PR: Make 2010 Your WIIFM Year
Last week I (and several others) attended IABC/Washington’s holiday party. I think a decent time was had by all (I had fun, but then, I’m the chapter president so I’d hardly rat my own chapter out).
We had wonderful holiday music provided by the Marsh Brothers (one of whom, Greg Marsh, is a chapter member; I learned this thanks to Judy Gombita, who is, I’m convinced, omniscient). We raised money for Bread for the City via a raffle ($450) and donations and we networked our hearts out. I can’t thank our raffle donors enough.
Measurement legend Angela Sinickas made a surprise appearance, which thrilled me, measurement fanatic that I am. She generously made an on-the-spot raffle donation as well, as did Paul Duning of the Capitol Communicator. The food wasn’t great, but the bonhomie was.
What really warmed the cockles of my heart, though, was when we did a slightly different iteration of what we call the “go around.” (We say this is an IABC/Washington tradition, but I have no way of knowing if any other chapters or groups do it.)
At any rate, the “go around” is where we invite anyone new to the chapter or IABC, looking for a job or with a job to offer to stand up and share that information. It’s a way for us to welcome newcomers as well as for job-seekers and providers alike to be able to identify each other, not to mention put them on the radars of those who might be able to help them.
Last week, we added something to the GA. We asked people to share good news – account wins, new jobs, etc. – as well.
You know what? Many people did; quite frankly, way more than I expected in this economy. And almost all of them had something good to say about IABC in the bargain. One even credited his new job – a 17-month process! – with a specific IABC-sponsored workshop and offered to share his learnings with anyone who wanted. Which, obviously, is a great thing for potential new members and sponsors stopping by to hear.
WIIFM
One of the questions I hear over and over again, when it comes to association membership, is “What’s in it for me?” Even if it’s not explicitly stated, you know that’s where the questioner’s going.
If you’d been at our holiday party, I believe you’d have gotten the answer very clearly. What’s in it for you is camaraderie. What’s in it for you is experience. What’s in it for you is giving and receiving through the generosity of spirit.
What’s in it for you are the completely unanticipated consequences of throwing in your lot with a bunch of your fellow communicators who, once they see you’re along for the ride, will start bringing value to your life in ways you probably never imagined.
And while no one can promise you a job, or a raise, or a promotion as the result of joining such a group, chances are you’ll get more out of it than you ever dreamed of. But you’ve got to show up and get involved.
My Wish for You: a 2010 Resolution
If there’s one thing you do for yourself as a PR or communication professional, as 2009 gives way to 2010, please consider this: commit to a professional development group and pitch in. That last part is important; you’ve got to get involved.
It doesn’t have to be IABC; choose your local PRSA chapter or any other group where you feel a gathering of kindred spirits. I know it’s not inexpensive and believe me, I’ve felt the pinch.
But it really is the best investment you can make in yourself and your growth as a professional. You’ll make incredibly strong bonds with people you might otherwise never have met along the way… and you know what else? Your career will follow.
That’s what’s in it for you.
All photographs © 2009 Marvin T. Jones
DC Conference Mania
There are two great events coming up in DC next week that I’m really looking forward to. Here’s my not-so-subtle pitch for you to come and be a part of them, if your schedule and wallet allow, because I think they’re smart conferences for smart people to attend.
The first is the Grow Smart Business conference on Tuesday, Sept. 29 (you’ll have noticed my blog’s been sporting the badge recently). I was lucky enough to be invited to it and I can’t wait to hear from Chris Anderson, Sen. Mark Warner, Bob London, Jill Foster (I’ll finally get to meet her!) and so many others. I’m also going to be helping to staff a “learning center” that will be open throughout the day at the conference, so if you’re planning to attend, please do stop by and say hello.
I’m chuffed that IABC/Washington (y’all have heard enough about how I’m involved with them, no need for me to go on about it, right?) is a partner of the conference; with a significant number of our members at or owning consulting firms, this is a golden opportunity to learn from some real movers and shakers. So if you’re an IABC/Washington member interested in attending the event, you can get $100 off the conference registration fee ($299) by using the code IABCGROWSMART here.
