Two Days Left to Vote for Kami’s PR Blog

Yes, this is a shameless plug for our own Kami Watson-Huyse, APR. I know, I know, she has practically moved out of the country (Houston). But she has remained a member of the San Antonio chapter. And she was, after-all, our Del Oro PR Practitioner of the Year.

But this isn’t really about Kami. It’s about her blog, Communication Overtones. Out of hundreds of PR blogs in the country, hers is one of 32 in the running for best PR blog in a competition being held by PR Week. It’s PR Week’s 10th anniversary, and they have decided to honor “one of the most important technological advancements in content distribution of the past 10 years” – the blog.

Each blog competes with one other in a sort of elimination tournament. And there is only two more days to vote for Communication Overtones.

But don't take my word for it. If you've never read her blog, go check it out. It's really insightful and creative.

The second cool thing is that this contest presents you with a list of 32 PR blogs to take a look at. You may find a few that become good references for you or that you want to engage with. Once you’ve identified a few, subscribe to their newsfeeds through an iGoogle page so that you can receive their headlines in one place.

The Demise of List-Making? I Hope So!

It’s a ritual most public relations practitioners are familiar with – building a list of contacts for a client or building a list of influencers for an event. List-building is the first step to relationship-building in our profession, and while it is foundational, it is also tedious, thankless and instantaneously obsolete.

I frequently get contacted by someone new in travel media or a far-away print publication and they say “Put me on your list.” So which list do they go on, for how long and how much contact do they really want to have with me?

Should this outlet get our annual press kit mailing or are they interested in seasonal events or a 25-word listing about hours and days of operation? So, now you know. I have at least three lists. Okay, I have more than that. In fact, we have so many different lists that we have to organize them into a folder called “Media Lists.” And it is SO yesterday.

So why do we do it? First of all, as creatures of habit, we have to do it. Second, if we don’t add to the list, we wouldn’t be doing our jobs.

But list-building gets in the way of network building. If there’s one thing social media is teaching us, it’s that the two-way conversational nature of this medium makes network-building so vitally important. And list-making is so one-way.

Enter Peter Shankman and HARO, which has been featured here before http://prsanantonio.blogspot.com/2008/06/help-reporter-out.html. I heard about and joined the HARO network when it was at 10,000 members. That was early this summer. Now, at 22,000 strong, it’s a list that is less about WHO is on the spreadsheet and more about who needs to CONNECT with whom. While the three times daily e-mails hit all 22,000 members, the unwritten rule is ever-present. You will not approach a media person on the queries list if you don’t fit the request. And so the dialogue begins and we, as public relations professionals, begin the process of “how can I help you do this story?” The connections are far more meaningful than any traditional list.

Chapter Hosts Summer Mixer

Two weeks ago, I attended the PRSA Summer Mixer at the Alamo Cafe. It's not a new event; the chapter has been hosting an evening July event for several years. Based on a record number of attendees, it's definitely on the "cool" list for professionals in our city. We had the pleasure of hosting more than 70 professionals that evening, most were non-members. My job, and that of my fellow PRSA San Antonio board members, was to introduce ourselves and our organization. Many of you told us that lunch time events are often difficult to attend and that you would be interested in evening events. We heard you! Many of you had questions about the organization and what we do. We shared with you! Many of you said you would be interested in attending our professional development luncheons. We're looking forward to hosting you! I met at least six people I had not been acquainted with or worked with in San Antonio, and I thought I knew everybody. At our next board meeting, we will set a date for the next mixer. Based on our attendance, enthusiasm, and noise level in the room, it's easy to see why PRSA San Antonio is a thriving organization for communicators. See you at the next mixer!

Learn about Social Media with the Help of the Common Craft Show

I’ve been leading a series of sessions for our staff to introduce them to the world of social media and to specific online social tools they can be using right away. I’ve led a two-hour overview session a couple of times that introduced them to a world most had no idea existed. I’ve walked them through using Jott and setting up an iGoogle page and finding RSS newsfeeds to populate it with. (One senior staff member was practically doing cartwheels when he started using Jott, I kid you not.) I’ve also begun to introduce them to Twitter, which is really hard for anyone to grasp until they dive in. Soon, I’ll be leading sessions on using Delicious, which I think they’ll love.

There is one web site that I’ve found really helpful: the Common Craft Show. Headed by Sachi and Lee LeFever, this web site provides short (two- to three-minute) videos that clearly describe certain social media elements. They are simple and highly creative. But most importantly, they are instructive. They help folks get the big picture.

Here is a list of topics from the site:

Social Media in Plain English
Blogs in Plain English

Podcasting in Plain English
Social Bookmarking in Plain English

Twitter in Plain English
Online Photo Sharing in Plain English
RSS in Plain English
Wikis in Plain English

The only change I would make is that I wish the video that focuses on Twitter would give a little more attention to how organizations are using it. But frankly, since they came out with this video so quickly after Twitter use took off, people may not have been using it yet professionally.

The LeFever deserve lots of praise for taking this on. They’ve developed something really innovative in order to help others. It really reflects the generous spirit of Web 2.0

The Common Elements of Effective PR and Baseball Pitching

We’ve adopted the term “pitching” from that great American pastime – baseball. In our field, it means communicating with a reporter to urge him or her to write or produce a story about whatever you are pitching. Sometimes the pitch is over the phone, in recent years, it’s been done by e-mail. But there have been other forms as well. Unfortunately, pitches are sometimes directed to anyone who will listen – and to many who won’t.

But we have to remember the key elements of pitching in baseball. The pitch is directed at one bat at a time, it is strategic (curveball, slider, changeup), and it is really, really fast.

I am not an expert in media pitching. Perhaps you are. Perhaps you’ve figured out how to peak the interest of a reporter in less than two minutes on the phone. But have you ever done so in the equivalent of 140 characters?

That’s what Twitpitch does. Using Twitter, you can pitch in less than 140 characters -- counting spaces. The concept came from the brain of big-time blogger, Stowe Boyd. And now, Business Week has published an article about it, featuring Stowe and Brian Solis.

If you have already taken my advice and gotten aboard Twitter, you’re all set up to try this out. Once you’ve gotten your pitch nailed down to 140 characters for Twitpitching, you’ll also be better prepared for e-mail and phone pitching. That’s because, you’ll be focused on targeting your pitch, being strategic about your message and being lightening fast.

Let me know how it goes!

Put Away Your Toys!

As a child, my parents would say this to me -- and to my brothers -- often. While we didn't always get why they were asking us to do it, we understood what they meant when they said it. Finish what you started, clean up your mess and move on. Fundamentally, I have been doing this all my professional life, even if the toy part as a child was lost on me. Projects are finished, you clean up, sort through the manila file, which usually contained everything related to that product launch or media event or community relations opportunity. Then, you tossed what you didn't need or what was duplicated and put a new label on the file and with some very savvy coding, filed it in a metal filing cabinet.

Then along came the Internet and electronic documents and now what do I do? There's just not one place for everything anymore. Sure, I have bookmarks and favorites, but not all my technical gizmos can be neatly placed in a manila file folder, much less the cabinet.

It may not be that the "pages" are all 8 1/2 x 11 either. The real reason may be that the projects just don't end anymore. They morph on and repeat and often the lines are blurred between finishing one project and starting another. This does not even address the issue of time compression and project overload. So the question in my mind is now: when is it time to put away my toys?

