The Annual General Meeting for CPRS Ottawa reminded me of the
diversity of our profession. Attendees included students, private and public sector practitioners, retired members and non-members, as well as members with local and national CPRS leadership experience.
Thanks in part
to event sponsor National Public Relations, the year-end soirée at Cercle Universitaire was a suitable celebration of an award-winning year for our members, one which also set the stage for another successful year.
Winning the Lectern Award (see below) is not an indication that we, as a chapter, can sit back and enjoy the benefits of a year of hard work. Rather, it indicates that our current formula of service to members and
contribution to the profession is working. As Jean Valin noted in his address to us in May, CPRS Ottawa has more national leaders per capita than any other chapter. The talents and dedication here are second to none.
Summer holidays aside, CPRS Ottawa is busy planning the new year. If you were unable to attend our brainstorming session on June 11, yet have ideas or questions, please contact the director of your choice and get
involved. If each of us thinks of ways to contribute wisdom or energy to CPRS, I am confident that the coming year will reap great rewards for all.
Best regards,
Cindy Bickerton APR
Quirks and Quarks
AGM
attendees were treated to a terrific presentation by Bob MacDonald, who hosts CBC Radio's popular science program, Quirks and Quarks.
MacDonald says that communicating science means telling stories, and he told
several stories of his own, mostly about PR people trying to tell their stories. He directed much of his wrath at practitioners who don't know enough about the people they represent. He urged us to put ourselves in the
media's shoes, which means providing media-specific angles and answering inquiries quickly, even if only to promise a later, more comprehensive reply.
CPRS Ottawa Wins the Lectern
For the fourth time, CPRS
Ottawa has won the Lectern, awarded for exemplary chapter development, service and growth. We were given the award at the National AGM in Vancouver.
CPRS Ottawa is dedicated to advancing the principles of PR
excellence and to the recognition of this practice, both as a profession and a management function.
Care to be involved? Have career needs we can help with? We're ready, willing and award-winningly able! Why not
contact CPRS Ottawa today.
Trends in the Digital Economy
CPRS Ottawa and IABC Capitale co-hosted Trends in the Digital Economy at the Museum of Civilization in March. The emphasis was on the impact of the
Internet and computer software on communicators.
"If you do not possess the knowledge of the Internet, you will find yourself unable to compete with others in the workforce," said Joanne Pollack, senior
vice-president at Hill & Knowlton.
According to Jim Mackie, vice-president of market development at Newbridge Networks, the new economy is driven by ideas. Though technology has constraints, imagination doesn't.
The government is also using new technologies. Greg MacDougall described how the Department of Justice combined the power of convergence, the Internet and broadcasting to produce a webcast discussion that was seen live
on the Internet and on the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC).
According to Fay Lindley Taylor, government must prepare for the interactive consultation that the Internet allows. They will have to package their
information for the screen, and research their audiences to better target user clusters rather than all Canadians at once.
A rapidly evolving communications world is creating an increasingly sophisticated audience. It
demands the right information, at the right time and in a format that makes sense. And it expects the push/pull nature of the Internet to deliver it all.
The self-proclaimed Internet evangelist Rob Rothgeb, from
Stentor, explains that the Internet is important to communicators because it offers interactivity and freedom.
Rothgeb provides a few Web site tips.
1. Get started: create a Web site, get help from IT people
2. Surf: take the time to study other Web sites to get ideas
3. Experiment: take a gamble and try new things
4. Know your audience: ask what the audience needs and get valuable information from visitors to your site
5. Budget: have a dedicated technical person keep a site up and running
The conference also heard from the media. Brock Meeks talked about how he uses the Internet as the Washington bureau chief for a Microsoft and
NBC joint venture called msnbc.
"Reporters must have a whole new set of skills to adapt and harness technology," says Meeks.
Meeks sees the success of web broadcasting in its diversity. It creates more
venues to get the news out.
At msnbc, former print journalists write stories for the Web and can use the resources of the NBC network and its cable affiliates. Meeks calls this the triangulation of the news.
Compiled from the notes of Cara Hicks, Heather Houle, Patrick Kenny, Nicole Lewis, Rhonda MacDougall, Alan Muir and Paige Raymond.
Deliberative polling
by Greg MacDougall APR
Social policy guru Maureen
O'Neil met with us in April to explain deliberative polling. O'Neil has since been appointed president of the International Development and Research Council.
She said that we need to be more effective in how we
measure public opinion, suggesting that the growing rift between the public and its leaders is having a huge impact on declining shared values.
O'Neil explained that polls, although effective, "don't usually get
beyond top-of-mind thinking." Consequently, deliberative polling "attempts to represent what the public would think, if it were motivated to acquire information and to discuss its concerns over an extended
period of time."
In deliberative polling, a nationally representative sample is gathered in one place, presented with a balance of briefing materials and given access to experts. Afterwards, it is polled again.
So far, deliberative polling has been a success in Britain and the US, where it is proving a useful adjunct to politics. "It is a means of including more ordinary Canadians in policy making," says O'Neil.
Greg MacDougall APR is the CPRS Ottawa president-elect and an employee of the Department of Justice.
National news
CPRS has a new national president, Barbara Pollock APR. One of Barbara's objectives this
year is direct communication with members. This is critical this year, given the number of issues CPRS is reviewing: the accreditation process, the awards program, the Code of Ethics and our style of governance.
Look
for details about the new Don Rennie Memorial Award, in recognition of excellence in government communication (federal, provincial and municipal). The lead person here is our own Margaret Rudolph.
Also, CPRS is establishing national minimum standards for public relations curriculae.
Write your own ticket!
Vox is always looking for columnists who can provide monthly information on some aspect
of PR. E-mail
, with up-to-date
and bilingual information. The site also has a nearest-postal-outlet locator, as well as a parcel rate calculator.Power Writing: Canadian Spelling
by Paul Paquet APR
Unlike WordPerfect, MS Word does not
recognize Canadian spelling, even though our spelling is quite different from either US or UK spelling.
Is this important? Yes! Spelling mistakes reflect badly on you, and diminish the credibility of your message.
Moreover, an order-in-council actually requires government workers to use certain Canadian spellings.
In 1984, the Editors' Association of Canada surveyed publishers, academics, PR people, editors and writers about
their spelling preferences.
Findings include the following:
· three quarters of the respondents preferred -our endings (such as colour);
· 89 per cent went with traditional -re endings such as centre and theatre;
· a similar proportion preferred cauldron to caldron and preferred the long forms of axe, catalogue, cigarette and omelette, but program won out over programme;
· four fifths of the sample preferred -ce over -se in
nouns such as defence, practice and pretence, but let -se stand when these words were used as verbs, such as to practise a piano lesson;
· three quarters used the diphthong (ae or oe) in such words as aesthetic,
archaeology and manoeuvre, but those polled split on medieval;
· Canadian editors rejected the British -ise endings, such as organise, preferring -ize endings; and
· majorities of up to 90 per cent liked the double
l in such words as enroll, fulfill, install, marvelled, marvellous, signalled, skillful, traveller and woollen.
Many homonyms are given different spellings to convey different meanings, including mould/mold,
cheque/check and racquet/racket.
For more, check out the