The second is Communitelligence’s Rethinking Corporate Communications conference, immediately following GSB (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1). There are some really interesting speakers lined up, including Mark Weiner, David Henderson, Jack Holt from the DoD, my friends Mark Phillips, APR and Ned Lundquist, ABC, and many more. Yours truly will be part of the measurement panel along with both Marks (MarkyMark?) on Oct. 1.
IABC/Washington is also supporting this conference, which is built around delivering value in a tough economy; again, if you’re a member, you can get $300 off the standard registration of $900/$600 (depending on whether you work in a corporate or government/nonprofit setting). The details are on our website.
There’s always a lot going on in DC and no doubt I’ll be wiped after next week, but I wouldn’t miss either of these for the world. I hope I’ll see you there.
Social Media, Social Karma
There’s an awful lot of social karma going around lately. 
JOTW: My First Experience With Social Karma
For the last few years, I’ve occasionally guest-edited the free “Ned’s Job of the Week” e-newsletter. If you don’t know about it, it’s a free weekly newsletter that lists job postings sent to Ned Lundquist, ABC, by subscribers (as well as many he finds himself) in the spirit of sharing.
For a couple of weeks every year, I experience what Ned goes through on a daily basis: sifting through job postings sent by readers, looking for them myself, telling people how to subscribe and unsubscribe (even though the instructions are clearly listed in the newsletter) and then compiling all the information, along with other announcements that would be relevant (such as communication/PR events) into a newsletter that’s sent out every Monday.
It’s a lot of work, and I’m exhausted and relieved when Ned returns; but I’m always grateful for the additional connections I make by filling in for him, as well as honored by his trust that I’ll keep JOTW rolling along.
And I always ask myself: how on earth does he keep doing it?
The answer is very simple: Ned believes in social karma. Or rather, as he puts it, JOTW is dedicated to the “positive, unanticipated consequences of nedworking.” And no, that’s not a typo.
Ned didn’t start publishing JOTW to get something out of it. He did it to help a few folk he knew, and figured he might – just might – help himself along the way. Since its inception with a handful of subscribers, JOTW has grown tremendously; at last count, there are more than 11,111 members of the JOTW network. It now has a home on the Web as well as advertisers and sponsors.
The WIIFM Factor
Is Ned getting something out of JOTW now? You bet. But that’s not why he started it, and not why he keeps it going, or why he keeps it free to subscribers. And that, in my opinion, is why he’s successful.
Mind you, all this started several years ago, way before “social media” became the “buzzphrase” it is today. But to me, Ned epitomizes the inherent karmic element of social media. If you send something good out to your world – with no expectation whatsoever – something good will come back to you.
Twitter and Social Karma
One of the reasons I love Twitter is that it’s a perfect platform for social karma. Want to know who can enrich your network? Head to #followfriday. Want to show someone some Twitter-love? Re-tweet something interesting they’ve shared.
And through Twitter, I’ve come across even more instances of social karma.
Mark Story, for example, has started #blogmonday, where he highlights bloggers who might not be very well known. Arik Hanson posts interviews with professionals he thinks are “PR Rockstars” on his blog. Heather Huhman provides a wealth of PR resources by tagging relevant posts with #PRadvice. And there are countless others.
As far as I know, Mark, Arik and Heather aren’t necessarily “getting” anything out of their efforts. But I’m pretty sure they are enhancing their reputations (don’t worry, I’m not going to get into the whole personal branding thing here), building their networks and sowing the seeds for “positive, unanticipated consequences” which will have a beneficial effect on their work.
What’s the Communications Angle?
The first thing that anyone – including the many “gurus” out there – will tell you about social media is that it’s about listening, connecting and sharing. Everything else comes later.
If you’re a professional communicator grappling with the amoebic nature of social media, try thinking of it as your path to social karma.
After all, our business is communication, right? Sharing information, educating and informing audiences and hopefully, at the end of the day, doing some good by using smart communications to help organizations (or clients) achieve their goals.
Listening, sharing, connecting – this is what we DO. Don’t get intimidated by the technology behind it, or the buzzwords that tend to change quicker than David and Dania.
