AP Style: Standard or Passe?

I’ve written in and taught AP style for more than two decades. But the more I read, the more I wonder if this standard is becoming less of a standard. The companies I’ve worked for in public relations have all used AP style as the baseline for press-related documents. Some of them have created their own style books, which invariably start with “Our standard style is Associated Press style, with the following exceptions.” The company then states its own exceptions from “the standard.”

Publications almost always used AP style (if they aren’t the New York Times, that is). But I’m reading more and more material – including publications – that don’t follow AP style on some of the fundamental style issues, such as state abbreviations, commas in a series, and the use of Internet, e-mail and Web site.

I also hear reports from former students that style issues matter little to many clients and organizations today. Maybe the leadership has grown up in the electronic communications era enough to feel more flexible now on some of those style questions, particularly around electronic communication (Internet, e-mail and Web site, for example).

I’d like your perspective. What do you see from your clients and your organizations? Are they sticklers for style? If so, is it AP style? If not AP style, what is it? If the standards are loose, how do you maintain consistency? Put your thoughts in a comment. I’m sure others will be interested in knowing what’s happening with other companies.

Shadow Effect: When You Look Bad Because of Others

Sometimes, through no fault of your own, your organization’s reputation can suffer. For example, what if you worked for a reputable, conservative mortgage lender or bank when news reports of mortgage companies failing start hitting the market? How should a toy manufacturer respond when reports of lead-poisoning in toys made in China come to light?

I got an e-mail today from a former student, Ashley McKell, who is completing an internship with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She sent me the link to an on-line media packet aimed to reduce confusion between the Church of Jesus Christ and the FLDS Church, which has been in the national news spotlight because of the allegations of child abuse acted upon by Texas law enforcement agencies. Check out the packaged here.

This is a great example of how to respond in these situations when the dark shadow of another’s actions taint your organization or confuse people about your role or mission. Here are some key principles to keep in mind:

1) Research before reacting: Note the research that was done to confirm that the confusion was real and not imagined. This gives the claim of misunderstanding credibility instead of appearing reactionary.

2) Focus on your positives: Instead of pointing out all the things that the FLDS Church is or isn’t, the Church of Jesus Christ packet focuses on their own beliefs: Elder Quentin Cook is quoted as saying, “We’d much rather be talking about who we are than who we aren’t.” Perfect direction.

3) Use credible opinion leaders: The Church of Jesus Christ includes in the packet videos of church members from Texas to show what they are a like. The effect is to clearly demonstrate the difference between the FLDS representatives seen in news reports. But again, the way it is done emphasizes what members or the Church of Jesus Christ are like instead of pointing toward FLDS members for contrast.

4) Go directly to those who make mistakes: The packet is a great tool to drop in the lap (or the in box) of anyone in the media who reinforces the confusion identified in the survey. The packet is clear, direct and high quality, so it’s an easy task to put it in front of people.

If you ever face the situation of the “shadow effect,” this is a great pattern to follow.

Sports and Grammar Don’t Mix

It’s tough to be a sports fan. Not only do I get hooked into the NBA playoff coverage and then my Utah Jazz lose in the second round, but it grates on my nerves to listen to the poor grammar on the broadcasts. I can excuse most of the players’ errors – partially because there are so many of them and partially because I know they don’t get paid to string together a coherent sentence. But the announcers DO get paid to speak intelligently, and their sloppy grammar makes listening to them like listening to fingers scraping a chalkboard (those who grew up in the white board era, please forgive the dated analogy).

Here are just a few examples from the NBA playoff broadcasts. I’ve left off team names and attributions to avoid pointing the finger at anyone in particular. The problem is so rampant that I don’t want to start naming names.

“They just need to play more aggressive.” Argh! The adverb is aggressively! You’re okay if you use aggressive as an adjective in a sentence like “They need to play more aggressive defense.” But please, know when the word is modifying a noun, when it’s modifying a verb, and the difference!

(This from an interview with a player) “Is there other things you’re doing to help?” This is third grade noun/verb agreement! “Things” denotes a plural, so the question has to be “ARE there other things you’re doing to help?” No wonder the players don’t speak well; their interviewers who should know better don’t!

“He’s the one that can make a difference in this series.” NO. He’s the one WHO can make a difference. If you’re talking about a person, use who or whom; if you’re talking about a thing use “that.”

“The franchise is in the playoffs for their first time in a decade.” Argh! The franchise is an “it” not a “they.”

This is why I listen to basketball with the sound off sometimes. That grating squeak of the fingernails is just too much sometimes!

Oh, and in case you missed it, there’s a funny article in the May 21, 2008, issue of the Chicago Tribune about two Dartmouth College grads who are going around the country fixing poor grammar and typos on store signs. Fun read; click on the link to check it out.

