A news reporter’s professional responsibility is to get it first and get it right; the demands on those who blog are usually less stringent. The reader’s first indication of the likely veracity of a story is often the fact that a blog is often self-posted, as opposed to being posted on a respected media site, where the expectation is that editors will have double-checked the facts. The minor uproar over a Vancouver restaurant apparently banning men from urinating while standing shows what happens when the two get confused.

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When a company wants some free ink, an attention-getting survey is usually a good bet. News organizations love ranked lists, especially when they deal with broad issues.

So IBM appears to have touched a major nerve with its 2011 Global Commuter Pain Survey, which lists 20 major cities around the globe in terms of how their residents feel about their slow suicide during the daily commute to work. The 20 cities were chosen from a list of 65 that IBM says are top centers in terms of economic activity and size. Vancouver isn’t on the list, but Toronto and Montreal are.

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As many of you know, I have recently been to Poland – again – this time to work on business development. Turns out there is huge interest in, and appetite for, the coaching and training services we provide, particularly in the area of presentation skills. What follows is a little case study in how things go sideways and how they eventually come out alright.

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