IABC chair launches blog.

Association leaders who want to stay on top of member-communication trends, take note: On October 7, 2004, International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Chairman David Kistle launched the "IABC Chairman's Blog" available at blogs.iabc.com/chair. The communication tool features Kistle's thoughts on the association and the profession through his vantage point as both the leader of IABC and a working communicator.

The advantage of having a blog--an informal, self-published, Web-based journal that offers commentary from the author, or "blogger," as well as links of interest--is that it allows leaders to communicate to their audience on a continuous basis. While a monthly or quarterly "message from the chair" may serve a similar purpose, IABC has found its blog to be more informal, putting a human voice to the association's leadership. More important, the blog is interactive. It allows members to raise questions and participate in an open discussion.

Reasons to blog

Kistle's goal for his blog is to connect members with the leadership of the association and allow them to both share their thoughts on its direction as well as understand the thought process that goes into the board's decisions. He also wants the blog to promote discussion of industry issues in real time. Not surprisingly, a segment of IABC's membership as well as the trade press wants to hear from the association's chair on a regular basis concerning the association's financial health, strategic direction, and place within the profession.

In IABC's case, members have been having an ongoing discussion of the blog phenomenon itself as well as its role as a communication tool. Kistle's blog gives members hands-on experience with this cutting-edge communication tool.

Because the blog allows readers to post their own comments, there's always the possibility that someone will write something inappropriate, so both the marketing/communication and information technology departments carefully review the comments on a daily basis. The bigger challenge, though, is catching spammers who are now posting their messages to any blogs they can find.

Suggestions for success

Kistle offers three suggestions for association chairs interested in launching an effective blog:

1. Set a realistic expectation for how often the blog will be updated and stick with it. Although daily updates would be great, once a week communication is probably more realistic.

2. Take an informal approach to content. Each entry doesn't have to be a major statement. Sometimes a vibrant discussion can emerge from something as simple as "Here's a link to an interesting article I just read, and here's my take on that issue." Always invite readers to offer their thoughts.

3. Avoid using the blog as a cheerleading tool. If the blog only offers fluff rather than substance, readers will tune out.

One of the biggest misconceptions is that a blog is a replacement for a message forum, which IABC also provides on its Web site. It's not. Message forums--such as chat rooms, discussion boards, and listservers--allow anyone to start a discussion, whereas a blog has one primary author. Therefore, the ultimate success of a blog relies on the author's ability to provide interesting content, to present it in an engaging manner, and to solicit thoughtful comments to move the discussion forward.

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