The Grey Lit Café

Anthony Haynes writes: This podcast covers the production, management, and consumption of grey literature. Of these themes, we've placed most emphasis than most resources on the first.
In the context of professional communication, we're interested in the creators - people and organizations - and their behaviors. This episode stems from that interest.
I was delighted to have the opportunity to interview Stephanie Shirley, Founder & Owner of Bennis Public Relations. I've followed Stephanie online for many years and have been struck by the quality and consistency of her output - especially her long-running and outstanding blog, The Comm Entrepreneur,
In the course of our conversation, we explore Stephanie's career history, vocation and motivation. In the process, Stephanie provides three pieces (bronze, silver, and gold) of advice, based on the lessons that she has learned from 12 years of business development.
We also discussed The Comm Entrepreneur - Stephanie's reasons for running the blog and the benefits that accrue.
Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this podcast, you might also be interested in the following episodes:

• How to get blogging and stay blogging
• Our mini-series on productivity, including Improving your productivity through time management
• Writing emails effectively

Further information on Stephanie and her business
Most of Stephanie Shirley’s public relations career has been spent on the consultant side. At the age of 23, she left her newly appointed job within Pennsylvania's state government to take an entrepreneurial leap of faith and start her own PR consulting business, Bennis Public Relations.

Now almost 12 years later, Bennis Public Relations has proudly assisted hundreds of clients locally and nationally, serving as their strategic partner who creates innovative and effective communication solutions to help grow a powerful and consistent brand.
Stephanie has helped businesses of all sizes and industries navigate the challenging internal and external communications of branding, transitioning through acquisitions and leadership changes, developing comprehensive strategic communications strategies, and implementing those strategies, consistently and effectively.
Stephanie is also called upon during critical moments when crisis communications and reputation management are central to the future viability of an organization, brand, or person.

Credits

• Sound production: Bart Hallmark
• Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orche

Support the show

About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide

• consultancy
• mentoring
• editing and writing
• training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Anthony Haynes writes: On this podcast we often explore grey literature from the perspective of creators - the authors, editors, designers, and publishers.
We focus both on the genres of grey literature and the processes of creation and production. This episode is one of the latter.
Productivity hacks typically focus, sometimes exclusively, on use of time. Here, in contrast, Dr Engy Moussa and I focus on the ways in which use of space and place can contribute to personal productivity.
Further listening
We hope you enjoy this episode. If so, you might find the following episodes of interest:

• How meetings work: a constructive approach: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10743611-how-meetings-work-a-constructive-approach
• Writing emails effectively: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10664828-writing-emails-effectively

References and links
An example of Professor Mark Moss's research on the influence of aroma is available here: 'Halfway to Scarborough Fair?' = https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/26947/.
The study mentioned in our discussion of the effects of working in cafés is Emily G. Nielsen, 'The coffee shop effect': https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4789&context=etd. A further study of the relationship between ambient noise and creativity is 'Is noise always bad?' by Ravi Mehta & Rui Juliet Zhu: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276290360_Is_Noise_Always_Bad_Exploring_the_Effects_of_Ambient_Noise_on_Creative_Cognition.
A study of the (positive) effect of music is 'Effects of music listening' by Katherine E. Eskine: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329190379_Effects_of_music_listening_on_creative_cognition_and_semantic_memory_retrieval. A sceptical view is found in 'Background music stints creativity' by Emma Threadgold et al.: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/acp.3532.
A practical guide to ergonomics is 'Creating the perfect ergonomic workspace' (Ergonomic Trends): https://ergonomictrends.com/creating-perfect-ergonomic-workspace-ultimate-guide/.
Credits

• Sound production: Bart Hallmark
• Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra

