Month: April 2010

Arriving at a Fixed Destination

Hank Stuever is all about fixed destinations.

His words from last evening’s New Mexico Press Women’s 60th anniversary Conference and Communications Awards Banquet have reached their fixed destination on this blog. I hope it’s a fitting destination.

Hank, an award-winning pop culture writer for the Washington Post’s Style section and a former newspaper reporter from Albuquerque noted that books, newspapers and movies at the theater are all fixed destinations and that these are “the things we are on the precipice of losing.”

He regaled the audience with stories from his early career in Albuquerque, fondly recalling chain link fences and cinder blocks. “I don’t know why I ever left,” he said drawing laughter from the audience.

But for him, “The more faded it gets the more beautiful it gets.”

He shared his love for storytelling and his need to share the stories of life, many of which are captured in his books, Off Ramp and Tinsel. “That’s the most important thing we do as media professionals – we tell one another’s stories,” he said.

And that’s the problem with new media, Hank says. “Now we’re too busy telling ‘my’ story.”

He recalled a time at a campground where he and a photographer stayed for three days. Some Europeans asked him in a broken accent, “Who it is you are all the time with cameras writing down things.”

It was an apt question for a man who has a need to observe and get it down on paper.

And while Hank might bemoan the loss of record stores, newspapers or going to the movies, he’s not writing off new media. “We’re undergoing a Renaissance,” he said. “And we need to stop taking the Renaissance so personally.”

His advice for the new media? Leave a fresco – “some really lovely painting, some really good work.”

What will your fresco be?

Building NFPW’s Future

NFPW board members today were video stars, fashionistas and architects. They’re probably a bit tired, too, but that’s not going to stop any of them.

We took time to create a short video to welcome everyone to the 2010 NFPW Communications Conference in Chicago. Details, including speakers, pre-tours, post-tours and other highlights will be posted to the NFPW Web site.

A few members modeled NFPW logo wear – a great way to say, “I’m a proud NFPW member.” I’m writing my blog wearing my purple NFPW polo shirt.

And we drew the blueprints for the future of NFPW. What does that future look like? Here are some highlights:

1)       Retention: We have many members who have not renewed. We don’t know if it’s the economy or if they are like many of us – they are so busy they forgot to do so. So each board member will be calling a group in the next week. If you haven’t renewed, please do so. We don’t want to lose you. And if there is something we can do to improve membership, let us know.

2)      Web site: We’ve got a great start to the site, but there is so much more we can do. We’re going to improve the navigability of it. We’re going to only use photos of our members and professionals who have spoken to us – no more stock photography. We’ll make it easy to connect by including links to our Facebook and Linkedin pages.  We’re adding an online calendar. We’ll include links to all affiliate Web sites. Our goal is to unveil a new and improved Web site in September.

3)      Social media: We’re going to create a Facebook Fan page so it will be easier for all of us to share and keep the messages under the NFPW umbrella. We’ve changed Linkedin so that only members can join our group – no more postings from individuals trying to sell you something.

4)      Members Directory: We’re exploring how to enhance the directory. For a nominal fee, members will be able to post URLs to their Web sites, blogs, Linkedin profiles. They’ll be able to include a PDF of their resume or a photo of themselves of their book cover. It’s all about personal branding. This is under development and we expect to be able to unveil it by conference.

5)      Contest Review: We’ve taken a look at the categories. In some areas, we streamlined. We also added categories to reflect the changing communications landscape.

I can’t begin to cover everything we achieved these past two days so I touched on the highlights. I’ll continue to share snippets in upcoming blogs and through the monthly e-letter.

I’d like to take this moment and thank each board member for their active participation and for building NFPW’s future.

The Family of NFPW

I woke up this morning eager to start the day. I would be spending the day with a group of friends — life doesn’t get any better than that.

I am at my NFPW board meeting — hard at work. So how can I be spending time with friends?

The board members are my friends, and that is the value add of NFPW — the friendships one forms. The members may start off as peers or colleagues, but over time and through conferences and phone calls and yes, now through Facebook and this blog, they become friends.

Many of us went to dinner together last night and we all laughed as the waiter asked each of us if we were alone. To provide context, he was trying to determine how many people to put on each check. “Yes, we’re alone in a crowd,” we said.

And we looked at each and busted out laughing. How could we be alone when we were sitting with our friends?

These past few weeks I’ve learned of members battling cancer, recovering from a broken hip, coping with an ill husband. I worry about each member as if she were a family member.

