She came to town and fell in love with the architecture in Cambridge, Ontario – especially on the west side of the Grand River. She’s now a private chef creating and serving gourmet meals in homes across West Galt. Photographer Stan Switalski provided the cover and inside images to accompany the story.
The monthly magazine is published by Best Version Media and delivered by Canada Post to mailboxes in my neighbourhood.
For 17 years, I worked as a journalist, photographer, and editor at the former Cambridge Reporter newspaper. Now, 20 years since it closed, I continue to put my local news and writing skills to work as a content coordinator for Neighbours of West Galt. It’s an analog anomaly in the 21st century: a print-only, local magazine.
I’m always looking for news, event, and photo submissions about West Galt, at this email.
Stories and photos submitted to the magazine in the January edition included:
Another book published: Tara Mondou released another of her fiction novels, entitled Tara’s story.
GaltRailway history: Local historian Trevor Parkins-Scibarras shared one of his Transit Time Warp photo comparisons. It shows a train crossing the Grand River in 1900 and again in the same spot in 2022, using the landmark Canadian Pacific Railway bridge over the Grand River.
Pet of the Month: Bubbles, a Labradoodle dog who greets customers entering Molloy’s Soap at 7 Grand Avenue South.
Every semester I teach at Conestoga College, I use food to get the attention of my business communication students. There are always foodies in my classes of international students.
The Cambridge Farmer’s Market is one of the oldest in Canada. Photo by Kevin Swayze
That means I’m always planning how to share recipes, restaurant recommendations and places to visit and experience food in the Waterloo Region area. In each class, I create an online discussion forum in the eConestoga online learning platform, provided by D2L.
I think of it as an applied business communication exercise. The students are my customers for the information and local expertise I share. I see plenty of evidence about how food builds trust with students facing a new culture, climate, and educational environment.
At the start of a class in January 2020 – before my teaching moved online – I ordered in an urn of coffee to share with my students before we started talking about communication theory.
I’m now teaching students living in Brantford, along with Kitchener, Cambridge, and Waterloo. Brantford is the latest addition to by geographic teaching roster. Now I’m learning what food information I can share in that city, too
I always start by sharing videos about the local farmer’s market.
The St. Jacob’s Farmer’s Market, on the northwest edge of the City of Waterloo, also gets students’ attention. It’s Canada’s largest farmer’s market and a busy place with lots of local fresh farm food and prepared food on open days. There are also lots of vendors with a range of clothing and household goods.
Here’s info about the smaller Cambridge Farmer’s Market, which runs every Saturday morning near my home. It’s the closest farmer’s market to the Doon and Cambridge campuses.
And the downtown Kitchener Market. That’s just around the corner from the new Downtown Kitchener campus of Conestoga.
What other food information do you suggest I share with the students new to the Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and Brantford areas?
A hand-written thank you note in this card grabbed my attention.
When was the last time you received a handwritten note in your mailbox?
And, no, I’m not talking about all those “personal” advertising flyers in faux handwriting asking to buy my house. Some of them look like they are written by primary school students. Others have tiny, perfectly printed characters that reminded me of notes left behind by a serial killer in movies.
I’m talking about a genuine, handwritten thank you card. Or a personal note.
Yes, I’m talking about analog communication in a digital world.
It happened to me last month. I donated money to a local charity, and they replied with a handwritten note thanking me. Wow!
It made me feel fantastic on a day when more than 100 new emails stuffed my inbox — most of which I probably won’t read.
I read every word of this thank you, written in flowing script writing that took me back to a time before the internet, when letters, notes and cards were commonplace in my life.
Handwritten cards
Back to the farmhouse where I grew up, to when my mother with write and mail send letters to her mother in London – Ontario. When she sat at the kitchen table night after night in the first week of December, sending out Christmas cards with thought notes included inside.
Back to a time of writing essays in pencil on foolscap paper in primary school.
Back to when I started writing my class notes in a fountain pen in high school, because I enjoyed the experience.
Back to the late 1980s, when I worked at the Cambridge Reporter newspaper. I vividly remember when readers — occasionally — dropped a thank you note in the mail about a story they liked. Or offered me a story idea on paper. I don’t think I saved any of them when the paper closed in 2003, as I was waded deeper in to my bottomless email inbox.
The study found that people expressing gratitude underestimated how pleased people would be with a handwritten note. And they overestimated the potential awkwardness that someone might feel receiving a heartfelt thank-you note.
The exchange of a handwritten thank you note also brought emotional benefits to both the sender and recipient.
And it’s more than just saying thank you to a neighbours for watering your garden while you are away on holiday.
I found business coaches promoting the power of hand written thankyou cards on the business website Forbes.com. They’re highlighted as glue to build personal networks for career success.