Support the show

About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide

• consultancy
• mentoring
• editing and writing
• training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Anthony Haynes (Creative Director, Frontinus Ltd) writes: Abstracts are of central importance to grey literature: some forms of grey literature -- proposals, for example, or working papers -- come accompanied by abstracts; and abstracts themselves (which are often used independently of the texts they're designed to accompany) constitute a form of grey literature.
This episode is designed to help listeners to create abstracts effectively and without undue difficulty. It does so by outlining (a) the content required in an abstract and (b) ways of sequencing content to achieve narrative flow. In the process, the episode distinguishes between obligatory and optional content.
Resources
Unit V of #EnginComms provides links to a video and how-to slides, together with links to other creators' resources in various forms: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_oHWjm3yg7Z29K31gE6niS4KWpFmUNyNTgbTIhNCFNQ/edit?usp=sharing.
Karen L. McKee has produced two excellent videos, one on written abstracts and one on graphical. The respective links are:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYkXA6gDRlg
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGwA-j1wikk

Credits

• Sound production: Bart Hallmark
• Music: from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra

Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might enjoy our episodes on creating word clouds and research posters. The respective links are here:

• https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10339609-wordclouds-a-neglected-form-of-grey-literature
• https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10507666-posters-as-a-form-of-research-communication

How Frontinus Ltd can help
Frontinus has extensive experience of helping organisations and their authors to write abstracts. Our services include writing, editing, and training. To discuss your needs and see how we add value, please contact us via our website: http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Support the show

About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide

• consultancy
• mentoring
• editing and writing
• training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Anthony Haynes writes: This episode draws on extensive experience of working professionally on reports in order to provide practical advice and guidance to authors writing reports.
The topics that Engy Moussa and I discuss include:

• what a report is (the meanings of 'report')
• identifying and charaterising your audience
• articulating your goal
• establishing a workflow
• using models
• working with word budgets
• creating sample text
• working collaboratively

Resources
This eisodes recommends the following:

1. Bruce Cooper, Writing technical reports (Penguin, 1964)
2. University of New South Wales, 'Report writing support': https://www.student.unsw.edu.au/report-writing-support
3. Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, '21 top tips to make the most of your freelance copyeditor or proofreader': https://www.ciep.uk/resources/top-tips/21-top-tips-to-make-the-most-of-your-freelance-copy-editor-or-proofreader/

Further listening
If you enjoyed listening to this episode, you might find the following episodes of particular interest:

• David Baxter on effective grey literature: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/10489614-david-baxter-on-effective-grey-literature-the-case-of-reports-on-gambling
• Learning to become design literate: https://thegreylitcafe.buzzsprout.com/1936705/11241915-learning-to-become-design-literate-a-key-resource

How Frontinus Ltd can help
Frontinus has extensive experience of helping organisations and their authors to write and produce reports. Our services include writing, editing, and training. To discuss your needs and see how we add value, please contact us via our website: http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Support the show

About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide

• consultancy
• mentoring
• editing and writing
• training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.

Anthony Haynes writes: In this, our latest genre-based, episode, Engy Moussa and I explore newsletters - primarily from the perspective of the reader.
We range widely, exploring questions concerning quantity, spatial design, schedules, the reading journey, distinction, and offputting features.
And we review our favorite examples, asking what can be learned from them about the art of the newsletter.
And, finally, we consider the benefits to writers of contributing to newsletters.
Links

• Our episode on managing emails: Managing emails
• Our episode on Robin Williams' book: The non-designer's design book
• The Royal Mint: www.royalmint.com
• Buzzsprout Weekly: www.buzzsprout.com/2366845/share
• Jenni Field: From chaos to calm
• British Ecological Society: newsletter
• James Clear: 3-2-1

Further listening
We hope you've found this episode a rewarding listen. If so, you might enjoy the following genre-based episodes:

• White papers: what are they? what are they for? how do they add value?
• How to get blogging and stay blogging

Support the show

About the publisher
This episode is published by Frontinus Ltd. We're a communications consultancy that helps organisations and individuals to communicate scientific, professional, and technical content to non-specialist audiences.
We provide

• consultancy
• mentoring
• editing and writing
• training

and work on presentations, bids and proposals, and publications (for example, reports and papers).
To learn more about services or explore ways of working together, please contact us via our website, http://frontinus.org.uk/.