Once again, I will be moderating a panel at Digital Signage Expo on digital signage for corporate communication. We've got a slightly new structure for this year's session based on feedback from last year's attendees.
At industry event like this one, internal signage doesn't have the same "sex appeal" as signage for retail and other external means. But I know we are grateful that the DSE organizers continue to give us a platform to highlight these "hidden" networks.
If you're attending this year's Expo out in Vegas, I'd love to see you come to our session titled, "
Content strategies for workplace digital signage." It's Thursday morning (March 8) at 9am.
On the panel this year we have Frank Kenna (President, The Marlin Co.), Chris Bias (Communications Consultant, Eli Lily and Co.) and Brian Wood (Arizona Director of Operations, Waste Management). Chris is a customer of ours but it will be nice to have perspective of others on this year's panel.
If there are questions you'd like for the panel to address, leave them in the comments section below.
This post originally appeared on Paul Barton's "Just My Type" blog and we received full permission to re-run the content on this blog. Over the years, Paul Barton has become a great friend of mine. We originally "met" via Twitter, but have since reconnected several times at IABC World Conferences.
In this post, he pulled together 20 objectives for employee communicators that I thought were simply brilliant. I'd like to see if anybody can put up an argument against any of them. Check out Paul's 20 guiding principles for employee communications.
- Strategic communications help a business achieve its objectives. That is their purpose.
- Effective communications are those that produce measurable results and they can be a competitive differentiator.
- There are costs associated with communicating, but there can be costs associated with not communicating as well. Internal communications seek cost-effective and creative solutions to solve complex communications challenges.
- Employees are drowning in information, but starving for understanding. Our job is to make the important interesting.
- Credibility is the foundation upon which effective communication is built. Unless it is believed, a message has no worth.
- Face-to-face communication is the most desirable form of communication because it is immediate, personal and interactive. Most employees say their immediate supervisor is their preferred and most credible source of information about the business.
- Communication is, by definition, a two-way process. Feedback mechanisms must be part of every employee communication.
- Communication is a management responsibility. Internal Communications supports leaders by serving as consultants, facilitators and resource partners.
- As in any effective strategy, form should follow function. The medium is the message.
- Employees should learn of important events affecting them and their company from an internal source rather than an external source. Well-informed employees can serve as informal ambassadors of the company.
- The more important the information is personally to the receiver, the fewer exposures are needed to make an impression. Make your communications relevant.
- True effectiveness in communication is the ability to influence and change behavior. Changing behaviors is a long, slow process and therefore measurement of effective communications must be taken over time.
- The case for change should be found in the marketplace. For change to occur, employees must move through these stages: awareness, understanding, acceptance and commitment. You cannot skip a step. Formal communications (particularly written communications) are most effective in promoting awareness and understanding. Informal communications (leader behaviors, unwritten rules, management decisions, openness, risk-taking tolerance, etc.) are necessary to reach full commitment.
- External sources are defacto employee communications and therefore external messaging should be aligned with internal strategies. Likewise, employees are informal ambassadors of an organization and therefore internal messaging should be aligned with external strategies. Every internal communication should be written as if it will be read by the news media.
- Rumors are created to fill communications voids. Fill those voids with valid information. A phrase like “Unfortunately, we have more questions than answers right now but we’re aware of the problem, we’re working on it and we’ll keep you updated with any news” goes a long ways to keep the rumor mill from grinding out of control.
- Well-defined communication processes and procedures are the foundation for creativity. Key message libraries, templates, crisis plans, etc. free up time for creativity and continuous improvement.
- The overall tone of employee communications directly reflects the relationship an organization has with its employees. The best tone for strategic communications is the Voice of the Brand, which is primarily what the company is but also what the company is striving to be.
- With better information, better business decisions can be made. Employees need to understand the “what” and the “why” to be fully engaged.
- Well-informed employees are more satisfied, more creative, more productive and more committed.
