{
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    "title" : "8 Ways Community of Practice (CoP) Managers Can Improve Member Engagement on Listservs |Digital.gov",
    "description": "8 Ways Community of Practice (CoP) Managers Can Improve Member Engagement on Listservs",
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    {"kicker" : "Communities","title" :"8 Ways Community of Practice (CoP) Managers Can Improve Member Engagement on Listservs","deck" : "","summary" : "Are you a Digital.gov Community of Practice (CoP) lead? Find yourself participating in a CoP discussion and wondering what else you can do? We’ve got some suggestions.","date" : "2021-05-21T09:31:00-05:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"katherine-spivey" : "Katherine Spivey"},"topics" : {
        
            "communication" : "Communication",
            "content-strategy" : "Content strategy",
            "customer-experience" : "Customer experience",
            "governance" : "Governance",
            "professional-development" : "Professional development",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
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      "filename" :"2021-05-21-8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2021/05/2021-05-21-8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2021/05/2021-05-21-8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2021/05/2021-05-21-8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs.md","slug" : "8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2021/05/21/8-ways-community-of-practice-cop-managers-can-improve-member-engagement-on-listservs/","weight" : "1","content" :"\u003cp\u003eMy experience as a community of practice manager spans managing the Digital.gov \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/plain-language/\"\u003ePlain Language Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e (PL CoP) for seven years. Also, I actively participated in a DC community of more than 3,000 members that promotes women in technology. In both of these experiences, I learned a lot about how to keep a community engaged and lively.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LISTSERV\"\u003eLISTSERV email groups\u003c/a\u003e are the lifeblood of our Digital.gov communities. Below are four techniques for using your LISTSERV to get people talking, and sharing their expertise and perspectives in your community. You may be surprised at the interesting conversations you can have, once you get people engaged and talking to one another.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"technique-sharing-an-article\"\u003eTechnique: Sharing an article\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne technique is to spur discussion. Do that by posting a relevant article, with a quote and a link. Title the message so the topic and purpose are clear. I add the word ARTICLE to the subject line.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"box \"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubject line:\u003c/strong\u003e ARTICLE: Using Chatbots To Improve Customer Experience\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody copy:\u003c/strong\u003e Check out this article on Using Chatbots To Improve Customer Experience. Better customer experience, faster response time, and longer availability are some of the many benefits of leveraging automation and artificial intelligence (AI). As more federal teams consider the use of chatbots to improve access for millions of people needing government services, here are some tips and lessons learned from three different case studies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRead the article: [Using Chatbots To Improve Customer Experience](Using Chatbots To Improve Customer Experience).\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePeople can share the email with their own teams or respond to the list with comments or questions. You can also follow up with related case studies or articles about the topic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"technique-creating-discussion\"\u003eTechnique: Creating discussion\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother technique is to bring up a problem you’re facing. I add DISCUSS to the subject line.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"box \"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubject line:\u003c/strong\u003e DISCUSS: Does your communications team consider Plain Language enough?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody copy:\u003c/strong\u003e We here at the Plain Language Community of Practice (CoP) believe that using plain language saves federal agencies time and money and provides better service to the American public. Do you feel your communications team considers plain language enough?\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes people respond to the entire community; sometimes they respond just to me. But it gets people thinking and responding, and sometimes it redirects a conversation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI find it also useful to post articles, podcasts, and book reviews and people often respond. In the Plain Language CoP, we have lively discussions about style guides, grammar references, and favorite non-grammar reference works. You can \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/topics/plain-language/\"\u003efind some of those resources here on Digital.gov\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can also ask for further recommendations when you post something. For example, I posted a Digital.gov webinar recommendation; I made sure that I asked for other people’s recommendations as well. People benefit from seeing other viewpoints.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"technique-sharing-jobs\"\u003eTechnique: Sharing jobs\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA popular technique is to share job openings. In the subject line, I put JOB: name of job, agency, closing date.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"box \"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubject line:\u003c/strong\u003e JOB, General Services Administration (GSA), January 20: Plain Language Editor \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody copy:\u003c/strong\u003e GSA is looking for a plain language editor: Insert link\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know nothing more about this position.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI also use something I learned from being a member of other LISTSERVs: I always put “I know nothing more about this/these positions” in my email. If I don’t add that wording, people ask if I’m hiring, if I’ll look at their resumes, or if I’ll put in a good word. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes people send me jobs to post. I always encourage other people to post their own jobs. I want people to get used to posing their own questions, responding to others, and keeping discussions going in the list.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"technique-posting-events\"\u003eTechnique: Posting events\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePost events, not only for your own CoP, but from other CoPs, including conferences and other things people might be interested in. Keep it relevant to your community’s interests. Remember that you may have people in your CoP from across the country, so don’t just focus on events in your geographic location. I add the word EVENT to the subject line. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"box \"\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSubject line:\u003c/strong\u003e EVENT, How To Navigate Challenges To Successfully A/B Test Your Emails \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBody copy:\u003c/strong\u003e Join members of Digital.gov’s \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/communities/a-b-testing-community/\"\u003eA/B Testing Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e on 1/11/2021 to learn how to A/B test your emails. Register below.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/event/2021/01/11/how-to-navigate-challenges-to-successfully-a-b-test-your-emails/\"\u003ehttps://digital.gov/event/2021/01/11/how-to-navigate-challenges-to-successfully-a-b-test-your-emails/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt doesn’t make a difference whether the events are free or not; people make their own decisions. Be careful not to appear to endorse private events, just share them as FYI.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"other-subject-lines-to-use\"\u003eOther subject lines to use\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn closing, here are four additional examples of subject line introductions, courtesy of \u003ca href=\"https://www.dcwebwomen.org/\"\u003eDC Web Women\u003c/a\u003e, you can use to share information that your members will be able to easily identify.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISO (In Search Of)\u003c/strong\u003e: You’re looking for a particular thing or a particular person.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eQ or QUESTION\u003c/strong\u003e: You have a question about any tech topic related to jobs, software, hardware, a problem you’re having with any of the above, etc.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSITESEEING\u003c/strong\u003e: A play on the word, sightseeing, use this to pass along an interesting, cool, or useful website — but not your own!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSUMMARY\u003c/strong\u003e: Be a good neighbor and post answers to questions you’ve asked – others may also be looking for the same thing.  Always remove the responders’ names and contact information from the summary – post only the information that was sent to you.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n"}
  ]
}