Why Do You Need a Technical Communicator?
Posted on 01. Jul, 2010 by Jeremy in Building, Burning or Building, Documentation & Training, Writing & Marketing
Often I am asked, “What is it Prima provides?”
When answering the question I have to decide, hmm, do I go with the stock answer and list all the services or does the questioner want to truly engage in a conversation regarding the talent technical communicators bring to the work environment.
In answering the above I would like to share an email I recently received from Stephanie Stamm, a Prima employee for over 10 years, who has worked in a variety of assignments.
From Stephanie:
“I’m struck again by how much of my job—and I’d bet this is true of most Primas—is making sure communication is happening between various clients.
For example, I received an email today from one of the sites asking me to post a number of documents to the HR library on the plant’s SharePoint website.
She also asked me to add a “Safety” folder to the HR library and upload a document there. Well, there is a separate Safety library on each plant’s site and a similar, but not identical, document was already uploaded in that library. So I emailed her the following (copying the Safety Manager):
As far as Safety goes, there is a 1.0 Safety library where Safety documents are located. The “General Safety Work Rules” document you sent is similar to, but not exactly the same as a document that is already uploaded, 1.02 General Plant and Safety Rules. Rather than having two documents that might possibly conflict, I’d suggest you work with [your Safety Manager] to make sure all the relevant items are covered in 1.02. I won’t upload the “General Safety Work Rules” until I hear from you or [him] about that one.
I got a reply back from the Safety Manager, saying he agreed and all safety-related documents should be under the Safety library.
I guess another way to put all this is that a lot of times our job involves NOT doing exactly what we are asked to do, but figuring out what the client really needs instead.”
Technical communications is more than tools and the ability to write. A true technical communicator is going to understand the mission of the organization and the intricacies of their communications tools (both internal and external).
Embedding an iframe Google Calendar in a WordPress Page
Posted on 28. Jan, 2010 by Jeremy in Building, Graphic Design & Other Cool Stuff
This is kind of a workaround, but it’s the best solution I’ve found so far for getting a Google Calendar onto a WordPress page – including the tasty iframe!
Check out the Google Calendar working on a WordPress page here to make sure it’s what you’re looking for.
You’re going to need three things:
- A Google Calendar
- The Random / Rotating Ads V2 plugin
- The PHP Execution plugin
Get the plugins, install and activate.
Go to your Google Calendar’s settings and select the Calendar Details tab:
Then click the Calendar Address HTML button:
And click the link for the configuration tool:
Adjust your settings and copy the HTML -yes all of it, including the iframe stuff!
Go to your WordPress Tools and click Datafeedr Random Ads:
Click Add New Group at the top of the page. Name the group “calendar” (or whatever you want, without the quote marks). Paste the Google Calendar HTML into the Ad #1 field.
You can leave the Before and After fields blank:
Click Save Ad Group. Copy the line of PHP code that shows up next to your ad group:
Go to the WordPress page on which you’d like your Google Calendar. In the HTML editor, paste the line of PHP code. I had to wrap mine in “code” tags, so you may want to do the same:
Publish/Update the page and take a look at your fancy new Google Calendar page!
Check out the Google Calendar working on a WordPress page here.
If You Aren’t Building Your Bridges, Who Is?
Posted on 11. Jan, 2010 by Jeremy in Burning
Pie is yummy.
I was at a small deli/bakery when the owner overheard me mention our blog. It went something like this:
Me: Blog blog blog.
Owner: You have a blog?
Me: *sniff* That’s right.
Owner: Can you post a positive review of my restaurant? We have a website, but if you Google our name the first link that comes up is a bad review. We must change this!
I wasn’t sure what to say. First of all, me putting a positive review up might not budge the bad one, regardless of my widely respected taste in delis and bakeries.
Second, if she has a website, why not address the review there?
- Invite the poster back for another piece of pie.
- Add enough happy customer reviews to tip the balance.
- And sure, ask other folks to post positive reviews on their sites, as long as they’re genuine.
Whatever you do, don’t let someone else build the bridge between you and your customers. They can do whatever they want with that bridge; burn it, park Hummers sideways on it, even put trolls underneath it.
What have you done so far this year to build your bridges?
Do You Need a Social Media Guru?
Posted on 08. Dec, 2009 by Jeremy in Burning or Building
The short and easy answer is, “It depends.”
The long and complicated answer is, “Is there such a thing as a social media guru? And if so, how can I be sure he or she knows how to help me or my company reach the people I need to?”
This is a very interesting article from BusinessWeek about the hype surrounding social networks, wikis, and blogs, and it could help you figure out your social media strategy.
Congratulations to two Prima clients!
Posted on 12. Nov, 2009 by Jeremy in Burning or Building
Perrigo has released another YouTube video to attract talent to fill 60 positions. We salute Perrigo for their marketing smarts, and for bringing new jobs to our area!
Stryker Corporation is spending a hefty sum of $100 million to acquire two new companies - which could bring more jobs to our area. Thanks for making investments that could bring more stability to Michigan’s future, Stryker!