Holtz Communications + Technology

Hospital leaders everywhere struggle to get staff to wash their hands. Studies reveal that, without campaigns and reminders, hospital workers wash their hands about 30% of the time they’re working with patients. In Canada alone, this results in an estimated 220,000 healthcare-associated infections each year, and more than 8,000 deaths.

As a result, hospitals try everything from clever videos to security-like systems to…

The Friday Wrap is a curated rundown of news, reports and posts from the past week that, while they didn’t go viral or attract much attention, are still interesting and useful for communications professionals. I select Wrap items from my link blog, which you’re welcome to follow.

NLRB ruling could end another common workplace policy—A U.S. National Labor Relations Board administrative law judge found…

Whenever a new tool hits the market, you’ll find somebody ready to tell you why you shoudn’t waste your time with it. Critics have different reasons for rejecting the latest app: It serves no legitimate business or marketing purpose, it’s not ready for prime time, the potential risks haven’t been determined yet, it’s a flash in the pan.

The first comments I heard from marketing circles…

The websites of most musicians adhere a highly predictable template. There’s a bio, a page hosting some music, another with photos and video, a tour schedule, and a merchandise store. In developing the recently launched Jerry Garcia website, the team at global digital agency Critical Mass were anxious not only to explode the traditional artist’s site, but to take the website experience…

Greetings from Orlando, where I spoke twice yesterday at Ragan Communications’ annual Social Media and Communications conference. This Friday Wrap—a little shorter than usual and a bit more hastily prepared—is your weekly source of curated news, research, reports and posts that may have slipped by unnoticed, but that could prove useful to communicators and marketers. I collect items that I consider including in the…

After mulling over the pros and cons, I have taken the first steps to adopting GMail as my email client.

A little history for context:

When I started my own consulting practice in 1996, focused on helping companies communicate more effectively online, it was important to have my own domain for both email and a web presence. Eighteen years ago, most companies…