THIS IS A DRAFT
The Communications Committee is responsible for informing the club members of events and news related to the club. The committee chair may be any club member in good standing, but is usually held by a board member. The club IT Specialist is automatically a member of this committee, and will provide assistance as needed.
The key tenet of the Communications Committee is: All information should be relayed by one source. We should not have different people sending out information on an event, sponsor, or other club business. This can lead to inconsistency and confusion. It can also lead to information getting lost.
WRRR uses several methods of communication:
- Board Meeting Agenda – The agenda for the board meetings is created using the Agenda Maker on the we site. The IT Specialist has the details of this system.
- The Waterlog – This is the club newsletter, published monthly except for December. Each issue is expected to be published 3-4 days before the beginning of the month. It is sent to each member as a PDF attachment to an email message.
- wrrr.org – This is the club web site. It hosts the event calendar, posts on club news, and information about the club for members and directors. It also hosts a photo gallery intended mainly for club group photos.
- Facebook – This is the most active and up to date form of communication, and is preferred by most members.
- Forums – This is used by Brenan to inform people who aren’t on Facebook about trips and events. An alternative to the forums would be to point people to the web site, where we can communicate these as posts or events.
- Messages in The Waterlog emails – If needed, messages can be attached the the emails sent containing The Waterlog. Informal discussions indicate that most people ignore these, so they are not very valuable.
- Email blasts – We have the ability to send email messages to everyone in the club. This mechanism is currently primitive, but it can be effective.
- Surveys – Occasionally, we send out surveys to poll the members on various topics related to running the club.
- Signs at Events – At some events, we need informational signs. It is best to have these laminated to be weather resistant.
NOTE: Keep in mind that only The Waterlog and the email blasts are restricted to WRRR members. Other means of communication are available to people who aren’t WRRR members. Consideration must be paid to publishing content that is for members only.
The sections below outline the Communications Committee responsibilities.
Events
Events are operated either by the River Ops or Programs committees. Communications should engage the committee chairs to get the information about the events, and provide them as follows:
- Agenda Maker events table
- Before November, get the list of event dates from the Board of Directors and update the data in the web site database. Currently, this is done by having the IT Specialist update the table manually. An edit form will be provided in the future to make this easier.
- Web site event calendar
- Add or Edit the event with the date, location, and latest information about the event.
- Waterlog articles
- Provide an article about the event for The Waterlog. The schedule for the articles can be found in the Agenda Maker templates (ask the IT Specialist about these).
- Some events have both a teaser (a short article about the event) and a full article with details.
- Forum post
- This should contain the same information as the article in The Waterlog – Alternative: Post the topic title, but point to the web site event post.
- Web site post (optional)
- Some events can be added to the main page of the web site as a post.
- Facebook banner (optional)
- Create a Facebook banner with the name and date of the event and make it the group photo for the group
- Facebook post
- This is done as a link to the event on wrrr.org with a short description
- Do this 2 weeks before the event
- Mark the post as an announcement
- Consider turning off comments, as people have been known to add comments about unrelated trips, causing confusion
- Edit the post a few days before the event to bring it to the top
- Email blast (in emergency)
- If an event happens or changes outside of the normal cycle of The Waterlog, such as a change to camping location or the sudden cancellation of an event, this method can be used to inform people.
After the event has taken place, it is nice to provide some sort of follow-up. We usually get some photos and postings on Facebook by members.
- Facebook banner (optional)
- Find a nice group photo and make it the Facebook group banner
- Waterlog article (optional)
- Try to get a club member to write an article about their experience at the event
- Web site post (optional)
- This would be the same as the Waterlog article
- Web site photo (optional)
- This should be a group photo from the event
Signs At Events
At some events, we need to have signs to inform people of things going on to avoid confusion. These signs should be laminated to be weather resistant.
- Wenatchee Rendezvous
- Signs on the toilets informing people when the raffle ticket sales will begin and when the potluck will be
- Skagit Poker Run
- Signs at the put-in, the covered area at camp, and the toilets at camp informing people when the potluck will be and the final checkout time for camp
- We may also want to add a note about bears and cleaning up garbage
- Tieton
- Signs inside the toilets informing people that the toilets are provided by WRRR and mentioning wrrr.org
Special Event Notes
Some events need to have other things communicated. This section outlines these.
- Tieton
- Make sure that club members know that we do not own or control the camping area we use. People should not come in and hassle people who are there for being “in our area”. The only rights we have are that people can not block river access points.
- Toilets can only be provided for 14 days because of National Forest restrictions. Since we want to cover the weekend of the Rally, which is closest to September 15, toilets may not be provided earlier. Make sure club members are aware of this.
Announcements
At times we have announcements that are not related to events, such as an announcement for a safety or first aid class, a special deal for club members, or the passing of a beloved member of the club. These should be handled as follows:
- Waterlog article
- Provide an article for The Waterlog
- Forum post
- Post the same information to the forums – Alternative: Post the topic title and link to the web site post
- Web site post
- Post the same article on the web site as a post
- Facebook post
- Post a link to the web site post on the Facebook group if appropriate.
- Be aware that some promotions are for club members only and should not be posted to Facebook. Posting these can lead to us losing these special deals.
- Email blast (optional unless emergency)
- Send out an email blast message if this occurs outside of the Waterlog publishing schedule
Web Site Articles
The web site gets few visitors, mainly because there is not much content. It would be good for the Communications Committee to solicit and publish posts that are related to club activities. We have a few of these on the site now, but they are not often updated.
One idea would be to copy a Waterlog article from a past issue and post it to the web site. Ideally, this would be a trip report of some sort. The most interesting trip reports tend to be about non-club trips, but any trip articles are good candidates.
Another good source of content would be to ask people to write articles about topics like gear and safety techniques. We used to have an article on how to do a Z-drag, showing several techniques.