I love learning new things, which is why I appreciate any opportunity for professional development. Even though I've been working as a strategic communicator in some capacity for years, and I’ve taken courses on internal communications, change communications, and even interpersonal communications, I’ve never had the chance to study how to be a better strategic thinker and communicator.
Fortunately, I’ve always had good instincts, but I have been looking for an opportunity to work on my analytical side for quite some time. Last week I finally got my chance when I attended the Strategic Communications Planning workshop at the Centre for Excellence in Communications, led by David Kardish, a highly respected communicator with extensive government, NGO and corporate experience.
During the two-day course we studied the various elements that go into the development of a strategic communications plan, from issue-identification to determining desired outcomes to position statements. We used a combination of lecture, give-and-take and group work on scenarios to learn the various elements of a good communications strategy.
At the start of the first morning, the 10 participants were asked to introduce themselves and tell the class what they hoped to get out of the course. I was surprised that there were at least two people besides me who basically said they know they can trust their instincts but sometimes have a harder time getting buy-in for their ideas. We were all looking for a logical progression to follow that would help us to justify our proposals. I was pleased, but not surprised (I’ve taken two courses with the Centre for Excellence in Communications already), to walk out after Day Two with tools that I can use right away to help me in my day-to-day and longer-term communications planning. In particular, I began to see how I can build a speech outline in similar fashion to the way one might create a communications strategy and create a much better speech.
Any time you put 10 strangers, especially communications people, in a room together for two days, there is great potential for conflict, chaos and confusion. To everyone’s credit, all of the students were highly focused and together we created some really good ideas in the scenarios.
The most important thing now is to find a way to use what I’ve learned as soon as possible so it stays fresh for me and moves beyond the theoretical to the real world. About a year and a half ago I attended the Internal Communications Master Class with Jim Ylisela and I came home feeling energized and motivated to put all my new ideas into practice. Then, when I started proposing these bold new ideas, I kept getting shot down (no budget, no bandwidth, we’ve never done it that way before, etc.).
This course is something I can use right away with the tools that are already at my disposal. I can’t wait to get going.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Uh-Huh
Having just spent a month in the United States, I’ve had a chance to catch up on one of my favorite activities - considering regional and national variations on English.
When I started my blog I made a conscious decision to use American spellings. This makes it easier for American readers to follow me without the needless distraction of unfamiliar spellings. Canadian readers have been exposed to American spellings for so long that most of us barely notice whether we’re reading one or the other.
Canadian and British English use the letter “u” more often in their writing. We write words like honor, labour and valor as honour, labour and valour. Many words that Americans spell with an “er” suffix end with “re” in Canada and Great Britain. I’m thinking now of words like theater and center (theatre and centre).
Apparently this is because Canada never severed its connection to Great Britain in as dramatic a fashion as the US did. As a consequence, we were exposed to more English writing for longer and by the time written English started to become standardized the American and British spellings had diverged.
Interestingly, Canadians didn’t adopt all British spellings. For instance, we don’t spell “encyclopedia” as “encyclopaedia” and we don’t spell “fetus” as “foetus.” But there are differences nonetheless.
Americans do something else that Canadians don’t. They say ‘uh-huh.” Canadians might say “mm-hmm” to mean yes, and we use “eh” the same way Americans use “huh.” But Americans don’t just use “uh-huh” to say “yes.” They also use it to say “you’re welcome.”
I say this with a great deal of affection, because I love Americans. I find they’re generally more open and friendly than Canadians. In fact, the day we came home from our trip we went to Wendy’s for lunch and then went out shopping for groceries. The culture shock of experiencing indifferent or even rude retail staff in Canada after frequenting American businesses for almost five weeks was palpable.
So I mean no malice or disrespect when I say this, but almost every time we said “thank you” to anybody for any reason, we received “uh-huh” in reply. It’s one of those things that Emily Post might not like but, to us, it was as polite as anything because it was friendly and genuine. Sometimes we’re just happy to be acknowledged.
Americans lengthen their vowel sounds considerably compared to Canadian and British speakers. For instance, to the American ear a Canadian pronounces “about” as “aboot.” To us it just sounds like “about.” But to a Canadian, the American pronunciation comes out as “abowt.” Americans say “ba-nah-na” and the British say “ba-naw-na.” Canadians say it somewhere in between.
I shouldn’t generalize too much though, because there are far more regional accents in the United States, or Great Britain, for that matter, than there are in Canada. In Canada you’ll find the most prominent regional accents in Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, among the English speakers of Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Montreal, in the Ottawa Valley and in Toronto and southern Ontario. In most other parts of Canada, the accent is virtually identical.
In the United States you’ll find that many variations throughout the southern states alone. In the UK, you’ll find more variations within a couple hours’ drive of London.
I’m not entirely sure why there are so few regional accents in Canada, but I suspect it’s because most of those who settled the Canadian west were either transplanted Ontarians or new immigrants who learned to speak English from these same Ontarians.
I remember seeing a TV show once about English and they looked in on an elocution class where Canadian actors are learning how to lose their Canuck accents and sound more American. I find myself lengthening my vowels when I spend a long period of time in the States. I also adapt to the distinctive regional accent of my cousins in Quebec’s Eastern Townships when I visit there. I do believe I’m a bit of a chameleon that way, although I still have a hard time not saying “eh.”
As a writer it’s tremendously important to be aware of such regional, national and cultural differences. As I mentioned, I choose to use American spellings in my blog. But at work I use Canadian spellings and when editing must ensure that other writers do as well.
If you truly want to connect with your audience, you need to speak - and write - their language, because in the end, even when we all speak the same language, we don’t.
