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I’m a believer: Blogs make me better April 10, 2012

Posted by Melanie Deardorff in Uncategorized, 8comments

keep-up-and-blog-on.jpgBefore I became involved in KC/IABC, I never spent time reading blogs. Flash forward six years … my marketing/comm peers influenced my reading habits, and I’m now seriously hooked on blogs! I have two Google Reader accounts, and the total number of blogs I subscribe to is a hefty 49. (I don’t read every single post from all 49, but I do read the majority.)

I read blogs about traditional and digital marketing, writing, church marketing, financial marketing, social media and internal communications. Sometimes days will go by and the posts build up begging to be read. I’ll then do a multi-hour read-fest to get caught up. Other times, I’m disciplined and diligent and read all or most new posts within a single day. Occasionally, I get so far behind that when I log in to Reader and see the pile o’ posts waiting on me, I kill them by clicking “Mark all as read” to clear the queue.

How blogs make me better
I’ve always loved business-related reading, so blogs complement the magazines I still enjoy, like Fast Company and Inc. The time I spend on blogs keeps me current on things important to my job as a digital marketer. They provide ideas for projects I’m working on (or hope to). They give me material to post on social sites. Blog provide guidelines for how to benchmark, measure and test out new theories for the work that I do. And I’ve even made a few connections by contacting some of the bloggers offline.

Two blog posts caught my attention recently. One I read today and the other was several weeks ago. I think they’re both pertinent to the KC/IABC crowd, so I asked the bloggers if I could include their posts here, and they said yes.

The blog challenge
So why the big push on blogs? KC/IABCers influenced me to spend more time reading blogs, and now I’m challenging you. Maybe you’re already reading a few. Perhaps you never got started. If you want to feel more connected to our communications industry; keep up on the changing world of social media; grow your online resources, tools and connections; or even find a substitute for watching too much reality TV (been there!), hundreds of bloggers out there have expertise, encouragement and exciting news to share with you.

Here are the recent posts that caught my attention:

Here’s my “best of the blogs” list from the 49 I do my darndest to regularly read:

I’m a die-hard Google Reader fan, because it makes for a less-cluttered email box by giving me one place for Blog Central (or two places, like I mentioned earlier). Want to set up a Reader account? Read on.

Photo credit: Alexander Baxevanis. Disclosure: The opinions in this post are my own and don’t represent my employer.

Do You Know How to Brag About Yourself? April 5, 2012

Posted by Donna Schwartze in Uncategorized, 2comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

“If you done it, it ain’t bragging.” Walt Whitman

Despite Walt’s unnecessary use of improper grammar, I steadfastly believe in his sentiment. There’s nothing wrong with bragging if you can back it up.

As communicators, we get paid to brag about our clients and our companies every day. So, why is it so uncomfortable to brag about ourselves?

Psychology Today says bragging is “a critical skill in social life.” My mom says it’s unattractive. Who’s right? Both probably. I think it matters most how you do it.

If you can brag about yourself without disparaging others, you’re probably on the right track. And, in business, how is everyone going to know how great you are unless you tell us? Sure, you can wait for others to sing your praises. Some people are excellent at recognizing others, but, let’s face it, most people aren’t that good at it. So, it’s up to you to let us know how great you are.

Let me start. I belong to the best board of directors in the business. The KC/IABC board rocks. And, through the great leadership of Justin Goldsborough and Melanie Deardorff, we were just named the 2012 IABC International Chapter of the Year.

Do you see how I did that? I bragged. Followed it up with a fact. I didn’t talk smack on any other chapters. And, I gave credit to others. Bragging can be fun!

Now, you try it. The award is for the best CHAPTER of the year, not the best board (although we would have won that too if they had that category – more bragging). If you’re a KC/IABC member, partner or if you just attend our events, you should be bragging about our award too. You are the reason we won the award. We can plan events and talk about them until we’re blue in the face, but if you don’t attend and invest in KC/IABC, we’ve got nothing.

