A new white paper titled “The Evolution of IT Support Services up to ‘Board-Level’” by IT outsourcing provider Fifosys explains how small and midsize businesses are exposing themselves to unnecessary risk on a daily basis through either inadequate IT Outsourcing contracts or complacency of its own IT management. The white paper provides a series of recommendations to smaller businesses who believe their IT is underperforming and want to do something about it.

            According to Fifosys, IT is now so embedded in the processes of growing businesses that simply keeping IT systems up and running can no longer be viewed as an effective strategy. But to get the right service, it is essential organizations carry out two types of assessment:

1) A solutions assessment – to consider the current state of IT systems and determine whether you have the right solution; and

2) A service assessment – to ascertain what levels of service are required.

            As a company grows, its IT requirements build in size and complexity. During this evolution, the technology required has multiplied, but the management of the technology will differ widely, depending on organizational culture and attitude towards IT outsourcing.

            Mitesh Patel, Managing Director of IT at Fifosys, said: “While businesses routinely assess the single points of failure in core operations, from manufacturing to distribution, they are patently failing to apply the same robust operations practices to IT. In part, the problem is one of culture: individuals within the IT team are neither encouraged nor, to be frank, have the skills to map business needs with IT risks and availability. Organizations of every size need a team with the ability to deliver real risk assessment and strategic IT decision-making. This white paper is aimed at helping board level management understand the importance of bridging the gap between business and IT, so as to align business decisions.”

            The white paper highlights the four key requirements for understanding IT value most commonly overlooked by SMBs, as well as the need to distinguish between the drive for service and the need for a solution in accordance with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) framework. It also explains how a company can identify the tipping point where the need for new and innovative technology to support business becomes so great that it will trigger a change in strategy, from outsourcing elements of the support function to employing an in-house IT Director at greater expense.

            Patel continued: “SMBs are unknowingly risking the business through a lack of transparency and understanding of technology. The majority of SMBs will admit that robust IT systems are central to sustained business success. Yet, how many ask the right questions of their third-party suppliers to enable a true understanding of the level of risk exposure? It is only by taking a step back, assessing and understanding the current levels of risk associated with existing IT deployments, that an organization can truly determine its ongoing IT requirements and then put in place the technology, skills and resources to reduce operational risk and transform IT from a cost center to business enabler.”

            The white paper, “The Evolution of IT Support Services up to ‘Board-Level’,” is available to download free of charge from www.fifosys.com/boardlevelitsupport.php.

www.fifosys.com

Happy December, Dear Readers! The holiday season is officially here, and in addition to fun times with family and friends, it also means we’ll be faced with temptation in many forms. There are so many treats to enjoy in such a short month. And some of those treats come in alcoholic form. It’s easy to forget that drinks have calories, too, so here are some sensible ideas for enjoying seasonal beverages.

Let’s get started with a cocktail recipe for a Candy Cane Martini that we modified from a recipe that appeared in an edition of last year’s The Hill newspaper. First, you rim a martini glass with crushed/pulverized candy canes. To rim a glass, all you need to do is wet it by running a water- or alcohol-soaked paper towel around the rim. Then quickly dip the wet glass into the candy canes. Next, add a few ice cubes to a cocktail shaker and add 1 ½ ounces vanilla vodka, ½ ounce peppermint schnapps and strain into the glass. Top it off with 1 ounce of cold tonic water (or club soda, but that will make the drink even sweeter) and STIR. Learn from our mistakes and DO NOT shake the carbonated beverage! This recipe has about approximately 155 calories. Most martinis will provide 150 – 210 calories per drink, depending on mixers. Tonic water is low in calories, but to cut down further, use diet tonic instead.

For our readers who are expecting or just don’t drink alcohol, we’ve got a mocktail recipe just for you. Pour one ounce cranberry juice into a martini glass, add two ounces seltzer water and top off with a splash of sweetened lime juice. Add more juice or seltzer to taste, or mix it up and add flavored seltzer instead of unflavored. As with cocktails, mocktails such as this one can be lightened by substituting reduced calorie versions of the ingredients, particularly if juice is involved (the majority of calories in this recipe will come from the cranberry juice). With juice, keep in mind the differences between 100% juice and juice “drinks” which may only be 10 – 25% juice.

