Who Else Wants to Connect with Great Communicators?

At a recent professional networking group event one of the other members asked me if I could tell him about organizations like the Federal Communicators Network (FCN). By way of background, FCN is a listserv that communicators in the federal government use to exchange ideas about the field of communications. The group, which also hosts teleconferences on communications topics, is not open to the public.

Here are a few other groups that are organizations for communicators that are open to both government staff and people who do not work for the government.

• The Public Relations Society of America – (PRSA) – PRSA is a community of more than 22,000 public relations and communications professionals in the United States. Additionally, more than 10,000 students are members of the Public Relations Student Society of America at colleagues and universities here and abroad. As an organization run by public relations professions, it’s no surprise that PRSA has a content rich website that details the services they offer to members.
• The Plain Language Action and Information Network (PLAIN) – PLAIN promotes the use of plain language for all government communications. The website provides resources, examples of plain language and advice to agencies that would like to improve their plain language skills
• International Association of Business Communicators – IABC serves professionals in the field of business communication, and aims to support its members with innovative thinking, shared best practices, learning opportunities and career guidance. The San Francisco, Calif.,-based networking society has 12,000 members in 80 countries.
• DC Web Women – Now open to men, DC Web Women is a professional organization with more than 3,000 members in the Washington, D.C., metro area who work in the technology area. Members specialize in the fields of blogging, copywriting, computer science, editing and proofreading, e-marketing, graphic design, information technology, marketing/communications, multimedia, search engine marketing and optimization, social media, web analytics, web content, web design, web development, and web editing.
• National Association of Government Communicators (NAGC) – NAGFC is a professional organization that connects members with other communicators at the federal, state, county, municipal, university and military levels of government. Members work as communications specialists, writers, editors, graphic artists, photographers, videographers, filmmakers, website developers and social media gurus in government agencies.
  

All opinions are my own and not those of my agency or the federal government as a whole. Follow me on Twitter: @JayKrasnow