 |  Periodic editorials concerning everything from the very worst industry—from an annual report standpoint, that is—to what's wrong with the Fourth Estate. Reporters who can't hit an accuracy with a cannon. |
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| Periodic editorials concerning everything from the very worst industry—from an annual report standpoint, that is—to what's wrong with the Fourth Estate. Reporters who can't hit an accuracy with a cannon. |
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The print annual report appears to have legs, after all.
It surprised even me. To a man (plus one woman), the executives united behind the print annual report, indicated unanimity among them—in the conviction that the print report isn't dead. And neither should it be allowed to go by the boards. The print version of my Newsletter on Annual Reports for October, devoted solely to the opinions of officers...from East Coast to West, with a stop in Bismarck, North Dakota—and Chicago, heartland of the Midwest—as is indicated in the issue, No. 254, a requiem for the print report appears premature. All the communications officers attested to the print report's staying power:
Observed IBM's Iwata: "It may be time for us to rethink the purpose of the annual report—or, perhaps, to return to its original intent." Tellabs' Stenitzer predicted flat out: "The printed annual report will continue." He observed that "Whenever a new communications medium is invented, pundits wrongly predict the demise of earlier media. "The end of radio was predicted when TV came along. The end of broadcast TV was seen when cable TV became available. And the end of print was predicted when the Internet became widely available. "The choice of medium is not a simple 'either-or' equation. Instead of replacing preexisting media, each new medium coexists with and redefines earlier media." One of the more intriguing looks at the print report's future emanated from Wells Fargo's executive VP for communications Larry Haeg, whose print reports for the West Coast financial institution excel, year after year. Said Haeg: "If the content delivers, then the annual report will continue to be a publicly held company's single most important vehicle for telling all its stakeholders at the same time where it's going and how it intends to get there. If not, it's a worthless exercise...on paper or on online." Sandeman, in the words we used in the October newsletter, "not only spoke eloquently, intelligently, all the while with a smile on his face...he offered up new visions of the San Antonio topic," which of course was "Future of the print report." He warned attendees to "Expect more conflict—it's built into every process and governance procedure." Said Sandeman: "The future of the print annual report begins right here, today, at this conference." |
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