Philippe Borremanns has created a great registration page for IAOC's 2008 conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Philippe recommended the Eventbrite service to create a functional registration page for the conference, which accepts payments, has an integrated Google map, and several syndication/promotional tools as well.

Philippe also has some good suggestions for how you can help promote the event:

By email - either write an email yourself and insert the event-page URL ( http://iaoc2008.eventbrite.com) or use the "mail a friend" function on the page itself. (Do not spam)

By adding it to del.icio.us, reddit and Facebook to promote it further. You can also find the  story on Digg.

Or use the banners/buttons below on your own website/blog:

Online Event Registration - Powered by www.eventbrite.com

 

Thanks to Philippe for his efforts to help promote our first "Summit Meeting" in Iceland to bring our American and European members closer. When you come to Iceland you'll have an opportunity to meet Philippe as well as see him moderating a panel discussion. I have also suggested that Philippe help us produce a pre- or post-conference event for those who want to get some web 2.0 training. If there is sufficient interest from members (you can respond here), Philippe says he will teach a hands-on RSS workshop.

 

Don Dunnington
IAOC President

REMINDER:
Coming next week: October 22-26, 2007 Ted Demopoulos, author of Blogging for Business tackles the issue: Should CEOs Blog?

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
"CEO Blogs" are blogs written by executives. At their best, they put a human face on huge corporations. At their worst, they have been boring... or phony... to the point of doing more harm than good.

Are CEO blogs worth the trouble? Are they worth the risks? What if a CEO can't write... or hasn't got the time to write? Can they have ghostbloggers or blog less frequently? Will that undermine the whole purpose of blogging? The week of Oct 22, Ted will answer these and other questions on IAOCblog.com.

Using social badges that measure face to face interaction on the microscopic level allow us to predict patterns of collaboration and gain insights into how we work together on levels not possible before. At the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence we have recently experimented with what we call microscopic dynamic social network analysis.

GPS satellite based navigation systems tell us where we are and how to get where we want to go. In our research we used a similar people-based social navigation system develop at the MIT Medial Lab by Sandy Pentland’s team to better understand our position in social networks. Using social badges - body-worn sensors - we measured physical interaction of co-located people to better understand who they are, and therefore allow them  to better navigate in their own social network.

In a research project with 22 study subjects, who wore the badges during work for one month, we were able to predict social characteristics such as extroversion, neuroticism, openness, and agreeability based on microscopic social network analysis. We obtained control measures of these values with a standard psychological test NEO-FFI). High contribution index was positively correlated with extroversion, and negatively correlated with neuroticism. This means that the more people looked their communication partners into the face, the more of an extrovert they were. The less they looked them into the eyes, the higher was their score on the neuroticism test.   Fluctuation in betweenness centrality was positively correlated with openness, and negatively correlated with agreeability. In less scientific language: the more they changed between being in the center of the conversation, and by withdrawing into their offices, the more open to new things they were. The steadier their communication pattern, either as a socialite or a recluse, the higher their agreability score.  We were also able to obtain correlation between social network position and job satisfaction, and extroversion.

Of course this technology has to be used very carefully, to avoid the risk of intruding into the privacy of the individual. In our project we have alleviated this risk by only sharing individual results with each affected individual, and giving a condensed view without individual identification to management. So far study participants have reacted very positively to the insights they gained about their own communication behavior.

Microscopic social network analysis can be used to complement proven psychological tests such as the FFI. It could be used, e.g. as a further input to identify people suitable for certain professions, for example identifying the most agreeable candidates among potential recruits as police officers.  By simply wearing social badges, a user will finally be able to answer question like “Do I have more of an introvert or an extrovert communication style? What personality types do I have to bring into a meeting to make it more productive? How can I change my personal communication behavior to be more efficient? What leadership styles are most effective for a certain situation?” We hope that future research will help organizations become more innovative and productive by exploring their hidden social structures in a virtual mirror – helping members of an organization to better understand their hidden social characteristics to improve the overall organization.

Thanks, Steve, for your gracious introduction earlier. I am extremely eager to start working with the IAOC, to help grow and develop this dynamic organization.

As Steve mentioned, I will begin to create membership profiles on the blog this week. I hope to have all current members profiled by mid October. If you are a member and do not wish to be profiled, please send me an email to let me know.

