Through my work with Simply Communicate, I'm now writing a regular monthly review of blogs and podcasts for internal communicators, which I will also feature here on Talking IC.
The first of my reviews features a site from across the pond...
The IABC Café is one of a number of blogs produced by the International Association of Business Communicators.
Themed around a coffee bar and described as ‘the gathering place for professional communicators’, it features posts from a variety of senior communicators, most of them in the US.
The ‘Chief Barista’ at the café is Glenda Holmes, VP of communications and marketing for the Texas Apartment Association and current IABC Chair. Glenda is supported by five very able ‘Guest Baristas’, including UK-based Barbara Gibson.
This ‘all hands’ approach works well and gives the blog a more balanced, community feel - wholly appropriate for a professional body.
As the name suggests, the blog features an eclectic mix of news and views. Recent topics have included poor leadership behaviour, social media, reports from various IABC events and the likely role of communicators in 2020. As you’d expect from such esteemed contributors, there’s some fascinating, insightful and though-provoking content in there.
Criticisms? Whilst I love the simplicity of the site - it’s clean and uncluttered – finding entries about broad themes and specific topics can be tricky. At the time of writing this review there were just three ‘catch all’ categories containing all 462 posts. If you can’t find what you’re looking for under ‘General’, ‘IABC’ or ‘IABC International Conference 2005’ (which, let’s be honest, is unlikely), you’ll need to use the search facility. That, as regular Googlers know, can be a hit or miss affair. But if you persevere, you’ll find some tasty morsels.
As with so many blogs of this type, the site also suffers from a distinct lack of posts. There are a handful of posts each month, but I’d argue that’s simply too few to keep the conversation going. It’s a case of the coffee tasting good, but the café lacking atmosphere. As a result I suspect that many people visit, but few of them return on a regular basis.
So what does make this blog special? Alongside the blog, the IABC produces a great monthly podcast called Café2Go. It features many of the hallmarks of a good podcast - it’s short (less than 30 minutes), topical (the December cast discusses the big communication related news stories of 2006), punchy and opinionated. Though it originates from the US, it’s still very relevant to European communicators and covers themes most of us will find of interest.
The interview-based podcast includes a variety of voices. In addition to Glenda Holmes, the December podcast features IABC President Julie Freeman, Gold Quill Chair Jennifer Wah and social media supremo Shel Holtz. It’s a great way to keep up-to-speed on what’s happening in the US and what the IABC is up to globally.
Overall, the IABC Café is a useful destination for internal communicators. It would certainly benefit from some refurbishment, and I would love to see more international blends on offer, but it’s definitely worth stopping by every now and again for a quick expresso...
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