IABC LAUNCH A CHAPTER IN MONROVIA, LIBERIA

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) launched its fifth chapter in Africa on 25 July in Monrovia, Liberia. The high profile event was attended by representatives from commerce and industry, academia, government and the media.

Dr Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, Director: Africa Region of the IABC used the concept “umutu ngumuutu ngabantu” to stress the responsibility of business communicators to facilitate connectedness between stakeholders. Mr Charles Gay, the president of the developmental chapter in Monrovia focused on the importance of the IABC Code of Ethics and that it should govern every communication action in Liberia.

The Hon Youton B Kesselby (Sr) Assistant Minister for Professional and Technical Education, Mr James Jansen, Communication Executive at the Government Auditing Commission and Mr Philip Sandi, Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia were among the distinguished speakers at the event. The speakers were unanimous in their views that the IABC will enable communication professionals to assist employees, managers, customers and suppliers to deal more effectively with the communication challenges they are currently facing.

During the LAUNCHING Program of IABC/Liberia, Mr. Charles K. Gaye, who presently serves as President of the Liberia Chapter.		Hon. Yonton B. Kesselly Sr., Assistant Minister for Professional and Technical Education, who presently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of IABC/Liberia gave the LAUNCHING STATEMENT.

KING III report will create new opportunities for communicators
The revised version of the KING Report and Code due for release in September 2009, brings new emphasis to the relationship between a company and its stakeholders.

King III proposes that companies put measures in place that allow them to proactively manage the company’s relationships with all stakeholders (all of which are seen as equally important) and to engage constructively with these stakeholders. Furthermore, a company’s board of directors should aim to create the right balance between the company’s interests and those of its stakeholders, and promote mutual respect between the two groups.

The relationship between a company and its stakeholders has typically been a communication function, and while its special mention in the KING III report and code might mean business as usual for communicators, it is not something businesspeople have typically been accustomed to. As a result, communicators can provide advice and direction that will assist the organisation to comply with the requirements of KING III that relate to stakeholders. In fact, it means that the mantra for corporate communicators will shift from ‘managing stakeholder relationships’ to ‘governing stakeholder relationships’. So says Estelle de Beer, Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria, who has been intrinsically involved in bringing a communicators perspective to the KING III report.

De Beer recently delivered a presentation to members of the Pretoria Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) that highlighted the opportunities for corporate communicators related to KING III, not only in terms of stakeholder relationships, but also sustainability reporting. “When KING III is launched, management will ask us as corporate communicators to deliver according to identifying stakeholders and environmental scanning in order to interpret the organisation’s responsibilities in this regard,” she said.

The inclusion of the stakeholder relationship component in KING III shows that senior managers are realising that a proactive approach to managing relationships and communication is much better than a reactive one.
“The key to being a valuable resource to a company though,” stresses de Beer, “is for communicators to demonstrate that they have a strategic view and understand the strategic objectives of the organisation and can connect this to the good practices suggested in the Code.”

By bringing this strategic view to the table, communicators can—in particular—assist companies in the following ways:

• Identifying important stakeholders and providing advice on proactively managing this relationship;
• Assisting a company to decide if and how it will communicate its policies regarding stakeholders and the outcomes of stakeholder engagement; and
• Advising the company and board on mechanisms and processes that can enable constructive stakeholder engagement and ensure timely relevant and accurate information sharing with stakeholders.

Several new elements have emerged in the KING III draft. While KING II followed a ‘comply or explain’ approach that meant JSE-listed companies were required to make reasonable attempts to comply with the principles outlined in the code, KING III has adopted an ‘apply or explain’ approach, intended to make it more accessible and easier to adopt for smaller, unlisted companies.  That raises another important difference between the two; KING III has a broader scope in that it applies to all companies, including public entities and private companies and the emphasis for non-listed companies, for whom compliance is voluntary, is on applying the normative guidelines of the code. “Practice notes will be available once KING III is released, to assist companies to apply the guidelines,” says de Beer.

Corporate communicators are well-advised to become familiar with the code and the practice notes on their release in September, so they are geared to assist their companies and assert their specialist knowledge regarding stakeholder engagement.

ABC Candidates getting serious about Accreditation



The candidates attending the second Accreditation Contact session – Willa de Ruyter from Tswane University of Technology, Tanya Magalhaes from The Female Tribe , Sophia Dower from Words’worth, Carol Allers from Eskom, Samantha Bloem form Department of Communication , Vukani Magubane from Standard Bank and Marie Lee from Devcom. Their comment – “These sessions are building our confidence to complete the programme.” Each Saturday a different theme in the Accreditation programme is discussed and a “mock” exam question is done. During the first two sessions the development of the portfolio was discussed extensively.  The next session is scheduled for 4th July.