- A common trait among successful companies is open and honest communications with all their key audiences, especially their employees.
Pretty great, eh? Truth be told, each of these principles could be its own blog post. And maybe I'll do just that.
If you'd like to learn more about Paul, you can follow him on Twitter (@PaulBartonABC) or connect with him on
LinkedIn. He is a proud Iowa St. Cyclone, but more importantly has tremendous experience with internal communication, having worked at Hawaiian Airlines, PetSmart and America West Airlines in his career.
This content originally appeared on JTPR's Spread the Word and has been reposted with permission. It happens over and over. We ask new clients about the audiences they need to reach in order to achieve their objectives, and they quickly zero in on potential clients and customers. Then they talk about collaborators and marketplace influencers. Then, as an afterthought, they might mention employees.
Usually, this isn’t because there is some desire NOT to communicate with employees. It’s just that, when these clients focus on making sales and closing deals, they too often take their own people for granted. They assume they’re onboard and now what they need to know.
And then they wonder why their people say things like, “I don’t know what our company’s strategy is,” or “I really can’t say what our priorities are now.”
Your people need to know where you’re headed and what role they play in the bigger picture. And they won’t get that information unless you give it to them, clearly, concisely and without “spin.”
It’s not difficult to do this, but it does require time, forethought and faith in your people to put the information to work. It also requires adhering to a few simple rules — which I offer here, as “John’s Rules for Internal Communications.”
- Tell employees everything you can when you can.
- Don’t lie. (This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many organizations justify lying to employees, or at least not telling the full truth.)
- Tell employees first – before anyone outside the company’s walls – and never let them learn anything about the organization through the media unless it is absolutely unavoidable (for public companies, for example, legal or SEC regs sometimes dictate timing, and all organizations could encounter a rare exception based on business developments or relationships … however, even in those cases, employees must be informed as soon as is legal and feasible).
- Never put out vague or incomplete communications – you’ll raise more questions than you answer.
- Never leave employees to draw their own conclusions.
- Understand that any information void will fill quickly with rumor, speculation and gossip.
- Treat employees like adults – give them bad news as well as good news. Be clear, don’t sugarcoat, don’t try to sell them on a particular point of view.
- Always assume that a question raised by a number of employees is on the minds of many more – but don’t respond on a global scale to a localized problem – and always be prepared to answer calmly and directly the most cynical questions.
- Overcommunicate … but remember that burying employees in useless information will dull their senses to real information.
- Consider: Is there a chance I will regret what I am saying? Will I have to eat my words, or explain myself later?
Looking at this list recently, I’ve been inclined to add a new rule: Go with the flow in terms of communications vehicles. Learn how your employees like to get information, and then provide it that way. Communications is an ever-changing process. Adapt and assess, and repeat as needed.
________________________________________________________________________________________________
In my opinion, John Thomas did a great job pulling together great internal communication tips that companies large and small should take heed to.
If you'd like to learn more about JTPR, check out its
site and
blog. JTPR offers strategically smart communications for companies that want results and honest, straightforward advice and counsel. You can also follow them on Twitter at
@JTPRTweets.
I rarely read fiction books. And when I say "rarely," I mean never. (Unless of course I'm reading to my kids at night.)
As it turns out, people are better off for reading fiction. I've always held the belief that there are so many great non-fiction (real life) stories out there that I shouldn't waste my time reading "made up stories." (Those are my words.)
But a new study in
Scientific American discusses how fiction can hone social skills. But they aren't talking about Twitter, Facebook and so forth. It's about relating and interacting with actual people - real social skills. This might be a foreign concept to many but is a part of building a successful employee communications career.
Researcher Keith Oatley describes what reading fiction does for our minds:
- Reading stories can fine-tune your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings.
- Entering imagined worlds builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person’s point of view.
- A love affair with narrative may gradually alter your personality—in some cases, making you more open to new experiences and more socially aware.
