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The ABC List for May 2007
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onu-@iabc.com
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May 31, 2007 15:26 PDT
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The ABC List for May 2007
Welcome to the newest monthly edition of the ABC List. The ABC List
serves 643 professional communicators.
This newsletter is a forum for accredited communicators, but more
importantly, those communicators interested in learning more about
becoming accredited, the value of accreditation and the process to
attain accreditation. If you have a question, a topic for discussion or
something you’d like to see in the ABC List, e-mail onu-@iabc.com.
If your chapter is holding a workshop, fun shop, exam prep session, exam
date, pinning ceremony or the like, let me know and I’ll publicize your
event here in the ABC List.
IABC Accreditation: The Global Standard. A Personal Statement.
In this issue:
*** Congratulations to the New ABC’s in May
*** Upcoming Accreditation Exam in San Diego
*** ACP Leader’s Guide
*** ACP Session at International Conference
*** “A Worthwhile Experience”: Susanne Dupes, ABC
*** Congratulations to the New ABC’s in May
- Roberta Schneider, ABC from IABC / Indianapolis
- Beverly Josephs, ABC from IABC / Caribbean
- Maureen Spencer-Golovchenko, ABC from IABC / London
- Jodi Freedman, ABC from IABC / Yankee
- Nicole Adams, ABC from IABC / BC
- Michele Martin, ABC from IABC / London
- Ann MacDonald, ABC from IABC / Vancouver
- Nicole Wheatley, ABC from IABC / Calgary
*** Upcoming Accreditation Exam in San Diego
IABC San Diego will be holding an ABC exam on Saturday, 14 July 2007
from 8:30am – 1:30 pm. Seating is limited. For further information,
please contact Cathleen Wolf at c-@communicatewrite.com.
*** ACP Leader’s Guide
Interested in starting an Accreditation Completion Program (ACP) in your
chapter?
The ACP Leader’s Guide is now posted on the accreditation website for
chapter leaders and ABC liaisons who would like to start an
Accreditation Completion Program. The guide provides information on how
to tailor the program for your chapter, coaching candidates and other
helpful information that would help run a successful ACP Program in your
chapter.
For more information, please visit: http://www.iabc.com/leaders/acp.htm
*** ACP Session at International Conference
On Sunday, 24 June 2007 an Accreditation Completion Program (ACP)
Workshop will be held from 2:30 – 4:00 pm.
Learn how an accreditation completion program (ACP) can engage your
chapter’s accredited members and offer added professional development
value for your accreditation program candidates. During this
interactive session, you will hear about best practices from chapter and
regional ACP leaders.
For more information, please visit: http://www.iabc.com/ic/
*** “A Worthwhile Experience”: Susanne Dupes, ABC
Let’s just call it like it is. That IABC accreditation test is hard.
When I got home from taking the test in Chicago in March 2007, I knew
people were going to ask me how it went. I really wasn’t sure. I just
told them it was the hardest test I ever took and that I hoped for the
best. But then in school, I always strove to get an “A.” On this test,
you have to reach the mid-point, an overall 4 out of 7. You don’t have
to max out the score, you don’t have to be the absolute best in the
whole, wide world. You have to be really competent, and that’s what the
score of “4” indicates. But I’m guessing that this thinking is a hard
adjustment for a whole lot of folks who have taken, or who are
considering taking this test.
I did a lot of work to prepare for the test. I’m an at-large IABC
member because we don’t have a local chapter here in East Tennessee.
But once I joined the organization and then talked with some IABCs at
annual conference, I knew that I had to pursue this.
Because my formal communications training was in English and journalism,
I didn’t have the training on creating campaigns or crisis
communication. So, I started reading and downloading and reading and
downloading and then reading some more. The accreditation materials on
the IABC website were very good to help guide me to what I needed to
focus on. The teleseminars that IABC does on portfolio and test
preparation were really useful as was all of the material from
Communication World and CW Online.
Putting together the portfolio was another really valuable learning
experience. It forced me to go through the process twice of being sure
I addressed all of the steps of communication planning.
During the two years from the time I decided to pursue accreditation
until the day I got the news that I actually passed, I grew so much as a
professional…learned so much about what we do and how we do it. Even if
I hadn’t passed the first, or even second, time, I still recognized when
I took the test how very far I’ve come in my skills and my confidence in
those skills. Even after the test, the learning continues. Today I
received my packet of feedback from the examiners. Every suggestion
that they have for continued improvement are ones that I agree with. I
found myself shaking my head and thinking, yep, that’s where I need to
focus now.
But what does this mean for me on the job. Frankly, I can already tell
the difference in my relationship with our executive team. All of a
sudden, I don’t have to prove I know what I’m doing by getting opinions
from other senior communicators in the field. Now, finally, they
acknowledge that perhaps I do know what I am doing after all and that my
opinion on its own has the value of a senior practitioner. That’s a
great step forward for me.
*** About the ABC List:
This list is a forum for accredited communicators, but more importantly
those professional communicators who seek to be accredited and wish to
learn more about the process and the value of accreditation.
I invite candidates, prospective candidates and ABCs to send questions,
comments and observations to onu-@iabc.com.
You can read the back issues on the Web.
Visit http://www.topica.com/lists/ABCList/read. If you are new to this
list, I encourage you to do so.
*** Do you know someone who would be interested in the ABC List? Pass it
on.
To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to ABCList-s-@topica.com.
*** You can change your address by sending a blank e-mail from your old
address to ABCLis-@topica.com. Then send a blank e-mail from
your new address to ABCLi-@topica.com.
*** Professional communicators are invited to subscribe to the
award-winning free Job of the Week e-mail networking newsletter. Send a
blank e-mail to JOTW-su-@topica.com. There are more than 10,000
professional communicators in the JOTW network.
The ABC List was created by Ned Lundquist, ABC. It is currently edited
and published by:
Olivia Nucum
International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
One Hallidie Plaza Suite 600
San Francisco, CA 94102
USA
t + 1.415.544.4721
f + 1.415.544.4747
onu-@iabc.com
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