Chairperson's Corner
Berg's Blitherings
Banquet Survey
2006 Industry Awards Banquet
Bylaw Review
2005 Communication Awards
Scholarship Update
TWNA @ HDAW
Call For Board Agenda Items
Growing TWNA
The
Lighter Side
From
The Chairperson
Thanks to all of you who took the time to participate in the
survey on the TWNA Awards Banquet. Because of your feedback
we have the direction we need to improve the 2006 banquet. See
the item below for a brief recap of the survey.
TWNA is your organization
and the board needs input from you in order to steer TWNA in
the proper direction.
As a result of that
need, each board member has been asked to contact his or her
constituents to find out what projects you think TWNA should
be undertaking in both the short and long term. When your board
representative calls, I hope you will find time to talk to him
or her and share your ideas for making TWNA an even better organization
than it is today.
BERG'S BLITHERINGS
Mom Would Cringe at Some of These E-Mails
Because we are professional
communicators, we know that part of the art of stringing words
together is getting everything right. Of course that includes
the story facts as well as names, spelling, and punctuation.
That's true of the articles we do for publication, and maybe
for memos or presentations inside and outside the building.
But what about our informal communications, especially e-mail?
I've noticed that
some of the best writers in TWNA ignore many of the common rules
when banging out e-mails. Evidently it's too much trouble, or
they're too busy, to spell words correctly, to capitalize names
and proper nouns, to use correct grammar. It seems that the
object is to be to get the note out in as few seconds as possible.
Their messages get
the job done - I know what they're saying - but reading them
is like looking at some word snatches scrawled on a scrap of
paper by a second grader. I have to admit that I'm a little
miffed when I get messages like that, and I almost take offense
because it's obvious that the writer didn't think enough of
me to assemble the note neatly.
Yeah, I know I shouldn't
take offense because these people don't mean it that way. Sometimes
a message's heading shows other addressees, so other folks got
the same thing and most of them probably don't care because
it's only an e-mail. And there are bigger problems in the world
than sloppy e-mails. Why, then, should it bother me?
Because I had a mom
who would cringe at such careless correspondence. Years ago
she told me how she worked as a bookkeeper and secretary in
the 1920s, in an age when a lot of business was conducted by
letter. Telephones had caught on, but long-distance calls were
expensive and anyway, things had to be in writing to be official.
Writing style may have been stilted and stuffy, but correctness
of spelling, punctuation, etc., was vital. That included the
heading, greeting, closing and all other elements in the letter.
Using her old Royal portable, she showed me how to properly
type out letters and envelopes, and to throw them away and start
over if I made a mistake.
To send anything
that wasn't as perfect as it could be was an insult to the recipient,
she explained. In those days, a badly typed letter reflected
badly on the sender and could cause a customer or client to
take his money elsewhere. She added that a long-gone boss had
emphasized the need for perfection by trashing multi-page letters
she had worked on for hours because he had found typos, and
making her do them over until she got them just right.
She was proud that
she had gotten to be a good typist with an eye for detail. As
she got older, she'd excuse herself if she made some typos in
notes to family and friends. But she'd still X out mistakes
neatly or use a pen to carefully line them out. An old lady
deserves some leeway, she figured.
(She wrote well,
too, and would have made a good journalist. But she lamented
that her old-world-minded father wouldn't let her go beyond
10th grade, and college? - that was simply a waste of time and
money for a girl who would eventually get married and have kids.
Instead, she married a journalist, and two of their sons became
journalists, which pleased her.)
Her lessons haunt
me and I am still particular about what I send out by physical
or virtual means. Maybe other moms weren't that way, or were,
and their offspring continue to rebel. And now I'm seeing the
results in sloppy e-mails. So what? you might say. Our moms
quit dressing us years ago and we can do what we want.
Well, how about the
idea of taking pride in doing something right? Or that as journalists
we're supposed to be guardians of the language, and we injure
it when we slobber on our keyboards? Is it really too much to
go back over what we've batted out and clean it up a bit before
hitting the Send key?
Now, let me help
you compose your reply to this message by typing out several
ways of reacting and letting you choose the one that's most
correct:
1. tom why dont
you go sit on it whoo gav you a badge
2. Tom your mom
would be proud of you but aren't their bigger thngs for you
to wrry about?
3. Tom, why don't
you go write some articles for your magazines and get them
in on time for a change?
If you chose number
1, you are guilty of what I'm blithering about. If you'd send
number 2, you still need to work at your messages. If it's number
3, you'd be both correct and wise. So I will resume tending
to my own business. Thank you for your time.
-Tom Berg
Banquet Survey Summary
Forty-six of TWNA's 140 members participated in the recent online
survey about the annual awards banquet. Fifty-seven percent
indicated that they generally were supportive of the banquet
format and 85% said that TWNA should continue to organize an
awards banquet. Most respondents indicated they would like to
see the banquet start earlier and last approximately two hours.
Almost half were in favor of continuing to offer a full meal.
