IABC Café

I recently learned about a television show in an African nation that reached half of the country’s population and effected real positive change. No, it wasn’t Oprah; it was “opera,” as in “soap opera!”

“Entertainment education” is a communication strategy that incorporates social learning theory, research on the influence of role models, and quality production values to create demonstrable positive changes in the behavior of people. For a more complete overview of the strategy and some amazing statistical results from several nations across the globe, listen to my podcast interview of Bill Ryerson, president of Population Media Center, the not-for-profit organization that is leading this program’s development and expansion.

I met Bill at the recent IABC International Conference in New Orleans, while we were discussing the IABC Advocacy Initiative during the Tuesday night Advocacy Dine-Around. During our discussion at the Dine-Around, Bill mentioned something that I hope IABC members (or any readers of this blog) might be able to help to accomplish.

The Population Media Center is in discussions with a large philanthropic organization that has expressed interest in funding a huge multi-country humanitarian effort in Africa. The goal is to address on a large scale, three [updated 7/24/07] two aspects of the HIV/AIDS epidemic:

• Communication that would result in positive behaviorial changes,
• Anti-retroviral treatment for HIV-infected individuals, and
• Orphan care based on supporting grass-root, community involvement so that children remain in their local community.

[7/24/07 update: Bill stated in an email, "I should correct some misinformation I gave you regarding the project. It turns out that we do not need to include a component for anti-retro viral treatment."]
As Bill told me, the Population Media Center is providing the communication component; however, he is still seeking organizations that can help provide the other two components in a multi-country effort.

If you or an organization you know might be able to join forces with the Population Media Center, contact Bill Ryerson directly at 1-802-985-8156 or email him at ryersonATpopulationmediaDOTorg (substitute an @ for the AT and a period for the DOT).

I would love to see this effort succeed…it might even make the Oprah Show!

I was glad to read the email yesterday from IABC headquarters, inviting me to participate in an online survey regarding Internet networking sites. It is a good move on IABC’s part, to inquire of its members whether we would find value in a site run by IABC.

The survey did not allow for comments. I sent an email inquiring about that, and the reply from Lee Anne Snedeker, senior vice president, Membership and Market Analysis, was:

[Our] focus was on gathering information that we could use quickly. Unfortunately, reading, compiling, and analyzing comments in a survey takes hours and hours, and we wanted to get a pulse of member thinking before then. We certainly will spend time gathering ideas from members as we move forward.

The desire to move quickly may be, in part, due to the intense comments that went back and forth regarding the future of associations including the IABC, in light of the emergence of popular sites like The Communicators’ Network, MyRagan, Facebook and LinkedIn. If you need to get up-to-speed on that discussion, I’ll suggest reading Shel Holtz’s blog post.

I hope that many IABC members complete the IABC survey. If comments had been allowed, I would have said that I don’t think that IABC should create a social networking site like those I mentioned above. The field is already crowded, and people will not be able to maintain an active presence on every social networking site that springs up. I think it is too late for IABC to get into that particular game.

IABC can still provide value to its members, and perhaps it can find a way to excel in offering some version of the functionality that we’ve seen in networking sites–some of which, like an online forum, blog, and podcasting, already are part of IABC’s mix.