Ragan Postcard

Blog reactivation and new address for subscription

2006-05-12T08:27:00.000-05:00

The Ragan Postcard is about to start again. The subscription feed is moving; the new syndication link is http://feeds.feedburner.com/RaganPostcard

To re-activate your free subscription, please enter that address into your newsreader software. Or, simply visit the blog and subscribe again.

Topic categories have been added, and there's now an option to subscribe via e-mail.

New entries will commence in the coming week.

Thanks.

Audio Post: Andy Lark's session (summarized)

2005-10-20T18:58:00.000-05:00

A summary of Andy Lark's session, "How participatory communications is changing public relations: A walk through the blogosphere." Lark is CEO of The Lark Group and former vice president of global communications at Sun Microsystems and Nortel Networks.

Lark's Bark

2005-10-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

Andy Lark is a techno-evangelist. He's one of those people who can make technology seem really fresh by delving behind the mechanics and analyzing the way new tools impact communication. The change is nothing short of revolutionary - from transmitting content (one way) to engaging participation by stakeholders (two way).

The whole notion of a two-way dialog scares executives. Suddenly, they can't control the message. Their power to withhold information and discussion are gone.

All over the Net, on blogs and discussion forums, people are talking about your organization. It's a free for all of inside information, rumor and speculation. The shift started when Amazon let consumers write their own reviews of products. Andy says communication will never be the same, and that PR people better learn how to listen.

Lots more to come on this engaging keynote.

PS On one visual, Andy showed his newsreader. He reads Nevon!

How Much Content Should You Post Online?

2005-10-20T07:51:00.000-05:00

In a pre-conference session yesterday, one practitioner said that he feared putting too much information on his organization's Web site press room because "if reporters can find everything they need on their own, why would they ever call me?"

This comment took me aback. Media relations is a relationship business, thus I don't feel that working relationships should be dependent on controlling access to information - forcing reporters to call.

In fact, if we post a lot of content, we are more likely to get our organization's unique point of view across effectively. We can then use our "face time" (even if by telephone) with media to develop more a more strategic dialog about our plans, vision, and leadership.

Others in the room offered testimony about this concept. By posting lots of information, they reported that media called looking for more in depth information and quotes.

Interesting. We'll see what others think about this here in the Windy City.

Hot Topics in PR from Chicago

2005-10-20T07:50:00.000-05:00

PR people are always lamenting that other people won't let them do their job properly. Executives, lawyers and other know-it-alls edit words, topics and communication strategies. Then, when the modified plan fails to produce results, blame rests with the PR person.

Wrong! The issues of authorization, approval and counsel are important ones. As a profession, we need to advocate about the expertise we bring to the table. Goodness knows that our professional associations - well intentioned as they might be - are lame advocates for the profession (when is the last time you saw a business page story about communication?).

These are the issues we're discussing in Chicago at Ragan's Strategic Public Relations Conference. Experts are gathered to share best practices, tips and techniques that work inside organizations. We'll delve deep into media relations and new technologies.

Along the way, we'll interview attendees to find out what's on their mind. What's working, and what's not, in PR today? What are the big challenges and lessons learned?

We'll share all that and more with you right here. Stay tuned.

Biting the hand

2005-10-07T07:00:00.000-05:00

Our experience dealing with the Red Cross has been perplexing. They are terrific about raising money and assisting people struck by natural disasters. But their communication and organizational skills could use some improvement.

For the past five weeks, we have been unable to get through to the Red Cross financial assistance line. Everyone hands it out to us, but reaching it has been an acknowledged exercise in frustration. Katrina overwhelmed the system and flooded the agency with calls.

Then came Rita. These two back to back events maxed out systems and crisis plans.

We read the same media stories you do about the Red Cross sheltering evacuees in hotels and helping out with the bill. We wonder how that process works - and no volunteer we have met can tell us. We ended up paying our tab with precious emergency cash.

From shelter to shelter we go - looking for answers. Where are the key messages, information databases and frequently asked questions (FAQs)? And why are they taking information down on paper instead of computers? Who's going to re-enter data for a million-plus evacuees?

The Red Cross is making me cross.

D'Nile - A Lake in New Orleans

2005-09-30T16:37:00.000-05:00

Gerard Braud contributed this report. He is a former television environmental reporter:

Those of us from New Orleans will have lots of crisis communications lessons to share in the coming weeks. Since I specialize in crisis communications and write crisis plans, I'm about to die, seeing how unprepared my own home town is to communicate. My heart aches and I am sick so deep down inside that it is hard to put into words. Yes, I've previously offered to help, "but it's too expensive" and "we don't have time" were the responses. Those, by the way are the standard responses of most government agencies, most business and most other institutions. Yes, the City of New Orleans contacted me 3 years ago to write a crisis communications plan for them, and the job never got funded.

Ironically, in 1990 I did a television series called, "When the Big One Hits", that foretold all that we have seen unfold this past week with Hurricane Katrina. When I did the series, city leaders told me I was sensationalizing what might happen. I have so many secrets I could tell about how so much of this could have been avoided.

The biggest lesson I can share with my colleagues is to stop the denial in your companies and agencies. It can happen. It will happen. Maybe in a year-maybe in 50 years. Are you ready?

D'Nile isn't a river in Egypt: it is a large lake in the city of New Orleans.

Gerard Braud (Jared Bro)
Link to Web site and contact info

If the Intranet is part of your crisis plan

2005-09-30T14:05:00.000-05:00

If the Intranet is part of your crisis plan, you better update it today.

Intranets across the Gulf region went dark when the electricity went out. Servers housed or backed-up in the affected areas became inaccessible. Companies with key personnel and generators found themselves locked out of office buildings secured by landlords who were worried about looters and liability during a mandatory evacuation.

During the exodus from a land mass the size of Great Britain, many employees didn't have laptops or Internet access. Their primary focus was far more simple: food, water and shelter.

So how do you reach them? How do you get your workforce back up and running so you can resume operations? Ponder that reality. This is not a drill; it just happened.

Companies were forced to post internal information publicly. I previewed some early shots I captured for the audience here at Ragan's International Communication Leadership Summit in Toronto - and people seemed stunned to see benefits and other information posted openly on the Web. More to follow on this topic, including screen shots. We'll definitely delve into this in detail in Chicago at the upcoming PR conference.

Hurricane Katrina blew away crisis plans because of its sheer scale, scope and duration. For now, take a peek at this public message board for desperate employers.

Being the News

2005-09-30T08:50:00.000-05:00

When my 78-year old Mom gasped, I wheeled around. On CNN, Wolf Blitzer had cut to a reporter in a helicopter flying over New Orleans. They were headed to St. Bernard Parish (county), where Mama Pizzo has lived since my Dad returned from Korea.

Like watching a slow train wreck, we stared transfixed as bridges and roads we knew came into view above the flood waters. As the chopper flew slowly down the main thoroughfare, we traded knowing glances. This would be the first media report we've seen showing her neighborhood.

Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, her subdivision came into view. There was her pharmacy. A few seconds later, we saw the church and senior center where she lunched regularly. In a few surreal seconds, the new Wal-Mart Supercenter came into view, then grocery stores and other places at which she shopped.

All under water.

It's one thing to watch the news, yet another to be the news. It can be unnerving at times. While others see a city in ruins, we see familiar landmarks. We are haunted by memories and the realization that nothing will ever be the same. Friends and family are now dispersed over eleven states; the thought of a casual barbecue with familiar faces seems remote.

That was Katrina. When Rita came through the Gulf, it brought another tidal surge that flooded St. Bernard Parish a second time. I told Mom she should consider herself special - how many people can say they've been wiped out twice in one month? Not one to miss a counter punch, she retorted that she upgraded her home to an indoor swimming pool.

Humor is something the hurricane can't take away. Maybe it's a defense mechanism, but we're coping even as we cling to the images on TV like an ant to a crumb at a picnic.

We're starving for the New Orleans we knew and love.

Goodwill Goes Far

2005-09-19T14:20:00.000-05:00

Texas-style hospitality from Jason's Deli. It's the little things like this that impact an evacuee on a daily basis. Not only are we grateful - we're becoming regulars. This is a socially responsible way for a brand to make new customers and foster loyalty.

Re-populating New Orleans

2005-09-19T00:15:00.000-05:00

OOPS: the draft was published in error. This is the correct version:

It's hopeless for me to try to keep this blog in chronological order. Some events are swirling as fast as did the hurricane force winds.

Truth be told, I must confess that while writing has been cathartic, it also forces me to relive the pain and emotions of the past few weeks. People who think of me as the consummate gourmet might be surprised to know that I am perpetually sick to my stomach these days.

We're glued to the news in search of any information about our neighborhoods, yet the constant repetition of horrible images batters our brains. Knowing that our situation is out of our control, and in the hands of politicians jockeying for power and federal funds, is mind numbing. Call me a cynic, but the chances of money trickling down to affected evacuees seems like a cruel hoax. Corrupt politicians and land-grabbers are poised to pounce on the poverty stricken.

While the national media paints a sensationalist view, we find the best sources of local information are often less sophisticated and informal (examples: Charles, Mama Pizzo).

The news cycle du jour is about re-populating the less impacted areas of New Orleans. This seems more like public relations than public safety. Electricity is not restored, water is unfit for bathing much less drinking, phones are knocked out and 911 is down, and hospitals remain closed. The EPA has yet to weigh in on soil and sludge, and the public infrastructure is not fully restored.

We know a few brave souls who made the trek. They promptly left, disheartened by the chaos. Roads are blocked by trees and power lines, and debris remains widespread. Flat tires are commonplace because boards with nails litter the streets. Mama Pizzo's neighbor navigated the security checkpoints but was unable to reach his home by car or boat due to massive destruction and downed trees. His call to her, stating that the area "looked like an atomic bomb had dropped," prompted days of crying and worry.

