Communication World articles from November 2005

Communication World archives from November 2005

From the editor.(Editorial)
November 1, 2005... I'm not quite there yet, but I see where it's going. By "it" I mean the mobile technology revolution that's powered by those little devices that sit in your pocket and make it possible to communicate with anyone via the Internet or phone at any...

Member benefit spotlight.(International Association of Business Communicators )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Bookmark these online IABC services and visit often. * MyComm: Use this strategic communication planning tool developed by Cisco Systems. www.iabc.com/mycomm * IABC Speakers Bureau: Find a speaker on any communication topic with our...

IABC launches new blogging communities.(iabc update)(International Association of Business Communicators)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... IABC has expanded its communication thought-leadership role with the launch of the Communication Commons, an ever-changing community of communicators who will share their insights and expertise and engage in a dialogue with readers. Using...

Gold Quill Awards 2006: your year to win.(iabc update)
November 1, 2005... In 1999, I won a Gold Quill Award of Excellence for multi-audience communication. Ours was an event for 4,000 customers, 100 journalists, 50 shareholders and several hundred employees. Entering the Gold Quill Awards was my passport to IABC....

IABC.com gets a makeover.(iabc update)(International Association of Business Communicators)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... IABC's web site has a new look. The site now features improved navigation, a powerful search function and a sleek new layout. As part of the redesign process, the staff at IABC headquarters invited members to vote on three different prospective...

IABC volunteer leaders to meet in February.(iabc update)(International Association of Business Communicators)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... More than 200 IABC volunteer leaders are expected to attend the 2006 Leadership Institute conference 23-25 February in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Leadership Institute is held each year to give IABC chapter, regional and international...

Employee communication report now available.(iabc update)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Best Practices in Employee Communication: A Study of Global Challenges and Approaches, the report based on the IABC Research Foundation study featured in the July-August 2005 issue of CW, is now available as a softcover book. Right...

All the world's a stage.(LETTERS TO CW)(Letter to the Editor)
November 1, 2005... Gray and Robertson's article "Effective Internal Communication Starts at the Top" [CW, July-August 2005] is generally accurate. As a senior practitioner, I applaud and support their points about authenticity, walking the talk, advocating and...

New membership rate for recent graduates.(iabc update)(International Association of Business Communicators)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Know a recent college graduate who could benefit from IABC membership? The IABC executive board has extended a special membership dues rate to any person who joins IABC within one year of graduating from a college degree program. The student...

Coming up in CW Bulletin.(iabc update)
November 1, 2005... Be sure to look for the next issues of CW Bulletin. November's Bulletin will explore how technology can help employees of large and geographically dispersed organizations work together through virtual communication. Find out about cutting-edge...

Events.(iabc update)(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... 23 November Web Seminar: How to Develop the Mind of a Strategist 5-7 December Conference: 2005 Web Content Management Conference, IABC and Lawrence Ragan Communications, Chicago 8 December Teleseminar: Proving PR's Value:...

How would you describe the role communication plays in influencing your organization's corporate culture?(Global perspectives)
November 1, 2005... United Kingdom Communication as a process identifies, educates and reinforces the current culture for stakeholders. The values and attributes of the organization can only be passed on through communication--formal and informal. The past,...

Search engines smarten up: a new solution lets your desktop do the work.(tech talk)
November 1, 2005... Does the advantage of "ubiquitous computing"--tech-speak for being connected to a computer and network no matter where you go--give you a better shot at searching and finding the information you need? Back in the late 20th century,...

It's time to admit the hard truth: we're not photographers; are boring corporate photos driving readers screaming from your publication before they read even one word?(editor's angle)
November 1, 2005... I have a routine that I go through at least once a week. I pour myself a glass of wine and grab a stack of about 100 employee publications to read. This is easy for me to do, because I have thousands of employee publications in my home office....

Separating spin from sin.(book review)(In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions ... When It Counts )(Book Review)
November 1, 2005... In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions... When It Counts by Jerry Weissman Prentice Hall, 2005 216 pages While it contains much of the "same old, same old" about how corporate spokespeople should handle questions, Jerry...

