The Making of a Successful Entrepreneur: Tapping into Drive, Direction, and Common Sense

When Christopher Gergen talks about what it takes to be an entrepreneur, he speaks as someone who's been there, done that, and is still doing it today. In 1994, he left the security of a burgeoning career as a writer for CNN Headline News to move to Santiago, Chile, where he opened a restaurant and bar. That proved to be the first of many business ventures.

Steigman, Daria. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Management

Making Research Actionable: An Introduction to Design Criteria

What happens when people want a company’s product, but are frustrated by the process of trying to get it? Obviously it should be reworked — but doing so can be easier said than done. When we’re asked to redesign a process, we often start by exploring the problem space with in-context research, which generates a large amount of data. That data tends to point teams in the direction of a number of possible solutions. But how should the team decide which direction is the right one? In such cases, I’ve found that Design Criteria — a set of rules a design team can follow — can be a key tool so when a design team creates or reworks a service or product, everything it does supports the user.

Nelson, Sarah B. Adaptive Path (2008). Articles>Research>Design>Business Communication

Making Social Responsibility a Strategy for Business Perpetuation

With intense competition and demands from shareholders, customers and employees, companies need to find ways to stand out from the crowd. Many companies are looking to corporate social responsibility, as a way to do this—by both protecting and enhancing their reputations. Some CSR practitioners are driven by a belief in the company mission and vision, others by top executives, and others see it as public relations and marketing opportunity.

Vale Marques, Juliana. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations>Case Studies

Making the Business Case for Single Sourcing  

Discusses ways to communicate the financial benefits, customer value, learning and growth opportunities, and internal process improvements made possible by single sourcing.

Hackos, JoAnn T. and Tina Hedlund. ComTech Services (2004). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Business Communication

Making the Rules: A Day in the Life of a Regulatory Drafter

David Spicer, Senior Regulatory Drafting Officer with the CFIA, discusses the regulatory drafting process, writing complex texts in the context of federal plain language principles, and what it’s like to write the words that define and protect Canadians.

Boucher, Lorie. Writer's Block (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Biomedical

Management Communication Quarterly    

Management Communication Quarterly is a resource for researchers and scholars, as well as managers, professionals, consultants, and trainers.

Management Communication Quarterly. Journals>Business Communication>Management

Managing Client Relationships  

When meeting someone for the first time, you get about 10 seconds to make a good impression; make it a good one!

Steele, Karen A. STC Proceedings (1997). Careers>Consulting>Communication

Managing Electrons For Fun And Profit: Technology For The Scientific Communicator  

Too much of the information on new technology tools is of little value to the scientific communicator. This session provides topic overviews and discussion of three topics: SGML, electronic networks, and specialized word processing software. Please note that these discussions are introductory; other ITCC presentations cover SGML and the Internet in more depth.

Gunn Bronson, Judith, Jeffrey L. Hibbard and Thomas C. Stickels. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Scientific Communication>Software>Word Processing

Managing Life Sciences Content

Life sciences have been called the least automated industry in the world, but some pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and healthcare-related organizations are working to dispel that image by implementing targeted content management solutions aimed at shortening the amount of time it takes to get new products to market.

Rockley Group, The (2004). Articles>Content Management>Scientific Communication>Workflow

Managing PR to Save Time and Money—While Increasing Results

Public relations tactics are supposed to be cost-effective, but all too often, programs seem to come at a high price tag with questionable returns. This is often due to the fact that too many public relations functions are inefficient and too many programs are not targeted.

Cohen, Ephraim. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Public Relations

Managing Project Risk  

Risk management is as much art as science. Being aware of what risks are and how they can affect a project can be the difference between success and failure. Three elements of risk management—regardless of project size or scope—will influence success: understanding what risks are; developing and detailing categories of risk; and building a mitigation plan into the project plan. This approach to risk management benefits the project manager by bringing into focus—as early as possible in the project life cycle—many potential detriments to project success. When folded into a repeatable project management methodology, these processes can translate into dollars as the probability of meeting calendar and budget goals increases.

Bierbower, James G. STC Proceedings (1998). Articles>Project Management>Risk Communication

Managing Technology Transfer: Issues for Scientific Communicators  

Technology transfer is arguably one of the greatest communication opportunities of our day. In this panel presentation, we will define technology transfer terms and issues, identify technology transfer issues in private industry as well as in government R & D labs, and discus how today’s technical communicators can play a key role in technology transfer.

Cuba, Laurence L., Rich McGillick, Suzanne S. Roberts, Donna G. Roper and David Schuelke. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Scientific Communication>Technology>Technology Transfer

Managing Your Customers' Expectations  

How many customers do you know who deliberately set out to make your life difficult? Not many, I’m sure. They probably don’t anticipate that adding three new chapters to a manual means that the project deadline needs to change or another writer needs to be hired. They may not realize that another round of reviews requires more (billable) hours of work. In most cases, good two-way communication prevents problems in the first place and provides solutions for the unforeseen issues that arise.

Frick, Elizabeth A. 'Betsy'. Intercom (2003). Careers>Business Communication>Project Management

Marketing Experiences: The New Event Frontier

Today's audiences are jaded about marketing and savvy about messaging, making it harder than ever for marketers to earn an audience's undivided attention and create a meaningful bond between brand and individual. Whether you're talking about a 10,000-person corporate sales meeting or a multi-city mobile marketing program for consumers, you are more likely to hear words like integration, engagement and participation as criteria for marketing success than terms like impressions and eyeballs.