The news by a parish (county) official on TV that 30,000 homes would have to be bulldozed produced an impromptu breakdown at the dinner table the other night. Our plates are full on many levels - not all good.

It's probably safe to say that one's outlook depends on whether your worldly possessions, livelihood and memories are safely on high ground or completely submerged in toxic crap.

In one particular e-mail list I am on, a fellow PR practitioner is rallying for the city - calling for a return of tourists. The message is "let's support New Orleans and its businesses." Noble, but not without issues. I just read about armed guards with shotguns posted outside the Sheraton. I wonder if the tourist commission in Baghdad is offering the same line?

The tourist economy of New Orleans is vital, so I can understand why people want to protect it. From where I sit, though, this seems surreal. A friend who owns an establishment in the French Quarter visited his business then turned around for Florida. He called the return "premature."

Yet another friend who owns Mother's Restaurant jumped at the chance to go home, electricity or not. He wants to inspect his business - alarmingly close to the Convention Center and the epicenter of a lot of human misery - and get back to work. Life as an evacuee is making him stir crazy; he'd much rather stir a pot of gumbo propped on a propane tank on the sidewalk.

What's right, what's wrong? Nobody really knows.

On the Road

2005-09-15T11:10:00.000-05:00

No doubt many of you saw pictures of gridlock in New Orleans once the city finally called for an evacuation. A mass exodus on that scale simply overwhelms roads.

One lesson we learned during the last evacuation, during Hurricane Ivan in 2004, was that it's a waste of time and gas to evacuate during daylight hours. At that time, it took us 13-1/2 hours to drive to Houston because of traffic - normally a six to seven hour run. We had heard reports that people who left at night escaped such delays.

Thus, in addition to having a plan, we had a strategy. We would pack the essentials, nap, then leave under cover of darkness - in the middle of the night.

Indeed, we sailed northwest past the major bottleneck - a mere two lane bridge across the mighty Mississippi River in Baton Rouge in record time. Once past, we alternated between cat naps and sprints of one or two hours of drive time. The plan was simple: stay ahead of those who would flee in the morning once the evacuation order was called.

As we approached Alexandria, mid-morning on Sunday, we heard reports on the radio that the interstate leaving The Big Easy had become a parking lot. We were the lucky ones, out ahead of the pack and driving a Honda Civic gas-electric hybrid that used comparably little fuel.

Emotionally, we were wrecks. Reports on the radio were so dire that we had to switch it off in favor of some calming classical pablum. Anything to soothe the nerves.

Though our stomachs were in knots, we stopped at a convenience store for juice. Behind the counter, a large television confronted us with images of the storm, massive and bearing down on New Orleans with category five winds clocked at 175 miles per hour (282 kilometers).

My whole body convulsed, and I almost puked right on the floor. It was all I could do to hand the juice off to Mom and run outside for some fresh air.

Not So Easy to Evacuate

2005-09-14T15:00:00.000-05:00

While pundits and critics debate why people did not evacuate the Gulf Coast, I thought it would be useful for professionals in the lodging industry to learn about our experience.

There is no centralized hotel/motel reservation system to assist during a major evacuation.

Neither government nor relief agencies have addressed this bottleneck.

Hotel chains ceded control to local properties rendering (800) numbers useless.

Hotel Web sites indicated reservations could no longer be accepted online.

We called over 50 properties individually looking for space.

Overwhelmed themselves, front desks resorted to using paper to tally reservations.

Evacuees without computers and Internet access would not have found out of town hotel telephone numbers readily.

Some people hedge their bets by making multiple reservations in various cities, holding them until the last possible second before canceling - artificially depleting the emergency inventory.

This one major breakdown in the system had the most impact on the time we had to pack (little).

It took us five (5) hours before we landed a reservation .

Our experience was exacerbated because of special needs: handicap accessible and pet friendly. That was like threading a needle during a hurricane.

There was limited-to-no messaging advising people they could stay in rest areas (normally illegal).

It was not until we started driving that we found out that the Red Cross had set up tents at interstate exchanges to divert those without hotel reservations to shelters.

Systems, processes and communication failed to save lives.

Locating safe harbor is one item for which you can't prepare until you know the projected path of the hurricane. Then, you head far inland in the opposite direction.

Until the lodging industry, relief agencies and/or government address this issue, many people are going to remain cut off in their quest to find shelter from the storm. This issue is not socio-economic. Some homes do not have computers or broadband, and there will always be a percentage of people who don't know how to manually search for lodging in unfamiliar cities.

Those with limited patience become frustrated and make the fatal decision to stay home. Seniors who cannot navigate this maze come up short. After the storm, we learned of two elderly neighbors of my dog sitter who could not locate a place to go in time.

They drowned.

Mom's Home Devastated + Contaminated

2005-09-14T14:31:00.000-05:00

Mom has lived in St. Bernard Parish (County) since 1959; I grew up there.

St. Bernard parish residents face months of waiting
12 Sep 2005 22:47:39 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La., Sept 12 (Reuters) - Hundreds of St. Bernard Parish residents descended on the Louisiana capitol on Monday looking for answers and were told it could take months to clean up their parish, the site of a major oil spill during Hurricane Katrina. (more)

Source: Reuters

Looting in My Neighborhood

2005-09-14T14:20:00.000-05:00

My home/office is in Lakeview (New Orleans) on Robert E Lee Blvd.

Lakeview patrols target looters' boats
Rowboats, kayaks towed away, sunk

By Paul Purpura
Staff writer

A small rowboat gently tapping the front door at 6069 Argonne Blvd. caught the attention of National Guardsmen patrolling Lakeview Tuesday, seeking survivors, looters and the dead. (more)

Source: http://www.nola.com/

Damned Politicians

2005-09-12T23:30:00.000-05:00

A lot of attention has focused on leaders at all levels of government. Why the hell are politicians pointing fingers when they could be using their hands to fish the dead bodies of fellow Americans out of flood-ravaged waters in our homeland? To push people in wheelchairs out of nursing homes? To pick up pets stranded on tree branches and front porches?

After seeing the lack of preparedness to deal with this disaster, who feels there is more coordinated security between the federal, state and local level?

Leaders must back their words with action. Much of the Gulf Coast got blown away or flooded while local, state and federal officials feuded over whose fault it was, who had control, and other arcane bureaucratic administrivia. They cared about government, not governing.

Save lives, not votes.

Followership

2005-09-12T23:00:00.000-05:00

There has been a lot of talk about failures of leadership. In one conversation, Tom Lattanzio raised an interesting point regarding failures of followership. The essence is simple: for leaders to lead effectively, there must be followers.

This is an interesting concept which has implications for employee communication. I hope we'll get to discuss this in Chicago.

In the case of Hurricane Katrina, many people failed to follow evacuation orders. They did not take personal responsibility or ownership of the impending crisis situation.

This notion is controversial because some people did not have the means to leave town. Ideally, everyone would have a plan that might include some emergency cash for evacuation. But New Orleans is a poor city where many live hand to praline, and they expected leaders to provide for them. People will debate this dilemma for years to come.

My own decision tree was simple: evacuate if a storm escalated to category three or higher and was projected to pass within 100-150 miles of New Orleans. Mama Pizzo is almost legally handicapped, so I knew she couldn't climb onto a roof or into a boat during a rescue. I also felt a responsibility to take my pet - as well as myself - out of harm's way.

As soon as I returned home Friday night, I went online to read the news. There it was, a satellite image so chilling that I paused: this storm was huge.

Staying put was not an option.

In the morning, I kicked Mama Pizzo into high gear. "Pack what you can, and grab your prescriptions. We gassed up the car and withdrew cash. We also had a cache of traveler's checks ready to go, as well as some important papers in boxes prepared to stuff into the trunk.

To keep up with the weather, I had long ago registered with a local television station that offered severe weather alerts. It dawned on me that e-mail would be useless during the evacuation, so I registered to have alerts sent directly to my cell phone.

As the frequency and intensity of alerts increased, I started sending them via text message to my IABC colleagues who were meeting at the Hilton. It was time to raise the red flag. They felt safe because their hotel was a hurricane-rated shelter, yet I implored them to come with us or rent a car and drive north by northwest. "Get out of Dodge!"

This plan was basic, hardly all encompassing. Yet it allowed us to follow the evacuation orders earlier than the mandatory edict. We took that responsibility upon ourselves.

Why Some People Stayed Behind

2005-09-12T08:50:00.000-05:00

For any rational person watching the debacle in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast from a distance, a logical question is "why did some people stay behind?" The media has played up the socio-economic angle, that many people did not have transportation. That's true - and perhaps the most compelling for television images - but it's not the whole story. Not by a nautical mile.

First, the storm turned toward New Orleans late during a Friday new cycle. Early media reports had assured people that a trough of high pressure would veer the storm elsewhere. If you missed the news, you were caught unaware by the deadly change in direction. There were no sirens, no police on the street urging people to evacuate.

Even I did not know. That Friday night, I was out entertaining members of the IABC Executive Committee who were in town for a meeting when I bumped into an acquaintance. He expressed surprise that I was not home making preparations? "For what?" I replied. I had been in commercial establishments all night and nary a word of warning was expressed. Police in the French Quarter were on the beat, but not one urged the crowd to go home. A killer offshore was taking aim, and many people were simply unaware.

Second, there was a local attitude of laissez-faire. Some people who had evacuated for Hurricanes Georges and Ivan - which jogged at the last minute and spared New Orleans - felt a false sense of security. They had become insulated to the warning signs, immune to the communication. The headaches of traffic and lodging which had plagued the last two evacuations likely remained top of mind for many, and escalating gas prices only made the situation more difficult.

