IS IT TIME FOR A TUNE UP IN YOUR COMMUNICATION?
By Bev Johns
"We know you are all busy, but we are required to have four business meetings so come to our meeting on Thursday night."
"We have noticed that some of you have missed the last three meetings. We are very disappointed with the lack of attendance."
Would you be motivated to attend the next meeting? Probably not, it didn't convey an air of excitement and enthusiasm. Both statements were negative and didn't motivate someone to attend. The second one was scolding and ,for some people may cause them to leave the chapter.
Have you ever written a message in a newsletter or in an email, and had someone react negatively to it? Perhaps you went back and read the message you sent and realized it sounded negative. It was not designed to inspire your readers to join an activity or to excite your members about the wonderful activities your chapter has planned. Our goal is to build up our members and our activities, so people are interested in what we have to offer.
Remember when we communicate, we need to entice, excite, and convey enthusiasm. When we say come to our business meting, that is not enticing, but when we say we want you to have a voice in our upcoming program, we can motivate our members to attend.
Think about why people may want to attend an event. We want to entice them to come. Statements like--you don't want to miss our workshop on November 20, we have a great event planned for you--entice someone to come, rather than saying--our next meeting is November 20.
You also want to convey excitement about all the activities you have planned so catchy titles get attention and excite people about an event. People are always looking for practical tips so when you make such statements as--come to learn 25 ways to overcome procrastination, or everything you ever wanted to know about de-stressing, or take a virtual trip o Egypt with Maria. These excite people so they want to be at an event.
Finally, when we are sending a message, we want to convey enthusiasm for what we are doing. We want to be positive, provide a sense of welcome, and make people feel our passion for DKG.
