Don’t spin out of control

Let me tell you a joke: a doctor receives a very attractive lady at his surgery who confesses to him: “Doctor, I have been married three times but I’m still a virgin.” The doctor is amazed. “How can this be possible?” “Well, my first husband was very, very elderly and the sight of me on our wedding night in a black negligee was too much for him, he had a heart attack and died.” The doctor expressed his sympathy and asked about the second spouse. “Oh, he found wearing my negligee far more attractive than me.” And what of the third husband? “He was the worst,” she declared, breaking down tearfully. “He sat at the end of the bed, told me he was in PR and said how great everything would be.”

I originally told this some years ago when I was editor of the late, lamented Fenestra Journal, but it deserves another airing if only for the fact that the same problems are present today. Many of us have a ‘sparky’ relationship with public relations; or, rather, we should do.

The majority of PRs I know have sat back, nodding or grunting at our observations, often coming out with that old defence: “Mate, I sympathise with you. You know, I used to be a journalist. Have another drink.” Yes, they’ve sympathized with the jaundiced, pickled hack and then, with their retainers, laughed all the way to the bank. They would argue that theirs is an honourable profession, not a rip off but ‘the practice of managing the flow of information between an organisation and its publics’. (Grunig, James E. and Hunt, Todd. Managing Public Relations.)

Sounds good, doesn’t it? But the devil is in the detail. Too often ‘managing’ that flow has meant distorting or withholding the very information that we as magazines should receive.

Let’s deal with distortion. I recently received a press release concerning Glassex@Interbuild from the PR for the exhibition scheduled for this October. It’s no secret that the organiser, Emap, is in a dreadful tizz about the fate of the event. Glassex was to be held as a standalone exhibition this March but, due to the appalling bookings, had to be cancelled. Ah, but had you read the press release and been at the hurriedly convened press briefing in January: the whole period had been a measured response ‘to growing demand from the window, door, conservatory and glass industries’. Silly us, Glassex wasn’t cancelled; it had been ‘relocated’. An event that had been likened to an oil tanker that couldn’t be turned around, suddenly had become a powerboat, turning (or spinning) on a sixpence and zooming off to become a stunning success at the NEC.

More recently, that same PR agency issued a release stating that: ‘Glassex is already basking in the halo effect of being part of the annual Interbuild show.’ (Did anyone concocting that release know the meaning of mixed metaphors?) But anyone visiting the Glassex@Interbuild website would see that there are only 15 paid for exhibitors and a couple of those have indicated that they are seriously considering cancelling. I, for one, would not have dreamed of running this story and have complained to the agency for sending out misleading baloney.

Withholding is more difficult to prove but there is no doubt that PRs will do anything to show their clients in the best possible light. Of course, they aren’t going to do the opposite but it can result in a partial story that requires the journalists to dig deeper.

That is what we should be doing but either due to laziness or lack of resources, we are guilty of letting the PR spin rule. I well remember when the two then leading conservatory roofing companies – Ultraframe and K2 – were going hammer and tongs at one another in the courts. Both sent out their press releases, giving their side and a number of magazines played safe and ran them separately. (One was so timid, it even placed them side by side, rather than using them as a base for a single story.)

Taking this approach certainly makes for a quiet life and the sales side on a journal will tend to appreciate a malleable editor than one who will get up the noses of PRs, a number of whom have some sway over the advertising spend of their clients.

We can’t do without PRs and they know it. (And before any write in, I’m indebted to some who put copy writing my way after FJ closed and my present job on Glass & Glazing Products came along.) But what we should do is cast a very wary eye at what comes in. Why, another press release arrived the other day, not so much praising the client and its latest achievements, but for its decision to stay with the PR/marketing agency! With some trepidation I wait to see who will run with that remarkable ‘story’.

“We think you ought to go….”

If you watched Sky Television News recently, you’ll have seen the interminable trailers for programmes dealing with the ‘r’ word? This word was blotted out whenever Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Mervyn King, head of the Bank of England, mouthed it. Then it was eventually allowed to be heard – ‘recession’.

But there’s another ‘r’ word that is said quietly, whispered even because it’s related to the other ‘r’ and causes considerable hurt to those directly affected – ‘redundancy’. It doesn’t matter if it affects one person or one hundred; the impact can be devastating and with insensitive management, downright humiliating.

Probably everyone can quote an anecdote of how so and so was called in and suddenly disappeared. In truth many of us have been in the same boat, as a manager almost wept as you were told the bad news and quickly shown the front door.

I remember one day returning to my then publishing company, at a time of the recession of the early 1990s, after a visit to a boiler company, followed by a pleasant lunch with the PR and a mellow drive back to the office. As I walked in a colleague was passing by. “Anything much happen today?” I asked casually. His expression has remained with me. “That must be the understatement of the year. Half of us were made redundant.” These had included my assistant. Even though the magazine was profitable, some accountant had decided to chop and chop again.

