Beginning with the 2009-10 academic year and with its new partnership with NACDA at that time, the CoSIDA
leadership was invited to contribute to each issue of the
Athletics Administration Magazine. In October of 2009, CoSIDA President Justin Doherty penned the first "CoSIDA Column."
The most recent CoSIDA Column was authored by Barb Kowal, CoSIDA Director of External Affairs, shown below. This focuses on the importance and significance of CoSIDA's participation at the
NCAA National Convention in January and a look at the upcoming 2011 CoSIDA Convention and the importance of attending.
See archive of all CoSIDA Corners HERE.
In 2013 in Orlando, Fla., CoSIDA takes an important step forward when we align our annual Convention activities with the NACDA Convention and its affiliate associations. This new partnership will offer tremendous opportunities to engage and connect with various athletics colleagues and leaders.
Until then, there’s much to do in CoSIDA’s outreaches as we help our members get actively involved in strategic decision-making within their organizations, including finalizing plans for our annual Convention in June.
We are assisting our members with year-round continuing education and professional development opportunities, including a weekly newsletter, “Communications Watch: What’s New in Our Industry” with best practices/ professional development ideas, and also distribute a monthly “Communications Watch for Today’s AD” to interested athletics leaders.
We advocate for the athletics communications profession by partnering with leaders inside and outside intercollegiate athletics. CoSIDA’s involvement at the January NCAA Convention, at the invitation of NCAA Director of Public Relations and Media Relations Erik Christianson, was another step in this outreach.
When experts discuss the state of the communications/public relations profession, there’s the underlying message that some CEO’s — and communicators as well — don’t quite understand what we are and what we do. Yet, when you mention “strategic communications,” they get a much better perspective of what the profession represents.
There is a prevailing perception — actually, a reality — that some athletics communications pros are overly concerned with tactics and not big-picture results.
In the age of the 24/7 cable news, mobile communications and the social media juggernaut, we’ve seen amazing growth in our communication channels and tools. We are our own media now. Social media networks like Twitter and Facebook are redefining the communications paradigm.
Our new communication paradigm needs strategy and measurement to be successful. Who better to provide this than athletic communicators?
This brings us back to January’s NCAA Convention where strategic communications and digital communications needs were addressed.
Representing CoSIDA were Executive Director John Humenik; President Larry Dougherty (Temple); First VP Tom DiCamillo (Pacific West Conference); Barb Kowal, CoSIDA director of external affairs; Rich Herman (Clarion), DII-SIDA president; and Eric McDowell (Union), chair of CoSIDA’s college division management advisory committee. Being in attendance offered CoSIDA tremendous opportunities and visibility.
Two excellent panels and a discussion led by NCAA VP of Communications Bob Williams were geared toward athletics communications strategies. “Emerging Trends in Communications” included CoSIDA member Dr. Bill Smith, assistant AD/new media at Arkansas, as a panelist. The informative session was an interactive webcast where nearly 200 were reviewing online and blogging in a live Q&A session.
The “Evolution of Sports Information and Communications” session, moderated by Christianson, called for athletics communicators to become more connected to the university’s strategic communications plan and for their roles to move from “information director” to “communications director” — to include a higher demand for strategic thinking and execution.
Later, Williams addressed the Division II chancellors and presidents, emphasizing the need to communicate strategically. He challenged them to re-examine their communications structures and urged a greater collaboration between university relations and athletics communicators. The CoSIDA representatives also met with various divisional AD and commissioner groups; NCAA Division II VP Mike Racy and Division III VP Dan Dutcher; and additional NCAA championship leaders.
Discussion revolved around how CoSIDA members helped develop — and now use — strategies and toolkits for the DII and DIII branding platforms; the expansion of CoSIDA’s Capital One Academic All-America program for 2011-12, moving from two programs (university and college divisions) to four programs (DI, DII, DIII and another combining NAIA, Canadian and two-year schools). This expansion was met with great enthusiasm as it will nearly double the number of scholar-athletes recognized annually for this prestigious honor.
McDowell participated on a DIII educational panel focusing on the DIII branding identity campaign and spoke about ways to use these new strategies to publicize student-athletes’ accomplishments away from the playing field. McDowell and Herman also met with the national Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) group on how to best work together on campuses and tell their stories.
CoSIDA members can build on these discussion points at the June Convention, set for June 26-29 in Marco Island, Fla. The programming will center on “Gaining Influence with the Intercollegiate Community,” “Today’s Collegiate Communications and Role Development” and “Innovative Strategies for a Digital World.”
With the current economy and professional development travel cutbacks, there is much discussion on the legitimacy of attending conventions and conferences. Annually, the CoSIDA Convention is arguably the most affordable intercollegiate national conference. The 2011 CoSIDA member pre-registration fee of $195.00 is the lowest among all collegiate associations and a terrific value for the programming being offered.
With the support of so many in intercollegiate athletics, CoSIDA continues its strategic direction to re-position the athletics communicator’s profession. As we become more strategic and are seen as influencers, we can then best serve our organization’s missions.
Beginning with the 2009-10 academic year and with its new partnership with NACDA at that time, the CoSIDA leadership was invited to contribute to each issue of the
Athletics Administration Magazine. In October of 2009, CoSIDA President Justin Doherty penned the first "CoSIDA Column."
This academic year, the CoSIDA Corner authorships are rotating. To date, they have been authored by CoSIDA President Larry Dougherty of Temple University (in October); Eric McDowell (Union College), Chair of the CoSIDA College Division Management Advisory Committee (in November); CoSIDA 3rd Vice President Shelly Poe (Ohio University) in December; and CoSIDA Director of External Affairs Barb Kowal (in February and March).
Each
Athletics Administration issue is sent to over 10,000 university and athletics administrators, with CoSIDA's voice, thoughts and expertise shared with these key constituents. The magazine is published each October, November, December, February, March, April, June and August.
See the CoSIDA Corner archives HERE.