AICI Celebrates May as International Civility Awareness Month

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Association of Image Consultants International (AICI)

May 04, 2010, 07:10 ET

SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association of Image Consultants International (AICI) has declared May International Civility Awareness Month in an effort to raise awareness of the decline of civility around the world. This listing is now officially on the Chase's Calendar of Events Web site, and will be permanently included in the 2011 Edition of Chase's Calendar of Events, The Ultimate Go-to Guide for Special Days, Weeks and Months.

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Lynne Marks, AICI CIM, president of the international association, and founder of the London Image Institute, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, believes, "There is a logical and compelling connection between civility and the ABC's of Image (Appearance, Behavior and Communication)." In fact, AICI says, "Civility is the new image. Incivility not only impedes our daily interactions with other people but also is costly for business. A 2009 study by Porath and Pearson concluded that incivility in the American workplace costs businesses hundreds of billions of dollars every year."

The Civility Counts Project was inspired by Dr. P.M. Forni, cofounder of the Civility Project at Johns Hopkins University and author of Choosing Civility --The Twenty Five Rules of Considerate Conduct (St. Martin's Griffin N.Y. 2002). Yasmin Anderson-Smith, AICI CIP, who chairs the Civility Counts Project Committee and authored an AICI white paper Civility Counts: An Image Perspective says, "Dr. Forni defines civility as being all about kindness, consideration, sensitivity, caring, giving and nurturing." Anderson-Smith founded Every Girl Can, a nonprofit based in Bowie, Maryland, and is a civility and etiquette expert. "It is a code of conduct based on the principles of 'Respect, Restraint and Responsibility,'" she said.

The Civility Counts Project was first introduced at the 2009 Conference in Irvine, CA, with the City of Los Angeles proclaiming "Los Angeles Civility Awareness Day." "It was then we committed to a grass-roots effort to launch a 'civility epidemic' and spread the word around the world by encouraging our global membership to gather proclamations from city and state agencies, including business and professional organizations,'' states Deborah King, AICI CIP, who heads up the proclamation effort. "We have accumulated proclamations from around the world to display during the 2010 conference, and this is just the beginning. This process will be ongoing every year, as part of our commitment to Civility."

This year, AICI celebrates its 20th Anniversary in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada from Thursday, May 20 through Sunday, May 23, 2010. Anderson-Smith and King, founder of the Final Touch Finishing School in Decatur, TX, will be presenting a conference workshop entitled Civility Counts: Boost Your Business and Your Life.

AICI, the Source for Image Professionals in Education, Experience and Excellence, is the leading and largest professional association of personal and corporate image consultants worldwide. A nonprofit organization, AICI is dedicated to advancing the level of professionalism and enhancing the recognition of image consultants. Online at www.aici.org.

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Lynn Marks

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=84462

Yasmin Anderson Smith

https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=76516

SOURCE Association of Image Consultants International (AICI)