Division 1: Communications Management INTRODUCTION/BACKGROUND The International Association of Business Communicators Calgary Chapter is Calgary s largest communications professional organization. With more than 500 members, IABC/Calgary consists of members from government, corporate, education, non-profit, creative agency, and independent consultants at all stages of their careers from student to senior communicators. Chapter members are located mostly in Calgary, but some members are located in surrounding cities and towns. This means IABC/Calgary is communicating to not only a diverse membership, but one that has some geographic diversity as well. IABC/Calgary s mission is to engage current and prospective professional communicators in a community committed to the highest standards of professional excellence. Chapter goals are: Exceptional member value through a mix of responsive events, services and forums Continuous member growth and retention Engaged and motivated volunteers through proactive recruitment and recognition Sustainable and well-managed chapter Excellence in communication outreach as a thought leader to support and promote the profession Starting in 2015 and continuing into 2016 and beyond, our members are facing challenging times with a decrease in the economy, specifically in oil and gas, and a large number of members are experiencing challenges at work as a result (budget cuts, staff reductions and job losses). This means the chapter is competing for attention and needing to better show its relevance to both internal and external audiences. IABC/Calgary was also preparing for an upcoming organizational milestone. Prior to joining IABC, the Calgary chapter was a standalone communications organization and in 2017 IABC/Calgary is celebrating 50 years of communications in Calgary. To help set IABC/Calgary up for a strong celebration, the chapter took on a number of key projects, such as rebranding. GOALS/OBJECTIVES To meet chapter goals the directors in a number of portfolios, especially those in Member Communications and Marketing, set out some of the following objectives: Increase satisfaction with website and newsletter, including rolling out a new website and newsletter Increase social media engagement and influence Continuous improvement in board processes and procedures, including a website style guide Project work in this included the launch of a new website, including a new webhost in the Fall of 2015; rebranding of IABC/Calgary, following the new brand set out by IABC International; organize and streamline our social media presence and processes; and the development of a video strategy through the help of a video sponsorship.
IABC/Calgary is fortunate budget wise, with a healthy reserve, allowing the chapter to take on larger projects, such as developing a new website. To ensure reserves stay healthy the chapter still actively pursues sponsorships wherever possible. Sponsorships were successfully found for both the new website and newsletter project, and a video sponsorship to support the development of a video strategy. A photography sponsorship was also developed to provide original imagery for the website as well as for use on social media channels. Feedback and measurement is done through a number of channels including a biennial member survey, which happened in the Spring of 2016, metrics pulled from the newsletter, website and various social media channels, two open board meetings per year, and post-event surveys. IMPLEMENTATION/RESULTS Newsletter IABC/Calgary sends out a newsletter ever week from September through June, and every two weeks during July and August. The chapter newsletter is a member-only feature and includes information on upcoming events (chapter, regional, and some International events), original articles written by volunteers and members, chapter information and information from International and Canada West Region (CWR), and current job postings. Objective: Increase satisfaction with newsletter, including increase of engagement/influence Key actions/deliverables: Redesign newsletter template and roll out to members, use a content calendar to ensure Board and volunteers know what is planned for each newsletter, begin monthly metric reporting on newsletter metrics, initiate senior communicator profile series, maintain active/engaged volunteers, and review and update process and procedures. A new newsletter template was rolled out to members this template includes rebranding, better hierarchy of information, and is this mobile friendly. Content calendar was included as part of the Board s Google Calendar, allowing all board members to see what is being published when to help with coordination across all portfolios and with information, as it is known, from International and CWR. Updated a web/newsletter submission document for board members and volunteers to submit articles and information about events that need to be promoted. This document helps to ensure all relevant information is needed for volunteers who are putting together the newsletter and ensure consistency and quality is maintained. Created a writing style guide for the chapter to ensure consistency and quality of writing to members. This is shared with both board members and volunteers. Restarted monthly reporting on newsletter metrics. Volunteers were maintained for the newsletter, ensuring that each newsletter made it out on time. When new volunteers were needed, the director worked closely with Volunteer Services to quickly fill any empty roles. The director also actively engaged current volunteers through face-to-face meetings, regular email correspondence, and recognized
those volunteers who gave six or more hours of service by participating in the chapter s volunteer recognition program that gives volunteers discounts to one event during the year they volunteer and recognized through the chapter s Volunteer Awards. In the 2016 membership survey there was an increase in satisfaction from 3.76 to 3.90 on a scale of 1 to 5. With the original articles written by IABC/Calgary volunteers and members increasing from 3.39 to 3.65. Social media IABC/Calgary is active on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and now Instagram. The chapter uses these channels to engage with both members and non-members, raise awareness of the chapter and its programs, as well as to provide value-added, insightful/educational content for members.. The chapter also uses the channels to promote the communications professional practices and services in general. In 2015/16 the Marketing portfolio faced and overcame several challenges including a lack of volunteers and a director stepping down mid-year. An interim director was recruited to help get the portfolio, specifically around social media and branding, back on track. Objective: Increase social media engagement and influence. Key actions/deliverables: Begin monthly metric reporting on social media metrics, develop formal processes around social media (volunteers, schedules, outreach guidelines), use our social media to help pull in both members and non-members to www.iabccalgary.com, and develop an editorial calendar for social media posts using Board member input into content. An interim Marketing director was recruited in January 2016. Volunteers quickly recruited by new director and Volunteer Services to help get social media back up and running. Editorial calendar was developed to ensure regular posting on Facebook and Twitter to help market events, share IABC information (chapter, regional and International), share information on the profession in general. Volunteers were recognized through the Chapter s recognition programs, and kept engaged through regular meetings and communications. Social media guidelines and processes were developed to ensure consistency and quality. Monthly metric reports were restarted in order to re-establish new benchmarks. In the 2016 membership survey all three social media channels used in 2014 saw an increase in satisfaction. Facebook: 3.37 to 3.62, Twitter: 3.58 to 3.82, LinkedIn: 3.39 to 3.43. While some of these increases are small, the chapter still sees this as a positive step forward as the changes to social media took place early in 2016 and the membership survey came out in Spring 2016, leaving only a few short months turnaround from the work done for members to see the results.
