- An online service that calculates the readability of your text
Remember to always write for your audience. - A.P. Style Book’s Ask the Editor
- Write or Die
- Fake AP Style Book’s Twitter account
- Grammar Docs: based in Ariz.; produces a steady stream of useful writing advice.
Fave Five for Friday: Gooder Grammar Edition
03
Feb
2012
2012
Starting an IABC Chapter in Buffalo?
01
Feb
2012
2012
In December, I contacted the International Association of Business Communicators to investigate the possibility of forming a chapter in the Buffalo or upstate NY region. I think it’s an idea worth exploring; I am working with Katie Krawczyk (@katiekraw), another IABC at-large member, to host an informational/exploratory/ad hoc meeting on Tuesday, March 6 to gauge interest in forming a local chapter.
Eventbrite listing: http://iabcbuff2012.eventbrite.com/
Per the IABC’s guidelines for starting a new chapter, we’re looking for a core of at least 10 people interested in getting a chapter off the ground.
- What: Informational IABC meeting
- When: Tuesday, March 6 at 5:30 p.m.
- Where: Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, 665 Main Street #200, Buffalo
- Questions?: Contact Kara Kane (karamariek@gmail.com or @karakane). Please include IABC in the subject line / #IABCBuff in a tweet.
The IABC was established in 1970, and has over 15,000 members in 80 countries. Its members include those who work in disciplines like public relations and public affairs, marketing and advertising, education and training, human resources and organizational development. The organization’s chapters focus on networking, education and professional development
I am eager to hear of the history of the IABC in the area – all I can glean is that the Buffalo chapter dissolved sometime in the 1990s. The IABC web site has a comprehensive guide to starting a chapter, but at the most basic level there needs to be a core of at least 10 members to get the ball rolling. If this works, it works. If it doesn’t, then maybe I’ll give it another shot in another few years.
(Many thanks to the BNE for providing conference room space for this meeting!)
Driving Directions:
If you’re interested in attending an initial meeting or in learning more about the IABC, please leave a comment or send an email to karamariek@gmail.com.
Driving Directions
My third contribution to the Agency Post, Hitching Your Brand’s Wagon to Pinterest’s Rising Star, went live today. I submitted it about two weeks ago, and already I know the basic research I did into the site is outdated.
Pinterest represents the Interweb’s Wild West at the moment, at least among the female/under-60 crowd. I find it so addicting that I limit myself to using it only on weekends. I hope that it never introduces a Droid app, as that would mean my time would be lost to Pinterest forever.
Good ideas catch fire quickly, and Pinterest is the ultimate great idea. Since its launch in March 2010, this easy-to-use, addictive platform has snowballed, swooping up a base of savvy, creative social sharers. As the ultimate replacement for torn-out magazine pages and clippings from newspapers, Pinterest is poised to be the Next Big Thing for brands that rely on visually interesting ideas from its consumers and fans.
And the takeaways:
- Find an honest answer to the question, “Is Pinterest worth your time?”
- Set up an account for your brand, but also start exploring the site as an individual user.
- Determine the niche areas in which your brand excels, and exploit the heck out of it – creatively.
- Don’t dive into Pinterest with the idea that you can promote yourself.
- Make “visual” and “viral” part of your content strategy.
See also: Many Stories, Many Audiences or Social Media Nuggets from the Henhouse
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Also, via @tracymueller: Should Universities Use Pinterest?
Steak and Sizzle: Writing and Web Content
29
Jan
2012
2012
Bring steak and sizzle to your writing. Image from sxc.hu.
A colleague recently made an offhand comment to me about how good writing has “steak and sizzle.” I couldn’t agree more.
In the context of content creation, steak represents the heart of a piece of writing, which makes sizzle the metaphoric soul. The steak acts upon the writing, inculcating human senses within the words and bringing realism with each sentence. The sizzle acts upon the reader, propelling the focus beyond the letters on the page and building in visceral emotion.
Without enough of the steak, a reader is left hungry and looking for more. With a proper dose of sizzle, the text falls flat and fails to stay within the reader’s memory.
Too often, writers focus on steak at the expense of the sizzle, or vice versa. It’s a challenge to balance both, but even the most ordinary of writers can produce solid pieces by making a concerted effort to incorporate each. Don’t leave a bad taste within the minds of your readers.
Recipe for Writing with “Steak”
- Cover all the bases by setting up all the journalistic questions – who, what, where, when – and answering them all completely.
- Respond to what you can sense, see, hear, smell and touch.
- Write deductively, using generalizations to build to a specific conclusion.
- Structure the writing around logic, reason and order.
Bringing the Sizzle
- Go beyond what an observer would experience and bring in feelings and intuition.
- Introduce unexpected elements: a colorful metaphor, inspired poetry or flowery language expands the reader’s imagination.
- Explore the topic inductively, building to universal principles from specific examples.
- Build in the fanciful, the fantastic and the flashy.
Chicken a la Kane
28
Jan
2012
2012
The best chickens are the ones you raise yourself, fed on a steady diet of table scraps, locally-grown and milled corn, and flora/fauna from your yard.
