Communicating through images: Improving your effectiveness through photos, charts and infographics

People have used images to communicate since cavemen first painted hunting scenes on cave walls, and with good reason. Humans are hard-wired to process images quickly and easily. In fact, our brains process images astoundingly faster than written words — 60,000 times faster, according to popular estimates (http://links.ohioschoolboards.org/35711). Almost 50% of our brains are involved in visual processing. In addition, people retain information better when they see it in a visual format.

A preference for images isn’t simply a byproduct of our technology-driven, social media-focused world. It’s part of who we are. So, here are a few tips on using images to better engage your audiences and enhance your communications.

Building your visual toolbox

Images can be a vital way of breaking up text, drawing in readers and helping to tell your story. However, as with any task, knowing the best tool for the job is key. Following are a variety of image-based tools and a little bit about when and how to use each one.

  • Photographs
    As educators, we all know the power and impact of a photo. A great photograph of a child at play or in the classroom can be a hugely effective way of bringing readers in and helping them connect with your message. Whether you are featuring photos on your school website or in a parent newsletter, good quality photographs of your students should be a regular part of your district communications.
    Photos set the tone and convey emotion. They can create a sense of community and make readers feel like they are a part of your school or district. While there are lots of great stock photos out there, whenever possible, use photos of your students. Investing in a good-quality camera or hiring a photographer can result in wonderfully personal images that will resonate with your audiences.
  • Illustrations
    As with photos, illustrations can be a wonderful way to complement and enhance your communications. Illustrations can be particularly effective when you have a specific visual need and you don’t have a photo that does the job. Whether you are including an illustration of a proposed new school or featuring goofy caricatures of teachers on an awards event program, illustrations can enhance your communications.
  • Chart and graphs
    Charts and graphs — pie charts, bar graphs, line charts, flowcharts or organizational charts — are a staple of meetings, presentations and annual reports. These handy tools can be immensely valuable for a wide range of communication, from websites to fliers, and with a wide range of audiences, from board members to parents. Charts and graphs allow you to communicate data in a visual manner and can help your audience understand, retain and access key pieces of information more readily. However, in order for the chart or graph to be an effective communication tool, you need to keep its content focused and clear. A reader should be able to glance at the graphic and quickly understand its key takeaways.
  • ​​​​​​Infographics
    Infographics have gained popularity in recent years as an effective and versatile visual communication tool. An infographic is a representation of information in a graphic format. It is a mix of graphics, such as icons, drawings and symbols, and text. Infographics are designed to make complex information easy to understand, and they work well with how our brains process information. People use infographics to communicate key messages, present data in a clear and compelling format, point out patterns or trends in data and create visual timelines, among other uses.
    A good infographic needs three things: data, clear organization and proper use of visual elements, such as images and fonts. Infographics are most effective when they are simple and don’t contain too much information in one graphic. Remember, you are providing a break from text-heavy content. White space and a balance of text and graphics are key. Generally, an infographic will be most effective when it focuses on one key message rather than multiple messages. For some examples of how infographics are used in education, visit http://links.ohioschoolboards.org/74940.

Using images to tell your story

A picture or graphic can be powerful, but only when it helps to tell your story. As with anything you are communicating, make sure you have a clear and compelling message. What is it you are trying to get across? Why should your audience care? How does this image help you paint that picture and tell that story?

Visual communication tools can be a great way to cut through big blocks of text, simplify complex information or bring data to life. Once you have identified the story you want to tell, infographics and other visual tools

can help you draw readers to the key messages and highlight important takeaways. By effectively using visual communication tools, you can boost engagement with your content, improve absorption and retention of your information and make your communications more effective and impactful.

Additional resources

Contributed by Crystal Greene, communications consultant

Evaluate your election results: What to do when you win and when you lose

The November election is over, and the results are in. Whether you won or lost, your future election success depends on taking the time now to thoroughly review what you did and didn’t do in this election that made the difference.

Start by saying ‘thank you’

Find ways to say “thank you,” including:

  • By writing to each and every volunteer.
  • In school communications to staff, parents and key community members.
  • Via social media, in publications or even a newspaper ad to your community.

Review how well your campaign worked using measurements that show how well each campaign element was carried out

  • Conduct a postelection meeting with district staff responsible for information activities.
  • Conduct a postelection meeting with advocacy committee members.
  • At both meetings assess what worked, what didn’t and what you need to do differently next time. Use the forms following this article to help you organize those discussions.

Take time now to assess the accuracy of your research

  • Did you have an accurate random sample of your voters’ opinions about the measure?
  • Did you use what you learned from the survey to determine what to ask voters to approve?
  • Did your advocacy committee use the survey results to develop a research-based campaign?
  • Did the voters the campaign identified as potential “yes” voters vote? Or, did more voters identified as “no” voters turn out in larger numbers than anticipated?
  • Look at the election results precinct by precinct. Which areas of your district were most supportive? Least supportive? Why?
  • Are there voter groups and/or neighborhoods that need to be reconnected with your schools before they vote again? How will you communicate with them?
  • Use the form provided with this article to help you do the precinct analysis. Then use a precinct map of your district to color the precincts one color for yes and another color for no so that you can see visually where you need to work.

