Empowerment Congress Blog

Everyone hopes to affect change in their government so that it better matches their immediate needs. Every government, ideally speaking, hopes to perfectly reflect the needs and voices of it’s constituent base, gaining consensus from local areas which further benefit communities and their needs. However there is a communications gap. That gap is centered on the ability prudently use resources (whether personnel or finances) efficiently and effectively to the best affect of the organizer’s visions, supporting their community’s needs.

The gap of communications is not an easy one to bridge or identify, but when used, can be a catalyst to more fluidity of change, greater personal response from organizers, and better mass transparency to communication pathways.

More specifically, if a group needs to communicate it’s goals ambitions, and it’s intentions, there are a few ways to facilitate these activities without an undue burden on the aforementioned resources. Here is my vision of how to accomplish this mission…

Starting with a sound, poigniant website, blog and twitter postings, There needs to be a solid call to action solicited throughout the community, using email, local web-based advertising, and other new media outlets. A link back to a dynamic online simplified repository of recent events, which are appealing to a politically interested local resident. With these articles, video pieces, or collages, a person can find a Call to Action button close by to become involved as a member of a committee or a sub committee, helping them to have a positive, immediate first experience with their newfound political action committee.

Here are the tools: The website, containing the articles, videos, photos, journals and calendars of various events. A Call to Action throughout the website’s main attractions should be immediately available in the form of a button or a link. Next would be a blog with the thoughts on current events, or even showcasing another member-volunteer’s perspectives on issues at hand or recent experiences. Again, the call to action needs to be ever-present.
The actual call to action: This would be a landing page briefly explaining why someone would be involved, and the process as well as what to expect from the group in terms of a response. The call to action needs to link to a database which is going to act as a contact manager or CRM, facilitating follow-up for new resources and activities. The CRM should be online, reasonably basic, a generous group rate, and have relatively good security built in and around it (so that it’s members and the volunteer users can feel safe putting their personal information into it and knowing that the information will not be misused or used elsewhere without their permission. Next would be a mass email solution that keeps it’s users in-the-know on upcoming events and findings or descriptions of past events. This email again in it’s body has a further call to action for those wishing to be more involved or others to become involved.

All of this is tied to the resulting event, community outreach, or cause which is affected by the acceleration of communication of new information, improving the statistical demographics of reach and exposure, further supporting decisions which were previously based on less available information.

Hope that this model, generally described here is of value for your group. If you need assistance or would like to speak about how to improve your group’s outreach efforts, drop me an email anytime!

Steve Weltman
steve@steveweltman.com

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