If you’re one of the thousand-plus attendees at IABC’s International Conference in New Orleans right now, you may have already run into one of the volunteers wearing “Advocacy — Ask Me” buttons and received your badge ribbon, along with a printed card telling about the Advocacy initiative.

In fact, that may be why you’re here, visiting the Advocacy Commons — to read some of the excellent comments posted by our colleagues, and hopefully to capture some of our excitement over what the future may bring.

This is exciting because by participating in the discussions, you can actually help influence IABC’s direction. The Advocacy initiative should reflect everyone’s concerns and ideas… including yours. We need your opinions, your suggestions and your feedback to help us make communications an even more integral and valued part of business and the world we live in.

So for ourselves, our association and our profession, be an Advocate!

PS: If you’d prefer to share your ideas or feedback with us offline, send an email to iabc.advocacy AT gmail-DOT-com.

It’s just a week before the start of IABC’s 2007 International Conference in New Orleans, and in addition to the many outstanding presentations, workshops, networking opportunities and other activities, we have some special Advocacy-related activities planned for those of you who will be coming to The Big Easy.

“Ask Me”

When you arrive at the conference (and throughout our four days in New Orleans), you’ll see some people wearing green “Advocacy — Ask Me” buttons. We’ll be greeting everyone we can, whether they’re IABC members or non-member colleagues, but especially those who may not be aware of the Advocacy initiative. To help spread the word, we’ll be handing out cards with information about Advocacy and encouraging more people to join us here in the Advocacy Commons.

We’ll also be handing out Advocacy badge ribbons. (Those of you who have attended previous conferences know that people keep adding these colorful ribbons until their badges look more like the cascade of medals on a general’s uniform!)

This is another way to build people’s awareness of our initiative and encourage them to join in our discussions here in the Advocacy Commons. It should be fun. So if you see one of us, Ask Me!

Announcing the Advocacy Dine-Around!

They say you can’t get a bad meal in New Orleans, and the dine-around on Tuesday, June 26, will carry on a conference tradition as groups of attendees choose from a roster of great restaurants for an evening of fabulous dining and fun.

As part of the dine-around, we’re inviting anyone who’s interested to join us for great food and an opportunity to talk about Advocacy. We’ll review our progress and plans for the future, but we want to spend the bulk of the time listening to your feedback and ideas and even do some brainstorming to explore new opportunities.

We’re holding the Advocacy dine-around at Remoulade on Bourbon Street, one of New Orleans’ great casual dining establishments.

If you’d like to participate, please sign up at the Dine-Around booth located adjacent to the conference registration area. Unfortunately, seating is limited, and it’s first-come-first-served — so sign up early!

We look forward to seeing many of you in N’awlins!

Since we started the Advocacy initiative last fall, I’ve heard comments like “oh, IABC will never change.” That we’re too cautious, too consensus-driven. Last week, those sentiments grew to a small chorus in a thread at my friend David Murray’s blog… capped by the statement, “there’s just too much ‘broke’ there and the IABC culture is just too weak to fix it.”

Gasp!

Is it really that bad? Are we so “stuck” that we can’t change? Could it be that we’re incapable of change? Even afraid of change?

I don’t think so — or else I wouldn’t be here. Let me tell you why.

First of all, I don’t like to dwell in the past. And to those who do, enough already! We can’t rewrite history. Yes, we’ve made mistakes along the way (who hasn’t?). Well, what better time to learn from them? What better time to focus on doing better?

Second, like most people, I find an element of safety and comfort in the status quo. It’s easier to keep things the way they are. Besides, change carries uncertainty and risk.

But the downside is even greater: everything around us is changing — business, society, technology, economies, families, everything — and if we don’t change with it, we’ll all lose.

Third, and perhaps most important, I believe in what we do — and I think most of you do, too. Our profession is filled with incredibly intelligent, talented, creative people who are deeply committed to improving the flow of information… to helping people and organizations succeed in every endeavor. We create meaning and acceptance. We build bridges of understanding. We promote dialogue.

We make a difference.

IABC is where we belong.

I’m not the only one who feels this way. I sense a growing desire to move forward… to build on the solid foundation of the many things we have done right… to raise the bar and then raise it again.

We know what we have to do. We have to be constructive, creative and committed. And confident that we can and will succeed.

So let’s stop dwelling in the past and move forward instead. For IABC, I believe that Change — and the Advocacy initiative — are ideas whose time has come. Fortunately, there are many others who now feel the same way. From the top down.

That’s why we started the Advocacy initiative. It’s an avenue to identify new opportunities that will benefit IABC, its members and the entire communications profession. And to build upon what we already have.

We’re ready.

Let’s not fool ourselves. It may not be easy. But it will be exciting. And I’m in it for the long haul.

Are you?