Keep your election information where you can find it.

  • Once you determine what worked, what didn’t and what you need to do differently next time, write it down.
  • Organize and store all your information, campaign materials/files and advocacy committee campaign materials/files electronically or physically.
  • Make sure all key people know where the materials/ files are stored and that the district’s information office or superintendent’s office has backup copies easily accessible for the next election.

Communicate next steps

If you won, communicate the work in progress:

  • Emphasize student achievement for operating fund measures.
  • Show project timelines and progress for bond measures.

If you lost, communicate the impacts:

  • Is what you said would happen now happening?
  • How is the measure’s failure impacting student learning?
  • What will the district do now to listen to the community and determine next steps?

Whether you won or lost, there are things that would have worked better had they been done differently. Now is the time to discuss those things, and record your findings. The following worksheets will help you do that:

  • Evaluation checklist
  • Voter turnout worksheet
  • School district election assessment: District information activities for (date/type) election
  • School district election assessment: Advocacy Committee activities for (date/type) election

Source: Election Success, C&M Communications

Contributed by Jeanne Magmer, communications consultant

Evaluation checklist

Common elements of successful finance elections

How does your election campaign measure up?

Did you ...

Yes

No

… have a good communications program in place long before your district even thought about placing a measure on the ballot?

 

 

… start early and plan well?

 

 

… have wide community involvement in the discussion of district needs and listen and respond to what you heard?

 

 

… have survey research that showed a fighting chance of winning (at least 60% when a simple majority is required)?

 

 

… make decisions about what to put on the ballot that reflected community priorities and were based on research?

 

 

… have well-planned information programs that explained the measure to all voters using their priorities as identified in research?

 

 

… recruit strong community leadership?

 

 

… have a well-organized, dedicated, hard-working advocacy committee?

 

 

… coordinate advocacy efforts with district/school information for maximum impact?

 

 

… conduct a targeted advocacy campaign planned to meet the unique needs of your community as identified by research?

 

 

… stick to your written, research-based campaign plans and carry them out 100%?

 

 

… identify enough “yes” voters?

 

 

… target the right messages to the right voters?

 

 

… deliver messages to voters with at least three contacts, most of them personal?

 

 

… most importantly, turn out “yes” voters to vote?

 

 

… plan and execute information and advocacy campaigns that set the stage for future election success?

 

 

Voter turnout worksheet

Precinct name or number

# of voters registered

# who voted

% who voted

# yes votes

% yes votes

# ID’d this precinct

# ID’s that voted this precinct

# no votes

% no votes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School district election assessment: District information activities for (date, type) election

Main strategies used

How well did it work?

Why did it work or not work?

Do we need more research to find out more, make recommendation for next time?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School district election assessment: Advocacy committee activities for (date, type) election

Main strategies used

How well did it work?

Why did it work or not work?

Do we need more research to find out more, make recommendation for next time?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The new currency: Getting their attention in three seconds

It’s no surprise that parents, staff and students — anyone you want to reach — are distracted by too much information, all day, every day. Getting their attention is the new currency.

Research from 2013 shows that 90% of the world’s data was generated in the previous two years — so you can imagine what’s happened since then.

This means short attention spans, which means people take a quick look at your website or newsletter and move on, or they ignore posts that don’t grab them immediately. Sadly, if you do an internet search for “attention spans,” you’ll learn they’ve shrunk from eight seconds to three.

Your website is still the first stop

For schools and school districts, social media and websites are still the first place “shoppers,” like parents, go for information. And senior citizens — the bulk of your voting population — still rely on searching official websites, along with targeted, personal emails from someone they trust from your school or district.

When people want information about you, say for an election, finance measure, boundary debate or to learn more about a rumor, they start online unless they are well-connected. In that case, they text a “what’s up” to the insider they trust, which starts a conversation. If you’ve grabbed their attention with a great post, they’ll keep clicking to read more before calling — the key in our increasingly “impersonal” world because that’s how people start their journey to becoming supporters (or detractors).

Do your messages connect with the right people?

How often have you landed on a website and been confused? You’ve likely given up and gone to the next search result, right?

Be clear, direct and specific for your audiences — from their point of view. Hopefully, you have “buttons” for each group: “Parent? Click here” or “No kids in school? Click here.” Once you’ve grabbed their attention, get to the point. Appeal to “what’s in it for me?” at a glance — in three seconds!

What draws immediate attention?

Use these elements as visuals and messages to grab your audiences:

  • Compelling photos of students, including one-minute videos of learning in action you “refresh” on a school or district’s website often, preferably once a week.
  • Student artwork, especially on compelling topics such as suicide, loneliness, substance abuse, graduating or anything that elicits an emotional response, but linking to positive action the school is taking. Or, just cute cartoons from kindergartners.
  • Leader messages with a headline, not “from the superintendent” and connecting to a quick video. Make them personal. For a quick live video at a special positive event, consider wearing a GoPro camera. Provide advance warning to visit a school or classroom. Anyone could do this, including a custodian, office staff member or a student or parent leader for a fun twist on “Why I love this school.”
  • Links to “Where your money goes in a nutshell” graphic or message, with contact information for more detail.
  • If you have the technology to connect with teachers (ClassDojo is a good tool), include that link.
  • “Ask the School Board link” rather than just listing your board members. Hopefully, you include their emails or a Q&A feature that encourages engagement.