So, brag. How about something like, “I belong to the IABC International Chapter of the Year. I rock. I am the best thing that ever happened to the communications world.” I believe you. And, I like you more for saying that about yourself.

On Thursday, May 3, there’s going to be a lot of bragging going on as many of KC’s best communicators will be honored at the KC/IABC Bronze Quill Awards. Whether you submitted an entry or not, join us at the event to see how the professionals brag about themselves and their companies. And, use the networking time to brag about yourself. Kansas City’s leading communicators will be there. What are you waiting for? Introduce yourself and tell them why you’re great.

On that subject, Mike Goff will be there. He’s a legend in the Kansas City communications world. And to prove it, the KC/IABC is honoring him with its highest honor, the Arthur E. Lowell Award. And, ten former Arthur Lowell winners will be there to help us celebrate. That’s a lot of swag at one party. Are you going to be there to tell them how wonderful you are? If not, you are missing a great opportunity.

Ok, so I’ve done a lot of preaching here. And, I do believe what I’ve said, but I’m still my mom’s daughter, and I feel unattractive when I brag. A lot of very nice people have recognized me for this, but I haven’t bragged about it myself. So here goes… While KC/IABC was named international chapter of the year, I was named Chapter Leader of the Year. I don’t deserve it any more than anyone else on the board, but I’m proud to have won the award. I work hard. There, I bragged. And, it was only a little bit painful.

What do you have to say? Let me hear your comments. Tell me why you’re great. Or why your company is great. Or why KC/IABC is great. Or how you think I’m arrogant and unattractive for bragging. Thank goodness my mom isn’t online or she would be the first in line to do that…

Let’s hear your comments!

Using Foursquare and Twitter for Targeted Campaigns: Next Tech/SIG April 1, 2012

Posted by Angela Connelly in Tech/SIG, 1 comment so far

UMB’s “Check-in or Tweet for Charity” April 12 Technology Special Interest Group (Tech/SIG) Meeting

At the next meeting, April 12, 7:30-9 a.m., Melanie Woods, Interactive Marketing Manager with UMB Financial Corp., will talk about UMB’s “Check-in or Tweet for Charity” campaign.

UMB is using Foursquare check-ins at UMB banking centers and hash tagged tweets from UMB Twitter followers to help raise funds for their non-profit partners. By checking in at a UMB banking center, or tweeting #UMBgives, UMB is donating 50 cents to the designated charity.
(Learn more http://www.facebook.com/UMBBank.)

Melanie will discuss setting up and managing the Foursquare and Twitter accounts, and how they engaged employees and leaders. She’ll also share how they have monitored and measured activity.
Please RSVP to Keith Mays, kmays@kauffman.org if you can join us in person or virtually (teleconference/Google+ Hangout).

Coming up…
At the May 10 meeting we’ll dicuss what communicators need to know about SEO with a guest from Red Nova Labs (stay tuned for more details).

In June we’ll meet on June 21. Katie Hamm with Fleishman-Hillard will be speaking about Pinterest.

About Tech/SIG
Tech/SIG focuses on the convergence of new media, technology and organizational communication. Whether you’ve always had an interest in technology or need to keep current on trends to stay relevant in your job, the new Tech/SIG is for you.

The group meets the second Thursday of each month at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (4801 Rockhill Road) from 7:30 to 9 a.m. You can also join via Google+ Hangout (non-local attendees are welcome), or via teleconference. Just let us know and we’ll give you details (RSVP to Keith Mays, kmays@kauffman.org).

Jump in, the water is great March 22, 2012

Posted by Angela Connelly in Uncategorized, 2comments

Written by Paul Arnhold, KC/IABC Director Educational Relations

As director of educational relations, I’ve had the pleasure to work with some of the best institutions in the region and a number of very talented students during my 18 months in the position. We’ve focused on showcasing the value of IABC to both student members and non-members, hoping to at minimum expose students to the variety of professional and personal development opportunities available through the organization.