And that’s what NFPW is really about. It’s more than conferences, contests, networking. NFPW is a family. And this family I picked. How fortunate I am!

I can’t wait for our next reunion in Chicago!

I Am a Proud Member of NFPW

I am a proud member of NFPW!

That’s the theme that emerged from an afternoon that focused on membership. Why did we join? Why did we stay? How do we recruit and retain members?

We broke into four groups and listed ideas and then collectively shared them. They’ve all been placed on a list, and then we narrowed that list. Each of us had six stickers that we could place on any of the items.

In first place was “proud member.” We should be sharing our membership on our Facebook pages, we should join the NFPW group on Linkedin. One thing I do is to include in my e-mail signature that I’m president of NFPW.

Several of us are wearing our NFPW logo wear. If you want a shirt, you can go to the Web and  purchase one.

Here are the other membership items we have agreed to focus on between now and the conference —

1) Develop an on-line calendar so all affiliate and national events are known by all members. Why? If I happen to be traveling to Idaho when a conference is being held, I may just attend. But I can’t, if I don’t even know about it.

2) Tout our national speakers. Our Vice President spoke to us in 2003 in Delaware. Best-selling novelists Adriana Trigiani and David Baldacci both spoke to us in 2007. Heloise spoke to us last year. If you were considering joining or attending a conference and knew you could hear from this caliber of speakers wouldn’t you want to get involved?

3) Recognize milestones with graphics to use on personal Web sites. This suggestion came from Sherry Stocking Kline. We recognize membership milestones at the national conference, but these banner graphics will allow members to post them on their Facebook pages, Web sites or email. It’s a way to recognize milestones and another way to say, “I’m proud to be an NFPW member!”

4) Offer buddy mentoring. At the Chicago conference each first-timer will be paired with a member who can provide them with information about NFPW, making the most of the conference and introducing them to other members.

5) Reach out to communications programs at universities. This will include several facets, including inviting professors to speak at affiliate and national conferences, recruiting members, sharing our expertise with university claases, featuring college students who place in the communications contest in the newsletter and developing internships during the conferences. We have more work to do in developing this one.

6) Get personal! Social media allows us to communicate quickly but it’s not always personal. You’ll be seeing a lot more handwritten notes in the coming months. We want our members to know they are valued and not simply a number.  

Taking the “Get Personal” approach one step further, we’re going to change how the conference is organized. You’ll find that the head table will be much smaller because your board is going to “Get Personal.” We’re going to sit with our fellow members so we can hear first-hand how things are going for you.

7) Schedule more events and include younger and newer members in the planning. When you get involved with an organization and have a role to play, you are more likely to stay active. Just ask any one of us on the board. We also want fresh ideas so we’re going to collect some of the great seminars from affiliates and post them so that other affiliates can steal the idea for their seminars.  

This is just the beginning. Once we get these ideas implemented we’ll move on to others. And if you have more suggestions, send them our way.

We’re not done. Tomorrow we’re going to talk budget, conference and contest. Stay tuned!

NFPW Board Focuses on Membership

I’m posting this super early as my plane leaves Richmond at 7 a.m. and I fear I’ll forgot to post later in the day. The NFPW board is coming together in Albuquerque, NM, for two days of meetings followed by the New Mexico Press Women conference. NMPW is celebrating its 60th anniversary!

So what will the board be doing? Working hard.

Our focus will be on membership. Our numbers are down 22 percent, and I don’t think that’s just because of the economy. I’ve heard from many of you about the need for more of a personal touch in your membership. We’re going to brainstorm that topic.

We’re also looking at the NFPW brand. What are we known for? Do we even have a brand?

We’ll review bylaw changes, financials (we’re still in the black, but it’s tight. And that’s one of the reasons we can’t always offer more. ) conference and the contest. We know that members want to see more categories for online communications, for example. We’re also going to talk about redesigning the Web site and how to use social media to recruit members.

So we’ll  be busy. I’ll be reporting each day about where we landed (or didn’t).

I’d like to thank everyone who wrote to me and provided suggestions. Here’s one comment that made my day: “Sitting out here in an Iowa cornfield, I’m looking forward to your blogs from the board meeting. I’ve never done that before, but am really looking forward to knowing what’s going on when it’s going on. Thank you.”

That’s from Mary Lou Hinrichsen, an Iowa Press Woman for more than 40 years.

I may be tired at day’s end, but her note is all the encouragement I need to write my blog. Thank you Mary Lou!