For anyone familiar with behavior-based safety, this willingness to risk life and limb in the face of a storm four-states wide and packing a powerful punch is tantamount to civic suicide.

But the biggest factor, in my humble opinion, was the weak and indecisive messaging by leaders. They vacillated in the face of disaster, delivering wishy-washy statements watered down by lawyers. Calling for a citywide evacuation is no small undertaking, and the city was clearly unprepared. Rather than plainly state that people should leave, they rattled off impotent messages: if you have the means to go, now might be a nice time to go visit someone 400 miles northwest while this thing passes. They had a hard time making up their minds that this was a real emergency.

The clincher for me personally came at 10:40 p.m. on Saturday night when the mayor appeared live on television. The city wasn't calling for an evacuation, it was merely looking into a way legally that it could possibly maybe potentially call one in the morning. A sharp reporter picked up on this and asked if legal concerns were the only thing preventing him from calling a mandatory evacuation. The mayor mumbled something about exposure and liability if the city could not marshal the resources to provide transportation in time.

Politics before people. Liability before life. A legal system that betrays timely communication.

Studies indicate that it would take 72 hours to evacuate the New Orleans metropolitan area, but the order didn't come until less than 12 hours before the onset of gale force winds.

Thank God we had pulled the trigger and fled in the middle of the night.

Postcard from the Edge

2005-09-12T07:00:00.000-05:00

Until recently, I lived in New Orleans. Now my life is submerged under toxic lake waters.

The number of stories I have written in my head over the last two weeks has been mind numbing. The cogs have been turning, yet the upheaval and loss in the wake of Hurricane Katrina definitely impacted my work flow. Things have stabilized a bit, and we find ourselves in Texas in the care of two real-life angels in the form of Red Cross volunteers.

Now it's time to unleash a flood of observations about the communication lessons learned and our experience as evacuees. Swirling in a sea of rumors, media speculation and red tape, we've been confused and disoriented. But we're alive and safe, and that's what is truly important.

As I organize my thoughts and look at what went wrong - from an insider's, first-hand perspective - I'll share my notes here. The good folks at Ragan have set aside some time at the upcoming Strategic PR conference to talk about these issues. As someone living through this nightmare, I have a lot of passion to unleash about the topic. I believe this will become an added session at the event, where it will be good to see many of you in person.

Joining me here periodically will be Gerard Braud, also from the New Orleans area. He's a former television environmental reporter with great insight about this whole mess.

If you think it looks bad on TV, come live it with us.

Beyond a Corporate Fad: Employee Engagement

2005-07-05T14:07:00.000-05:00

New, in the IABC Café:

The concept of employee engagement – a noble ideal about getting employees driven and motivated by what the company is doing and wanting to help it get there – has very quickly been lost in the last couple of years. It’s become a thing rather than an ethos; a product rather than an ideal; and, more often than not, a survey rather than an overall change in the way the business functions (vis-a-vis its relationship with employees). More...

Too May Interviews, Too Little Time

2005-06-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

Audio posts (podcasting lite), is something I had dreamed of doing when we started this "On the Road" series. It turned out to be easy yet time-consuming. I also attended numerous IABC international conference events and took notes, plus 20-25 speakers sent me handouts and slides that I still need to share with you. More: I have ten pages of quotes from attendees to edit and post yet!

Though I have to dash to the airport soon, content posting will go on and on (cue refrain from Celine Dion's overplayed hit song now).

IABC Conference blogging will continue over the next couple of days. Y'all come back.

Interview: IABC President Julie Freeman, ABC, APR

2005-06-29T09:06:00.000-05:00

In 2001, Julie Freeman, ABC, APR, became staff president of IABC. She sat down with us to discuss attendance at the conference, membership increases that have resulted from corporate packages, the association's safety net - an unsecured line of credit, and the forthcoming edition of Inside Organizational Communication.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: First Time Conference Goer

2005-06-28T22:00:00.000-05:00

The Net generation is on top of tech-related issues. Jiyan Wei, 27, discusses the impact the Net can have on corporate reputation, the phenomenon of cybersmearing (virtual attacks, often coordinated) by disgruntled employees, activists, et al., and the subsequent need to monitor online spaces. "Clipping services are not enough," he says, "you need content analysis." This was Jiyan's first time attending the IABC conference, and he gave high marks to the Web-related sessions on the program.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Heather Burns, Ragan Communications

2005-06-28T19:03:00.000-05:00

What's on the mind of communicators? We got an anecdotal earful from Heather Burns of Ragan Communications, who shared what attendees talk about in the Exhibit Hall. "Training, tactics and networking." She also shares her observations on the state of internal newsletters and magazines.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: David Kistle, ABC, current chair of IABC

2005-06-28T14:47:00.000-05:00

As chair of IABC, David Kistle, ABC, has led our association during the 2004-05 term. Just moments before the AGM, David previewed his remarks on the state on the association exclusively for members around the world. He discusses IABC's financial health, re-engineering, successful programs, and his experiences meeting with chapters, districts and regions across the globe. David has served IABC for more than 25 years.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: IABC Programme Advisory Committee Chair

2005-06-27T22:46:00.000-05:00

Jennifer Wah, ABC, talks about how the Programme Advisory Committee plans conference sessions, what they're looking for in speakers ("more corporate case studies") & topics ("innovative"), and previews the news that the call for presenters for 2006 has been extended until July 15 (as yet unannounced).

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Rich Barger, ABC, APR

2005-06-27T22:11:00.000-05:00

As managing editor of Best Practices in Communication Planning and Implementation, an IABC resource, Rich Barger, ABC, APR, has seen the creme de la creme of communication plans culled from winning Gold Quill entries. He stopped by to talk about the latest edition, and his role as an ABC Ambassador. "Accreditation is easier and more worthwhile than most people think," he tells us.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Meryl David, Sydney

2005-06-27T21:51:00.000-05:00

Meryl David is a strategic internal communicator down under, and a former director of the IABC Asia Pacific Region. She reports directly to HR. Her organization started an Innovation Programme to formally harness and capture ideas upward within the organization. Meryl talks about the positive reaction from employees, and overviews the inner workings of the project.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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NOTE: Pete Shinbach brought an acknowledged glitch to our attention. One inherent limitation of AudioBlogger is that it initially posts an audio message without title and description. This feature cannot be turned off. We have to manually add the description at a later time and re-publish the entry. We apologize for any inconvenience which this causes.

Interview: Glenda Holmes, incoming vice chair IABC

2005-06-27T21:32:00.000-05:00

If you're looking for a volunteer's volunteer, someone who gives of them self tirelessly for our association, look no further than Glenda Holmes. She is slated as the incoming vice chair of IABC, with automatic succession to chair in 2006-07. Glenda discussed the Governance Work Group, the regionalization (PDF, membership number required) of the association in North America, and the Board's goals.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Emily Chen, Hong Kong

2005-06-27T20:12:00.000-05:00

We ran across Emily Chen, former president of IABC Hong Kong, enjoying the sunset on the veranda of The Kennedy Center. We chatted about the SARS crisis, its impact on business & the business of PR in HK, and the use of SMS (text messaging) in Asia.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Gold Quill Winner, UPS Airlines

2005-06-27T18:13:00.000-05:00

A Gold Quill of Excellence was awarded to UPS Airlines for its entry, AirUPSers.com (private, employee ID required), a video-based intranet portal created so that pilots could access company news, et al., from the road. We spoke to Jim Mayer about this innovative communication effort that addresses the needs of a highly mobile workforce. It's also an example of a pro-active approach to labor communications. For more information, see Communication World, July/August 2005, page 24.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here.

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Interview: Warren Bickford, IABC chair 2005-06

2005-06-27T14:50:00.000-05:00

Warren Bickford (PDF file) takes the helm as chair of IABC for the 2005-06 term. He is a past leader of the IABC Research Foundation. In this interview, he overviews the goals of the global association for the next year, advocacy, and the role of local chapters.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here

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Interview: Jennifer Corriero

2005-06-27T13:10:00.000-05:00

The 35th Anniversary Luncheon speaker, Jennifer Corriero, spoke on the topic "Connecting with Youth." This session was sponsored by HP.

Click the link above to hear the audio, or download it to your music player.

NOTE: due to a technical difficulty, the interview cuts off abruptly. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope to resolve this issue in future interviews. UPDATE: on AudioBlogger, the limit appears to have been reduced to four minutes (from five). We will adjust future interviews accordingly.

To visit the IABC Café blog, click here

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How To Measure Communication

2005-06-27T09:58:00.000-05:00

Every business process has to be accountable, and that includes communication. Measurement helps you analyze your contribution to the organization's goals. If you want to be effective, follow these handy tips:

Be aware of the latest industry standards: experts in the field have put their heads together to publish guidelines for the profession. Going with your gut instinct might feel natural, but it can leave you blind sighted. The Institute for Public Relations makes current recommendations publicly available.

Advertising equivalency is taboo: don't use the old formula of counting column inches and multiplying them by the ad rate for a publication. That's an antiquated practice because it delivers a false number. By doing so, you're comparing your department against the advertising department - not the bottom line.

Clip counts and column inches are not research: don't fall into this trap. Unless the clips (regardless of length and distribution) impact attitudes, perception, sales or behavior, they are not making a real difference. Publicity directly tied to sales should advance the organization's business goals. When issuing a press release, insert a special link or code to product or service offerings. That way, you can actively track how many clicks or purchases PR generated. You can compare the number of sales contributed by the release against the number generated casually - a quantifiable measure executives will accept.

