NFPW

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!

Flip Cam Is New Tool in Communications Tool Box

I’ve got a new tool and I’ve flipped for it. I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t resist the pun. It’s the Flip Video Camera. We’ve been using them for about six months.

I am a newspaper reporter by training. What do I know about video? That’s for TV crews. Well, not anymore. And in the PR worlds, video is becoming king. How many hours do you spend on YouTube or sharing videos? I know – it’s more than you want to admit. But think about it, if you’re doing it, so are thousands of others.

The Flip is so easy to use. When mine arrived at the office, I did what any teen would do. I took it out of the box and started playing with it. I never read the instructions. Still haven’t to this day. And that’s my point. It’s that easy.

It’s basically a point and shoot video camera. Even better, when you want to transfer your video to your computer, a USB connector pops out and you attach the camera directly to your computer. No more worrying about video file transfer.

So why do you need a Flip cam? Because you need video on your Web site. You need video on your intranet. You need video to share with reporters.

We’re getting ready to use it at the NFPW board meeting in New Mexico. We’re going to share through video what your board is doing. It’s all about making NFPW more accessible and transparent.   

At my office, we’ve videotaped our CEO and immediately posted it to the Web. We gave the cameras out as an incentive to staff in our field offices in The Gambia and Zambia. They shot great video for us that we could post to our Web site. It makes our work more authentic. When people can actually see that their contributions are changing lives, that’s powerful stuff.

That’s the power of the Flip camera.  And by the way, I don’t work for the company that makes these cameras and I’m not getting any royalties for this blog. I just think it’s a great tool. So do others since there are even classes and CDs on using the Flip Cam.

 Although they are easy to use, here are a few pointers, all of which I’ve learned the hard way through trial and error –

  • Stand close to the subject when interviewing if you want good sound quality. Avoid noisy backgrounds.
  • Stand close to your subject – very close. Then zoom in for a better shot.
  • Hold the camera steady to avoid jerky movements. Better yet, get a tripod.

Let the Sun Shine In

March 14-20 is Sunshine Week. After this winter, we could all use a week of sunshine, but that’s not what this week is about. It’s about openness in government and letting the light in.

Journalists are the only profession protected by the U.S. Constitution and so they carry a heavy burden – most are happy to do so. When citizens don’t want to sit through a mind numbing four-hour council meeting, reporters do. When we don’t want to wade through thousands of documents to discover the truth, journalists do.

Sunshine Week is an initiative spearheaded by the American Society of News Editors to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It coincides with James Madison’s birthday and National Freedom of Information Day on March 16.

The initiative is working as people are playing more of a role in the actions of their communities, according to the Sunshine Week Web site. They are learning what kinds of information they have a right to see, where to get it, how to get it and what to do if someone tries to keep it from them.

NFPW supports such openness year round through its First Amendment Network. You can join any time (no charge!) through the NFPW Web site or during the NFPW Communications Conference in Chicago, Aug. 26-28.

Nebraska Press Women member Diane Wetzel wrote an article for The North Platte Telegraph pointing out a major contribution that Nebraska made to the legal interpretation of the First Amendment. Visit the NFPW  Web site to read the entire article.

Keep the light shining!