Group Communication: Introduction
Good communication systems can save work, help spread responsibilities and keep everyone informed and interested, especially if they can’t make every meeting. Here are a few ideas for staying in touch, but which ones you use will depend on what is best for your group.
Remember that communicating over the ether is no substitute for meeting regularly.
It’s worth keeping a list of email addresses and phone numbers so you can stay in contact with your group during exams and holidays.
Email Lists
Case study: Cambridge
Cambridge University P&P group have three email lists, with the aim of getting as many people as possible involved without overloading them with emails:
1. General weekly email list.
This is compiled from every campaign group at the university, and goes out to anyone interested - an email list of 500+. This enables the group to constantly promote their actions, speakers and events, and remain open and inclusive. They maintain such a large list by ensuring it is just a weekly email of key events.
2. More detailed email list.
This is for people who sometimes attend meetings, wish to be involved in actions, or are willing to receive emails a couple of times a week. It often includes a small action, e.g. emailing your MP, or requesting Fairtrade chocolate at a supermarket.
3. Discussion and planning list.
For those who want to take a role in organising the group’s activities, and who attend weekly planning meetings.
These are good for some things: passing on information, consultation, and less good for others: making decisions, getting people to volunteer. There are two types of lists: announcement and discussion.
Announcement Lists
An announcements list is an important way to keep group members and interested people involved. There is an art to writing good announcement emails that are friendly and make people feel part of the group.
Make sure you keep it short, jargon-free, send it at most once a week and regularly. In the case of an action, you might want to send a reminder a couple of days before, with just one point in it.
Announcement lists usually go to a wide audience, and usually only a few people can post to them. You can do this just with a list of addresses (put them in the “Bcc” box to keep people’s addresses private) or a group address.
Discussion lists
These are lists where all members can send messages. Many Students’ Unions and universities can do this for you, or a popular (free but commercialised) alternative is yahoogroups. Bear in mind the politics of who is on a planning list, but it is a good way of getting people more involved in your group.
You may also want to create a discussion board such as People & Planet’s network-run one. This allows the discussion to stay permanantly in one place and for you to discuss several topics at once.
Social Networking sites
Facebook can be an incredibly useful tool. You can establish a group for your P&P group and publicise events as well. Don’t be fooled though, just because someone says they’ll attend an event on facebook doesn’t mean they will really.
Text/phone wheel or tree
These systems can be really useful for mobilising your group for an urgent campaign action or event, or if you might be planning a suprise action that you don’t want to send out on your email list.
The text/phone wheel is a tool for passing a message round a group of people. It’s particularly suited to small groups and regular use.
The text/phone tree is a different way of doing the same thing - this time all the calls emanate from one person, perhaps the person with responsibility for group communication. If your group is big, you might find a tree more efficient.
