Chapter Visibility: Creating Some "Buzz"

By Russ Finney
1999 Austin Chapter President

April 1999

This month's column is going to cover two things: How to publicize your chapter's meetings, and how to create an event worth publicizing. Neither can exist without the other. Ignoring both will cause your meetings, turnout, community perception, and general membership to become quickly stale and disinterested. This is the rut that many of our chapters have found themselves in today - and sadly many of the leaders at these chapters feel that their situation can't be reversed.

I couldn't disagree with them more...

In the last two columns I discussed the importance of visualizing your chapter at the center of your city's IT community, and then taking the necessary steps to make this a reality. I also covered the importance of establishing an electronic communications infrastructure to build up your membership base. Now I want to talk about two additional potent secret weapons: speakers and publicity.

A Return to the Fundamentals

But isn't this what AITP does already? Don't we host monthly speakers and send out monthly newsletters? So what's the big deal?

First, let's give ourselves a little credit. Over the last forty plus years our association has provided a podium to many of the top leaders in the information technology field. Each year our association hosts hundreds of speakers in hundreds of cities. AITP still remains in top form in this regard. So what's the concern?

We are not aiming high enough!

Specifically, our local chapter leaders are not aiming high enough.

Frankly, getting great speakers takes a small dose of courage mixed with an equal part of professionalism. Great speakers will never appear at your meeting unless you ask them, and they will never say "yes" unless the process is professional. For AITP to be a relevant force in each chartered city, our chapter leaders must break through any personal hesitations and commit themselves to obtaining the very best speakers possible! To settle for less is a huge disservice to your local IT community.

An important job of our local boards of directors is to compile a "hit list" of the top speaker candidates in their respective cities. The potential speakers list should include:

• your city's top CIOs
• mainstream vendors with local representation
• highly regarded IT educators
• local experts on topics of the moment
  (Y2K, Linux, Java, electronic commerce, etc.)
• and notables from within AITP itself.

Then work the list! Make the calls and send the emails to get these people scheduled. You'll be surprised how many times you'll get "yes" for an answer. You'll also be surprised at how many speakers are genuinely honored to have the opportunity to address a city's local IT community. But remember to use a professional invitation letter, and then follow-up with a thank you note! This professional image could pay off with a future speaker referral. For examples see the URL at the end of this column.

Creating Some "Buzz"

Now that you've booked a great speaker it's time to get the word out. Your goal is to make potential meeting attendees feel that this month is a "no miss" meeting. This should actually be easy because it really is true - you've done your work and you've got a great speaker!

The key now is to use every channel at your disposal to get the "buzz" going. Start with this list and work down as far as you can. I recommend the use of all of these media outlets:

1. Send out a direct email announcement from your electronic database (your most important publicity tool).
2. Submit your meeting information to your local paper for inclusion on their weekly business calendar.
3. Submit your information to all local IT newsletters, newspapers, and magazines which publish meeting announcements.
4. Submit your information to any Internet based business or technology calendars (Citysearch, Yahoo!, Sidewalk, etc.).
5. Create a press release and send it to local reporters.

Failing to through with these announcements every single month not only cheats your potential meeting attendees who never new about the opportunity to see a well known speaker, it also cheats the speaker by not providing him or her with their true potential audience. Don't let this happen.

Sending out these various channel announcements every month can make a huge difference in meeting attendance, in boosting the relevance of the local chapter, and in enhancing the reputation of the association overall. More importantly, it is greatly appreciated by the invited speaker. Make your publicity serve as a win/win/win!

Great speakers and quality publicity gets your chapter noticed, gets it talked about, excites your membership, and energizes the board. Isn't that what AITP is really all about? Make this a top priority for your chapter every month.

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Please share your thoughts and comments regarding this feature. You can do so by posting to our AITP Members Forum or by writing me at webadmin@itmweb.com.

Copyright © 1999, Russ Finney, All Rights Reserved. Originally written for The Information Executive.