After attending the Constitutional Convention for Associated Students of Boise State University (ASBSU) earlier today and reflecting on the ample accusations thrown across the room, it made me contemplate how valuable documentation is. Competence can be questioned if we aren’t consistent – and even if we are, lacking a paper trail does not help. Word-of-mouth is a weak justification for saying that something was achieved; this is why evidence is so important. Engaging in conversations with the community is valuable, but many variables are often excluded when the landscape is merely anecdotal.
So where does documentation come in? At an administrative level, it is equitable to document the progress of action items through email, public agendas, and meeting notes. When working with a community, those groups should have access to the processes being agreed upon that will directly impact them. This includes consistency with information archival through official websites and relevant online forums. Furthermore, it is valuable to understand how many routes are available to collect user feedback about organizational changes: community events, town halls, tabling, and online surveys.
I recall that the survey sent out concerning the Constitutional Convention received ~250 responses; mind you, there are ~25,000 enrolled students. Those survey responses represented 1% of the student population. With enough proper prior planning, that number likely could have been much higher, but how? The irony of ASBSU representatives stating that common feedback included an overall disinterest in the formal processes of altering the constitution is that they expect college students to sit down and read an 18-page document of legal clauses and procedures.
My realization: the goals of an organization must be succinct with the reality of their audience. Within my own feedback on the survey, I commented that I only found out about the event from social media posts. This is where their audience is. If their true goal is to take student input into consideration at a legislative level, this requires changing their means of communication. I want to see content that expands on their initiatives and goes beyond the general date and time of events.
In a modern age of technology, we cannot complain that nobody is listening if we are plugged into a completely different outlet than the audience. This is why having a communications director, social media manager, or somebody with experience in advertising and copywriting is so valuable to an organization. To make change, we must make our story survive; a memory is fleeting, but words live on.