When you wake up in the morning and lie there readying yourself for the day, what are you steeling yourself to do?
Perhaps:
Working out tonight.
Getting the H1N1 vaccine.
Finishing that book on the nightstand.
Finishing the big project I'm two weeks behind on.
Finally getting around to calling the dentist about that tender incisor.
Bringing together Eastern and Western contexts in an ever-changing business landscape.
If you said, "Bringing together Eastern and Western contexts in an ever-changing business landscape," then you're in luck, because that's the theme of IABC's 2010 Global Communication Conference, April 7-9 in Hong Kong!
And if your morning resolution was, "Planning a boffo business boondoggle after a two-year training-budget freeze," or "Increasing my carbon footprint to fit my big-ass American shoes," or, "Acting more statesmanlike in my role as a mid-level corporate communication manager"—well, the Hong Kong conference will achieve those goals as well.
Sign up this morning, and call it a day!
IABC is an international association, and is offering a conference that is more conveniently located to a different area of the world.
No, it’s not convenient to a writer based in Chicago. But the world doesn’t revolve around Chicago, or the United States, either.
Your post is myopic, David.
From the marketing literature:
“IABC announces first Global Communication Conference … East meets west … bommunication and public relations managers, directors and consultants from many continents will come together”
Tom, I don’t think this is designed as a regional conference, as you assert. I think it’s designed to be a “global communication conference,” as the name suggests.
And I’m questioning the necessity of having communicators travel “from many continents” to Hong Kong.
“But the world doesn’t revolve around Chicago, or the United States, either.”
I’m aware of this, Tom; I was in charge of international expansion for Ragan; my thoughts on this are here:
http://tinyurl.com/yknhc65
Do you disagree?
As one of the speakers who will be speaking at the conference in Hong Kong, I have to agree with Tom.
Pssssst, David. A secret only for you: Communicators live in other parts of the world!!!! Yes they do!!! Many of them live in Asia!!! Yes they do!!!!
And many of them can’t travel to the states for conferences.
In some posts, you criticize IABC for pretending to be a global organization when you say it isn’t.
Then you turn around and make fun of them when they do a global conference and bring professional development to the different corners of the globe, as any international conference should do.
Make up your mind, man.
Steve C.
As one of the speakers who will be speaking at the conference in Hong Kong, I have to agree with Tom.
Pssssst, David. A secret only for you: Communicators live in other parts of the world!!!! Yes they do!!! Many of them live in Asia!!! Yes they do!!!!
And many of them can’t travel to the states for conferences.
In some posts, you criticize IABC for pretending to be a global organization when you say it isn’t.
Then you turn around and make fun of them when they do a global conference and bring professional development to the different corners of the globe, as any international conference should do.
Make up your mind, man.
Steve C.
As one of the speakers who will be speaking at the conference in Hong Kong, I have to agree with Tom.
Pssssst, David. A secret only for you: Communicators live in other parts of the world!!!! Yes they do!!! Many of them live in Asia!!! Yes they do!!!!
And many of them can’t travel to the states for conferences.
In some posts, you criticize IABC for pretending to be a global organization when you say it isn’t.
Then you turn around and make fun of them when they do a global conference and bring professional development to the different corners of the globe, as any international conference should do.
Make up your mind, man.
Steve C.
David:
While I love you like a brother, you do tend to take your singular experiences and project them as The Real Truth.
You didn’t like consulting (and, truth be told, weren’t very good at it) so you regularly right that consultants are shit and shallow and not to be trusted, and that anyone who could do such work has a hole in their soul.
You went to Australia to drum up business for Ragan, were politely told by the Aussies that they had no need for Ragan down under, and now you think globalization is silly.
The fact of the matter is, communications IS a global community. I’ve spoken in Brussels, London (four times), Barcelona, Warsaw, Finland, Copenhagen and South America (twice) in the past three years.
If you agree that there is a need for professional development and best practice sharing no matter where you live (and I assume you would believe that), then why WOULDN’T you hold a conference in Asia?
I hope IABC does the same thing in South Africa, and South America, and India.
I got a call last month from someone in India who might want to bring me over for a seminar.
I was asked to do a seminar in Beirut this year, but had to turn it down.
The fact that people didn’t want to partner with Ragan doesn’t mean there isn’t a hunger for knowledge and best practices, no matter where in the world you live.
Steve C.
David:
While I love you like a brother, you do tend to take your singular experiences and project them as The Real Truth.