Here are my recipes for roasted chicken & chicken soup.
Place your thawed/nearly thawed chicken (make sure the innards are removed) into a large roasting pan + rack. Breast side up, although I know that’s a source of controversy.
Coat skin liberally with poultry seasoning and/or seasonings of your choice. Rosemary, sage and thyme are good picks.
Cover with heavy duty aluminum foil. Place in pre-heated over at 350 degrees and bake according to weight. Some of our chickens come in at over seven pounds, so they’re in the oven awhile.
Leave the bird in the oven until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees. None of that “juices run clear” crap. Salmonella isn’t something to mess around with.
Take the foil off, turn the oven off and heat up some frozen veggies while throwing together a box of Stove Top Stuffing (5 minutes). Voila. A balanced meal.
***
After the meal, cut off the remaining larger chunks of meat for use in sandwiches or a casserole. Take the carcass and put it in a giant pot. Cover with water to make stock, adding in your own special blend of herbs and spices. That’s code in my house for “whatever Kara sees in the spice drawer,” and generally includes parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper. While that is heating up, dice up an onion, some carrots and some celery. Toss it all into the pot. Let it simmer until most of the meat has fallen off the bones. After 45 minutes or so, you can turn of the heat, pick out the bones and let it cool for a spell. Scoop into storage containers and put it in the fridge. If your chicken is as fatty as ours usually are, you’ll want to skim off the fat once the soup has cooled.
32 ways to tweak your blog in an afternoon via MarianLibrarian. I love this list because it is so basic, requiring rudimentary skills to implement.
Why choose Oberlin College? Because of their over-the-top unofficial web site. The boldest marketing efforts are generally the most memorable.
A new way of looking at higher education fund raising. Think of alumni as champions, friends or acquaintances. The next logical thought from that set of audiences: tailor messages, frequency and intensity to each audience based on affinity to the college.
Proverbs, axioms and idioms via PR Daily. Not to be confused with metaphors, similes and onomatopoeia.
Admissions is not sales, a response to Admissions…should think like a sales team. I have to come down on the side of “not sales.” I think recruitment is more like a courtship – dating, if you will. Sales is transactional, but admissions is about a relationship, interpersonally between a recruiter and a prospect, then growing to encompass the faculty-student dynamic, and ultimately the brand-student/alum relationship.
Two of my favorite organizations introduced new web sites this week. The first one I saw was that of Le Moyne College, which represents a huge advancement over what it has before. They opted for mega-menus, made some interesting font choices (Note: ALL CAPS is not easy to read), but did a great job in sticking to the brand that they have established since after I was a student there. They even have an interactive home page in the larger picture section. Very sweet. Go ‘phins!
The second that I just discovered this evening is one for the Springville Center for the Arts. I smile at just about every graphic design and art choice they made for it. Go see for yourself – it’s a small arts organization that is doing big things for my area.
Each organization is making their “support” function much more visible, and integrating social media platforms more thoughtfully than the typical nonprofit web site. It makes me proud to support their work.
Fave Five for Friday
20
Jan
2012
2012
- A most excellent article, fear.change.edu, from @MattKlawitter.
- Building an audience for an Alaskan blog on carpentry via @stevenczyrny - I love reading about Alaska, and hope to visit eventually.
- Tips on advancing your online education via @leahmacvie - I’m signed up for a course through campus-class.org for the spring that is completely outside my current skill set, but I’m looking forward to the challenge!
- What’s hot in food for 2012. Via @EatingLocally. What’s notable: Cage-free whole eggs in, egg whites out. I have that one covered!
- Secrets of compelling content from the @MayoClinic via @MarkRaganCEO.
Fave Five for Friday
13
Jan
2012
2012
Muffin tins aren’t just for muffins. Via @lifehacker: Freeze stock in muffin tins. Also, for mini-meatloafs, mini-lasagnas, large crayons.
A strategy for managing social media proliferation HT @markgr via @jowyang
I missed this last month: Instagram is coming to Android! HT @erinkdoherty via @mashable.
@Alumnitrending – a friendly, enthusiastic and informative voice for higher education and alumni relations professionals. Curated by the inimitable @sgro97.
Actual microcomputing – nanotech comes to information storage. via @nytimes.
I contributed another article to The Agency Post, “Many Stories, Many Audiences,” which was published today.
Creating compelling content for an organization presents a challenge for even the most seasoned writers. Working in higher education, I’m lucky to have several audiences to supply stories. Student achievements, faculty accomplishments and notable alumni all go into the metaphoric hopper to be spit out as stories, web content, testimonials and pitches.
Read the whole story at The Agency Post, and follow them @AgencyPost.
(And as a side note, I need to start doing a better job of practicing what I preach…)
Writer, communicator, planner, list-maker, parent, volunteer; chef, concierge and COO of the Family Kane.
On Pinterest: 
Buffalo: Buy LocalBuffalo: Eat Local
Buffalo: Buy LocalBuffalo: Eat Local