We spend some time each summer in a busy resort town in the white mountains of New Hampshire. On-season traffic clogs the narrow streets and overwhelms the traffic lights. Every day a few official traffic directors turn off the lights and take over. They get the lines of overheated cars and tourists moving again. These folks use big gestures, and every movement leaves no doubt as to when it is your turn.
Not all traffic directors are as easy to read. The gentleman at my son’s school is in charge of alternating car traffic with student traffic. His gestures are ambiguous. His waves look like stops, and his stops barely look like stops. Each morning I strain to figure out what to do.
There are times when our members want an unfettered creative license to pick their path but, there are many times when our members just want to know what to do. Not knowing what to do produces anxiety.
- Our members feel anxiety when they do not know where to go during a conference.
- Our members feel anxiety when they cannot find the room where the chapter meeting is being held.
- Our members feel anxiety when they do not know the process for becoming a mentor, becoming certified, becoming a speaker, or getting their CE credits.
Make signs and instructions accessible and easy to understand. Take all the guesswork out of procedural type interactions and your members will bring their best selves to association interactions.
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