I was able to record an interview with Bob Freer, Infoble VP business development, and Julie Baron, Principal at Communication Works, an Arlington Heights, IL, communications strategist.

Why would a company pay Infoble (http://infoble.com) to create and/or manage the distribution and tracking of podcasts? Because Infoble can overcome many of the barriers facing corporate podcasts, including bandwidth, information security, measurement of ROI, searchable archived content and more.

Earlier this week, I joined two other members of IABC’s Social Responsibility Committee in an interview for the IABC Cafe2Go podcast. Shel Holtz, ABC, led us through a discussion regarding a new website, SR LINK, that is a resource for people interested in communicating about social responsibility.

In this 15-minute interview, Carrie Mamantov, Michaela Hayes and I discuss the goals for the site, the effort that went into launching it and how it is being received to-date.

On Saturday morning, I joined a group of about a dozen IABC volunteers and three IABC staff members for a community service project. The beach cleaning went very well, although I couldn’t believe how many nails, screws and pieces of broken glass I scooped out of the sand around two firepits on the beach. People burn pallets and furniture there, and the nails and screws fall into the surrounding sand. You really don’t notice it when you would look at the beach (which is lovely).

Then we got back to the Marriott in time to freshen up a bit before embarking on a two-hour walking tour of San Francisco. I chose the Union Square / Chinatown tour, and was so impressed by the knowledge and enthusiasm shown by the two SF Chapter leaders, Molly Walker and Janet Bailey. One treat was to walk by the new IABC headquarters. I’m looking forward to sneaking over there for a quick visit sometime during the next couple of days.

The conference officially kicks off tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to capture some of the hightlights from the sessions I attend.

If you didn’t come this year, I’m telling you that you will be sorry!

“She” is Michelle Bernhart, communicator par excellence, and chair of the IABC Social Responsibility Committee. We’ve worked together on the SR Committee for more than a year to launch the SR LINK, a web site focused on SR communications.

In a recent post, Michelle managed to strike me (and probably many others) in a vulnerable spot: our love of bottled water. Although the main point of Michelle’s post is a “greenwashing” attempt by Coke to seem eco-friendly on Earth Day, the post made me confront my own feelings about bottled water.

How can I justify taking swigs of filtered tap water and emptying bottle after bottle that will pile up in landfills? The answer is: Convenience and product performance. Not very altruistic, but if you want to change my behavior, you need to understand my motivations.

Convenience. Water contained in uncovered mugs and cups is not convenient. The water spills. Over the years, I’ve watched many coworkers accidentally tip a cup of water and then have to scramble to salvage printed documents, notebooks and other items from the ensuing spreading puddle. I’ve also experienced the jolt of realizing that, while tossing in my sleep, I’ve knocked over a glass of water from the end table next to my bed.

That doesn’t happen with bottled water. You twist off the top, take a swig, then replace the cap. Nice, tidy, convenient.

Product performance. Most bottled water containers are shaped to fit comfortably within your grasp, and as mentioned above, offer easy twist-off caps to secure the contents between sips. They also are slim-shaped, making them less obtrusive on a table or other surface. That is not the case with the reusable drink containers that I’ve used over time.

I still use the first such container that I received. It was sold in the mid 1990s to employees of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, in one of the first corporate “green” campaigns held at places in which I’ve worked. I’m looking at it now. (Yes, even if you’re reading this at 2 a.m., I’m still looking at it–what a design!)

The cup is 6 inches tall by 4 inches wide, which makes it wider and just slightly shorter than Wendy’s biggie-sized drink cup. I know because I’m looking at that now, as well. The FRB Chicago cup came with a plastic lid that my wife threw out years ago. Even when I had the lid, it didn’t protect against spills—as would a Dasani or other bottled water. That’s because it had a hole in the lid for a straw to pass through. When the cup is tipped, water streams out of that hole.

Other reusable containers that I’ve used and rejected in the past usually have some design or performance flaw that makes them awkward to use. Some were too tall, too easily tipped, or came with a straw that seemed to be at least 3 feet long and that dangled dangerously out of the top.

Although swigging from a bottle of water can seem unsophisticated, making a mess by spilling a non-secured cup of water can be just as unsophisticated.

The best solution to me would be to create a reusable container shaped like bottled water, with an easily removable twist off cap that would secure the drink between your sips. I would invent it, but I’m too busy defending myself from disparaging blog posts from Michelle (j/k).

Another question: Why isn’t anyone up in arms about the millions of plastic cups from fast-food restaurants that take up just as much room in landfills?

The SR LINK website offers resources and online conversations to advance the knowledge and skills of communicators within the field of SR. Sponsored by IABC, this site is meant to “LINK” us as we:

• Learn about SR and the communicator’s role in shaping organizations’ SR strategies, policies, practices, and communications
• Inform community members regarding SR resources we or others have developed or found helpful: tools, best practices, lessons learned, and case studies
• Network with other communicators through online conversations

And perhaps best of all,

• Know we all are making a difference – by advancing the role of communicators in this important field and in bringing best practices to the organizations with which we work.

That final bullet point is perhaps the most important to me. When Mike Zimet asked whether I would be interested in contributing to this project, I didn’t hesitate to sign on. SR isn’t my primary area of expertise; I have an interest in SR because the end result is that people around the world benefit.

I will continue to do anything I can to help SR programs and the people who devote so much time, energy and money to seeing those programs succeed.

Now I’m asking you to help. Visit the SR LINK and see whether you find ways to contribute a comment, an article, a case study, or something else. The website will remain viable and beneficial only if others join. And when I say “join,” the investment is minimal. We don’t charge money, we don’t require you to register, and we certainly don’t limit participation to any group.

Let me know what you think. We are very excited about the launch of the site, and we know that, just as with a newborn baby, the labor at the front end is only the beginning of the work ahead!

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