For more information about indulging in alcohol without overdoing it, check out our post from earlier this year.

What are your favorite holiday cocktails and mocktails?

How Stacey Got the Shot: On a transparent table overlaid with white paper, one light under the glass, one light above, with diffusion material in between the glass and top light, and foam core reflectors on either side of the glass. Camera set to f/4.5, focal length 50mm, ISO 100, 1/15 second exposure on a tripod.

Our first Grants Watch White Paper features what to keep in mind when submitting grant proposals for ARRA funding…

As cold weather approaches, stimulus funding opportunities are heating up once again. The first wave of Recovery Act grants saw many challenges for businesses and organizations looking to capitalize on the infusion of federal spending. To date, GSP has submitted funding requests for projects under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) totaling more than $500 million on behalf of our clients.

From broadband to energy to labor grant opportunities, GSP has experienced several issues relative to submitting economic stimulus funding proposals. Some were expected; others were unique. We have narrowed our knowledge to 12 key items to remember when submitting ARRA funding applications.

1. Start Planning Now
Funding requests for Recovery Act opportunities require response in very short timelines. Deadlines for proposals have generally allowed for three to fi ve weeks of development from the time the announcement is made to the application due date. This means that many companies and organizations with project ideas are falling short to those who have projects in action. The time allotted for grant writing does not allow for strategic development. Your project or program should establish goals, a mission and a vision before the announcement is made so that proposal production can be maximized to align your project with the funding announcement.

2. Get Your Shovels Ready
It is well known that projects supported by Recovery Act dollars require projects to be shovel-ready. This means that once funding is made available, your project is expected to commence immediately. In similar spirit of Concept 1 discussed above, existing projects ready to “break ground” are given a signifi cant advantage. Through established project plans and timelines, proof needs to be established in the proposal that, if funded, the proposed project has the capacity to begin right away.

We’ve got 10 more tips for you! Download our free white paper “12 Tips for Submitting Grant Proposals: The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act” at our website.

Title: Good Brands Report 2009
Company: PSFK
Introduction:

“The Good Brands Report of 2009 is a celebration of leadership during this challenging year. Those who made it onto the list are businesses from which we should learn. They are not just the well-known brands of the day, but also companies that lead by example in innovation, environmental consciousness, and social policy.

We started our search for the Good Brands of 2009 by looking at the companies we were writing about on PSFK.com over the course of this year. Then we asked a panel of cross-industry global experts from the Purple List to tell us which of 40 common brands on PSFK were considered ‘Good’.”

Type: Study / Report
Download: good-brands-report-2009-091009142607-phpapp02

Too often, presenters toss away their notes before they’ve reached their largest and best audiences.  Whenever you deliver a presentation, consider the immediate audience–the 10 or 50 or 300 people in the room with you–as only a beginning.  You can reach hundreds and thousands more if you apply public relations techniques to your speech content and roll it out beyond the meeting hall to the innumerable niches occupied by others whom you may wish to influence. 

Here are 10 ways you can extend your presentation–and your reputation–to people in other corners of your region, country and the globe:

1. Use your presentation as the basis for multiple posts on your blog.  Half a dozen good points can make half a dozen good posts.
2. Post your presentation content on your Web site as a resource.
3. Transform your notes/script into a bylined article and submit it to a trade magazine for publication.
4. Write a news release, not on the fact that you will be presenting, but rather on what you said.  Your comments and perspective may encourage a reporter to contact you for a news report.
5. Reach out to local radio and TV stations to pitch a local-news interview based on the subject matter of your presentation.
6. Use your presentation content to create a marketing brochure or newsletter that provides subject matter of interest to your mailing list.
7. Develop a short white paper incorporating your presentation content and offer it through your Web site.   Publicize it through a news release and through social media, like Facebook and Twitter.
8. Record your live presentation and post the video on YouTube.  Publicize the video by posting links to it on social media sites and your Web site.
9. Develop a podcast of your presentation that visitors to your Web site can download.
10. Submit your presentation as a topic for a session at an industry conference in which you can re-present the material in updated fashion.