As the shock of this news was sinking in, my publisher said: “Mike, I’ve been told by the directors to tell you that your job is safe but if you don’t like what’s happened, just leave your car keys on the table and go.” I tried to help my assistant, stating in a memo to management all the reasons why he should be saved. The subsequent meeting with the directors didn’t go down well and in the end I was told: “You’re nothing more than a whingeing, whining journalist and if you don’t like it in this company, just go.” And in my own time, that’s precisely what I did.

But surely there must be a more humane way of dealing with this? Last month the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) held a seminar where the subject of how to deal with redundancy was considered. Attended by 60 people, both employers and staff who were going through the process, it promoted how best to come to terms with the redundancy procedure from both sides. CIOB found that the response was an encouraging one and may plan more seminars.

In our industry we hear of a frightening level of lay-offs and closures. Systems companies and fabricators are experiencing a horrendous time and it’s easy for management to snap when the alternative to sacrificing some jobs might be a complete shutdown. What they have to realise is that they are dealing with people who have a right to be treated sensitively and respectfully.

The show(s) must go on

A visit to Pilkington’s London office at Selwyn House, off St James’s, takes you right by St James’s Palace. Plenty of history there and with other buildings in the heritage class, an ideal location for the launch of the enigiKare family by Pilkington. One of the products is the appropriately named Legacy which will be targeting conservation areas and any buildings where there is a need for replacement to be achieved sensitively. (See page 53 of GGP’s April issue for a review.)

Of course, hacks being hacks, the real pursuit of knowledge was carried out in one of the nearby historic hostelries where more information was to be had about the regional shows launched by Tony Higgin, former organiser of Glassex when it was at its height and now publisher of the Gl@zine. The first will be at Telford in June and the second at Wembley in September to coincide with the G09 awards.

One can only wish the venture well because it’s clear that Glassex@Interbuild is coming apart at the wheels – as is Interbuild itself. (At the beginning of Monday, 30 March, Interbuild had 123 exhibitors on its list and Glassex @Interbuild just 15.) A multi billion pound industry like ours must have room for shows of some description for the professional.

However, there is a caveat and that is the timing. Higgin has given himself a very short lead in time to the first show and we are also talking about a terrible time for the building sector. (This past week has seen the announcements by PVC-U systems companies REHAU and Synseal of sizeable redundancies, mirroring the general shakeout.)

It’s not impossible for there to be successful shows in the UK at the moment – Ecobuild at Earl’s Court proved that at the beginning of March. But we are talking about untried exhibitions in a very depressed sector. It’s in the interest of everyone to see these shows succeed – including the trade press – but it’s legitimate to raise concerns as well. After all, we’re supposed to be sentient human beings with independent views, not a bunch of cheerleaders giving “ra-ra” support for a worthy cause that may have problems with both timing and the state of the industry.

Talk on the wild side

To the Metropole Hotel in Birmingham for the inaugural meeting of Glass Talk on Wednesday, 18 March. The brainchild of the Glover brothers, who are behind the Renegade Conservatory Guy website, it was meant to be a networking event - partly what the late and lamented Glassex used to be in March.

But, in this instance, there was no exhibition to see, or products to touch and admire. Just a bunch of mainly, middle aged men who were meant to sit at various tables and get to know one another in speed dating mode. As far as I’m aware, no romances blossomed from the exercise but the inevitable question that was bound to be asked was: did it work?

Some of the fears voiced centred on the likelihood that delegates would find the attractions of the bar more alluring than the prospect of meeting new people, and hearing notables sounding off on the sofa, chaired by a PR man who might have been tempted to plug his own services.

In the event, the 160 or so who gathered walked away with more than they probably bargained for. (In fact, one did. He became so tired and emotional at the bar, he ended up in a police cell.) It was genuinely interesting listening to people explain who they were and their particular, current experiences in the industry. The speakers ‘on the sofa’ in the afternoon, who dealt with issues about WERs and planning, had enough to say of interest to retain the audience’s interest.

I hope this event continues because, on this occasion, exchanging views was worth the time and effort. There were a number of suggestions on how to improve Glass Talk: one to hold it in the south or in a more northerly location. What mustn’t happen is it to get too ambitious.

With a few tweaks and more discipline in keeping the speakers to a set time, we may well end up with a valuable event to put in the diary.

See more about Glass Talk in the April issue of GGP.

Working at home takes trust

Returning to work on GGP has thrown up a number of issues that more of us are facing and not all of them bad by any means.

