Use an apostrophe or not? Be consistent
Spot quiz: Is the American holiday in February: a) President’s Day b) Presidents’ Day c) Presidents Day? Surprise! The answer seems to be (d), all of the above. While editing a client’s calendar, which included reference to both Canadian and American...More creative words
You know technology has truly infiltrated our lives when tech terms apply to people. A client recently asked what my bandwidth was. It used to mean how much data could be sent through a network or modem, but now it’s evolved to mean “how much extra time do...
Gerard Braud talks crisis communications planning
New Orleans native and crisis communications expert Gerard Braud (pronounced Jared Bro) is torn between being passionate about crisis communications and being angry that so many people aren’t prepared for the most likely of crises. “In a crisis,...Make the most of your freelancers
Ragan just sent me a link to a number of stories, one of which I found particularly close to home: “How to make the most of your freelancers” by Sarah McAdams. (Sorry, link no longer live. But thanks to my western colleague, Dave Traynor, for introducing...
IABC session inspires fresh writing
Thursday and Friday saw me in downtown Toronto at IABC’s two-day writing conference, which featured a number of well-known presenters who have wowed audiences at IABC’s international conferences. Here are some of the things I learned/was reminded...Social media etiquette for building your contacts
I’m struggling a bit with what to do when contacted by someone I don’t know — say on LinkedIn or Melcrum’s Communicators’ Network — asking to add me as a contact. On LinkedIn, you can and should edit the note sent to include some...Make sure quotes earn their ‘wiggly marks’
I’ve ranted before about the bad things that happen to good quotes at the hands of executives, so I was pleased to see my sentiments echoed in an article (sorry, I tried to link to it but it may be one of those limited-time-access things) by the impassioned...
Stop the random use of Capital Letters
A post on Dan Santow’s Word Wise blog says, “It’s bad out there and getting worse.” He’s talking about the increasingly common habit of inserting capital letters where none are required to indicate an Important Word. He goes on to give a comprehensive list of...