when we opened a LinkedIn group. LinkedIn was chosen for two key reasons: a large following of members were already there professionally and ISES national had a presence. We launched the group with splash at a monthly meeting that featured Jeremy Epstein, a Web 2.0 guru, speaking on using social media in your business. We offered an on-site a crash course in LinkedIn and help in setting up a LinkedIn account. We followed up with an article in the e-letter, links on the website and invites to members.
It was slow going.
The difference in the acceptance and engagement between the original foray and the latest four is that members are leading the effort now. Their enthusiasm begets enthusiasm. That and frankly the barriers to engagement are lower. Consider ... it’s easy to get a Twitter account and simply follow ISES_DC. It’s super easy to follow the blog. Facebook requires little work to get started. Our LinkedIn Group has picked up steam too.
One other interesting factor that makes a blog for us an excellent choice – and this was pointed out to us by the member – is the ability to share. Our members are event planners who love to share news about their events. They take lots of photos and videos. They have great stories. Our blog offers a super simple sharing feature for quick uploads of photos, clips and news.
You may be asking though, how did you get your members take to the lead? We created an open-door culture. When we did our splash at the monthly meeting and launched the LinkedIn group, we said to all that we were getting started and welcomed input. We stood by ready to answer questions and ready to support. We talked “social media.” And we nurtured the LinkedIn Group, adding feeds, generating discussions, encouraging members to participate. With time, members took us up on the offer. And we learned an important lesson: members really do know best and they will tell you and even take the lead on projects.
As in all stories, there’s a little conflict. When you have an open door, you may get surprises. We found some branding inconsistencies, wound up with a duplicate Twitter account that needed to be closed, and some conflicting messaging. But that is all fixable. We needed to dust off the branding guidelines and share. We needed to establish some basic messaging guidelines. We needed to pull together the MarCom team. We’re still working through some of these pieces – and we’re still following the members!
Tested Rules & Learned Truths About Online Community Engagement
KiKi L’Italien, Delcor Technologies and I had a great conversation at ASAE Social Media Workshop. KiKi shared her awesome story about the Optical Society of America student chapters and I shared the ISES DC blog and story. Here’s a quick recap of our key points and you can check out our shared bookmark smw09 for more resources.
Quick Tested Rules of Engagement:
- Be committed! Once launched a community needs care and feeding through regular monitoring and listening and sustained activity. (Here's a great post that gives 10 ways to do just that.)
- Respond quickly! Be ready to respond to posts, questions, requests.
- Engage and reward! Pay attention to those who show-up. Think of it as a party – greet all your guests personally and show appreciation, especially by connecting them to others. (Here's post from FeverBee offering 10 excellent rewards.)
A Few Learned Truths about Engagement:
- “90-9-1” Rule exists, but it isn’t a community’s death sentence. Counter by making editing and participating as easy as possible, even a side-effect. Think Amazon’s 5-star rating system. Make it easy to share: set up a shared Delicious tag (like ours smw09) or include a page like this at ISESDC. Consider employing a top contributors recognition program or other ways to recognize participation.
90% lurk (read or observe only; don’t contribute; think of this as your audience)
9% edit (add a comment, modify entry, rate an article)
1% participate (these are your creators; they are vocal & engaged)
- It’s about THEM, not you. You need to go where your members are already convening and listen. Then focus your community on what’s important to them.
- Technology does not create a community. And its related truth: communities don’t need technology. Communities grow based on shared interests and shared needs. Add technology to help the community meet those.
Check out my engagement series for a couple of additional case studies. Have one to add?
Building Engagement: When Failure Begets Success
About one year ago, the Maryland Recycling Network gingerly began its foray in social media. We followed the best advice we found and marched confidently forward … right into failure.
Actually the failure was on the engagement front. The initiative succeeded in that it provided a valuable lesson. From the lesson is emerging a second – and we trust a more successful – launch. As we move forward here’s the lesson we learned from part 1.
Our members are somewhat isolated. We’re a trade association of busy, distracted state and municipal recycling departments and private recyclers. Recycling is a dynamic industry marked by new technologies, innovations in recycling and waste conversion, new demands. The need to share, collaborate and retrieve industry findings and research is also growing. In response, the board initiated an effort to build a collaborative knowledge base on Wikispaces.
We built the wiki. Pre-populated with a few entries. Conducted one-on-one training. Sent invites.
Then the commodities markets went sour and the demand for recycled products plunged too. Members got more distracted. Departments got cut.
The ghosts took up residence in the wiki.
Sure the economy didn’t help. But that wasn’t the real issue. We had followed the sound advice on building communities. We came to understand the nuances of that advice.
Advice: Listen first. Where are your members? What are they talking about?
We listened and learned that they sought online resources. We heard they were very interested in sharing success stories and effective practices.
What we missed is that they were more interested in hearing than contributing. And while they do in fact have rich conversations, these are largely face-to-face interactions.
We learned that we need to start with where they were comfortable: face-to-face. We needed capture their conversations and feed them back to them for comments. We tested taking these conversations to webinars and launched 20-minute Idea Breaks which were captured and archived on the website. As a bonus this we were focused on our upcoming conference topics so we were also promoting that event. Underway is part 2 of the new action plan: we’re creating meet-ups and through slides, photos and videos will seek to create new channels for capturing and sharing stories.
Advice: Match the tool to the member and purpose.
Yes a wiki is a great tool for building a knowledge base. Our members tend to be research and numbers driven, so again a tool that is more grounded in academic or scientific fields seemed appropriate. And since our members are not visibly active on LinkedIn or Facebook – and many government agencies block these sites – a private wiki seemed to match.
What we missed is that they aren’t used to collaborating on-line – yet. And because they are driven by seeking resources not creating resources, the wiki didn’t match.
We learned that we need to leverage their curiosity and make it easy to share what they find. We are launching a social bookmarking protocol using a Delicious tag to create a resource feed. We’ll highlight this in our e-publications, on our website and in our meet-ups.
Advice: Pick a specific social object as a focal point.
We launched the wiki about 12 months prior to the annual conference and selected the first two topics based on the conference agenda. The wiki we planned would both drive content development for the conference and serve as a conference resource.
What we missed is that the topics weren’t right. They were too broad and poorly defined. They weren’t sufficiently compelling. And the economy shifted priorities and content direction for the conference.
What we learned is how important it is to be relevant and compelling.
While we’re sure the path ahead won’t be all smooth sailing, we know that we’re better prepared. And in the not too far off future, we expect to move out those ghosts who took residence.
Always in search of ideas.
