We don’t want to think about it happening in our workplace, but with so many mass shootings in the U.S. organizations need to be ready By John LonghurstWith almost 200 mass shootings in the U.S. to date—the killing of eight people in Allen, TX on May 6 was number 199—members of Anabaptist Communicators who live in that country might be wondering: What will we do if it happens at my school, office or service project site?
One organization that has given that some thought is Landis Communities of Lititz, Pa. The organization, which provides residential services and care for older adults, has developed an Armed Intruder Response Plan to deal with an active shooter scenario. The Plan, which was developed in 2021 and updated in 2022, is designed to provide team members and others connected to Landis Communities with concrete actions they can take if someone shows up with an intent to cause harm. “It’s not something we like to think about, but it’s impossible to ignore it considering all the gun violence in America today,” said Larry Guengerich, who directs communications and engagement for Landis Communities, which has about 1,500 residents and clients located across five campuses and buildings, plus nearly 600 staff. The plan begins by defining an armed intruder as someone “actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people,” whether that is with a gun or other weapon. It then presents four actions staff and residents can take—four of what it calls “outs.” The first is “get out.” “That means to exit the building or room or wherever you are as quicky as possible,” Guengerich said, adding when people are in a safe location, they should call 911. If getting out isn’t possible, then people should “hide out” by finding a place to conceal themselves. “That means being quiet by silencing cell phones,” Guengerich said, adding it could also include “playing dead.” That leads to the next “out”— “keep the intruder out.” That includes locking and barring doors with heavy furniture or other items, he said. The last is “take out.” Since Campus Safety team members and other employees do not carry guns, this means using “weapons of opportunity,” said Guengerich, such as a fire extinguisher to throw at an intruder. “In keeping with our Anabaptist values, a lethal response is not an option,” he said. If an armed intruder should show up at one of their locations, all the doors would be automatically locked, the campus safety director would be notified and 911 would be called. At the same time, staff who are trained as part of the campus security team would spring into action. As for Guengerich, his job would be to work with the Leadership Team to guide internal and external communications. “My role it is to make sure everyone has the best and most accurate information, what we know, what we don’t know,” he said, noting that people could be hearing all sorts of things from unofficial sources on social media. He hopes he never has to put the plan into action. “We prefer not to think about it, but that’s not an option today,” he said. “So, we want to be prepared for the worst, even if we hope it never happens.” To get a copy of Landis Communities Armed Intruder Response Plan, contact Larry at lguengerich@landiscommunities.org.
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By John LonghurstDr. Curt Bechler, crisis communications expert, to present, answer questions “It’s not a matter of if, but when a crisis will happen.” That’s the view of Dr. Curt Bechler, CEO of Venture International, an agency based in Grand Rapids, MI that specializes in crisis and conflict management—including for Anabaptist/Mennonite schools and nonprofits. Bechler, who works behind the scenes to provide crisis management and assistance, will present about dealing with crisis situations at the next Anabaptist Communicators Talking Heads webinar on March 30. The webinar, which will give participants a chance to come with real-life questions that Bechler will answer, runs from noon to 1 PM EST. When it comes to a crisis, there are only two approaches, Bechler says: First, tell the truth. Second, tell it often, and on multiple platforms. At the same time, groups need to remember that “context, nuance and story matters,” he said. No matter what a group does, not everyone will accept the message. “Twenty percent will hate you, twenty percent will love you, the rest are in the middle making up their minds,” he said. “They just want you to make sense of a difficult situation.” Unfortunately, sexual abuse is a primary source of crisis communications, these days. “I deal with it at least every six weeks,” Bechler said. Crises can also be positive for organizations. “It’s a change point that allows it to grow and develop in unexpected ways,” he said. Many organizations still want to make crises just go away, hoping nobody will notice. But that’s impossible today in the world of social media. “There may have been a time when organizations had more control over the narrative, but no more,” he said. In addition to helping groups deal with crises, Bechler and his team help them prepare for them by building up their capacity. “We try to help them be ready for crises, to go beyond fight, flight or freeze,” he said. For the webinar, participants are asked to come with their questions, or to e-mail them to moderator, John Longhurst, in advance of the event. They can also be shared anonymously with Bechler for his response. Send questions to John at jdl562009@gmail.com Register for the free webinar here:
https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07ejocjxmj2073399e Will Braun, new editor of Canadian Mennonite, reflects on his vision for the magazine Interview by John Longhurst At the end of October last year, Will Braun became editor of Canadian Mennonite, replacing Ginny Hostetler. During an interview late last year, I asked him some questions about his new role and how he saw the future of the magazine.
