I’ll be in Portland on April 12 talking at an IABC Oregon luncheon.
I plan to use the occasion to explore whether communicators are changing fast enough.
The velocity of change in today’s world can be unnerving. Cars that drive themselves. Bursts of 140-character missives that impact the Presidential election. A startup trying to invent the perfect no-meat hamburger, thanks to $182M in venture capital (not a typo). As Dennis Hopper once said: “It’s nutty out there.”
As communicators, we feel the change. Employees expect, no make that demand, transparency in communications. The internet has commoditized news announcements. Facebook has more to say about the reach of a news story than The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press … combined. Our bosses and clients want us to control the message in a world where everyone has access to a digital pulpit and the means to amplify.
But are we as communicators changing with a sense of a urgency, with a sense of purpose, to navigate the upheaval in today’s world?
That’s the question that Lou Hoffman will explore in this lunch talk.
To jump to the punch line, my answer is no.
This same question indirectly surfaced during a talk in San Francisco earlier this month. My colleague on stage, Shel Holtz, disagreed with me, pointing to areas ranging from chat bots to artificial intelligence as the proof points for change. From my vantage point, while technology holds promise for the communications industry, this latest stuff still falls under the shiny-objects category with the exception of platforms for tracking and making sense of social media noise.
When you look at the core fundamentals of communications in today’s companies, influence, content and engagement, I’m sorry, I don’t see the same radical change in the communications industry that’s reshaping the rest of the world. Take influence as one example. It’s easy enough to identify influencers who reach a gazillion people. But what about the individuals who influence thousands or even hundreds of people, but do it in a deeper and more meaningful way? Communicators have yet to respond to this fragmentation of influence. Our 
I’ll be talking about this and other areas ripe for change in Portland.
Of course, no trip to Portland is complete without a stop at the Salt & Straw serving up the best ice cream on the planet. Out of respect for the American Heart Association (and my arteries), I’ll be ordering a single scoop of the Almond Brittle with Salted Ganache.
If you’re in the Portland area, I hope to see you at the lunch.