Title: Stop stalking. Start talking. Hoe ervaren Belgische journalisten de samenwerking met pr-verantwoordelijken en -bedrijven? Hoe efficiënt zijn de meest gangbare methodes om te communiceren met de pers?
Company: Quadrant Communications
Introduction:

“Hoe ervaren Belgische journalisten de aanpak van pr-verantwoordelijken? Worden ze wel op de juiste manieren benaderd? Wat vinden ze handig, wat stoort hen, wat kan beter? En hoe populair zijn social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook en dergelijke) eigenlijk bij journalisten? Uit onze dagelijkse contacten met de pers kunnen we weliswaar een en ander afleiden, maar het kon volgens ons geen kwaad om het eens rechtuit te vragen.”

Type: Study / Whitepaper
Download: Whitepaper_journalistenenqute-NL
More info: Quadrant Communications

By Andrea McCallum

A NEW agreement between Westminster and Holyrood could see air rifles being banned from Scotland’s streets.

Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy secured the deal, which sees the authority over the weapons being transferred to the Scottish Government.

The decision comes four years after Scots tot Andrew Morton was gunned down just yards from his Glasgow home.

His parents Sharon and Andy – who have been campaigning for the weapon ban since Andrew died – have welcomed the deal.

Sharon said: “This is the best Christmas present we ever could have wished for.

“This might not be the end, but I feel we have turned a corner and it’s certainly the beginning of the end.

“I feel we are fulfilling the promise to Andrew that we made at his graveside, and that is for a total ban on airguns in Scotland.”

Andy, 35, said: “All the political parties have now accepted the principle that this is an issue which should be decided at Holyrood.

“And at Holyrood, all the parties have supported us. If this ban goes through, we will be rid of the 500,000 airguns on Scotland’s streets.

“As far as I am concerned, you can call it Andrew’s Law.”

Details of the deal are in the UK Government’s White Paper responding to the Calman Commission that is to be published soon.

But the Scotland Office refused to confirm the deal.

A spokesman said: “The UK Government will set out its response to Calman very shortly. Air weapons will be dealt with as part of that.”

Mark Bonnini – who murdered two-year-old Andrew when he stopped in the street to look at a fire engine – was jailed for at least 13 years.

And since the tragedy, UK legislation of airguns has been tightened so that the minimum age to own an airgun is now 18, mail orders have been banned and all retailers must be registered.

The new legislation is unlikely to become law before the General Election due to be held next year.

See more of our pictures at our Flickr site and videos at our dedicated channel,  Deadline TV.

To Catch You Up:
So itʼs been a while and a friend of mine Craig Fisher said yʼknow what you need to write what youʼre doing on your blog. Yea, itʼs been a while and he was dissapointed. Yes, Student Media asked if I could come in one day and be an adviser for a day. I had a blast and would like to thank them again for letting me come and talk. At the end of this I have some stuff for them and anyone else that would like to read and learn.
So the last month and a half Iʼve been trying to write this white paper as I stated in my last blog post but well itʼs been put on the back burner. Two major reasons,

1) David Parry or better known as academicdave; his class requires lots of attention.For that attention though the rewards are great and you learn a lot as well.

2) Iʼm overwhelmed by different cameras out on the market right now. I plan to make
this a focus of mine for next semester and hope to have some definitive reviews and
some samples posted somewhere.

My Current Involvements:

I must also speak about a few other things as well, Spark Club and Sustainable Preservation Initiative.

Spark Club is a great organization and I hope to see it grow. Spark Clubʼs mission is to get the non-profits and those interested in a space together to collaborate and create something good, something amazing. Their next event is December 3rd and I hope to see you there. I know I met some amazing people there like the guys from soap hope and the womenʼs foundation.

Sustainable Preservation Initiative [SPI] is something Iʼm really behind; Iʼve seen them in action and I really agree with what they do. Itʼs the best way to serve the old proverb of,

” Give a Man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and feed him for life”
SPI saves and preserves the world herritage as well as saves the community around it.More information can be found on their site.” – Unknown

Larry Coben is a great guy and has a lot to say that makes sense about changing the world in small ways that create big impacts.

Finally as I promised the stuff for my Student Media people:

The NY Times Article about Hybrid Books

The Qik and Ustream websites. (examples of good new media videos from Ben Smithson and Colleen Lin. I liked their videos because theyʼre not done with what youwould think to do with a broadcasting background but more of what you can do with new media to tell a story. Benʼs video is one of the first stories he created; and itʼs a great story this is what is capable of someone who has never messed with video before.