Braun, 49, is married and the father of two boys. The family lives in on a farm in southern Manitoba about eight miles/12 kilometers from the U.S. border, where they have bees, laying hens and Icelandic sheep. The family is part of the Pembina Mennonite Fellowship, but also connects with St. Julian’s Table, a mixture of Anglican and Mennonite church practices. Did you ever think you’d become editor of Canadian Mennonite? I never imagined it. It is not the trajectory I planned out. What is the circulation of the magazine? It’s about 8,000, and that’s a challenge. The numbers are headed in the wrong direction. You live in Manitoba, but Canadian Mennonite is headquartered in Ontario. How will that work out? Actually, half the staff of the magazine aren’t at the Ontario office. Plus, we have correspondents across the country. I will travel to the Ontario office at least once a year. What is your vision for the magazine? I am really interested in what people are thinking. I would like for the magazine to go deeper into those thoughts so we can have adult conversations about challenging topics. I would like to create a model for healthy conversation about controversial topics during this time of change and evolution in the church. What controversial topics are you thinking about? LGBTQ+, Indigenous issues, climate change, Covid and mandates. These are among the hardest issues to talk about today. How people view them has become a litmus test for faith. It’s a tension. We need to find creative ways to hold that tension without losing people. What would you say to those who hold conservative views on those topics? I am thinking hard about how the magazine can serve people who are more conservative theologically. Some conservative people and congregations are leaving or talking about leaving Mennonite Church Canada. I regret that. I believe in diversity in the church. I want the magazine to do the hard work of making sure conservative readers stick around. We still need them. What would you say to progressives? I am becoming increasingly disenchanted with the left. It’s not only liberals who do good in the world. You don’t have to be an activist to be a good Christian. I have neighbours who love Trump and supported the trucker convoy and who are fine Christians. I don’t agree with them, but I’m not sure they are farther off the mark than me. What role can the church play in this? One thing that truly amazes me about the church and denominations is they are rare places, significant places, where people from different sides can meet and have interactions. There is something important that happens there. What concerns you about the polarization that is happening over some issues in the church? I worry that we are bringing back shunning in the form of cancel culture—things that can’t be discussed. For me, that’s problematic. There are some real pains and concerns out there. We need to find healthy ways through that. What role can Canadian Mennonite play? A magazine can take risks that other church bodies can’t. It can be a place where reasonable voices can talk. That said, I know it’s a daunting task. But if we don’t take risks, we won’t have room in our hearts for the stories we need to hear. Mennonite Church Canada is also becoming more diverse. How can the magazine address that? That is a challenge for us. We are basically a magazine made by white people for white people. We don’t need to spend too much time wringing our hands about that, but we need to find ways to address it. I would like to include the voices of people in newcomer churches and from churches in the global south. I would like to broaden the circle of conversation. I want to know what is going on with Anabaptists in India, Ethiopia and Columbia. All these global connections are an incredible gift to the Mennonite church. For too long our narrative in Canada has been about telling stories about all the good we do in the world. We used the world like a mirror to reflect our own generosity. I know that sounds harsh. I would like for us to tell stories that don’t just start and end with ourselves. Any final words? I love change and experimentation with different things. I want to open new windows from time to time and see what is going on in the world. Also, the older I get, the more imperfect I feel and the less sure I am about how right I am. I want to extend more grace and receive it. Cyneatha Millsaps to speak about engaging diverse audiences at Nov. 17-18 Anabaptist Communicators conferenc By John LonghurstBefore communicators start reaching out to diverse audiences—African Americans, Latinos, Indigenous people, others—they first need to make sure the organizations they work for are ready to receive them.
