As one of IABC’s resident geeks, one thing I love about conference is finding out how organizations are making good use of technology. Problem is, there’s not a technology track where everything is listed. Which I kinda understand, since tech is becoming a part of just about everything… But it would be nice (at least on the web) to offer ‘virtual’ tracks where areas like tech are broken out of their silos. So after looking through things a bit, here’s my guide to all the tech sessions… Let me know if I missed anything.

Social media is all the buzz these days, and two of IABC’s best, Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson (have you listened to their podcast?? it’s outstanding!) are sure to provide some great ideas. Shel will be presenting a session on “The practical impact of social media on your organization”. Neville will be leading a panel of senior communicators on “Organizational communication 2.0: The age of social communication”, which is sure to be a fascinating discussion on where these new tools are taking us.

A critical issue for anyone working in tech these days is privacy, and I’m definitely catching the “Make privacy work for you: Turn promises into commitments and strategies” session presented by Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D., who happens to be Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner.

I hesitate to mention Steve Crescenzo’s session. Not because Steve isn’t brilliant. Not that his “Integrating print and online: The 2006 edition” won’t be fantastic — it always is. If you could cross stand up comedy with terrific communication insight, you get Steve. His evals are always off the charts. He’s that good. It’s that the brilliant minds at IABC have put his session directly on top of my “Intranets on the cutting edge: A look at what’s possible now and probable tomorrow” session. Somebody at International owes me lots of extra drink tickets for that little scheduling issue. Sigh.

On the PR track, one of Microsoft’s reps will be talking about Unified Communication with (big surprise) a good bit of information on their Live Meeting product. I’ve been a big fan of GoToMeeting, one of the competitors to Live Meeting, so I’ll be curios to see the differences.

Also in PR, the PR Newsire folks will be talking about “Using online tools to enhance traditional product launches”. With talk in the blogosphere about the death of the press release, it will be interesting to hear what they’re up to.

In this third installment of IABC’s ConferenceCast, Neville interviews Louis van der Merwe who will be leading a conference session on Monday June 5 on “Scenario-based strategy: Managing business risks.”

Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Louis is a partner at the Centre for Innovative Leadership. His scenario work in South Africa during that country’s transition to the post-apartheid period has been widely recognized.

Our conversation embraced Louis’ background and his work, a discussion about his conference session and concludes with Louis’ take on what delegates will get out of participating in his session.

 

 IABC ConferenceCast #3 [19:43m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

In this second installment of IABC’s ConferenceCast, Neville and Shel interview Steve Crescenzo, who speaks on Tuesday, June 6, on “Integrating Print and Online: The 2006 edition.” Steve is president of Crescenzo Communications. In addition, you’ll hear a brief interview with Laurel English, one of the thousands of participants who will attend this year’s conference.

 

 ConferenceCast #2 [20:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The media has become its own major news item in recent months as large media groups have been sold, newspapers are laying off workers, the number of magazines continues to grow and target audiences are becoming more elusive. Are these examples of trends or temporary adjustments? If they are trends, what do they — and other changes — mean for the media and for the organizational communicators who serve them? I will be leading a discussion on this topic June 6 at the IABC conference in Vancouver in a Business Breakfast with Fellows session and would like to hear from anyone who has spotted other trends in the media or anyone concerned about how to cope with these trends. I’d also like to hear about trends in the media in Asia, Europe, Africa and/or South America. If you can’t join in the session in Vancouver, please join in the discussion now.

It’s not every speaker that gives you the opportunity to try before you buy so take advantage of this one - Steve Denning has video clips on his website that are very persuasive (miss the first one on the list and go to the others).

Something in one of his articles caught my eye: “Analysis might excite the mind, but it hardly offers a route to the heart”. How many people use narrative as a tool in the development of their business strategies I wonder? Perhaps the session on scenario planning will give an answer. Meanwhile the other useful thing in Steve Denning’s article is the table on page 5 giving examples of the right kind of story for the job. This list is could be a good tool for bloggers who want to do it intelligently. Gives ideas that could enrich blogging for both bloggers and the blogged.

In wandering about the ‘net I found that a previous IABC international conference keynote speaker Malcolm Gladwell has a blog which stimulates thought and I discovered that there is a global community of practice devoted to storytelling in organisations that gives a list of all the strategic ways you can use storytelling in organisations. Happy previewing!

Last weekend I caught Lucky Number Slevin, a slick movie about con artists, gansters, and revenge. While not quite rising to the level of similar films like Pulp Fiction (one of my favorites), it’s worth a full fare admission if you’re in to the dark comedy / violent ganster / highly stylized / pop-culture-reference laden genre. But I’m not here to talk about movies. I’ve been told I’m supposed to talk about ‘Skills Development’.. So here’s the segue:

It turns out that the producers of Slevin used a JotSpot.com wiki to track the production and financing of the film. Wiki’s are collaborative Web sites allowing a group of people to work together on documents. I’ll be talking about wikis and other interesting technology for organizations at my session at the conference, and this is a particularly cool example of them at work.

Independently financed films can acquire a paper trail of contracts and documents that is usally about a foot and a half high when all the revisions and changes are included. Slevin moved the entire process to their wiki. In a press release from JotSpot, Robert Norton with Ascendant Films said, “Our experience with the ‘Lucky Number Slevin’ wiki has truly changed and improved the way we communicate. We plan to expand our use of JotSpot in the production of future films.”