San Antonio Express-News Playground Barrage Has Affect

As described in my last post, the San Antonio Express-News took on the city by investigating the status of city parks, their disrepair and unethical treatment of the city auditor. To date I have counted multiple articles by Todd Bensman (whose first story got the ball rolling, 6/9, 6/12 and 6/13) and Guillermo Garcia (6/22, 6/24) along with columns by Cary Clack (6/10), Jaime Castillo (6/10, 6/15), editor Bob Rivard (6/15), Ken Rodriguez (6/16, 6/20), Scott Stroud (6/28), public editor Bob Richter and the editorial board (6/19). Fourteen stories so far in one month. (Some of the articles are only available through the Express-News online archives.)

And with good reason. City leaders seemed to be much more concerned about looking good than about making sure that our children are taken care of. Though it is true, they were operating on information provided by the parks director, who turned out to be lying.

So, it took the city manager 28 days to speak up clearly. But there were some steps the city took leading up to that.

Three days after the first story hit, the city manager and the mayor announced that all 114 of the city’s playgrounds would be re-inspected.

Twelve days later, the parks and recreation department director was forced to resign. (Director of parks is forced to resign, 6/22)

Sixteen days later, a city council committee was set up to clarify the role of the auditor’s office and presumably how to keep it from being influenced by political interests. (Panel will examine post of city auditor, 6/24)

And finally, 28 days later, city manager Sheryl Sculley provided her own op ed with the opening line: “The safety of our children is a priority of the city of San Antonio.” She provided a summary of results from the inspections promised after the first story and gave a deadline for when repairs would be completed. She also pointed out that inspections did not categorize any playgrounds as dangerous. Finally, she stated that a long-term maintenance plan would be submitted to the council and that an analysis of the parks department service delivery was underway.

This case study is far from closed. There will be debates about the auditor’s office. There will be further checking into the status of playground repairs. I wouldn’t surprised if a lawyer somewhere is able to find a child who was injured on one of the dangerous playgrounds identified in the 2003 inspection. Wouldn’t you?

I’m curious about the role – if any – the city’s public relations staff played in this whole affair. I’d like to believe that they gave appropriate counsel and weren’t listened to. It’s also possible they weren’t involved at all. Perhaps some effective crisis communications training is in order for city leader staff.

photo credit: Jerry Lara/Express-News

San Antonio Playground Affair is a Case Study in What Not to Do

Twenty-eight days. Four weeks. 672 hours. That’s how long it took for San Antonio’s city manager to stand up and say we are going to repair the city’s playgrounds. Twenty-eight days.

So here's the question. What do you do when a local newspaper or television station unveils your dirt? What do you do when they won't let go of an issue that you haven't solved?

Well the city of San Antonio’s current dangerous playground affair is a case study and exactly what not to do. And it’s still playing out (pardon the pun).

For those who don't know what's going on or don't live San Antonio, here’s the set up. The San Antonio Express-News has been publishing articles revealing the high number of city-owned playgrounds that have gone unrepaired for years, some of which have been rated dangerous. City leaders reacted – to put it mildly – defensively. Their lack of transparency and poor responses are weakening residents’ trust.

Trust buster #1: It all started in April when the city's auditor wanted to conduct an audit of the process the city uses to inspect it's playgrounds. The city committee refused to allow that audit to occur and fired the auditor.

So the city paper started digging and found that the last inspection in 2003 found “15 of 114 inspected playgrounds were so dangerous or substandard that they should be torn down, put off limits to children or extensively repaired.”

Trust buster #2: Many of those playgrounds have still not been repaired and there is no formal process for safety checks.

Trust buster #3: The playgrounds in the worst conditions are located in low-income, high minority sections of the city.

Trust buster #4: City leaders still maintain that an audit isn’t necessary, leading people to wonder what else they have to hide. According to the Express-News, the mayor claimed, “I don’t think Gonzales’ audit would have found a single thing!”

Since some people new beforehand that the Express-News was investigating and would be publishing a story, you would expect city leaders to be prepared to respond. But they weren’t.

Trust buster #5-10: When the first story by Todd Bensman broke on June 9, city leader responses included denials that there is a problem, claims that the auditor was fired for overstepping his bounds (which later articles refuted), sending crews out to wrap plastic yellow construction-zone tape around some playgrounds, a campaign by the city manager to show that playground safety has been well managed and that no serious lapses have endangered children, refusals to talk with reporters, distributing packets to city council members critical of the newspaper reporting, and pointing out that the city has not been sued for injuries to children on its playgrounds.

Everyone in public relations knows the first thing that you do is admit your mistake or misstep or whatever the wrongdoing is, apologize, commit to fixing it and commit to taking actions to keep it from happening again. City leaders did exactly the opposite; they tried to gloss over the multi-pronged problem.

After stumbling along, city leaders eventually began to take better actions to rebuild trust. In my next post, I’ll outline those steps.

All the news that's fit to print...

I have a new role with my organization, Keeper of the Web Site. I have always helped keep it updated, but now it's my responsibility. Woot!

We've recently had an overhaul of the look and content, and I've learned how to upload most of the dynamic information easily. What I'd like to expand is the ease of our site as a resource for journalists and the community at large. Right now, there is a news release archive, and my contact information, but not a very extensive "newsroom" as a resource.

I registered today for PRSA's professional development webinar "Top Ten Elements to Have in an Online Newsroom" . I'm hoping it offers a lot of good tips. There are obvious elements needed for a successful resource (contact information, physical location of organization, executive information, news release archive, etc.). But, what are your suggestions for a really useful, efficient online newroom? Have you seen some good ones? Some really bad ones?

Show me yours, and I'll imitate all the good parts! If you want to see the site as it is now, here is the link. There is some content we have to keep on as part of the parent company, but I'd love your feedback on all aspects of the site, even if it's not to fulfill my current goal of creating a stellar newsroom!

SA Business Journal’s Two PR Stories

I know I’m a week behind, but did you see the June 27 issue of the San Antonio Business Journal? There are two front-page stories related to the local public relations industry.

One profiles how real estate developers are calling on PR agencies to build support for their projects. The story, “Developers turning to PR pros to help ramp up project buzz,” by Tricia Lynn Silva, quotes Katie Harvey of KGB Texas Public Relations, José Sena of Blue Clover, Skip Wood of The Wood Agency, Marsha Hendler of Marketing +, and Trish DeBerry of Guerra DeBerry Coody.

The second story focuses on the big news from Creative Civilization’s ending its advertising account with Spurs Sports & Entertainment, “Spurs trying to score new ad agency in challenging times.” Naturally, the writer, Scott Bailey, talked with Al Aguilar. He also quotes Skip Wood of The Wood Agency and Melanie Mahaffey of Austin-based GSD&M.
I have nothing to add about these stories. I just thought it was interesting to see them both on the front page in the same issue.

Helpful Service Grades your News Release

Here’s a cool tool you might want to try out. It’s HubSpot's Press Release Grader. This is a free online service that evaluates your news release. Some results it will provide are: a “gobbledygook” score, readability levels, link analysis, word cloud and SEO score.

Todd Defren shares his summary on his PR Squared blog, as does Melissa Underwood of Ragan.com.

The grader’s web site even has provides a very helpful six-minute video overview that walks you through the process. Check it out!

CBS Sunday Morning Rebuttal Defends PR

An excutive VP at CBS Sunday Morning has provided a rebuttal to Andrew Cohen's commentary (see my previous post). Author Gil Schwartz is executive VP of corporate communications for CBS. He's also known as Stanly Bing. On June 22, CBS Sunday Morning aired his response, titled "Defending Public Relations."

Chapter President-Elect Sends Letter to PRSA about Andrew Cohen Rant

Related to my previous post about Andrew Cohen’s rant, our chapter’s president-elect,
Robert E. Sheldon, APR, sent a letter to PRSA’s president & CEO, Bill Murray. This was in response to the open letter the Murray released immediately after the CBS Sunday Morning show aired. Sheldon’s letters are below in their entirety (with his permission), I didn’t ask for Murray’s permission, so I’ve only summarized his comments.

