We all know about bad meeting culture. We’ve all sat through terrible meetings. But today let’s talk about the GOOD meetings you’ve attended as a communications director. What makes them good? What works? What are you doing differently that’s led to better conversations or decisions? Please share your “good meeting” experiences and tips here in…
I’ve just returned from a great week off at Ocracoke Island in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. It was our 17th year in a row! I was really good about not working, even though I did sort email and check social media occasionally on my phone (but I never unpacked the laptop, yay me!). How I…
In the never-ending quest to quell email’s domination of our work lives, many people are turning to instant messaging platforms. For small organizations, texting, Facebook Messenger, and Google Hangouts can work just fine. But when you get more people in the mix talking about a variety of topics that not everyone cares about, you need…
If you are feeling overworked or stressed out, someone will probably give you the advice to eliminate the word “should” from your vocabulary. “Should” applied to past things that didn’t get done induces guilt and depression. “Should” applied to the future activities creates anxiety and stress. While we often hear this advice in the context…
I don’t know about you, but sitting at my desk all day is really hard right now. Like near impossible. Here are a few ways to stay motivated during the sweet summertime months when all of that work still needs to get done . . . Give more time to strategic thinking and professional development.…
We know that nonprofits rely on email and meetings for internal communications — in fact, they over-rely on them! I encourage you to add two different communications channels to your internal comms mix, in addition to email and meetings: Instant messaging, whether you use Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger/Workplace or some other similar…
What are your internal communications goals? Not sure? It’s time to figure it out and create some, just like you create goals for external communications. Nearly 40% of nonprofit communications staff say that internal communications to other staff and the board are an essential or high priority. For nearly everyone else, it’s a low or…
When communications directors are lobbying their executive directors to approve their enrollment in our Communications Director Mentoring Program, we will occasionally get questions like this: Will participating in this program guarantee this, that or the other? Executive directors who don’t really understand communications, marketing and fundraising Of course, the answer is No. Mind you, there…
If I were starting from scratch with social media, or revamping a social media strategy, here’s what I would focus on in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. Facebook The majority of the content created for Facebook would be uploaded video and live streams. The majority of time spent on the platform would be in Groups.…
If the process of getting copy edited and approved is a bit of a nightmare at your nonprofit — or it’s just not as simple and efficient as it should be, you aren’t alone! During today’s webinar on the seven styles of nonprofit writing, I talked about coaching others on writing and working through collaborative…
My favorite definition of a story comes from The Elements of Persuasion: “A story is a fact, wrapped in an emotion, that compels us to take an action that transforms our world.” Richard Maxwell and Robert Dickman All of the five words I have in bold are essential to nonprofit storytelling success. Your stories need…
I love this quote from Thomas L. Friedman: “In the world of ideas, to name something is to own it. If you can name an issue, you can own the issue.” This is an incredibly powerful strategy for those of you who feel like you should be in charge of various aspects of communications or…
