I’m sitting in my curtained cubicle, in jeans and a drafty cotton hospital gown, waiting for the technician to usher me in for a mammogram. I’ve had this procedure before and know enough not to wear deodorant, which can apparently leave tiny deposits on the skin that might show up on the X-ray as a [...]
Tag Archives: Communications
Man up? Be gone
Along with a fresh new year comes the latest list of Banished Words, as issued by Lake Superior State University. How epic is that? While you might wish many of these words to actually be banished forever, that’s just wishful thinking. The list for 2011 includes epic, fail (which actually are often combined into the [...]
Choose words that communicate
The author of one of my textbooks must be a friend of the magniloquent (see below) Conrad Black, or maybe a contributor to the harder levels of FreeRice.com! I say that because the text is sprinkled with so many obscure, unusual, “look how smart I am” kinds of words. Here, for your amusement or perhaps [...]
Corporatespeak for axed
Nobody believes a corporate announcement* that an executive has left to “pursue other opportunities,” so why do companies continue to pretend that they don’t fire people? Sometimes the person’s “contract has not been renewed” or he has “stepped down.” Maybe the “board has accepted her resignation” or he’s leaving “to spend more time with his [...]
In search of real
(<— Real dog, fake squirrel) Quite a while ago, an association I belong to created some new marketing material. Prominent on what really was a good-looking piece was a stock photo of a group of people, basically standing in for those of us who are actual members. The stock photo is also front and centre [...]
Ditch the jargon
You know it’s a good idea to stay away from jargon, or what I like to call the “secret handshake” between insiders. Sadly, many people (many of them in high places) do not. My guest post at Advantis Communications is a reminder of why it’s a good idea to ditch the jargon.
Blogging slowdown ahead
You may recognize this road sign, which I have borrowed from the Ontario Ministry of Transportation‘s helpful guide to common and not-so-common road signs. It means there’s a bump or uneven pavement on the road ahead. The yellow “caution” indicates drivers should slow down and keep control of their vehicles. There’s a bump coming up [...]
105 words guarantees confusion
Ontario and British Columbia are getting a new Harmonized Sales Tax, or HST, on July 1. The HST replaces the Goods & Services Tax that I now charge, so this will affect me. So I signed up about a month ago to receive technical bulletins from the government that would tell me things I might [...]
Communication by garden
IABC/Toronto treated volunteers to a lovely appreciation event on June 16, a buffet dinner aboard the Jubilee Queen, a replica of a Mississippi paddlewheel boat. The weather had been iffy all day, but the sun came out as we lined up to board. Having arrived early, my friend Donna Papacosta and I first toured the [...]
Going green? Get the guide
In all the excitement of the IABC 2010 World Conference last week, I forgot to point out the excellent Green Guide put together by IABC/Toronto’s Corporate Social Responsibility committee. The guide is designed to provide “best practices, communications planning and success stories in green marketing communications, sustainable and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.” There are [...]