Can Someone Say “Stop”?
I don’t know how you organize your RSS feeds, but except for the feeds I have set up for client monitoring, mine are in alphabetical order. So my usual M.O. is to check my client feeds, and then go through the rest from A-Z. Some day I might progress to Amy Mengel’s system, but for now, I’m basic like that.
Lately, though, I find myself going to David Murray’s Writing Boots (which, if you don’t read or subscribe to, you should) first. Hardly a new kid on the block, he’s funny, irreverent, often brutal… and always puts a smile on my face. (This guy you’re staring at isn’t him, by the way… as far as I know).
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry today when I read his latest on IABC’s Film Festival. I’m an association member, heavily involved at the local level (and somewhat involved at the international level). And I’ve found tremendous value in my membership, so far at least (just making that clear, I’m not going to diss IABC here). I’ve found the “IABC family” warm, welcoming and encouraging, for the most part, I truly have, and some of the smartest people I know are committed IABCers at the local, regional or international level.
But if only someone were to make a video like this one…
Creating A Stop Sign – Watch more Funny Videos
Looks like there’s a grand total of six entries in the IFF, by the way. So if you’re an IABC member brave (or confident) enough to do so, you’ve got two more days to enter. And props to IABC for trying. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
Thanks for the laugh, David. And I found this amazing photograph on illuminaut’s Flickr stream.
The Ragan Experience
Last week I had the pleasure of presenting, for the first time ever, at Ragan Communications’ 2009 Corporate Communicators Conference in Chicago. As someone who’s wistfully devoured the CCC brochures every year, this was a big thrill for me.
My session on strategic communications planning took place a week ago today; unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay over and attend the “unconference,” so missed meeting many of the wonderful and smart people I’ve gotten to know on Twitter. I did get to meet Amy Mengel (whose Ragan recap is absolutely killer), Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR, and Lee Aase among others, catch up with the lovely Angie Jeffrey, APR, Katie “queen” Paine and the amazing Jim Ylisela, and have a fabulous lunch and walk with the effervescent and super-smart Kate Zimmer (see how happy we are?).
The Skinny on the Presentation
The presentation itself went well (I think); I must admit I was tickled by having to move from a breakout room to the main ballroom in order to accommodate all the attendees. I very much hope it was worth their while.
When I’m asked to make these presentations, I often wonder – as I’m sure all speakers and presenters do – what I can provide to the audience that will be of most value. Or am I going to say the same things everyone else does, but with a slightly different accent?
So Beth Harte’s recent post, “Social Media’s Dirty Little Secret” really resonated with me. If you haven’t read it yet, you should, as well as click through to Dan Keeney’s post to see the video she mentions and read all the comments.
See – I agree with Beth. Social media is nothing new. And I’m going to go one step further and say that 99% of the time, PR is nothing new. Strategic communications is nothing new.
A vast majority of the time, I find the tweets, blogs, LinkedIn questions, yadda yadda, that I follow and read/respond to… nothing new. And that includes the stuff I say.
Before your jaw quite reaches the floor, I think that’s OK.
We’re not – as the rest of the world loves to say about us “PR types,” rocket scientists, tech geniuses or wildly-brilliant theorists. Most of us will probably never rise to the level of a Les Potter or Jim Grunig.
But that’s OK.
Where we add value – I hope – is in reinforcing time-tested communications best practices with practical examples of how we’ve achieved success for our clients or organizations, and showing others how they might adapt those practices for their use. I have to believe that younger professionals in particular derive great value from this.
And perhaps we’re saying it in a new voice, or a new style, that people identify with, and which drives them to adopt the aforesaid practices.
That’s what I hope attendees got out of my presentation which, in a nutshell, tried to reinforce the importance of starting with your end in sight, putting measurable objectives in place, and figuring out your strategy accordingly. (Gosh, where have I heard that before? Here, and here, and here.)
So if you were expecting a flash of brilliance from my presentation, I’m going to apologize in advance for disappointing you.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here it is.
A special word of thanks to everyone who contributed to the presentation, particularly Lauren Vargas for reviewing it beforehand, and Bryan Person and Jenna Woodul of LiveWorld for a fabulous case study.
To ABC or Not, That is the Question
A couple of weeks ago we started talking about accreditation on Twitter (at least, I did). I serve on IABC’s Accreditation Council so, clearly, think it’s a good thing. I was curious about what others thought, so I asked my networks why they had pursued, or were pursuing, accreditation, and what value they derived from it.
What’s the Value of Accreditation?
The response overwhelmed me, not just by how many there were, but by how strongly people feel about accreditation.