Branding To align with the new branding from IABC International, and to prepare for the upcoming 50 th celebrations, IABC/Calgary undertook a branding exercise to develop a unique IABC/Calgary brand motif based on international guidelines. Objective: Develop a unique IABC/Calgary brand motif based on international guidelines. Key actions/deliverables: conduct research on what IABC and communications mean to the board and to members, develop chapter specific key messages and proof points, develop a unique IABC/Calgary brand motif, apply new brand motif to IABC/Calgary promotional materials to be used for marketing and for the upcoming 50 th celebrations Conducted board member surveys and member focus groups. Developed a chapter specific key messaging master document based on chapter research and foundational messages from IABC International. Developed a unique IABC/Calgary brand motif and tagline. The motif was bridges, which matched the chapter s tagline of Connecting you. Through a sponsorship agreement, a photographer took pictures of iconic bridges around Calgary and used them to create the unique bridge logos. Developed the following promotional material: templates for letterhead: Power Point presentations, report templates, flyers; greeting cards; event roll up banners; social media flyers and banners; IABC bridge magnets; and CareerLine infographic. Used the video sponsorship to gather b-roll of different bridges to be used in future video material. Video strategy IABC/Calgary entered a sponsorship with V Strategies that allows for $30,000 of video shooting, editing and production over two years. These videos will serve as both promotional and as a valueadd service for members, with the goal of attracting and retaining membership and maintaining and increasing overall satisfaction with IABC/Calgary. Objective: develop a strategy for the video sponsorship that helps promote IABC/Calgary and the communications profession to both members and non-members. Key actions/deliverables: develop brand key messages, write video scripts from key messaging, complete b-roll, develop a strategy in conjunction with sponsors, create graphics for intro and exit of videos, identify voice over talent(s), work with interviewees/spokespeople, and work with social media to promote videos. A strategy was developed and is now being implemented that includes multiple video series. Implementation will be over the next 1.5 years as part of the two-year sponsorship.
Key messages were developed in conjunction with the rebranding and used for the video strategy. Video script for the first of four core videos was done: IABC/Calgary: Bridging the Communications Community. These four core videos will make up a series called Connecting You. Voluntary voice over talent was identified and brought on board. A volunteer Video Manager developed a series of 10 three-minute videos highlighting communicators and communications jobs within the chapter which have been rolled out in 2016 to showcase members and the value of belonging to IABC as a communicator. A Connecting You Educational video series is in development. As learning is a key reason for membership an educational video series was also included as part of the overall strategy. The objective is to be more of a value-add service than promotional in nature. Each video will focus on a different sub-discipline within the communications profession. All subject matter exerts have been interviewed and video are currently in production to be rolled out through the 2016/17 board year. Open board meetings IABC/Calgary holds two open board meetings per board year, one in the fall and one in the spring. These open board meetings serve two purposes. One, they provide members a chance to attend a board meeting, ensuring transparency and giving any member a chance to learn the workings of their chapter. Two, a professional development opportunity as a speaker is also invited to speak usually on board or communications best practises. Objective: Show members they are part of a well-managed chapter and give them the opportunity to see their board at work face-to-face. Key actions/deliverables: plan and host two open board meetings, identify and engage one or more speakers per open board meeting, and market to members. Two board meetings were held, one in October 2015 and one in April 2016. In 2015/16 the speakers were a member of the Government of Alberta s Board Development Program on the role of board members and how to build better boards and a member of Associations Plus who spoke on the value of professional organizations for members, especially during time of economic uncertainty. Member attendance at these events were low with only five members attending the meeting in October and four attending the meeting in April. Face-to-face feedback from the members that attended was positive towards being able to see what the board does, learn more about the workings of the chapter, and get a chance to chat with the directors and executive face-to-face.