That’s the message from Cyneatha Millsaps, a pastor at Prairie St. Mennonite Church in Elkhart, Ind. For Millsaps, who is also Executive Director of Mennonite Women USA and is helping Goshen College reach out to the African American community in Elkhart, the first thing groups have to ask before starting to send out communications to diverse audiences is: “Why aren’t they here already? And what are we doing to prevent them from coming?” Those questions need to be honestly answered before starting any marketing or communications campaign geared towards people of colour, she added. “It needs to be an organization-wide discussion, not just in the communications, marketing, recruitment or fundraising departments,” she said. “Everyone needs to be moving in the same direction.” At the same time, before sending out any messages, organizations have to ask if they are ready to change to accommodate new people, she said. “Do you want to invite people to come and fit into your system? Or are you willing to adapt to their needs?” she asked. For colleges, this might mean changing when classes are offered—maybe evening classes are better for people from diverse communities, or more online classes. For organizations that recruit volunteers, maybe week-long volunteer stints don’t work for people with few resources and little vacation time. “You can’t reach out to other communities and expect them to fit into your way of doing things,” she said. Organizations should also take time to talk to the people they want to engage—find out what works for them, what they need, how they can be best served. “But don’t do that and then not do anything with the information,” Millsaps said. “That just feels exploitative.” Organizations should also be willing to face hard truths if they want to engage diverse audiences. “You have to know if there are people in the organization aren’t open to engaging and welcoming diverse audiences, or who don’t want to change,” she said, adding “It’s better to know it up front before inviting them in. Otherwise, when they arrive and don’t feel welcome it will be worse for you.” And at a time when schools and organizations are challenged to find new sources of support, she cautions against only seeing people of colour as a way to get students, volunteers or donations. “You shouldn’t do it just because you want to fill the seats, get more volunteers or more money,” she said. “It should be about relationships, and about wanting to engage and serve the needs of people in those communities—not just meet your needs.” For Millsaps, the bottom line for wanting to engage diverse audiences is: “Because there is a richness in inviting everyone to the table.” Millsaps will be speaking on November 18 at the conference. Click here to register! Importance of storytelling to be highlighted at Nov. 17-18 Anabaptist Communicators conference10/11/2022
For Mike Duerksen, stories are very important.
Duerksen, the founder and Executive Director of BuildGood, a fundraising consulting company based in Winnipeg, believes stories are the best way to connect with supporters, raise funds and further the cause and mission of non-profit groups, churches, denominations, schools and other organizations trying to make a difference in the world. Mike is a keynote speaker at Telling Stories in New Ways, the November 17-18 Anabaptist Communicators conference. He recently shared a bit about the importance of storytelling, especially today when trust in institutions is eroding. What are stories so important? They’ve been around as long as humans have. They are a way for people to understand each other, and the world. But of late they have taken on a new importance. Trust is down for institutions—for government, business, the church, other organizations. They can talk about themselves all they want, but many people don’t trust what they say about themselves. The best way for groups to share about themselves is not to quote the executive director or CEO, but to tell a story about a client or volunteer. Those are lived experiences about how an organization has made a difference in someone’s life. A story invites audiences into the lives of those affected by the work of the organization. At the same time, they can reflect the organization’s goals and values and help non-supporters see themselves in that world. What kind of stories should groups tell? There is a tendency for groups to tell only client stories—about the people who benefit from the services they provide. But I think it is just as important to tell stories about supporters, the people who volunteer or give money. They also have a reason for their support, and their stories can help others think about where to give their support. People think, “If someone like me supports that group, maybe I can, too.” What is happening in the world of supporter engagement today? Studies in the U.S., United Kingdom, Canada and Australia all show the same thing: The number of givers is decreasing. Giving is in a freefall the last ten years, and it’s not going to get better as the so-called “generous generation,” passes away. The data is clear: non-profits are relying on fewer and fewer donors to do more and more of the giving. How should organizations respond? One way is to just listen to supporters, find out what motivates them to support you, why