Finding a Theme

One of my challenges as we kick-off 2009 is the need to create a theme for each month of the year. Last year I felt our newsletter may have become a bit too program heavy and didn't include enough articles. We had our Ask Jo column and each month I was struck by the fact that Ask Jo was the number one click through in our newsletter was Ask Jo. I've seen people blog about the column as well. And this year we have not only two newsletters per month but I am also writing a column for Cobol Magazine on behalf of the institute and we have our Fast Company blog plus the ABI Blog as well. So to get our staff more engaged as well as our advisors I need to create a theme around each month - so that I can go to people and say here are our themes and months - can you write about fear for me in October or Role Models in April?

The hardest part is not finding themes but rather having so many themes and not enough months. A good problem to have.

January was National Mentoring Month so that became our theme. And it's been great - we have multiple Fast Company blog posts on the subject, a newsletter article, the column is done and our ask Jo will include it as well.

Next months' theme - stay tuned.

Editing the Edits

When doing a newsletter there are two things I've learned are very important - the first is that you definitely need to have a second set of eyes read it and the second is that no two people will edit the same item the same way. Our most recent newsletter was sent for review to 4 people - and everyone came back with completely different edits. One wanted content added, one thought the piece was too long and wanted it shortened, one was horrified at my lack of commas and put more in, the other took commas out.

So my next step is to print all 4 sets of edits and sit down with the original and just make a choice. Do I add a comma or take it out? Do I hunt down new content? What does the overall piece look like? Should I rearrange the articles so they go long, short, long, short? At the end I'm satisfied that we have a newsletter that's informative, well written and relatively free of flaws. I know some who would be horrified at my unwillingness to strive for absolute perfection. But this newsletter goes out on Monday and on Tuesday I'll be asking what should go in the next one.

Newsletter Creation - Out of Office Notes

Sending out a newsletter is always a tricky thing. Not the building the content, doing the editing, or dealing with an internet connection that's up and down like a yoyo. No, it's making sure that I don't go over my email limit with bouncebacks. Bouncebacks are the things that come back to my mailbox every time I send out the newsletter. These aren't undeliverable - these are the little notes that come back when someone is away from their desk and want me to know why that is. I used to just delete these notes without reading but then I realized that some of those bouncebacks were giving me new contact info that needs to be updated so I started reading them. And I got hooked

Why did I get hooked? Because some people just have to go beyond saying Out of Office Dec x to Dec y. Some people go a step beyond. Here are a few of my favorites from today's round (and some I get all the time). Names, companies and product names have been changed to protect the innocent

I will be out of the office starting 12/17/2008 and will not return until 01/05/2009.I will be out of the office from 12/17/2008 until 1/5/2009.For immediate assistance for Admin issues, please email Seth with your issue, CC Dave Smith and myself. You can also sametime Dave Smith. Dave Smith is my Admin backup. For other urgent issues please see the backup list below.Admin, and Support - Dave Smith, Admin Access - Jane Smith Manage Trouble Tickets - Contact me via cell Approvals - Contact me via cellI will have my cell and laptop close throughout the holidays. If you need urgent assistance you may contact me at my cell. I will respond within 1-2 hours, please leave a message if I do not answer.

Seriously - is this person actually going to get any vacation?


I'm away from the office with access to email. My response will be slower than usual but I will try to respond to urgent requests within 2-3 days.

Urgent and 2-3 days don't really seem to go together do they?

hello! my computer is with IT this afternoon and i won't have it back until thursday morning. i will reply to you as soon as possible. thank you,

Since the email that generated this response was sent on Friday morning things are not looking good with this person's computer.

For emergencies during the week of December 15th, please contact my manager.

This assumes we know his manager and how to get in touch. Not always a good assumption.

Vacating for the holidays. Back in the office on Monday, Jan. 5th. Best wishes for a restful season and Happy New Year!
Cheers

I love that she's vacating. And you can tell her thoughts are on restful.


Out of the office currently. I will respond to email when I return, for urgent issues please call my cell phone
May the force be with you.

I love working with technologists.

Have a Happy Holiday

Newsletter Creation - Updating the Database

Every time I send out our newsletter (or cfa) I go in to see who has signed up for our newsletter. I am always amazed that there are at least 40 or 50 people, who, in the course of two weeks found us and decided that yes I want to get that newsletter. Of course at least 5 or 6 are spam - with incredibly annoying names like hotsexhotsex. But my last step is to go into our salesforce account and pull out the new registrants and upload them into our constant contact system.

And of course after every newsletter goes out there are a few readers who decide they don't want us to continue bugging them and they disconnect. Since I need to respect their privacy I can't do what I would like, which is reach out to them and say why? Why don't you want my newsletter anymore? Are there too many articles, too few? Have we annoyed you in some bizarre way? Did you not like that we asked you to donate money? You do know we're a non-profit don't you? Was it that one typo I missed that turned you away? Have we somehow become irrelevant to you? What changed? But alas, without infinite hours of spare work time those questions go unasked. But the next time you turn off a newsletter you might want to drop the person writing it a little note and let them know why. We really do want to know.

Newsletter Creation - a monthly challenge

Twice every month I put together a newsletter. Or I should say a newsletter and a CFA. The CFA is a call for action - a document used to highlight our upcoming programs and all the deadlines, due dates, etc that require the reader to take action. The newsletter is supposed to be a bit more of an article driven document - with articles created by our staff, advisory board members, volunteers as well as myself. What has happened over the course of this year is that the two publications have slowly merged with articles appearing in both and our programs definitely becoming a focus. Communicating with our constituency once a month about our programs is just not enough.

When I was working at a telephone company in Lancaster PA in the 90's I also generated a newsletter, though on a quarterly basis. For one month I would gather and edit articles, eventually taking them to our printer (who was also our designer) who would lay out the articles. Then I would proofread it, he would make the corrections and off it would go to the printing press. They'd then be driven to our mailing house who would affix the mailing labels and postage and off they would go to our readers. And they were readers. It wasn't often they got a newsletter, especially from the utility. And I had learned that by offering special deals and at least two contests a year I could pretty much guarantee readership. Each holiday season, we called it Christmas in the heart of Amish country, we would offer a sumptuous prize - a giant christmas stocking filled with toys one year and a brand new hand made Amish sled from Intercourse PA's best sled maker. The fits our parent company had when it learned the sled had the word Intercourse on it was quite hysterical since of course no one outside our area could win the sled and everyone frequented Intercourse for its Amish quilt, pepper jam and chow chow. It took numerous calls to calm their nerves (they'd seen the newsletter with its picture with the word proudly displayed).

Today, I begin gathering articles about a week before the newsletter comes out, often receiving them the day I'm putting the newsletter together. I use a software called Constant Contact - a wonderous system that allows me to simply type in the articles, yes I do write some of them on the fly, or cut and paste them from the emails of my contributors. I can arrange and rearrange the articles to my hearts content and then with a simple push of a button I email it to my co-workers for proofreading. The next day I make the edits and off it goes. To a list of over 9000 worldwide. And the cost - a mere $40. A paper newsletter today would cost $4500 just for the postage alone.

If you'd like to receive the newsletter go to the Anita Borg website - http://www.anitaborg.org/get-involved/subscribe/.