I am also spearheading a membership drive, so if you have been involved with the IAOC but have not yet become a member, don't be surprised to hear from me soon.

Thanks and I look forward to a busy and exciting next few months.

David Reich

I'd like to take a moment and introduce members to David Reich, a recent Tulane University grad who will be helping us with an IAOC membership drive this fall.

David graduated in May from the AB Freeman School of Business at Tulane University with a bachelor of science degree in management. He has worked in marketing and public relations with Ike Behar -- an upscale men's clothing brand in Miami -- and Michael Werdiger, Inc., a diamond jewelry distributor in New York.

I've asked David to begin a series profiling all the IAOC's members on the blog. So don't be surprised if you are profiled in the coming weeks. Those who wish to be profiled need only join the IAOC and those members who do not wish to be profiled should send email to David Reich.

David, welcome aboard and thanks for helping the IAOC grow its membership leading to our spring conference in Zurich.

STEVE O'KEEFE
IAOC Vice President

Welcome back teachers, professors, students, and professionals to another season of "This Week on IAOCblog.com." I'm Steve O'Keefe, co-producer of this program with the irascible Morty Schiller, who has been shooting down spam comments and trackbacks all summer.

For those who are new, "This Week at IAOCblog" is a weekly blog show where we try to bring in experts each week to lead discussions on topics related to online communications.

Here are some of the people who have asked about being on the show this season, or we solicited them and they've agreed to teach:

Nettie Hartsock - Blog Consultant and Book Publicist, who promised Lois Kelly, the Word-of-Mouth marketing expert with her for a show on how "point-of-view matters more than messaging in conversational marketing." Yum.

Shel Horowitz, ethical marketing expert and copywriter extraordinaire, we hope will lead us in a discussion of efforts to generate and enforce a "Blogger's Code of Ethics."

Dave Taylor -- yes, THE Dave Taylor, tech guru, innovator, iconoclast -- as in Ask Dave Taylor your questions right here, on IAOCblog, about (shhhh!) generating revenue from your blog.

Ron Sansone on the Independence Day Digg Mugging the IAOCblog received and what it shows about the future of tagging, digging, and Ron Paul's chances of riding social networking into the Oval Office.

And Much More! We'll continue bugging Bob Bly to visit us; we might get an update from Dianna Huff, and I'm hoping MIT's Peter Gloor will join us to talk about a new study analyzing workplace communications for signs of "Swarm Creativity."

All in all, a busy season ahead. Interested in leading the blog for a week? Send me your show idea and let's talk. We're going to take the rest of this week on IAOCblog to talk about what's coming this Fall -- and about our European Conference in Zurich next Spring.

STEVE O'KEEFE
Vice President, IAOC
Co-Host, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"

Last week, I contacted Digg.com in an attempt to find out some demographic information about their userbase. They have yet to respond. As I await either a tasteful form letter or hell freezing over, I thought it might be fun to share what I emailed over.   more »

The IAOC is pleased to announce a mutual sponsorship agreement with the good people at Communitelligence. Both the IAOC and Communitelligence have conferences scheduled the same weekend but on different coasts. We encourage you to take your pick of these terrific learning and networking opportunities.



PR Online Convergence 07: Deploying New Media for Business Advantage, is a 3-day event, May 16-18, at the Universal Hilton in Los Angeles.  Communitelligence has generously offered a $300 discount to IAOC members -- but you must use the promotional code (uHw32) and you need to register soon. See my next post for program details.



The IAOC's Annual Conference is a two-day affair, May 17 & 18, 2007, at Rowan University in Glassboro, New Jersey -- about 15 miles from Philadelphia. See the next post for program details.

"You've got to find some way of saying it without saying it." -- Duke Ellington

PR, buzz, hype , spin (doctors), etc, etc, are all words that are definitely out right now.  They've all become associated with the negative side of "milking" media to further one's selfish goals; whether a government, a corporation or an individual.  It is perceived as the masking of reality, especially by the technology-enabled teens and young-adults of today.  PR as it was/is taught in b-schools and we know it today is part of outdated model of communications.  This model is centralized, with a hub from which a single, tightly-controlled message is projected.  Anybody remember 1984, by George Orwell?

What has made the old model old, is precisely technology.  Today, anyone can see right through the spin and the buzz.  Technology today is as widely available and easy to use/enjoy as a Pepsi.  This has levelled the playing field and is starting to make the world a more transparent and honest place.   It makes anyone with £1 in their pocket a potential communicator, editor, investigator and potential endorser on the internet.