Changing Times: Past, Present, Future

I’ve wondered as I’ve walked across college campuses what it would be like to travel through time and see what the future will bring. If I had stepped into a time machine while I was in college in the 1980s and dropped in on a campus today, I would have had a hard time figuring out why everyone had at least one ear plug in and why some of them seemed to be talking to themselves. I also would have been shocked at the portable computers so many students have, since computers were just moving out of the room-size models to desktop versions – and hardly anyone had one for home use yet.

Another place to look at technology transitions is in trade shows. When I started working in high tech PR 13 years ago, the big trade show was Comdex in Las Vegas. It was all things technology and filled the Las Vegas Convention Center. Since then, Comdex has disappeared. Now the technology trade show landscape is dotted with specialty shows that focus on niche markets. For example, the Blogging for Business Conference set for June 6 in Salt Lake City. (Full disclosure: My friends at Politis Communications pointed me toward this conference and asked for a mention; it still makes my point very well.) This event is targeted to marketers who want to use blogs effectively to promote their business. Who would have thought of that as recently as five years ago? Emerging technologies like blogs carry two challenges. First, to learn the technology, what it does, and how it does it. Second, to translate the capabilities into positive bottom line impact for a business. If you’re interested in this conference, click on the graphic for more info or to register.

I think you’ll see more of these new-media conferences emerging. Then 10 years from now, they’ll be commonplace. The real question is: what’s next?

Airline Bungles Its Blunder: How American Made A Problem Worse

I’m sitting in the Chicago airport reflecting on another airline blunder I got caught in. If you’ve watched the news at all, you know that American Airlines cancelled thousands of flights last week in order to catch up on some routine maintenance of some planes. I was scheduled to fly on American from Salt Lake City to Chicago on Thursday with my son’s high school band and orchestra tour. The group was scheduled on three different flights, two on American and one on Northwestern. Wednesday morning, American announced that the early flight we were on was cancelled. The tour group scrambled to reschedule people on three other flights getting to Chicago within a day of the original schedule. Then a few hours later, American cancelled the other flight for our group, sending us into scramble mode again. The end result for our group was that instead of all of us arriving in Chicago within a few hours of each other on Thursday afternoon, students were spread across seven flights arriving from Thursday afternoon to late Friday night. I got to escort a group of 13 teenagers from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles and on a red-eye to Chicago arriving at 5 a.m. on Friday. I’m still a little bleary eyed.

American Airlines exhibited one of the common business problems I see today – and one that public relations professionals have to manage in crisis mode. The problem was not WHAT they did. The maintenance of airplanes is important; I support it wholeheartedly. The problem was in HOW they did it. By announcing flight cancellations within hours of scheduled flight times, American left thousands of people across the country stranded in airports and scrambling for flights on other carriers. If they had announced the flight cancellations a day or two in advance of the scheduled flights, people would have had more alternatives for travel plans.

Sometimes business leaders make tough decisions with an attitude of “well, this has to be done” mentality. While that is often true about WHAT has to be done, HOW it is done is equally – and sometimes more – important to key publics. The approach American took shows a distinct lack of interest in their travelers’ needs. It’s just a business decision that “has to be done.” If more consideration was given to the impact on travelers, maybe the implementation would have been different. What might have happened (yes, this is pure speculation) if American Airlines had given customers three or four days notice that flights would have been cancelled. Sure, people would have been put out. Sure people would have complained. Sure, people would have been scrambling to change travel. But they wouldn’t have been doing it while stuck in an airport.

The capper for me was when I was checking in on my re-arranged United Airlines flight to Chicago by way of Los Angeles. United personnel needed a code from American to finalize my reservation. But because American cancelled all its flights out of Salt Lake City, all American employees went home, so there was no one there to help with my ticket. Again, it doesn’t seem they were thinking of the customer.

Lest this become just a diatribe against American Airlines, make this application in your public relations roles. When tough business decisions have to be made, be the one who raises the question, “Which of our key publics is impacted, and how can we minimize that impact?” By doing so, you can make the tough decisions with reduced impact on your organization’s reputation.

As a post script, I just got back to Salt Lake City – but my luggage didn’t. American Airlines left my luggage in Chicago. When we asked about it, they immediately were able to tell me the bag was still in Chicago, but they weren’t able to tell me why it didn’t get on the plane. Hmm. I’m seeing an uncomfortable trend in the treatment of customers.

PR’s Role In a “PR Problem”

I’ve long held the view that when someone says a company has “a PR problem,” it isn’t so much a problem with the company’s public relations function as it is a problem with decisions the company’s leadership has made. When these leadership problems surface, it becomes a “public relations problem” because too often the public relations team is called in to repair damaged reputations.

Adam Denison, a former BYU student now working on GM’s new media initiatives, wrote a great post about this recently. I recommend it to anyone in public relations/corporate communications. Check out Adam’s blog.

