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When you work for an association publication, much of your work is in prodding and cajoling members to do something. Join our advocacy effort! Buy our book! Register for our meeting!

Here is what many readers are thinking: "Whatever." (Worse, they may be saying "whatever" to themselves with that infuriating blend of boredom and insolence that teenagers typically use.)

Sometimes, associations respond to member indifference by doing the same thing, just more of it. One article and one page about the annual meeting didn't get many registrants, so two articles and four pages are sure to.

Well, probably not. The problem likely isn't the intensity or frequency of the message, but the message itself. Getting people to respond means paying attention to their interest in doing something new.

In the field of health, for example, educators and counselors learned long ago that telling a person who enjoys smoking and has no desire to quit about the risks of lung cancer and emphysema is worse than talking to brick wall--not only does it not work, but the wall tends to become defensive and disinterested. Loss of lung elasticity has no relevance to a two-packs-a-day man.

Health counselors who work with patients like the unrepentant smoker now use the "readiness to change" model. Developed by James O. Prochaska, a psychologist at the University of Rhode Island, this simple model says there are five stages in a person deciding to do something new: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance. Precontemplation is the stage at which there is no intention to change behavior in the foreseeable future, and contemplation is the stage at which someone is thinking of changing, but hasn't made plans to do so yet.

Many of your readers and members are still in the precontemplation and contemplation stages. They are just not ready to get more involved, and telling them repeatedly how terrific the annual meeting is or why lobbying is so important is not going to bring them around.

For the member who has not gotten involved in the association and has no plans to soon (precontemplation), the task is simply to engage them in a conversation about their needs and interests so as to raise awareness. A smoker at this stage might be asked, "What do you like about smoking, and are you worried about weight gain if you quit?" Similarly, using Web-based polls or surveys, you can ask readers about their awareness of a particular issue.

For those who want to get more active in the association, but haven't gotten around to it yet, asking about the barriers to greater engagement is helpful. Just as you would ask a smoker, "What is it that keeps you from setting the date and quitting?" you can ask members, "What keeps you from attending the annual meeting? Price? Not knowing anyone yet? Fear that the program won't be relevant?" Again, use Web-based tools to start a good discussion.

Keep your expectations realistic. In any association, there is a sizable fraction of members who want nothing more than the magazine in the mailbox or the ability to purchase benefits like insurance.

Others, however, really do at some point want to get more engaged in your association's work. The trick to getting them there is not to keep telling them more about you. It is to keep asking more about them.

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