Are there times when you have to think and speak under pressure, in front of a group or one-to-one?

Do you ever wish you could make better and faster decisions about what to say, how to say it, when to say it – and when to stop?

Join us Wednesday, January 25, 2012 as Sandy Bjorgen, founder of IMPRŏV-able Results ® explains how to expand your repertoire—and your comfort zone—so you can more readily adapt your response to the person and situation before you. Gain critical awareness, tips, and tools you can use to get better results when you need to:

• Quickly organize your thoughts and speak clearly and concisely.
• Stand up and out with poise and deliver a dynamic message about your business, organization, and abilities.
• Put people at ease and draw them out.
• Steer conversations to foster constructive dialogue.
• Maximize your opportunities to stand out, speak up, connect, and build relationships.
• Recognize and avoid responses that tend to shut down conversation and communication.

We will gather at 7:30 a.m. for networking and a continental breakfast. Our program begins at 8:00 a.m. and ends at 9:00 a.m.—and includes plenty of time for Q&A.  To register, just click here

IABC/Seattle is looking for a WordPress designer to complete our new website, and we’re starting the search by reaching out to the talented communicators among our ranks. However, if you have a friend or colleague who’d love the job, please feel free to send the link on.

We’ve decided to build a new site on a WordPress platform and host it on the IABC headquarters server. The site is nearly complete but needs additional functionality from a WordPress pro to polish it off.

The required tasks are:

·      Turn the current modified 2010 theme into a child theme

·      Fix the theme’s CSS file fonts

·     Reformat the home page to show all posts in three filtered columns

·     Build template to filter certain blog posts (by category) to different pages

·      Install a reliable events plug-in

We plan to pick a vendor in the next couple of weeks and complete the project within 6-8 weeks.

If interested, please contact Bianca Smith, our VP of Communications, at Bianca@tapdancingspiders.com.

Happy New Year!

We hope you’re as excited about the new year as we are.

The IABC/Seattle professional development team has been busy putting the program together. If your goals for 2012 include developing yourself, both career wise and personally, then we know you’ll love these.

• January 18 – Morning Manager: Talk So People Will Listen & Listen So People Will Talk

• February 16 – Morning Manager

Our half-day seminar is coming together. More details coming soon.

Remember, IABC isn’t just about events. Your membership includes a wealth of resources, all designed to help you be a better communicator. If your goal is to get a new role, make sure you check out the CM Jobline; a member benefit of communications, marketing and social media job listings.

And, if you want to get even more from your membership, talk to any of our team members about volunteering. A director or board level role looks great on your resume and helps build your skill base.

Best Wishes,

The IABC/Seattle team

Learning about social media metrics and how it applies to your public relations efforts are Meg Owen’s expertise. Owen, a Seattle-based Digital Media Analyst with Edelman Worldwide, gave an informative presentation on Measurement, Monitoring and Analytics when using social media at the the IABC event December 14th in Seattle. She explained that using social media metrics can help in areas like the research of new clients, social media tracking, and the measurement of traditional public relations for clients.

Why measure? Owen described reasons like brand perception, real time event performance, campaign performance, content creation, and return on investment. Furthermore, social media can help drive ROI in areas like customer retention and trust, product enhancements, brand awareness, turning detractors into promoters, and sales.

Owen says when it comes to measurement the first place to start is to identify goals. Ask what do you want to achieve with the program. Define the business objective and decide how often to measure, what tools to use and the budget restraints. Then, the next step is to plan the measurement journey, either at a crawl, walk, run or fly speed. Owen explained a variety of paid and free tools to use, depending on the budget and needs.

She discussed different types of measurement reports including competitive analysis, which means knowing what makes competitors successful and which companies drive the conversation. To conclude the presentation, Owen emphasized when it comes to online measurement engagement matters more than numbers.

Report by Sophia Reza

Hello and Happy Holidays! The days may be shorter and chillier, but here’s some quick IABC/Seattle info to warm you right up (like a cup of hot cocoa)!

IABC/Seattle Website

You may have noticed that our website is looking a bit different these days. We’ve decided to build a new site on a WordPress platform and host it on the IABC headquarters server. The site is nearly complete but needs additional functionality from a WordPress pro to polish it off—and we’re willing to pay for this work! IABC/Seattle is looking for a WordPress designer to complete our new website, and we’re starting the search by reaching out to the talented communicators among our ranks.  

We plan to pick a vendor by December 15 and complete the project by January 20. If interested, please contact Bianca Smith, our VP of Communications, atbianca@tapdancingspiders.com.