Emails and articles from executive Throughout the board year members of the executive submit articles and send emails to the membership. In particular, the President sends welcome emails to all new members and thank you emails to all renewing members. These emails contain information on the Chapter in general, upcoming events and resources available at the chapter, regional and International levels. Objective: To engage members with the executive and ensure they are aware of who is working for their chapter. Key actions/deliverables: emails to new and renewing members, communicate around board nomination process, and articles around significant milestones or events. President sent emails to all new and renewing members (approximately 500 emails). Past president wrote articles and worked with the social media team to promote both the Vice President and Board nomination processes and the positives around volunteering. Vice President was recruited in time for Leadership Institute in February 2016, which they attend as part of the onboarding process. Board nominations received was extremely high with 18 nominations for 14 positions 9 nominations were returning board members, the remaining nine had served as volunteers either currently or in the past. Vice President did three video interviews for social media to highlight activities in IABC and communications. Interviews included International activities with Diane Chase, job hunting in a down turn with Glenna Cross and CMP application with Frasier Tingle. Vice President completed a blog on the value of international connections at Leadership Institute. Event marketing Event marketing was an opportunity identified in the 2014 membership survey through comments submitted, especially as members stated learning is their top reason for being an IABC member. In the survey, members specifically referenced more advance notice for events and that social media is the best way to reach them. Objective: inform members and non-members of upcoming events, specifically those events offered locally. Key actions/deliverables: submit events for promotion through website, newsletter and social media, and develop a promotional plan for events to help guide volunteers. The Professional Development portfolio struggled with finding volunteers for events, meaning the two directors did a lot of the hands on work. As a result the development of a formal plan was met. This deliverable has been moved forward into the 2016/2017 portfolio plan.
An updated web/newsletter submission document for board members and volunteers to submit information about events that need to be promoted was completed. This document helps to ensure all relevant information is needed for volunteers who are putting together the newsletter, social media and the website to ensure consistency and quality is maintained. Flyer design was brought back to the marketing portfolio once the interim director was recruited allowing for visual consistency with the new brand. Digital flyers were developed for sharing on social media for 2016 events, and a series of flyer templates were developed for events going forward. While the 2016 membership survey did not specifically measure communications around events, there were no comments submitted this time. Also, all event categories listed held steady or saw an increase in satisfaction. Website Like event marketing this communications channel also showed an opportunity for growth in the 2014 membership survey as it fell into the high importance/low satisfaction category. The IABC/Calgary website is also the number one recalled IABC/Calgary service by members and is identified as the most important service. This key communication channel needed to grow and ensure it was meeting member s needs and expectations. Objective: Increase satisfaction with website and contribute to continuous improvement in board processes and procedures Key actions/deliverables: Launch new website, promote new website, develop appropriate processes and procedures to ensure upkeep and quality, perform monthly metrics on the site, and maintain active/engaged volunteers. New website launched in Fall 2015. Style guide developed to ensure quality and consistency for writing and content. Training guide developed to help onboarding of members. Re-implemented monthly metrics, in conjunction with the newsletter. Recruited and retained volunteers to ensure content was kept fresh throughout the year. Reactive to issues that arose, including identifying quickly when the website was hacked and responding quickly with the assistance of the webhost. Work with social media channels to promote new content and highlight the new website. Saw a 5% growth in satisfaction for the website from 2014 to 2016 membership survey results. Within the 2016 membership survey a question was asked around the satisfaction for the new website design. 63% were either satisfied or very satisfies and only 2% were dissatisfied/very dissatisfied. The remaining members were either neutral or had not used the service. The highest scoring aspect was content is useful. More detailed information included in the Web Management submission.
CONCLUSION 2015/2016 has been a productive year for IABC/Calgary. While it came with some unexpected challenges, a strong board and volunteer team allowed the chapter to meet the majority of the objectives that were laid out for the board year. 2016 membership survey results also reflected chapter success as overall general membership satisfaction is up from 2014 to 2016 with 85% of members being satisfied/strongly satisfied. All survey results in regards to communications also saw increases. Highlights include rebranding, launching a new website, developing a new template for the newsletter, video strategy and putting more formal processes in place for social media. Communications to members and non-members is key. Without strong communication plans and channels in place this can lead to a decrease in satisfaction and membership. IABC/Calgary s strong work in this area has contributed to the increase in membership satisfaction from 2014 to 2016. Moving forward communications will continue to be key for IABC/Calgary as the chapter moves forward with 50 th celebrations in 2017 and the work done in 2015/2016 has helped set the chapter up for a banner year.