Has anyone pointed out that Scott McClellan is not even a member of PRSA - and probably wouldn’t be able to abide by the Code of Ethics anyway? THAT should have been the whole point of the answer letter from PRSA - that what McClellan did was NOT public relations in the sense that PRSA defines it, it was bald-face, deceptive marketing. Reputable PR practitioners belong to PRSA and abide by the Code of Ethics. The reality is that we don’t set standards for the "PR profession," we only set standards for PRSA members. And we PRSA members are only a minority of all the people who profess to be in the public relations profession.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

Murray responded with a letter essentially stating that his strategy was to focus on conduct of all PR professionals, whether or not they are PRSA members, and to hold up the Code of Ethics as guide for all.

Sheldon sent the following in response.

Thanks for the quick reply. I agree that we need to promote our standards for the whole of the profession, but we also need to constantly clarify what is and is not public relations. In the public’s view, being a PR professional today is right up there with used car salesmen, snake-oil hucksters and greedy CEOs - because that’s all they see. But being a dissembling apologist for an unethical client is NOT public relations, in my view - it’s manipulative propaganda -- and PRSA needs to constantly tell the public what the difference is.
– Robert Sheldon, APR

We’d love to hear what you think.

Note: A misspelled name has been corrected on 7/1/08

Help a Reporter Out

Just three months ago, Peter Shankman (Peter is the founder and CEO of The Geek Factory, Inc., a boutique marketing a PR strategy firm located in NYC) started a new project he calls "Help a Reporter Out," or HARO.

The service allows journalists to submit requests for "experts" when working on a story. Peter then compiles the requests and sends them out to his subscribers - flacks like us for the most part. The requests range from "I'm working on a story on waterproof makeup," to "What has made Americans -- especially parents -- so fearful?"

Peter encourages flacks from all backgrounds to sign up, because - as he says - sooner or later a journalist will need you or an expert from your organization for something they're working on.

I signed up for the service when I heard about it on PROPenMic, but I've also seen talk on Twitter.

I know what you're saying...this sounds like all those other listserve services where I can sign up to be an expert and pay a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars annually to be included in the "expert" list. That's where this one is different. It's free.

That's right. I said it's free.

As Peter says on the site "It takes me a few minutes each day to do this, and the good Karma is immeasurable. So I'm not charging. If you really feel like sending me a donation or something, why not just send a few bucks to an animal hospital or animal rescue society somewhere. Some good places are Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, or The National Search Dog Foundation. That'll keep the good Karma flowing."

OK...I hope he doesn't take a page out of the Associated Press handbook and try to charge me for copying all that text off his site.

Anyway...

I've gotten a few e-mails each day since signing up, and I've responded to one. Some of them contain the reporter's complete contact information. Others are "anonymous," which means you send your information to Peter, who then forwards it to the reporter. If that person wishes to get in touch with you, they can.

He's gotten more than 10,000 subscribers in just under 90 days, and he's now aiming for 20,000. In each e-mail he encourages us to forward information about the service to our friends (I'm choosing to do it this way) so he can get more and more people signed up.

The one thing he is absolutely adamant about is that you not waste the reporter's time. Again, to quote Peter: "Promise us one thing: When you join, you'll promise not to email a reporter with an answer that doesn't match what they're looking for. In other words, you won't waste a reporter's time. Promise?"

As far as I'm concerned, this is a win-win for journalists and flacks. They get access to thousands of experts in a plethora of fields, and we get the opportunity to strut our stuff and look like heroes when we land an interview with a journalist we might not have otherwise had access to.

Once this grows some more and is no longer taking Peter "...a few minutes each day..." I'm not sure how it will remain free...at least for the flacks...but for now...enjoy it! Sign up!

And, if you're on Twitter, follow Peter at "skydiver."

PRSA Responds to CBS Attack on the Public Relations Profession

On June 1, CBS Sunday Morning aired a commentary by their legal analyst, Andrew Cohen, in which he accused all PR folk of essentially lying for a living. “Show me a PR person who is ‘accurate’ and ‘"truthful,’ and I'll show you a PR person who is unemployed,” he said.

The impetus for his statements was the release of Scott McClellan’s tell-all book. But Cohen took an unjournalistic leap by extending his criticism to our entire profession and directly citing (sarcastically) the PRSA code of ethics.

Later the same day – a Sunday I might add – PRSA Chairman & CEO Jeffrey Julin released an open letter in response. A little bit later, he issued a video response on YouTube.

Individual PR professionals came to the defense of each other as well. To read one of several impressions, visit the blog of Kami Watson-Huyse, APR. On June 2, Andrew Cohen responded in a blog post saying: “I am now the target of a public-relations effort to ridicule my effort, my points, my character and integrity. I expected nothing less.”

Personally, I think it’s clear nothing we say will change Cohen’s mind. So, at this point, it’s fruitless to try. First, he’s mistaken to even consider McClellan’s role as equal to that of other PR positions. That’s politics. It’s an entirely different world, which is not to say honesty is absent or excused. But it’s different.

Second, he refuses to see the true purpose of public relations. PR cannot succeed when it is based on deceit. In fact, we are in the truth-telling business. Sometimes that means telling our bosses what they don’t want to hear. And it’s about relationship building, not treating audiences like pawns to be manipulated.

I’ve been active in San Antonio’s PRSA chapter for 14 years. I don’t personally know any PR person who spends his or her days trying to “convince people that a turkey is really an eagle,” as Cohen describes.

I am not claiming we’re perfect or that we don’t need to continually hold ourselves and each other accountable. That’s why we join professional associations like PRSA.

And while Cohen is free to speak his mind, given his position and influence he bears as much responsibility to be honest and as accurate as possible. There is no evidence to support his claims about the bulk of our profession. Instead he’s given in to his emotion and personal preconceptions. And in doing so, he has damaged the reputation of the profession and of CBS Sunday Morning. He should be required to issue a correction during the next Sunday Morning program.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Join a Discussion about "PR Spam"

Have you heard of the term PR spam? It’s the practice of blasting out news releases or pitches to lists of contacts with no attempt at tailoring pitches or even verifying that the recipients might be the least bit interested in the content. It’s probably been with us as long as media have been around.

The hope is that if you shoot out hundreds of identical pitches, something will stick. There’s no real strategy involved. Perhaps it’s worked at times. It never has for me.

As many of our local PR leaders can attest, more effective media relations involves knowing who you are pitching and why. It means designing the pitch for them specifically. It takes more time, but it has a much bigger pay off.

Since spam is the electronic equivalent to junk mail. The term PR spam has come along to describe those sales, marketing and pitch e-mails that are thrust on reporters.

And because of the ease of sending e-mails, the volume of PR spam is growing exponentially. While reporters have mostly tolerated our bad and lazy behavior, bloggers aren’t so willing. We’ve seen them lately ranting online about it, blocking PR spam e-mail domains and publishing the names or domains of offenders. So, rather than the story becoming in the story, the mis-pitch becomes the story.

Of course, many of these spammers are people doing public relations work without any public relations expertise. I wish that was the whole problem. The fact is, many large and small PR firms have been called out.

That leaves us with several questions, like: How are we training our PR staff? How are we holding ourselves accountable? How are we measuring media relations success?

I am bringing this up now to tell you about a live call-in online discussion that is taking place on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. For Immediate Release will host the discussion on FIR Live on BlogTalk Radio. And you can join in. Get details on the FIR blog.

Two Cents: Twitter is a Powerful PR Tool

Cross post from PRSA San Antonio Byline, June 2008 issue.

