The healthy turnout and multitude of job openings posted on hallway bulletin boards at the annual conference of the International Association of Business Communicators shows that good times continue to roll in the PR and corporate communications industry. Among the highlights:
Writing for the Web
Internet-related sessions at the conference, even some that seemed fairly basic, were very popular this year. A standing-room only crowd of perhaps 200 jammed a session on the "10 Most Common Web Writing Errors." Among basic mistakes still found on too many corporate Web sites by consultant Jeff Herringto, were: having out-of-date information; the absence of clear strategic messages; and buttons (icons) with titles so vague a browser can't tell what it really refers to.
Precision, clarity and ease-of-use philosophy recommended by Herrington for the Web also were advocated by University of Missouri journalism professor Don Ranly for writing in general.
In his session on "Reinventing Print," he advocated writing for the "skimmer or scanner." These are readers who need to find relevant information as quickly as possible-whether on the Web or on the printed page. Besides writing clearly and succinctly, he believes underlining, bolding, pull-quotes and text boxes are useful to readers who have a lot of material to consume but very little time within which to do it.
The degree to which readers use a writer's work should be the new measure of success for those who produce internal or external company publications, said the professor.
Forget the journalistic edicts of who, what, when, where and how, and focus on stating the relevance for the reader.
To emphasize his point about relevance for the reader, Ranly said even journalism schools now are allowing students to write leads beginning with the word "you"-something that used to be taboo.
Communicators as Strategists
Turning communicators into strategic business consultants rather than just wordsmiths was stressed throughout the conference and the exhibit hall. High-profile consulting firms such as Aon and Deloitte & Touche joined more familiar firms like Watson Wyatt and Towers Perrin in offering communications consulting services.
Brad Whitworth of Hewlett-Packard and Canadian consultant Mary Lou Van Schaik dispensed advice on how communicators can best function in a consultative role within their organizations. One of the keys, said Van Schaik, is to make "alliances" with key staff in other departments-both those at your level and those above or below.
These alliances can give you "leverage points" when you need resources, support or credibility. Also important is evaluating the status of projects and of relationships.
"Ongoing pulse-taking" is critical, she says. Indeed, pulse taking is an important part of the modus operandi for agencies like Padilla Speer Beardsley, a Minneapolis-based PR firm.
Senior Vice President/COO Lynn Casey said about 80 percent of the firm's clients regularly respond to a written questionnaire that looks at both accomplishments and the quality of the service and relationship.
She says the firm especially likes to learn from clients "what one thing" really worked well, or "what did the agency fall down on?"
As befits its name, this IABC meeting had about a half dozen sessions on international issues, ranging from cross-cultural sensitivity training to how to issue a corporate apology in Japan.
The conference drew scores of attendees from across the globe, including two PR professors from Russia's St. Petersburg State University, which this spring presided over the first graduating class of PR students in the school's history.
(IABC, 415/544-2700)