they give or volunteer. Groups can get good insights and perhaps end up talking about themselves in a different way. Like talking about supporters in ways they can see themselves in your story. For example, one insight we have come across recently when surveying a donor file is the value of hard work and self-reliance for many people. So a story about a helpless client may not work as well for them as a story about someone who is trying as hard as they can to make progress, but simply can’t because of some obstacle that group can remove with a little help from its supporters. When it comes to fundraising, you are big believer in direct mail. Why? Because it still works. I’m channel agnostic. Direct mail is still a workhorse when it comes to fundraising results. For many organizations, online giving accounts for less than 15 percent of all giving. Canadian and U.S. data shows online giving overall hovers below 10 percent of all charitable giving. If donors stop responding to direct mail, we’ll stop using it in our fundraising. Why is the case? Direct mail is odd. For one thing, it is still seen by many as more trustworthy than something posted on social media or the Web. To create a direct mail piece, groups have to create it, print it and mail it. That all costs money. If a group is willing to pay something to send a message, that makes it more believable. It’s also a more tactile experience. It’s slower and more deliberate to walk from the mailbox and decide whether or not to keep and open a letter or put it directly into the recycling bin—as opposed to quickly skipping by a message online. It could also just be the case as people use e-mail more and more, a letter in the mailbox that is personally addressed seems more appealing. We now get upwards of 30 emails for every one piece of mail. So the attention economics are on the side of direct mail. If you think of seniors, who make up the core of donors in the U.S. and Canada, they remember when getting mail was more usual. They also like getting letters. But research also shows millennials are receptive to mailed appeals since they get so few letters in the mail. It’s more of an event for them and gets more attention. Hey—if even Amazon is mailing printed Christmas catalogues, maybe we need to think about mailing things to supporters, too! Mike will speak on November 17. Click here to register for the conference By David Cramer
What is the good news we have to communicate? For whom is this news good? And how do we communicate it in ways that are heard as good? Those are the questions asked by David Cramer, pastor at Keller Park in south Bend, Ind. and Managing Editor at the Institute for Mennonite Studies at AMBS, at last year's Anabaptist Communicators conference. Photo by Max Pixel | Creative Commons Michael Zigarelli to speak about how to influence like Jesus at Oct. 14-15, 2021, Virtual Anabaptist Communicators Conference
By John Longhurst At a time when people seem more polarized than ever, how can we find ways to communicate? For Michael Zigarelli, professor of leadership and strategy at Messiah University, one answer is to look to Jesus. Zigarelli, author of the book Influencing Like Jesus: 15 Principles of Persuasion and keynote speaker at the October 14-15, 2021, Anabaptist Communicators online conference, believes the life of Jesus provides good lessons for communicators trying to share important messages today. “It’s easy to think things are hopeless, why bother trying to communicate,” he says. “But we can do better than that by looking to Jesus—not just his teachings, but how he taught.” This includes things such as what we do before we communicate or say a word—the kind of person we are, the reputation or brand recognition of our organizations, and knowing our audience. “The better we know our audience, the better we can help them move in a certain direction,” he says. It also involves how we communicate, things like telling stories, using metaphors, asking questions, and offering credible evidence based on expertise. Choosing the most appropriate communicator to reach the intended audience is also important. “Older people in lab coats speaking scientific language isn’t the best way to persuade young adults to get vaccinated,” he says, referring to the current challenge of persuading people to take COVID-19 seriously. One thing that often doesn’t work is preaching at people. “People don’t like to be told to do something, even if it is in their best interest,” he says. “There’s no one-size fits all,” he says, adding while the truth of a message may not have changed, audiences today are different from 50 years ago. “The best approach is to do homework before starting any communication, to ask what will connect with the people we want to reach.” The conference runs from noon to 4:30 PM ET Oct. 14-15, 2021. In addition to Zigarelli’s keynote addresses, it includes panels on how to influence like Jesus as we come back together; influence like Jesus when using social media; and influence like Jesus to reach our supporters. Cost is $25 for members, $50 for non-members. Students in communications and journalism programs are free. Register today! By John Longhurst
