IABC “Trends 2013″ conference offers real value
I have blogged in the past about the role of professional associations in a world where there are meetups and all sorts of similar professional development opportunities that can be had for free.
I argued, at the time, that the proliferation of low or no-cost PD opportunities was a threat to traditional groups such as IABC or CPRS.
But an event coming up next week is an example of how professional associations can counter that trend.
“Trends 2013” is a three-day conference organized by the eastern Canada division of IABC, the International Association of Business Communicators. Three days is a long time for anyone to devote to a conference, and even longer for someone in my self-employed position, where time is quite literally money. That’s why I was pleased to be approached to attend the event in exchange for some help in promoting it to… people like you, who read this blog.
But frankly, I would have considered attending this event even if I was paying for it. Why? Synergy.
I know some of the people presenting at Trends 2013. There’s my friend Danny Brown of Jugnoo and my friend Andrea Tomkins. There’s Michael Geist, who I got to know during my time at uOttawa. There’s Caroline Kealey of Ingenium Communications, creators of the Results Map. Donna Papacosta, who I have long admired from afar. Anick Losier, now of Canada Post and jack of all trades Gord McIntosh. And those are just the people that I really know. Even Industry Minister Tony Clement will be speaking at the conference, and while I think his government has done a poor job with social media, he’s a proficient user. So I want to hear from him about that.
There are a large number of people who have sterling resumes and reputations who I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting yet.
So for my money, what this Trends 2013 conference will offer attendees a chance to meet several dozen incredibly smart and engaging presenters. These people are difficult to get together, all in one place. Sometimes it takes the resources of an organization like this to bring them together and fund a conference like this.
So go. I look forward to bringing the things I learn at the conference back to my clients and to my students at Algonquin College and Eliquo. And to sweeten the deal, you have a chance to go as my guest. I want you to tell me in the comments what you think the most important trend facing communicators in 2013 is and why.
I will choose one of the responses on October 29, and that person will get a complimentary day pass to the conference for either November 2 or 3. Get writing, and I’ll see you there.
And if you’re writing about this conference, why not use the hashtag #Cdniabc12 ?
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Excellent post however I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Cheers!
I think the most important trend facing commincators is the increasing need to have communications at the planning table for any program/initiative/company undertaking, early on in the game. Too often, the communications (yes, arguably becoming one with marketing), is not brought on until the initial planning and development discussions have already started. There is a role for comms at the begining and I think companies are starting to take note of that.
I feel like a bit of a parrot here but I think that people are having to face the fact that teams need to work together across organizations. IT, HR, PR and Marketing can’t work independently. Gini Dietrich’s book Marketing in the Round talks about this and having so often encountered the “that isn’t what we do, I have no idea about that” response to questions it clearly is something that is a) and issue and that b) can’t continue.
Like Jillian, I am finding the that the lines between marketing and communications are blurring as well. In fact, although I am communicator, my managers refer to me as being in marketing on a daily basis. Sometimes it’s “integrated marketing,” or “marcomm” while other times it’s “in-bound marketing.” I see different organizations handling this in different ways, but I’d love to be in a room with so many communicators at once to learn more and understand how I can best adapt.
One trend I think will be one of the top issues facing communicators in 2013 and beyond is getting a handle on cross-channel consumer behaviour and attribution. As the channels that we use to engage with our audiences get more and more numerous and diverse, managing and understanding where to focus our efforts is becoming more and more difficult as is measuring the effectiveness of our activities on mobile, social, search, print, broadcast, and beyond. How can we know what works best in a world where using three, four, even five different channels before converting is becoming increasingly normal? How do we fairly and accurately attribute success to our marketing efforts if a customer first searched for us, then followed us, then used our mobile app and finally showed up in the store? I think this is something to which all marketers need to start paying attention – one need only look at data like Google’s Consumer Barometer (http://consumerbarometer.com) to see the growing diversity in how multiple touchpoints are affecting consumer behaviour. We as marketers need to understand how this is changing the behaviour of our audiences and the way we measure our efforts. I don’t necessarily have the answers to how we manage this, but I think it’s an important trend worth noting!
The evolution of social and traditional media and radical changes in the use of each in organizations. Some orgs want to drop traditional mediums for “cheaper”, sexier social media. I think this is actually contributing to the blurring of the lines that Jillian alludes to above. SM encompasses elements of comms, marketing and public relations as well. As silos disintegrate, there has to be strategic leadership so that orgs still have effective use of each discipline.
I have noticed a theme when I speak to business communicators lately. I’m hearing from the sidelines that the distinction between marketing and communications is blurring. I think this is leaving many companies wondering what exactly both of these roles entail in the brave new world of MARCOM. I believe that adaptation to this newly-coined hybrid industry is the key trend this year. But hey, we’re communicators after all, adaptation to changing markets is something we can absolutely manage.