By Brent Killackey
In the world of officiating, it’s usually only when there’s a controversy on the field or court that the public takes notice of officiating. And the aftermath of those instances doesn’t make a particularly good environment to promote officiating and your association.
But simply hiding from the masses — only responding to defend your members when trouble arises — misses out on opportunities to raise the positive profile of officiating. Getting out the good news about your members and your association’s activities can serve to humanize officiating and make this endeavor even more attractive to those who might potentially join up.
What can your association do to raise its profile in a positive way?
- Take part in community events as an association. March in the annual community parade. Volunteer as a group for community events and fundraisers. Make members available to speak to local community groups about officiating. Start a sportsmanship award or scholarship program. Be visible in positive ways.
- Evaluate charity and fundraising events carefully. It’s one thing to participate in raising money for a cancer organization, but something different when it’s a booster club raising money for a specific school program. Don’t be afraid to say no if the association’s involvement could negatively impact perceptions of the association’s impartiality.
- Use the association’s website to highlight the positive activities of members and the group. Have an area to note involvement in community projects, fundraisers, scholarships and awards, whether given out by the association or received by members. Those types of activities humanize officials and make the endeavor more attractive to others — something that can help recruiting efforts. Make sure there’s a section of the website devoted to recruiting, letting people know how to become involved in officiating.
- Venture into social media — but carefully. Twitter, Facebook and other sites can be a great way to maintain a public profile. But officials and associations need to be mindful to be an ambassador for officiating. Posting specifics about assignments, other officials, conferences/schools, coaches, players or other personnel or commentary about specific plays goes down a path that ultimately can reflect poorly on the group. Create a policy that outlines what’s appropriate and what’s not. NASO offers some social media guidelines for officials and organizations; those guidelines can be found at naso.org.
- Consider sending a news release to your local newspapers on awards, fundraisers and other events, including recruitment drives. Many publications will run such notices at no charge.
Doing some or all of those things will raise your association’s profile. Done right, that’s good for promoting officiating and keeping your association strong.
Brent Killackey is Referee’s managing editor.
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