A few notes from the road

I've had a chance to reflect on my recent speaking (and cooking) engagements in Houston and Toronto and thought I'd share some of my observations with FYA readers:

1. IABC members are kind, hospitable, intelligent folks who treat me like a member of their family wherever I go. Which was particularly satisfying in Houston, considering that I staged an unusual barbecue demonstration for a group of TEXANS. Yikes! I'm lucky I made it out of there with my tongs intact. (See the photos here and the local coverage here.)
2. Everybody in our profession is thinking and talking about the exciting and anxiety-inducing world of social media -- and lots are also diving in, too. A show of hands revealed that at least 80 or 90 per cent of the big crowd who turned up to see my IABC Toronto talk are twittering. Which is a good sign, even if twitter may not turn out to be The Next Big Thing, because ...
3. Exactly NONE of the 40 or so very smart HR people I talked to the next morning at a Conference Board of Canada HR conference are trading tweets. That spells opportunity for the more Web 2.0-savvy communicators, who can use their hands-on experience to help bring their HR colleagues and senior executives on board.
4. Or maybe the IABC group's twitter mania is an indication of just how desperate employee communicators are to get on the latest technological bandwagon so they can escape their nightmarish day-to-day existence maintaining outdated, clunky intranets and dealing with skittish, change-averse leaders who drive them crazy with their old-school ideas. Just kidding!
5. Which brings me to a final anecdote.  It's from the last day of my Toronto trip, at a half-day in-house workshop I delivered to the communications team of a big insurance company.  This stinging observation came from the intranet manager: "The kids coming into our workplace today can do more on their cell phones than on our intranet." That statement alone should be a wake-up call for communicators and business leaders everywhere.

[Special thanks to my many generous hosts, and to Toronto's William Smith and Houston's Chris Salvo for the great photos!]

Comments

[Susan]

Ron - here is a cool story (I think) that relates to your observation #3.

Back in Februray, I did an interview with Steve Crescenzo for his web site, around how I was starting up an internal business blog.

Last week, I was forwarded a series of e-mails that had started in HR Communications, as they had found this interview and were commenting on my strategy, business plan, how I was using it, etc.

So, as you point out, this is a good opportunity for me to reach out to my colleagues and see if I can continue the conversation.

[David Murray]

Shewchuk, I love that photo of you speaking. You've never looked more guru-like. Get it on your Web site.

[William Smith]

Hi Ron,

Pleasure meeting you at the IABC Toronto event on Employee Communications and Social Media. It was a great talk and I love observations three and four, very true.

Cheers

William Smith