I don’t usually give advice this way. But, if you are not using Twitter yet, it’s time. Today. Normally, I would suggest you check it out when you have time to see if it’s a good fit for you. But not in this case. If you are in public relations – and likely if you’re not – you need to understand Twitter. And to understand it, you have to use it.

Simply put, Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service – meaning once you sign up (easily), you can send updates (or “tweets”) of up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter web site. You choose people to follow so you can read their tweets, and people follow you to read yours. Over time, you’re part of a community.

If you’ve been waiting to see if this fad will catch on, the waiting is over. Twitter has become a powerful tool for communication for organizations, communities and individuals. Many news stories are breaking on Twitter first because people experiencing whatever it is are tweeting about it in real time.

Here are just a few ways people and organizations have already been using Twitter:

• Comcast is using Twitter to respond to customer-service related tweets.

• The Red Cross is using Twitter to send emergency updates to communities experiencing a disaster and universities are using it to notify students about emergencies.

• Small businesses are using Twitter to drive traffic to their web sites and generate sales (though hard sell and creepy tactics aren’t tolerated among Twitter users).

• Individuals are getting questions answered quickly (when visiting a new city, Dan York asked suggestions for a store that sells boots).

• At least one charity non-profit has been formed by Twitter users in response to a woman’s honest tweets about her breast cancer diagnosis (see Frozen Pea Fund).

• Southwest Airlines uses Twitter to let customers know about deals.

• Journalists at Read Write Web discover tech news tips on Twitter first on a regular basis and they use it to solicit interview questions via Twitter.

• Conference speakers instruct audience members to submit questions via Twitter and monitor Twitter traffic to get immediate feedback on their event.

• A professor uses Twitter to communicate with his students between classes.

Granted, there are other tools like this one. And some of them are more stable and have better features. But Twitter was first. I’ve listed some resources for you for when you have questions.

But don’t keep studying it. Do it. And let me know what your Twitter name is and I’ll post it on our blog so others can find you. Oh yeah, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/clgoodman.

Resources
The 10 ways I learned to use Twitter in 2007... (aka Why and How I use Twitter)

Newbie's guide to Twitter

Twitter in Plain English

The Top 5 Ways Smart People Use Twitter

Twitter for Academia

How to Use Twitter for Marketing & PR

QuickStart Can Help New PR Professionals with Career Direction

Here is another announcement from PRSA national.

Once they’ve left the hallowed halls of their colleges or universities, new public relations professions should have an idea (an inkling, maybe) of the direction they want their careers to head. Should they look for a job in the private sector, in a corporate communications or public relations department? Are they thinking they want to work in the public sector at a government agency, or perhaps a public relations agency?

For the undecided, PR QuickStart, is a resourceful tool that offers free Web-based training in public relations for new professionals.

PR QuickStart provides an overview of the fundamental skills required to work in public relations and what to expect if a person decides to work for a public relations agency. The updated PR QuickStart curriculum is divided into three courses: (1) What Is Public Relations? (2) The Agency Life, and (3) Media Relations.

The site is packed with case histories, news articles, video and links to other industry resources, as well as tips and advice from public relations professionals at different levels. Members will find links to industry newsletters, public relations blogs and job boards. PR QuickStart also is a great place to refresh your public relations knowledge.

PR QuickStart is collaborative partnership between the Council of Public Relations Firms and the Counselors Academy. For more information, send an e-mail to Carolyn Marr or call her at 212-460-1420.

PRSA Launches Updated JobCenter

From the PRSA national e-newsletter

If you are looking for a PR job or if you are an employer who is recruiting PR folk, this news could be helpful. The following is from an announcement by PRSA.

Using our JobCenter is now easier and more functional than ever. PRSA recently launched the updated and redesigned JobCenter, which is now a fully featured site that offers more information and easy-to-use functionalities for job seekers and employers. Posting a resume is now free. We also added an anonymous resume posting option for job seekers. Employers now have the benefit of pre-screen filters, bulk posting and a user-friendly candidate management system. Moreover, PRSA has developed a new heavily discounted pricing structure for members. To post a job or resume, visit the JobCenter.

Posting a resume on JobCenter gives members access to a public relations and communications targeted community of more than 32,000 members, including more than 9,900 students, as well as a database of 45,000 communication professionals from across the country.

In addition to enhancing the JobCenter design and functionality, PRSA also has engaged TopRank Online Marketing to provide search engine optimization and promotion services to extend the visibility of JobCenter listings on Web sites, such as Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live. TopRank works with some of the largest companies on the Web, and we look forward to using their expertise to help JobCenter users get even more value from their listings through improved search engine rankings.

Massive Fire at Our Lady of the Lake

Our hearts wept for the sisters, students, faculty and community of Our Lady of the Lake University as the century-old main building burned last night.

For out-of-towners who haven’t heard, this beautiful structure was built in 1895 by the Sisters of Divine Providence. It has become a powerful symbol to San Antonians, in partas a news anchor stated, because so many of our residents would not have been able to attend college if it hadn’t been for Our Lady of the Lake.

That building contained the administrative offices, communications offices, computer labs and dorm rooms for international students. More than half of the city's fire fighters tended to the fire.

On a public relations note, the university should be commended for posting updates on its web site – while the fire was still blazing. The most urgent news update for distant relatives was that everyone was evacuated safely and there were no injuries. What a blessing.

University President Dr. Tessa Martinez Pollack last night stated that we will rebuild, reminding the community that when the sisters of Divine Providence arrived here 113 years ago, they started with nothing.

Today, their legacy is strong beyond words. And their strength is more solid than stone.

Blogging the Del Oro

By Robert E. Sheldon, APR
PRSA San Antonio Chapter President-Elect

“To have a little recognition, that is very nice, you dig. It is good for the ego, for the psyche.”
– Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon, an iconic American jazz tenor saxophonist and Jazz Hall of Fame inductee, got it right when he spoke those words – probably to an audience of his peers after collecting one of numerous awards throughout his career. I was thinking about the emotional, soothing, ego-stroking and positive quality of recognition as my wife, BJ and I were attending the sixth Annual Del Oro Award banquet on May 1.

How many of us wonder, in the push and rush of our public relations careers, whether what we’re doing is any good? Did we break new ground? Craft the perfect press kit? Create abundant awareness and goodwill for our company or client? It’s something that all of need to know at least once in a while.

Our PRSA chapter meted out 37 separate awards that night. That represents nearly a third of all our members in San Antonio, and that should be a comforting equation. It means that most of us are probably doing very good work if we are able to gather together to hand out actual, physical awards to about a third of our number. The truth is that much good work goes unrecognized by organizations and employers of all walks. That’s a shame. More bosses and organizations need to learn how recognition motivates people.

The number of different awards is also a measure of how diversified and segmented our profession has become. We are not all PR generalists or the public face of large corporations or organizations in the news media. The task of communications has become so large and important that it takes specialists of all kinds – people who talk, people who draw, people who write and people who create big ideas. None of us does it all – or we would have just one big Del Oro Award -- and a very short banquet.

We saw young up-and-comers get a nod from their peers that they were doing well right out of the chute. We saw veterans getting recognition for a lifetime of splendid, ethical counseling. And, we saw many mid-career professionals getting kudos for the results of their talents. This is as it should be, because we need recognition at all stages of our careers – when we’re first starting out and need to know that we’ve chosen a good career path; when we’re half-way through our working life and need a reason to keep going; and when we’re in the twilight of our careers and need to know that it was all worth while.

With all the celebration that evening, it was easy to forget the many individuals whose entries were not chosen for recognition. I have been in that category before – as have many of you – and it’s not a fun place to be. But on the positive side, with 37 awards to give out every year, each member ought to get some award about every three years. At least, mathematically. Ah, if only it worked that way!