Call me naïve, but I believe social karma is a large part of what we do for a living. Social media is just another way to get there.
What about you? Is social karma part of your approach to communications? Have you found social media has increased your social karma? If you want to give props to someone who does, a comment would be a lovely way to do so.
Of Job Hunting, Cologne… and Twitter
On April 2, a few friends and I put on the “Dream Team” hats that Ned Lundquist, ABC, bestowed on us some years ago, to help folks “Pimp My Job.”
What on earth is “Pimp My Job,” you ask?
If you subscribe to Ned’s free, weekly “Job of the Week” newsletter, which I sometimes guest-edit, you know what we’re about. But in essence, we’re a group of communicators from near and far who provide advice – sometimes mercilessly – to those brave enough to ask for it. They submit their on-the-job – or job hunting – nightmares to us, and we have at it, maintaining their privacy. Advice is compiled and published in the newsletter. You can read previous PMJs here.
PMJ Meets IABC
A few years ago, when I ran IABC/Washington’s programming, I thought it would be fun to do a real world version of PMJ – and sure enough, it was. A couple of weeks ago, we reprised our “act” at IABC/Washington’s Senior Communicators Council meeting (disclosure: I’m President-Elect for the chapter, currently also Acting President).
Given how dramatically the economy has changed in the past few years, I wasn’t quite sure how the SCC meeting would go (it’s one thing to pimp your job while you still have it, quite another when you, and more and more of your peers, are out of work).
It was wonderful. Folks shared their experiences, asked for advice, gave advice, and I felt a tremendous sense of camaraderie among the attendees. We had some fun too: can you guess which Indian goddess the Dream Team is trying to portray here?
“It’s Not Rocket Science”
Now, none of what we said is rocket science (I couldn’t resist). Career advice abounds, especially these days. But there were two things that stayed with me:
1) It’s easy to get depressed when you’re in a go-nowhere job/laid off/have been job hunting for years, etc. But as Kate Perrin of PRofessional Solutions said, you cannot afford to let the “stink of desperation” cling to you. That’s when you’re in such a poor frame of mind that it comes across no matter where you are, who you’re talking to, or what you’re talking about … and that will come through in your interviews. Do I need to give you examples? I didn’t think so.
2) Senior communicators must start understanding and using online social networks. Being… well, me, I gave the attendees a quick demonstration of Twitter which, as we all know, is just one of the many platforms you can use to connect with people. Time and time again, I hear “we don’t get it,” “I’m not technologically savvy,” what the heck is the point of (fill in your epithet network of choice) anyway?”
The point is two-fold: first, it’s networking. If you have experienced the advantages of meeting and communicating with your peers outside of your work, you cannot afford to ignore online venues that afford you the same opportunities. Yes, you have to then take your online network offline and put it to work for you. But you can’t do that if you don’t have an online network.
Second, you are probably finding that these days, more and more jobs require a knowledge of the online sphere and social media. How can you be competitive if you don’t explore the spaces potential employers need you to have an understanding of? It doesn’t matter if you don’t consider yourself an “expert” (there are too many wannabe experts floating around these days anyway, as Beth Harte points out in this most excellent post). But you’ve got to be able to talk knowledgeably about it – and you can’t do that if you don’t engage.
In my enthusiasm to bring a Twitter dimension to the meeting, I asked my tweeps to submit questions for the Dream Team to me via Twitter, hoping to be able to answer them live from the session. Many thanks to all of you who did (you can read the entire event-related tweetstream here). The meeting had so many facets to it that we weren’t able to get to all the questions, but they (and the answers) have been published in today’s edition of JOTW.
A final word: if you don’t subscribe to JOTW, I strongly recommend you do. It’s completely free and you will experience the “positive, unanticipated consequences of nedworking” first-hand. Subscription (and unsubscription) instructions are at the top and bottom of every email. The annual March 32nd issue itself is worth the price of admission.
The Bottom Line
Yes, it’s tough out there. But it’s tough for everyone, not just you. So check your desperation at the door and start using the networks around you. That’s what they’re there for, and you’ll be the better for it.
(Thanks, Ned for the use of your photo)
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.