There were a few recurring themes: curiosity as to whether one “measured up,” validation of one’s approach to communications, and value in staying involved with process by being a mentor or grader. On LinkedIn, Mary Hills, ABC, who’s director of marketing for the Council said:
And Jason King, ABC, accreditation liaison for IABC/Washington, said:
You can read all the LinkedIn answers here, but I found Maureen Ryan, ABC’s answer particularly interesting:
Maureen’s accreditation was accepted by two universities in lieu of the GMAT. Bill Spaniel, ABC made good use of it too:
Accreditation v. MBA
So: you’re thinking of getting accredited, but should you be considering an MBA instead? What if you already have one, does accreditation still make sense? Here’s what Dora Smith, currently an accreditation candidate, told me:
Sue Johnston, MBA, ABC said:
The “Official” Accreditation Value Study
A study on the value of accreditation was conducted by L.C. Williams & Associates for IABC late in 2007. I encourage you to read the executive summary, which is extremely interesting; some key findings were:
- Seventy-nine percent of ABC respondents said the designation improves their résumés;
- Sixty percent said it’s given more credibility to their department or organization;
- Eighty percent said it benefits the profession by providing a professional global standard; and
- More than one-half of them (53%) said that since being accredited, they ensure that evaluation, measurement and monitoring are part of their plans.
So far, then, we have increased credibility, greater confidence, more rigorous use of communication best practices and advancing the profession.
Not All Peaches and Cream
Amy Mengel made several points from a different perspective; first, that accreditation is not inexpensive, when you consider the initial cost as well as the cost of maintaining it. She said (via email, and all emphasis is mine):
“I’ve worked in corporate communications for about five and a half years now, so I guess I’m ‘eligible’ to go through the process now if I wanted to. But I’ve never felt like having ABC or APR after my name would help me move up the career ladder or land a better/different job in corporate communications. I got my MBA two years ago (entirely company-funded) and I think that’s been much more relevant and opened more doors for me. I think accreditation would be much more important if I were an independent consultant or ran my own business – or even a member of a smaller PR firm.
If I were to do it, I think my reasons would be purely personal – for the experience and personal knowledge gained from going through the process. If I set out to do it with the expectation that it would get me a better job, a promotion, a pay raise, etc., then I think I would be disappointed. It’s not a credential that most hiring managers in corporate comm roles seem to be familiar with or understand - it’s not like a CPA for accountants where it’s almost expected that practitioners have it.”
And, finally:
“I’ll also admit that I think a lot of these programs (beyond PR/comm. accreditations) are ‘profit centers’ for organizations… I can still be a good communicator without it, and the variety of designations handed out (IABC, PRSA, AMA, etc.) somewhat diminishes the strength of any one accreditation program.”
Gulp.
My $0.02
I promised Sarah Ann Walters I’d also share my opinion and story, so here they are:
I earned my accreditation four years ago, starting the process just after moving to DC. I did it because I don’t have formal training in PR, and I wanted to know whether my work – which I “thought” was good – really measured up. I attended an accreditation “fun shop” held by Ned Lundquist, ABC (who’s also founder and editor of Ned’s Job of the Week), and since I wasn’t working (I’d just moved to DC, remember?), figured I might as well start on my accreditation.
It took me one and a half years, from application to certificate. I paid for it myself, but it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. It wasn’t cheap and yes, it was time-consuming. But I grew in confidence and learned a great deal which was reflected in my work, which led to the promotions and pay raises.
It’s one of the reasons I focus so much on smart measurement as an intrinsic part of strategic communications. It has helped define my approach to business communications, and the business of communications. So while accreditation has certainly been a personal achievement for me, it’s one I’ve put to good use for employers and clients, and they’ve appreciated it.
As to hiring managers being unfamiliar with accreditation… well, that’s a little of a chicken and egg situation, isn’t it? Until we, as accredited business communicators, take the time to educate them, why should they care? The Accreditation Chapter Toolkit might have been designed for chapters, but it’s got a wealth of resources we can all adapt and use to grow awareness of accreditation.
Michael Sponhour, ABC, puts it best:
“I find it works in the most simple ways – I have ABC on my business card, websites etc. and it often prompts questions from people who want to know what it is – that allows me to explain about the whole process. People should not expect an earth-shattering change in their professional career, but a greater sense of confidence and new opportunities to tell their stories without resorting to bragging or overbearing self promotion.”
The Last Word: From Shel Holtz, ABC
There are a lot of issues the PR profession faces, and this post certainly isn’t going to get to grips with them all. But one of the most critical issues is our validity as a profession, which Shel Holtz’ recent post on the issue examined extremely well. I’ll give him the last word:
Accreditation, unlike certification, is voluntary, and there are plenty of outstanding, professional PR practitioners who are not accredited. And it’s as likely you’ll find an accredited communicator who behaves badly as you are to find a lawyer who acts less than ethically.
But when faced with two communicators who are unknown to you, but who both seem to be equally capable, you can be more assured that the accredited communicator is going to perform his job based on a thorough understanding of communications’ models and standards because he has gone through a process and judged knowledgeable.
Photo credit: hartlandmartin. My thanks also to everyone who responded to my query, via Twitter, LinkedIn and email, several of whom are quoted in this post. The lack of space that prohibited me from using all your quotes in no way diminishes the value of your responses – thank you again.
What do you think? Is accreditation important to you, or are you curious about it? What else do you want to know? I’d love to have you join the conversation.
