“Are You the Faculty Advisor for Your Chapter?”

Salt Lake City (Nov. 10) Hello from Salt Lake City, where I have come to ‘Make the Ascent.’ I and two other members of the PRSSA Chapter at the University of Texas at San Antonio have come to the 2006 PRSSA National Conference. I planned for months for this trip, thinking how great it would be to mingle with other members of PRSSA and PR professionals from across the nation. I also thought how great it would if it snowed while I was here, being from San Antonio the only snow I ever see are those flurries that melt before they hit the ground.

I arrived in Salt Lake City at 11:30 a.m. today and will be staying for the entire conference, which ends on Tue. November 14. I chose the title of this posting because of an interesting thing that keeps occurring. I have mentioned in a previous posting that I am a non-traditional student who is 40 years young. I obviously do not look like I am in my twenties. While on my way to the Sheraton City Centre, one of my fellow conference attendees asked me, “Are you the Faculty Advisor for your Chapter?” I did not know whether to take that as a compliment or be sad that my age shows so much. I responded, “No, I am actually the President of the PRSSA Chapter at the University of Texas at San Antonio.” I thought, okay that is over with. Not by a long shot, I counted at least 15 other individuals today that asked me that question. I have embraced this question as a compliment, because with age that shows come wisdom that is demonstrated through actions of leadership.

Continue to look for additional postings throughout the rest of the weekend.

Lots of Answers to My SMR Questions

Early this week I shared questions I faced when I was setting up my first social media release. There is a lot of activity currently to create standards for this new form of news release and to help public relations professionals understand how to use them. I posted my questions hoping to inform these conversations.

And wow, I have had many people provide answers and offer assistance. I’m actually overwhelmed at your generosity! I am going to sort through all of the suggestions and try them out in a real-work situation and will share how that goes in the coming days. In the meantime, I want to share with you the wonderful responses and resources that have been offered.

In “Basic Answers to Some Basic Questions re: Social Media News Releases,” Todd Defren gave very useful answers to each question.

Shannon Whitley suggested using PRX Builder (developed by Todd Defren) to create Digg and del.icio.us buttons without worrying about the coding.

Brian Solis also pointed me to his brief guide on “How to Write Social Media Press Releases” (which had actually been very useful to me when I was putting mine together).

Bruce Prochnau, Kelvin Jones and David provided very detailed suggestions on the New Media Release Google Group. If you are interested in learning more about the social media release I highly suggest you join this group.

The biggest news in this area is the release of the requirements (or elements) of a social media release developed by a representative working group of professionals. The requirements are on the new blog on the subject.

Questions About Using the Social Media Release Format

For my organization, I only do one big media campaign a year. And it’s roughly the same story every year. Sometimes, I really do something creative with it and hardly get a bite. Other times, I’ve barely lifted a finger, and something happens that results in tons of good coverage.

A few weeks ago, I was at it again. But this time, I tried using the new social media release format. Now, diehard SMR experts will criticize me because it’s not the full-blown deal. For example, it doesn’t include a DiggIt feature or Del.icio.us links. But hey, it’s my first attempt. And I put it together by myself with the resources of a small non-profit.

I did some homework first. I listened to a few of the SMR podcasts (but they were more chatty and techie-speak, than instructive). I joined the discussion list on Google Groups. I referred to Shift Communications’ terrific online PR 2.0 Guide. I went to the DiggIt web site to learn how to create the link. I studied SMRs recently distributed by other firms. Etc., etc.

Still, I have questions, very practical questions…

Once you figure out how to set up the DiggIt link, how can you test it? I don’t want to put anything on a news release that may not work. But you are not supposed to Digg your own stuff. And you sure don’t want to Digg something that you’re not releasing yet.

How do you set up a purpose-built Del.icio.us page or tags? I know this is an amateur question, but tons of PR folks are amateurs at this.

What are the pros and cons of using a purpose-built Del.icio.us page or tags? I need to know what to expect and how it will help reporters and my organization. I don’t want to do it just because it’s a standard part of a SMR.

If you don’t have a blog but you do have a web site, do you still need to include a list of tags on the release? If so, how? I include keywords and other optimization things in my web site. How are tags different, or are they just for blogs?