All three of these would not only make a professional a better coworker, but they would also make someone a better communicator. Think about all of the situations where an employee communicator has to read someone's body language and adjust. It's practically an every day situation.
In
corporate communications, you often are challenged with telling the story about or by somebody else. Imagine how much easier and relevant that is when you simply better understand them as a person and can take in their point of view.
I've known that reading more makes people better writers. That's why I read so many blogs. So it shouldn't be surprising that reading fiction would make us a better human being.
___________________
Image by kevinspencer
I'm not.
I've admitted that
here on this blog. But in a lot of large corporations, employee engagement surveys can be a necessary evil for employee communication professionals. You can only fight them for so long.
So if your company is bound and determined to conduct an engagement survey, here are some tips from
CustomInsight to improve the response rate.
- Ensure anonymity.
- Secure an endorsement from senior management.
- Keep the survey brief.
- Explain the benefits to all employees.
- Explain the next steps.
- Follow through on your promises.
- Offer team incentives.
Anonymity of an engagement survey can lead to a low response, but it's also required to receive proper feedback. One of those double-edged swords. Numbers two through six are all points that corporate communication can certainly help with. Keeping the survey brief may be one of the more difficult points to accomplish though.
But the last point can be a tricky one. I'm not so sure offering team incentives will deliver the proper results. If you're conducting an employee engagement survey, I feel your pain. And it's not pain I'm looking to experience any time soon.
I'll be the first to admit that I do not make New Year's resolutions. But people making promises and commitments to themselves is a good thing. Melcrum published a piece about
8 New Year's resolutions for internal communication pros. Some are weak, but some also have a lot of value. I added my two cents in italics. Here we go...
- Think of outcome, not output
Focus on business outcomes, not simply on producing communication collateral. Use communication as a means to an end, not an end in itself. There’s a big difference between saying “who’s got some stories for this month’s team brief?” and asking “what’s the most important challenge for our organization this month? How can we use the team-briefing time to address it?” Resolve to ask your internal customers what their most pressing business goal is for 2012. Next, ask what employees need to know, feel and do differently to help meet that goal. Then, work out what you as a communicator can do to help increase people’s knowledge or understanding, influence their opinions and motivate them to take action.
The big takeaway here is asking what employees need to know. Typically a lot of companies will determine this for employee instead of hearing from employees.
- Be a better business person
Find out more about your industry, your organization’s plan for the coming year and the opportunities and challenges that may lie ahead. Get to know the most important performance measures and make sure you’re up to date on the results. Increase your business knowledge and you’ll enhance your credibility too.
Simple things like understanding a balance sheet, income statement, productivity reports, etc. can help improve your street cred with your bosses.
- Choose tactics that’ll actually work
Think about the last time you changed your opinion about something. Or a recent occasion when you were motivated to take action. Were you prompted by reading a web article? Or were you influenced perhaps by conversations with trusted friends or colleagues? Perhaps you heard a personal story that made you think? Next time you choose the tactics for a communication plan, don’t just fall into your usual habits. Think about what you can do that has some chance of impacting attitudes or behaviors.
This is what I call the "how about" conversations. Stop doing the status quo and determine what will work best. Or better yet, create your own solution.
- Get to know employees better
This year, resolve to spend less time at your desk and more time out there understanding what employees care about, who and what they listen to and trust, what’s getting in the way of them doing their jobs and how you can help. Ask their advice when you’re choosing communication tactics. Test out approaches before you put them into action. And get to know when a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t good enough.
See #1.
- Speak like real people
Please let this year be the one where we stop spouting meaningless corporate jargon. Talking about “streamlining operational propositions” or “moving forward with world class efficiencies” will only serve to drive a bigger gap between leaders and employees. Be the person who asks the stupid questions about what things really mean. And be aware when you really are becoming a spin doctor, in danger of fudging the facts and trying to put a positive slant on events, when the right thing would be to tell it as it is.