Change the communication channel: Web, paper or face-to-face: knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each channel can help you choose the one that best suits your message.(Cover Story)
November 1, 2005... Professional communicators have messages to communicate. They also have a choice of channels. Do different messages belong on different channels? The answer is yes. The Web is best for short, quick information retrieval; paper, for new, long...

Seeing is believing; new mobile services offer the potential for better communication inside and outside the organization.
November 1, 2005... "We're moving away from the business of ears to the business of eyes." During the mobile industry trade event CeBIT 1998, this statement by Anssi Vanjoki, Nokia's legendary marketing chief, electrified the conference crowd. Now that data...

Taking aim at information overload: e-mail, memos, TV news, industry publications--employees are bombarded with messages. But communicators can guide them through the chaos and help them find what's relevant.
November 1, 2005... Recently, while visiting Boston with my family, we decided to take .one of that city's famous trolley tours. The guided tour exposed us to most of the city's major points of historical significance and gave us our bearings among the old,...

Maintaining employee engagement when communicating difficult issues: an IABC survey shows that companies that take a strong position and answer questions as forthrightly as possible reap the benefits.(International Association of Business Communicators)
November 1, 2005... Everywhere you turn, it is all over the news--missed earnings estimates, product recalls, strikes, layoffs, bankruptcy, corporate relocations, ethical wrongdoing, natural disasters. It seems virtually every organization has been touched by...

From the editors.(EUROPE: ONE VOICE)
November 1, 2005... While Europe goes through an unprecedented process of unification and change, communication stands at the forefront of challenges for both business and government. That was one reason why we wanted to offer IABC members a special supplement on...

From the ground up: with little in the way of a communication infrastructure, a government team in the Czech Republic initiated a complex campaign for EU membership.(CASE STUDY)
November 1, 2005... In March 1998, the Czech Republic, along with the other nine countries of the former Soviet bloc, started negotiations for entry into the European Union. This historic step was an enormous challenge for all 10 countries. Each had to hold a...

To blog or not to blog: this new communication tool is catching on in Europe--but tread carefully.(TECHNOLOGY)
November 1, 2005... Is blogging the next big communication medium? Increasingly, this is the question on the mind of many a professional communicator in Europe. A cursory look at the corporate landscape reveals that blogging has already crossed the Atlantic and is...

Ethics: the global challenge: the demands of regulations are creating mounting ethical dilemmas for management teams and their communicators.(POLICY)
November 1, 2005... On a local, national, regional or global front, ethical standards are being seen as increasingly important, whether the situation involves bribery and corruption, executive pay, treatment of employees or suppliers, human rights, intellectual...

Sweet talk: when it comes to luxury, these Pierre Herme pastries take the cake. Luxury marketer Charles Znaty talks about making this brand a household name.(IN ACTION)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Vogue called him "the Picasso of pastry making"; The New York Times, the "Kitchen Emperor." Pierre Herme comes from a line of French pastry chefs that goes back four generations. Just 24 when he took over the pastry duties at Fauchon in Paris,...

A comprehensive campaign helps Gap employees embrace cultural change.(case in point)
November 1, 2005... When Paul Pressler joined Gap Inc. as president and CEO in 2002, a major goal was to help the global clothing giant restore its business fundamentals and align each employee around a common framework--a shared way of thinking--that would better...

Telling stories with portraits.(photocritique)
November 1, 2005... A storytelling portrait must be more than just a description of a human face. It must define the character and personality of the subject and tell a story about that person to the viewer. When I am making a portrait, I look for spontaneous body...

Farcus.(Cartoon)
November 1, 2005... "Why don't you reply to my e-mail?" [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A conversation with Connie Mayse: human resource manager, Comcast Cable Communications, Elyria, Ohio.(personality)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... What historical figure do you most identify with and why? Almost any of the women in the memoir collection In Her Own Words, edited and introduced by Jill Ker Conway. These women from our recent past (Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and...