Volume 11, Issue 13 April 2013 IN THIS ISSUE
10 Capitalization Rules
Every Writer Should Know
2013 CAPIO Conference
Highlights
How to Make the Best of
your CAPIO Conference
Experience
2013 CAPIO Conference Highlights
It looks like we will have a great turnout
for the 2013 CAPIO Conference being
held at the Embassy Suites in Napa in
just two weeks! Here is a recap of our
conference highlights:
Opening Keynote Address by Brian Wright, Senior
Director of Communications for Visit California* Nearly Time to Pop the Cork Come hear Brian Wright, senior director of
CAPIO Offers Exclusive J. communications for Visit California who will address
Lindsey Wolf PIO Institute "Marketing and Branding California." Visit
California is a great example of how a "commission"
2013 Conference Sponsors became a brand....the brand of California. QUICK LINKS
10 Capitalization
Rules Every Writer
Should Know
By Laura Hale Brockway
If
you were standing outside
my office door, you would
Wednesday Lunch Address by John Shirey, City
Manager, City of Sacramento - As the executive
director of the California Redevelopment Agency for
nine years and in his current role as city manager,
John Shirey knows how important communications
professionals are to a government agency. He will
share "A City Manager's Perspective on a
Communicator's Role in Government" during his
luncheon presentation.
Tuesday Pre-Conference: Tuesday's preconference workshop brings together crisis
communications strategies and practical tools. Well-known for handling some of the highest-profile
crisis communication cases in California, Kelly
Huston will share expert strategies of handling
issues under pressure. Joe Wood will follow with
hands-on training on Google tools that can be used
for inter-agency communication. Free WiFi will
make it easy to follow along on your laptop. Friday morning's session, "Ask the Experts" will
feature a panel of CAPIO "veterans" ready to
answer any and all questions about issues PIOs
face. Whether you're new to your job or
experienced, there is always more to learn in this
industry - and who better to hear from than those
who've walked in your shoes. This is a perfect
session to end your CAPIO conference experience
with!
hear a loud banging noise.
That's my head banging
on my desk out of sheer
frustration. The reason?
Capitalization.
I have documents to edit
that are filled with words
that shouldn't be
capitalized-such as
"federal," "state,"
"statutes," "deadlines,"
"laws"-but are uppercase. I
have documents to edit
that are filled with words
that should be capitalizedsuch as "West Texas" and
"Supreme Court"-but are
not.
So to keep the head
banging to a minimum,
let's go through the rules
of capitalization.
1. Capitalize the first word
in a sentence.
This is the most basic rule
of capitalization.
2. Capitalize the pronoun
"I."
Another basic one, but in
today's text-message
driven world, it bears
mentioning.
3. Capitalize proper nouns:
the names of specific
people, places,
organizations, and
sometimes things.
For instance, "Austin,
Texas," "Patrick O'Brian,"
"Ragan Communications,"
"Supreme Court."
This seems to be the rule
that trips up many people
because they don't know
whether a word is a proper
noun. But as the AP
Stylebook points out:
How to Make the Best
of your CAPIO
Conference
Experience Here are a few hints on how to
make the most of your time in
Napa!
New this year, CAPIO 2013 has a mobile app for
our conference! This is one of the best places to
stay up-to-date on the latest news about the
conference. Search the iPhone or Android app
store for "Guidebook", www.guidebook.com/getit/ to text the download
link to your phone. Then search for CAPIO 2013. You'll have the event agenda, session information
and sponsor information at your fingertips!
Consider carpooling with others from your
area. This could be a great way to get the
networking started before the event!
Plan to stay for the awards dinner. Fees for
the dinner are included in your full conference
registration, so don't miss out on the
opportunity to celebrate with your fellow PIOs
and learn about agency programs that you
may want to emulate.
Visit our sponsor exhibits during the show. Our sponsoring companies all understand the
needs of PIOs and are here to support your
efforts. They are great resources of
information and strong partners in your
outreach to the communities you serve. Participate in the networking opportunities
offered each evening. From evening
receptions to our restaurant roundup, meet
your fellow PIOs and communications
professionals and head home with a list of
people to turn to when you run into questions.
Thanks to everyone who has already registered for
the event. If you haven't registered yet, but are
planning to, please let us know you're coming by
April 8. Visit www.capio.org/conference for more
information.
Nearly Time to Pop the
Cork at CAPIO Awards
"Capitalize nouns that
constitute the unique
identification for a specific
person, place, or thing:
John, Mary, America,
Boston, England. Some
words, such as the
examples given, are
always proper nouns.
