So, you’ve made a resolution to submit your work to a communications awards program in 2012. That’s the easy part. Now you have to figure out what and how to enter.

For a first-timer, submitting an entry to a professional awards program can be an overwhelming prospect, which is why I’m happy to offer some helpful hits.

1 – Choose your awards program. There are plenty of communications awards programs out there, and some are less prestigious than others. However, the awards programs sponsored by the two leading professional associations for the communications industry – the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) – are generally acknowledged as the best in class. In addition to the global IABC Gold Quill and national PRSA Silver Anvil and Bronze Anvil awards programs, these associations have local or regional awards programs sponsored by local chapters.

2 – Read the rules and guidelines. Each awards program has its own rules governing eligibility. Some programs limit entries to work produced in the prior year, others allow multi-year programs; some are very specific about the length of the entry, limiting them to two pages and others are more lenient about length. To avoid being disqualified on a technicality, make sure you read and adhere to all the rules and guidelines contained in the call for entries.

3 – Choose your program or work sample carefully. Remember, this is an opportunity to have your work judges by industry leaders, so limit your submissions to your best work samples and your most effective, innovative programs.

4 – Ask for clarification, but allow for plenty of response time. In most cases, the call for entries will include a contact for additional information or clarification. Don’t be embarrassed to reach out to that contact if you don’t understand the guidelines or need some additional information to complete your entry. But realize that most of these programs are managed by volunteers who have full-time jobs and lives and don’t expect to hear back within two hours. Two days is probably more realistic.

5 – Line up friends and co-workers to help critique your drafts. As you pull together your entry, you will find that it’s easy to get short-sighted, that you miss obvious omissions. There are great benefits to be found in recruiting a second, third or fourth set of eyes during the draft stage of your entry, especially if one of those extra sets of eyes was not involved in the program. He/she can help keep you on track and ensure that you are telling your story in an effective and compelling entry.

Any other tips from seasoned awards program participants and judges? Sound off in the comments below.

Susan

Next up: How to Write a Compelling Communications Award Submission

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• Get Ready for (Communications) Awards Season (rinkcomms.net)

Corporate communicators in general — and employee communicators in particular — seem to think it is unbecoming to draw attention to their good work.

While I applaud their modesty, I get frustrated when I hear a communicator complaining that their contributions to the organization are overlooked – instead it’s the marketing and advertising folks who are getting all the kudos.

Part of the problem stems from the fact that many of our company leaders don’t understand our profession and don’t know what goes into producing effective, high-quality communications.

Sure, they know we exist – they see the speeches, blog posts and emails we write on their behalf, and they don’t kick us out of their office when we tell them they need to talk to the media or an analysts’ conference. But they have no basis for assessing the quality of our work — unless of course, something goes horribly wrong. Then they are all communications experts.

That’s why I counsel communicators to consider entering their work in a professional awards program, such as those offered by the  Public Relations Society of America PRSA) and the International Association of  Business Communicators (IABC).

These programs provide communicators with an opportunity to showcase their programs and products, to have their work judged by industry experts, and to be recognized for excellence or receive constructive feedback that will allow them to fine-tune their craft.

Best of all, if you do win an award, you will have an excellent reason to brag about your good work to your friends in marketing.

Susan

Next up: Helpful hints for submitting your communications awards program entry

Copyright Tony Ridder. Used with permission.

Last week’s post on stock photography yielded several helpful hints in the comments section. One reader – Mark K. Curtis – suggested that internal comms folks take advantage of photo shoots scheduled by other departments and request that the photographer take some shots of employees at work.

I thought that was an excellent suggestion, so I reached out to a friend, former Nextel co-worker and seasoned professional photographer Tony Ridder to gather some quick tips for making the most of a “found” opportunity for a photo shoot.

Tip #1: Give me the “big picture”

Even the best photographer in the world will fall short of your expectations if you fail to clearly articulate what you are looking to accomplish with the image or group of images. To make sure that you have clearly communicated your specific needs, Tony recommends that you develop a creative brief that outlines your objectives, your desired tone or emotion, the target audience and the intended use. The good news is that after you’ve worked with a photographer for a while, he/she will be attuned to your organization and you won’t need to provide lots of background detail.

