Archive for the 'IABC' Category

Since I was profiled in Communication World, the journal of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), I was persuaded to join the organisation by Silvia Cambie, the then President of the IABC, Europe and Middle East Region and invited onto the Board of IABC UK, with the portfolio for New Media.

On Wednesday, I will be off to Lubljiana in Slovenia to attend the IABC Leadership Institute where I will also be chairing the round table discussion on Social Media. I’m really looking forward to it - I’ve never been to Slovenia so it will be great to have this opportunity to see its capital city, albeit briefly. It will also be good to meet other IABC members and to be able to engage in-depth with the leadership aspects of this international organisation.

I’m looking forward to the Social Media round table. I’m curious to hear what the other delegates have to share from their experiences of using social media in their communications work. For those communicators who may be reading this post, here are some things I’d like to engage with in the discussion:

# how do you see blogging and social media working with traditional communications

# what do you think IABC communicators need to learn about blogging and social media

# what is the view of the businesses and enterprises you work with around the use of social media within their organisations

# what are some of the hot issues around social media right now

# how are communications practices changing in the light of the social media revolution

I have my own views and experiences about all this which I’m looking forward to sharing but I am also keen to hear what others have to say and to learn from my colleagues as well.

The hotel we’re staying at does not have WiFi or broadband, so I’m not taking my laptop and I won’t be able to check emails and comments after tomorrow night (I’ll be back online again when I get home at the weekend). But if you’re at the conference, do come along to the Social Media roundtable or come and find me at any time and let me know your thoughts.

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NOTE: There will be no posts on Thursday 07 June and the next posts on ZenGuide will be uploaded on Friday 08 June.

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I was recently profiled in the journal of the International Association of Business Communicators, Communication World, about how I have evolved from a novelist into a blogger - dowload “A Novel Approach” pdf article here . It started me thinking about how my love affair with blogging started and how, at the start of my venture into the online world, I had no idea that it would lead me to develop a valuable expertise that would become the foundation for my social media consultancy here at ZenGuide.

After publishing two novels, I stopped and started a number of third novels only to stumble into the doldrums after the first few chapters. I found that I did not have the inclination any more to sit quietly by myself and my imaginary characters, engaging in an imaginary landscape. The real world and all its real activities and people seemed much more interesting. I was also finding myself intrigued by developments in technology and in particular web-based technologies.

For those who have read my two legal thrillers, they will know that technology and gadgets play a critical role in the stories. In my first novel, The Flame Tree, the hero Luke does something clever with his mobile phone so he can secretly record a dangerous meeting with the bad guy and the heroine Jasmine dials in to listen to the message from her office phone - only to find that it cuts off just at the point that gunshots ring out. In Mindgame, Sam encrypts secret files into the code of digital photographs before destroying the original CDs and computer hard drive and the whole plot revolves around mind control using drugs and computer-generated imagery (CGI) in real time. So it was only a small step for me to move from being an author to a geek, checking out all the clever Web 2.0 gadgetry that is changing the way that we all communicate and relate to each other.

I started blogging to try and kickstart my enthusiasm for writing. I started out at www.yangmayooi.blogspot.com with Yang-May Ooi’s LitBlog, playing around with the HTML code to semi-personalise the standard template. I wrote a few posts and had a go and connecting with other bloggers and networks. The blog was picked up fairly quickly by Global Voices Online, the site that watches and comments on bridge blogs ie blogs that bridge cultures.

After a month or so, I realised that there was huge potential to use blogging as a marketing tool for my books and to share my experience as a published novelist in an increasingly competitive publishing market. My home-made site looked a bit tacky and lame in my eyes so I commissioned web designers to re-design the site - it was not cheap but, looking back, it was the best investment I have made in my life. The new site Fusion View has a confident, professional feel to it and many people have commented to me how much they like the look of it. For my books website, the designers retained the same design but tweaked it in different colours, thereby giving me two sites that sat well together within a branded identity. I was also then able to have the same designers create the look for this site ZenGuide many months later, within the same branded identity.

And as I blogged and explored the online world, concepts like “new media” and “social media” began to emerge. It seemed I was one of the new communicators. When I started blogging in April 2006, I had 200 unique visitors a month. Last month (May 2007), Fusion View clocked just over 8,000 unique visitors. People were starting to ask me for advice about how to use blogging in a business context. As I approach social media from the point of view of a communicator and writer rather than as a programmer or web developer, I can help my clients focus on developing quality content. Clients have also appreciated my experience in the legal and business worlds so that we can discuss in-depth how social media fits in with their marketing and business strategies. So, it made sense to start up a new blog and website for this specialist consultancy service so that all the technology- and social media- related information could sit in a distinct place from the cross-cultural arts and writing posts that make up Fusion View.

I’m having a fun time with this social media consultancy. It combines online activities like blogging with offline activities like meeting with clients, giving seminars and networking - which for me feels much more rounded than sitting alone in a fantasy world of fiction. I’ve learnt a great deal about social networks and online communications tools and I’m learning more every day in this ever-moving sector. I’ve also met some interesting and dynamic people on this journey so far and I’m looking forward to meeting many more - online and offline.

Photo: thanks to tandtinc.om