Some common nouns
receive proper noun status
when they are used as the
name of a particular entity:
General Electric, Gulf Oil."
There are also derivatives
of proper nouns. Capitalize
words that are derived
from a proper noun and
still depend on it for their
meaning, such as
"American," "French," and
"Shakespearean."
But lower case words that
are derived from proper
nouns that no longer
depend on it for their
meaning: "french fries,"
"pasteurize," "darwinian."
4. Capitalize family
relationships when used
as proper nouns.
Capitalize "Uncle John,"
and "Grandma Jesse," but
leave it lower case when
it's not referring to a
person's name. For
instance, "We visit my
cousin every Christmas."
5. Capitalize titles that
appear before names, but
not after names.
This is perhaps the
greatest capitalization
crime in corporate
America. Remember, it's
"President of Writing
Advice Laura Brockway" or
of Excellence Event We are about two weeks' out
from our Awards of Excellence Dinner, and this
hallmark CAPIO event is set to be the best yet.
With record numbers of awards submitted, our
judges from public and private agencies throughout
the state worked feverishly to judge each award
sent in, and we've just recently announced the
finalists.
For those of you attending the awards, you'll be in
for a treat. This year's hosts Krista Noonan, CAPIO
president and director of communications at
CalSTRS, and Todd Wilson, CAPIO webmaster
and PIO for the city of Burbank, will provide an
entertaining evening for us all, complete with
announcing the Awards of Excellence winners, Paul
B. Clark award honoree, Jan Gentry, and J.
Lindsey Wolf PIO Institute graduates.
Don't miss a night of fun and the opportunity to
make some new friends at this year's Awards of
Excellence Dinner. Semi-formal attire is
recommended.
CAPIO Offers Exclusive J. Lindsey
Wolf PIO Institute Established by CAPIO in 2003, and renamed in
2006 in honor of J. Lindsey Wolf, an extraordinarily
gifted PIO and member of our organization, the
Institute is a professional development program that
offers certification in the field of public information
for CAPIO members who complete any ten of the
designated Institute courses. These courses are
generally offered annually at the CAPIO
conference, but may also be offered at various
regional workshops throughout the state.
Certain workshops at the conference are
designated as "PIO Institute courses." These
courses are selected based on the need for Public
Information Officers to be proficient in certain core
skills such as electronic (social) media, crisis
communications and public presentations. Each
course is worth one credit and ten credits are
required for a certificate. The certificates are
awarded at the CAPIO conference. Once earned, your certificate is
yours for a lifetime. The cost of
Institute classes offered at the
"Laura Brockway,
president of writing
advice," not the other way
around.
6. Capitalize directions
that are names; North,
South, East, and West
when used as sections of
the country, but not as
compass directions.
So capitalize "The Pacific
Northwest" and "Central
Texas," but not "We drove
west for two hours."
7. Capitalize the days of
the week, the months of
the year, and holidays, but
not the seasons used
generally.
However, seasons are
capitalized when used as
a proper title. Some
examples:
* "I will attend that
conference in the fall." * "I have registered for
three classes for Spring
Semester 2013." * "We celebrate
Valentine's Day in July."
8. Capitalize members of
national, political, racial,
social, civic, and athletic
groups.
For instance, "Texas
Longhorns," "Libertarians,"
"Chinese."
9. Capitalize periods and
events, but not century
numbers.
So that would be "Victorian
Era" and "Great
Depression," and "first
century."
10. Capitalize trademarks.
CAPIO conference is included in
your conference registration. Regional workshops throughout
the state are affordable and allow you to reach the
required ten Institute courses conveniently.
Visit the CAPIO website for a complete list of J.
Lindsey Wolf PIO Institute required courses and
guidelines, or contact Debbie Sousa, CAPIO PIO
Institute Chair at [email protected].
2013 Conference Sponsors
Diamond:
Platinum:
Gold:
Examples would be
"Subaru," "Coca-Cola,"
"Apple."
Remember to follow the
sage advice of "The AP
Stylebook": "In general,
avoid unnecessary
capitals. Use a capital
letter only if you can justify
it by one of the principles
listed here." And when in
doubt about a word that
doesn't fit under any of
these rules, check the
dictionary.
Laura Hale Brockway is a
medical writer and editor
from Austin, Texas. She is
also the author of the
writing/editing/random
thoughts blog,
impertinentremarks.com.
Silver:
Design Sponsor:
Print Sponsor:
The CAPIO Communicator was relaunched in 2009 as an electronic-only version
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goal is to keep members up-to-date on CAPIO events, workshops and conferences, as
well as provide professional growth and development opportunities. Contact CAPIO
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