Analysis of messaging, positioning, issue identification are the norm: what you really want to verify is content. Were you key messages published? How many times? In what way was your organization positioned against the competition? Was the name merely mentioned, or was your organization acknowledged for its position on critical key business issues? Content analysis is essential.

Competitive analysis is mandatory: as good as you may think you look in the media, how's your competition doing? If you're getting more column inches, but they're getting targeted exposure that positions them to win in the marketplace, who is really ahead? This analysis will also identify weaknesses in your key messages - that's why it's a necessary reality check.

SOURCE: Katherine Delahaye Paine, KDPaine & Partners, LLC

Measurement: No Paine, no Gain

2005-06-27T08:08:00.000-05:00

Katie Delahaye Paine is a respected expert on measuring the impact of communication, and a blogger too! Her website is also chock full of content anyone can use to learn more about measuring the impact of communication.

We'll bring you snippets from speakers here at the IABC conference as the day goes on. I already have eight pages of notes (time to stop interviewing and start writing)! Here's a couple of slides to whet your appetite.

On the Road Again

2005-06-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

We're off to the IABC international conference in Washington, D.C. for the next few days. Great news: speakers have sent a lot of information that we'll post beginning this weekend.

I'm also blogging for the IABC Coffee Press Corps in the IABC Café, so this promises to be hectic. What was I thinking? IABC's blog accommodates text; we'll cross link images, screen shots from PowerPoint, hand-outs and audio here - in addition to filing content-rich briefs.

Posts will refer back and forth from one blog to another, so you may want to subscribe to both. Confused? Check out this tutorial (five-minute Macromedia Flash screencast) or this text.

Did I say audio? Yes. Fingers-crossed... we plan to bring you unscripted, person in the hallway accounts from the conference. Our test gave us the chutzpah to go for it. Don't expect the polish of the pioneering podcast, For Immediate Release --- just live, raw comments.

Warren Bickford (PDF file), the incoming chair of IABC and chief barista of IABC's blog - who has been supportive of these efforts - is on our list to interview. We'll be roaming the halls, and picking the brains, of some of the top communicators in the world - exclusively for you.

2005-06-23T17:08:00.000-05:00

Okay, I couldn't resist. More from Heather's opus. Check it out: publication goals tied to recruitment, retention, sales and leadership messages. Base a plan on this, and you're not going to be the one who they let go first! Yep, it's all about the business. TIP: click on any image to see it full size.

2005-06-23T17:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, under the title "Publications: Nice or Necessary?," we talked about a session led by Heather Burns. Her message: editors must demonstrate value. This slide is fill of salient advice; I especially like her technique for key messages. Hmmm, I think we all need to attend this session next time.

2005-06-22T12:14:00.000-05:00

Parting slot: even at the airport.

Audio Commentary: Wrap up

2005-06-22T11:49:00.000-05:00

We're now able to add audio to the mix of text, screenshots, images and links thanks to AudioBlogger (this service was down during the conference, unfortunately). In the future, we hope to capture live interviews from events and bring them to you directly . Just click on the icon here to launch the mp3 (sound) file. This should play on your computer, or you can move it to any portable music player and listen when you have time (on a commute, etc.)

So, is this a podcast, or merely "downloadable audio?" If you are subscribed to the RSS feed, you may need to reset your subscription to automatically download attachments and enclosures.

Length: 5 minutes
Topic: conference wrap up (observations)
Speaker: CP for Ragan

UPDATED: description added

2005-06-22T10:49:00.000-05:00

We like the way Barbara Leimsner of Canada Post mixes creativity with strategy. This publication draws you in and offers a mix of business and personally relevant topics. People are in the spotlight, as are workplace priorities. Easy to digest. Kudos.

2005-06-22T10:44:00.000-05:00

Barbara Leimsner says "creativity tools like those used by the creative types in marketing agencies can be applied to make employee publications more fun, readable and to capture readers' imaginations. A quick tip is to get away from the distractions of the office with your team to brainstorm for ideas. Avoid idea "killers", which include phrases like: "We couldn't do that in our culture..." or "we tried that before and it didn't work..." In other words, take a risk!

2005-06-22T10:39:00.000-05:00

Barbara Leimsner of Canada Post delivered one of the more well-received sessions, "Six Ways to Kick-Start Your Creativity." We prevailed upon her to share some slides, and she delivered. Her advice: "Slay some sacred corporate cows - they make great steaks." TIP: click on image to see a larger version.

Publications: Nice or Necessary?

2005-06-22T10:00:00.000-05:00

The squeaky wheel (technology) gets the grease. But what topic actually garnered the most attendance at the conference? Everything publication related.

Print! It will never go away.

Heather Burns led a post-conference session on the topic. She shared a copy of her hand-out, and frankly, I was put to shame. Note to self: this is damn good. A lot of presenters give you food for thought, H-Bomb offers a Vegas-style buffet.

We chatted with Heather, ever the fashionista, who seems to have more hairstyles than I have rolls of fat. She told us, "the goal for each attendee is to go home with a completed publication strategy that not only proves the value of the publication, but increases its value." In this era of downsizing and CYA, it's easy to grasp the relevance of this.

Attendees defined their publication's objectives and the results they expect to attain... results liked to the bottom line and budget. By creating a written plan, they end up with a document they can show to anyone, including bean-counters. Heather says it's all about demonstrating value. "It's not good enough that employees like the publication, they have to need it as a source of business information," she adds.

Nice or necessary? That's the critical question in business today. John Finney of Watson Wyatt had introduced me to that concept years ago, and it's the new litmus test for communication (PowerPoint, 566 Kb). Heather is wise to take this approach.

We asked her what she sees as the biggest weakness in publications today. "Editors are not taking the risks that they were taking a few years ago. There is a marked difference between those who are taking the risk to do more journalistic stories (telling the truth, treating people like adults, edgy design) as opposed to editors who back-off into old ways of doing things (recanting the business strategy, controlled content - what execs think employees want to hear, spin)."

If the publication is going to be journalistic, does that mean independent? Heather adds, "if you can prove that your publication actually has an impact on the bottom line - and it can - then you're going to get not just the financial support, but the emotional support, from executives."

Damn! This is a long way off from fonts and white space. There's a good lesson here, and that's that editors need to grasp how they fit into the business. H-Bomb blows up every pre-conceived notion editors have and emphasizes strategic publication planning. Smart cookie.

Blogsterbation

2005-06-21T17:45:00.000-05:00

Life is full of irony. The topic that generated the most buzz (blogs, wikis and podcasts) had the least attended sessions. People don't know what to make of the topic - it's not on everyone's professional radar yet. In his podcast, Shel Holtz said emerging topics sometimes need to be sold with a tinge of fear (of losing one's job for not having an up-to-the-minute skill set).

Of course, some of this buzz is driven by bloggers, whose belief that blogs are important is a given, if not a religion. But it does go to show that blogs can influence.

The Ragan Report covered the topic too, writing about it this week and next. Steve Crescenzo is hardly a convert, yet he spots a trend like an olive in a martini at 30 paces. "A popular tool that nobody is using," was his pronouncement.

Lest you think this is all self-indulgent blogsterbation, see what Walt Mossberg of the Wall St. Journal writes about the topic.

Even this blog got ink. (Links: 1,2, 3 (see entries from June 7-13), 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 (repeat of commentary posted in a different location), and 10 (a link to a resource listed in the Ragan Postcard). Who knew? Surprising, actually.

A few notes: we inadvertently forgot to link to speaker Matthew Podboy's blog when we wrote about his session. The indefatigable Judy Gombita showed us how one association educates its members about blogs, rather well - I'd say. One could envision a similar resource hosted on Intranets or by other associations.

A thoughtful analysis about blogs was penned by Headshift; I give it my highest recommendation. Neville Hobson, who apparently never sleeps, steered me to a great resource, PR Digest, a Reader’s Digest for PR folks, by Constantin Basturea.

It's a good way to keep up with the topic without going crazy. Or blind.

Return On Investment

2005-06-21T10:50:00.000-05:00

The value of communication, or return on investment, is a longstanding debate among professionals. So you can imagine my surprise when it failed to earn a spot on Warren Bickford's list of Top 10 professional issues, posted recently in the IABC Café. Have we come that far? Do you agree? (comments encouraged).

At the Corporate Communicators Conference, John Robertson struck up a conversation on this very topic. He's the preternaturally young looking guy generating awareness for ROI, while running prize drawings for iPods. Is he covertly creating an army of podcasters? John's everywhere, at every conference I attend. Note to self: assertive yet acceptable marketing plan. iPods rule!

He emphasizes measurement as a way to gauge the impact of communication programs, and says that communicators have to prioritize more than ever. "That's the big challenge right now," he says, "figuring out what your organization really needs. Budgets are unlikely to go up, so you need to have a plan that delivers the most impact... bang for the buck."

That's a loaded statement. "What the organization really needs," is ripe for interpretation, and one could do superficial job by measuring the wrong thing. Roger Francis comments on this astutely in the IABC Café, "(3.) Demonstrating value through transformational as opposed to transactional outcomes. Far too many communications plans use transactional, number-defined metrics to justify their activity. I ran into a substantial corporation recently who actually uses a metric in their yearly communication plan of “preparing and distributing a minimum of 6 (sic) media releases a month.” And yes, readers, there was no other context added - they just want releases."

What constitutes ROI for communication? Tell us your opinion.

Robertson adds that that there are a lot of new information channels (e.g., blogs, wikis and podcasts) and a lot of new initiatives out there, thus, prioritization is more important than ever before. Of course, priorities have to be aligned with the business plan and bottom line in order to be truly effective, IMHO. (Another excellent analysis here.)

We think Robertson has hit the nail on the head. Of course, if you read this blog, you'll see that I have a definite POV (point of view) championing communication tied to the business plan. In this day and age, our profession must be accountable.