Tip #2: Show me what you mean

You probably have an idea of the type of image you want. That’s a good thing. You probably even have some samples that you want to draw from as inspiration. Excellent. While written descriptions are good, photographers are visual people and are used to picking up clues from images. But do not attempt to duplicate an image, cautions Tony. Images are protected works and are subject to copyright laws.

Tip #3: Give me a preview

If you are tagging onto an existing photo shoot, your time is going to be limited. Make the most of your time onsite by providing the photographer with as much advance information about the venue as you can, as far ahead as you can. If it isn’t possible to do a walk-through a few days prior to the shoot (and it probably won’t be), Tony recommends taking some quick photos (use that smartphone camera!) or video clips of the venue to give the photographer a feel for the lighting and physical space. That will help him/her determine the need for additional lighting, backdrops, etc.

Tip #4: Assign a helper to me

Remember that the photographer is an outsider at your company and does not know where to acquire props or how to contact the volunteer “models” if there is a change in the venue or schedule. To minimize downtime, Tony suggests that someone on your staff serve as the photographer’s handler. That person can also double as the quality control agent, whose job it is to ensure that the props, setting and employees used in the photos reflect the organization’s brand, culture and demographics. Remember, the reason you are shooting your own images, and not simply purchasing stock photography is to avoid images like these.

Tip #5: Make the most of my time

There will always be some amount of “down time” in any photo shoot: resetting the props, adjusting the lighting and coaching your employee models. To prevent your photographer from wasting time, make sure that you have everything assembled in advance, that employees arrive early and have signed photo releases, and everyone knows what they should be doing. The photographer is doing you a favor by adding your session to the one he/she has already contacted for, so return the favor by being respectful of his/her time.

Bonus Tip

When the session is over and you are ready to select images, Tony has one final tip: Remember that the proofs you see are not done yet! There are any number of additional editing techniques that can be applied to an image to perfect it and tell the story you intended. So be sure to let the photographer know what you like about the image, and let him/her make the necessary adjustments to turn it into the image you envisioned.

Susan

After what seemed like hours searching through affordable stock photography from a variety of sources, I came to the conclusion that the creative directors and photographers responsible for “business” images have never actually worked in an office environment.

Don’t believe me? OK, try this: go to your favorite stock photography website and search for images of “staff meeting.”

You are going to find lots of photos like this one:

What kind of crazy meeting is this? Is this some type of a pop quiz and the guy at the top of the image is afraid that someone is going to steal his answers?

Or how about this one, which I have subtitled: “Two attractive young corporate executives are distracted from their colorful charts when Superman flies past the conference room.”

(I give the photographer credit for diversity, and for dressing the models like career women rather than call girls.)

My personal favorite is an image you will see over and over, in infinite variations: A group of people gathered around an open laptop computer, all pointing at something on the screen. I’d venture to say that this type of behavior does not exist outside a photo shoot (or an episode of “The Office”).

Now, I realize that, when funds are doled out at budget time, the internal communications team is always at the end of the line. I’ve spent more than 20 years in Fortune 50 companies launching companywide programs with little to no funding.

So I feel your pain, internal communicators. Yes, these low-cost stock photography suppliers seem like a great solution to your budget woes. But you must resist the temptation.

You probably have a smart phone. If you don’t, I’m sure one of your coworkers does.

Rather than purchasing a generic (and somewhat bizarre) image like this one (Is it just me, or does it look like the standing guy is about to get violent?),

why not take a stroll with your smart phone or digital camera and snap images of actual employees at work in your office?

You will see groups of people collaborating, teams brainstorming and coworkers simply chatting as they exchange information about the projects they are working on.

These real-world images offer you three very important benefits:

• They reflect your true work environment (the demographics of your workforce and your physical space), which reinforces the credibility of your communications;
• They feature actual co-workers, which creates a “buzz” among your workforce and drives readership; and
• They are free, which allows you to spend your meager budget in other areas.

Let me close with a special message to all the creative directors and stock photographers out there who might be interested in creating images that reflect the reality of the business world: Call me. I can help you.

Susan

According to the article “Get Ready to Hire Generation Z” by Penelope Trunk, this group of future co-workers finds email intolerable, processes information like a “speed demon” and has little interest in job titles and hierarchy.