If you distributing your release yourself rather than using a wire service, do you really e-mail the whole thing? Once I created mine, it was more than two printed pages. I never send that much to reporters unless they request it. I typically only send a few sentences with a great subject line.

These are just a handful of the details that stumped me. Most of the blog posts and resources I found assumed a higher level of understanding of social media and technical jargon than I and many, many PR folk currently possess.

On a related note, Todd Defren and company have developed PRX Builder which is a “Social Media News Release Builder.” Of course it came out one week too late for me. And so I haven’t tried it out, but what a wonderful contribution to the field this is likely to be!

Unfortunately, I don’t know if the response we’ve gotten in this campaign is due to the content, the timing or the methods. It’s probably a combination. So, I’ll keep trying. I would really be interested in hearing about others’ SMR trials.

PRSSA at UTSA Shows Appreciation

It was a good showing from members of the PRSSA Chapter at the University of Texas at San Antonio for the November PRSA Luncheon Program. Dr. Steven Levitt, Faculty Advisor; Gregory L. Frieden, President; members Sarah Ceballos, Mayra Soto, Aaron Brooks, Elizabeth Noyola, and Priscilla Sanchez were in attendance. The reason for the good attendance, the Chapter was on a mission.

Recently the Board of Directors of the San Antonio Chapter of PRSA voted to give the PRSSA Chapter a $1,000 scholarship to offset the expenses of the Chapter delegates that will be attending the 2006 PRSSA National Conference in Salt Lake City, Nov. 10-14. The three delegates are Gregory L. Frieden, Sarah Ceballos, and Mayra Soto. The delegates will be submitting two essays each upon their return from the conference, with a possible presentation at an upcoming luncheon in early 2007.

Gregory L. Frieden presented Paige Ramsey Palmer, President of the PRSA Chapter of San Antonio with a Certificate of Appreciation from the PRSSA Chapter at UTSA. The mission was to show the Chapter’s appreciation to not only the Board of Directors for the scholarship, but to the Chapter’s current professional advisors Anne Keever Cannon, APR, PRSA Liaison and Cassandra Miranda, PRSA Liaison Assistant. Since May the PRSSA Chapter has been guided and assisted in many endeavors by these two exceptional advisors. The San Antonio PRSA Chapter has shown exemplary support for our PRSSA Chapter and we look forward to continuing our excellent working relationship with the Chapter.

Local Magazine Coverage Can Be Yours

(Nov. 2006) There is a myriad of local magazines that feature news about people, places, and things we know and love in our beloved city of San Antonio. Attendees of the November PRSA Luncheon Program had the opportunity to hear from the editors of two of these magazines. The guest speakers were Eliot Garza, Editor of NSIDE San Antonio, and Beverly Purcell-Guerra, Editor, San Antonio Woman. Both speakers spoke of the human-interest stories that most captivate readers and how you can develop story ideas to increase the chances of seeing your client covered in the pages of these publications. Moderator Lorraine Pulido-Ramiréz posed three important questions to the panelists and then opened up the floor for a few questions.

The first question was about the publication, the target audience, and the number of locations where the publications can be found. San Antonio Woman, celebrating its fourth anniversary, has a publication of 30,000 per issue. The target audience includes young career women, with women of all ages enjoying the insightful articles that cover many of the topics that are salient in the minds of San Antonio women. San Antonio Woman can be found in most H.E.B. stores and other selected businesses.

NSIDE San Antonio, currently in its first year, focuses on different aspects and topics geared toward the business community in San Antonio. There tends to be a focus on those who might be considered underdogs in business. NSIDE San Antonio is currently at 15,000 in publication and can be found at approximately 220 different business locations. While both of these publications offer subscriptions at very reasonable prices, it is great to know that they continue to remain free to the public due to their revenues being earned by advertising.

The second question targeted what the process is for deciding who will be featured on the cover of the respective magazines. Both Eliot and Beverly agreed that there is no particular formula for deciding who will be featured on the cover. Basically profile decisions are based on the pitches or ideas sent to the editors by their audience and others in the business community.

The third question was geared toward how the PR professionals of San Antonio might be able to make the jobs of these editors easier. Beverly and Eliot agreed that one way to do this is to research whether a story has been done by the publication, or whether it is appropriate for the particular publication. E-mailing profile ideas are encouraged because with e-mail an idea can be saved for future use. This is important because these magazines are on a bi-monthly basis so they beginning working on an issue three to four months in advance of the issue’s publication. Another area of agreement was the amount of time prior to an event should it be submitted as an idea for the magazine. Both felt that the sooner the better, for example an event being held in May should be submitted in December or January.