You didn’t like consulting (and, truth be told, weren’t very good at it) so you regularly right that consultants are shit and shallow and not to be trusted, and that anyone who could do such work has a hole in their soul.
You went to Australia to drum up business for Ragan, were politely told by the Aussies that they had no need for Ragan down under, and now you think globalization is silly.
The fact of the matter is, communications IS a global community. I’ve spoken in Brussels, London (four times), Barcelona, Warsaw, Finland, Copenhagen and South America (twice) in the past three years.
If you agree that there is a need for professional development and best practice sharing no matter where you live (and I assume you would believe that), then why WOULDN’T you hold a conference in Asia?
I hope IABC does the same thing in South Africa, and South America, and India.
I got a call last month from someone in India who might want to bring me over for a seminar.
I was asked to do a seminar in Beirut this year, but had to turn it down.
The fact that people didn’t want to partner with Ragan doesn’t mean there isn’t a hunger for knowledge and best practices, no matter where in the world you live.
Steve C.
David:
While I love you like a brother, you do tend to take your singular experiences and project them as The Real Truth.
You didn’t like consulting (and, truth be told, weren’t very good at it) so you regularly right that consultants are shit and shallow and not to be trusted, and that anyone who could do such work has a hole in their soul.
You went to Australia to drum up business for Ragan, were politely told by the Aussies that they had no need for Ragan down under, and now you think globalization is silly.
The fact of the matter is, communications IS a global community. I’ve spoken in Brussels, London (four times), Barcelona, Warsaw, Finland, Copenhagen and South America (twice) in the past three years.
If you agree that there is a need for professional development and best practice sharing no matter where you live (and I assume you would believe that), then why WOULDN’T you hold a conference in Asia?
I hope IABC does the same thing in South Africa, and South America, and India.
I got a call last month from someone in India who might want to bring me over for a seminar.
I was asked to do a seminar in Beirut this year, but had to turn it down.
The fact that people didn’t want to partner with Ragan doesn’t mean there isn’t a hunger for knowledge and best practices, no matter where in the world you live.
Steve C.
I won’t add anything to Steve’s comments, but will clarify a small point, David.
You said that I was inferring that this conference was a regional conference.
I wrote, “is offering a conference that is more conveniently located to a different area of the world.” I meant that to indicate a global conference held in a different area of the world.
Hey ho, we’re talking about different things, Steve-o.
Is communication a global community? No, it’s a bunch of localities drawing on what they perceive as the leading experts in the global community. You’re one of them; and it’s no accident you come from North America.
We both know and admire Roman Rostek, a great communication consultant in Poland. How many invites is Roman getting to speak in Singapore, or the States for that matter. I’ve got great communicator pals in every region of the world; they’re not very often invited to speak anywhere else AS THEY WOULD BE IF THIS WERE TRULY A GLOBAL COMMUNICATION COMMUNITY.
The Sinickas’s, the Holtz’s, the D’Aprix’s and now the Crescenzo’s are in demand worldwide. Why? Because North America is perceived to be “ahead” of everybody else in the best practices the rest of the world craves.
It’s like that, and that’s the way it is.
I imagine and hope that’ll change, eventually; but not yet.
Mainly, though, we should ask IABC: Do you expect to draw attendees to this conference from all the continents of the world, or do you expect Pacific Rim people to come to an all-star regional conference?
If the former–as I assumed when I read the IABC literature–I think that’s misguided.
If the latter, yep: It would be great if these conferences were held in India, Africa, South America, etc.
No quarrel with that.
(Mostly, I wasn’t trying to snuff out human brotherhood and sisterly love of all peoples; I was just trying to make fun of this silly sentence: “”Bringing together Eastern and Western contexts in an ever-changing business landscape.”)
Uh oh. I think your man Obama said the exact same sentence on his trip to Asia. You know, bringing Eastern and Western contexts together in an ever-changing political landscape.
I think that was in one of his speeches. Maybe not word for word, but it was there.
I guess I still don’t see your objection to this conference, though.
IABC wants to make professional development available to its members, who span the globe. So they are going to take the risk (and holding a conference in another country, I’m sure, is risky) in order to make that happen.
They should be applauded, no? Especially when you consider that, unlike Ragan, they’re not in the conference business only to make money.
They’re trying to serve their members. If they make money, so much the better. But it’s not the only goal.
They are an international society. You’ve chided them for years for paying lip service to that.
Now they’re stepping up to the plate and hosting global conferences in somewhere other than North America, and that’s BAD?
I don’t see the problem. Am I missing something? Should I be drinking? Sometimes, things make more sense when I drink.