My lab mates Kyle Kondas and Mona Kasra both put together a video on how YouTube and online video is changing how we take our news and how we live. Their curated video and blog Click:Play is a great read and study. It was screened at VideoFest in Dallas November 9th at the Angelika Theater.

To the editor of the web section who specifically asked me how do you make it educational that people will watch? I answer you this, the TED lectures. We all watch them all the way through and the visuals are just the people are that interesting. These people are well refined but you do learn a lot from them.

My favorite daily readings that explore new media:

New Tee Vee (great reports analytics and whatʼs going on)

Mashable (general news and breaking and changing things)

FlowTV (yes I know itʼs from UT but at some point we are all in the same boat together)

Finally Adademia:

David Parryʼs blog there are so many things to be learned from the things he postsabout new media

Michael Wesch a professor at Kansas State who is studying the anthropology of the web and has great insights in the use of new media and what the web does and where it is heading. There are more answers there than I could provide.

Later Days…

This is not a definitive list as I told everyone there that day; merely a place to start.Please leave comments and start a discussion. I must get going as the coffee is finally getting to me and I need to get work done and the night is creeping in.

Title: Do Fortune 100 Companies Need a “Twitter-vention”?
Company: Weber Shandwick
Introduction:

“Weber shandwick conducted research to evaluate how effectively Fortune 100 companies used Twitter to its full potential as an engagement platform . The results provide key learnings for companies who want to make sure their party is one that’s buzzing .”

Type: Study
Download: Twittervention_Study
Via: Mashable

Earlier this week my company, Weber Shandwick, put out a fantastic white paper on the Fortune 100’s use of Twitter.

The findings are quite compelling:

• 73 percent of Fortune 100 companies registered a total of 540 Twitter accounts.
• 76 percent of those accounts did not post tweets very often
• 53 percent of the accounts did not display personality, or a consistent tone/voice
• 52 percent were not actively engaged
• 50 percent of the Fortune 100 accounts had fewer than 500 followers
• 15 percent were inactive; of those, 11 percent were merely placeholder accounts
• 4 percent were abandoned after being used for a specific event.

Weber Shandwick prescribes five basic, but essential steps for Fortune 100 companies to start to create true engagement and market interaction on Twitter:

1. Listen to conversations.
2. Participate in conversations.
3. Update frequently with valuable information.
4. Reply to people who talk about issues that are important to your company.
5. Retweet relevant conversations.

Full paper here:

Download  it here.

Members of the RESULTS network received letters this week through their MPs confirming that DFID is working to push the World Bank to change its position on the provision of free healthcare in developing countries.

Back in early September, RESULTS activists met with their local MPs to talk about the importance of removing user fees for basic health services in developing countries. MPs were asked to raise the issue with Secretary of State for International Development Douglas Alexander ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York and to call on the government to put pressure on the World Bank to make a clear statement in opposition of user fees.Later that month we reported that whilst Gordon Brown and other world leaders pledged their support for removing user fees, the World Bank maintained its position and failed to seize the opportunity to help developing countries remove harmful user fees.

It is clear that further pressure is needed on the World Bank to alter its stance on user fees. We are therefore pleased to learn that DFID will continue to press international partners such as the World Bank on the case for free health care. In his letter to RESULTS activists, DFID Minister Gareth Thomas stated that:

The World Bank’s “technical and financial capacity means that it is uniquely placed to support the strengthening of health systems. But, as we clearly stated in our recent White Paper: ‘Eliminating World Poverty: Building Our Common Future’, the Bank needs to step up its performance, including supporting free healthcare. We will continue to press it to do so.”

It is significant to learn that DFID is interpreting the language about reforming the international institutions in the recent White Paper as a commitment to push for changes in policy as well as governance structures. This is a really promising sign that DFID is willing to push the World Bank to change what it actually does as well as the way that it is managed. RESULTS stands ready to work with DFID to make this a reality.

In addition to spending £100 million over the next three years to help Nepal, Malawi, Ghana, Liberia, Burundi and Sierra Leone remove user fees and expand access to health services, Gareth Thomas also said that DFID is working to secure substantial investments from other donors and the private sector to finance better health services in the developing world. One example is the ‘Massive Good’ initiative which aims to generate an additional $3.2 billion by 2015 by giving travellers the opportunity to make voluntary contributions when they purchase airline tickets.

