After puzzling over the name of this blog and doing a search that came up with things like the name of a football team, a colleague confessed he didn’t understand where “Red Jacket Diaries” came from. To me, this is a lesson in making assumptions in communications. Assuming you came into this blog from my [...]
Monthly Archives: January 2007
Remember to make your web site usable
This is a story about web site usability, but it starts with communications with a personal touch. In his networking sessions called Breaking Down Silos, speaker Dave Howlett advises sending personal thank you cards and making a connection with people by sharing something personal about yourself. For example, Dave is a marathon runner, Toastmaster and [...]
Good advice for writers
Several different sources recently pointed me to a marvellous book on writing, Anne Lamott‘s Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, published in 1994. The title comes from advice her father gave to her (then) 10-year-old brother, who was struggling to start and finish a school project on birds: “…he was at the [...]
Join in to benefit when you join up
In a post on his new blog More with Les (there, you see? I’m not the only one new to blogging), well-known International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) guru Les Potter, ABC talks about the importance of professional association membership to a career in communication/PR. I would add that there are reasons it’s extremely important [...]
Paying attention to detail
I’ll be the first to admit I’m not perfect, but like author Lynne Truss of Eats, Shoots and Leaves fame, I can’t help but notice and be appalled by the punctuation mistakes that regularly get past proofreaders (or perhaps nobody hires proofreaders any more!). Spelling and grammar mistakes in newspapers and ads also jump out [...]
Are blogs slowing down?
The BBC News reported in December that the Gartner Group has a study out saying they expect the total number of blogs to peak around 100 million (!) in 2007. Apparently, the numbers are already slowing down, and about 200 million people have stopped blogging over the last few years. Interesting thought, but I wonder [...]
Let’s hope my journal was a poor indicator…
Frankly, I’ve been stung into posting this. Several times recently I’ve run across comments that suggest if I am (1) a freelance writer and (2) worth anything, I should have a blog. That’s probably the worst reason to have a blog, but I actually have a better one: As a freelance writer, I need to [...]
No ordinary man
(Profile of Judge Stanley Grizzle for Via Rail Magazine) A glance at Judge Stanley G. Grizzle‘s shoes reveals an impressive shine. This pair happens to be smooth patent leather, but every pair he owns looks almost as glossy. It’s a habit; as a sleeping car porter back in the days of steam trains and gentlemen [...]
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Off the street
(Shelter profile for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation) Life on the street is no walk in the park. Still, every year, some 10,000 runaway and homeless youth in Toronto risk violence, exploitation, drugs and illness on the street because they have nowhere else to go. They come from every social, economic and cultural background, and [...]
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A Recipe for Success: Uncompromising standards result in growth for La Brea Bakery
(Customer success story for IBM) Baking a delicious loaf of bread has more to do with artistry than technology. But dealing with a swift rise in demand for a loaf that’s the greatest thing since sliced bread? That’s a job for high tech, as La Brea Bakery will attest.
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