When I started my blog I made a conscious decision to use American spellings. This makes it easier for American readers to follow me without the needless distraction of unfamiliar spellings. Canadian readers have been exposed to American spellings for so long that most of us barely notice whether we’re reading one or the other.
Canadian and British English use the letter “u” more often in their writing. We write words like honor, labour and valor as honour, labour and valour. Many words that Americans spell with an “er” suffix end with “re” in Canada and Great Britain. I’m thinking now of words like theater and center (theatre and centre).
Apparently this is because Canada never severed its connection to Great Britain in as dramatic a fashion as the US did. As a consequence, we were exposed to more English writing for longer and by the time written English started to become standardized the American and British spellings had diverged.
Interestingly, Canadians didn’t adopt all British spellings. For instance, we don’t spell “encyclopedia” as “encyclopaedia” and we don’t spell “fetus” as “foetus.” But there are differences nonetheless.
Americans do something else that Canadians don’t. They say ‘uh-huh.” Canadians might say “mm-hmm” to mean yes, and we use “eh” the same way Americans use “huh.” But Americans don’t just use “uh-huh” to say “yes.” They also use it to say “you’re welcome.”
I say this with a great deal of affection, because I love Americans. I find they’re generally more open and friendly than Canadians. In fact, the day we came home from our trip we went to Wendy’s for lunch and then went out shopping for groceries. The culture shock of experiencing indifferent or even rude retail staff in Canada after frequenting American businesses for almost five weeks was palpable.
So I mean no malice or disrespect when I say this, but almost every time we said “thank you” to anybody for any reason, we received “uh-huh” in reply. It’s one of those things that Emily Post might not like but, to us, it was as polite as anything because it was friendly and genuine. Sometimes we’re just happy to be acknowledged.
Americans lengthen their vowel sounds considerably compared to Canadian and British speakers. For instance, to the American ear a Canadian pronounces “about” as “aboot.” To us it just sounds like “about.” But to a Canadian, the American pronunciation comes out as “abowt.” Americans say “ba-nah-na” and the British say “ba-naw-na.” Canadians say it somewhere in between.
I shouldn’t generalize too much though, because there are far more regional accents in the United States, or Great Britain, for that matter, than there are in Canada. In Canada you’ll find the most prominent regional accents in Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, among the English speakers of Quebec’s Eastern Townships and Montreal, in the Ottawa Valley and in Toronto and southern Ontario. In most other parts of Canada, the accent is virtually identical.
In the United States you’ll find that many variations throughout the southern states alone. In the UK, you’ll find more variations within a couple hours’ drive of London.
I’m not entirely sure why there are so few regional accents in Canada, but I suspect it’s because most of those who settled the Canadian west were either transplanted Ontarians or new immigrants who learned to speak English from these same Ontarians.
I remember seeing a TV show once about English and they looked in on an elocution class where Canadian actors are learning how to lose their Canuck accents and sound more American. I find myself lengthening my vowels when I spend a long period of time in the States. I also adapt to the distinctive regional accent of my cousins in Quebec’s Eastern Townships when I visit there. I do believe I’m a bit of a chameleon that way, although I still have a hard time not saying “eh.”
As a writer it’s tremendously important to be aware of such regional, national and cultural differences. As I mentioned, I choose to use American spellings in my blog. But at work I use Canadian spellings and when editing must ensure that other writers do as well.
If you truly want to connect with your audience, you need to speak - and write - their language, because in the end, even when we all speak the same language, we don’t.
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
I Write Like Who??!
I saw an article on cnn.com last week that analyzes your writing and tells you which famous author you write like. It’s called I Write Like …
The deal is, you paste a paragraph or two of something you’ve written onto the page and click “enter,” and it gives you the name of a famous author your work is supposed to resemble. The creator of the page is apparently some computer guy from Russia. He doesn’t make any claims about the accuracy of the results - it’s supposed to be fun and in its own strange way it is.
I’ve taken bits of pieces from this blog and gotten results saying I write like Kurt Vonnegut, H.P. Lovecraft and Steven King, among others. I don’t seem to write like John Irving or Philip Roth, which is unfortunate. Does that mean I’m versatile, inconsistent or just hard to pin down?
I entered bits and pieces from a few other blogs I follow into one window and gotten back James Joyce’s style. Does that mean that anything disjointed should be interpreted as Joyceian?
I wonder what would happen if I entered something by a famous author - like say, John Irving. Would it say that John Irving writes like John Irving?
Maybe the next step would be a site with voice-recognition capabilities that would tell you who you speak like. Would you rather be an Obama or a Palin? MLK or Malcolm X? Kennedy or Reagan? I can see (or hear) it now.
The deal is, you paste a paragraph or two of something you’ve written onto the page and click “enter,” and it gives you the name of a famous author your work is supposed to resemble. The creator of the page is apparently some computer guy from Russia. He doesn’t make any claims about the accuracy of the results - it’s supposed to be fun and in its own strange way it is.
I’ve taken bits of pieces from this blog and gotten results saying I write like Kurt Vonnegut, H.P. Lovecraft and Steven King, among others. I don’t seem to write like John Irving or Philip Roth, which is unfortunate. Does that mean I’m versatile, inconsistent or just hard to pin down?
I entered bits and pieces from a few other blogs I follow into one window and gotten back James Joyce’s style. Does that mean that anything disjointed should be interpreted as Joyceian?
I wonder what would happen if I entered something by a famous author - like say, John Irving. Would it say that John Irving writes like John Irving?
Maybe the next step would be a site with voice-recognition capabilities that would tell you who you speak like. Would you rather be an Obama or a Palin? MLK or Malcolm X? Kennedy or Reagan? I can see (or hear) it now.
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