On 14th August 2020 John Groves gave a talk entitled communication in the new normal.
It looked at how the general, inexorable drift in communication towards digital and online sources had been given a massive boost by the Covid-19 pandemic situation. He warned that the communication methods most popular with club members are anything but typical of the population as a whole and that failure to grasp this could have dire implications for club’s future.
Whilst recognising the quality of some of our existing methods of communication questions were raised as to whether we had a coherent and sufficiently broad communication strategy or an adequate information flow mind-set to assist those delegated to manage the different media.
He then took members on a whistle-stop tour of the website focussing predominantly upon the members area which requires a log-in to access. Members were encouraged to visit this on a regular basis. Patience was urged if they had to update their password leaving a few minutes between receiving and using the update link and if they needed help to sort a password not to give up but to email him as he could change it.
The members’ area contains recent notices and events although, again, this could be made even more useful if all club members got into the habit of “Think Internet and Social Media” as well as more traditional forms of communication. Additionally the area has a plethora of useful information such as: members roles and contact information, committee make-up and minutes, advice on organising activities etc. etc.
He concluded by saying the club needed to take-on-board the emerging “New Normal” at club, committee and individual member level if we were to survive and thrive.
The session gave rise to extensive discussion of a predominantly positive nature which included discussion of the balance of paper vs digital, the use of social media and the idea that some in-house IT training amongst the members might help.
The speaker was thanked in the nomal manner.