Where will tomorrow’s leaders come from? For companies on every continent, the answer to that simple question remains elusive and starkly sobering. As many organisations grapple with a mandate to recruit, develop and retain tomorrow’s leaders, there is much to learn about today’s corporate leadership profile.

The ascension of an alarmingly small number of exceptionally qualified women to the role of Chief Executive Officer or Board Director for some of the world’s largest companies may suggest, to some, that the balance of men and women in top management is nearing parity. Yet true parity for the sole sake of equity isn’t a widely accepted objective. Rather, the future diversification of management speaks to the potential to optimise organisational performance as consumer segments diversify.

In the most progressive of corporate environments, women may have some advantage over their male colleagues, as some companies have resorted to offering a recruitment fee premium for candidate short-lists that include women and/or cultural minorities. Yet in other parts of the world, and in Europe in particular, the advancement of women business leaders is contradictory, and the subject of ongoing debate.

Women’s careers are far more likely to include periods of full engagement, potential disengagement, and, with increasing frequency, re-engagement with full-time employment than men’s. Yet the vast majority of companies have failed to recognize the potentially non-sequential nature of women’s career focus. To meet the needs of an increasingly demographic challenge, companies must open up even more opportunities to fill their talent pipelines with more qualified candidates, among them a
larger number of women business leaders.

“Corporations are in business to make money and grow. It is increasingly obvious that qualified women are becoming available and are making a difference in the bottom line, and corporations that have a drive to succeed are responding accordingly.”

The practice experiences and personal insights of Transearch International consultants from around the world point to the need for significant organisational change to identify and reverse the institutional dynamics that derail, de-motivate and/or devalue the career advancement of women. They also suggest that women leaders – much like the companies that employ them – will need to change the way they do business, and that men, too, must play a role in helping them do just that.

This article is a summary of the White Paper entitled ‘Scratching The Surface: Women In The Boardroom – Why Companies Must Help Women Leaders Shatter The Glass Ceiling’. Get your copy of the full White Paper via the Transearch International website at http://www.transearch.com/press_room/display2.asp?nID=218. It may alter your view of the executive search market and competitive forces at work and how to evolve with them.

Like many other regions impacted by the global economic crisis, investors and business executives across Latin America have been forced to recalculate expectations of return on investment and corporate earnings.

Brazil, the largest of the Latin American economies, finds that the sheer size of its markets exposes them uniquely to the global economic currents, yet paradoxically, Brazil also finds its business growth engines somewhat insulated from the same challenges. While the full extent to which Brazil will feel the ripple effect of the global recession remains to be seen, there remains some confidence that its proactive economic steps will put the country on the road to economic growth perhaps sooner than some of its neighbors in the region.

The road to economic recovery and sustainable prosperity in Mexico will require it to decide how best to stimulate its national economy in the face of the global recession, to address the devaluation of the peso, and to balance its dependency on manufacturing exports to the United States.

The political, social and labor dynamics in the oil-rich economy of Venezuela have created an atmosphere in which enterprise management has to devote a great deal of energy and resources to adapt to the crises and potential crises created every day by political decisions and behaviors.

Like many of its neighbors in Latin American, Peru has experienced a number of crises in the last two decades. But unlike some of them, it has also witnessed steady GDP growth above 5% per year since 2002, having posted a 9% gain in 2008.

The economic ripple effects of the global financial crisis have reached Chile, where they are driving increased unemployment, reducing the corporation valuation and moving business leaders to suspend significant business decisions until the extent of its impact is fully understood. The focus, clearly, is on the bottom line.

One of the primary drivers of future economic development and expansion is the quality and depth of Latin America’s labor force, including its senior management leaders, on whose shoulders rest both the responsibility and accountability for driving business performance in large regional and multinational companies.

As the perspectives of TRANSEARCH International’s Latin American executive search consultants reveals, the pace of future business growth will continue to hinge on the region’s ability to develop, attract and leverage the right business leaders who can drive talent equity and sustainable business advantage.

This article is a summary of the White Paper entitled ‘Latin America: Driving Toward Sustainable Business Advantage’. Get your copy of the full White Paper via the Transearch International website at http://www.transearch.com/press_room/display2.asp?nID=223. It may alter your view of the market and competitive forces at work and how to evolve with them.