In a world of personal disbelief, nothing goes further than the endorsement of others.  However, given the dispbelief you will need a huge number of endorsers to your cause, your brand or yourself...

The question is, taking into account Duke's quote at the beginning, how can I get others to talk for me?  It's about open-sourcing yourself.  Let others define what you (your cause) are and what you could be.  After all, the creativity of millions on-line is probably just a bit greater than your own.

Please join us July 17-21, 2006 for a blog program: PR is Getting Personal, with discussion leaders Joost van de Loo, Clo Willaerts and Dana Gornitzki

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
In today's networked world it is no longer a winning strategy to have a safe job and to trust in the authority of your company. Positions change quickly; your manager can become a freelancer, your supplier can be your client the next month.  Commercial communication is more and more becoming the ongoing dialogue between individuals that the Cluetrain Manifesto predicted. Direct-to-consumer PR is only a small element of this pattern.

As a result, personal reputation is now one of our most precious assets. Successful professionals do everything to be seen as trusted networking hubs. How will this change PR? Will our press releases become more 'fair and balanced'? How do we need to adapt our thinking?

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADERS:
Joost van de Loo is a Marketing Strategist, who joined communication consultancy ZN following a career in journalism and marketing. He has a Master of Arts degree in International Journalism from the City University of London, and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology. In addition to work at ZN he currently sets up Distinct News International, a company that produces multi-media packaged television news features from India and China. He also consults for ETV and writes for UK-based Diplo magazine. Joost has worked for BBC Four television, the Amsterdam Weekly, Dynamic Zone, and KPN Mobile.

Clo Willaerts is marketing manager of Belgacom Skynet and an avid blogger.

Dana Gornitzki is a Canadian transplant currently living in London, England. A journalist and media expert, Dana's experience has covered the world of print, online and broadcast. From working with film festivals and inside a major public broadcaster to working with emerging brands, Dana's work has a focus of social interactions and its impact on the here and now. Currently, she is exploring the mobile space and is interested in that medium's far-reaching effects from social communities to advertising and consumption habits.

If there is a subtitle for last week's "Where Content Meets Technology" at the IBM Forum, Brussels, it could be "Where Audience and Presenters Interact."

The conference opened Thursday, June 15 with two sessions of roundtable presentations. The roundtable format was a new experience for most, and many--both those listening and those presenting--reported a high level of satisfaction. The two things people said they like most is the informality and how easy it is to interact. And the interaction isn't simply two-way between the presenter and a questioners. It often becomes a conversation that involves everyone around the table.

"It's hard not to be engaged when you're part of a small group where everyone is part of the discussion," Suzanne FitzGerald observed in reviewing the first day's events at a post-seminar reception hosted by IBM.

"I really liked that it's not just the presenter who has an opportunity to talk," an educator from Belgium agreed.

We certainly gave the roundtable's ability to engage a real test in starting the first session on the heals of a generous luncheon at the IBM Forum. I didn't see any lunch-laden yawns in my groups, and the sessions went long, with group discussions spilling beyond the time allotted. When time for the reception arrived, with food and drink awaiting just outside the conference room, many stayed with their groups to continue there discussions.

Dr. FitzGerald, who is chair of the PR department at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, was the architect of the roundtables at the IAOC seminars in Valley Forge, PA, and Brussels. In explaining the process to our group, Suzanne freely admitted that she stole the concept from the IPR conference in Miami, where she has presented papers herself.

The meeting's dedication to discussion and conversation flowed into the next morning, with another round of roundtable discussions, followed by a "New Media" panel with Guillaume Du Gardier, Director Online Communications Europe from Edelman PR and Nico Verplancke, Program Manager at the Interdisciplinary Institute for Broad-Band Technology in Belgium. The panel was moderated by IBM PR manager and IAOC founding member Philippe Borremans.

Philippe announced to the group that he was so taken with the success of the roundtable format (his first experience with it) that he moved his panel from the formal classroom setup in the conference room next door, back into the room where our roundtables had been. He removed the tables, put chairs in a semi-circle around the room, and placed his panel inside the circle. The result was a panel fully engaged with the audience, with questions, ideas and comments flying around the room.

