Q: "What's black and white and read all over?"

A: "A newspaper."

If only the question posed in this old joke was as true and simple for our intranets. (Well, maybe not the black and white part.) If it were, we wouldn't have many worries about whether we're getting the right message to the right people at the right time and all that. We would build it, and they would come. But it doesn't work that way.

Like many organizations, our intranet is our default communications channel. That wouldn't necessarily be an issue except that sometimes it's our main (read: only) communications channel. People think that if we post an article we've communicated. Our communications team knows differently, but at times it's still a struggle for us to get out of that intranet box into different boxes with different tools and different channels.

I took the opportunity presented by Sean Williams's (@CommAMMO) #icchat discussions on Twitter to bring the question to others working in internal communications. Having considered the result of this discussion, a few main lessons jump out at me:

1. Tools other than intranets run the gamut from the fundamentals of communication to things so technically different it's actually hard (but exciting) to get my head around using them for internal comms.
2. Some of the basic stuff - like helping supervisors be better communicators - is not necessarily easy. Important, though, and there are resources to help.
3. No matter how you try, sometimes you just can't get away from intranet talk. ;)

We started the discussion with a general question to get things going:

What's happening in your world that's new and different?

Broadcast communications, comics, supporting dialogue, finding a voice for communications, plasma screens, info towers, touch screens, video, and, yes, SharePoint 2010 - the answers ranged a lot:

rjfarr: Some input from me - recently used a comic strip to communicate our new social media guidelines for employees. #icchat

SMSJOE: @rjfarr have you seen the salesforce video presenting SM guidelines? #icchat

SMSJOE: here is the link #icchat

CommAMMO: Q1-cont'd - biggest issue is move fr "news" voice to "convo" - begn'g to research Yammer, touchscreens #icchat

JostleMe: Rolling out with 1st big customer -- set up in-app 'Easter egg hunt' to get users to explore how Jostle glues their org together. #icchat

rjfarr: Another tool we're just trying now w a guide for employees is a PDF w popups - definitions, contact info, etc. #icchat

CommAMMO: While I was at Goodyear, the Lux innovation center plant put together info towers - screens w/ppt, flyers, posters... #icchat

SMSJOE: Anyone experimented with QR codes on printed material? #icchat

QR codes? His response to my query (and further explained in this link from Sean):

SMSJOE: @rjfarr type of bar code square readable by readers in phones #icchat

Wow. And I thought I was up to date on tools being used for internal comms.

We moved from there into more traditional territory with question 2:

What role do traditional tactics play? What are you doing other than email?

The comment from Meghan summed this up nicely:

@mhellstern: Q2, trad tactics still necessary b/c there is a tech gap, some ppl are comfortable with new techs, others arent #icchat

Other thoughts:

rjfarr: Discussed posters at an #internalcomms Community of Practice mtg yesterday. Consensus: effective when not about events, time-sens #icchat

mhellstern: @rjfarr more traditional tactics common in our org: mass (department-wide) email, posters, announcement events, email newsletters #icchat

gacross: Still the gold std. Help sup b skilled. RT @rjfarr: Anyone doing much w face-to-face? Tough in our org - big and large geo area. #icchat

"A ha," I thought. (I'm working on this now.) "But how?" Glenna had an answer:

gacross: I teach this 2 sup.Use D'Aprix model. RT@rjfarr:@gacross Happen 2 b working on plan re just that(help sup b skilled).How do u do it? #icchat

This was followed up later with some helpful input from IABC:

IABC: .@gacross @rjfarr Here's the link to The Face-to-Face Communication Toolkit by Roger D'Aprix, ABC. http://bit.ly/r63kw #icchat

IABC: .@gacross @rjfarr More on F2F comm in the Nov CW Bulletin. Articles by D'Aprix, @ThoughtPartner, @CGoman, etc. http://bit.ly/dhJBt0 #icchat

From inspiration to challenges, we covered it all, leading up to the final part of the discussion, the responses for which brought us back to the age-old question - regardless of tool or channel - about what we're actually trying to accomplish:

How do you evaluate success?

There was the cynical - or maybe it's just realistic:

Wedge: #icchat Q4 Success. Should be about impact, behaviour change and engagement. But mostly it's about whether it "was sent on time"...

And there was the question of definition:

jgombita: @Wedge wouldn't all of those fall under the umbrella of "outcomes?" (PR measurement.)

There was the "we're trying":

rjfarr: Re: measurement - Now building this into our calendar. Also using standard list of Qs that are better than nothing. #icchat

And the, "Hmm, that's a good question":

mhellstern: Q related to Q4 of #icchat, how do u measure things like effectiveness of digital signage, promo items given out? not as easy as web, email

And, of course, sometimes it's just about getting people involved:

CommAMMO: don't assume. Might be enuf to foster dialog. RT @csledzik: @rjfarr still needs 2B tied back 2intranet or else where 2expand msgs. #icchat

Overall, the one-hour chat has 223 tweets and 23 contributors. You can read the full transcript here.

Thanks once again to Sean Williams for the opportunity to guest host. I got some great specifics and lots of good stuff to think about. Next #icchat is Nov 30, 2-3 p.m. US (ET). Hope to see you there!