Communication Tools

The Communication Tools the ILLUMINATION Team Uses to Keep the Lights On

The most effective way to communicate with other writers in front of, and behind the scenes

The ILLUMINATION publication is growing fast. Really fast.

Rapid growth can make members feel like they are out of the loop and/or aren’t being seen or heard. We don’t want that.

At the same time, things are moving so fast sometimes that it is hard to keep things straight. That is the purpose of this email. To lay out an easy-to-access guide for the best ways to communicate in and out of the Medium platform.

Ways we can communicate within the Medium platform:

Stories

The most obvious way to communicate, and the thing Medium does the best, is communication through stories. If you have an opinion, viewpoint, life-lesson, rant, frustration, celebration, achievement or shout-out then a story is the best way to do it.

Comments

The best way we have to respond to a story, or other comment, is by using the comment feature. Medium intends for those to be mini-stories in their own right, and so the editor for writing them behaves much like the story-editing tool. Most all of its features are there and you can even add pictures and tags.

Personal Messages

Anyone can leave a personal message on someone else’s story. There is a limited amount of text room available, so make your comments short and to the point. Only the story author and publication editors (if it is in a publication) can see those notes.

Highlights and Claps

Finally, we can use highlights and claps to send a non-text message, although this is a very ambiguous way to communicate. Ostensibly these both show support for the writer, however, people tend to interpret things by different standards, so if you want to be clear in your message, use a comment.

So. That is pretty much it. You cannot send a direct message, nor is there a way to access a Medium members email or other contact information unless they provide it in their bio or in their stories.

Ways to communicate outside the Medium platform:

ILLUMINATION has a lot going on outside the Medium platform as well. There is a Facebook page, Twitter account, a website dedicated to boosting our story visibility on search engines, several RSS feeds to news outlets, and no shortages of personal social media accounts like Instagram and Pinterest that feature ILLUMINATION stories.

But all of those are used exclusively for advertising and promotion. None of them are communication platforms. That is where Slack comes in.

Slack is the only and best way for the writers and editors of ILLUMINATION communicate quickly and directly with one another.

Slack

Slack has been described as the “Swiss Army Knife” of communication tools for people working together either formally or informally as a team. And, like a swiss army knife, it might look complicated, but you really only need to use one knife blade if you want and you can ignore the rest. But if you ever need a corkscrew or toothpick they are right there at your fingertips.

The “knife blade” of the ILLUMINATION Slack platform is the ability to ask questions and get quick answers or clarity. Personally, I have seen all of the following Medium-related questions asked and answered on Slack:

1. What is the best method for posting a story to the publication? 2. How do I access the daily read bulletin? 3. How should I format my pictures? 4. What is up with people that only give one clap? 5. How do I find the ILLUMINATION Twitter feed? 6. Has anyone had any luck with curation? 7. Why should I use tags in my stories? 8. How do people promote their stories? 9. How can I get more followers? 10. Where can I post a fiction story? 11. How do I use a screenshot in my story?

If you have ever wondered about any of these topics, or have any of your own questions, then Slack is the place for you as a writer on ILLUMINATION. Even if you do nothing else but use it as a good source of Medium-related information, Slack can be of great value to you.

Beyond that, if you choose to explore some of the other aspects, you will find Slack to be a great place to connect, collaborate and get some new insights into your fellow writers.

I know, you might be thinking that you don’t have room in your life for another program or app or tool. I get that. I felt the same way at first, and I was a reluctant addition to the Slack group.

Then, when I got there, I felt overwhelmed by all the activity and all the channels. But then I figured out the analogy to the swiss army knife and started using only what I needed from Slack. At soon as I adopted that approach, I began to realize the huge benefit of being part of the Slack writers’ group.

Most poignantly, when ILLUMINATION went dark for a day, all I had to do was jump on Slack to see what was going on. I wasn’t left in the shadows.

If you are still undecided, please consider this article below. I will give a quick tutorial on all the basics of opening the knife blade and finding value in Slack. It is a quick read (it has pictures) and will give you all you need to know to get started. Thanks for reading!

Timothy Key spent over 26 years in the fire service as a firefighter/paramedic and various fire chief management roles. He firmly believes that bad managers destroy more than companies, and good managers create a passion that is contagious. Compassion, grace and gratitude drive the world; or at least they should. Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, and join the mail list.