Throughout our interactions with students, we’ve seen that aside from interviews students don’t have a lot of ongoing opportunities to showcase their skills and career interests. Thus was born KC/IABC Talent Pool. This resource gives future members of our profession an opportunity to display their skills and interests while at the same time providing our professional members with a rich pool of candidates for internships and careers.

If you have any questions about the Talent Pool or any suggestions, please drop me a line at paularnhold@hotmail.com.

25 Bronze Quill competition campaign ideas March 13, 2012

Posted by Melanie Deardorff in Bronze Quill, comments closed

quill.jpgKansas City/IABC’s annual awards competition, Bronze Quill, celebrates the outstanding efforts of our city’s best business communicators and their unique talent, creativity and resourcefulness.

Want to see how your work measures up? Enter Bronze Quill and get your 2011 communication programs reviewed by senior communicators from other IABC chapters. In addition to the work evaluation, you could win a Bronze Quill award and be honored at our May 3 Gala at the Uptown Theater. How cool is that?!?

The call-for-entries deadline for is midnight Friday, March 30. Entry fee is $20 for students, $65 for members and 80 for nonmembers.

Here’s a high-level look at the Bronze Quill divisions and categories (check kc.iabc.com for complete details).

Division I: Communications Management

Division II: Communications Skills

Division III: Communications Creative

Division IV: Wildcard and Student Projects

Bronze Quill quick links
Questions? Email Lance Yoder
Tips for submitting your entry
Preparing your work plan
Campaign entry site

Empowering employees to be social ambassadors: Highlights from the March Tech/SIG meeting March 11, 2012

Posted by Angela Connelly in Tech/SIG, comments closed

Tech/SIG meetingWe had an exciting Technology Special Interest Group (Tech/SIG) meeting last week in the new and improved format (see below for details). There was a great turnout with people joining us from four states, including Shel Holtz from California, and a guest from Costa Rica. Shel even writes in his blog about Tech/SIG and the topic,

Sara Folkerts spoke about Sprint’s Social Ninja program and how they empower employees to be social ambassadors. This program recently won the SNCR Award of Excellence in Online Reputation Management. (SNCR stands for the Society of New Communications Research – sncr.org.)

Highlights included:

Things to think about if you want to develop an internal social ambassador program:

If you have questions about Sprint’s Social Ninja program, contact Sara Folkerts at sara.folkerts@sprint.com

About Tech/SIG
Tech/SIG focuses on the convergence of new media, technology and organizational communication. Whether you’ve always had an interest in technology or need to keep current on trends to stay relevant in your job, the new Tech/SIG is for you.

The group meets the second Thursday of each month at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (4801 Rockhill Road, enter under the sign that says Kauffman Foundation) from 7:30 to 9 a.m. If you’re unable to be there in person, you can join via Google+ Hangout (non-local attendees are welcome), or via teleconference. Just let us know and we’ll give you details (RSVP to Keith Mays, kmays@kauffman.​org).

Our new format features scheduled guest speakers and topics for each meeting. There will still be time for round-table discussion and trending topics, but we’ll have a featured topic that you can count on learning more about. We have a great line-up including SEO, Pinterest, email marketing and more. We’ll post upcoming meeting topics on the KC/IABC website, LinkedIn and Facebook pages. Email questions to Angela Connelly, angeconnelly@gmail.com, or Keith Mays, kmays@kauffman.​org.

Learn 13 secrets of effective leadership communication at the March 15 Luncheon March 6, 2012

Posted by Angela Connelly in Monthly Professional Development, comments closed Tags: , .

