Having to explain what public relations is to a US immigration officer after an eight-hour flight to Texas is not the easiest task in the world.
Every time I fly into the US, I am asked about my profession and, over the years, I have tried different versions of the same answer. I gave up “business communicator” a long time ago. I seem to get a lot of blank looks and than the usual question comes. “What is that?” You can almost see their brain visualizing rows of computers connected to each other. For some reason, communications makes them think of IT.
So when I entered the US at Dallas airport a couple of months ago, I thought I would go straight to the point. “I am in public relations.”
I would come to regret it. The guy raised his eyebrows and gave me a suspicious look. I went on to babble about the meeting I was going to attend in California but the suspicious look did not leave his face.
“So what is it that you guys do?”
Ok, I thought searching my brain for a “slow and dummy” definition of our so often misunderstood profession. “We organize press conferences, write communications strategies, organize events”
A look of relief brightened up the guy’s face. “Oh, I thought you were the guys who make bad guys look good!”
I had landed in Texas, Enron country. How could I have forgotten that!!?
I found the guy’s line so great that I told him I was going to use it for a keynote I had to give in Paris the week after. This elicited another blank look. But never mind; I was asked to place my fingers on the counter for prints. And a couple of minutes later, I was free to rush to my flight to San Diego (not before having stopped at the souvenir shop for a Texan string tie for my father). His idea not mine.
I did use the guy’s line as an introduction for my speech in Paris. It is a terrific line. It shows so brilliantly how misunderstood our profession really is. I’d be happy to hear from my fellow communicators about similar experiences they have had. I might even start to collect crazy definitions of business communications.
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