I’m a member of the International Association of Business Communicators, and a new member of its advocacy initiative, led by IABC member Mike Zimet.

We could debate a long time about the meaning of “advocacy” and how IABC could address it as an organization. I’m dividing the subject into three distinct parts, two of which have been discussed in Mike’s most recent post and all of the subsequent comments. I personally feel compelled to support the third part of advocacy, along with other interested IABC members. The three parts are:

1) Advocacy focused on our profession. Who has ever attended a communications-related conference or seminar without hearing someone say that communicators need a “seat at the table” where the decisions are made? This part of advocacy would help to raise the awareness of the role of effective, strategic communications within an organization or other operating entity.

2) Advocacy focused on our association. Mike Klein summarizes this by highlighting the need “to find more and more effective ways of promoting what our members bring to our clients and communities’ respective tables.” We must raise awareness of IABC, both from a leadership spokesperson perspective and as professionals within the organizations that employ our services. In the same recent post on the IABC Advocacy Commons, Kristen Sukalac makes an important distinction between an association and/or its members “speaking out” and “taking a position.”

3) Advocacy focused on social responsibility. I spent a lot of time at the recent IABC International Conference in New Orleans passing out information about the IABC Advocacy Initiative and talking with IABC members. I received the most enthusiastic responses when I talked about using our communication skills and experience to “make a difference” globally and locally, as we would support charitable organizations and causes, and allow them to “Be Heard.”

The vision that I discussed with Mike Zimet includes working with local IABC chapters throughout the world, helping them to identify local causes or organizations that need the kind of help that chapter members could provide on a pro-bono basis. This could:

• Enhance the professional image and personal self-esteem of individual chapter members who volunteer for pro-bono work in the local community. Want proof? Ask anyone who swung a hammer or carried lumber at the Habitat for Humanity project in New Orleans. Better yet, ask to see the video of the project that was shown at a general session during the IABC conference. Imagine how we will feel when we give back to the community using our greatest skill: The ability to communicate.
• Boost the image of local chapters by offering something tangible to promote in addition to the monthly networking luncheon.
• Enhance the image of IABC as an association, as it benefits from the many acts of service done by IABC members and chapters.

A beautiful part of this is that it can develop organically, without the need for micro-management by the IABC Executive Board, staff, or the heads of the Advocacy Initiative. These efforts would benefit from some way(s) to share ideas, resources, information and success stories. At little or no expense, that would be easy using various forms of social media, including wikis, blogs, instant messaging, vidcasting, and digital image storage–most of which is available right now from free-to-join social networking sites including The Communicators’ Network and MyRagan.

It is exciting to see the progress being made in different pieces of the advocacy initiative. I will be working on the social responsibility piece., and would love to hear from anyone interested in helping to make it happen. Contact me through this blog or by sending an email to tomATcommakazispeekDOTcom. (Substitute the @ symbol for AT and a period for DOT in this email address.) [UPDATE July 9, 2007] I’m deleting this invitation to contact me about the social responsibility portion of the IABC Advocacy Initiative because I don’t want to appear to be working apart from the IABC Advocacy team, led by Mike Zimet. A social responsibility subcommittee has been working under the IABC Advocacy Initiative group for several months. For now, your interest in participating is enough; we will hear more from the SR subcommittee about how to help in coming weeks.