Tip for e-mailing OASIS organization members and lobbying for DITA 1.3

I've just sent off eight e-mails to various organizational members,
    and wanted to share some of the strategies that I used.

    
      
If you've met the person or know something about them -- Bring
        it up!

      

      
If the company voted for DITA 1.2 --Thank them!

      
Mention the involvement of other people at the company and cc
        the other people

      
If the person is on the OASIS Board of Directors or active
        with another TC -- Thank them for their service and hard work

      
Mention some other connection, such as geographic location or
        shared interests or whatever. 

      

    
    
How can you get the background information to do this?

    

    
      
The Excel spreadsheet that Tom will walk us through
        during our weekly calls lists whether the company is on the TC,
        uses DITA, or whether it voted for DITA 1.2.

      

      
During our calls, we need to share information about whom we
        know at various companies, especially if our contacts use DITA.

      

      
You can search on the OASIS Web site using the name of
        the OASIS organizational member and get lots of information. For
        example, searching on "Scott Hudson" lets you quickly know that
        he is involved with the DITA, Docbook, and Augmented Reality in
        Information Products (ARIP) TCs. Go to
        https://www.oasis-open.org/search .

      
You can go to the roster for the OASIS organizational
          voters:
        https://www.oasis-open.org/apps/org/workgroup/voting/members/roster.php

        Click on a person's name, and you go to a page where you can
        find out when the person became the organizational voter, their
        contact info, and whether they have attended any OASIS meetings,
        uploaded documents, opened action items, etc.

      

      
You can search on LinkedIn and see if any of your
        contacts knows a person.

      

    
    
I've already received an e-mail back from one company saying that
      they are eager to approve DITA 1.3!

    

    
    
    
-- 

      Best,

      Kris

      

      Kristen James Eberlein

      Chair, OASIS DITA Technical Committee

      Principal consultant, Eberlein Consulting

      www.eberleinconsulting.com

      +1 919 682-2290; kriseberlein (skype)