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The ABC List for November 2007
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onu-@iabc.com
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Nov 30, 2007 15:46 PST
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The ABC List for November 2007
Welcome to the newest monthly edition of the ABC List. The ABC List
serves 689 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 ABCs in November
*** Accreditation Month Prize Drawing Winners and Overview
*** Make Accreditation a New Year’s resolution for 2008
*** Upcoming Teleseminar: “Developing your Accreditation Portfolio”
*** Upcoming Accreditation Exam: 2008 Leadership Institute, San Antonio,
TX
*** Part Two of Accreditation Survey distributed to supervisors and
clients
*** My IABC Accreditation Experience: Michela Pasquali, ABC
*** Congratulations to the New ABCs in November
- James Millar, ABC from IABC Calgary
- Kelly Matthews, ABC from IABC Calgary
- Michael Sponhour, ABC from IABC South Carolina
*** Accreditation Month Prize Drawing Winners and Overview
Accreditation Month in October was a success garnering 40 new
applications. That’s 40 new communicators choosing accreditation as part
of their on-going professional development. Thanks to everyone who
helped promote the event and congratulations to the following winners of
the prize drawing:
- Richard Joseph Fink, from IABC Regina:
• Registration to International Conference in New York, 2008 (Valued at
$895).
- Alice Irvan, from IABC Indianapolis:
• One year IABC membership
- Kate Stebbings, from IABC BC:
• HP Photosmart C5180 (Retail Value $200)
Sponsored by Jay Coleman, ABC, Employee Communications Manager, HP
Imaging and Printing Group
- Shelly Brimble, from IABC Calgary:
• IABC Knowledge Centre Product
- Danielle LeBlanc, from IABC Phoenix:
• Delicious Kringle Danish Pastry (Valued at $40)
Sponsored by Mary Hills, ABC, Peak Marketing & Communication, Chicago,
IL
*** Make Accreditation a New Year’s resolution for 2008
The IABC accreditation process offers communicators a way of
demonstrating their ability to think and plan strategically and to
successfully manage the essential skills for effective organizational
communication. Sign up now for accreditation and start the New Year with
an important step that enables communicators around the world to Be
HeardTM. For more information, visit: www.iabc.com/abc.
*** Upcoming Teleseminar: “Developing your Accreditation Portfolio”
Registration will remain open until Wednesday, 5 December 2007 at 3 p.m.
(PST).
DETAILS:
When: Thursday, 6 December 2007.
Hours: 8-9 a.m. PACIFIC STANDARD TIME and 4-5 p.m. PACIFIC STANDARD
TIME.
You may select the 8 a.m. (PST) or 4 p.m. (PST) session when you
register.
Fees: $55.00 for members
$85.00 for non-members
Presenter: Nick Durutta, ABC, director of portfolio evaluators.
For details and registration, please visit:
http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=0888736e-06ed-4972-b8b0-833ebdfe85ea
*** Upcoming Accreditation Exam: 2008 Leadership Institute, San Antonio,
TX
Accreditation oral and written exams will be held on Sunday, 24 January
2008 from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. To register for this exam, please contact Olivia
Nucum at onu-@iabc.com by Friday, 15 February 2008.
For information on the 2008 Leadership Institute, please visit:
http://www.iabc.com/login/index.asp?page=http://www.iabc.com/leaders/cli.htm
*** Part Two of Accreditation Survey distributed to supervisors and
clients
The accreditation survey has been e-mailed to accredited members who
indicated they would forward it to supervisors or clients for their
input. The survey – part two of the study co-sponsored by IABC/Chicago
and L.C. Williams & Associates – is being conducted to understand the
value of accreditation to individuals, their organizations and to the
communication profession.
*** My IABC Accreditation Experience: Michela Pasquali, ABC
I looked into Accreditation because the Director of Communications for
the organization I work for, KPMG LLP in Canada, is an ABC and said he’d
really learned a lot from the process. Around the time I was considering
taking this step, IABC’s Toronto chapter advertised that its annual
“Accreditation College” was starting up to help potential candidates
through the process. The timing was perfect.
I joined the college and heard from ABC’s why they valued their
accreditation so much and the benefits the process brought to their
lives and careers. It didn’t seem too onerous – two portfolios and an
exam – so I signed myself up. My goal was to help solidify my
communications skills and test them against the international standard –
so I had professional and personal reasons to want to succeed. Was I
really cut out to be a communicator and was it something I wanted to
continue doing?
The thing I learned very quickly was that there was a lot more work
involved than I’d originally thought! I knew the projects I’d selected
for my portfolio inside and out. But getting all the strategies, goals
and tactics down on paper in a way that was both comprehensive and
succinct took some work. It took about 20 hours for me to write one of
my portfolios; the second took longer, because I found myself rewriting
it constantly to get it just right. But all the work paid off as a few
months later, I was given the green light to write the exam.
I was more stressed about the exam than I was about the portfolios. I
studied the IABC book, “Organizational Communication”, which I found
helpful not only because of the information in the articles, but because
of the connection I saw with the experiences of the authors. They went
through what I went through! They asked the same kinds of questions I
did! And they wanted to effect the same kind of change in their
organizations as I wanted to in mine.
I also studied the practice written and oral exams and read through
archived issues of Communications World on the IABC Web site. The
articles from Communications World were very beneficial because in 1,000
words or less, they covered many of the key concepts of organizational
communications that I wanted to focus on. I spent most of my time
reading about the areas of communications with which I had the least
amount of experience and learned a lot.
I felt hugely prepared. I wrote my exam, completed the oral component,
and passed all but one section! I immediately requested to rewrite the
section and was able to within about a month. I didn’t study too much
for the rewrite, but decided to focus on my own experience to help me
make it through. It worked – I passed.
When I received the news that I’d achieved my ABC, I was thrilled. All
that time I’d spent focused on the essentials of communications strategy
and planning had paid off. It also spilled into my work life, as I found
myself asking more strategic questions when looking at communications
issues, and approaching my work with greater confidence and pride.
I’m very glad that I stuck with the process and succeeded in achieving
my ABC. I’d highly recommend it to anyone wanting to assess their
skills, learn about some aspects of communications that they’re not as
familiar with, and breathe new life into their goal of being a
communications leader in their organization.
*** 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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