Crunch Time in Kansas: Communicators Excel ...

Want the untold story of the trip to Kansas City? Here we go:

• Communicators in KC are top class and creative!
• Jessica is pregnant.
• Betsy got a new car—a mini-Cooper
• Morgana (oh gosh, was her name Morgana, I can't remember!) has GOT to be related to Joan Cusack--it's an amazing similarity. Morgana just finished her master’s, traveled from Des Moines to be in KC, and is heading back home to spend the rest of her weekend mapping out the Des Moines chapter's Quill awards (now that's IABC loyalty!)
• Jill is a redhead (extra points for red hair) who lives out in the country, is the middle child among three sisters and has the most definitive Billy Joel collection of CDs I've ever seen.
• Then there was our dinner host, who had enough food for a third-world country, a husband who served us well, and followed his wife's directions (OK buddy, we need to talk).

The trip to Kansas, Overland Park to be exact, was a real honor. I was there with several Dallas/IABC veterans--Scott Cytron, Carol Barreyre and Robin McCasland--to help judge entries for IABC/KC’s Bronze Quill awards, coming up May 9. I even got a ride from the airport for an KC/IABC member, Denise, who was just delightful. We were hosted by wonderful folks from Morningstar Communications—Clara, Jessica, Samantha and more. As I sat in the Morningstar breakroom, chugging java and inhaling a steady stream of chocolate M&Ms, I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of pride and appreciation. Damn, I love America. Here we are judging communications entries in another state, stuffing our faces with food and meeting some of the best people who ever walked the planet. Ordinary, every-day people—the type of people who make America great.

Take-Aways From This Weekend:

• Missouri folks are my kind of folks—kind, funny, courteous. And genuine. Kinda like Texas.
• Judging entries is an Education—a “crash course” on really great communications strategy and tactics, creative genius and excellence. Wow!
• Too many communicators don’t know how to communicate strategically, especially in writing. We saw many entries for media relations, marketing communications, crisis, creative brochures, ads and annual reports. Many were strategic. And some were just “pretty” published pieces with no consideration of goals and objectives, Audiences or measurable outcomes. A small minority were horrid in plan and sample. Very small.
• AMC, the theater chain, is based in Kansas City. I can't even remember the # of AMC-related entries there were--it seemed like *yawn* hundreds. While it was a bit repetitive, most of the entries were pretty darn good.
  
• Interesting socio-political banter surfaced in the conference room:
• Abortion. I heard from one communicator that if Roe v Wade is overturned, there will be more babies flushed down the toilets by 14-year-olds (a recent news item). The discussion was how horrible it was to flush a baby away, yet abortion rights were advocated. So, why is flushing a full-term baby an atrocity, but grinding a baby boy or girl within a woman's womb a "right"? I don’t get it.
  
• National Health Care. Hillary’s health care plan requires mandatory ‘this and that.’ Obama’s is voluntary. Several favored Obama's plan. I listened but didn't hear a McCain plan. How about privatization and free markets? I agree our health care system needs repair, but nationalizing and socializing won't cut costs or improve health outcomes. The federal government can’t even manage the cost of a screwdriver and we we want to give them health care? Hellooooo …
• Nobody's "normal." And nobody has a "normal" family. Yep, we got to talking about Moms, Dad, siblings ... Everybody has a crazy family. Period.
• Creativity is a Language I admire, appreciate and advocate. I saw so much talent and creative energy in the people I met this weekend, and in the hundreds of entries I helped judge.
• One PR colleague from Kansas City who hosted this weekend made a passing remark about being born in 1985. That was the year I was a news editor at my college newspaper. It was the year I remember writing a news feature an emerging disease called AIDS. Man, I feel old.
• Man, I am old.

Thanks KC/IABC. Thanks Des Moines team! Thanks fellow DIABCrs. You guys REALLY rock!