Maintain a member directory

[Christine Prefontaine]

Creating and maintaining a member directory defines the network, makes it tangible, and provides a concrete service. Gather basic facts from each member: contact information, interests, activities, partners. You may also use the process as an opportunity to learn more about member practices, assets, and preferences — information you can use to develop or update your communications strategy. These include:

• Internet access — What type of access do your members have?
• Preferences — Where do people already go to get updates? Trusted sources? Favorite websites? Who do they ask for help?
• Knowledge champions — How many bloggers are in your network? Who has a great Flickr or YouTube account? Who has an active website or mailing list? Who is enthusiastic and vocal?
• RSS — Which members already generate news and events feeds? Collecting RSS is important because it allows you to aggregate content and promote members. (Yahoo Pipes is a cool way to aggregate feeds, and W3C has a tool to validate them.)
• Skills & practices — Current communication and sharing practices. What type of content do you produce? Any special communications skills (storytelling, publishing, media relations, video, etc.)? How do you incorporate sharing and communications into events (using online tools to develop agendas, build excitement, document outcomes)? Who contributes content and where?
• Expectations & contributions — What do they expect from the network? How do they plan to contribute?

Collecting and disseminating this type of information also helps members discover shared interests and complementary differences. Data can be collected online using a form (Google docs has a form feature that automatically feeds responses into a spreadsheet). Or, if you use a social networking platform (such as Ning) you can make these the profile questions.

You’ll need to decide if you’re collecting only information on organization, or including individuals or non-affiliated members. If you decide to include all types and are using a social networking platform then ensure that members create both organizational and personal profiles. This way you don’t lose information when staff turns over.

Below is a list of basic information you can collect to create a Member Directory. Members who maintain online profiles and be prompted to update just before production begins.

The network can disseminate printed versions annually. If you’ve successfully created a stream of content you can now mine it for stories about network activities and successes, which can included in the guide to show how collaboration works, build a sense of common purpose, and celebrate achievements. With this additional content, the Member Directory also becomes a useful for reaching out to network supporters, partners, or the media.

..................................................
Network Communications Guide
Previous: provide regular updates
Next: create an information kit