I can't possibly do justice in this post to all that was discussed in the panel or the keynote presentation that followed with Neville Hobson (and Shel Holtz joining in from California via Skype). The beauty of this being an online organization is that I don't have to try summarize for you, and this discussion isn't limited to those lucky enough to have attended.

Philippe has committed to bring his panel online for a Blog Week discussion of new media. And all of the paper presenters have been invited to host a blog week here on the IAOC blog. The papers also will be posted on the IAOC website. Neville and Shel have posted their presentation on their Podcast, "For Immediate Release." Download the podcast here or sign up for this and future RSS feeds here. Download the PowerPoint that accompanied their presentation here.

One last piece of good news from the conference: Guillaume has agreed to roundup the same group of European bloggers who gave us a lively week of discussion on the IAOC blog exactly one year ago. So watch for "Blogging Europe – Round 2" coming soon to the IAOC blog. You can find all the posts from last year's discussion in our Europe archive folder.

Don Dunnington

We're in our second day and again have 3 tables with a lot of interaction going on.

Philip Young is discussing the latest finding on blogging in Europe. Definitely a different scene on this side of the Ocean - lots of differences in culture from country to country.

Simon McDermott from Attentio is talking about monitoring buzz online and Marcus Messner covers managing an online crisis at his table.

You can follow all the pictures taken at the conference on Flickr.

In my role of IBM PR Manager I gave our attendees a scoop yesterday and demoed QEDwiki; a wiki application platform out of IBM's emerging technologies division. You can follow the story here.

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let you know that the agenda for our Brussels conference is taking shape.

Below an overview of topics and speakers but... We need every promotion possible to make sure that this event is a success, also in Europe. Some ideas to spread the word:

Blog about it. Several high profile PR/Communications Bloggers have already done so. Here's a selection:

I met Leika Lewis last week at the IAOC seminar in Valley Forge. She works at a PR agency in Washington, DC and is completing master’s degree in PR at American University. Leika came to this year’s seminar as a PR practitioner and student. She said she came to learn, to experience, and to get to know some of the people who are moving us forward in the practice and the theory of online communication.

With your help, she could return to next year’s conference with a paper of her own, and her own experiences to share. All it takes is spending 10 minutes online to answer a few questions about your professional use of online media, especially blogs. Read her explanation below, and follow the link to her survey.

Hopefully the IAOC members can help me: I am currently working on my master's at American University, and am writing my thesis this semester. I am conducting a survey of public relations professionals on the topic of internet technologies in PR. I really want to capture the opinions of people who actually do use this type of technology in their work. I look forward to sharing the results of the study on the IAOC blog (maybe an IAOC conference submission next for year?).
 
Please click on the link below to take this survey. If you can post the link on your own blog, that would be wonderful too. 
 
I am looking for as many responses as possible from around the country, in different industry sectors - not just PR firms - but respondents should devote at least 50% of their work time to public relations activities.
 
All responses will be anonymous, and the survey should take no longer than 10-15 minutes to complete. To access the survey, please click on the link below, or cut and paste the link text into your browser's address window.
 http://www.questionpro.com/akira/TakeSurvey?id=406448
 
If you have any questions about this study, please contact me at Leika_Lewis@american.edu or (202) 248-8939.
 
Thanks all!
 
Leika Lewis
Public Communication Program
School of Communication
American University

In the introduction to his Q&A with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert, Alexander Randall wrote, “There are two epochs in computer history: Before ENIAC and After ENIAC.” Dr. Da Hsuan Feng a technology visionary who is Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of Texas at Dallas, wrote about the “after ENIAC” nearly ten years ago.

While a physics professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Feng teamed with University of Pennsylvania Physics Professor Robert Hollebeek to launch HUBS, a proposed region-wide super-network connecting area hospitals, universities, businesses and schools.

Feng left Philadelphia before HUBS could take root, but he got a lot of people in the region talking and thinking about what networked computers mean to the region and the world. Following is an excerpt of an e-mail message he sent to HUBS list members that noted the 50th anniversary of ENIAC and the breaking of the “teraflop barrier.”

"The world of computing never ceases to amaze all of us. I guess this is why on the one hand we are all fascinated by it, and on the other truly frightened by how this technology is going to affect all of us, economically, intellectually and even culturally!

Well, here is something to consider.... The world just broke the one teraflops barrier. Yes, this means that [with] this machine, in one second, 12,000,000,000,000 pairs of numbers could be added up!