They are among the five most-feared words for communicators: Facebook is tweaking its algorithm. That’s what the social media giant announced in April. According to Facebook, it is once again changing the way it organizes user’s News Feed, this time using direct feedback to prioritize content people find most valuable. Here’s what product management director Aastha Gupta said about the changes: “Our goal with News Feed is to arrange the posts from friends, Groups and Pages you follow to show you what matters most to you at the top of your feed. Our algorithm uses thousands of signals to rank posts for your News Feed with this goal in mind. This spring, we’re expanding on our work to use direct feedback from people who use Facebook to understand the content people find most valuable.” Which immediately raises the question for communicators: what content do people find most valuable? According to Facebook, the content people want most—what it calls “worth your time”—is inspirational. Said Facebook: “People have told us they want to see more inspiring and uplifting content in News Feed because it motivates them and can be useful to them outside of Facebook. For example, a post featuring a quote about community can inspire someone to spend more time volunteering, or a photo of a national park can inspire someone to spend more time in nature.” People also told them what they want to see less of. And what is that? Politics. To help create this new user experience, Facebook is running a series of global tests to understand which posts users find inspirational. It will incorporate those responses as a signal in News Feed ranking, “with the goal of showing people more inspirational posts closer to the top of their News Feed.” What does that mean for communicators? Nothing new, in one sense; Facebook has always been tweaking its algorithms. It’s something we live with all the time. And it’s also not new what people like on Facebook—they tend to like inspiring stories more than sad ones. So if you want to get noticed on that platform, it’s best to share the stories Facebook wants to promote, and users will like. Knowing what stories to share on which platform was the theme of the April Talking Heads with Anna Yoder, MCC social media coordinator, and Renata Buhler, MCC Canada marketing specialist. Titled Tending the Social Media Garden, they shared insights from MCC’s activity on social media using the image of a garden as a guide. One of those ideas was to pay attention to the soil—don’t plant papayas in Kansas. Pay attention, in other words, to what people want and like on the various platforms if you want to get a good crop of likes and shares. For MCC, on Facebook that means “planting” stories about material resources—those are the popular ones on that platform. And why is that? The top demographic—the “soil”—for MCC on Facebook is women 65-plus, the age and gender most likely to make comforters and donate other material resources. Along with material resources, other content that does well for MCC on Facebook (judging by the number of likes and shares) are alumni/donor/volunteer photos in a short story; timely posts about what’s happening in mainstream media; and disaster updates. On Instagram, which reaches older millennial women for MCC, the best posts feature stunning photos (especially landscapes, food, animals); user-generated photos featuring international staff; and photos with quote/text (especially re: advocacy relevant to what is happening in the mainstream media). On Twitter, which has more men than women as followers for MCC, the best posts are timely policy/advocacy posts, disaster updates and relevant or timely hashtags. When creating social media content, MCC tries to be clear on who the post is for—what soil they are planting in. That helps it determine which platform to share it on. While it is OK to have some general awareness goals, the more specific they can be the better. What are you thoughts about what you plant on social media? Photo by Firmbee.com on Unsplash By John Longhurst
A year after the pandemic was declared, how are some Christian communicators doing? That was the subject of a recent water cooler webinar sponsored by the Canadian Christian Communicators Association. “The workload ramped up significantly,” said one person, who works for a denomination. “Suddenly, everyone wanted to put things online.” That was the right thing to do, he said, but the communications department was not staffed to accommodate all of those urgent requests. Another communicator said he got “roped in” to helping colleagues at his office with their Zoom needs—setting up and managing webinars and meetings. He was happy to help, but it was not in his job description. Another person echoed those sentiments, noting that at her office there was a sudden up-swell in online meetings. Of course, everyone looked to communications for help, but nobody suggested taking other things off her desk. “I felt really burned out by December,” she said. “I needed a mental health break.” 