I’ve played a bit with JotSpot, and I like what I see. One problem that I’ve seen with a lot of wiki tools is the difficulty of the editing interface. You have to use special tags and slash commands that don’t come easily to the technophoboic. JotSpot does a pretty good job of hiding that complexity and making it simple for normal people to just start working. I’m on the board of Dallas/IABC, and I’m looking at JotSpot as a way for the board to share documents, calendars, contact lists, and to-dos. Fellow In Session bloggers Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson are using it to collaborate on their new podcasting book. What do you think? How is your organization using wikis, or how might you use one?

Vancouver’s multicultural cornucopia inspires our city’s fantastic array of delectable cuisine. On Tuesday, June 6, we invite you to spend an evening with a small group of communicators to enjoy a great dining experience at one of our city’s best restaurants.

Your dine around hosts hail from the British Columbia chapter of IABC. We’ve selected 45 of the city’s most delicious restaurants, reflecting our diverse ethnic cuisine, setting and prices. Review the restaurant descriptions, and be sure to stop by the Vancouver Dine Around table at the conference registration area to make your restaurant selection.

Our local experts will be on hand to help you make your final choice. All you need to do is show up! Please note that costs for the Dine Around are not included in the conference fee.

I was in Toronto this past weekend for the IABC Executive Committee meeting. While there, I met with one of our conference sponsors/exhibitors, Steven Green from PollStream, who said “I attend a lot of conventions, and one very obvious distinction I notice about IABC conference participants is the relationships that you all have with each other — you all seem to work together and support each other.” As an executive board member, I’m always pleased when non-members share observations such as Steven’s.

As I explained to Steven, what he has observed is IABC members’ cooperative spirit and willingness to share and mentor. I have called on many IABC colleagues throughout the world — some I had met prior and other I hadn’t — to ask for best practices, models, and guidance. Not once, have I been denied.

So, what does this have to do with the upcoming conference? Definitely plan to attend this event for the obvious value — an excellent program that features case studies and best practices for communicators of different competency levels and areas of interest! If you aren’t an IABC member, consider the “join and go” option so that you can start taking advantage of the “willing” network of supportive International communicators. Don’t overlook the special events that combine learning and socializing — great for network building, particularly if this will be the first time you have attended an IABC conference or you don’t know any other conference attendees! And finally, take advantage of the many informal networking opportunities — quick introductions in the conference hotel lobby, conversations over cocktails in the local pub, and comparing prices while shopping for Vancouver souvenirs!

I have attended IABC International Conferences dating back several years, and have worked as a professional communicator for 15 years. My current need is in the area of change management. As a government communicator, change tends to be our standard mode of operation. Although I recognize that change is good, and I’m well practiced in implementing change communication strategies … I’m looking for a fresh perspective. I look forward to exploring new ideas with Marianne Allison, adding value with Jim Shaffer and Terry Simpson, building an online community with Ezri Carlebach, and influencing employee attitudes with James Lukaszewski, ABC, APR.

I do admire the Gold Quill entrants and those interviewed in the first podcast about why they spent their own time and money flying into San Francisco for the weekend to judge this year’s winners. I was struck by the journeys we choose to take when desiring excellence. Last weekend I read Fish and learned about the transformations that people and organisations can undergo if they adopt the fun and committed attitude shown by the Pike Place fish sellers in Seattle.

Now having listened to the interviewees I understand the IABC connection. Whilst I was attending my first 2005 IABC Leadership Institute in Seattle, I saw these world famous fish fly by. And now, not far up the coast in Vancouver, I will be going to my first International Conference and be lucky enough to experience the Gold Quill Awards Gala Dinner. Even if Pike or Alaskan Cod are not on the menu, world-class quality and creativity are bound to be.

Following some internet searching I came across a sample audio extract of a book about Pike Place, and it got me thinking:Would people like to have an slimline download taster of the 2006 IABC Gold Quill Award entries?

I’m looking forward to the conference in Vancouver. To hearing about strategy and counsel from people whose work I know well - such as Bill Quirke (his book “Making the connections at work” is my bible at work) and Jim McNamara (who is known all round the Asia-Pacific region as the guru of media measurement) - and from people that I’ve never encountered before. I’m excited about hearing from Louis van der Merwe about “Scenario-based strategy” - not only because his leadership centre is based in the country of my birth but because his topic is important to strategic communicators.

I’ve been attending IABC conferences regularly since 1994. One of the best things about them is meeting people who live in other countries like Bill and Louis in person. They give a sense of the diversity in our communication community but also of the universal nature of the situations we face on a day-to-day basis in our work. In my view, strategic communication is about applying common sense to the process of determining how you want to reach your organisational and communication goals but the first step is to be able to recognise common sense.

That’s something that IABC’s accreditation process keeps on reminding me about. As a porfolio grader, I see many examples of other people’s projects and am constantly amazed at how often people overlook the basics in favour of, say, a “creative approach”.

Being strategic and creative in your solutions is of no use if you can’t implement them effectively. So it’s really valuable to hear other speakers present their case studies. They constantly remind me that the basics must be there otherwise the solution has less value - perhaps none at all. So I am going back again for more of the same - the chance to use the IABC conference strategically to move me along another step in my professional life - and also to get some great new ideas from my communication heroes. See you there!