Creating a successful white paper isn’t just about the content. The content is in fact worthless if:

• The paper doesn’t support the brand,
• It’s too hard to read,
• Your credibility is lacking because the paper looks amateurish, and
• Your charts or graphics are boring.

I dare say most white papers are not tackling new theories or topics. And in a highly competitive situation, who are your prospects going to believe? The guy in the rumpled suit or the guy whose shirt is pressed, shoes polished and handshake firm? Likewise, a rumpled and amateurish white paper will not engender trust.

Here are five design guidelines for creating highly functioning and trustworthy white papers:

1. Keep it readable: Readability is created by a combination of design tactics that take your specific content and audience into account.
   
   Choice of typeface is top on the list. While all computers have Arial available, a smarter choice for readability of long passages would be a face with a larger x-height. For example, for readability of lengthy white papers on screen, Verdana or Georgia are two excellent options. For readability on paper, Myriad Pro or Garamond may work well. Serif typefaces are usually more readable than sans serif, but you also have to weight that difference with your brand’s needs. Of course, there are thousands of typefaces available and your corporate brand style guide may also govern the ones you use.
   
   Bigger is not always better when it comes to sizing type. That said, there are many designers who adhere to the school of tiny type. Use a designer who understands the nuances of type size as it relates to your content, writing style, typeface selection and most importantly, the needs or your target demographic. Striking the right balance in size means ensuring readers can easily read your paper without squinting and that your type isn’t so large that they can’t see the forest for the trees.
   
   Also consider line length and line spacing. Line lengths that are too short cause too much hyphenation and make reading a choppy venture. Lines that are too long make it difficult for the mind’s eye to track from the end of one line to the beginning of the next. To optimize reading speed, designers have for years been using the 66-72 characters per line rule. Generally speaking, this rule continues to work very well but again, is dependent on your white paper’s specific needs. Papers with lots of very long words may require a slightly longer line length. Just try reading a James Joyce novel with a short line length—painfully slow.
   
   Line spacing also affects the ability of the mind’s eye to read quickly. Spacing that is too much or too little will slow the reader down, getting your message embedded later rather than sooner. Line spacing is also interdependent on typeface selection and average word length.
   
   Keeping your white paper readable at maximum warp speed is a fine balance between many factors.
   
   
2. Look professional: Good design will pre-sell your white paper and ultimately, you.
   
   Not realizing this and acting on it will place you in the league of second bests or the do-not-consider group. It’s really not any different than showing up at an interview in a freshly pressed suit, shoes polished, hair in place, teeth clean and nails trimmed.
   
   Likewise, if your white paper looks like it was created in Microsoft Word, it will compete poorly against a competitor’s paper that is branded, polished, neat and professional. There are many design nuances that Microsoft Word or Publisher lack but a good designer trained in traditional typographic techniques can provide.
   
   
3. Be interesting: Being lively and interesting will get you more attention than the party bore.
   
   Don’t think that the term ‘white paper’ means you can’t use color or interesting graphics. White paper doesn’t refer to the overall design of your paper, and you’re doing your brand and your customer or prospect a disservice by not making your paper visually interesting.
   
   Now I don’t mean embellish your paper with fancy dingbats and doodads that don’t add value. Good design is not about decoration. Make sure all your graphics are working hard for the content and/or the brand image. And do something to stand out. Don’t be boring.
   
   
4. Design for the distribution method: Good white papers will be shared digitally among peers.
   
   If your white paper is being distributed via email, be careful to adhere to the email marketing laws in the country of distribution, don’t use spam triggers, do apply permission-based marketing techniques and make it easy to share by including forward links.
   
   If your paper is a downloadable PDF, recipients are more likely to print it before reading. So make sure you design it to be most readable printed from an inkjet printer.
   
   If you are professionally printing your paper for snail-mail distribution, you must also consider the paper stock used and ideally, make sure it is ballpoint or pencil ready with healthy margins for jotting notes.
   
   
5. Pay attention to details: If God and the devil are both in the details, then this is where you’d better spend some time.
   
   We all know of HR people who throw away any resumes with typos, punctuation and grammar errors. It’s one way to narrow the field to the real professionals. Ditto with thought leadership and design. If you don’t look buttoned up in terms of details, how will prospects trust you with the details of their business?

