How the Word Gets Out

I was thinking about this blog the other day and how I could make it more active. When people don't contribute as much, other people stop checking the blog, and it becomes a downward spiral.
This is a new way of communicating for some of us. It reminds me of a lesson I learned as a teacher:

One year we had a new principal come in after the school year was well under way. He wanted to have a PTA meeting, so he did the things most sensible principals would do:

He announced the information over the intercom.
He sent home a memo about the meeting.
He posted the memo in the staff room and around the school.

The night of the meeting, only about 3 parents showed up. This was a school that usually had a good showing on PTA nights-- what had happened? As it turned out, the new principal was unaware of the real communication system. No one listened to the intercom (too much junk) or looked in the teachers' lounge (no breaks) or read flyers (usually out of date).

What teachers did do was talk to certain people who I will call the hubs. Hubs are people who connect entire groups of people-- you know them, the ones who know your business before you know it yourself! Here in the Delta, most information still travels by good, old-fashioned word-of-mouth and it pays to know who the hubs are.

For example, when I was teaching 3rd Grade, I had a couple parents who tended to know most of the other parents. Whenever we had class events, I would call these parents first and get them involved and then sit back as the event took off on its own!

So to my fellow Leaders reading this, I want you to comment on who the hubs in your community are. Then maybe if some of y'all step up and create some interesting new posts, this blog can become the hub it needs to be for our group!