I’m going to have a martini here at the Lexington, KY airport and read all this again. Maybe it will make sense.
But so far, “myopic” seems to be the most accurate word for this post.
Steve C.
Uh oh. I think your man Obama said the exact same sentence on his trip to Asia. You know, bringing Eastern and Western contexts together in an ever-changing political landscape.
I think that was in one of his speeches. Maybe not word for word, but it was there.
I guess I still don’t see your objection to this conference, though.
IABC wants to make professional development available to its members, who span the globe. So they are going to take the risk (and holding a conference in another country, I’m sure, is risky) in order to make that happen.
They should be applauded, no? Especially when you consider that, unlike Ragan, they’re not in the conference business only to make money.
They’re trying to serve their members. If they make money, so much the better. But it’s not the only goal.
They are an international society. You’ve chided them for years for paying lip service to that.
Now they’re stepping up to the plate and hosting global conferences in somewhere other than North America, and that’s BAD?
I don’t see the problem. Am I missing something? Should I be drinking? Sometimes, things make more sense when I drink.
I’m going to have a martini here at the Lexington, KY airport and read all this again. Maybe it will make sense.
But so far, “myopic” seems to be the most accurate word for this post.
Steve C.
Uh oh. I think your man Obama said the exact same sentence on his trip to Asia. You know, bringing Eastern and Western contexts together in an ever-changing political landscape.
I think that was in one of his speeches. Maybe not word for word, but it was there.
I guess I still don’t see your objection to this conference, though.
IABC wants to make professional development available to its members, who span the globe. So they are going to take the risk (and holding a conference in another country, I’m sure, is risky) in order to make that happen.
They should be applauded, no? Especially when you consider that, unlike Ragan, they’re not in the conference business only to make money.
They’re trying to serve their members. If they make money, so much the better. But it’s not the only goal.
They are an international society. You’ve chided them for years for paying lip service to that.
Now they’re stepping up to the plate and hosting global conferences in somewhere other than North America, and that’s BAD?
I don’t see the problem. Am I missing something? Should I be drinking? Sometimes, things make more sense when I drink.
I’m going to have a martini here at the Lexington, KY airport and read all this again. Maybe it will make sense.
But so far, “myopic” seems to be the most accurate word for this post.
Steve C.
Nope . . . not yet. Another martini . . . .
Nope . . . not yet. Another martini . . . .
Nope . . . not yet. Another martini . . . .
David – Understand that part of IABC’s mission is to share global communication practices among our members, and a key strategic goal is global growth. We’re not in Kansas anymore . . .well actually IABC is there too, but we’re growing worldwide with members in more than 70 countries.
The Global Comm Conference program was developed by a regional team to address the needs of 1) practitioners in Asia and Australia and 2) practitioners on other continents whose companies and/or jobs take them to Asia/Pacific. Yep, it’s true – we have members who travel to Hong Kong and other parts of Asia for work. It’s one of the world’s leading financial centers, and boasts large numbers of corporate headquarters. But I’m sure you know that.
Now about the marketing copy and that silly sentence, they too were developed by IABC members in the region and resonated with them. In Hong Kong, they’re proud of the “east meets west” mix of culture and traditions, and want to promote it.
Maybe it’s time to finally retire that pair of beat-up “made in the USA” glasses. Better yet, plan a boffo business boondoggle for April 7-9, and buy a new pair in Hong Kong!
You see, Steve, IABC is perfectly capable of defending itself, as it did–from you–before you started working for them! (You were the one who accused them for many years of paying lip-service to internationalism, not me.)
Chris, your points are taken, and the real misunderstandings here are two:
• I thought you were expecting lots of people to travel from Omaha to the Hong Kong conference, with your hopeful marketing copy reference to “many continents.” And I don’t think people SHOULD travel from Omaha (or Chicago) to this conference.
• It’s common practice to accuse anyone who makes any criticism of any global initiative of being “myopic.” That’s easy to do: But I’ve been all over Europe, toured China, traveled to Australia. In part, it’s those travels that have FORMED my skepticism regarding some of these international programs. Let’s judge arguments on their merits, shall we?
But I very much appreciate your response, Chris; the context of all my criticism of IABC is and has been, “as IABC goes, so goes the profession.”
In short, you go.
Great response, Chris!!! It made me very proud to work for you and IABC!!
David, I’m sorry if I came on too strong. I’m still feeling my way along here in my new role of IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland.
I guess this was about failed expectations.
