By: Kathy Heasley, an EO Arizona Member

We’ve all faced it. The long email with what we know is important information, but there’s no time to actually read it. And the website that houses that important news somewhere, but who has time to search?It seems the “no time” phenomenon faces everyone in business these days, but still, the information must get through. In EO Arizona, we stopped fighting the time crunch and decided to take another approach to keep members in the know.

I’m EO Arizona’s Communications Chair, and I can’t tell you how many entrepreneurs have told me that they think they have ADD. They all say it, and in many cases, I think they are right. Successful people have the ability to take in abbreviated information and feel comfortable making decisions.

In our chapter, that need for a fast-paced communications vehicle was answered by Jamie Limber, the previous EO Arizona Communications Chair. In 2006, he created a short video, embedded it into an email and sent it to the EO Arizona members. I took over the post in July, and I knew a good thing when I saw it, so I’ve built upon it.

What Jamie started was ideal for our fast-paced, short-attention-span audience. We can deliver all the important chapter information in about four minutes and keep it engaging for entrepreneurs like us who are too impatient to read a long email.

The monthly Arizona Communicator videos now cover upcoming events, new members, sponsor updates, member benefits and more. My goal is to keep it short, clear and full of quality.

We pay a lot of attention to our script and use professional voice talent, design and music. Then we pull all the content together using Windows Movie Maker. We send it to the members through an email push system that tells us exactly who has opened the email and who has clicked on the Communicator video and the detail links. Everything is downloaded on demand from a remote server.

The whole system works flawlessly, and EO Arizona has already noted a rise in the number of members who are opening and viewing the Communicator. We’ve gotten lots of positive feedback, and every month we’re seeing more people engaged. That’s the purpose of it all— helping people benefit from their EO experience.