It is interesting to note that just 50 years ago, the first electronic computer called ENIAC was born in our town. ENIAC could add (hang on to your hat) 360 pairs of numbers every second. A very simple calculation will tell us that if ENIAC could run continuously for one millennium (yes, one thousand years) nonstop, it could do what this machine could do in one second! This is what mankind is able to achieve in 50 years. Do we dare to predict what our world is going to be like in the next 50?" - "Now that we are all comfortable with terabytes, what about teraflops?” HUBS memo, e-mail news list, December 18, 1996

Ten years ago, the World Wide Web was still new to most of us. In May of 1996, my company introduced its first website at the largest trade show serving the process industries. The website drew a crowd to our booth, including the publishers of every major trade magazine, none of whom were yet on the web. Now the web is K-Tron’s single most important communication medium, and I think for all companies the web’s importance has far exceeded anyone’s most optimistic projections.

Ten years ago we didn’t have blogs or podcasts. We didn’t have online communication, and we didn’t have an organization to serve online communicators. On March 23-24, you have an opportunity to join us in Philadelphia (Valley Forge) for IAOC’s first ever conference, “Where Content and Technology Meet.”  You still have time to register online and save $100, plus get a year’s membership--all for $199. Can’t make it to Valley Forge in March? We’re going to do it all again (with different topics and presenters) in Brussels June 15-16.

I have been tardy preparing the outline for the Online Crisis Communications panel at the IAOC Conference in Valley Forge on Friday, March 24. Below is the draft description I am currently circulating. I think the real payoff is going to be the Online Crisis Communications Checklist we are preparing as a handout.

Consider this: NOLA.com -- the web site of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper (gotta love that name -- almost as descriptive as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) -- was up and running within 24 hours of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. On the other hand, Tulane University's e-mail server was down for over a month! Do you want to be like NOLA.com or Tulane when some disaster strikes your hometown or place of business? We are going to help you be like NOLA.com. In fact, I'm still negotiating with a true tech hero at NOLA.com to come speak to us in Valley Forge.

One last comment before I share the panel description with you. One reason we need the IAOC is that technology is moving too fast to be scheduled a year in advance. Many major conferences schedule their programming that far ahead, and it takes all the life out of teaching technology. Let's see, one year ago: no Katrina, almost no one heard about Skype, Wikipedia in its infancy, blogging still mostly done by teenage girls, etc. Some conferences are always a year behind. The IAOC won't settle for that (I hope). Sometimes the programming will be assembled at the last minute, but it results in us teaching the hot topics where the learning curve is still steep -- even for the instructors. Can I get an amen? Can I get some conference registrations? Here's the working description of the panel:

Online Crisis Communications
IAOC Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Panel Discussion, Friday, March 24, 2006, 2:00 - 3:15 p.m.

On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina took a bite out of the U.S. Gulf Coast, including the levees protecting New Orleans. In a matter of hours, virtually all electronic communications in the region came to a halt. Some companies, such as NOLA.com, never missed a beat, providing vital communications links between displaced residents and first responders back home. Other firms, such as Tulane University, were without e-mail for weeks or months. This crisis pointed up the weaknesses in many corporate communications plans -- and the genius in others. This panel will give an overview of what to expect in a communications crisis, using Katrina as an example, while providing participants with a solid plan for protecting their communications from disaster and/or restoring communications in the wake of disaster.

The World's first computer was unveiled in Philadelphia on February 14, 1946. To mark the 60th anniversary of the birth of the modern computer, Computer World's Alexander Randall 5th published a "lost interview" yesterday with ENIAC co-inventor J. Presper Eckert.

The interview was recorded in 1989, when Eckert was 70 years old. It's a great read and debunks a lot of myths (such as ENIAC dimming Philadelphia's lights). It also explains how Philadelphia came to be the birthplace of the computer.

Vacuum Tube Valley
ENIAC contained 18,000 vacuum tubes. All were off the shelf, and Philadelphia was the place to be if you needed tubes. "… in that era," Eckert told Randall, "Philadelphia was 'Vacuum Tube Valley.' Radios and Televisions were predominately made in Philadelphia."