As our guest blogger, Cisco’s Brad Whitworth gives us a sneak peak about what he’ll be talking about at our next luncheon (including why you and your CEO need to attend). Click here to register

By Brad Whitworth, ABC, IABC Fellow
Senior Communication Manager at Cisco in San Jose

One of the steady components of my communication jobs over many years has been helping execs communicate more effectively.  I’ve written keynote speeches for CEOs, briefed VPs for media interviews, put together town-hall meetings for presidents, developed strategic message platforms for chairmen and edited directors’ holiday messages. You’ve probably done many of the same chores for your senior leaders.

I’ve worked with some extraordinarily effective execs and some truly sad ones. I’d always wondered why some are really, really good at this aspect of their leadership role and why some of them don’t seem to care. That’s the genesis of the “in-my-spare-time” research that I’ve been conducting for the past couple of years and the topic of my luncheon talk to the KC/IABC chapter. It began in earnest when I was asked to chair IABC’s EXCEL selection committee a few years ago.

Each year since 1961, IABC has presented its Excellence in Communication Leadership (EXCEL) award to the senior executive who truly “gets it” when it comes to organizational communication. That means the recipients have to exemplify best communication practices themselves and they must be supportive of the organization’s communication function. The list of CEOs from the past 50-plus years is impressive. Leaders from many of the Fortune 50 companies are part of the august group.

As my volunteer committee and I set out to select the next recipient two years ago, I wondered if there were certain traits or characteristics that these award-winning execs shared. By reviewing the speeches, interviews, articles and videos from these leaders, I came up with a baker’s dozen of core communication competencies. I hope you’ll be able to join us on March 15th to learn about them (and — just as important — what to do with them)

I believe that my time doing the research has been well spent. I’ve been able to share the results with a standing-room-only crowd at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business with the hope that as they rise through the management ranks in their organizations, they will understand the importance of good communication and practice it. (They’re already learning a lot through the good work of IABC member JD.Schramm and his Mastery of Communication Initiative at Stanford. But that’s another story.)

I’ve tried to apply a tremendous amount of rigor and structure to my research. And the IABC EXCEL selection committee follows a consistent evaluation process every year as wet pore over heaps of supporting evidence provided about each: speeches, blog posts, videos, biographies, memos, scripts, editorials and more.

Yet when it comes right down to it, the numbers and the characteristics and the practices are still overshadowed by your gut reaction. Malcolm Gladwell describes it in his best-seller “Blink” as the spontaneous decisions that are often as good as—or even better than—carefully planned and considered ones.   When you watch a top exec in action, you probably find yourself thinking, “I trust this person.” “This person seems credible.” “I’d like to work for this leader.” “I think this exec is wicked smart and is going to be great for this organization.” Or not.

See you on the 15th … and bring your CEO to lunch with you that day. She or he should learn what the world’s best leaders already know about communication and how they are putting into practice every day to make their organizations more effective.

About Brad Whitworth
Brad is a senior communications executive with 30 years of experience in Fortune 20 high-tech, insurance and association management industries. He’s an accredited business communicator (ABC) – a distinction representing professional excellence in our field – and an IABC fellow, an acknowledgement of his outstanding leadership, professional accomplishment and service to IABC and our profession. And you’ll also see Brad’s a graduate of MU.

Trip report: Energized and inspired by IABC’s Leadership Institute March 4, 2012

Posted by Melanie Deardorff in Board, comments closed

Energized and inspired at LITwo weeks ago, representatives from the KC/IABC board and I traveled to IABC’s Leadership Institute (LI) in Miami, FL. This annual meeting is where IABC leaders from around the world get together to learn about what’s working at local chapters. This year’s conference included people from several Canadian chapters (IABC is huge there, BTW), Australia, the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, the United Kingdom and dozens of U.S. states coast-to-coast, including California, Arizona, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Louisiana and Florida.

Sending KC/IABC board members to LI is something our group has done for years. When I joined the board in 2007, I quickly learned our chapter leadership placed a high value on attending LI and that there was a budget line item to pay conference registration, airfare and hotel for several board members. But who attends LI? It all comes down to points.

