The Big Picture

The Forest and the Trees

"An 18-point checklist for proofreaders." Paste it to your wall. Follow these rules

That's what the e-newsletter link promised.

But when I clicked, I was just brought to the main page of a site, not the story itself.

A co-worker walked in when I was cracking up laughing over this, inquiring as to what could possibly be so funny. And I explained that it was just so much like life...this constant balancing between watching both the forest and the trees.

That newsletter did not have even ONE grammatical error, I'm sure. But it goes to show that in this day and age, you can, as a proofreader, watch (and catch) all of your p's and q's and still be flummoxed in the communication process by an incorrect link.

Be sure to check out this 18-point checklist for proofreaders before sending out your next e-newsletter to members. (But before pressing the "send" button, check all the links too!)

The making of a perfect speech

David Murray shares what all communicators can learn from what he sees as the greatest speech in American history.

Top Ten Best (and Worst) Communicators of 2007

Bert Decker, chief executive officer of Decker Communications, offers up his List of Top Communicators - the best (and worst) from business, politics, entertainment and sports. Take a look to see how communications skills helped make or break these notable individuals.

[ via How to Change the World ]

(Speaking of communications, if you're wondering why I'm all of a sudden posting so much to this blog, it's because it was my new year's resolution to no longer use the excuse of "not enough time" to neglect my work blog!)

Cell-Only Population Challenges National Polls

Polls are generally at least one part of a communications campaign, and this study touched on what I have been saying for quite some time now... Just who is answering the questions on these phone polls?

According to a Pew Research Center study, a growing number of Americans rely solely on a cell phone for their telephone service, and many more are considering giving up their landline phones. This trend presents a challenge to public opinion polling. According to data collected by the National Center for Heath Statistics, 53% of Americans use both a landline and a cell phone; 37% have only a landline; and 8% rely only on a cell phone.

Even taking away the fact that many, like my family, switched to cell phones on a family plan years ago, if you do have a land line phone, do you ever talk to anyone who calls that you don't know? My experience is that most assume it is a telemarketer couched as a surveyor and just hang up.

The demographics of the groups are very different too. The cell-phone-only users are younger, less affluent, less likely to be married or to own their home and more liberal on many political questions. Of those who rely solely on a landline, 41% are ages 65 and older, compared with 16% of the general public. The landline-only group includes a greater proportion of whites than the general public (82% vs. 73%). 

Some interesting things to consider the next time you need a public opinion poll. Read more here.

Executives Not Quite Hot to Blog

 

A recent poll conducted by Harris Interactive, and sponsored by Makovsky + Company, the 2006 State of Corporate Blogging survey, found that Fortune 1000 business executives are reacting slowly to the idea of corporate blogs as a communications medium.

Executives are not convinced of blogs' roles as communication tools, brand-building techniques, sales generation tools - or even their credibility in general. Only 15% said their company had a blog related to the company or its activities. Only 21% read business-related blogs themselves once a week or more frequently.

This was the most interesting to me: Only 30% said they had a thorough understanding of the term "Internet blog."

[ via eMarketer.com ]

Back to the Basics

After his obituary ran in a U.S. paper, Mark Twain sent a cable from London to the U.S. press with the message, "The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." Perhaps we could say the same for the increasing death knell sounds of the press release.

In the recent 2006 Online News Survey by Tek Group, 92% of journalists say that a company needs an online press room so they can access press releases. Other interesting findings:

• 92% say it is very important to have an online press room - but only 43% say it should look similar to your company's Web site.
• 70% say they visit online press rooms often or very often
• 99% say they prefer to receive information via e-mail or an online press room and 97% prefer to receive pitches the same way. (I only skimmed the graphic results so I don't know why they lumped e-mail and press room together on this question. They seem like two different animals to me.)
• 70% prefer news releases to be organized by types of news
• 54% want to access executive bios (I need to add these to our press room. They are not there now.)
• 18% think it's important to have an RSS feed
• 83% would register to enter a password-protected press room. (This one shocked me! If I did register, you better have a press room with some big bells and whistles as far as I'm concerned.)