Contact Dr Amanda Hamilton-Atwell (amanda@businessdna.co.za) for more information.

CALL FOR PAPERS
IABC Conference, 8 & 9 October 2009, Kievitskroon, Pretoria
IABC Africa Region has been holding an annual communication conference for the past 15 years. The programme always comprises local and international communication experts who present on relevant topics to delegates ranging from senior corporate communicators and consultants to freelancers and university students.

This year the theme is RIGHT MESSAGE. RIGHT AUDIENCE. RIGHT MEDIUM. and referes to effectively engaging stakeholders whether they are employees, customers, government or shareholders.

We are looking for speakers who will be able to share best practice, case studies, local and international trends and their experience with the delegates who expect practical information that they can apply when they get back to the office. In other words, they want to know about what works, how it works and why it works. And it must be relevant, now. Download documentation

Top Local Communicators Acknowledged through International Awards Programme

FSeveral of South Africa's top communication professionals were acknowledged for their innovative work at this year's International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Africa Quills awards evening, on Friday 27 March 2009
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IABC Africa Leadership Institute inspires action

Frank Sinatra said he did it “My way” the IABC Africa Region was not so egocentric.  We said we do it “Our way”. The theme for the first full day Leadership Institute (LI) meeting stressed  that despite the fact that it is an international organisation, the region and the chapters need to do things in different ways to meet the needs of their members.

IABC Africa leaders met at the Leadership Institute (LI) on 14 March 2009 at Ga Rouge Restaurant and Conference Centre, near Midrand. The South Africa leaders were happy to welcome Saada Mufuruki and Abdallah Singano, both from Tanzania, to the session. The theme of this year’s LI was IABC Our Way - taking guidance from International and tweaking it to suit your Chapter’s needs and circumstances. In addition a core focus was ensuring role clarity and teamwork within the chapters and as a region.

The attendees were first given the opportunity to explore Personal Mastery to understand what makes them tick and how to bring their best to the IABC leadership team. This leadership session was facilitated by Marlene de Lange, a developmental psychologist. Sue Beaumont, past-chair of the  Africa Region,  outlined the structures and governance of the organisation.  This session ensured that the new members of the board understood the “big picture” of the organisation.

Daniella Charles, Cape Town Chapter President l shared her learnings from the International LI she attended  in February in Orlando, Florida, stressing that all IABC chapter leaders have similar problems around the globe in managing chapters; it’s only the scale of the problem that differs.

Amanda Hamilton-Attwell, chairperson of the Africa Region refreshed the leaders’ memories on the region’s strategic plan before the  chapters  presented their plans for 2009.
 
Daniel Munslow, a Regional Board member, excited the group about being an IABC champion. The day concluded with each leader pledging three things they commit themselves to doing to ensure that the IABC Africa region in general and the chapters specifically succeed in achieving its strategic plan before all attendees pledging their commitment to doing three things that would benefit their chapter.



IABC Gold Quill Awards

San Francisco, California

We have just completed two intricate days of judging on the Blue Ribbon Panel of the IABC Gold Quill Awards at the organisation’s head office in downtown San Francisco. This year was marked by a watershed 980 entries – a number that fell short of the expected 1 100 entries, but more than satisfactory given the current economic climate. The quality of the entries that made it through the regional judging process to be judged at the international level was superb. There were also four South African entries that were judged at this level. Obviously, for reasons of confidentiality, I cannot go into specific detail, but suffice it to say the experience was rewarding and positioned us on par with top global communicators.

The 36 judges evaluated the submissions and provided constructive, yet critical, feedback. Only the best of the best were awarded the top honour, but all entrants received the judging score sheets with the scores and comments from judges. These comments are extremely valuable not only for future entries, but also for improving future campaigns. From feedback provided over the past couple of years, it was determined that the feedback forms were one of the reasons entrants submitted their campaigns to the Quills – wanting comments on their campaigns.

How did the judging work?

Judging started early each morning, and continued for over nine hours each day – this amounted to the equivalent of about 650 man hours of sifting through the entries, marking them, and finally commenting on them. There were three possible outcomes: no award; a Gold Quill Award of Merit or a Gold Quill Award of Excellence. The determination was made by adding up the scores and following the judging criteria in terms of each award bracket.