Upcoming Chapter Events

Our Professional Development team has been working behind the scenes to bring you programming for the remainder of this year and well into 2012. Here’s the lineup:

• Meet & Greet on Tuesday, December 13
• Morning Manager on Wednesday, January 18
• Morning Manager on Wednesday, February 8

Check your inbox and the IABC/Seattle website for details.

Member-Get-A-Member (in December only!)

You may have seen the mid-November email from IABC HQ about this membership promotion, and it’s fabulous! The basic premise is that members who recruit new professional members will get three free months of membership for each new member they bring in, up to a full year at no charge (details here:http://www.iabc.com/about/membership/mgam/; login required). The promotions run through the last day of December, Pacific time.

Online Professional Development

We’re all busy, and it can be challenging to break away from the desk for a chapter event—let alone an event offered by regional or headquarters. Webinars are a great compromise, and I just wanted to highlight some upcoming low- or no-cost options:

In case you missed it, check out the new “Stop. Listen. Change.” webinar series from our regional chapter—IABC Pacific Plains Region (and Towers Watson)—that features speakers who offer unconventional wisdom about some of the hottest and most relevant topics to our work as communicators. This cost-effective, convenient professional development is only $35 for members and $50 for non-members. Register and have everyone on your team listen to the webinar for one low price! If you miss it, no problem! They’re recorded for replay so you can listen live, and then share with your team later.

There is another free webinar for IABC members from headquarters:

The Emergence of the Social Intranet
presented by Toby Ward, Prescient Digital Media
Wednesday, December 7
9-10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time

I look forward to catching up with you online or at an upcoming event!

Warm regards,
Nicole Allard
President
IABC/Seattle 2011-2012

It’s December: a time to be social. Join us on Wednesday to discover how to use social media metrics to improve your public relations efforts.

Our speaker, Meg Owen, is a Seattle-based Digital Media Analyst with Edelman Worldwide. She will share with us how she works with her clients to ensure their public relations communications efforts are optimized. Within Edelman’s digital practice, Meg is a member of the measurement and analytics team, helping the account teams to measure client’s social media growth, online activity and campaign successes for accounts including Microsoft, Activision, Levi’s, Shell, and Charles Schwab.

Starting at 5:30pm, share some holiday cheer with IABC members and friends in the Edelman Fifth Avenue, Seattle headquarters.

It’s the holidays so that means gifts. Bring your business card to win some great door prizes!

Our speaker: Meg Owen is a Seattle-based Digital Media Analyst with Edelman. Within Edelman’s digital practice, Meg is a member of the measurement and analytics team, helping the account teams to measure client’s social media growth, online activity and campaign successes for accounts including Microsoft, Activision, Levi’s, Shell, and Charles Schwab. Prior to joining Edelman, Meg worked in entertainment PR in New York City. Working as a theater publicist, Meg drove campaigns for Broadway cast recordings, DVD releases, downtown theater events, and theater festivals including Rock of Ages, Margaret Cho’s The Sensuous Woman, and Evil Dead the Musical. Click ‘yes’ below to register. We look forward to seeing you.

Members: $10
Non-Members $15

Details and registration: http://www.cvent.com/d/scqk2y

What are you doing next week? Come to our holiday meet and greet event at Edelman on Wednesday.

It starts at 5:30 and registration opens in 24 hours. Be there!

In this session, communicators will learn the sometimes subtle difference between culture and employee value proposition; the top three things to never ignore when it comes to culture; and how to avoid a reputation of all talk and no substance.

On Tuesday November 15, join us to hear from Kristin Graham and her experiences as vice president of engagement and communications at Expedia Inc. during this ‘must-attend’ Morning Manager event.

Don’t miss out. Register now.

As the summer draws to a close, the IABC/Seattle board year is kicking off!

Events
It was wonderful to see many of you at last night’s Gelato Tweetup, our free, annual joint event—with Social Media Club Seattle, Social Media Breakfast Seattle, Microsoft Social Media Minds and others from Microsoft Studios and Services Broadcast Network—where networking efforts were multiplied (and we snacked on fresh, locally-made gelato and delicious pastries compliments of Gelatiamo). What a nice way to spend a warm summer evening!

This year’s Professional Development team is busy working for you on top-notch programming, including Morning Manager Meetings, Meet and Greet evening events, our Annual Half-Day Seminar, in addition to some new formats. Keep an eye out for invites to these via email.

