Our Chapter:
Letter from the President
January 2012 | August 2011 | March 2011 | August 2010
It’s the start of a new year and the halfway mark for our 2011-2012 program year. Since I haven’t taken the time to provide an official board update in a while, I thought I’d take this opportunity to do so.
Back in the fall, the board identified “Increasing membership value” as our theme for the year. We identified two projects to demonstrate our commitment to that theme and both of them are well underway.
Ann Wylie Writing Workshop
The board was very pleased to announce to the public (and to give members one-week advance notice via a members-only email) that our chapter is hosting a full-day writing workshop with Ann Wylie at SAS on Tuesday, March 13th.
There are a number of factors that must be present to organize a full-day workshop with Ann Wylie. First and foremost is a team of board members who are willing to go above and beyond the call of their regular volunteer duties – either as a member of the workshop’s steering committee or as a “whatever-I-can-do-to-help” backup for our collective ongoing duties. The 2011-2012 IABC NC Triangle board is that team.
The second greatest factor is finding a host with a meeting space large enough to accommodate the crowd that Ann Wylie typically draws. We are very grateful to SAS, our hosting sponsor, for allowing us to meet in their brand-new Executive Briefing Center at their world headquarters in Cary, N.C. (Check out the video tour on their website.) We could not ask for a more ideal meeting space for this exciting professional development event.
Thank you to the board members and to SAS for making this event possible. And thank you also to event sponsors, Business Wire and First Citizens Bank. If you have not yet seen information about the workshop, please visit our Ann Wylie Writing Workshop webpage, which outlines the topics that she’ll cover and includes registration information.
IABC Member Resource Series
Whether you’re a long-term or brand-new member, we hope you’ll find the new IABC Member Resources page on our website helpful. It’s actually a work-in-progress, one that we’ll mention in our next few newsletters as we add one new resource each month. By the end of the series, the page will summarize several IABC International resources (most of them available via iabc.com), to help guide our members to the resource(s) that you need for whatever communication project or challenge you have before you.
In addition to our “Increasing Membership Value” projects, the board continues to provide professional development and networking events. Many thanks to Arik Abel, vice president of digital services with French/West/Vaughan, for his excellent presentation on online video earlier this month. And thank you in advance to Charles Gupton, of Charles Gupton Photography and the Mind-Fire initiative, who will speak to us on February 14th about “Telling Stories with Imagery.”
Thank you very much for your interest and support in IABC NC Triangle. If you’re a member, I hope you feel that your membership value has indeed increased this year. If you’re not yet a member, I hope you’ll consider joining us. Please feel free to contact any board member, including me, with questions. Our email addresses are available on the “Meet the Board” webpage so that you can reach out to us at anytime.
Best wishes for a wonderful new year!
Best regards,
Kelly Duffort
IABC NC Triangle President
2010-2012
Although we typically don’t meet as a chapter in July and August, the board is very much hard at work. In fact, July is the month that we welcome new board members and start planning the next 12 months. I like to use our August newsletter as an opportunity to share some of the board’s initial plans for the year, so here goes…
Professional Development Meetings
We are excited to announce that Chris Grams, president and partner of New Kind, will be our September 13th speaker. His presentation, “The Ad-Free Brand: Secrets Behind Building a Successful Brand in a Digital World,” is the title of his book just released this month.
Many thanks in advance to Chris for what we know will be a very interesting program and to our in-kind sponsor and host, Hamner Conference Center.
We will return to the Crabtree Valley Marriott, our home base meeting location, for our November program. On November 8th, we’ll welcome Jeff Cohen, social media marketing manager at Howard, Merrell & Partners and managing editor of SocialMediaB2B.com, for “How Social Media Has Changed Business Communications.” (I’ve heard Jeff speak at few events and I can promise that you will learn something new about social media from him.)
Hey…what about October?
Networking Events
Glad you asked! We heard from several of you in our post-program surveys last year that the networking time at our professional development meetings isn’t always enough. We agree. That’s why we’ll have a happy hour in lieu of a program in October. Stay tuned for date, place and time.
Welcoming Directors to our Board
Our board has been a seven-person team for quite some time. Frequently, we’ve had ideas that we wanted to implement, but couldn’t, due to limited resources. Thus, we are enthusiastically welcoming directors to the board. Our first two directors – Alli Soule, director of membership, and Sarah Vizard, director of operations – are already planning the October happy hour.
There are a few more director openings. If you’re interested – or only think you might be interested – in getting more involved with the chapter, please don’t hesitate to ask any one of the board members for more information.
The Entire IABC NC Triangle Board
Last, but certainly not least, I sincerely thank the 2011-2012 IABC NC Triangle Board: Abbie Kiefer (VP of Programs), Alison Weaver (VP of Operations), Dave MacDonald (VP of Finance), Laurie Bowser-Sever (Past-President), Lisa Arney (VP of Membership), Nicole Whiteside (VP of Marketing), and our two new directors – Alli Soule and Sarah Vizard. They have done a great deal of work already for this program year.
Hope to see you soon!