After more than 10 years working from home as a freelancer, the first thing that strikes as a new commuter is how prone we are to the transport system in the UK. ‘Prone’ or ‘vulnerable? It’s not just the fact of heaving this body from Fulham to Sevenoaks in Kent, but the fact that a mere hint of a snowflake has the trains in chaos. As I scurry to the relatively unpacked sardine carriers for the trip, I see commuters with their faces lined with years of delayed and cancelled trains; carrying bunions and corns that have thrived on their victims who have to travel in these ‘reversed spatial’ Tardises.

But as one of those ill-starred banks used to say in their smug advertisements: ‘There is another way.’

It was estimated in 2005 that those people who work mainly in their own home, or in different places using home as a base, was 3.1 million out of 28.76 million, or 11% of the total workforce. (Source: National Statistics, Labour Market Trends Oct 2005.) That figure must have increased by now. In fact, I am writing this blog from home and the rest of the day will be spent on all aspects of the magazine. I’m lucky in a number of ways, however. There’s now the technology to permit this; I have an employer who sees the merits of some of their staff working unstressed by traffic jams or leaves on the line. Also, my job doesn’t physically involve me putting together something like a car or a window.

Work Wise UK has been arguing this case for a number of years. A not-for-profit organisation, it has a conference this May in London as well as a ‘Work Wise Week’. The points in favour include productivity where much can be achieved away from the hurly burly of the office.

But there are understandable reservations held by employers and most of them centre on that most important of words – trust. How does the boss know that you are doing what you say you will? The answer is that there are ways of monitoring output and the kind of person who cheats or short changes, will probably do so at work in one way or another. (He or she won’t be particularly popular among their colleagues for fouling up the concept for them either.)

Having worked at home on a magazine in this sector for over seven years, I know if I hadn’t performed in getting a monthly magazine out on time and to an acceptable standard, that my stay would have been cut short and rightly so. For businesses there is now the opportunity to make the most of their most valued resource – their staff – by introducing flexible work patterns. For the staff, there is the ability to produce more at certain, agreed times and to the advantage of all concerned.

And, less we forget, that dreaded carbon footprint will be that mite bit smaller.

Ex-glass

The trap-door has opened, and the noose tightened around the neck of Glassex – the organisers have finally announced that the dedicated exhibition will no longer be running in March. David Pierpoint, event director for both Interbuild and Glassex, said that “with the support of many leading Glassex exhibitors, we have acted in the best interests of the industry by postponing the event until October 2009, to run alongside Interbuild”.

That’s very noble, but there is also the general belief within the industry that by co-locating the two events Emap is effectively tolling the Glassex death-knell.

Would it be an understatement if I said “that’s a shame”?

Actually, Glassex is owned by Emap, and despite how protective the industry feels towards the show (and how many wonderful memories people have of the show’s hayday) Emap can do what it wants with it.

My problem is that this decision should have been made months ago. In fact, as far back as last Glassex discussions were taking place between exhibitors and Emap staff about the possibility of Interbuild and Glassex co-locating.

January’s issue of GGP carries a lead news story that announces the co-location of Interbuild and Glassex in the autumn of 2010. According to Pierpoint, it “...just wasn’t feasible to make the change for 2009”. (As far as I was concerned, this was definitive.) The February lead story will now be ‘Glassex postponed’ with Pierpoint saying “Over recent months momentum has gained pace towards holding Glassex alongside Interbuild and we have taken account of that”.

I am left with some egg on my face (although I am only reporting the facts ma’am), but not as much as Emap when it has to explain to the few faithful Glassex exhibitors, who have stumped up deposits and started work building stands, that there is no show – even though just a month previously it was saying the complete opposite.

Bravely (and part of me says that non-sarcastically) Emap is soldiering on as though co-location is the most natural thing and we should embrace a brave new world where builders and window fabricators and installers can share each other’s exhibitions and be better off for it. However, Emap is conveniently ignoring the fact that this time last week most of the large names associated with Glassex had yet to sign on the dotted line, revealing a lack of faith in the Glassex brand. Will this change come October, and the promise of crossover visits from Interbuild?

Richard Schwarz and Cliff Rankin remembered

Cliff Rankin (left) and Richard Schwarz (right)

Two pillars of the glass and glazing community have died recently. Last Monday, the legendary 'Glassman' Cliff Rankin passed away in his sleep, following a battle with lung cancer, while Richard Schwarz, the highly respected editor of the Glazine, died at home on Friday evening.

Both men will be remembered in the December issue of GGP.

Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet and get to know Cliff Rankin, but his reputation reaches far and wide. I will, therefore, leave it to others to put into words the influence that had on shaping the glass industry.

Being a fellow editor, I did come across Richard Schwarz from time to time, and I found him to be a very pleasant and intelligent man. Professionally speaking I respected his work greatly, particularly because – as one person told me this morning – he had no fear. Richard was able to trust his judgement and write how he found things, even if that meant ruffling feathers. He will be missed.