No, the entries not chosen usually had some fatal flaw – underfunding, no research, seat-of-the-pants-planning, or no way of measuring results. Sometimes that’s all the company or the client gives you to work with. Maybe there ought to be a category for the best “no-budget, no time for planning, do-it-because-the-client-told-you-to” PR program. Hmm. Don’t hold your breath.

In the meantime, let’s try to imagine what it must feel like to bask in the glow of the spotlight and hear the accolades of your peers. Because, it’s one of the drivers of excellence, the explosive spark of accomplishment and part of the reason that we’re all here.

Yes, recognition is a very nice thing. You dig?

Thoughts on the PRSA San Antonio's Del Oro Awards Event

Thursday's PRSA San Antonio's Del Oro Awards banquet was quite an evening. The crowd was the biggest we've ever had. It was nice to see first-time PRSA award winners and hear about some amazing PR work. We also had winners present from the Corpus Christi police department. The news release with a photo was sent out by Business Wire yesterday.

I had the privilege of sharing a table with three sons of Juanita and Tex Taylor. Our biggest individual award is named after the late Tex Taylor. His wife passed away a few weeks ago. Several of the speakers talked about Tex's generous support of young PR professionals.

I'm also happy to say we raised good money for the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund. In the silent auction, I personally took home vouchers for 17 pizzas (if you know me, you'll understand).

Our PR Professional of the Year winner, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, has shared her wonderful speech on her blog. I've been given permission to share the speech of our Horizon Winner, Randy Escamilla below.

Fellow Honorees or Stars as we're called tonight: Kelly, Kami and Adrianna; fellow PRSA members; Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word;ladies and gentlemen. Thank you all very much!

I have to tell you a little story: When I found out I was the recipient of the Horizon Award I sent out an email to some of my friends. One of them, quickly responded, "Could this be Divine Intervention?"

Certainly, this could not have happened without help from Above. And, fortunately I have had rich and meaningful guidance from friends along this new-found journey into public relations.

Exactly three years ago this month-I left a fun and crazy career in TV news. There was no doubt I'd transition into public relations...and I've had to learn that PR means much more than just press releases.

I would not be here tonight without the guidance and support of the Public Relations Society of America and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. There are Sisters present here tonight -- giants of our community. Please stand and be recognized.

And it's not by accident that both organizations; PRSA and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, share values and missions which mirror each other with a clear focus on ethics. Two great institutions which not only invite me to join-to be a part of---but allow me to serve. And what an honor that is.

The truth is, tonight's award is not about me. It's about the people who really have allowed me to further my knowledge, interest, investment and love of public relation
specifically Sister Walter Maher, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, and Pascual Gonzalez.

I'd also like to acknowledge Bob McCullough, APR, and Lorraine Pulido-Ramirez who nominated me for this award. Please stand and be recognized. I'm also grateful to the late Marilyn Potts, our Chapter president, who we lost tragically a couple of years ago. I met Marilyn at my first PRSA mixer and she immediately made me feel welcome. It is Marilyn's warm and genuine spirit which lives on in our Chapter and encompasses PRSA.

Never could I have imagined just a few years ago that I'd be travelling around the world as part of a team working with the world's poorest people and saving African babies from AIDS. It's part of my journey in this honorable profession. And this award is for them.

Tonight, we are called stars of public relations. Stars are bright, warm and glowing. Stars always shine brighter when they're part of great constellations.

It's an honor for me to receive the 2008 Horizon Award and to be a part of the great constellations of PRSA and the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word.

Thank you!!!

A Visit with Marilyn

I haven’t told anyone this, except my husband. A couple of months ago, I dreamed of Marilyn Potts. I was sitting at a luncheon table when she walked in and sat next to me. Someone was speaking at the podium, so she remained quiet. But there she was: tall, happy and kind.

I’ve never been one to take much stock in the meaning of dreams. I don’t even own a dream interpretation book. Still, this one struck me. In the dream, I kept looking around for someone else to notice that a ghost was at my table. But everyone nearby was new to our group and hadn’t known Marilyn. They weren’t aware of the legacy that follows her.

It’s fitting really. The whole reason we started the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund after her death was to support young people as they transition from college to the professional world of public relations. It was something Marilyn did herself.

The reason I am bringing this up now is that our Del Oro Awards banquet is next week. There will be many things to celebrate, like our individual winners – Kelly G. Morris, APR, Kami Watson Huyse, APR, Adriana R. Garcia and Randy Escamilla – along with the great PR work of our campaigns and tactics winners. But we also will be raising funds for the Marilyn Potts Endowment Fund. We need to raise a few thousand more dollars in order to be able to start dispersing funds. And there is a class of seniors who could use our support right away.

So I hope that if you attend the banquet, you will either make a hefty donation or bid on several silent auction items. In fact, if you lose something you bid on, I hope you will write the check anyway. If you can’t be there, you can still make a donation.

How natural it will be someday, to see many more new and young faces at PR events unknowingly surrounding Marilyn’s spirit and fulfilling her dreams for them.

PRSA Silver Anvil is Now on Facebook

PRSA has created a Facebook page focusing on the Silver Anvil Awards. Here is the text of the announcement:

Visit the PRSA Silver Anvil Awards Evening event page on Facebook to keep up with latest news about the industry's most recognized and prestigious award program. The icon of best public relations practices, the Silver Anvil Awards will be presented on Thursday, June 5, 2008, at the Equitable Center in midtown Manhattan. The Silver Anvil Awards Evening has been named the “#1 Public Relations Industry Event in New York” by BizBash in its annual “New York’s Top 100 Events,” and will feature special guest celebrities along with pre-eminent public relations professionals who have risen to the top of their game in a highly competitive contest.

Use the Silver Anvil Awards Evening event page to invite others to learn more about the event and post your photos from the 2007 Silver Anvil Awards Evening. As we get closer to June 5, we'll post more updates, including podcast links, webcast dates, video clips and post-event photos.

Get Well Soon Charlie!

Our dear friend and PRSA leader, Charlie Kenworthey, APR, Fellow PRSA, underwent surgery for an aortic aneurism on April 9. He is out of ICU and is now recovering. Many of our members have asked how to share their get-well wishes. Cards can be sent to 1103 River Vista West, San Antonio, Texas 78216.

I've got Social Media Block

Like a ton of other people who work in offices, I'm blocked from quite a few web sites, many of them social media-related, at work. I do public relations for a large hospital system and I understand security. I get it, we deal with a lot of sensitive information – almost none of which I have access to. I also understand when you have thousands of employees that there is potential for a lot of "lost" time if said employees are playing around on the Internet while at work.

My challenge with not having access is that I monitor media and do media relations for my system and I don't have access to the same information that the reporters do. I also have some employee relations duties and I don't have access to a lot of the sites that might tell me how our folk are feeling. If they post on Facebook, MySpace, or YouTube, I'm out of luck. I can't see what they might have said when I'm at the office. So I look when I'm home after my son's gone to sleep.

Since tracking employee feelings outside the workplace isn't my main function, it's not that big a deal to look while I'm at home. The real problem comes when a reporter asks for something related to a site that is blocked to me. Here's a recap of a recent conversation I had with a reporter:

Reporter: We've found some video on YouTube showing patients being transported by an ambulance service. Can you look at the video and tell me if it's a HIPAA violation?

Me: Um, I don't have access to YouTube and wouldn't comment on another organization; but, I'm happy to direct you to a good resource to help you understand HIPAA.

Reporter: You can't look at YouTube [I'm pretty sure I hear laughter in his voice]?