We all know better than to speak in corporate lingo, but we still get sucked in. This year, don't get sucked in. Avoid using the word "paradigm."
- Measure something that matters
So employees like your newsletter and you know what the hit rates were on your last intranet article. What difference does it make? Go back to the business goal you were trying to achieve. What actions were you trying to influence people to take to move the organization nearer to the goal? In what way were you inviting them to reconsider their attitudes? Where were you aiming to increase their knowledge? Find out whether you succeeded and how much of a difference you made. Measure activities that actually have an impact on business results.
This is one of those "easier said than done" situations. Measuring internal communications is important but also very tricky. Work closely with your managers and leadership to define "what matters." Get their buy-in.
- Ask what you can do differently to increase your influence
Next time you find yourself complaining your leader isn’t listening to you or won’t do what you want, don’t focus on that list of 10 things you wish they’d do differently. Ask yourself what you’re doing that’s contributing to the situation. Find at least one thing you could do differently to improve it. Start by looking at things from their perspective. If you were them, why would you be behaving this way? What would be leading you to think as you do? And what could that person in the internal communication team do to help make things easier?
Having executive support is important. If you don't have it, go get it. The right leader can be a trail blazer for you.
- Make this year count
Probably the biggest thing I’ve learnt over the years is that there’s a difference between “being busy” and using communication to achieve a result and actually getting a result for your organization and the people in it. If your leaders question whether you’re adding value, to be honest, there’s probably a reason for it. Make this the year you can say you made a positive difference.
Now's the time to start over with a clean slate. If you want to do things differently, no better time to start than now.
Did you establish any communication resolutions for you or your team?
I meant to get to this post much sooner but work got in the way.
Connect '11 was promoted as the first corporate communication conference of its kind. And it turned out to be very, very true. It was billed as a unique event dedicated to helping communicators connect to the
digitally disconnected worker.
Now the term "disconnected" can be viewed in many ways and many of the speakers focused on that. And though not every speaker kept with the "digitally disconnected" theme, all of the lessons learned were extremely valuable.
And kudos to the
MSL Atlanta staff and
PRSA for pulling together what I shared as
the most organized and comfortable conference I've ever attended. We've all been at events where little annoyances can ruin the overall experience. But this was not the case with Connect '11.
Attendees stayed in the same room all day (one track) but there was no fighting for the golden seat by the power outlet. The room was set up lecture style, stadium seating, with several power outlets at every seat. And I have to mention the ice cream sandwiches throughout the day. You can never go wrong there.
But the ultimate strength of the conference was the variety of speakers. Large companies, small companies. Some names you've heard of, some you haven't. But all of them were well-prepared and well-spoken.
I also did something different at this event than previous employee communication conferences I've been at. Rather than just take notes, I blogged my thoughts. Below you can read the key takeaways from each of the sessions.
Just look at those company names. That's the caliber of speaker at this event. And the attendee representation was equally impressive. There were people from manufacturing, aerospace, healthcare, retail and the list goes on.
I hope that MSL and PRSA not only make this an annual event, but that one could also be done on the West Coast and get equal attention.
When many corporate communication or marketing managers get push-back on installing a digital signage networks from execs, one of the common reasons they hear is, "
I don't want our employees watching TV all day."
Thanks to this infographic from
NBRI, we know what unengaged employees are doing. Nearly
30% of employees fall asleep at work (according to the National Sleep Foundation)? Yikes. The rest? They plays games, socialize, use social media (whoops) or smoke.
The graphic also shares that trust in executives can have twice the impact on employee engagement than trust in immediate supervisors.
So if executives don't trust employees and employees don't trust executives, what's a communicator to do? It's simple. Communicate. Check out the infographic and let me know what resonates with you.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Sebastian White, JetBlue Airways: “How Culture Drives Business Performance”
- JetBlue is now the largest airline in New York City.
- Focus on service starts inside with a fanatacism toward culture: Safety, Caring, Integrity, Fun and Passion.