2020, she added, “was one long scramble. I was always flying by the seat of my pants.” With everything across the country online, the editor of a national denominational publication noted she couldn’t use the usual response for why she couldn’t attend them all—she didn’t have the time or budget. But with the travel costs now zero, she found herself struggling to say no to everything the denomination wanted her to cover. “There were so many Zoom meetings I could have been going to all of them all the time,” she said. Worse, attending online meant not being able to take advantage of those important serendipitous hallway conversations that not only provide precious breaks in day-long meetings, but often provide interesting story opportunities. A concern for another editor is what will happen to legacy—print—media when the pandemic is over. Everyone knows print has a short shelf life, he said, but the pandemic may have accelerated its demise. He added so far nobody seems to be giving that much thought. For a couple of communicators, the pandemic shut down all of their projects. This gave them a chance to review communications and come up with new plans to be more strategic. “The pandemic gave us time for some conversations about what content we wanted to make,” said one. They could ask questions like “What do we pull back on? What can we do better? What content is most highly valued?” Another editor noted the pandemic made her think more intentionally about the needs of her staff. This included being deliberate about checking in to see how everyone was doing. Her magazine also instituted “no meetings Fridays,” so people could get a break from Zoom. Another organization mandated that nobody needed to reply to e-mails on Friday afternoons if they didn’t want to; at the same organization staff were encouraged to build in periods of “unavailable time.” One editor said a positive of the pandemic was she was getting more thank-you notes from readers. Near the end of the watercooler, someone wondered if everyone’s job descriptions will be changed post-COVID—so much has changed. So there you have it—a few thoughts from communicators after a year of lockdown. What was your experience? By John Longhurst Maybe you’ve seen this poem by Donna Ashworth, which has gone viral during the pandemic: You’re not imagining it, nobody seems to want to talk right now. Messages are brief and replies late. Talk of catch-ups on Zoom are perpetually put on hold. Group chats are no longer pinging all night long. It’s not you. It’s everyone. We are spent. We have nothing left to say. We are tired of saying ‘I miss you’ and ‘I can't wait for this to end.’ So we mostly say nothing, put our heads down and get through each day. You’re not imagining it. This is a state of being like no other we have ever known because we are all going through it together but so very far apart. Hang in there my friend. When the mood strikes, send out all those messages and don’t feel you have to apologize for being quiet. This is hard. No one is judging. I don’t know about you, but that poem rings true for me.
The pandemic drones drearily on, day after day, week after week, month after month. Some days it’s hard to get up the motivation to do much of anything at all. All too true, you say. But what does that mean for communicators, and especially for those involved in communicating about hard issues like international relief and development or justice issues? At a time when everyone is stressed, the people you are trying to reach aren’t terribly interested in having you add to their problems. They have enough problems of their own, already. That truth was brought home to me recently in an interview with communications researcher and campaign adviser Anat Shenker-Osorio in Slate magazine. In the article, Shenker-Osorio was asked what advice he would give to groups who are trying to engage people about important issues. One hallmark of non-profit messaging, he suggested, is that it uses some form of “‘Boy, have I got a problem for you,’” said Shenker-Osorio. The challenging thing about that approach, he said, was people already have “99 problems and they don’t want ours. They’re generally not shopping for new things to worry about. They have plenty on their plates, especially right now.” That idea stopped me in my tracks. Intuitively, I know it to be true. Especially now, during the pandemic, when many are just barely getting by. I know I don’t need more problems, more bad news, more information about things going wrong. So why would I think the people I am trying to communicate with need more problems, too? What I want are solutions. I want some good news. Tell me something that’s going right for a change. Something that makes me feel a bit better about this sorry old world. Don’t add to my list of problems, in other words. I've got enough already, thank-you very much. For communicators—especially those involved in hard issues like international relief and development or justice, climate change, natural disasters and the environment—this is a challenge. We know only too well about all the things going wrong in the world. How can we communicate about those things without making people turn the page or leave the page? People are looking for hope. For themselves and for others. Fortunately, we are also in the hope business, not just the problem business. Maybe now is the time to focus on hope, even just little bits of it. Especially now when, as the poem says, we all are spent, just putting our heads down to get through each day. Donna Ashworth’s poem, Ladies, Pass It On, is from her book To The Women: Words To Live By. Photo by Getty Images via the BBC. John blogs at Making the News Canada, where a version of this post first appeared. |