They are also described as lifelong learners, who are motivated through interesting work and the opportunity to participate in challenging projects that expand their knowledge base.

Employee communicators – and most organizations – haven’t done a very good job adapting our workplace communications for Gen Y. We have been slow to adopt social media for internal communications purposes, we rely heavily on email push to get the word out, and our copy has remained bloated, with large blocks of text.

Gen Z will have little tolerance for these practices.

Instead, Trunk advises organizations to prepare for Generation Z by adopting these communication guidelines:

1. Keep it short. Most Gen Zs use phones as their primary means of communication, so ditch the compound, complex sentences and write in microbursts.
2. Focus on social media. This generation wants to interact, not be fed information, and wants to see and be seen.
3. Emphasize knowledge attainment over professional advancement. Managers of Generation Z will need to re-calibrate their thoughts on motivating those workers and focus on new assignments as an opportunity to learn a new skill, rather than an opportunity to earn a new title.

Don’t delay: the first wave of Gen Zs will enter the workforce in May 2012.

Susan

I was approached a few months ago by one of my PRSA buddies, GMU Professor Serge Samoilenko. He was pulling together the course syllabus for a new class designed to prepare communication/PR students for the world of digital and social media and he needed seasoned PR professionals to serve as advisors.

We Baby Boomers assume that Millennials know everything there is to know about social media; that since they are constantly texting and playing on their iPhones, they know much more than we do about this new world of PR.

Not true. I rarely encounter a college student or new PR professional who uses social media for professional purposes. They don’t blog, they don’t Tweet, they don’t know anything about Google+.

So I’m really excited about this opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with communicators preparing to enter the workplace.

While this course mentorship role is a new one for me, it’s really just the latest in a long line of advisor/mentor roles I’ve played over the past 20 years.

I’ve hosted student shadows, spoken to communication classes, reviewed resumes at career fairs, and served as a counselor for college interns in my workplace.

Granted, part of that is my “pay it forward” mindset. I didn’t leave college knowing everything there is to know the communications biz and as a “baby communicator” I had the advantage of working for an exceptional manager who generously shared his knowledge with me.

But for the most part, my commitment to mentoring is spurred by a love of my profession and desire to see the next generation of communicators succeed in an ever-changing business environment.

Who knows? Ten years from now, that student may be one of my clients…

Susan

Over the past few months, I’ve had a number of reasons to thank people:  professional connections for offering their insights during a benchmarking project; former supervisors and colleagues for recommending me for opportunities; and volunteers for their efforts in support of our professional association.

Sure, email and phone calls are immediate and are viewed as acceptable methods for thanking someone for their time and efforts. But there’s nothing like opening an envelope and reading a hand-written note.

In a recent blog post, my buddy Mary Fletcher Jones wrote about spotting her company’s holiday card posted on a bulletin board at a client office.  As Mary noted, that simple greeting card transcended its original use and became a visual reminder of her company and their offerings.

Employers are always looking for no cost/low cost ways to build employee morale and show appreciation. There are countless article and blog posts (and even a video or two) about how to design effective employee recognition programs.

But nothing comes close to a personalized, written thank-you note from a supervisor, manager or executive. When was the last time you saw a thank-you email posted on someone’s wall?

It’s easy to get started. On your way home tonight, stop by your neighborhood office supply store and pick up some nice note cards. Then set a personal goal to write at least one thank-you note each week — to acknowledge the employee who offered a time-saving suggestion, took on a new assignment, or stepped in to cover for an absent coworker.

Once you get in the habit of writing your thank-you notes, you’ll find it easy to ramp up to one note each day.

If you want to make a significant impact across the organization, and sow the seeds for a culture of recognition and appreciation, expand your recipient list to include the receptionist, the mail clerk, the security guard, the loading dock attendant and the janitor — the people who are rarely thanked by anyone.

Over time, these small, but sincere actions will yield tremendous dividends in improved morale, productivity and teamwork.

Susan

I’m talking about full-on, flat-out rudeness.

Case in point: I serve on the board of my property owners association. It’s a volunteer position, and most of my efforts are limited to taking notes at the quarterly meeting, updating the owner address list, and – along with my fellow board members – ensuring that owners comply with our community’s bylaws when they build new or remodel existing structures.