Messaging is a hierarchy of ideas that helps people understand why your schools are worth supporting or enrolling in, what you’ll provide and why you offer the best choice.

Messaging guides the flow of content on your website and integrates into brochures, newsletters, key communicator emails. Jennifer Larsen Morrow of Creative Company, an Oregon marketing agency, offered these tip sheets to dive deeper into this flow:

Downloads require email sign up.

A final thought

Even in today’s digital communication age, the most important tool to build understanding and support for complex organizations like school districts is the conversations you have with the people sitting next to you. In fact, digital communications, such as texting, are making your communication even more personal — so keep your influencers (key communicators) informed well before they have to text you to learn what’s going on.

Contributed by Shannon Priem, APR, former Oregon School Boards Association communications director, and Jennifer Larsen Morrow, Creative Company.

Maintaining civility at board meetings

Most school board meetings tend to be routine and can even be a little boring. But, issues do come along that bring out passion and fill the boardroom. Perhaps you need to close a beloved small school as part of budget cuts? Or, maybe you want to allow your school- based health center to issue contraceptives?

How do you maintain a civil discourse while discussing these hot-button issues at board meetings?

It can be a challenge. Caught up in the moment, people sometimes get angry, emotional and make personal attacks as they advocate for or against issues they care deeply about. Board meetings can quickly get out of hand if the board doesn’t have — and follow — specific rules for conducting meetings.

It boils down to requiring people to treat each other with respect, even when they disagree.

A good first step is to follow rules of parliamentary procedure and, in particular, Robert’s Rules of Order. While these procedures can sometimes seem intimidating and overly formal, they provide a structure for conducting the meetings efficiently and fairly, with participation by the public.

Even when parliamentary procedure is followed, things can get chaotic if the board chair doesn’t enforce the rules and demand that speakers show common courtesy and decorum. It’s important to keep the discussion focused on the issue being debated and avoid degenerating into personal attacks. The board president should cut off a discussion that becomes too personal or disrespectful and make clear that the behavior is the problem, not the speaker’s opinion. Sometimes, if conversations get too heated, the president might need to call for a break to give people a chance to calm down and restore order.

Maintaining order is important not only to conducting business efficiently but also to create an atmosphere where people feel safe participating. When meetings devolve into loud, rowdy gatherings, many people are afraid to voice their opinion and become the target of ridicule or personal attacks. Some feel physically afraid.

By following established rules and treating all people with respect, the board can encourage active participation in board meetings in a way that allows for robust discussion without turning the meetings into battlefields.

Following are some other tips for maintaining civility at board meetings from the Institute for Local Government (www.ca-ilg.org):

Set a time limit

It’s often best to limit the time allotted to speakers to three minutes or some other designated amount so that a particular speaker doesn’t dominate the discussion. Assure people they all will be allowed a turn to speak. That can help prevent people from interrupting others out of fear they won’t have an opportunity to give their opinion or rebut a comment. To save time, remind people that if a previous speaker already has expressed his or her views, they could simply say they agree with the previous speaker. The goal is to create a culture where people are respectful of each other’s right to voice an opinion and participate in the meeting.

Outline the process

It can help reduce tension if the board chair, at the start of the meeting, outlines the process to be followed, including any limitations on public participation. Let people know if they need to sign up to speak. Review any time restrictions. Remind them to be respectful of others and that you will cut off any testimony that involves name calling or is otherwise derogatory.

Listen, listen, listen

Listening is an important way board members can show respect to speakers as well as learn what they want to share. Board members should listen with their whole bodies — making eye contact with the speaker, perhaps taking notes. They should show through their demeanor that they are really hearing and trying to understand what the speaker is saying, even if they don’t agree with it. Nothing riles the public more than if it thinks the board already has made a decision but is just going through the motions in hearing public testimony.

Separate people from the problem

Name calling, personal attacks and questioning people’s motives only raise tension instead of moving the conversation forward. The board president should immediately stop any discussion where this happens and remind the speaker to focus on the issue, not personalities.

No applause or heckling allowed

Ask people not to clap, cheer or boo the testimony of different speakers. It can be intimidating for people to share views that they fear will draw boos and ridicule. It also can encourage speakers to focus more on getting applause than in making their point in a respectful manner.

Call a recess

If people ignore the rules, start interrupting other speakers and things get out of hand, the board president should call a recess. A short break can calm things down and help restore order. If a recess does not work, it may be necessary to remove a disruptor from the meeting. Another option is to end the meeting.

Walk the talk

Board members need to follow the same rules of courtesy and respect as they expect the public to follow. These include:

  • limiting statements during discussions to those that move the conversation forward;
  • keeping remarks brief, to the point and nonrepetitive of comments others have made, other than to note agreement;
  • avoiding personal attacks, in public and private, and otherwise adhering to the strategies described above.

Contributed by Connie Potter, communications consultant

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