Tek Group wrote in a press release, “This year’s results show an increasing importance in press releases and digital photography as immediate needs for journalists, while newer fads such as blogs and podcasting are not considered as significant.”

OK, I understand that Tek Group sells online press rooms to companies, but when you look at the bullet points above of what journalists want - categories, RSS feeds, pictures, news releases - how does that not equal what a blog could provide (generally much cheaper and with a much more intuitive interface than the easiest of Web content managers).

I converted our press room to a blog a while back. And I tried something a little different. I attempted to make it a place where health care reporters could look for the latest health news and data - not just MHA news. We did publicize it to Mississippi health care reporters but haven't gotten much interest in the state - but it has increased queries (though it looks like most come from search engine traffic). I recently added a FeedBlitz option where e-mail updates are sent daily and I have noticed some local reporters signing up, so maybe it will pay off eventually.

Read the full report here.

Words and Phrases That Trigger Some Spam Filters

In a comment, Kevin agreed with me on my "click here" rant - but pointed out that it is one of the words that will set off a spam filter. In delicious synchronicity, moments later the ASAE's Technoscope newsletter arrived in my Inbox. One of the articles points to this resource for a list of words and phrases that trigger some spam filters. We probably have used "free grant money" before just because we have a special grants and foundations group at the association. ("Click here" is on the list of "spam words that add up" - which is rather long but recommended reading.)

The article also included a site that you can check your materials on to see if the wording will trigger a spam filter.

Handouts & presentantations from the 2005 IABC International Conference

IABC has posted the hand-outs and presentations from their 2005 International Conference online. (via Constantin Basturea's PR Digest)

Putting the Power Back in Your PowerPoint Presentation

There seems to be a renewed interest in jazzing up association annual business meetings and chairman's reports. The first impulse is to make it a PowerPoint presentation - but we've all heard lately about how bad a bad PowerPoint presentation can be.

At our annual meeting in June, the outgoing chairman did want a PowerPoint presentation for his exit speech. But he wanted it to be a tad funny and not too wordy. In the past, I generally had just written a speech, largely based upon material covered in our annual report, so this was different territory for me.

I read Seth Godin's free e-book, Really Bad PowerPoint (And How to Avoid It), and I visited www.beyondbullets.com, Cliff Atkinson's blog promoting his Beyond Bullet Points book. And, I must admit, after reading all of the material thoroughly, I had a sort of epiphany.

Sometimes the simpler things are the harder they are to see. I design pieces for my association all the time: annual reports, Web sites, blogs, directories, brochures, etc. etc. But when it came to PowerPoint, I never really saw it as a design medium, I saw it as an information medium alone. The templates were the design - thus the advent and proliferation of really bad PowerPoint.

But when you start from a blank, white screen, it's much easier. It becomes a page to be designed. And when you think of the words you say as separate from the visual you see, it's much easier to design. (Think of your TV on mute. If you can't hear what the show is saying, you can't quite understand exactly what's going on. You can get a vague idea, but you must listen to understand it all.)

It also clicked for me because as a former creative director I understood there is a visual, there are words...and when they come together beautifully it almost feels like art. Anyways, I have attached below the FIRST (but hopefully not the last) PowerPoint presentation I have ever created that I was actually proud of. I created the graphics myself so if anyone wants to steal my idea for another presentation, e-mail me at slea@mhanet.org and I will be glad to send them to you. (But technically that's cheating - you're supposed to start from the blank paper. I'll let you slide this time.)

Special thanks are due to Seth Godin and Cliff Atkinson for opening my eyes to how fun designing PowerPoint presenations can be!

Download building_better_health_care.ppt

Update: When I first posted this, I forgot to mention that you won't see the speech unless you view notes.

Chasing the Great White Paper

Many associations are data-rich and information-poor. Why not take all of that data you have lying around and use it to create a white paper under your association's name? Fast Company's blog points to Barefoot White Papers today, a blog dedicated to white papers.

Recent entries feature tips and tactics on copywriting, white paper names, and other related topics. Of special interest is the May 3 entry, which provides a pointer to Gordon and Gordon's State of the White Paper 2004 research report.