Recently, one of our owners submitted a request to build a new structure on his property, a request that was denied since the board members felt the structure did not meet the standards clearly outlined in the bylaws. The owner was sent a brief – but extremely polite – email notifying him of the denial and the reasons for it.

What we received in response was an absolutely scathing email, full of accusations of discrimination, attacks on our character (and patriotism for denying the owner “his God-given right” to build on his property), and thinly-veiled threats of legal action against the individual board members and the community as a whole.

I get that the owner was disappointed, and maybe even frustrated. However, I doubt that he would ever think to take that tone during a face-to-face conversation or a phone call.

Maybe he should have followed the advice offered in a satirical piece in The Onion  “Study: All American problems could be solved by just stopping and thinking for two seconds.”

Now that email is the primary vehicle for internal communications in most businesses, I wonder how many “flaming” emails are received on an average day, and what percentage could be eliminated if the author just ‘stopped and thought for two seconds’ before hitting “send.”

My guess: 75%.

Susan

During one of our first meetings, my client showed me around the company’s intranet – managed by the global communications team in South Africa. The homepage featured a video clip promoting an upcoming intranet reface that was scheduled to launch the following month.

Being the curious internal communicator that I am, I opened the video player to see what improvements were planned. The video showed two guys – one very hip and one a bit less so – in what I assumed to be a take-off of the “I’m a Mac” ad campaign.

The operative word there is “assumed” – I was 30 seconds into the short video when I realized I didn’t understand a single word the two actors were saying. Turns out they were speaking Afrikaans.

For the first time in my career, I got an inkling of how my international co-workers must have felt when they received the all-English, U.S.-centric employee newsletter I edited a decade earlier.

I was reminded of this incident when I read “6 things to remember when communicating on a global level.” While the blog post focuses on media and external communications, several of the key points translate (pun intended) to employee communications.

For example, the blog cites the importance of considering holidays in other countries when scheduling news releases. Same goes for internal launches, significant organizational announcements and companywide events. The last thing you want to do is schedule a companywide webcast on another country’s national holiday.

The blog also counsels readers to avoid jokes. I’d also advise communicators to stay away from catchy, pun-filled headlines and captions on employee intranets and in newsletters. In most cases, the jokes won’t translate to other languages/cultures and the employees won’t understand the double meaning intended with the pun.

The best advice I can offer internal communicators working in a global environment is to establish points of contact in each of your locations worldwide and task them with previewing content and concepts for cultural sensitivities. That added review will help you avoid missteps and miscommunication once your message crosses international borders.

Susan

(Getty Images)

My friend Tara is moving from the D.C. area to North Carolina at the end of the month.

During a recent visit to her new hometown to check out housing options, she and her husband stopped by a local Verizon Wireless store to determine whether the neighborhood they were considering would have sufficient cellular coverage. They were also curious about the Internet and cable options available to them.

“Do you offer FIOS service in this neighborhood?” asked Tara.

“What’s that?” responded the Verizon employee.

To Tara’s surprise, the employee had no idea that the company offered an alternative to DSL in other cities.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not faulting the employee; as Tara tells it, he was very knowledgeable about the wireless offerings and was able to recommend alternatives for cable and Internet carriers. But the idea that an employee would be so unaware of the company’s next big thing – even if it is not offered locally – just tells me that there is a break in the employee communication pipeline.

As 20-year veteran of employee communications, stories like this make my head explode. I don’t doubt that if anyone from Verizon’s employee communications team reads this blog, he or she will have the same reaction.

Getting the word out about key company events and upcoming product offerings is one of the most important elements of employee communications.

When I worked for Marriott, I wanted to make sure that if a hotel employee were riding up an elevator with a guest, that employee would be able to answer questions about new hotel openings – whether down the road or on the other side of the world.

If all hotel employees were “in the know” I was confident that I was doing my job.

The Walmart “Match It!” commercial is a great illustration of this concept. In the spot, a customer tells the check-out clerk that she has seen a product advertised by a competitor for a lower price. The ad shows a series of employees – truck drivers, stockers, etc. – reminding the clerk of the store’s policy to match the lowest price.

Employees are bombarded with information on a daily basis, so it’s up to communicators to make sure that all employees, particularly those who serve customers every day, are equipped to answer questions about policies and company news.

Susan