Follow the Money -- PRSA Encourages Financial Ed for Kids

PRSA member and former San Antonio chapter president, John Worthington, has penned a great article in the October 20, 2006, edition of the San Antonio Business Journal (pg. 31). In the article titled, “Teach your kids about managing money before they leave the nest,” he discusses five basic money skills children need to learn before graduating from high school:

1. Basic budgeting
2. Credit card costs
3. Savings basics
4. Car financing and ownership
5. Checkbook balancing

Now clearly John’s position as senior vice president of communication at Security Service Federal Credit Union had something to do with the opportunity to pen this article. (On the accompanying page there is an article about financial education, “Texas teens to get a healthy dose of Rx in the classroom,” by Tim Haegelin, president and CEO of the San Antonio City Employees Federal Credit Union.)

But anyone who knows John, knows that this topic is one of his passions. Just a few weeks ago, he was talking to me about helping my own kids learn about saving by opening a savings account. And my youngest is only 3 years old!

Great job, John! I for one will be taking your advice.

Tastes Like Chicken – Tips for Making an Awards Banquet Meaningful

If you were to ask a room full of people what their favorite activity is, I’ll bet you not a one of them would say going to an awards banquet. We imagine ourselves sitting through speeches, eating rubbery chicken, clapping for people we don’t know, and looking at our watches as the agenda drags into double overtime. We’ve all been there.

But from an organizational perspective, an awards banquet can serve several important purposes. It can:

• Bring to the forefront an issue of concern,
• Raise funds,
• Extend gratitude to individuals or a group of people,
• Support a brand, and
• Encourage and inspire.

I’ve been to several in the last few months. Those that were really well-planned with the participants in mind, were excellent. They were even enjoyable or touching. Then there were the others. For those, it often seemed like all the planners cared about was kissing up to their committee members or funders or the like. I would have rather sat in my car with a sack lunch.

Among the banquets I attended this year, there was a significant contrast between the good and the bad. None fell in between.

Here are some tips based solely on what I observed:

• Plan with the audience in mind. Make sure all the elements of the program will be of interest to them. Think about their experience from the time they enter the parking lot through to when they leave it: lighting in the parking lot, signage to help them find their way, how to find bathrooms, will guests be looking for someone in particular, how they will know where to sit, have room at the registration table for big crowds to arrive at once, have accommodations for crutches and wheelchairs, ensure guests will be able to hear and see the program from where they are sitting, etc. There is a reason they have taken their time to attend. Make it mean something.

• Make the main award recipients feel special before, during and after the event. Don’t notify them by e-mail. At least pick up the phone or pay them a personal visit. Use their names as part of the promotion strategy both for the event and to give them more visibility. Help them notify their friends and family so that they can buy tickets or be present. Give them a sense ahead of time about what the program will look like. During the event, have someone at the door to welcome each recipient and direct them to where they need to go. Afterwards, send them thank you’s, photos and copies of news coverage.

• Be deliberate about staging. If there are 100 or more attendees, elevate the stage so that the whole audience can see what is going on. Make sure lighting facilitates the ambiance as well as visibility of the speakers and awardees. If you have a projection screen, put it to the side a bit. Don’t put it behind the presenters. (And don’t use it as the backdrop for photographs.)

• Don’t depend on doorprizes to keep the audience there to the end. The program should be made strong enough to keep them there. Either give out the doorprizes at certain intervals throughout the program or do it near the end (but not as the last thing). And, I know it’s tempting to save the best for last, but the opposite is really the best. Give the biggest doorprize first. That way everyone has a chance for the big prize. Plus, once the big ones are given out, the little ones won’t seem so little anymore. If there are more than three to five doorprizes, find a creative way to award them so that folks aren’t sitting through drawing after drawing and clapping for winners as if they’ve actually accomplished something.

• Be strategic about planning the program. Place your organizational announcements and protocol stuff at the beginning of the program. When the last award is given, people are ready to go. They don’t want to stick around and applaud the planning committee or staff or to hear appeals for money. Don’t start the awards presentations in the middle of the main course. People are too distracted trying to cut their rubbery chicken. When you do start the awards presentations, instruct the servers to stop clearing dishes. Pad your schedule a lot so you don’t go over time.