On a side note, John recommends Google Desktop Search. I can testify to its power as well; give it a whirl. You can even put sensitive documents into a folder and specify that it not be indexed, so you can keep your privates private.

Conference Postscript

2005-06-20T15:58:00.000-05:00

The conference is over, yet there's still more content to come. It's easier to be away in Las Vegas than stuck in my own office with all the distractions.

So here's the deal: we got some good comments from John Robertson from ROI, Heather Burns provided us with details about her post-conference session, and Barbara from Canada Post must have seen the compliments for her session because she sent slides we can publish.

Whew. A blogger's day is never done. On top of that, the audio service I was hoping to use for person on the street interviews never seemed to work. But, I just got an e-mail from tech support advising me it's back up and running. And lo and behold, it does work (I tested it!).

Keep an eye out, and maybe an ear.

Wonkette: Control Comes from Letting Go

2005-06-15T17:18:00.000-05:00

"Failed journalist," the self-description of Ana Marie Cox, aka The Wonkette, is the first clue that she's in on the joke. She doesn't take herself too seriously and shrugs off the title of A-list blogger - instead calling herself an "online columnist."

The irony is that Ms. Cox is indeed a successful journalist who happens to write in a blog. It might as well be a cave painting for all she cares. She just tells good stories.

Ana has found her niche and downplays the whole blogging phenomenon. She likens blogs to "message boards" and podcasting to "downloadable audio" – heretical statements to the New Tech Evangelists.

At the very core, she's right. Blogs are the newfangled smoke signals, community washing wells, office water coolers... you get the idea. It's the medium du jour.

It's undeniably easier, cheaper, and faster than everything that preceded it – yet it still takes the same time to read a blog that it took to read a page from the Bible during the Reformation (my favorite techno reality check comment, paraphrased here, by Roger d'Aprix).

The breakthrough is that RSS (the underlying engine) pushes content directly to us - thus saving time. Blogs make it possible to have conversations unconstrained by time and space. So did the old CompuServe PR & Marketing Forum – though I had to surf over there.

Is the distinction as simple as: blogs push content, versus us (employees, media, consumers, et al.) having to pull it?

Ana seemed to maintain, as do I, that technology is only a tool. It’s about the message – and content is still Queen.

She could care less about CEO and character blogs unless they are well written, and of interest. She questioned whether or not they are truly interactive. Ana irked the Digerati when she asked “why would one listen to a podcast, it’s just people talking.” What drives this viewpoint?

Judy Gombita pointed me toward an article, “A Blogging Revolution? ‘Give me a Break’ .” Nick Denton, publisher of Gawker Media, which contracts Ana to write The Wonkette, drops this bomb, "The hype," he said, "comes from unemployed or partially employed marketing professionals and people who never made it as journalists wanting to believe. They want to believe there's going to be this new revolution and their lives are going to be changed."

I'll bet the blood pressure is boiling now in certain quarters.

Here’s another pearl, "There are too many people looking at blogs as being some magic bullet for every company's marketing problem, and they're not," he said. "It's Internet media. It's just the latest iteration of Internet media."

My opinion? Get up to speed. Blogs can generate a buzz because search engines find opinions posted like needles in a haystack. They can influence (a blog entry here led to a story on Richmond.com by Robert Holland). People are trying to make sense of all of this (see the comments by Leslie Hetherington in the IABC Café penned by Warren Bickford).

Blogs probably have more use than Steve Crescenzo thinks. I agree with Neville and Shel that blogs and podcasts have corporate potential, especially in light of action taken by IBM.

One downside risk is that employees, activists and unhappy consumers will slam organizations in blogs and gain influence. Jay Byrne told me that bloggers can create chaos by spreading negative content – and must be monitored in real time.

Control? Ana said control comes from letting go.

Stay tuned.

Anatomy of a Keynote

2005-06-14T15:35:00.000-05:00

When I landed the assignment to interview The Wonkette, I knew it was going to be controversial. Ana Marie Cox is a successful political blogger, and surveys say most people are not yet familiar with blogs. Yet, within the communications sphere, the list of bloggers well ahead of the curve is already lengthy.

Politics is one of those taboo topics. How to find the right balance? Should I turn to David Murray for help?

Dilemma: it was a keynote, not a break-out session. Keynotes are overviews, whereas break-outs offer more nuts and bolts. Ana’s blog is entertaining, not technically-oriented when it comes to communication theory. My work was cut out for me. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but remember that Steve Crescenzo mocked IABC in The Ragan Report when the association featured Maya Angelou in a keynote. Maya didn’t talk about communication per se to the standing-room only crowd, yet she was the most natural communicator the audience had ever seen (and received stellar ratings on evaluations). Keynotes can be inspirational; to heck with Steve!

Game plan: start with topics about which Ana is comfortable (her own blog entries, politics, Washington D.C.), then find out how she started blogging. Wade into the blogging phenomenon, ask about the relevance to corporate communication, and get her to look into the crystal ball to project where this is headed… the impact upon communication. Specifically cover corporate, CEO and character blogs, podcasting, and the tricky issue of control. End back on her turf: trivia about D.C. Whew!

Result: I have to step back and chuckle… reactions are all over the map. Shel disagreed with Ana in part, and Steve picked up on the absurd. One person liked Ana but hated me! Time to venture out for some person on the street interviews at the conference. “Joanna” told me that the session made her realize that she needs to know more on the topic, and now she regrets not attending the nuts and bolts sessions that were available. “Mary” chimed in that she needs to know more too (“where do I go to see a blog?”), and that – frankly – she has no idea what to tell her management team about this new technology. “Matt” found it entertaining and informative, but “didn’t learn anything new.” Others said the topic was over their head, "uh oh, we've been ignoring this topic. I guess we better stop and listen."

People either fell on one side of the aisle (been there, done that) or the other (what the hell are blogs?!?! Where can I get more how-to information?). Some took exception to the political references (buried in the comments on this blog).

The fact that people (more than I’ve cited here) are now inspired to learn more about blogs is a good thing - in my opinion. Had they not attended, they’d be none the wiser than they were sitting back in their office.

Scooped about Toilet Paper, The Wonkette

2005-06-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

Your intrepid blogger has been scooped on the Pressing Issue of Toilet Paper by Steve Crescenzo, and by Shel Holtz regarding my interview with The Wonkette. If I am supposed to draw a connection between toilet paper and The Wonkette, it escapes me.

Perhaps it's that the New York Times described her as "potty mouthed." (free registration)

The truth is: my friends scooped me. Hopefully, that gives me the credential of "failed journalist," which Ana Marie Cox (aka The Wonkette) wears proudly. It certainly hasn't hurt her career, thus, guilt by association could be a good thing.

Nobody talked tissue to me. Steve must attract this kind of attention. Professional conference attendee Mike Gunderson of Schwan's wrote to ask if I "would be so kind as to share Steve 'C.R.A.P. is my Passion' Crescenzo's e-mail address?" With such a big rep, can Steve ever live up to the wipe?

The issue regarding the famous political blogger is one of ethics. Since I developed the questions and interviewed Ana, it's fair to say I am biased. How could I be objective? Shel had a really strong reaction, so I encouraged him to report on the session.

My own view will be revealed shortly. The most fulfilling moment came afterward, when Steve flipped through the session evaluations and read this gem out loud, verbatim: "The Wonkette session was entertaining and informative, but I didn't like the interviewer."

No respect.

2005-06-13T17:12:00.000-05:00

Beauty and the Beast: Ana Marie Cox, aka The Wonkette, and yours truly at the Ragan Corporate Communicators Conference.

Personal Fight

2005-06-13T14:14:00.000-05:00

Jakob Nielson pooh-poohs the notion of personalized content. He relents somewhat in the name of usability. I asked Toby Ward for his take on this, and he fired back with this punch.

2005-06-13T13:27:00.000-05:00

In the comment threads here (click on 'comments' under entries), 'Mark' says he is interested in more how-to on getting a seat at the management table. Also in the comments, Heather points Mark to more content - an article in JECM on this very topic (the software that posts pix does not display links, so I can't reference it). The presenter on this topic, Become an Internal Communication Counselor, provided this handy chart. If writing represents the basics of our profession, and business skills are the building blocks, then leadership traits are the stairway up.(SOURCE: Stacy Wilson, Eloquor Consulting). TIP: click on an image to see it full-size.

Role of the CEO Redux

2005-06-13T11:55:00.000-05:00

While I was commenting about the role of the CEO in communications, I completely missed an e-mail from Bob Libbey of Pfizer. "The CEO is key to successful employee communications… and the key to enlisting the CEO to find ways to increase the function’s contribution to the business is to align employee communication planning and execution with the priorities and goals of the business. This means that you need to learn to work with the CEO, a process for which the benefits far outweigh the substantial investment it generally demands."

Give Bob a raise. Communication cannot be insular. Our job is about helping the business run more effectively, not about the effective use of white space or the top ten fonts for newsletters (two clever refrains from the dry wit of Pete Shinbach).

Bottom line: take a business course. Read a business mag. Look at business-related TV. Google the topics you need to learn! Get up to the CEO's speed. Make it your business.

Overheard

2005-06-13T11:40:00.000-05:00

"I have a complex about my writing skills."

"The awards interrupted my networking. Make that a lunch session next time."

"More hands on detail, less background PR from speaker's about their workplace."

"Bring back Barbara Leimsner from Canada Post. She showed that you can bring a lot of creativity to annual reports and enhance readership. Very inspiring."

"Canada Post should have been a three-hour session. I couldn't get enough."

"Blog? I've never read a blog! I guess I better do that."

