Waiting for a plane to Reno where I will speak at the National Water Conference later this week, I came across this curious advertisement from The Nature Conservancy of Illinois for a website called Start One Conversation.  The ad warns that up to half of the planet’s people are facing an imminent water shortage and urges viewers to visit the website, because “Action starts when people talk.”

Sounds great to me! So I pulled pulled up that webpage and was treated to a beautifully designed, impecably branded, jaw-droppingly boring website. There’s no “conversation” here at all. Just a bunch of grim news about the state of the planet and chest-thumping about how great The Nature Conservancy is. If you post a comment, TNC staff will screen it before it appears, and I didn’t see any other visitors’ comments as I toured the site.

Somewhere along the way, the people who put this campaign together got so absorbed in what they wanted to say that they lost perspective on the two-way nature of a “converation.” I predict with great confidence that this site will flop, so let’s show the sponsors an example of how they could have done it:

In 2001, the South Puget Environmental Education Clearinghouse (SPEECH) in Olympia, Washington created a Yahoo! Group called Envirotalk. Does it have a slick graphic design? Nope. Does it have it’s own URL? Nope. Do the organizers panic if somebody disagrees with them about something? Nope. Does it have a lively conversation that keeps people coming back again and again? Oh yeah!

The conversation thrives because the groundrules are more inviting. The group owner moderates who can join — no spammers or eco-evil doers please — but once you’re in, all members are equal. Unless a member makes a real ass out of themselves, they can participate how they want. The result is a rewarding conversation where people feel they have a forum to voice their own views and hear the views of others without some back office staff person censoring everything. It’s INTERESTING.

So here’s my advice to The Nature Conservancy of Illinois: Loosen up. If you want a conversation, show some respect and trust for the views of the people you hope will join the discussion. The world will not end if somebody posts a contrary opinion on your website.

P.S: For more insights into how to create a successful online conversation, read my free report “A Network of Networks.”