• Use a real MC. Don’t give the job to someone just because of their position in the organization. Make sure he or she or they have excellent speaking skills. They should be able to read a script without anyone knowing there was a script. The better banquets I attended recently used media personalities as their MCs. When it worked well, it worked very well. In those cases, the MC was already very familiar with the organization hosting the event.

• And speaking of the script, someone who really knows what they are doing should write the script. I mean really. This is one of the most important elements alongside booking the right location and serving food. It should touch on the purposes of the event, organization and/or cause. It should include a little info on why each award is special as well as why each recipient is deserving. It should not be filled with platitudes or partisanship (unless it is a partisan event). It should be pleasant to listen to. The closing should be as planned-out as the opening. People should leave on a high.

I am sure there are great books on this subject. And I am even more sure that professional event planners do this in their sleep. There are tons of details to deal with. It’s a really big job. But, gosh, there a lot of people planning awards banquets who do what they think is right without investigating or who are stretched way to thin. And it shows in the program.

A couple of months ago, I left an awards banquet in tears. It was held by the San Antonio chapter of the March of Dimes to thank leading family and corporate teams in its Walk America event to end prematurity. The banquet logistics were so well-planned and carried out, that as a participant, I was able to focus on the content of the program. I was deeply moved when the names of the winning teams were announced. It was clear that they were happy about winning, not because of a competition but because they knew it would make a difference. Had the event been poorly planned, that core message would have been lost.

Resources for PR Folk on Photos, Pitching Bloggers, and Using Google News

Here are some excellent resources that have been provided by PR bloggers.

Top tips for PR photos

Sean McManus of Prompt Communications Ltd writes: “Given two stories that are roughly equally interesting to readers, the one with a strong picture stands a much better chance of coverage. In some cases a weaker story with a good picture will get coverage over a stronger story. Print is a visual medium.” He then follows with 10 really good tips that we should all memorize.

Blogger Relations 101

Lee Odden of the Online Marketing Blog provides a list of five guidelines for pitching bloggers “sure to help you resonate with the blogger audience.” He then provides an excellent list of links to other resources on blogger relations.

Google News Releases Guidelines

If you depend on Google News to monitor coverage of a client or your organization, this one’s for you. Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion announced recently that “Google News has posted a bunch of new help pages that explain what content is indexed in the site and why.” Read more at Steve’s post.

An Interesting Economics Question!

I mention often that I am a student at UTSA, but I am also taking a Micro-economics class online at San Antonio College. I bring this up because my professor posted a discussion question based on an article in the Washington Post online, entitled "Virtual economies attract real-world tax attention."

His question was, "Should we tax people who play World of Warcraft and Second Life?" Below is my response. I don't know how my colleagues feel about this issue so I wanted to pose the question you. Let me know what you think about this matter by posting a comment!!

While I do not understand the draw to virtual sites like World of Warcraft and Second Life, I do know that they are very popular in many sectors of the business world. I am aware that virtual societies such as Second Life have been discussed at great length in PR circles lately.

As for whether I feel that virtual economies should be taxed, I have two thoughts on that matter. The first being, if a person's wealth aquisition remains virtual and there is no taxation system in place within the virtual society, then no, that person should not be taxed on their virtual wealth. The key word being virtual. On the other hand, if an individual has amassed enough virtual wealth, and the opportunity is there for it to be converted into U.S. dollars or any other currency for that matter in other countries, then yes there should be taxation on the virtual wealth at the time it is converted. With this being said, the taxation should be in accordance with the tax laws of the country of which the virtual dollars are being converted into that country's currency.

Does this make sense????

Tips for Gaining National Coverage for Your Local Client

I love the opportunities that are afforded to the members of the PRSSA Chapter at UTSA. One of those being the ability to attend the PRSA Luncheon program each month. The guests of the October installment of the PRSA luncheon were treated to a speaker who was both informative and extremely funny. We heard from Michele Krier, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Santikos Investments, Properties and Theatres, and Consultant for Creative Civilization. Michele Krier has worked in the PR field for 20 years, the last 10 focusing on national PR for a variety of clients including San Antonio companies Santikos Investments, Properties and Theatres and the Rivercenter Comedy Club.