"Laurie from Walgreen's delivered what you would expect from a large company. I wish we had time to learn more about their strategy."

"The information from Walgreen's was practical and down to earth. Best session here."

"The lady from Walgreen's mentioned PR. I don't do PR."

"Now I understand how Walgreen's keeps prices low. They are lean and mean."

"You can't please everyone. Maybe we should start a wiki and the truth will bubble up."

"Where' the spa?"

Publication Capitalists

2005-06-13T11:04:00.000-05:00

What is it about common sense that is such an anathema to corporate communication? I can't help but think that I've been hearing the same stuff for over a decade. Good stuff, mind you. But do we keep repeating it because there are new people coming into the field, or is it just that companies don't get it?

Employee communications are too politicized, at the whim and direction of clueless execs. Our own study by L.C. Williams & Associates confirms that it all starts at the top. If the CEO believes in open, transparent communication, then it's blue skies ahead (think Herb Kelleher). If not, prepare for dark and gloomy days.

That's right. This is a case where it's all top down. The leader sets the tone, and your options are often set in stone. Gosh, I love a good cliché.

I started thinking this when the Ragan Recognition Awards were presented. Do we really need to admonish people to stop the spin and write more journalistically? Who thinks that b.s. is credible anyway? Apparently some execs think they can apply the same creativity to internal comms once reserved for accounting. Nuts!

The editorial team from SC Johnson said to put people first in publications. That's right: people before profits in employee comms. Here's another company that gets it! They also advise you to run features about lessons learned. No, don't focus on failure. Instead, ask managers to debrief and offer post-mortem analysis of projects that missed the mark. Everyone learns from these insights - and they breed the kind of openness and transparency that rings true to employees. Save the ego and posturing for late night clubs.

Ask employees for their opinions and run them uncensored. I can see corporate headquarters exploding everywhere about now. You have as much luck controlling communication as you do herding cats. Everyone has access to the grapevine anyway (including our own).

The SCJ team was marketing savvy too. They reminded us to find the unique personality of our organizations and write about that. Uncover what's special about your workplace.

Have you checked your readership stats? Nobody reads one-way, top-down controlled management pronouncements. And if they do, they don't believe or trust them. Save that style for totalitarian regimes. Business is capitalism, right?

Survey Says

2005-06-13T09:35:00.000-05:00

We liked the practical tips Matt Greenberger of A.T. Kearney offered on the topic of surveys.

"You've been chosen..." in the lead of the request (appeal to ego)
Never overlook the power of a bribe. "Chance to win..."
Consider online tools, such as SurveyMonkey (an audience participant suggested Zoomerang).
Familiarize yourself with the randomize function in Excel for selecting employees from lists
Repeat selected questions from survey to survey to track ongoing issues
Chart progress over time by comparing results in historical graphs
Experiment with different styles of graphs. The one that illustrates the data best may not be the one you think of first.
Pull a team together to build the survey - more heads are better than one.
Averages lie; break the data into smaller populations to spot differences. Matt gave an example of an employee satisfaction question: the overall average was satisfactory, yet a breakdown by location revealed a big problem in one geographic area.
The magic number seems to be eleven questions.

Of course, one key to useful results is to start with the right population and questions. That's where good judgment comes in, and Matt says this is a case where it's best not to work alone (see #8). Added perspective adds balance.

This is a topic that often makes my eyes glaze over, especially when it comes to statistics (memories of our college days haunt us). So I appreciated the nuts and bolts approach taken here. When I go to a conference, I want someone to tell me what I need to do.

Even a mathematical nitwit like me can follow these tips.

Panic in the Streets - NOT

2005-06-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

At the eleventh hour, the Governor of Nevada vetoed the bill that triggered
a planned protest by taxi drivers. All of my angst during the last few
hours has been for naught.

On the one hand, I could have been stranded. On the other, I had a
commitment to blog live.

Such is life. Confusion reigned, and the story changed from person to
person. This is what happens in a crisis - a communication vacuum.

Employees can make problems worse. The voice on the other end of the line
at the bell desk was totally stressed. Shuttles had filled. Good luck
finding a limo. He might as well have said 'all bets are off.'

I cashed out. While I was scrambling, the Gov put his John Hancock on a
veto.

My taxi driver told me that he had planned to strike. Deep breath.

I'll leave the politics in Vegas, and bring the rest of the story to you
once I return to New Orleans.

- posted by cell phone

Pause Button

2005-06-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

We were just alerted about a possible strike by taxi drivers here in Vegas. It's all over the local news (more). The hotel can't say if there will be any airport transportation this afternoon; drivers are threatening a work stoppage.

This definitely throws a monkey wrench into our live coverage.

Gonna pack; gotta make the plane. Even the best laid plans... not to worry. Mumble mumble. What would The Wonkette do? We've got lots of content to report on yet - and more comments from attendees.

I'll keep updating throughout the weekend. Stay tuned!

2005-06-10T12:20:00.000-05:00

Ana Marie Cox, aka The Wonkette.com, was our special guest this morning. Yours truly moderated, hence the paucity of posts today. Best nugget: (related to corporations blogging) "Control comes from letting go." More to follow - gotta run to sessions.

Dirty Dishes

2005-06-10T11:51:00.000-05:00

The B.S. Back Home: “Joan” tells us that execs refuse to share information until they’re in a crisis. “They treat us like we’re dumb. It’s condescending!” Tight-lipped and uptight is not good. Warning: leads to constipated communication.

Drama school: “The Donald” is vexed by execs who can’t talk in front of employees. The topic he wishes we’d cover is how to get front line managers to communicate better with the troops. “We package info, yet they can’t deliver it.” Does this sound familiar? Can they walk and chew gum? Time to call Tom Mucciolo.

Tell me about it: a different “Don” (what were their Mothers thinking?) says he’s intrigued by newfangled podcasts as way to get rich content before younger audiences. “They might actually listen.” He thinks it could help the bottom line. DJ may be on to something here… what kid would be caught dead without an iPod or a pair of earphones dangling from their ears?

Less coffee, more Xanax: self-described “cynic” and 12-year “burned out” veteran on the job wants to know how to convince managers that employees are just as valuable as shareholders? What’s his department’s contribution to the bottom line? Cutting the publication frequency in half - saving roughly “1% of the CEO’s bonus.”

Insider trading: “Cristin” says the real number one question is "Dude, where’s my session.”

You talking to me?: Since she comes out of HR, “Catie” is surprised to hear everyone label HR the bad guy. She just kicked off a makeover of the benefits communication the day before arriving in Vegas. We wonder if she plans to gamble those pension funds (she’d probably do better than the average CFO). Seriously, she’s hot on personalized content arranged with the user’s needs in mind. Instead of having to wade through the deathly medical benefits fine print, employees can just click on simple links like “I just had a baby, what do I do know.” If you’re a man, check your equipment.

Damn Open Comments Dept: “Via Modem” wants to know if I’m gonna blog about “how poorly communicators are using the communications tools, namely the speaker-support slides,” adding this gem, “one thing that strikes me is how awful the slides are… wall-to-wall text.” Oy! Less is more. But we like 8 pt. type!

2005-06-10T03:31:00.000-05:00

Crescenzo added that "BB&T Corporation won for two reasons. Design, which is secondary, but the design is really good. All of the stories jump out at the reader. Mostly they won because of a straight journalistic approach. They cover the company from a journalism standpoint, and they're candid - as honest you can possibly be when you're an internal communicator. They don't do a lot of 'rah rah' stuff, they don't do a lot of corporate b.s. There's not a lot of jargon or 'paradigm shifts' and what not. They cover complicated information in a news writing style that makes the publication an easy read, yet a very informative one."

2005-06-10T03:14:00.000-05:00

"Novozymes won because of the innovative way that it covered complicated, big picture topics... things like the production of their products, how they market the products, what the competition is doing, how the competition is shaping up... they cover all those topics in every issue in such a creative way, using graphics and strong writing so that every employee - no matter what level they're at - will be able to understand the copy," said Steve Crescenzo.

2005-06-10T02:51:00.000-05:00

Two grand prizes winners represent the best in employee magazines and newsletters. They win $10,000 in products and training from Ragan - subscriptions, conference registrations, teleseminars, workshops, and an exclusive consultation to support the continued growth of their publications. Grand prize winners also won a fully-paid trip to Las Vegas - in one case, all the way from Denmark.

2005-06-10T02:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight, we announced the winners of the Ragan Recognition Awards for employee publications. 600 entries, 40 categories, and 73 winners.

2005-06-10T00:36:00.000-05:00

Integrating print and online communication continues to be a hot topic. It probably helps that Ragan's resident expert is one olive short of a martini, or so it would seem. Steve Crescenzo shared this example of a short and sweet, twice-daily e-mail that goes to 160,000 employees and links back to the intranet newsroom. News is customized and localized. It features straight newspaper style writing, something which I heard mentioned in another session too. That builds credibility; spin is such a load of manure. The e-mail to intranet mechanism ensures immediacy; Boeing saves big picture stories for print.

Grab Employees by the Ears

2005-06-10T00:06:00.000-05:00

One measure of a speaker's reputation is how many other speakers show up to hear them. That certainly was the case for the session on podcasting led by Shel Holtz. The room was a who's who, and as usual, the man delivered every minute detail of this cutting-edge topic with exacting precision. He is a Geek's Geek, yet totally accessible.

Enough back slapping. At the cocktail party, "Kristen" said that podcasting is new and kinda weird because of all the renegade content on the Net. "Now I see there's a use for it in business," she said, adding "that was informative." She credited Shel for breaking down everything that the technology could be used for in a corporate setting, and for sparking ideas she will carry back to the office.

