Websites are the “home-base” for information…the principal source for quick information and news for our constituents. We have a responsibility to communicate the ACDA message to our members. As my wife so aptly puts it in her mixed metaphor, “We’re falling down on the ball” if we fail to take advantage of all the tools at our disposal to make this happen.
Websites provide one tool. Nine states still print and mail newsletters. Virtually all state and divisions provide either articles in HTML or full newsletters in PDF. Social networking tools are also helpful, as are blogs, but I maintain that the website should be central to meeting the information needs of our members.
The website must be monitored and it must be up-to-date. An outdated site is basically useless. Make it easy to contact leadership, find information on conferences and workshop, provide the latest news, links to other resources, info on how to join ACDA, and provide either PDF versions of newsletters or headline links to HTML pages with articles by association leaders. Our leaders have much to say that can be helpful to us all, and especially our newer members. Don’t give up on asking them to write!
It’s vital that states and divisional leaders find the right PERSON for the job. This will be an interested, committed for the long-term individual with either the skills or the desire to learn how to build and maintain sites, work with photo-editing software and other peripheral applications or software. Presidents and officers must also be committed, for they are the principal source for content for the pages. A webperson can soon become discouraged when it seems no one is “out there” to provide material for updates! Hiring or paying someone to build the site is just the beginning. Content cannot materialize from thin air. Leaders must be prepared to work closely with the webmaster.
I urge all state leaders to work with the national office to get, maintain, and use email and email mass-mailing tools such as Constant Contact. It’s not only a direct way to communicate vital information, it also serves as a tool to remind members to check the website for latest information and full details.
(The ACDA National Conference is just one of the many benefits of membership in the American Choral Directors Association. Join ACDA today.)
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