Krier began by giving recognition to the many local PR professionals who have mentored her throughout her career. She gave a brief description of her professional background including how her successful pitches have resulted in getting news items published in many national newspapers and magazines, and on the national TV networks. Krier has worked with individuals ranging from movie stars, musicians, politicians, to Queen Elizabeth II.

Krier provided some important tips to gaining national exposure for the local clients of a firm. If a PR professional gains a national media contact it is important to nurture that relationship. A happy medium must be found, because it is not the goal, or job of the PR professional to be the contact’s best friend. Krier suggested that a follow up should be done no sooner than one week after a news item has been submitted. The reason for this is that some items are only placed on specific days.

Krier revealed some pet peeves of some of her national contacts. One being that before a PR professional submits a news item to a national contact they should determine whether the item will resonate on a national level or only locally. Along with this, the PR professional should research the medium they are sending the item to. What the medium covers, and what they have done in the last six months, and whether they have covered this type of item before. These questions will help determine if the item is right for the particular medium.

PR professionals should also know the deadlines of their contacts. Items pitched during deadlines are often ignored. With this, unless it is imperative that an item be immediately released due to time constraints, items should not be pitched on Mondays or Fridays for some obvious reasons.

When it came to submission preferences, Krier mentioned that a recent poll found that 50% of media contacts prefer to get items via e-mail. She did also mention that some contacts still prefer to receive items via fax. When e-mailing an item, using a strong headline in the subject line will catch the attention of the recipient causing them to open the e-mail. Pitches typically should not be made over the phone. If an item must be pitched over the phone, lead off with a strong headline. Catching the attention of the contact with the headline will help the PR professional, while not keeping a contact on the phone longer than necessary.

I walked away from this luncheon with some valuable information and having had quite a few laughs.

Get a Taste of Second Life for PR

I’m not a Second Lifer, but I do recognize that it has significant opportunities for public relations especially as more and more companies are using it.

If you are wondering and want to see what it looks like with out signing up just yet, go to YouTube. An innovative PR firm, Text 100, has put together a short video “illustrating how companies can use Second Life to improve both internal and external communications.” It’s less than three minutes long.

Then you can talk with our own Kami Huyse. She recently held a successful “meetup” in Second Life for PR folk.

Shel Holtz Leaves ‘Em Beggin' for More

A couple of weeks ago we had a great visit from Shel Holtz. He led a professional development session, “Introduction to Social Media” held jointly by the San Antonio chapters of PRSA and IABC and sponsored by Frost Bank. Not surprisingly, people are still talking about it.

I circulated a follow-up survey by e-mail to participants who had registered through PRSA’s web site. Here are the results.

There were 10 responses to our follow-up survey (out of 44 registrants through PRSA, a few of whom were not able to attend). Thre were about 70 people at the session.

Most respondents (80 percent) rated the event a 5 (highest), the rest (20 percent) rated it a 4.n Below are all of the responses to the open-ended questions. I did not filter any.

When asked what was the most useful thing they learned in the workshop was, responses were:

• Big picture truths, plus, I now have a better understanding of microformats and edge content.
• About new processes and resources such as social tagging, edge content and RSS• I learned a little more about microcontent and the talk sparked some interesting thoughts that I will be able to use with my clients.
• Too many interesting things to list.
• Considering my low starting point, it was almost all useful.
• General info on social media. Overview was great. Speaker engaging and knowledgeable.
• All the different monitoring sites.
• Everything he presented was new information that I was not familiar with. Very interesting and insightful!
• That social media is real and is, to some degree, disrupting the PR business.
• Citizen marketing

When asked what they wish they knew more about regarding social media, the responses were:

• The rationale for elements of a social news release so I can determine which elements are right for my situation.
• More about nuts and bolts of "how to use"
• How to measure results of social media
• How to better deal with pushback from upper management
• More on open source marketing & co-creation
• Technical training on how to create podcasts, other similar tools to communicate with our audiences.
• Applications

Additional comments included:

• This was my first PRSA-SA participation. If all of your future topics are as interesting and useful as the social media workshop, you will be very successful in your educational mission.
• Unsurprisingly, Shel led a great presentation! His use of both data and real-world examples help paint a clear and credible picture of social media and communications. I'm sure this will prove to jump-start many of our professionals into the world of social media.
• Great program!
• Great collaboration of IABC and PRSA. We should do more of this kind of partnership. Better to have fewer great meetings than more less-than-great meetings. You're doing a great job on the programming! Thank YOU.
• Good speaker, good event.
• This was one of the best seminars I have been to in a very long time. Shel was articulate, funny and informative.
• Wonderful high caliber speaker - great job!

