--- title: "Deploy Members When the Media Comes Calling" id: "9927" type: "post" slug: "deploy-members-when-the-media-comes-calling" published_at: "2018-06-04T00:00:00+00:00" modified_at: "2026-03-15T02:53:34+00:00" url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/06/04/deploy-members-when-the-media-comes-calling/" markdown_url: "https://associationsnow.com/2018/06/04/deploy-members-when-the-media-comes-calling.md" excerpt: "Spend more than a minute on any social media platform, and you’ll quickly learn that even the smallest gaffe, inaccuracy, or misstatement can spiral out of control and capture even the most fleeting of attention spans. While political blocs can..." taxonomy_category: - "Marketing / Communications" taxonomy_post_tag: - "AI" - "ASAEcenter" - "Chapter/Component Relations" - "Communication Skills" - "Communications" - "Public Relations" - "public speaking" taxonomy_content_format: - "Article" taxonomy_role: - "Association CEO / Executive Director" - "Director" taxonomy_persona: - "Association Professionals" --- [Home](https://associationsnow.com/) » [Articles](https://associationsnow.com/format/article/) » Deploy Members When the Media Comes Calling Spend more than a minute on any social media platform, and you’ll quickly learn that even the smallest gaffe, inaccuracy, or misstatement can spiral out of control and capture even the most fleeting of attention spans. While political blocs can fire up their pundits to spin and pivot the discussion and corporations can roll out armies of PR reps manned with talking points, associations—and their budgets—aren’t built to employ a phalanx of promoters, deflectors, and explainers. Or are they? While an association CEO may be the face and official voice of an organization, it’s often staff and long-time members—typically your volunteer leaders—who are the content experts. They may know more about particular topics than even the most seasoned executive. There’s no reason to sequester them. Building a lineup of content specialists serves dual purposes: It reinforces the value of the association’s members and creates a deeper pool of knowledge that the organization can dip into. The Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM) has a list of individuals it can call when a clinical expert is needed to speak on a topic. These volunteers have received leadership training through the association’s Dan O’Keeffe Leadership Academy, where they attend two in-person meetings and participate in six follow-up phone calls to augment leadership and public speaking skills that may have been missing in their professional development. Kerri Wade, SMFM’s director of communications, says, “The leadership academy also helps us identify members for future roles in the organization as a committee or board member, where their value to us becomes even greater.” > Formal media training can ensure that volunteer experts are comfortable answering questions to neutralize controversy or frame your association or industry in a positive manner. As an added benefit, formal media training can be another way to ensure that experts are comfortable answering questions or maneuvering controversy depending on the circumstance. The training gives people an idea of how to act and react in front of a camera should the need—or opportunity—ever arise. After all, if there are wildfires ravaging California, who would the media rather turn to: your organization’s local California chapter Leader who can speak in detail and relate to the issue at hand, or a PR rep who’s 3,000 miles away and doesn’t know the nuances of the situation? Effective training can include videotaping your volunteer leaders as though they were on camera to highlight strengths such as speaking in clear, concise sentences, or being able to clarify incorrect information without sounding rude or accusatory. Filming also can identify tendencies to make unnatural movements, such as distracting hand gestures or awkward pauses while speaking. Often, SMFM will hold media training sessions in conjunction with its annual conference or board meeting where most, if not all, of the association’s volunteer leaders will be in attendance. ### Sending a Message The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) recently hired Maria Ibańez as its new chief marketing and communications officer. One of her first initiatives was to work with members of the AWIS National Governing Board on how to integrate and amplify messaging about the association into any public speeches, panel discussions, media interviews, or other talking engagements. She accomplished this with brief, individual phone calls that focused on key message points and how to best amplify them at upcoming engagements. Many associations are already doing an abbreviated version of this when they hold fly-in days or other legislative activities. Training for these events is often done virtually ahead of time and with the expectation that those who complete the orientation will be representative experts in their advocacy appearances. Why not expand the scope to include media skills? This is a high-impact, low-cost approach that most organizations can easily adopt. As much value as there is in having a PR agency as a communications and mission amplifier, no one knows your association better—and more genuinely—than your members. Train them to be the face of the organization, enable them to be the storyteller, and arm them to be informational experts. [Alan Chewning](https://associationsnow.com/author/alan-chewning/) Alan Chewning is Director of Community Engagement at the Association for Women in Science in Washington, DC. 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