Changing the way volunteer leaders communicate: high-tech options abound for board-staff communication.

Technology is changing the way association staff and volunteers communicate. As more and more association members get online, that change is going to be even more dramatic.

Associations will link to their members via intranets - internal networks using Internet technologies such as the Web server to share data with both staff and volunteers. Daily - even hourly - news updates; online directories; databases shared with chapters; videoconferences; and online registrations, membership renewals, and applications will be the norm. Volunteers who have microphones and speakers for their computers can chat while they share data on a digital whiteboard.

Eighty percent of respondents to the 1997 technology trends survey by the American Society, of Association Executives communicate with their members via e-mail, up from 26 percent in 1995; 67 percent have Web sites. Respondents to a straw poll conducted through various ASAE listservs indicated many associations today have a designated area on their home page that leaders can access for information such as lists of elected leaders and staff, position statements, collective bargaining and workplace advocacy information, membership directories, and past issues of publications.

However, no association indicated that the majority of its members was online. Thus, most associations use a mix of media to communicate with volunteers - including a Web site, listservs, chat groups, e-mail, faxes, telephone, mail, and delivery services.

Following are examples of how some associations are taking advantage of the benefits new technologies have to offer in staff-member communication. These examples may be useful in a discussion with your chief staff executive about the evolving communication strategies at your association.

Reducing travel time. Kim Canavan Jones, executive director and the single staff person of the International Minority Affairs Cooperative, Silver Spring, Maryland, responds to requests and communicates with her board by e-mail and conducts executive committee meetings by conference call. "We put together an extremely detailed and tight agenda with time limitations and always finish all business on time," says Jones, who is preparing to conduct a board meeting in a private chat forum online.

Saving money. E-mail has been the driving force in a significant cost savings at the Ohio Podiatric Medical Association, Columbus. In the association's first budget year since getting about 40 percent of OPMA members (including all board members) online and communicating via e-mail and via daily broadcast e-mail, Gary Fetgatter, CAE, OPMA executive director, estimates that telephone costs dropped 27 percent and postage costs decreased 44 percent. "OPMA board members rarely use the telephone anymore," says Fetgatter, explaining that e-mail allows association members to communicate without disrupting their ability to see patients during office hours.

Getting members online. After the OPMA board established a goal to get members on the Internet, Fetgatter worked with a national Internet service provider that had local telephone numbers across Ohio to enable any OPMA member to subscribe for a fixed fee and get online with a local telephone call. The company provided discs with a special sticker indicating how members could connect with their association once they got online.

Fetgatter also created an OPMA Web page with hyperlinks to specific podiatry clinical and medical resources. OPMA uses its "Virtual Community" to lobby for legislation, amend regulations, inform patients of their rights, and provide research studies.

Using various forms of technology. The National Association of College Stores (NACS), Oberlin, Ohio, has heard no complaints about lack of communication since Chief Staff Officer Garis Distelhorst, CAE, began using a feature of his e-mail system to send messages to specific groups, such as boards, committees, and task forces of both NACS and its for-profit subsidiary. "It is great for communicating quickly and uniformly to a group," he says. In addition to using e-mail, Distelhorst meets with his board each month for one-hour conference calls that follow a detailed agenda.

NACS currently uses audioconferencing for education and broadcast fax when appropriate, since not all members have e-mail. As more and more members move to the Web, Distelhorst plans to move to videoconference. "I expect we'll someday have our monthly (board) calls via videoconference over the Web, and will have discussion and problem-resolution tools available online. We'll certainly try them," he says.

Going paperless. The technology committee of the State Bar of Wisconsin, Madison, recently chose to go paperless by setting up meetings and distributing agenda materials via the Internet, according to Joyce Hastings, director of publications. Committee members access a private area on the association's Web site for agendas, minutes, and links to discussion materials. Members are encouraged to bring laptops to the meeting and can access the agenda materials with off-line browsing software. Staff bring an LCD projector and laptop to display the agenda on a screen, make changes to material discussed on-site, and take minutes.

Staying up to date and in constant contact with members. The Special Libraries Association, Washington, D.C., has developed an extensive Web page, making information, services, and products accessible around the clock to their international members, according to Jennifer Stowe, SLA's director of public relations. SLA also established a fax-on-demand system with a toll-free number members can use to get much of the critical information that is available on the association's Web site. SLA also is introducing a chat room where members may speak candidly with the executive director, and they plan to open a venue for members to chat with their board of directors and other leaders.

Dramatic changes in communication technology show no sign of abating. Associations and their elected leaders who keep current on cutting-edge developments and stay in constant contact with members will be able to make informed decisions about the best communication strategies to employ to meet their needs.

Frances Shuping, CAE, is director of membership at the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, Washington, D.C. Her e-mail address is [e-mail].