Me: No, it's a site that is blocked on our system.

Reporter: Wow. So anybody can say anything about your hospital and you won't even know it?

Me: Well, anyone can say anything about our hospital because it's their right to do that. But, no, if I wanted to check from work, I wouldn't know.

Reporter: Hey, if I ever come across anything, I'll let you know!

Me: Gosh. Thanks.

I follow a group of people on Twitter who are so incredibly smart, well informed, and sharing that I'm constantly learning from them via their Tweets. When I first came to this health system, I noticed that Twitter was one of the blocked sites. When I asked our IT guy to see if I could have it added to my "safe" list, he got back to me with this funny answer, "Sherry, Twitter is listed as a 'match making' site, so we can't okay it. I thought you were dating someone?"

Great. So not only was I blocked, the IT guy thinks I'm trying to hook up while at the office. So, now I post to Twitter through text on my personal phone and I read using my company BlackBerry (but can't post through BB because its Java function has been disabled). It's worth it to me to have access to the group I'm following – I learn something almost every day – but it's so convoluted!

If you want another take on the "Blocking" visit Shel Holtz's campaign against corporate blocking. For me, being blocked from sites is a pain but not really a huge hindrance to my work. For a lot of people though, it can be a real strain. Shel's got a great source of information about it on Stop Blocking!

I'm interested to hear your thoughts on blocking. Has blocking been a strain on your professional time? At what point can employees be trusted to not abuse the system by hours of shopping online or chatting with friends?

What do you think?

New Media, New Influencers & Implications for PR

The Society for New Communications Research has released the results of its study, "New Media, New Influencers & Implications for the Public Relations Profession." You can download the whitepaper online. Below is quoted from the executive summary:

Public relations professionals today are confronted with an astounding array of new communications channels. Internet-based social media tools like blogs, podcasts, online video and social networks are giving voice to the opinions of millions of consumers. While mainstream media continues to play a vital role in the dissemination of information, even these traditional channels are increasingly being influenced by online conversations.

The "new influencers" are beginning to tear at the fabric of corporate communications and marketing as they have existed for 100 years, giving rise to a new style characterized by conversation and community.

The Society for New Communications Research set out to conduct an examination of how influence patterns are changing and how communications professionals are addressing those changes by adopting social media. The goals were to discover how organizations:

• Define new influencers;
• Communicate and create relationships with them;
• Use social media to create influence; and
• Measure the effects of these efforts.

The larger goal of the study was to use these discoveries to offer a set of recommendations to professional communicators.

This is quite a thought-proving report. I urge you to read it and see how the findings compare to how your organization is approaching and measuring social media impacts.

Even Spys are Blogging

If you think your organization’s work is too sensitive to blog about. Think again.

The Israeli Secret Service has launched its own blog. That’s right. Spys are blogging.

The blog is authored by four agents, shown only in silhouette, talking about their jobs and recruitment and answering questions from readers. According to the BBC story, the agency is hoping to debunk myths and nurture recruitment.

This is just one more demonstration of the fact that starting an organizational blog doesn’t have to mean revealing all your business secrets. But there may be something related to the work you do that people would be interested in having a conversation about.

It just may take a little creativity. Luckily, that’s what PR people are good at.

More Resources on Using Twitter

In my last post about Twitter, I suggested you read Dan York’s post, “The 10 ways I learned to use Twitter in 2007... (aka Why and How I use Twitter).” In addition, I’m providing links to some additional resources about using Twitter. (By the way, I found some of these through Twitter posts by my followees and the others through a search in Delicious, another tool I’ve recommended.)

Using Twitter to Help Communities
Blog post by Nate Ritter

From Twits to Tweeple, Why I Embraced Twitter and You Should Too
Five-part series by Jennifer Laycock

Part one gives step-by-step directions on getting your Twitter account up and running.

Part two explains how to send messages and take advantage of the Twitter follow/followers system.

Part three explains how Twitter can help you meet new people.

Part four discusses the power of Twitter in terms of driving traffic and launching viral buzz.

Part five discusses use of Twitter as a news source.

The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
Very useful seven-part series by Caroline Middlebrook

The Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users
From the Slacker Manager blog

Newbie's guide to Twitter
By Rafe Needleman

PR Director Escamilla Blogs about Client's Humanitarian Work in Zambia

PRSA member and former local television reporter, Randy Escamilla, is currently writing for one of the blogs hosted by the San Antonio Express-News. Randy heads up public relations for the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word. On Friday, he left with some of the sisters on humanitarian mission to Mongu, Zambia -- the poorest and most remote part of this African nation. They will be continuing their work to save babies from AIDS.

While there, Randy will be sharing stories with us through a blog that is part of the SAEN's "Postcards" blog series.

Read Randy's story to learn more about the Sisters' work over the next two weeks of their trip.

But also take a look at this creative tactic of using a temporary blog to tell a story from the other side of the globe.

Big Ideas, Small Budget – Podcast Online for Non-Profit Communicators

Roughly a quarter of the registrants at our PRSA luncheon today represent non-profit organizations. Thus, I want to let you know about a podcast that went online a few days ago. Donna Papacosta of Trafalgar Communications held a conference call recently about non-profit communications, particularly related to social media. She has turned that conversation into her latest podcast episode, Big Ideas, Small Budget. (Disclosure: The voice with a drawl is mine.)

This is my 20th year working in the non-profit sector. In that environment, it’s easy to get used to thinking small. Ironically, while big businesses are struggling to understand the social change we are currently going through that limits the effectiveness of one way mass communications, many of us in the non-profit world have long understood the value of dialog directly with stakeholders. This wasn’t because we were ahead of the game or anything. We just couldn’t afford to keep up with the big guys.

But the world is changing. Social media tools open doors to us to communicate more effectively with small budgets. But perhaps this is also our time to step up and provide some leadership by sharing knowledge about building relationships based on trust and mutual listening.

Don't miss our next luncheon about the Final Four in SA!

Our next chapter luncheon is this Thursday giving you a behind-the-scenes look at what San Antonio is doing to host a great NCAA men's Final Four showdown this spring.

Details are on the chapter web site -- where you can also register. Come along, it'll be fun.

Ten PR steps to multiply trade show results

By Robert Sheldon, APR
Public Relations Director, Creative Communications Consultants, Inc.
(cross posted from PRSA San Antonio Byline)

If you have a client or employer who exhibits at trade shows, chances are they spend a lot of money on booth space rental, transportation, travel, booth graphics – not to mention labor. Good public relations planning and execution can help multiply the results from this costly effort. Here are ten steps for better results:

1. Build excitement among attendees with pre-show publicity. In the months leading up to the show, announce what must-see new products will be at the show or describe demonstrations or activities at the booth. The objective is to build traffic from potential customers/attendees.

2. Make a list of all the possible magazine or Web editors who follow your client’s/employer’s industry and call them to see if they will be attending. Don’t just do an e-mail blast. If they’re coming, invite them to stop by the booth at a specific time for one-on-one meetings with company representatives or to preview new products. Follow-up by e-mail to confirm the appointments.

3. If the trade show has a tabloid-style “show daily” publication, contact the editor well in advance to place key news releases or even feature stories involving your client/employer. These are well-read by trade show attendees and help to build booth traffic.

4. If the trade show has a conference in addition to the show, encourage your client/employer to be a presenter on his/her area of expertise. You’ll need to start early, however, as presenters are chosen months in advance.

5. If warranted, prepare a press kit with news releases on the new products being introduced at the show and any relevant features. Provide a CD with documents and high-resolution photos in the kit; or list an ftp download site if you have one. When an editor visits, walk through the press kit to highlight your main messages.

