Trafcom News

Highlights from the IABC International Conference in New York

When I heard that the IABC International Conference would be in New York this year, I registered immediately, because I never pass up a reason to visit my home town. I really do like living in the Toronto area, but I’ll always love New York (as this sculpture on Sixth Avenue says).

Over four days, I met hundreds of people, attended some great sessions, spent time with friends outside the conference, and walked miles around Manhattan. Yes, I felt like a tourist gaping at the Empire State Building, meandering through the cool greenness of Central Park and wearing out my MasterCard at Bloomingdale’s.

Here are some of my impressions:

• Two years ago, at the IABC International Conference in Vancouver, social media was seen as a sort of odd duck. Blogs and podcasts were  new and different, and communicators weren’t quite sure what to make of them. Now, presenters would mention an employee blog or podcast as an integral part of a relaunched intranet without blinking an eye. We’ve come a long way, baby.
• If Bill Marriott can find the time to blog, so can your CEO. In his speech accepting the IABC’s EXCEL Award for Excellence in Communication Leadership, Marriott said that he dictates his blog content into a recorder, and someone on his communications team actually writes it up. Visiting 300 hotel properties per year, he’s a busy guy, yet  he invests the time to tell stories using this medium. That’s because he values storytelling as a way to engage employees and reach out to the public. He also acknowledged that his blog has generated millions of dollars in hotel bookings via a link on the home page.
• Seth Godin never disappoints. His high-energy closing keynote was sure to fire up some of the savvy communicators in the room and frighten the pants off those who don’t appreciate the way marketing has changed in the last few years. If you can’t be remarkable, then get out of the way.
• The conference parties will be hard to top at future IABC events. Kudos to Deloitte for the gorgeous food and drink at the opening reception at the Rainbow Room, and to CNW Group for the fantastic Canadian party at the Pegasus Suite.

And on a more personal note:

• Do Tokyo department stores not have nice washrooms? I ran into a gaggle of giggling Japanese girls photographing the ladies’ lounge at Bloomies. I guess I should have taken their picture.
• Speaking of stores, the level of service in New York is extraordinary – from the waiters in restaurants, clerks in retail establishments, even the woman selling subway tickets (who let me purchase a single ride, even though it’s against the rules).

Were you at the IABC conference? What did you think?

A restaurant of a different color

No, I’m not turning Trafcom News into a restaurant review blog. I’m hardly qualified to write about gastronomy. However, we discovered a fabulous restaurant in New York last night, a place with an interesting story and marvelous food, and I wanted to share it with you.

Colors, at 417 Lafayette Street, is said to be Manhattan's first restaurant cooperatively owned by former workers from Windows on The World at the World Trade Center. Six of us last night enjoyed the global menu at Colors – fried calamari, avocado salad, shrimp, skirt steak, salmon and pork – all served with creative combinations of veggies and sauces. Service was impeccable and the ambience was warm and inviting, as you can see from my lousy photo.

If you’re in NY, perhaps for the IABC International Conference, check out Colors and let me know what you think.

The feast for independent communicators

Stan Didzbalis, co-founder of AgencyLink, impressed me when I met him a few weeks ago at a meeting of the Alliance of Independent Practitioners (AIP), a subgroup of the Toronto chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Stan was there to deliver a talk called “The Feast Before You,” in which he shared an overview of current business trends that favour nimble independents. He knows his stuff, having devoted his career to making things happen in journalism, marketing and PR.

AgencyLink, his new venture, aims to bring together PR clients and firms in a new, more productive way. In a short interview you can download right here, you’ll hear Stan briefly talk about this, but the main subject of this quick podcast is the world of independent communicators and how they can specialize to survive.

By the way, this audio file is part of a pilot series I’m working on for AIP. It currently lives behind a firewall at the IABC eXchange, but in the future, we’ll be making some of this content public.

If you’re an independent, be sure to check out AIP Toronto.

Here are the show notes:
00:45 Intro of Stan Didzbalis of AgencyLink
01:20 About Agency Link and its mission
01:57 Independents must specialize; if you try to be a chameleon, you’ll end up a charlatan
03:10 Corporate clients want people who understand their business, who can come in and provide value from day one. Specialization also helps you to target your marketing.
04:00 Being a trusted advisor
04:20 Value of networking and building alliances
06:09 Comments from members at the meeting

Talk is Cheap and the food is free

Gary Schlee, who writes the wonderful A Class Act blog geared toward students in the Corporate Communications and Public Relations program at Toronto’s Centennial College, has come up with a very bright idea: Talk is Cheap.

