Meeting online

If you’ve ever been a member of a committee, you know how hard it can be to find a day that’s convenient for everyone to meet – and that can make it hard to move forward on a project. An e-mail group can alleviate this problem by giving each member the flexibility to participate in the discussion at a time that’s convenient. It also allows you to hold discussions between meetings – or sometimes even in lieu of them. Hundreds of Rotary-related groups, from clubs and districts to club presidents to Rotaractors, have already realized the benefits of staying in touch this way.

“Over the Internet, members can interact about service projects and make quick decisions without having to physically meet,” says S.R. Yogananda, past governor of District 3190 (India), who notes that issues as mundane as heavy traffic or as intractable as having members in different locations or even time zones can make it difficult for groups to get together.

An e-mail list is also an easy way to send out announcements about upcoming meetings or updates on projects. The Rotary Club of Evergreen, Colo., USA, for example, with more than 100 members, takes advantage of many of the features that Yahoo! Groups offer. “We have the ability to create calendar items that automatically send out notifications to club members and the ability to store documents that can be shared with members,” says Ben Allen, who maintains the club’s group.

According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 71 percent of U.S. adults are online. And since 91 percent of those online are sending and receiving e-mails, communicating through an e-mail group could be the perfect way for the members of your club, fellowship, or committee to set a meeting agenda or collaborate on a project.

Global networking

You might think that communicating online would make it more difficult to get to know your fellow Rotarians. But sometimes, e-mail can help strengthen connections. Greg Foster runs both the Web site and the e-mail group for the International Fellowship of Fishing Rotarians, which has members in 20 countries. “Members might use the group to get advice on where to fish if they’re traveling to a new area,” Foster says. “A member who lives in that area will offer to help.”

For Rotary Fellowships and Rotarian Action Groups, which have members all over the world, staying in contact online is a must. Mike Barr, who handles communication for Rotarians on the Internet (ROTI), says using the Internet helped his group become more knowledgeable about Rotary International and its programs.

“On the e-mail lists, we could all share what we knew or tell each other where to find information, so we grew much more knowledgeable about all aspects of Rotary,” says Barr. “Most of us were able to take on more responsibilities in our clubs and district. And many of us became editors of the club bulletins.” ROTI is working with RI to get clubs more comfortable with using technology. ROTI helps clubs use e-mail groups and Web sites to find sister clubs, keep track of Group Study Exchange teams, and find Matching Grant partners.

Operation basics

E-mail groups operate like mailing lists, but they can also function as forums for discussion. Members can receive and respond to individual e-mails throughout the day, or they can choose to receive groups of e-mails in a “daily digest” or participate in discussions on the group’s home page.

The person who sets up the e-mail group becomes its “owner”; this person sends out e-mail invitations to officially join the group. An e-mail group can be public, which allows anyone who is online to read the messages, or private. Once an e-mail group is formed, any member can initiate messages that go out to all the other members.

“You can set up the group so someone has to be invited in or be approved before they can see messages. You can also set it up so people can’t see each other’s e-mail addresses,” says Allen.

The downfall of many an e-mail group is when members lose interest, communication fizzles out, and the group stalls. Group members can keep things interesting by using features that allow them to upload content to the group’s Web page. A group member might upload a document for all members to view and discuss by e-mail. If your members are scattered around the globe, they can upload photos of themselves so faces can be associated with names. And remind members who have iPhones or BlackBerries that they can stay in touch with the e-mail group even when traveling or away from their desks.

Some e-mail limits

Although e-mail groups can be a great way to further your club’s service objectives, they do have their limitations. If you’re trying to get someone to volunteer for an activity, for instance, sending out a mass e-mail probably isn’t the best idea. “E-mail is usually a poor format to ask someone to do something,” Allen says. “If you need someone to sign up for something, a telephone call is more effective than e-mail.”

In a case like that, Allen suggests using the e-mail group to announce you may be making some calls to ask for volunteers. That gives members a heads-up about a current project without putting them on the spot.

Members who are new to e-mail groups should be reminded that when they respond to a group message, they need to check whether they’re responding to an individual or to the entire group. Just hitting “reply” will most likely result in the response being sent to the entire group membership. “Some people don’t know that if you reply to the e-mail, it’s going out to 150 people,” says Allen.

And finally, remember that if discussions are not current and evolving, a group won’t succeed. “To get the most out of any e-mail group, participate,” says Barr. “A moderator and preferably several others should be charged with bringing up subjects that subscribers can use in their clubs.”