Even for Vacuum Tube Valley, 18,000 tubes (and spares) was a big order. In the interview, Eckert said a radio had just five or six tubes, a TV up to 30. He said ENIAC could have been built with just four types of tubes, but to get enough (they bought them in lots of a thousand) the developers settled on 10 different tube types.

From Vacuum Tube Valley to Valley Forge
Some call Philadelphia--home to the Liberty Bell--the birthplace of  liberty. A few remember it as the birthplace of the computer. While it doesn’t come close to comparing to those momentous events, for those whose professional lives have been shaped by online communication, you can help make IAOC’s first conference  at Valley Forge a milestone event for online communicators. Register online and save $100, plus get a year’s membership, all for a bargain $199.

Late Friday, Gary McNeil, Vice President of Marketing at Vocus, informed me they have joined in sponsoring the IAOC conferences, "Where Content and Technology Meet," in Valley Forge and Brussels. 

Together with IBM and Rowan University, Vocus will be helping bring together academics, practitioners and technology leaders in online  communication. The conference will comprise roundtable paper presentations, keynote luncheon speakers and an afternoon panel discussion. Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz, co-hosts of For Immediate Release, will be the keynote speakers. Holtz will be the luncheon speaker in Valley Forge on March 24, while Hobson joins in from Europe via Skype. In Brussels, the roles are reversed with Hobson presenting in the flesh, and Holtz being the virtual presenter.

Thanks to the support from our sponsors, you can register early at a bargain US$199 (169€), which includes conference materials, a reception on Thursday evening, breakfast and lunch on Friday. Late registration fee is $US 299 (253€). The conference fee includes a one-year membership in IAOC.

I had hoped to have IAOC’s design complete before re-emerging on the IAOC blog. But I have too much news to share that can’t wait. First, a quick update on the web and blog designs.

E-Site Marketing has done an admirable job in developing handsome and functional designs that will serve our current needs and allow for future growth. These thumbnails give a hint of what’s in store. We’re making a few minor tweaks, which will be done this month, and then the fun part comes: filling web and blog with useful content. Rather than launch a finished product, the build-out of the new website will be done in public view, where members and interested observers can follow our progress and offer their thoughts or suggest improvements.

In addition to Felix Laboy and Brooke Lew at E-Site Marketing, we’ve had considerable support from Cliff Allen of Coravue who has volunteered to host the new website. Dee Rambeau, managing partner of DVCO Technology will be hosting IAOC’s online newsroom. DVCO is the provider of PRNewswire’s MediaRoom.

Our objective is to provide the tools and the support to give members (and visitors) the ability to learn, discuss, experiment, share, and grow their skills and knowledge as online communicators and teachers. In the spirit of freely sharing knowledge and support on the Internet, we have sought to use volunteers and donated resources so we can make the things we offer free or as low-cost as possible. We don’t want to become another organization accessible mainly to those whose company or institution will pay their membership dues and seminar fees.

One of the things you have told us you want is a forum where online communicators and educators can meet and share their knowledge. Thanks to Rowan University’s Suzanne FitzGerald and Philippe Borremans, Public Relations Manager at IBM Belgium & Luxembourg we are providing you two such opportunities this year, with seminars in the US and Europe. There is still time to submit a paper for either Valley Forge (March 23-24) or Brussels (June 15-16). If you are interested in presenting at Valley Forge, contact us right away. A few more spots have been added for paper presentations but they will go soon. If you are thinking about attending the conference, make your reservation online today and save. Those who reserve early pay just $199 (169€), which includes a year’s membership in IAOC.

With the help of the people I’ve mentioned here, and many more whose stories you will hear about in the future, we’re gaining the support of the online communication community. As your support grows, we are able to add the tools we need to carry out our mission.

Don Dunnington
President, IAOC

The results are in and design comp number 3 was the clear winner. All three versions had their strong supporters, but number 3 had the most first and second place votes. IAOC member Kevin Dugan wrote, "Use comp 3 - less is more...elegant in its simplicity, encourages longer reads." more...   more »

For those who’ve wanted to share your thoughts but were hesitant to commit to an entire week’s discussion, we’ve got good news. Starting today, weekends are now open to any member of our growing community. If you are one of our 35 trusted posters who have already contributed to this blog, there’s no need to contact us first. Just jump right in any weekend. If you’d like to become a weekend blogger, contact me (ddunnington at ktron dot com) or our PR Diva, Gwendolynn Gawlick (gg at roadgirl dot com).