In terms of white paper design details, look out for these common mistakes:

• Ditch those double spaces between sentences. It affects reading speed and isn’t necessary since we no longer use typewriters.
• Be consistent with periods and commas. If you’re using a serial comma, stick with it.
• Don’t break proper nouns at the end of a line, especially if the line length is long.
• Watch for too many hyphenations, which also slow reading and just look like you don’t care.
• Keep your bullets closer to their text than the line below them.
• Use a grid to align your content perfectly so nothing looks out of place.
• Consider balance of elements on a page. Look for triangulation of weight.
• Use styles to keep content consistently formatted.
• Use color appropriately and don’t overuse. This isn’t a flea market.
• Consider how your document will be printed and if on an office inkjet, make sure key content doesn’t exceed printer margins.
• Align table columns appropriately for the content. Align decimals on the decimal, for instance

Skimpy Investments Deliver Skimpy Results.

Ultimately, good white paper design is about taking care of your prospects, making it easy for them to consider you. Yes, it’s a larger investment, but if that’s what gets you moved to the head of the pack, then that’s what you must do.

Remember, looking the part and being easy to understand shortens the distance to being considered a thought leader.

By Julia Moran Martz

A really charming, whimsical and creative piece  of paper cut animation by Michel Ocelot

I want to thank Cisse Spragins, the incoming president of Pi Chi Omega, the pest management industry’s fraternity, for giving me the opportunity to serve as the chairman on its awards committee. I look forward to helping this amazing group forward to fulfill its mission of service to the pest management community by recognizing those who are doing excellent work on behalf of their communities and the industry.

The work a href=”http://bit.ly/1rPAAb”>Pi Chi Omegadoes, whether it’s preserving the industry’s history, providing scholarships for students or offering guidelines on how to give back to your communities, is invaluable and much appreciated. Please take a moment to look at the Web site and consider joining yourselves. The work they do is impressive, and we would absolutely have you join us in our mission.

For an idea of what the group does, check out former president Gerry Wegner’s White Paper guidelines on how to provide gratis pest management services.

I’ll work on getting them to figure out how to put the nomination form online so that you can do it from your computer, and I’ll add that to my mission.

Dons Original was a house hold name to Rochester residence since the 1950’s. Although the name has faded and is not as strong as it was back in the 50’s and 60’s. Don’s Original currently has three different locations in the Rochester area. Penfield had been home to the third Dons Original since 2002. In 2007 a full service sports bar with table service is also added to a Penfield Location. This past summer they also added an outdoor patio.Although  these new addition have brought in many new customers, as well as maintained the old. The Pub does not have a PR representative or a PR plan. The Pub needs to get its name out there and make the community aware of its new additions.

The Pub needs to use Kelleher’s four-step program. First by taking the first step, which is research. The Pub needs to do research on who already knows about them and who they need to reach out to more, as well as what crowd they would like to reach and what crowd will bring them the most money.

The step is planning and strategy go hand in hand, The Pub needs to take that research and make a PR plan as well as a strategy. This plan should included getting their name out there as well as trying to turn The Pub into a brand. By doing the research the Pub should have learned where to invest their time and money, such as where to run ads and what community events they shall attended. The Pub needs exposure, there for in there plan they will be attending public events and using these events to publicize themselves. The last aspect of the planning step is that changing of the website and the addition of a web presence. The Pub needs to rework there website so it is easier to use as well as more pleasing to eye. They need to use there website to there advantage by adding new pictures and possibly a virtual tour. Along with revamping the web page, I believe the pub should join the facebook and twitter networks. That way they can share specials of the day, or even promote events that they will be holding, or attending.

The action step will be the last and final step where the Pub will put all their ideas, plans and strategy together to create publicity and get the publics attention. The main idea behind the Pubs PR Plan is to get their name out there and to get new customers. But once they achieve that The Plan should not just end. After there original goal of getting new customers is achieved, they also need to be able to keep those customers. This is where the making of a brand needs to come into play. The restaurant needs to be all its promised in its Ad’s and promotions. It needs to have a fun family atmosphere, with great food and great people. This means the staff needs to be well trained and understand the goals, as well as fallow through on producing that climate.