Survey respondents
indicated that member or sponsor companies should be allowed
to present non-commercial awards at the banquet, but that the
overtime of those presentations should be reduced.
Members also indicated
that they would like to see an area set aside to display the
winning entries for the Communication Awards.
The 2006 Awards Banquet
The TWNA board approved the format for the 2006 TWNA Industry
Awards Banquet. Jami Jones of Land Line magazine, David Kolman
of DK Communications, Tom Kelley of The Deadline Factory, Derek
Smith of Peterbilt Motors and Don Alles of Eaton Truck Components
have agreed to serve on the banquet steering committee. Thanks
to all of them. The event will be managed by The Deadline Factory.
The banquet is slated
to last two hours and to begin between 6 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
A full meal will be served and ticket prices are set at $60.00.
The Communications
Awards will be moved to the first segment after dinner. A synopsis
and video of each entry will be added to the program and an
area will be set aside to display the winning entries.
Look for more news
on the banquet in the future.
Now It Is Up To You
At the September conference call board meeting, the board of
directors of TWNA approved new bylaws for the organization.
The bylaws basically reflect the restructuring already approved
by the membership in 2003.
There are some additions
not directly dictated by that restructuring; those are mainly
to meet structuring requirements for an organization such as
ours, plus specific requirements of the directors to make sure
they do their jobs.
You should have been
contacted by your board representative and given a link to the
bylaws so that you can review them and vote on them. We need
your vote no later than Monday, October 24.
You may view the
bylaws by following these links:
www.twna.org/TWNA-NEW-BYLAWS.pdf
www.twna.org/TWNA-OLD-BYLAWS.pdf
They also can be
reached by going to www.twna.org and navigating to the "About"
page on the web site.
We want your feedback
on the bylaws, so please take some time to review them and contact
your board representative with your vote or contact Denise Rondini,
TWNA chairperson at denise@konacommunications.com.
Call For Entries - 2005 Communication
Awards
In the next few weeks you will be receiving information on the
2005 TWNA Communications Awards.
Some changes have
been made and along with the entry form you will be receiving
a form titled, "Writer and Entry Biography Data."
You will need to provide a head shot of each entrant for use
with TWNA publicity and the awards presentation. You also will
need to supply a short - 50 to 75 words - bio and work history
of the entrant along with a profile of the entry itself. Again
this should be 50 to 75 words in length. A digital photo of
the entry also will be needed.
Complete details
will be spelled out in the entry form.
Scholarship Follow Up
Included with your 2005 TWNA Membership Directory was a letter
from the scholarship committee asking whether your organization
would be willing to employ a TWNA sponsored intern. As the scholarship
gets closer to becoming a reality, we need to make sure we have
people willing to employ the interns we select.
If you have not already
done so, please contact Denise Rondini, TWNA chairperson at
800-767-5662 or e-mail her at denise@konacommunications.com
to let her know of your interest.
TWNA & HDAW
The TWNA board of directors is trying to determine what if any
presence it should have at the upcoming Heavy Duty Aftermarket
Week. The event is scheduled for January 23 to 27 in Las Vegas.
Please let your board
representative know if you are planning to attend HDAW and if
you would be willing to spend some time working on behalf of
TWNA while you are there. This involvement could take the form
of passing out literature about TWNA or perhaps staffing a table
in the press room or booth on the exhibit floor.
October Board Meeting
The board will hold its next conference call board meeting on
Wednesday, October 25. If there are any issues you want the
board to address, please contact your board representative or
TWNA chairperson Denise Rondini. Items already on the agenda
are updating the glossary of trucking terms and setting up a
committee to respond to negative news items of the trucking
industry in the general media. If you are interested in working
on either of these projects, please contact your board rep or
TWNA chairperson Denise Rondini.
Growing TWNA
The board of directors of TWNA had some preliminary discussions
on doing outreach to Latin American and European trucking journalists.
We are looking for ideas on how to best o connect with these
journalists and incorporate them as TWNA members. We will be
forming a committee to work on developing a strategy for this
project. If you are interested in being on that committee, or
if you have any ideas on the subject, contact Denise Rondini.
The
Lighter Side . . . Of Winter Weather
One winter morning a couple was listening to the radio over
breakfast. They hear the announcer say, "We are going to
have 8 to 10 inches of snow today. You must park your car on
the even-numbered side of the street, so the snowplows can get
through."
Norman's wife goes
out and moves her car.
A week later while
they are eating breakfast again, the radio announcer says, "We
are expecting 10 to 12 inches of snow today. You must park your
car on the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snowplows
can get through."
Norman's wife goes
out and moves her car again.
The next week they
are again having breakfast, when the radio announcer says "We
are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today. You must park..."
Then the electric
power goes out.
Norman's wife is
very upset, and with a worried look on her face she says, "Honey,
I don't know what to do. Which side of the street do I need
to park on so the snowplows can get through?"
With the love and
understanding in his voice, Norman says, "Why don't you
just leave it in the garage this time?"