The fact that public relations professionals get dumped into the role of “damage control” is one of the biggest reasons we should focus on proactively counseling management on ethics and business practices. We can provide a view of the overall reputation of the company that may get overlooked. How many crises would be averted (or at least minimized) if business and civic leaders received respected counsel from respected communications professionals before the “public relations problem” emerged. We owe it to our employers and clients to be (or become) the respected counsel that helps prevent “public relations problems” in the first place.

Nurture Key Relationships

Early in the rehearsals for the play I’m in (I know you’re probably getting sick of stories from the play, but it’s almost over – and this has a point, too), I went out of my way to befriend two cast members, Ariana and Faith. Why these two? Ariana, 7, and Faith, 10, play Tootie and Agnes, respectively, the two youngest daughters of my character in the play. While waiting off stage between scenes, I took time to talk to and play with these two girls because I wanted to make sure that when I was on stage with those them, they were comfortable with me. I wanted the audience to see that we weren’t strangers pretending to be family – even though that’s what acting is. The good news is that it worked. During the early performances I had a couple of people mention that the kids seemed really comfortable with me.

In a communications career the same principle applies. Much of the work we do is only as effective as the relationships we have. You don’t want to be creating those relationships in the moment you need them any more than I wanted to establish a relationship with my young actors just before opening night. You don’t want to call an editor to introduce yourself when you’re announcing a new product or trying to manage a crisis. You want that relationship in place before those crucial moments arise.

One of the most important relationships you want to develop when working in a corporation is the executive assistant to the CEO or president. Why? These people are internal gatekeepers. You will need access to the organization’s leader, so you want to know the person who allows access to the leader. Then when you really need to talk to the CEO, you have a trusting relationship with the person who can slip you in between appointments or interrupt a meeting.

Identify in advance which relationships are important or may be important to you, then cultivate those relationships before you need them. One caution: don’t develop these relationships solely with the attitude of “I may need to use this person sometime.” Develop the relationships because it’s good to know people. I would have enjoyed getting to know my little friends from the play even if I didn’t need an on-stage relationship with them and have had some fun with other children who are in the play, too.

Oh, and as a final reminder, you only have three more chances to see me in “Meet Me In St. Louis” in Draper (www.draperartscouncil.org).

Opening Night

This is another personal plug for the play I’m in, but it also has a point – so don’t bail on this post too quickly. We held our last dress rehearsal for “Meet Me In St. Louis” at Juan Diego High School last night. As is typical in community theatre (probably even professional theatre) there were plenty of rough spots that we hope get fixed before tonight’s opening performance. Microphones didn’t get turned on when needed, the monitors that feed the sound back to the actors on stage blared out feedback occasionally, a few actors missed music cues and were about a measure off with the orchestra (that’s related to the monitor problem, which made it so the actors couldn’t hear the cue), and a piece of the set was dropped on top of the trolley in the final scene. We were fortunate no one was hurt with that last one! Still, I think it’s going to be a show worth seeing (go to the Draper Arts Council Web site for ticket and show information).

I thought about the dress rehearsal in light of corporate events that we in public relations often get involved in. A lot of students I teach ask me about getting specifically into event planning. They don’t like my response, which usually includes a turned up nose and arched eyebrow. I liken it to my daughter, who three years ago wanted to try out for the play “Brigadoon” because we saw the production at Hale Center Theatre in Orem. She saw the final production and thought it looked fun. What she didn’t see was the amount of work that went into preparing the final product in the months preceding performances.

Looking at the end product of some events – trade show participation, product launches, event sponsorship, even employee events – can be enticing. What a great sensation it would be to put something together that so many people see and brings success to an organization! I admit, it is fun to see that end result. But the reality check here is that there is a TON of work with myriad details that go into even fairly simple events. For every fun success story of events I’ve been involved with I have three nightmarish stories of problems with events.

My intent with this post is not to discourage people from event planning and management, but to set the reality of the amount of work that’s involved. Planning and managing events is not all fun and games and glamour. In fact, the role of public relations is usually such that other people get the glamour while you do all the work. For me, that’s one of the things I like about PR. I like creating opportunities for others to succeed, whether it’s seeing a business leader look good in a media interview, watching crowds gather at a tradeshow booth, or seeing people congratulate the CEO on a great speech. My name may not be out there, but I know the role I played in the success.

Finally, just as theatrical performances always include dress rehearsals, when or if you do manage a corporate event, take the time and effort to run through it before you “go live.” Video tape a mock media interview with your president before she gets on camera with the news station, then review the tape for ways to improve. Have your CEO rehearse his speech on the stage where he will present it with all the microphones and technical equipment he’ll need. Walk through the employee awards ceremony so everyone knows who shakes the recipients’ hands first. Make all the mistakes you want during the rehearsal so you’re not making them in front of the key public. In opposition to theatrical performances, you usually only get one shot to get your corporate event right. There’s no “we’ll get that right tomorrow night” for most corporate events. Set yourself up for success by taking the extra time to practice the event in advance.

