I was at the IABC Pacific Plains conference in Minneapolis earlier this week. The fresh snowfall was a good backdrop for a conference that gave me a number of fresh insights and new resources.
I also had the chance to network with new and old IABC friends. I met folks I had been previously only known via Twitter. And many others who will likely connect there soon since social media was a topic in most presentations I attended. Here’s a pic from the stage during the social media panel I was on with Nate Riggs, Mike Plotnick and Laura Bryniarski.
I found Twitter a great tool for taking (and therefore sharing) notes on key takeaways. So check out my Twitterstream or all the #iabcppr tweets.
I did want to share a macroblog (vs. microblog) post on insights from IABC International Chair Mark Schumann’s closing keynote. Mark provided so many good points on our roles as communicators that I had to stop tweeting and record some >140 character notes.
Mark had just returned from Africa where he noted in Tanzania only 10 percent of the population has electricity. His point was that we as communicators often get caught up in the latest tool (social media, Twitter, etc) and forget that the whole world isn’t on the same page. Yet all communicators around the globe have some things in common.
He noted these nine fundamental changes for communicators:
- This profession used to be about the craft. Writing the perfect sentence (because it was too tough to change on manual typewriters). Controlling the communication. NOW it’s all about the conversation. Our role isn’t to control it but to stimulate it.
- It used to be all about the message. One that couldn’t be misinterpreted. Now it’s all about the experience.
- It used to be all about the channels, which were clearly defined. Now they’re not so it’s all about the connections.
- We have to give up need to edit (no more red pencils and annotated Word docs) and focus on stimulate conversation and even debate.
- We have to move away from being the world’s best responders and learn to say no. We are so eager to deliver that we over commit and over deliver. We have to step back and look at things differently and advise.
- We have to give up control and ownership and let others be part of discussion.
- We have to move a world we could control to one where we can influence. Move from a world where we have to solve the problem to one where we help others realize and avoid the behaviors that caused the problem.
- The value we bring is not in what we deliver but in helpings others discover something different in them that they can bring. The most important role we can play is that of a coach.
- We need to move beyond measuring success in how we informed to measuring how we engaged. Be chief engagement officers. And that engagement is defined by the consumer not the organization.
Mark told a story about a CEO who told him his company didn’t have a problem with social media cause they didn’t permit it. Mark quickly did a search and showed him 35 independent Facebook sites that addressed his company and brands. Mark helped him see the positive side of this – that these people are so engaged that they’re going home and doing this on their own time and computer.
At the other extreme he noted a CEO who loves communication and wanted to jump into blogging. Mark noted the old communicator would have said yes and set up the blog in 10 minutes. But today we have to help the CEO see that a blog is a conversation, not just ramblings on what we want to talk about. He had to help the CEO see things through a different lens. Our job as communicators is to provide that lens.
He noted we have to get over the concept of opinion leaders – that mode of influence was based on the old world of limited conversation.
Here are skills Mark said communicators need today:
- provide insight - stay on top of where people are.
- be a facilitator - help others discover something about themselves they didn’t know.
- have humility – we don’t have to be the smartest ones in the class – just make sure it’s a really smart class.
- provide breadth & depth – not just get so excited about the latest thing (today it’s Twitter, 20 yrs ago it was desktop publishing).
- provide leadership – can’t expect to be at adult at the table if we use childlike manners.
You can follow Mark on Twitter.
7 Responses
October 15th, 2009 at 1:37 pm
[…] Dora the Explorer » Blog Archive » IABC Pacific Plains Conference Report: “A Different Lens” dorasmith.x.iabc.com/2009/10/15/iabc-pacific-plains-conference-report-a-different-lens – view page – cached I was at the IABC Pacific Plains conference in Minneapolis earlier this week. The fresh snowfall was a good backdrop for a conference that gave me a number of fresh insights and new resources. — From the page […]
October 15th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Fantastic write up Dora! So great to have met you at the conference. Mark’s 9 fundamental changes for communiators should be a manifesto for all of us as we work to make sense of this digital age. Thanks again!
October 15th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Thanks Dave. Good to meet you too. It was great to end the conference on Mark’s words. They really struck a chord - how far we’ve come and yet as much things change, many of our challenges are the same. See you next time - maybe international in June.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
Great meeting you, Dora! Super write up of Mark’s comments. I think we all need these skills now. See you more on Twitter!
October 16th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Thanks Liz, good to meet you too and talk LEAN communications. You gave me some ideas to think about. See you online.
October 16th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Hi Dora,
It was fun sharing dinner (and not spilling the wine) with you Monday night - Jason of Adsoka was a great host. Thanks for the notes on Mark’s closing address where he provided a worldly perspective on life and work. Take care -
October 20th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
[…] The first was our European customer conference where I was event blogging. The second was the IABC Pacific Plains conference where I was speaking and microblogging. All this compulsive sharing has worn me […]
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