The simple act helps both card creators and recipients, reduce the risk of suicide, because researchers believe it builds a sense of purpose and social connections. At the very least, the cards are enjoyable to create, send and receive.
Thank like you speak
But what to say? Hallmark, the greeting card company, of course, offers advice at hallmark.com. Basically, saying thank you is easy if make it easy. Be yourself.
“Writing tip: If writing a thank-you takes you back to high school and turns your writing awkwardly stiff or formal, then relax and try to write like you speak. If you’re a person who would say, “Thanks so much for watching our dog!” then say, “Thanks so much for watching our dog!” Just exactly like that.”
I last sent a thank-you card sometime last summer. I think. Or maybe it was the summer before?
That’s a foolish practice to continue, if I want to nurture my personal and business networks. And to gain the positive personal. emotional benefits of purposeful gratitude.
Jargon in your business writing immediately gets my attention.
It’s jarring for me when I trip unexpectedly on those special words or acronyms only understood by your in-crowd.
As an outsider, I wonder if you understand what you are talking about at the moment I am trying to understand what you are talking about.
I don’t think that’s an effective communication tactic.
Jargon hurts business communication, in print or spoken delivery. Don’t take shortcuts. Describe what’s happening. Imagine you know little or nothing about the topic. Help your audience understand, instead of annoying it.
Over 30 years as a journalist, I spent much of my time deciphering jargon in business and government reports. I don’t recall jargon ever helping me understand. I only kept reading because I was paid to keep reading.
Descriptive words, delivered in short sentences, are your friends.
Thanks to Kinda Gorman for this Twitter wisdom…
Business writing top 296/365:
Learn from David Ogilvy, the “father of advertising.” (Part 4 of 10)
Man speaking in front of a seated audience in a lecture hall.
If you want to be a better public speaker, start by listening.
Effective speech writing is all about knowing who you are talking to, and giving them what they want – or need – to hear.
It’s a hard lesson for me to learn – especially when there’s a police officer in plain clothes staring you down.
One day, somewhere back in mid-2002, I was asked to speak at a lunchtime Rotary club meeting about journalism and the news business. Easy enough, I thought. At that point, I just received my 20-year pin serving the trenches at the Cambridge Reporter newspaper. I was the newly appointed editor and feeling pretty good about myself.
Great stories are good, but
With all those years a reporter, photographer and editor, I knew I had great stories.
I cobbled together a speech about how I approached the news business, how I made a living asking questions. How I found stories. How I shaped those stories for my audience. And, of course, What was the weirdest thing I ever wrote about?
(It was a guy who brought a potato into the newsroom one day, looking for a story. The spud looked exactly like former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s face and head. Seriously. Photo and story for the front page, please).
Anyway, my speech went well enough. I told few more stories while neglecting to delve deeply into why one story gets published and another doesn’t.
I had my speech all written down – and kept reading from it behind the podium. No point-form notes to I could keep my eyes on the audience. I droned on for 10 minutes. I didn’t vary down my tempo and use inflection to emphasize important points.
I didn’t think through who was in the audience. Who might put their hand up in the question and answer session?
Be prepared
I broke a basic rule of journalism: be prepared.
Rotarians? What could go wrong? All I had to do was call the organizer and ask who the club members are. Or more accurately, remind me who was likely to be in the audience. I knew most of them from writing stories about what they’ve done in town over the years.
Local business leaders who have learned how to ask good questions, because their livelihood depends on good information. The crowd gathered in the Galt Country Club meeting room was also salted with other community leaders, people who also knew how to ask good questions. After all, nobody builds credibility for their personal brand by talking all the time.
None of that was in my mind as set myself up as the target in the question-and-answer session. I started to recognize the faces as they asked me about stories I had covered, softball questions about why the media does what it does and why I like my job. (Answer: I love asking questions).
Then she stood up and greeted me politely. I wished I remembered she was a one-time homicide investigator and was now commander of the local police detachment. Super friendly. With a detective’s mindset. I didn’t see it coming.
“I’ve heard there’s a Code of Ethics for Journalists – so why didn’t you talk about that in your speech. What do you say to people who don’t think journalists have any ethics?”
Busted.
Answer obvious questions
I wasn’t ready for an obvious question. I stammered and wobbled at the podium, before making a half-hearted explanation. It was ugly.
I wasn’t ready with a story to tell a personal story around the never-ending public discourse of ethics in journalism. Something everyone seems to have an opinion on. Something that’s been simmering for centuries, long before people started accusing the media of creating “Fake News.”
I learned. Always remember: audience first is the smart way to approach speech writing.
Listen to what they say — and imagine what they are likely to ask.
Please use the form below to contact Kevin Swayze, so he can put his business storytelling experience to work helping you find, shape and share your message with impact.
Contact Kevin by email or contact him by mobile phone: 226-924-4237.
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