6. If the show has a “press room,” be sure to keep it stocked with additional press kits.

7. Schedule a press conference only if you have “earth-shattering news” that is likely to prompt significant interest from the trade media. When in doubt, don’t waste editors’ time.

8. Immediately after the show, send out personalized thank-you notes to every editor who stopped by the booth. Reiterate the main points you wanted them to take away from the show.

9. Send the press kit to all remaining editors on your original call list who didn’t attend the show but follow the industry.

10. If you discussed future articles ideas with editors, follow-up by phone about a week later to see if they still want to pursue them.

Finally, track your publicity efforts with key publications in the following weeks and report the results – because you will get them!

On Build-A-Bear, Privacy, and Protecting Children and Your Company

I heard about this on Jumping Monkeys (one of my favorite podcasts, which focuses on raising children in a digital age). They recently interviewed Denise Howell who is one of the few women who writes a blog for ZD Net. She is a lawyer focusing on the “intersection of emerging technologies and law.”

In January, she wrote about her visit to Build-A-Bear store, where children get to design, stuff and accessorize their own bears. Denise’s keen eyes noticed that the company was enticing children to provide personal information on their super-cute in-store computers. Upon publishing her first post about it (“Harvesting data from children with cuddly creatures and cutesy keyboards”), she got quite a reaction which she describes in a follow-up post (“Follow-up: Build-A-Bear says it will take privacy suggestions to heart”). The most interesting is the quick and thoughtful response from the company, which she also shares with permission.

The whole situation raises some compelling points:

1. The response from a company representative to a blog post is an excellent example of using the social media space. As PR folk, we absolutely must be encouraging our clients and organizations to monitor the blogosphere and how to respond to criticism and praise. This is not something to figure out when we get around to it later this year. It’s a now thing. Build-A-Bear gets good points for this one.

2. If you have any part of collecting customer or web site visitor data, make sure you: are following the laws that govern this, have a privacy policy in place and clearly visible, are protect the data securely – extra securely – and are not misleading anyone. Denise provides specific suggestions to Build-A-Bear that you can read in their e-mail exchange.

3. Children are a special population. If your customers are children, then re-read #2 above more carefully.

4. As consumers, we must be more mindful about your own privacy and what data we are sharing. Does that retail store really need to know about your first-born in order to sell you a battery? Heck no!

5. As a parent, teach your children not to type personal information into a computer. Explain what personal information is. After hearing this story, I had a 3-minute talk with my 6-year-old. I told her that when she is on the Internet, not to type her full name, her address, her phone number, or even the name of her school. She asked why. I said, for safety. That was enough for her age. This is how I know: She then said, if the Internet page asks for any of that, I’ll just… “ask your mom or dad first,” I suggested. But she continued, “no, I’ll just click that red X at the top.”

This topic is critical to our organizations and clients legally, ethically and in terms of reputation. It’s also about making sure that in the enthusiasm of some great project that we don’t overlook who it’s all for.

Blogging Tutorial Available Free Until Feb 29

The web site service, atomiclearning.com, has for the month of February made available a type of online workshop about blogging. It is comprised of a host of screencasts in bitesize topics (with a focus on blogger.com). These are usually part of their paid annual service, but in February the blogging screencasts are free.

Topics include: blogging basics, selecting a blog hosting solution, creating a blogger blog, authoring your first blog post, formatting and editing, using hyperlinks, posting images, syndicating your blog and team blogging – just to name a few.

Check it this online Blogging Workshop. But hurry, it’s only free for the next two weeks!

Tweeting with Twitter is Sweet PR Treat

I finally signed up for Twitter a couple of months ago. I had been avoiding it because so many people said it is addictive. And it is, but not in a bad way.

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service – meaning once you sign up (easily), you can send updates (or "tweets") of up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter web site. You choose people to follow so you can read their tweets, and people follow you to read yours. Over time, you’re part of a community.

If you’re boring, you could just post details of what you are doing, like drinking coffee, getting sleepy, etc.

Or you can be creative.

You can share insights you’ve had and resources you’ve found. You can ask questions and learn from people in your network. The cool thing is that you communicate quickly and you don’t have to be at your computer. You can use Twitter from your cell phone as well.

From an organizational standpoint, there is lots of potential. For example, universities are using Twitter to notify students about emergencies.

Learn more about how you can use Twitter by reading Dan York’s post, “The 10 ways I learned to use Twitter in 2007... (aka Why and How I use Twitter).”

Oh yeah, follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/clgoodman

Warning, this Newscast May be Dangerous to Your Health

As a PR person, I am probably not supposed to say this out loud. It’s the kind of thing we say only among friends. But I haven’t kept it a secret. So it’s not really a confession when I reveal that I can’t stand TV news.

As a PR person, I am supposed to keep track of what’s being covered on local news. I’m supposed to know who’s reporting for what station.

But when I watch, I get so angry – angry about the sensationalism, about the violence, about reporters shoving microphones in the faces of people who are grieving or in the midst of some personal tragedy. And I get angry at the lack of thoroughness that reporters are forced to comply with.

As a mother of young children, it is easy for me to get out of my news-watching obligation. There is no argument that TV news is not healthy for young children.

So imagine my dilemma a few days ago, when my first-grader’s homework assignment included watching the weather report on TV. We turned on the 9:00 news hoping they would touch on the weather at the start of the newscast. (Yes, I realize the 9:00 news is Fox, but I wasn’t going to keep my child up later for the 10:00 news options.)

As the anchors started running down the stories they would be covering, one announced: “Woman found chopped up in her front yard!”

Click.

I’m not picking on the reporters themselves. They are part of a system that is driven by powerful outside forces while at the same time being critical to our democratic society. So, yes, it’s important to tell the bad news as well as the good. And yes, there is a lot in this world that is not pretty. I understand that.

But come on.

We can do better than this.

CustomScoop Trial Passes the Test

I’ve been meaning to share with you my experience when I tried CustomScoop’s free trial clipping service. CustomScoop provides online blog and media monitoring service. Listeners to the New Comm Road and For Immediate Release podcasts can receive a free trial.

I took advantage of this offer in October when my organization released some research. In addition to the trial, I also use Nexis and Google Alerts to monitor media coverage, and Technorati and Google blog search to monitor blog mentions.

The results? CustomScoop did better than all the others combined.

Based on the search terms I had defined, I received an e-mail listing of the current day’s news and blog coverage every morning. Nexis didn’t find any of them, even though some included major Texas newspapers. Google Alerts sent about half of the newspaper stories CustomScoop found. And the ones from Google usually came a day later.

I definitely recommend you check them out. Plus, there are some freebies on their web site.

My Second Report Card for Learning New Technologies

This time last year I set some goals for 2007 for learning technologies. Here’s how I did and what’s in store for 2008.

New web site
The site is still up and running. But I can’t say much more than that. My goal for 2007 to train employees to use the CMS so they can create content was way too small. So, I attended a Ragan conference on web site management in December and have come up with a whole new strategy for using and growing our site strategically.

Lesson so far: If you want a different result, do something differently or even revolutionary.

Goal for 2008: Completely restructure how our organization maintains and uses our web site.

Social Networking
This year, I spent more time in Facebook and MyRagan. I also discovered that I’d set up a LinkedIn account a few years ago. As a result, I’ve reconnected with my best friend from high school. But I haven’t found an application for my work yet, mainly because I can’t find our target audiences online. The tools I’m using most regularly are podcasting, Jott and Delicious. And I’ve just joined Twitter about two months ago.

Lessons so far: Less is more. I do not have time or inkling to try them all.

Goals for 2008: Introduce employees to social media tools and applications for work.