- To combat declining JD Power scores, they created a "Culture is Service" to drive improved business results.
- JetBlue asked front-facing employees what's getting in their way of providing magnificent customer service to employees.
- In the summits, employees had to write an essay about why they should attend these working sessions to help provide effective business communication.
- JetBlue uses NetPromoter to provide a score that impact employee communication.
- All 14,000 employees at jetBlue have email access and the intranet is the hub of all internal communication activity. The intranet is available outside the corporate firewall and it's open to comments. With the relaunch, employees were told to stop sending email.
- JetBlue's intranet site also features industry news from other airlines.
- They use videos and podcasts, even as responses to crisis communication, so that employees can stay in the loop.
- JetBlue's recommendation: "Throw in a contest and people will pay attention." They even name their jets with the "blue" name in them.
- They encourage customers and employees to post pictures on JetBlue's Flickr page. These photos then get used internally.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me). Carol Whitworth, Home: “A Picture Paints a Thousand Words: How to Use Visual Maps and Smart Design to Bring Business Strategy to Life”
- Images are so important because we all speak differently.
- Take a complex situation, add lots of people with different perspectives where no one can agree and progress is slow.
- Our eyes are the tool that helps us make sense of the world. Of all the neurons that process sensory information, 75% are dedicated to sight.
- Bad presentation leads to poor employee communications, which leads to poor understanding, which leads to bad business. Vicious circle.
- Basic principles to creating your own story (Where, What, Why, When, Who, How, Where) in the past, present and future. Telling a story helps people understand.
- Creating visual maps (similar to infographics) makes information more understandable by telling your story with pictures.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Kim Lott and Wendy Davies-Popelka, John Deere: “Connecting with Disconnected Employees: Successfully Communicating with Staff Who Aren’t Wired”
- The legacy of John Deere is something employees hold dear. The company is committed to "those linked to the land."
- Manufacturing sites in 16 countries and conduct business in 35 countries. Employee communications is translated into as many as 14 different languages.
- Once a year, company distributes printed collateral that aligns goals with corporate strategy. Use the same icons that align back to other communication.
- Like a lot of other companies John Deere uses "jam sessions" to bring in small groups to discuss internal topics.
- Employees were asked to fill out "commitment cards" to identify personal goals, as well as what they will do to help other succeed and to connect with customers.
- John Deere encourages customer interactions with employees, either through webcasts or live presentations. Marketing captured employee comments and then share those with employees.
- "Deere Sightings" encourages employees to share photos of seeing the John Deere brand out in the community. This gets employees involved in employee communications.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Pete Tosches, The ServiceMaster Company: "'Who Uses That Website Anyway?' Communication Secrets from the Front Lines"
- Under the ServiceMaster umbrella are brands like TruGreen, Terminix, and merry maids.
- They have 24,000 full-time employees & another 5,000 seasonal, with no work PCs, no email and no office phone.
- Producitivity drives revenue, which is why it's a tough conversation to invest in employee communications.
- Only 58% of employees agreed that leadership communicates a vision that motivates them.
- Face-to-face communication is vital to internal communication at ServiceMaster. They have a mandatory monthly branch meeting for one hour "on the clock."
- The meetings were key for employees to be able to share what the customers were telling them. The feedback loop became very important.
- Like Volkswagen, ServiceMaster still sends home quaterly newsletter mailing to sales and service employees' homes. This highlights the "spouse factor."
- The company is dipping its big toe in the social media water. They are encouraging employees to listen to the online conversation as part of improving communication. Yammer is also part of the strategy.
- In a company that's operation-focused, they need to provide basic communication tools (ride-alongs, town halls, podcasts, etc) to hear back from employees.
- They rely on 3-way communication, and the the most important "way" is employee to employee conversations.
- ServiceMaster has to use paper-based communication and face-to-face to tell employees about the information available online.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me). 