Really and truly, there are so many open source and low cost options out there that there's no reason not to play with this technology. You can issue regular audio business updates to employees, give the CEO a weekly forum, or even cheaply produce an in-house radio show. The benefits are numerous, since the listener can listen whenever and wherever they want. There's no tuning in... files are delivered to a computer and sync with most music players.

Shel has posted detail online, and even has related topics up about blogging on intranets. But by far the best way to "get it" is to listen to his podcast, co-hosted by Neville Hobson. Trust me when I say you will be astounded. Or dare I say, all ears.

Making Sense of Enormous Change

2005-06-09T22:42:00.000-05:00

Saw an interesting print piece from MolsonCoors, designed to communicate to employees about the newly merged company. Jennifer Blaeser said that "Our Story" spelled out the history of the two companies - to put employees on equal footing and increase their understanding. It explained the legacy, success and geographic reach of each firm so that people could put two and two together regarding the new entity. It also profiled new senior leadership.

This the kind of living history people crave. You can take it home, show it to family and friends, read it on the bus, and keep it around to help make sense of the enormous change.

A theme that keeps emerging here in Vegas is "what types of vehicles are right for what types of messages." You don't want layoffs announced in an e-mail, motivational stuff is best for face to face, and change often requires a print piece that people can retain and absorb.

I think I knew this, but I never really thought about it. Confabs like this bring things to an analytical level that helps one sort out what's working, and what's not.

Promote Yourself

2005-06-09T20:11:00.000-05:00

Break out and escape your job title. Look for, and create, opportunities for advancement on your own. Negativity is poison; don't kill good ideas.

Sage advice from John Gerstner. If your dreaming of being discovered at Schwab's, well then, you're just dreaming. Get off your duff and do something. It's tiring to listen to communicators whine that they're not getting ahead - get some new skills and show them off.

Be bold. Gerstner makes the point that we sometime display habits and attitudes that keep us down. Sounds like a great theme for a new reality TV show, Promote Yourself! Diana Ross could reprise Up the Ladder for the theme song, and losers would have to revert to the mail room.

Wait, wasn't this a movie already? Not quite, but close enough.

2005-06-09T19:24:00.000-05:00

See what you're missing! (TIP: If you're using a newsreader, and you're not seeing images, reset your subscription to include attachments and enclosures).

"Are You Hiring?"

2005-06-09T17:12:00.000-05:00

That was the first question asked of Arunas Chesonis, CEO of PaeTec Communications, following the luncheon keynote. And you know what, I was thinking the same thing!

This is a CEO who gets it... who lives, breathes and exudes communication. Speaking from the heart with no script, and no podium, he is a communicator's dream. He opened by running around, laughing and smiling like a game show host; the words formal, stodgy and anal did not come to mind.

"You cannot over appreciate your employees," he told the crowd. And I cannot believe my ears. We're not a commodity? An expense? I've just been charmed.

Arunas makes so much sense, and is so refreshing, that we should bottle his essence and pour it over salads in corporate boardrooms all across the land. His message is absolutely palatable.

Give employees ownership. Show fairness is wages, perks, and parking. Keep balance: work is not the most important thing in people's lives. Flexibility counts: people have family and friends, birthdays and Little League. The culture is the the company: create a sense of family. Support the community: encourage employees to develop pride while chasing their passions.

Folks, is he good or what? If I was a cynic... I am... I checked... he's the real deal.

"Trust employees... empower them." Did he just say that? He's not parental or authoritarian? Expect people to do good work and encourage them to help one another. OMG, he's talking culture and collaboration! Allow people to make mistakes without severe penalties. Reward and recognize them as often as you can.

Leaders have a responsibility to mentor, not criticize, less-experienced co-workers. The list of pearls goes on and on - he even cites communication and understands the various vehicles and channels. He's open, transparent, walks the talk and has a vision.

The son of Lithuanian immigrants, he's living proof of the American Dream. No wonder Arunas is featured in a book, Managing in Turbulent Times. (chapter PDF, page 10).

Spoon feed, people, spoon feed this stuff to your organization. I'm gushing.

2005-06-09T17:09:00.000-05:00

What happens in Vegas... attendee "T" lost $120 but "intends to win it back." This is a fool's paradise! "T" also went to RA, the club at The Luxor, in search of a little "people watching," but instead only saw "poseurs trying to look cool, and badly at that."

The Numbers Lie

2005-06-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

Writing drew a huge crowd, but the emerging topic on the use of wikis in internal comms was sparsely attended. That's a shame. It reminds me of the days when people glazed over at the prospect of an intranet (back when they were still trying to figure out the Internet). And I really show my age when I admit that I remember when people asked "is that the bleeping Internet" while looking at PowerPoint of the old Compuserve discussion forums.

Matthew Podboy (son of iPod?) seemed to take it in stride, noting that wiki adoption by employees will be organic. Expect sporadic growth for now.

In other words, the topic people missed today will be hot tomorrow. Attendance doesn't tell the whole story. This topic is important, and the numbers lie.

Unconvinced? Check out this article. Or this, from Dan Forbush.

P.S. there was a typo is the last post, ironically, on the topic of writing! Such is the humiliation of a live blogger.

Good Stories, Well Written

2005-06-09T14:17:00.000-05:00

Nearly standing-room only in the session on corporate stories that build long term credibility with employees, led by Mike Bares (click here for more). Writing is always a hot topic, and no matter how much communication execs exhort that they are managers, writing is at the heart of our profession.

One example really resonated with me: Mike talked about business managers penning pieces to explain the competitive environment - the why that drives the business. I remember an example, years ago, from Molson: in their employee newsletter, they did a center spread on competitors. Lots of execs would shy away from that, yet employees drank it up (yes, a pun). If you don't know who's gunning for your business or your job, how are you going to feel anything - much less passion or engaged?

Back to Mike: he says corporate storytelling is like a zoom lens for employees, to give them a peek inside the business. Some stories are wide-angle, and others are close-up.

And personal. Employee need to know what's in it for them via good stories, well written.

What more to say? Lunch is next, and I've never missed a free meal in my life.

How-To is Important

2005-06-09T13:15:00.000-05:00

I sat in the video newsletter case study by FedEx (click here to see a slide). Informative, yet what really struck me was the Q&A. People are really stuck on budgets, surveys and measurement. Granted, those things are important, but - are we wearing ourselves down as a profession by constantly trying to prove our worth... our raison d'etre?

Lawyers don't face this lunacy. Communication needs an advocacy campaign. We need to target accountants to get intangible assets onto the balance sheet. If you don't have a good reputation, it's unlikely you'll have customers... or attract employees. But I digress.

People ask a lot of how-to questions... tactics... logistics, etc. Now, I happen to think that's fine, in fact, wonderful. When do you get a chance to pick the brain of someone in a multi-national corporation? Conferences are great for that. I guess what I'm alluding to is all the fuss about strategy and high-level thinking. Conference planners and professionals go on and on about how they're strategic. Get them in a closed room and they ask about tactics.

People still need to know how-to. Few companies offer training anymore.

When the session broke, I cornered "Kris." She attended this session to get ideas about emerging trends for global companies, to help keep in touch with employees. She said the best take-away was hearing the benefits of this vehicle (video newsletters delivered on CD-ROM). To her, it seems like a a way for executives to stay in front of employees.

"It can't replace face-to-face, but at least they get to hear and see management."

Anything that makes execs more human and less toady is fine by us.

Learn the business, damn it!

2005-06-09T12:05:00.000-05:00

Now that the conference is in full swing, look for more live reports and less preview. First on deck today was Laurie Meyer of Walgreen Co.

She's a smart cookie (Flag Day is coming - that means sales), and outlined her rules for doing more with less. Afterward, I spoke with "Mike" who said he really connected with her talk.

Laurie considers herself a retailer first, and a communicator second. Now, that's one way (mentally) to connect communication to the business plan and bottom line.

She told a story about a marketing employee who spends about two days a month working in stores to gain a better understanding of what's really going on - what customers and employees say. Now that's a reality check! How many professionals consider themselves above the hourlies? Too many, from some of the snooty types I've met.

It dawned on "Mike" that he's sitting there at corporate when he should be spending more time learning the business! Hand to him, this guy's got insight.

TO DO: put a field trip on your calendar now, because you know if you don't actually make time for it, it ain't gonna happen.

Speaking of which, "Mike" lamented that his travel budget is shot. Hmm, it's a false economy not to send staff out into the trenches to learn the business.

Got some ideas to sell your manager on it? Share 'em here. And if your manager says no, it's apparent they need to learn the business too!

2005-06-09T09:34:00.000-05:00

Vegas has a long tradition of entertainers gracing the stage, and today will be no different courtesy of our emcee, Steve Crescenzo.

2005-06-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

Delivering communication services from a consulting perspective inside your organization is a very different approach than most communicators are used to. It involves a different way of thinking, different skills and some different tools. Taken together, these combine to position you in a more strategic role - getting you to and keeping you at the table. (Source: Stacy Wilson, Eloquor Consulting)

Intranet Strategy & Measurement

2005-06-09T09:09:00.000-05:00

At the party for speakers, we sat down with Tudor Williams and Peter Roaf of Vancouver Coastal Health (over a Heineken and red wine, of course!) to discuss the development of an intranet strategy.

“Number one – you need a vision,” said Tudor, adding “there has to be a very clear definition of what the intranet is going to do for the organization and the people in it.”

Developing a strategy means defining four essentials:

1. Access to technology
2. Collaboration between users (knowledge sharing)
3. Integration of existing technologies
4. Immediacy of information (demanded today)

Peter says you have to address the needs of users. Start with an audit, and form cross-functional teams to ensure all viewpoints are encompassed. “End users want access to information that helps them perform better – and easy navigation,” he adds. “There is explicit knowledge from reference sources and databases, but equally important is the tacit knowledge that comes from one another.”

