John Gerstner, CEO of Communitelligence has a fantastic summary of one of the IABC Conference sessions in which a panel of communication leaders considered the hot issues for the profession now and in 2011. His conclusion is that the role of the communicator has never been less clearly defined. Other themes he reported as concerns included the challenge of the blogosphere, communicators business acumen, and the gap between theory and practice.

Read his blog post on “What communicators are worried about”.

Gerstner’s point about the role of the communicator holds true in the Australian market. The range of roles and professional disciplines that merge at the point called ‘communications’ is broad. The importance of discussing the expectation of what the client excpects within the scope of communication is critical. As managers experience different forms of communication practiced by functions as diverse as human resources, marketing, change managers, public affairs, media managers, and organisational developers and training functions it becomes vital to work according to the outcomes required, and to form partnerships to deliver across disciplines.

The Communitelligence portal also provides excellent communication resources.

Link
http://www.communitelligence.com

The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that social researcher Hugh Mackay is retiring from Ipsos Mackay to focus on writing novels.

I have seen Hugh speak on a number of occasions at writing festivals, and within a business context. The Mind and Mood survey which he pioneered is unique in terms of qualitative research projects into social trends. His voice in the area of social research will be missed.

Ipsos reported on 8 June that there will be a new voice, though, with the Mind and Mood report to be authored by Dr Rebecca Huntley, author of ‘The World According to Y”.

Qualitative research is such a fundamental part of understanding our audiences. The insights to be gained from facilitated conversations and from techniques such as appreciative inquiry can increase the ability to connect with stakeholders or employees.

Kathleen Gilroy, the co-author of a chapter of the Melcrum publication “Transforming your intranet” has released Chapter 2 in PDF on her blog at Otter Group.

Shel Hotlz drew attention to this free resource on his excellent blog.

Links
www.blog.holtz.com

A short one today to honour the birthday of Irish poet and Nobel recipient William Butler Yeats in 1865. He gave us this (and so much more):

“Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”