Known on the board as the “points program,” KC/IABC’s leaders earn points throughout the board term for their participation in things you’d expect them to do (like attending monthly events, turning in monthly project reports and attending board meetings) and above-and-beyond activities (like participating in committees outside their core board roles, recruiting KC/IABC volunteers and contacting past presidents for input on chapter business). At the end of the board term, points are tallied and several board members earn the LI trip. One of the stipulations for winning is that board members agree to serve on the board for an additional term.

Based on what I’ve seen during my time on the board and discussions with past presidents, KC/IABC reaps the benefits of the points program. Throughout the year, a focus is placed on a high-performing, engaged board. And then people who attend LI typically come back re-energized and full of ideas and inspiration, which fuels them and the rest of the board through the term end.

2012 LI attendees
Here are the July 2010–June 2011 term board members who attended LI this year with me: Sami Carter (BCS co-director); Stacey Dickson (treasurer) Matt Dunn (sponsorship director); Sara Folkerts (finance VP and president elect); Donna Schwartze (communications VP); and Rachel Spear (member recruitment director). Justin Goldsborough (senior delegate/past president) wasn’t able to attend LI, due to a work conflict.

Speaking on behalf of this group, I know we benefited greatly from attending LI and are excited to share what we learned with the board. KC/IABC was very visible at the conference. Three of our attendees spoke at LI. I co-presented a break-out session on chapter leadership development. Donna, a general session co-presenter, shared our Business Communicators Summit success story. Stacey hosted a table discussion on how IABC chapters can get involved in their communities. And, of course, the spotlight was on us when we received IABC International Chapter of the Year. What a great honor and a fun experience for our group to be there to pick up the award! (Justin, your leadership on the board is one of the reasons we have such a strong chapter, and we wished you could have been at LI with us!)

This is the time of year when we begin to make plans for the new board that takes office July 1. Many of our current board members will be back again, but we will have a few openings. If you have an interest in being considered for a board role – or a committee position working with the board on monthly programs, annual events, sponsorships or member initiatives, contact me or incoming president Sara Folkerts.

IABC/Topeka invites KC/IABC to April 4 strategic planning event March 4, 2012

Posted by Melanie Deardorff in Monthly Professional Development, comments closed

Robin McCaslandThe Topeka chapter of IABC invites KC/IABC members and other communication professionals from our area to its upcoming event. Here’s the scoop …

Need a refreshing approach to communication strategy? Join IABC/Topeka April 4 for its 2012 Professional Development Seminar and Communicator of the Year Award luncheon (invite and registration form PDFs).

Robin McCasland, leader/founder at Brain Biscuits Strategic Communication, IABC Dallas member and chair for IABC’s executive director search committee, will share the tools needed to create a comprehensive, measurable communication strategy and ideas you can apply right away in your communication plans.

Wednesday, April 4, 8 a.m.  to 1 p.m.
Pozez Education Center, Stormont-Vail HealthCare
1505 S.W. 8th St., Topeka, Kansas
8 a.m. - Registration/Check-in
8:30 a.m. - Keynote Speaker
11:45 a.m. - Lunch and COTY Award presentation

For more information, visit topeka.iabc.com.

Share your Bronze Quill thoughts on the KC/IABC blog February 12, 2012

Posted by Melanie Deardorff in Bronze Quill, comments closed

bronze-quill.jpgKansas City/IABC is looking for past Bronze Quill winners (both KC/IABC members and non-members) to share their thoughts about our annual awards competition on this blog. You can write a paragraph or two – or keep it short and tweet-like.

Tell us what it meant to enter your work in the competition … what it meant to win an award (including Best in Show, Bronze Quill or honorable mention) … what it did for you personally or for your company … what you learned about writing an award entry … any advice you have to people entering Bronze Quill … or (you get the idea).

I’ll collect and post your BQ testimonials here on the blog during our five-week call-for-entries period, as a way to promote Bronze Quill 2012. Can you help? If so, call (816-210-5857) or email me. Thank you!