Talk is Cheap is a social media unconference that Centennial will be hosting on November 15, partly funded by the Toronto chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). From the registrations so far, it looks as though seasoned communications practitioners and enthusiastic students will enjoy meeting and networking and learning from each other.

Check out Gary’s blog post for more information, and then get thee to the Wiki to sign up.

Key words: Free, unconference, great people and even food! So you can rush from work and not have to rely on that desiccated granola bar in your briefcase for sustenance.

See you there!

How to write a speech that's like music to your ears

A few weeks ago, I wrote about my colleague, speechwriter and speaker John Watkis, and his presentation on speechwriting to the Halton-Peel Communications Association (HPCA).

At long last I've interviewed John so you too can hear his tips on "how to write a speech that’s like music to your ears."

Just go to the Trafcom News Podcast page to listen to John, who compares an effective speech to music. No, you don’t have to be Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder to succeed as a speechwriter. Even if you don't know a sharp from a flat, in this 24-minute podcast, you’ll pick up tips from John that will improve your ability to write a speech and deliver it too.

Listen and then let me know what you think!

When Good Buzz Goes Bad: Tod Maffin

If you’re in Toronto on March 27, be sure to hear Tod Maffin speak at the IABC Toronto breakfast seminar, When Good Buzz Goes Bad. Tod, a futurist and technology columnist at the CBC, will be talking about the impact of social media on PR, media relations and corporate communications. I was fortunate to hear Tod speak on this topic last summer at the IABC International Conference in Vancouver. He is an amazing presenter – brilliant, insightful and oh so funny. Don’t miss him! Register at the IABC Toronto site.

Special podcast from the annual Stibo Forum

I was delighted to participate in a podcast with Allan Jenkins and Lee Hopkins (fellow IABC members) the other day. Allan was doing a presentation about social media at the annual Stibo Forum held by Stibo Graphic for its customers. He thought that actually producing a podcast live at the presentation – by patching in Lee and me via Skype – would be an effective way to showcase the medium. Indeed it was! In this chat, you’ll hear Lee, Allan and I and me talking about the benefits of social media in general and podcasting in particular.

Grammatical faux pas corrected! [What was I thinking?] Thanks, Steven.

My advice to a fine young communicator

Earlier this week on a sunny afternoon, I had coffee with a bright young woman just starting her communications career. After a couple of years in the working world, she has been contacting seasoned communicators to gather their perspectives and experiences. (It would be so fitting to say she reminds me of myself 20 years ago, but that would be false; she’s much more savvy and focused!)

I shared with her the Reader’ Digest Condensed version of my career path, with a caveat that it’s not one I would recommend! (I’ve promised a colleague that I would blog about my own storied past, but not today.)

What advice could I offer her? She loves to write, she already knows she needs more agency experience and she has wisely joined IABC for its professional development and networking opportunities. I also recommended a local group, the Halton-Peel Communications Association. Because she’s eager to learn and to meet new people, I also told her about the PR and communications blogs and podcasts that I like.

Her pen scratched the paper furiously as she wrote down FIR, A Shel of My Former Self, Neville Hobson.com, Inside PR, Micropersuasion, Pro PR, PR Works, Better Communications Results, the New PR Wiki and many more. I suggested she click from their blogrolls, too. As we chatted about social media (a term that was new to her), you could almost see the wheels turning. Finally, she asked, “Do you think it would help me to write a blog?” I smiled and said, “Yes, but first think about the image and the message you want to convey.”

Which reminds me... Today Shel Holtz covers the blog as a job-hunting asset. (He goes beyond the idea of a blog as a resume on steroids; read what he says.)

I’ll let you know when this fine young communicator launches her words on the Web. She’s clever, so she will surely first spend time lurking and then commenting before she jumps in.

Technorati Profile

Six Communication Truths

Takeaways from the IABC International Conference in Vancouver

Whether or not you’re an IABC member, you’ll be interested in these truisms about communications – the glories of print, the joys of beautiful writing, what it’s like to be chuffed, and the best companions with whom to be trapped in an elevator. You can read the full shownotes and download the audio file at the Trafcom News Podcast page.

A chat with Ned Lundquist about positive yet unanticipated consequences of networking

I've just uploaded the last in my series of pre-IABC International Conference podcasts. You'll find the full details at the Trafcom News Podcast blog. There you can download the MP3 file and subscribe to receive future shows if you wish.

In this 19-minute show, Ned Lundquist and I discuss the unanticipated and positive benefits that can grow out of connecting with other human beings.

Let me know if you're going to be at the conference in Vancouver next month -- so we can connect!