Renee Kopkowski, Mars Chocolate North America: “The Power of Intentional Conversations”
- 82% of employees are manufacturing associates and there are more than 3,500 across the US at 10 different sites.
- Business is based on 5 principles - quality, efficiency, freedom, responsibility and mutuality.
- In 2007, company noticed that employee engagement scores were very low (17% engaged).
- Started fresh, laying a new groundwork for internal communications.
- I really like that Mars features employee stories on their external site.
- Mars did an employee "trade show" were leaders could share their messaging & stories in a unique environment.
- In 2009 & 2010, Mars started measuring the percentage of associates who described internal communications as good, very good or excellent. And there was improvement year over year.
- Discovered that the vision and objective are clear and that employees have an intense pride. However, employees aren't sure how to achieve the main organizational goal and trust in managers is spotty on the manufacturing side.
- Mars discovered that employees felt they were being communicated TO and not WITH.
- Setting up a communications calendar by channel, site and senior leader is important to do early.
What did Mars to start the fix?
- Streamline messages and eliminate noise.
- Increase senior leader visibility. Have them speak up and show up.
- Encourage dialog and feedback.
- Emphasize manager communication - emphasize the frontline.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Tom Walter, Tasty Catering: "Engage or Entangle? How to Link Communications Objectives That Result in Employee Entanglement"
- Tasty Catering has a unique approach from other companies with regards to hiring. They bring people in to train them on the culture at a young age (high school and college).
- 2010 Gallup Poll said that the average company has 49% not engaged and 19% actively disengaged. Those numbers total 33% for "world class" companies.
- "Collegiate" employees are engaged versus "Olympic" employees are entangled.
- Engaged employees use transactional relationships, higher ROI and remain stable.
- Entangled employees use transformational relationships, drive the organization, are peer leaders and have a high emotional intelligence.
- Tom realized that the "command & control" approach to management was no longer working and HE needed to change.
- The key to employee entanglement is discretionary thinking. It goes on beyond the workplace. The human mind processes 60,000 thoughts. A company only gets 8% of those.
- Discretionary thinking is a result of an antecedent causing a consequence. Leadership + Culture + Human Capital + Systems/Processes + Recognition = Organizational Success.
- Systems and processes are for companies. Recognition and rewards are for employees.
- Every company has a river of culture, some are healthy. Others are toxic.
- If employees are always moral and ethic AND treat others with respect, you can throw out the employee handbook.
- Internal communications are employee centric, generating from employee TO employee. Also includes personal notes.
- Really impressed by their newsletter. Not only is it simple to read, but clearly effective at getting employees engaged in employee communication. Big part of the newsletter's function is to help educate employees on the company's financial success.
- The "Green Team" promotes environmental responsibility. But as a result, not only is the company saving money but Tasty Catering is generating new clients.
Rather than bother everybody's Twitter stream with updates, I thought it would be better to provide presentation thoughts here (and serves as good note-taking for me).
Guenther Scherelis and Tommi Paris, Volkswagen Group of America: “Building a New Plant with New People in a New Place: The Role of Internal Communications at Volkswagen Chattanooga”
- Many don't know that the Volkswagen brand family includes Audio, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti. In 2010, Volkswagen was third internationally in vehicle sales.
- Volkswagen closed a US plant in 1988 due to poor internal communications. Opened a new factory in Chattanooga, TN, in 2011.
- 2,000 jobs were available when the factory opened but Volkswagen received more than 85,000 applications.
- Internal communications' purpose is to strive toward serving as the company voice, support a positive employee relations strategy and improve company efficiency and performance.
- The strategy is to supplement supervisor communication, highlight team contributions, enhance team member experience and utilize communication tools that DO NOT accentuate the divide between hourly & salaried.
- VIN (Volkswagen Information Network) is a digital signage network the company uses to deliver dynamic communication. Also includes printed communication boards. The key here is to blend dynamic and static. Their network is updated on a weekly basis.
- Interesting that Volkswagen doesn't have digital signage to support global communication.