If you love details, enjoy managing emergencies, and don’t mind other people getting most of the credit, look for those jobs in event management. If you don’t, then learn to deal with those things at least on a limited basis because somewhere in your PR career you’ll likely manage some kind of event! Just remember that the devil is in the details, and while practice doesn’t always make perfect, it sure gets you closer.

Airline Oddities

I don’t think I’ll ever understand the airline industry. So many airline policies and decisions are contrary to standard economic philosophy. For example, businesses with goods that will expire soon typically drop the prices on those goods in order to sell them and make some kind of profit – or at least reduce losses – on those products. But airlines are the opposite. The closer you get to a flight – which means the closer you get to the expiration of the available product – the MORE an airline charges for that seat. It’s as if empty seats aren’t a problem, which it should be for an airline. If the plane is going to fly from point A to point B anyway, why wouldn’t you want every seat filled? Even if some of the seats were discounted, at least they would be filled and would give the airline more money to defray costs of that flight.

The other oddity is overselling flights. Of course, I’m writing this while sitting in the Boise Airport because I was bumped from a flight to Salt Lake City that was overbooked. (Quick sidebar: The Boise Airport has the BEST wireless Internet connection of any airport I’ve ever been in. And it’s completely free!) Back to overbooking – other businesses would get hammered for bait-and-switch tactics if they sold a customer a product, customers came to pick up the product, and then were told, “Oh, we took your money for that specific item, but we don’t have that anymore. We’ll give you a different one.” But that seems okay for the airline industry.

Another odd part of overbooking flights is that an airline sells more seats than are available, then they have to put someone on another flight AND give that person credit for future flights. Sometimes they have to pay for the person’s dinner and a hotel stay. In essence, the airline is adding to its expenses for those extra seats. Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see how that’s good business practice. Then again, maybe that’s why the airlines are struggling to remain profitable!

Finally, since overbooking ensures the airline will have to bump someone to another flight, the airline seems to be saying it’s okay to dissatisfy customers. The credit for a future flight a traveler gets by offering to go on a later flight doesn’t make up for having to waste time in an airport, where the seats are not comfortable, the food is excessively overpriced, and blaring announcements about security are broadcast every five minutes. Overbooking seems an overt way of saying, “We really don’t care if we disappoint our customers.”

If someone can straighten me out on these airline issues, please do. None of the arguments for these practices have made sense to me in the past.

Pitch for the Arts (and a promotional plug)

You know I have an interest in and a passion for the arts. I played in symphony orchestras (including the Mormon Youth Symphony and the BYU Philharmonic Orchestra) in my younger years (dates not disclosed). I’ve also acted in several plays over the years. Some of my fondest memories from high school came from participation in musical and theater groups. I’ve seen my two boys – one a high school graduate, the other a high school senior – find the same kind of passion and pleasure in music. The elder (who is now on a mission in Portugal) participated in choirs. The younger is a percussionist who plans to pursue a career in music education and performance. My freshman-aged daughter plays piano and participates in the middle school percussion ensemble.

As we went through our daughter’s registration for her sophomore year in high school, it’s bothersome to me that the state educational system is almost forcing the arts out of high school education. The board has added so many requirements that in order for my daughter to fit in a music class of any kind, she has to take seminary before school (which she is doing this year for the same reason). There is only room for one elective class in her sophomore year. I understand the need and desire to ensure children have adequate foundation in scholastic subjects, but I also believe a large part of education – especially in high school – is experiencing a variety of activities that help youth see where their interests and passions lie. This variety also teaches youth a principle that is being lost in today’s frenetic world: a balanced life is a happy life.

Which brings me to the promotional plug. I’m in the last stages of rehearsal for Draper Community Theatre’s production of “Meet Me In St. Louis” right now. For those of you who are not familiar with this musical, it focuses on a family in St. Louis around 1904 when the city was preparing for the World’s Fair. The popular holiday tune “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” comes from this show (a bit of trivia you can use to impress friends and family). I’m playing the father of the family, which is more a supporting role than a lead. If you’d like a chance to make fun of me, you’re welcome to come. Bring friends; support the arts! Performance dates are March 28, 29, 31, and April 2-4 at Juan Diego High School in Draper. You can get more info at this Web site: http://www.draperartscouncil.org/.

Seriously, I do believe in the arts in the community. I love to support these productions (more as an audience member than a cast member usually). If you want a relaxing, wholesome evening of entertainment, come see the show. Making fun of me is just a side benefit!  :-)