Distribution of Roles / P2

Most of the functions are time consuming. It is best if individuals take primary responsibility for each task. It is also very useful if each individual is competent in more than one task. This enables people to cover for each other.

Major roles are:

Training and scheduling of personnel (particularly important for volunteers)
Message collection
Editing and format
Distribution and sale
Liaison with organisers; interface with presenters; relationship to minutes/working groups etc.)

One feature of participant messaging is to draw out the shyer, less experienced and confident participants. There is much to be said for having outgoing, enthusiastic people interacting with conference participants, encouraging them to express their private thoughts as public insights. Like diffident suitors, conference participants can be encouraged to relate and express rather than staying in a passive, receiving mode. The interactive Bulletin opens up the opportunities for general and focused interaction of this type.

The phrase "interactive host[ess]" - one who has personal skills to set people at ease, engage them in dialogue and judiciously introduce them to others - has been mentioned semi-seriously and probably should be seen as a more thoughtful light. It can only be speculated the degree to which one-to-one conversations in non-structured time at conferences is the most significant component for many.

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Written by Nadia McLaren, Union of International Associations, with revisions and HTML layout by Robert Pollard, Information Habitat: Where Information Lives.