- Great to see that the company still relies on printed communication for many of their communication updates.
- Volkswagen still mails newsletters (quarterly) to employees' homes. Many companies have cut this practice to eliminate cost.
- The culture at Volkswagen is "Passion for detail." Their group theme is "Think Blue. Factory." (i.e. beyond just environmental)
- There are unique challenges for companies opening up a brand new factory versus those that are working in a dated facility.
- Glad to see they are citing a difference between language (German vs American) and culture.
- The key to success is finding the middle point between what management wants to say and what employees want to hear.
- Surprised that Volkswagen hasn't yet surveyed their employees to know what their preferred communication methods are and really aren't doing any measurement either.
The fact is I have very high expectations for today's
Connect 11 conference. And it's not meant to put any kind of pressure on the organizers or speakers. It's the exact kind of conference I've been looking for since I've been in employee communications.
The conference focuses on the more difficult and challenging side of employee communications. How do you communicate to a
"disconnected" workforce who doesn't have ready access to email, voice mail, the intranet and so forth?
The fact is that
communicators have gotten lazy. We assume that just because we post something or email something, that people are chomping on the bit to click it. When a communicator doesn't have those options they have to get creative.
And this is the challenge I sent to communicators who say their employees are all "connected." Are they?
Do all of your email get opened? Hardly.
Do employees check the intranet every single day? Maybe but not likely.
So how are you ensuring your messages are getting delivered. This is what I hope to hear from the Connect 11 speakers. The event has a great selection of corporate communication pros all on one track.
To say the role of a corporate communicator is diverse would be like saying the Sistine Chapel has a nice ceiling painting. And maybe that's laying it on a bit heavy but the point is that corporate communications staffs have so much on their shoulders.
When it's being responsible for tracking public relations activities, managing corporate social responsibility or coordinating employee communication activities, they carry a hefty load. (And this is just highlighting the "fun" activities. It's always about improving communication. . . or should be.
This infographic from PRWeek shows the "anatomy" of a corporate communicator. Not the blood and guts part (thought I'm sure you'd find that most have an ulcer), but more the breakdown of what the communicator's responsibilities are and the pressures they face.
Probably the two least surprising stats on here are:
- 66% expect no change or a reduction in staffing in 2012
- Budget restraints are the #1 cause of job stress.
Is there any statistic that you find alarming or do the figures reflect the challenges facing corporate communications in 2012?
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Infographic, courtesy of PRWeek
I just spent the past several days in Washington DC, attending the inaugural
GovComm 2011 show. This new show is focused on serving WDC area technology managers, end users and procurement officers in the government sector and other local markets. With our hardware partner
DFI Tech, we’ve been showcasing our
HumanKiosk solution and have received a lot of attention and interest.
As with today’s commercial businesses, government agencies and institutions such as libraries and museums are also looking for new, innovative and cost-effective ways of getting their messages directly to their constituents, in a manner that is more relevant and personally engaging. Given that our HumanKiosk solution, powered by
MediaCast Video Presence, fuses interactive digital signage with live and intelligent 2-way video calling, we’ve again hit a sweet spot with our audience here at this government show.
Most of the government buyers I’ve spoken with over the past two days were especially interested in using the HumanKiosk solution to reach remote, highly targeted audiences in a compelling and personal manner. Of significant interest was our ability to provide intelligent video call routing. This enables the user in front of the display to make specific on-screen selections, then have a face-to-face conversation with a remote expert agent who has detailed subject matter expertise conversation, even in the native language of the viewer.
As we’ve seen at other government shows, such as the G-Tech conference, providing a more interactive and engaging method of servicing customers is top of mind with today’s government buyers. And, by delivering live experts virtually through video presence, labor costs and associated on-site expenses can be dramatically reduced. If you haven’t seen our
video yet, take a moment to see how you can get personal with your customers.
Simon Wilson
CEO, MediaTile
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