Membership
In case you haven’t heard, September 2011 is a Worldwide Membership Month! This means that for new or lapsed members who join or re-join IABC, we’ll waive the application fee of up to US$40.

For the month of September, the public will have free access to:
• Discovery, IABC’s new enhanced-search content archives
• MyComm, IABC’s online communication planning tool
• Read access to MemberSpeak and the IABC Buzz, IABC’s online areas where members ask questions and share personal and professional info
• The Job Centre, IABC’s job listing site.
To try us out, prospective members can sign up at http://www.iabc.com/login/trial.cfm (This login will not be available before or after the month of September.)

Application fees are US$40 for faxed/mailed/phoned enrollments; US$30for Internet enrollments. Other promotion details: Applications must be *received* at the San Francisco Headquarters office during the month of September to qualify. This promotion does not apply to current members, transitional members or students, who never pay the application fee anyway.

In this price-sensitive economy, everyone is looking for a bargain, so be sure to let prospective members and co-workers know. We’ll be announcing the news on our website (http://seattle.iabc.com/) and in other all-member communications in late August.

IABC/Seattle 2011-2012 Board Roster
After an inspiring retreat just over a month ago (in mid-July), the team is ready to help regional communicators network and grow in their respective fields. I’m excited to serve as your board president through June of 2012, teaming with a fabulous group of board members:
• Cheryl Nichols, Past President/Senior Delegate
• Diane Beason, Employment VP
• Bruce Cordingly, Finance VP
• Katrina Klier and Laura Kellar, Professional Development Co-VPs
• Bianca Smith, Communications VP
• Sam Templeton, Marketing/Sponsorship VP
• Kathleen Goodner, Morning Manager Board Liaison
Let’s give a (virtual) round of applause to the above individuals who have graciously volunteered to serve on the IABC/Seattle Board.

Our new board members are already delving into their new roles and work plans, so stay tuned for updates in the coming weeks and months.

Build membership value – volunteer with IABC/Seattle
Volunteering with IABC is a great way to round out your skill set and gives you opportunities to network for professional development, friendship and business contacts. In other words, you can dress up your résumé and grow your career, while keeping your day job!

We’re actively seeking for the following VP positions:
Membership VP
Incoming President

We also have several volunteer opportunities at various levels of time and effort, including:
• Twitter Community Manager,
• Database Volunteer,
• Event Logistics Volunteer,
• Event Photography Volunteer,
• various ad hoc project help,
and more! We would love to hear from you—please contact us at iabcseattle@yahoo.com.

THANK YOU
Special recognition goes to outgoing board members: Shelby Healy, Communication Co-VP; Tedd Klipsch and Dawn Rosenthal, Professional Development Co-VPs; and Dani Bader, Past President/Senior Delegate –we thank you for lending your talent and expertise. You will be missed! A big thanks also goes to Bill Boyd for his final year of Morning Manager programming. Last, but definitely, not least, thank you so much, Cheryl Nichols, for your leadership as our Chapter President this past year.

I hope that you will take advantage of the career-building professional development, networking and mentoring opportunities that IABC/Seattle provides, and I look forward to connecting with you at an upcoming event.

Warm regards,

Nicole Allard
President
IABC/Seattle 2011-2012

It’s the typical questions communicators get from the C-Suite: How can you measure the effectiveness of employee communications? What’s our ROI on this engagement stuff? Really, why should we care what the employees think about our business strategy?

Whether you need to answer these kinds of questions to justify your position or you are just curious about what it all means, you’ll want to join us on Tuesday, June 28, from 5:30-7:30 PM. to hear organizational and assessment expert Dr. Laura Hamill discuss the latest trends in communications measurement and the power of internal communications.

Learn the Science Behind the Art
Laura will talk about the idea of strategic communication models – including the affective, cognitive, and behavioral drivers of organizational outcomes, how to translate this strategic model into a measurement model, and the need for data gathering from many sources using multiple methods. She’ll also cover the need to define the strategic focus of communications before creating a measurement system, as well as the power of internal communication to drive organizational culture, employee engagement, and leadership growth and development.

Special Giveaways
Bring your business card to be entered to win some special prizes:

Business Writing Seminar with John Sturtevant – 1 free registration ($325 value)
Engage! by Brian Solis – autographed copy
And more!
Join your fellow communicators and friends at Towers Watson’s One Union Square office from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Come early to mingle and enjoy refreshments before the presentation begins at 6:00 p.m. RSVP now to save your spot for this limited seating event.

Register at http://bit.ly/lKIiwA

We look forward to seeing you there!