This can foster a cultural shift. When people have access to information that they create, it builds community. Tied to the corporate strategy, it increases engagement.

Tudor and Peter say you need a sound measurement strategy:

1. Outputs
2. Outcomes
3. Impact

While user experiences and stats define the outputs, the outcomes reflect the attitudes and behaviors that change as a result of access to knowledge. “To define the impact, you have to ask how the intranet is really adding to the business strategy,” they said.

Peter and Tudor agree that measurement has to be aligned with top executives’ desire – and need – for results. “Performance, satisfaction and financial factors all contribute to ROI,” they report, adding “executives really zero in on the hard numbers.”

Coping with Survey Overload

2005-06-09T05:51:00.000-05:00

If survey overload is an issue in your organization, Leslie Crist of Washington Mutual suggests that you "do everything you can to get people to think twice before they survey!"

"Implement a self-evaluation to help people think through whether or not another survey is needed," she says. Questions to ask:

Do you have management support to act on the results?
Do you have cross-divisional support to act on the results? (if needed)
Will your work potentially have a significant positive impact on customer service?
Will it have a positive impact on the bottom line?
Is there a commitment to communicate survey results and the actions being taken based on employee input?
What happens if you DON'T survey? Can you proceed?

These tips are well-grounded. I've run into far too many communicators who operate in "CYA" mode. Sure, you need solid data, but I hate taking surveys that aren't followed up by meaningful action. That's just b.s. - somebody is playing games or can't handle the truth.

Quit wasting people's time!

2005-06-09T05:49:00.000-05:00

Chris Coye shares findings from his company. Part of the excitement about blogs and wikis stems from the accessibility of open source and low cost software. Do It Yourself (DIY) publishing has arrived.

2005-06-09T05:44:00.000-05:00

Disney upgraded its intranet with blogs and wikis to foster employee collaboration. Step one: evaluate the options.

2005-06-09T05:38:00.000-05:00

Here's a sneak preview from Chris Coye at Disney. You have to love their branded PowerPoint template - these folks are masters of visual identity!

2005-06-08T23:06:00.000-05:00

Size matters.

Road Map: Blogging for Internal Communications

2005-06-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

Speakers are offering lessons learned and best practices in several emerging areas. Blogs are everywhere, and it was only a matter of time before people figured out how they could be used in corporate settings.

Sure, we have CEO blogs, and marketing-based character blogs (Captain Morgan, the Mama Ragu of the next generation), but now I'm seeing new players stand up - attesting to success and failure deploying blogs, wikis, and RSS for internal communication.

Jochen Specht of Siemens Corporation shows us How to Turn Employee Blogs into Powerful Business Tools Using RSS.

Educate Employees:

Develop a website that serves as a central entry point for all RSS (Real Simple Syndication), and blog-related topics
-- Explain new technologies and provide step-by-step guides for use
-- Demonstrate business-related benefits
-- List blogs and RSS feeds of interest

Get Management, Legal and IT on Board

Implement the back end technologies:

Create a central platform for employee blogs
Create RSS feeds out of existing information sources, such as:
-- News
-- Press Releases
-- Newsletters
-- Blogs
-- Employee Communications
Create easy-to-use admin interfaces

Integrate RSS feeds into existing infrastructure, including:

Employee portals
Sub-division Intranets
External news sources

2005-06-08T17:06:00.000-05:00

Aon Consulting - Making the case for employee research #3

2005-06-08T17:04:00.000-05:00

Aon Consulting - Making the case for employee research #2

2005-06-08T17:03:00.000-05:00

Aon Consulting - Making the case for employee research #1

Print is Worth the Money

2005-06-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

Pearls of wisdom from Steve Crescenzo, co-editor of the Ragan Report and author of the often insane blog, Corporate Hallucinations:

The integration of print and online communication "The crux of the problem is that people confuse integration with killing off print and moving exclusively to online communication. The world's not ready for an all online communication strategy. We need a combination of both vehicles. "

"There's too many people who don't have access, who won't access news on the intranet, that don't read their e-mail, that won't read a corporate e-mail... we need to give them a different variety of appropriate vehicles - real options."

Killing off print for cost savings "Absolutely a problem! I'm not so sure there are any cost savings. We've lost effectiveness. We still have to pour that time and effort into creating online vehicles. Print is worth the money."

Tips from Merger Boot Camp

2005-06-08T15:29:00.000-05:00

"Two of the most important things when you're involved in a merger and/or acquisition as a communicator is understanding your role... cause it might be at a high-level... it might be at a middle-level (there are usually a lot of people involved). "

"The second thing is to have a plan. It might not be your plan, but there a should be a plan that can be followed by all the be people who are going to walk through (execute) the process."

Jennifer Blaeser told us the three most important elements are:

Formal objectives
Guiding principles
Success metrics

A personal observation: after the lawyers and accountants, how much input do we really have?

Get Engaged in Vegas

2005-06-08T15:15:00.000-05:00

Resource list from Robin Andrews, HP

Article: The High Cost of Lost Trust (Harvard Business Review Press)

Article: 12 Questions to Measure Employee Engagement (Gallup Press)

Report: Working Today: Understanding What Drives Employee Engagement (Towers Perrin Press) Free download - large PDF

Free tool: Sample Size Calculator
- Key is to make your sample random

Cheap tool: Zoomerang
- Easy to use survey tool

2005-06-08T15:14:00.000-05:00

This quote from a report by Towers Perrin, that Robin Andrews of HP plans to use, caught our eye. The Japanese have long known that bottom-up management is effective. IABC calls this two-way dialogue; geeks call it interactivity. Perhaps the simple secret to employee engagement is to engage hearts and minds. So why the heck is it so hard to convince top executives � do they lack common sense?

2005-06-08T15:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, folks, this must be the place... Vegas, baby! We're live now. This place is amazing. It's hot as Hades (in the shade) and crawling with players. The hotel is H-U-G-E. Steve Crescenzo and Jennifer Blaeser chatted with me while setting up their pre-conference workshops - I snagged some good quotes for you (coming soon).

2005-06-08T06:28:00.000-05:00

More from Brad regarding intranet communication during the takeover of PeopleSoft by Oracle. If ever there was a time to deliver and measure great employee communication...

2005-06-08T06:24:00.000-05:00

A sneak peak from Brad Whitworth - the anatomy of a hostile corporate takeover.

2005-06-08T06:15:00.000-05:00

Some lessons learned by Phyllis Fair, FedEx Services, on the topic of video newsletters (not to be confused with video blogs, or vlogs). FedEx presses these onto CD-ROM to connect "face-to-face" with the distant workforce.

Intranet Case Study: Manulife Financial

2005-06-07T22:18:00.000-05:00

After Toby Ward posted a comment to an item here, I invited him to tell us more about Intranet personalization and profiling. For readers of the Ragan Postcard, here’s a sneak preview of the case study presentation by Toby and Jane Wong-Ferris.

The announcement that Manulife Financial would merge with two other companies to create North America's second largest insurance company triggered a merger process of another kind - an intranets merger.

In 2004, Manulife announced a merger with John Hancock and Canadian subsidiary Maritime Life to create North America’s second largest insurance company.
Manulife engaged Prescient Digital Media to spearhead the strategy and planning of a combined company intranet portal.
The mandate: to establish a proven, timely, and short-term common intranet platform for employees in all areas at minimal cost.
As mergers are serious deals with many, many issues for communicators to balance, this intranet merger required a serious plan.
The approach included a full understanding of the needs and requirements of all – users, stakeholders and even competitors and leading companies.
To develop a proper plan, goals that aligned with the organization’s goals were developed and committed to writing.
Once the plan and blueprint was complete, then the technology was chosen and the design began.
The end result is a well-used, role-based personalization intranet portal that is quickly evolving and delivering on the needs of users, stakeholders and the business.

During the conference, I'm going to try to find out more about their actual process. If you can’t make it to Vegas, you should check out www.IntranetBlog.com for additional info.

2005-06-07T22:08:00.000-05:00

Caesars Palace, home of Celine Dion. If you're gonna throw a party - I mean a conference - this is one swank place.

Communicating Corporate Social Responsibility Internally

2005-06-07T20:32:00.000-05:00

Margie Flynn of BrownFlynn tells us "the internal communicator’s role is critical to successfully translating your company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives into smart business."

We like that. CSR seems like the new PR, and it doesn't work well unless your employees are on the bandwagon. It's one of those specialized areas with lots to know, as I learned when Ragan hosted a teleseminar on the topic. And lots of people are doing it.

Here's a smidgen of what you're missing if you don't attend Margie's session:

To build a strong corporate citizenship plan:

Get to know the interests of key stakeholders, including internal executives and employees, as well as the external community and NGO’s.

Create a strategic corporate engagement plan:
1) listen
2) communicate to stakeholders
3) unite cross functional teams like PR and HR.

Internal communication is key because employees are ambassadors for corporate engagement.

“People trust family and friends most for information (59% credibility).”
Cone/Roper 2004

Cisco Networking Academy exemplifies the positive relationship that can develop through strong internal communication.

Preview: Bringing Out Your Inner CEO

2005-06-07T20:03:00.000-05:00

In the beginning was the word.
Words are the building blocks of language.
Language is the basic building block of leadership.
Communicators are (or should be) masters of language.
Therefore… communicators should be powerful and influential leaders of our organizations.

Are we?

John Gerstner of CommunIntelligence shares his six theories on communicator traits and habits that are slowing us down. Expect this one to be insightful. John is a thoughtful guy, a former chair of the IABC Research Foundation, and runs one of the leading portals for professional information.