How is the Club Thriving in 2015? Let Us Count -- the Five -- Ways

I am a quarter of the way through my National Press Club presidency. How am I doing so far?

More importantly, how is the Club doing?

I suggest there are five ways to answer the question.

But first, some background.

Before the year began, I set some objectives derived from the Club's five-year strategic plan. I shared these at my inaugural in January -- we will boost press-freedom efforts, bring new media voices into the Club and renew ourselves in all we do.

I took these intentions to Club leaders and committee chairs at our annual retreat in February. We brainstormed. How could we integrate the broad targets into our daily routines at the Club in 2015? We came up with a long list.

After the retreat, I decided it would be most productive -- and fun -- to boil the list down to five items that each of our 25 Club committees can do.

Why have common goals? We are the world's leading professional organization for journalists. While all our committees have independent streaks, it is also important to pull together and collectively advance goals to improve the profession we love.

The five goals that came out of the process are:

1. Each committee will do something press-freedom related.

Press-freedom is coming under assault worldwide as never before. Every committee can help raise our voice in response. For instance, Club Treasurer Marc Wojno, who leads pub-quiz nights, added press-freedom trivia questions at one of the quiz events. This was a small, simple step -- yet everyone who gathered in our pub that night was reminded of our press-freedom role.

2. Invite prospective Club members to committee events.

Only Club members serve on committees, but we must give future members a taste of what they will experience. We invite non-Club members to be guests at luncheons and Club mixers. Every committee can do something to engage future members.

3. Add one to three Club members to every committee.

Many of our committees are robust and active, with more than 20 members attending meetings. Some have five or so active members. No matter what the size, every committee can add at least one new member. With 25 committees, we will engage 25 to 75 members in new ways.

4. Highlight new, diverse faces -- and new Club voices -- in what we do.

I run into people with outdated views of the Club. They fail to realize how many new members we have and how we are training the next generation of journalists. We need to educate the public by inviting new, different members to attend our events, sit at a head tables, moderate panels or to be the focus of one of our feature articles or podcasts.

5. Improve use of social media.

We need to live tweet more events. Committees should designate a live tweeter. We must tweet and retweet Club news on our own feeds, use our own Facebook pages and intensify the Club's social-media presence.

In short, the world, and our profession, needs the Club more than ever. We must make our presence felt more broadly. These goals will help us do that.

Last month, I shared the five goals with committee chairs. I said we would track committees' progress through the year. The beauty of these goals is they are all easy to measure and quantify.

On April 20, I shared the five goals with the Club's Board of Governors. I invited the board to measure the success of myself -- and the Club -- by how well we deliver upon these targets.

I now invite you all to do the same. How are you doing? Let us count the five ways.

(If you are looking for a committee to join, drop me a line at [email protected] and put "NPC COMMITTEE" in the subject line.)