My Opinion On Mike Klein's Comments About The IABC's Flying Squad

In this interesting post from Michael Zimet from the IABC Advocacy Commons, Michael describes how the IABC has created a flying squad within the International Association of Business Communicators who will respond to current issues around communication in the news.

What I found interesting were the comments of Mike Klein in response to the post. He was very concerned that the flyer squad would not be representative of the whole of the IABC. And apparently from the list of issues he suggested the IABC might cover, "Affirmative Action, genetically modified food or the situation in the Gaza Strip," believes that the IABC will cover a very, very broad range of topics.

I think a professional organization like the IABC or the American Marketing Association is a gathering place for professionals who are interested in developing their profession and learning from each other. Where events happen in society that have some connection with an organization like the IABC or the AMA I personally believe its appropriate for those organizations to either have an opinion or find ways to encourage discussion and debate amongst their members and the wider society. The aqua teen hunger force event in Boston was a good example of a news event that was very marketing or communications related. While the national organization for the AMA did not enter into the community conversation about the event. My local chapter did, we held an event on the topic one month after the week of hunger force fiasco. I thought there could have been more marketing voices nationally in the discussion about the event, and I would have liked to have seen the national AMA publish an opinion or encourage its members to talk about the issue. The aqua teen hunger force example is one reason why I personally disagree with Mike Klein about the flying squad for the IABC, public relations is all about putting your organization within the context of your audience’s current conversations around a topic. What better way to promote the IABC then to demonstrate that it is run or has members who are savvy enough to give a helpful and useful opinion on a subject.

Now Mike Klein might be right in saying that the opinions may not represent all of the members, well, maybe the flying squad should not represent all of the members, but should be the personal opinions of some of its members. We might even get some divergent views, god forbid.

Mike Klein also suggested that the true mission or message of the IABC is "the message being the need to find more and more effective ways of promoting what our members bring to our clients and communities’ respective tables." This sounds like a sales message to me, and as a non-IABC member I am very unlikely to join an organization that just tells me I need to join the organization all the time. What's the value in that organization for me? When I join professional organizations I am looking to learn and to be challenged to a certain extent. I think the IABC is more likely to get me to join their organization if I think that either the organization or its members are taking a leadership position in the industry. To me the flying squad concept promotes the IABC and its members precisely because I would get to see the organization in action on a real issue rather than hearing about how good a particular member is at communicating in business.

For disclosure I am a past President of the Boston chapter, but as of July 1st 2007 I am no longer on the board after four years!