As per the information made available to the judges from the start, this was the process: Entries are composed of two parts: the work plan and the work sample. Entries are judged on technical excellence; creativity and innovation; effectiveness in identifying and responding to an organisation’s or community’s needs; the delivery of measurable outcomes; and the overall success of the project. Judges score the above criteria on a scale from 1 to 7 and use a weighted calculation for the criteria, depending on the division. After first-round judging (done locally in the country of entry), all entries scoring 5.25 and higher advance to second-tier judging (the Blue Ribbon Panel in San Francisco). At the second tier, entries are judged again, entirely separately, by different sets of judges. Any entry scoring 5.25–5.74 receives a Gold Quill award of Merit. Entries scoring 5.75 and above receive a Gold Quill Award of Excellence.

Of personal interest to me was the surprisingly large number of entries into the newly-created social media category. In its first year, this category saw some 40 entries, or 5% of total entries. While the number is relatively low in itself, for a new category of innovative media, I found it to be encouraging. As a judge on the PRISA PRISM Awards as well, I recall seeing a satisfying number of new media entries there, too. A key aspect to remember when it comes to social and digital media strategies, is that content is still king. Far too often (and I am not referring to either award specifically here), those who create digital campaigns lose sight of the key focus area. This is a fundamental tenet of digital communication – while the implementation methodologies may be different to those of traditional media, the focus changes little.It was also interesting to note the very close similarity in our style of judging locally (when we judged both PRISM and Quills locally) compared to the approach that other practitioners adopt when judging industry awards. This dispels the myths that South Africans are in any way different to other key communicators.

For the communication management and communication skills entries, six key areas were looked for, as explained during the submission process:

1. Need/opportunity. What need or opportunity did your communication project address? Clearly describe the issues the organisation faced, and outline any impact these issues had on performance, reputation, image, profits, participation, etc. Highlight any formal or informal research findings that support your analysis of the need or opportunity.

2. Intended audience(s). Identify your primary audience and any other audiences. What was the audience’s state of mind? What key audience characteristics did you take into account when developing your solution? Consider psychographic as well as demographic characteristics. Describe any research you did on your audience.

3. Goals and objectives. Goals describe what your communication project was designed to accomplish. Choose one or two key goals to describe in detail. These goals should be aligned with your organisation’s future needs. Objectives should be realistic and measurable, and should examine outcomes such as quantity, quality, time, cost, percentages or other criteria. These measures are often financial, but not always. If your measurements are not financial, be sure to note this in your description.

4. Solution overview. Outline your project’s solution and the logic that supported it. Tell us why you did what you did. The solution should demonstrate your thought process, imagination and approach to problem solving. Discuss how you involved stakeholders in developing the solution. Identify key messages. Present the tactics and communication vehicles you used. Identify your role in the project and your level of involvement and responsibility.

5. Implementation and challenges. State your project budget. It does not matter if the budget was small. Show that you made efficient use of money. Discuss time frames. Describe any limitations or challenges that you faced when communicating and implementing your ideas. (Judges are looking for flexibility and a capacity to resolve problems and negotiate solutions.) Note any special circumstances and discuss how they were addressed.

6. Measurement/evaluation of outcomes. How did you measure your project’s results? Every result should be linked to one or more objectives. Results must be shown to be valuable, thorough and convincing. Measurement should demonstrate outcomes, not outputs.

The gala dinner and ceremony

The results of the judging process will be made known during the IABC 2009 Gold Quill Awards ceremony and dinner at the San Francisco Downtown Marriott Hotel on Monday, 8 June, at 19:30. The event is one that should not be missed if you happen to be attending the IABC World Conference. The awards ceremony will be MCed by multi-Emmy Award winner, Doug McConnell, co-founder and host of OpenRoad.TV, The Traveler’s Video Guide to the American West. From 1993 to 2008, he was also the host of Bayarea Backroads, the longest-running and most popular regional television series in northern California. The evening’s entertainment features world-renowned performer Ivan Lendl. Lendl recently relocated to the United States after a global tour where he took audiences by storm. His show is a special, not-to-be-missed treat.

About the Gold Quills

The IABC Gold Quill Awards reward excellence and recognise the best. The Awards are the mark of global distinction and represent the highest level of professional acknowledgment within business communication today. The event brings out the global best of practice of thought leadership, strategic management, creativity, resourcefulness and successful solutions. The Gold Quill Awards are open to members and non-members of IABC. Entrants include strategists; managers; practitioners; corporate; government; and not-for-profit communicators; agency executives; photographers; graphic artists; creative conceptualists; tacticians and students.

About the IABC

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a global network of communication professionals committed to improving organisational effectiveness through strategic communication. Established in 1970, IABC serves more than 16 000 members in 70 countries and 100 chapters. For more information, visit www.iabc.com.


Gold Quill Best Practice and Trends

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