Best regards,
Kelly Duffort
IABC NC Triangle President
2010-2012
Many thanks to everyone who responded to our chapter survey. The board has reviewed the results and we’re taking them into consideration as we make plans for the upcoming year.
And what did we hear?
Several survey respondents commented that our program topics have been “quite good,” “timely,” and “right on.” On the other hand, several said that they do not regularly attend meetings because of our topic selection.
Of those who said they do not regularly attend meetings, the second most-cited reason was an inconvenient meeting location. This is a tough issue because our membership is spread over a relatively large area. There is no easy solution. Moving to Raleigh from the Morrisville Chamber was a smart financial decision for us. We regularly poll program attendees about our meeting location and a strong majority says the Marriott works well.
We learned that 89% of respondents hear of our meetings via our e-mail newsletter. You’ll definitely continue to see it in your inbox. LinkedIn is popular with our members: 39% of you said that you’re listening to us out there.
The following are the top reasons your fellow members gave for joining IABC:
- Education/training (local meetings): 73%
- Networking: 67%
- Professional affiliation for resume: 40%
- Job listings, online resources and accreditation: All 3 tied at 13%
Thank you to all survey respondents and congratulations to Susan Washburn, winner of the Amazon gift card raffle.
In addition to the feedback we receive via the overall chapter survey, the board also appreciates the ratings and comments we receive in our post-program surveys. Everything you tell us helps us plan and improve.
Although the board is thinking ahead to next year, we still have plenty of great events scheduled for this spring. Here’s our lineup:
- March 30th: Networking Lunch at Vivace
- April 12th: Shaping an event to meet your goals: The Launch of the John Deere Gator™ XUV
McGavock Edwards, Kris Welsh and Tracy Lathan, IMRE
- May 10th: Producing Videos that Produce Results
Julie Henry, NC Dept. of Health & Human Services, Public Health Division
- June 14th: Sustainability
Gibbs & Soell
Stay tuned to our e-mail newsletter for more information on each of these events. We hope to see you soon!
Best regards,
Kelly Duffort
IABC NC Triangle President
2010-2012
Hello! Thank you for your interest in the NC Triangle Chapter of IABC. The 2010-2011 program year is just around the corner. The board has been working hard and I have great confidence that their efforts will lead to a terrific year for our chapter. I’d like to take this opportunity to share some information about the decisions we have made.
Professional Development Meetings
Our monthly professional development meetings are held the second Tuesday of every month September – June. A majority of our programs this year will be held during the lunch hour (12pm-1:30pm). We are very excited about our new meeting location – Crabtree Valley Marriott in North Raleigh!
We’ll kick off the year by bringing in John Sturtevant of The Writing Workshop in Houston, Texas for “Writing Clearly and Persuasively” on September 14th. We’ll welcome our own Dawn Ronco of First Citizens Bank for “The Savvy Behind Great Intranets” on October 12th.
Throughout the year, the board will continue to line up topics and speakers that interest and educate communications, marketing and public relations professionals. In addition to the exciting programs mentioned above, some of the other areas that we hope to cover during the 2010-2011 program year include media relations, branding and measurement.
Networking/Job Opportunities
We have moved our job listings from the members-only, password-protected area of our website to the Jobs section of our LinkedIn Group. (Note: You do not have to be a member of the NC Triangle Chapter of IABC to join our LinkedIn Group. If you’re a communications professional in the area, you are welcome to join our LinkedIn Group.)
Every couple of months, we will continue to arrange pay-your-own-way networking lunches at restaurants around the area. These are casual get-togethers with no meeting topic or agenda – simply opportunities for folks in our field to come together and talk over lunch. (By the way, we had a terrific turnout with 20+ folks at Gravy in July. Stay tuned to our e-mail newsletter for the date and location of our next networking lunch.)
Member Survey
Adopting the IABC corporate tagline of “Be Heard,” we will invite members to do just that via an online survey that we’ll conduct in the fall. You’ll hear more about this at our September and October programs and in our e-mail newsletter.
Staying In Touch
The best way to stay up-to-date with our programs is to subscribe to our e-mail newsletter. (The e-mail signup form is on our website homepage.) Like most communications professionals these days, we’re out in the social media arena, trying to figure out the best ways to use it. If you’re out there too, please free to join the conversations that we’re having in LinkedIn, follow us on Twitter (@iabcnctriangle), or “like” us on Facebook.
Of course, should you have any questions about our chapter, please feel free to contact me at kelly@kellyduffort.com, Shannon Helm, VP of Membership, at shannonh@nc.rr.com, or really, any one of our board members.
Many Thanks
Last, but certainly not least, I sincerely thank the 2010-2011 IABC NC Triangle Board: Abbie Kiefer (VP of Programs), Alison Weaver (VP of Operations), Dave MacDonald (VP of Finance), Laurie Bowser-Sever (Past-President), Mary Hecht-Kissell (VP of Marketing) and Shannon Helm (VP of Membership). They have done a tremendous amount of work over the summer. I thank them for that and for the work that they’ll continue to do over the next several months for our chapter. They are a wonderful team.
On behalf of the entire board, I’ll close by saying each of us hopes to see each of you very soon!
Kelly Duffort
IABC NC Triangle President
2010-2012
