After four days in our nation's capital, it's good to be back in Central Ohio. AIA's Grassroots Leadership Conference for this year had a different angle in that we didn't visit Capital Hill to speak with our representatives and senators. Instead, we've been asked to visit them back in their districts in March. It's part of an effort to get us in the "habit" of advocacy.
It's one thing to go to DC and feel like you're in the unique environment of Washington. It tends to make you think you have to be there to contact your congressman. While the truth is, it is probably better to visit them back home. You're much more likely to get to see them, rather than their staff. The unfortunate issue is that on the hill, you can make more than one visit in the span of a few hours, while back home, we may have to travel a bit further between offices.
Since this is my third trip to Grassroots in four years, it was almost a relief to not have the stress of scheduling appointments, boning up on issues we received a few hours before the meeting, and conducting an intelligent conversation with some of the most powerful people we're likely to encounter. AIA's government affairs staff is going to post the issues on a Web site, where we can download and review them well in advance of our visit. More on this to follow...
One of the seminars I attended (this morning) was on Using the Web to Maximize Component Communications. A strategy discussed during the session conducted by AIA East Bay's executive director, Sidney Sweeney, was the use of Web logs or Blogs to communicate to members (and others). The result is immediate, and much less formal than posting to the chapter Web site.
So, I've decided that instead of the usual President's Message you see in organization newsletters, I'm going to attempt communication via a President's Blog. I'm hoping I can maintain the discipline to keep up regular posts. Stay tuned and we'll see how this experiement in the next generation of communication tools works out. See you soon.
3 comments:
Lane,
Glad to hear Grassroots was successful and inspiring. These blogs are becoming increasingly popular...I'll be curious to see the Executive Committee's thoughts and options to increase communications with the AIA CMH BOD.
Cheers,
Joe
Lane...how do we all participate? Can we all add to the chain...or do we need to create our own blogs?
Tim, You can certainly leave comments. I currently am moderating them so we don't have inappropriate material posted. I believe there is an option to post as a team. Perhaps that is our best option.
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