Blogs
Blog monitoring has only been slightly beneficial to my work. But I’ll keep it up. One of my goals for 2007 was to leave more comments on others’ blogs. That has gone out the door. I haven’t found very many bloggers who are dealing with my industry yet. And the other blogs I like, focusing on PR and communications, are interesting and insightful. But I found that if I’m reading them at work, I’m not getting my work done. And if I’m reading them at home, I’m not spending time with my family.

Goals for 2008: Keep looking for bloggers who reach my target audience.

Media Relations via Social Media
This year, I made more improvements to the press room section of our web site. But we’ve had very little news for media. Next year will be different, so I’ll have more chances to improve my use of the social media release and other Web 2.0 tools.

Goals for 2008: Improve my use of the social media release. Use other social media to be a better resource to reporters.

Podcasting
From a work perspective, our podcast has grown dramatically even though I slacked a bit on promoting it. And we have even bigger goals for next year. From a personal perspective, I discovered some mommy-podcasts. Instead of reading blogs, I am listening to podcasts whenever I am in the car, on an airplane or waiting while my kids are in gymnastics. I still listen to the great communications-related podcasts, but the ones by moms and by parents, are the ones that really speak to me and make me laugh out loud at inappropriate places.

Lessons so far: Podcasts are easy to integrate into the daily life of a working mom.

Goal for 2008: Continue to improve and promote our podcast series.

For me, social media is not the new thing anymore. It’s a part of my life, but not as much as it is for other people. I’m not an expert, but I know enough now to say yes to some elements and no to others. The truth remains, we learn best by doing.

Meet National PRSA Chairman Jeff Julin

I’ve got another must-listen podcast for you. Eric Schwartzman hosts the On the Record Online podcast. He recently interviewed PRSA’s 2008 chair, Jeff Julin. In the short interview, Julin talks about the biggest challenges currently facing the PR industry and what he plans to do as PRSA chair.

The interview is the first opportunity for many of us as PRSA members to “meet” Julin who seems quite personable. And I always appreciate Eric’s interview style.

------------------------

Thanks Eric!

PS. When are you going to give us the behind the scene’s view of the writers’ strike? Are we going to miss out on the Academy Awards this year?

The Truth Behind FEMA’s Fake News Conference

The cliché perfect storm is getting real old, but there’s no other way to describe what led up to the so-called fake news conference held by FEMA leaders during the October wild fires in California. And our own Kami Watson-Huyse, APR, gives us the behind the scenes story.

In a first-ever guest interview for the popular podcast, For Immediate Release, Kami talks with John “Pat” Philbin, the now former FEMA director of external affairs, who is quite candid.

It is a tale of overworked and exhausted staff of an agency under fire while responding to a natural disaster. A highly politicized nation’s capitol. Reporters who are either lazy or at least quick to judge. Ethical and tactical mistakes made by junior staff. And a boss with character who takes responsibility rather than pointing fingers – at great personal cost.

You can read the interview on Kami’s blog, Communications Overtones or listen to it at For Immediate Release. You can also join in the discussion on Kami’s blog, where Pat Philbin is participating and willing to answer your questions.

TPRA Silver Spur/Best of Texas Awards Competition

From the call for entries…

Hold on to your hats and buckle your seat belts! Before the 2008 roller coaster we’re all on gets too far along the tracks, don’t forget we're already moving fast toward the entry deadlines for the 2008 Silver Spur/Best of Texas Awards Competition. The “First Call” deadline is 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17. The “Last Call” deadline (with a $50/entry late fee) is 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24.

Visit www.tpra.com for entry information and the online payment form. Or, for more information, contact Julie B. Fix, APR, TPRA Contest Manager, at awards@tpra.com">awards@tpra.com or call 281-494-6097.

The 2008 Silver Spur/Best of Texas Awards is sponsored by the Texas Public Relations Association and the Austin, Central Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, and San Antonio PRSA Chapters. Members of all sponsoring organizations qualify for the "member" rate on entry fees.

The best work in Texas public relations will be recognized at The 2008 Silver Spur/Best of Texas Annual Awards Banquet, Saturday, March 1 at the St. Anthony Hotel in San Antonio, in conjunction with TPRA's Annual Conference, Feb. 29 – March 2. Mark your calendars and make plans to celebrate with your PR friends. (For information about the conference, visit www.tpra.com)

More Lemonade from Lemons

If you've had an e-mail account for any time at all, some well-meaning person has almost undoubtedly sent you a version of this story:

FWD: Free Neiman-Marcus Cookie Recipe
This is a true story... Please forward it to everyone that you can...You will have to read it to believe it....

My daughter and I had just finished a salad at Neiman-Marcus Cafe in Dallas & decided to have a small dessert. Because both of us are such cookie lovers, we decided to try the "Neiman-Marcus Cookie". It was so excellent that I asked if they would give me the recipe and the waitress said with a small frown "I'm afraid not." "Well" I said, "would you let me buy the recipe?"

With a cute smile, she said "YES". I asked how much and she responded, "Only two fifty, it's a great deal!" I said with approval, "just add it to my tab".. Thirty days later, I received my VISA tatement from Neiman-Marcus and it was $285.00. I looked again and remembered I had only spent $9.95 for two salads and about $20.00 for a scarf. As I glanced at the bottom of the statement, it said, "Cookie Recipe - $250.00".

That's outrageous!!!

I called Neiman's Accounting Dept. and told them that the waitress said it was "two-fifty," which clearly does not mean "two hundred and fifty dollars" by any POSSIBLE interpretation of the phrase. Neiman-Marcus refused to budge.. They would not refund my money, because according to them, "What the waitress told you is not our problem. You have already seen the recipe - we absolutely will not refund your money at this point." I explained to her the criminal statutes which govern fraud in Texas. I threatened to refer them to the Better Business Bureau and the State's Attorney General for engaging in fraud. I was basically told, "Do what you want, we dont give a damn, and we're not refunding your money."

I waited a moment, thinking of how I could get even, or even try to get any of my money back. I just said, "Okay, you folks got my $250.00, and now I'm going to have $250.00 worth of fun."

I told her that I was going to see to it that every cookie lover in the United States with an e-mail account has a $250.00 cookie recipe from Neiman-Marcus... for free..She replied, "I wish you wouldn't do this" I said, "Well you should have thought of that before you ripped me off", and slammed down the phone on her.. So, here it is!!! Please, please, please pass it on to everyone you can possibly think of. I paid $250.00 dollars for this... I don't want Neiman-Marcus to ever get another penny off of this recipe....[a chocolate chip cookie recipe follows]

- About.com Urban Legends, http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/fooddrink/a/cookie_recipe.htm

[Let me just say that the spelling, word usage and punctuation are the original author's, not mine.]

Further, if you have been on the Internet any time at all, you should also already know that this story is an urban legend (in fact, it has been around for at least 50 years and originally dealt with a recipe obtained from the dining car waiter on a train.)

So imagine my delight when, in the course of doing some research for a news release, I found this on the Neiman Marcus web page:

An urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. Our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. If you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. If you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. Copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. It's a terrific recipe. And it's absolutely free. [Followed by the recipe for the NM cookie.]
http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml

It's truly refreshing to see a company with such a great sense of humor about itself. Anyone who might have thought Neiman Marcus a little stuffy, a little snobbish, would almost have to be disarmed by this clever response to a widely-circulated, but absolutely untrue story - a response that is all the more remarkable for its low-keyed, good-humored attitude.

And Neiman's keeps its eye on the ball, ending the recipe page with this brief, unobtrusive plug: "Visit our Restaurant section for more recipes along with information on cooking classes, catering and restaurant details."

Honestly, wouldn't you want to do business with a company with this much class?