Domine, Tom. Communication World Bulletin (2006). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing Science Through the Media  

Marketing communications can involve more than just selling a product. Simply being mentioned in the general media and in trade publications can build a name for a company or institution and position it as a leader. When the University of Tennessee announced its entrance into the exclusive community of public institutions with a successful farm animal cloning program, a combination of science and news writing, web page creation, and media savvy was used to ensure that the announcement reflected well on the university and its research program.

Clark McDaniels, Patricia, Margot Pantalone, Charles Denney, Misty Anderson and Doug Edlund. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Scientific Communication>Marketing

Marketing to Different Generations: Choose Your Message Wisely

There has been a lot of buzz lately about the dynamic created by having four generations in the workforce at once. Dozens of experts, myself included, have spent hours with businesses worldwide to help management better understand how to connect with employees by learning how a generational perspective can color the world and affect business relationships.

Marston, Cam. Communication World Bulletin (2007). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing Writer’s Survival Guide  

Marketing writers face project demands and challenges that are different from those in other forms of technical communication. This session will be a highly interactive discussion between the presenters and the participants, sharing tips and techniques for surviving as a marketing writer in all aspects of a marketing communication project.

King, Janice M. and Lawrence D. Kunz. STC Proceedings (1996). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing

Marketing Writing for Technical Products  

This workshop will examine the types of marketing materials that can give you creative experience. You'll learn how to adapt your skills and subject matter knowledge to these projects, how to plan and develop different types of materials, and how to identify opportunities for new types of communication.

King, Janice M. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing>Technical Writing

Marketing Yourself as a Marketing Writer  

Technical communication consultants may find that marketing writing makes an excellent second line of business. Technology companies, marketing services firms, and advertising agencies often use freelancers to write marketing documents. They particularly need good writers who understand technology. This paper discusses the business of freelance marketing writing and how it differs from independent technical writing. Topics include the kinds of projects that marketing writers work on, how development cycles typically differ from those of technical documents, and how to effectively market yourself as a marketing writer.

Massa, Jack A. STC Proceedings (2002). Careers>Collaboration>Marketing>Business Communication

A Marketplace for Attention: Responses to a Synthetic Currency Used to Signal Information Importance in E-Mail  

The productivity of information workers is jeopardized by too much e–mail. A proposed solution to e–mail overload is the creation of an economy that uses a scarce synthetic currency that senders can use to signal the importance of information and receivers can use to prioritize messages. A test of the virtual economy with corporate information workers showed that people in a large company used different amounts of the currency when sending e–mail messages, and that the amount of currency attached to messages produced statistically significant differences in how quickly receivers opened the messages. An analysis of the network of virtual currency trades between workers showed the different roles that participants played in the communication network, and showed that relationships defined by currency exchanges uncovered social networks that are not apparent in analyses that only examine the frequency, as opposed to the value of interactions.

Reeves, Byron, Simon Roy, Brian Gorman and Teresa Morley. First Monday (2008). Articles>Communication>Correspondence>Email

Materials Data on the Internet    

The availability of the Internet has provided unprecedented opportunities for both data compilers and users. With respect to materials data, this paper explores: how do we know what is available? how can data be accessed, interpreted, exchanged? what novel modes of presentation are now available? what organizations are active in this field and what are their programs? what improvements are needed? where do we go from here and how? Examples will be illustrated of specific materials databases available on the Internet from a variety of materials data fields, e.g. fundamental data, engineering design properties, environmental data, and materials safety data. While there is no question that large and widely varied bodies of data are accessible on the Internet, significant improvements are needed promptly. The paper concludes by summarizing these problems and possible means for their alleviation.

Westbrook, J.H. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Scientific Communication>Online>Engineering

A Mathematical Theory of Communication  

The article entitled 'A Mathematical Theory of Communication', published in 1948 by mathematician Claude E. Shannon, was one of the founding works of the field of information theory. Shannon's paper laid out the basic elements of any digital communication.

Shannon, Claude E. Bell System Technical Journal (1948). Articles>Communication>Theory>Minimalism

Mathematical Writing  

Issues of technical writing and the effective presentation of mathematics and computer science. Preparation of theses, papers, books, and 'literate' computer programs.

Knuth, Donald E., Tracy Larrabee and Paul M. Roberts. Stanford University (1987). Articles>Writing>Scientific Communication>Mathematics

Meaning in Organizational Communication    

The authors propose an alternative to the postmodern way of viewing metaphor primarily as an instrumental and functional rhetorical tool designed to influence members of an organization through ideological appeals, a view that depicts rhetoric as merely subjective and manipulable. Our alternative draws from the "aesthetic side of organizational life" and argues that communication exceeds the theoretical reach of the postmodern perspective, which requires a new conceptualization of metaphor as epistemic and capable of signaling meaning that is inseparable from its unique and discrete form.

Hogler, Raymond, Michael A. Gross, Jackie L. Hartman and Ann L. Cunliffe. Management Communication Quarterly (2008). Articles>Rhetoric>Organizational Communication>Tropes

Measure Your Reputation Effectively

A good reputation, particularly in an increasingly competitive world, is a must for all companies and organizations. Reputation is a company asset and should always be taken seriously—lose your reputation and you often lose a lot more besides. A good reputation is essential in crisis situations and can help to reduce the impact of negative events and press.

Grant, Nicholas. Communication World Bulletin (2005). Articles>Business Communication>Marketing