When I read Mark Ragan’s tweet about this post being “so damned funny,” I got a little excited! I mean, nobody is as funny as you when it comes to the language, and jargon. Nobody.
So I followed the link with high expectations, and then . . . it wasn’t funny. And it wasn’t even jargon. And then the point didn’t make sense. And . . . oh, well. On to the next.
Next on my To Do List as IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland:
* Get him to stop making fun of individual chapters and individuals who have submitted videos to the IABC Film Festival, unless and until he submits a video himself.
I haven’t put together my talking points on this one yet, but I will be posting out here shortly, in my new role.
Steve Crescenzo,
IABC Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland
Great response, Chris!!! It made me very proud to work for you and IABC!!
David, I’m sorry if I came on too strong. I’m still feeling my way along here in my new role of IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland.
I guess this was about failed expectations.
When I read Mark Ragan’s tweet about this post being “so damned funny,” I got a little excited! I mean, nobody is as funny as you when it comes to the language, and jargon. Nobody.
So I followed the link with high expectations, and then . . . it wasn’t funny. And it wasn’t even jargon. And then the point didn’t make sense. And . . . oh, well. On to the next.
Next on my To Do List as IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland:
* Get him to stop making fun of individual chapters and individuals who have submitted videos to the IABC Film Festival, unless and until he submits a video himself.
I haven’t put together my talking points on this one yet, but I will be posting out here shortly, in my new role.
Steve Crescenzo,
IABC Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland
Great response, Chris!!! It made me very proud to work for you and IABC!!
David, I’m sorry if I came on too strong. I’m still feeling my way along here in my new role of IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland.
I guess this was about failed expectations.
When I read Mark Ragan’s tweet about this post being “so damned funny,” I got a little excited! I mean, nobody is as funny as you when it comes to the language, and jargon. Nobody.
So I followed the link with high expectations, and then . . . it wasn’t funny. And it wasn’t even jargon. And then the point didn’t make sense. And . . . oh, well. On to the next.
Next on my To Do List as IABC’s Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland:
* Get him to stop making fun of individual chapters and individuals who have submitted videos to the IABC Film Festival, unless and until he submits a video himself.
I haven’t put together my talking points on this one yet, but I will be posting out here shortly, in my new role.
Steve Crescenzo,
IABC Ambassador and Special Envoy to David Murrayland
Wow what a pissing match. Play nice, boys.
David Murray as an editor of “Journal of Employee Communication Management” was the only editor of international magazine interested in publishing a piece about communication in Poland. Period.
Any initiative for building international network is good. It’s simply driven by business not ideas.
I can see both sides of this debate, and have stood on each side myself at various points. Ultimately, I think we need to keep having this discussion and exploring how we can all learn more about each other, and different points of view and how other places look at, and do, communications.
My only issue is this sentence in one of your comments, David:
“The Sinickas’s, the Holtz’s, the D’Aprix’s and now the Crescenzo’s are in demand worldwide. Why? Because North America is perceived to be “ahead” of everybody else in the best practices the rest of the world craves.”
Oh David! You didn’t REALLY say that, did you?? “Perceived to be ahead” by WHOM?? Americans?? We Canadians are – I’d venture to say – about as similar to Americans as any other nation on the planet, and even we frequently shake our heads when this viewpoint, which, I’m sorry, I can only call arrogance, rears its misguided head.
Frequently, in my experience, something which is “perceived” by Americans as clear and obvious truth, is simply the American point of view being yelled so loudly that you can’t hear the rest of us offering you a different perspective.
Although it’s doubtful that I will ever be able to attend a conference in Asia, by having a membership in IABC, I hope to be able to learn about communications there, through insights and information that my association will share as a result of having a conference there. To me, that is being international, and in a way that is pretty darn cost-effective for me.
I said “are perceived” because it’s not me doing the perceiving, actually.
If North America isn’t perceived as being where the cutting edge is, tell me, Kristen: Why is it mainly American and Canadian communicators in demand to speak at conferences and consult all over the world, and rarely Danes and South Africans in demand here.
I’m not backing this point of view or legitimizing it, just acknowledging it.
As a Canadian living in Hong Kong (15-plus years now) and working in the communication field, let me wade in and say that yes, East could learn from West but so can West learn from East.
David, as we have discussed in the past, Asia isn’t anywhere close to homogeneous.
The sooner more people realise this the better they will be.
Indeed, as long as the Western speakers who show up next April realize that audiences here won’t necessarily understand analogies based on the current American television or past US presidents, it could be an interesting time of exchange.