Association Insight International & European | Page 15

Article | Association Insights

2 People get all uptight when they write.
I did. People don’t always write how they speak. Somehow
the effect of sitting down at a keyboard or picking up a
pen makes them formal and cold. For associations, this
may stem from a fundamental belief that they should know
everything, because they are the association. Somehow
they have to have all of the answers because they represent
or are the voice of the industry. However, this is not
particularly helpful when it comes to writing email that
connects to people.
Here is an alternative way for associations to think about
themselves:
•R
 ecalibrate your scale: How big are you compared with
your membership?
What does that say to you in terms of where the most
knowledge resides? Perhaps the greatest source of
knowledge resides in our membership. Associations are
important as a hub but they don’t always have to be the
primary source of insight. An additional role is to create
a mechanism for members to share their knowledge with
the community as a whole. Associations become the coauthor, the curator and the hub.
• Write as if to be read aloud: Your warmest, richest
writing will emerge when you write how you speak. So
after you’ve written something, take the time to read it
out loud, to yourself. You’ll get a sense of how it sounds,
which is how it will be heard in your readers’ minds when
they read it. Listen and then adjust your words until they
sound good to you.

3 “We can’t afford a writer and we haven’t

got the time to do it.”

Associations are stretched. They have more on the ‘to do
list’ than they can afford. It can look like an impossible task
to start writing.
•T
 he likely writer/editor on your team will not have these
job titles in your Association. But are you sure that they
don’t exist? Here’s how to identify them. Who can listen
and hold a conversation? Who gives people space to
think? Who enhances the quality of a discussion? Who
builds on other people’s points? Who writes outside of
work? Good speakers and listeners are often good writers
in ѡ