By the way, Shel was interviewed by Shel (Israel) the other day.

There is No Such Thing as Bad PR

Let me qualify that. Of course, public relations professionals make mistakes, and there are many – myself included – who are not as competent as they should be. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

Public relations is, by definition, a field that serves the public interest.

When so-called PR activities do not serve the public interest or when they hurt the public, then they are not public relations.

Such activities include the “clueless telemarketing/spamming” of “drones” that Dan York has been “ranting” about. And they include astroturfing and other deceitful campaigns. We should call them what they are: propaganda, laziness, unethical… But we should not call them public relations!

It’s like we’ve given in to the perception that all this stuff is a part of our profession that we don’t like. Our acquiescence is a big reason for the PR profession’s PR problem that we keep talking about. It is also a key reason some people are easily led to believe that such tactics are ok.

No, it’s not all black and white. Terry Fallis and David Jones, focused their Inside PR #21 podcast (August 22, 2006) on the issue and asked honest questions about when an activity is astroturfing and when is it not. It was a healthy conversation. We need more of them. As public relations leaders, it is our job to help define the gray areas.

Astroturfing – Slippery When Wet

It’s football time again. Whew, we made it threw another off-season! Welcome back to the sounds and smells of the gridiron. The stadiums are open. The sodas are ready. And the grass is green. But is it real, or is it Memorex?

That’s the question many folk are asking about some grassroots campaigns. Is it really grassroots-driven or is it Astroturf? Which strategies are OK and which ones are foul?

Real grass is unpredictable. It doesn’t grow evenly. Sometimes, weeds pop up. Grass needs the right amount of water and sunlight. Often, it needs to be nourished by a little fertilizer. Working with it is messy business. It takes time to grow. But once it gets going, it is strong and long-lasting. Watered grass smells really good.

Watered Astrotuf is slippery. Astrotuf is, by definition, artificial. It leads to injuries. Each Astroturf field has a hand-selected texture, hand-selected fiber, hand-selected pad, and hand-selected color. Astroturf is easily controlled.

When public relations works with a grassroots campaign, it provides support. PR may provide resources or counsel. It’s complicated and it takes time.

When public relations works with an Astroturf campaign, it does so to be in control. PR becomes deceptive and manipulative. It’s relatively easy and fast.

Astroturfing clearly is not an ethical practice.

Paull Young and Trevor Cook have launched an anti-astroturfing campaign and are asking PR folk, agencies and other communicators to sign on. Go to the Anti-astroturfing PR Wiki for details.

It may not be as clear-cut as it sounds. So discussion and debate about it is healthy.

Out of Hiding!

As PR professionals, I am sure that most of you know what it is like to have too many things on your to do list and not enough time in the day. This has been so true for me over the last few weeks. That is why I have been missing in action.

In one of my previous posts "Can It Be Done?" I mentioned that one of the goals of the UTSA-PRSSA for this year was to start a Student Run Public Relations Firm and to secure our first outside client before I left the office of president. While we were sure that we could do it in that time frame, our executive board could have never imagined that we would wind up with the carriage in front of the horse, so to speak. I say this because we have succeeded in securing our first outside client for our firm. We have been hired by the Med Center Rotary Club to do their public relations and media print creations for their "2007 Nightingale Gala" to be held on May 11, 2007. This Gala will be the second held with the sole purpose of raising money for nursing scholarships to be distributed among the five nursing schools in San Antonio. The first Gala was held in May of this year and raised a total of $20,000 for nursing scholarships in the span of 4 1/2 months of the initial planning of the first Gala.

We are extremely happy and excited to be a part of something so important. Because there is a growing shortage of nurses in not only San Antonio, but the State of Texas and the country, we will be working on a fantastic cause. So because of this awesome opportunity, I have been missing in action. I will continue to keep you posted on the progress of our firm. I also ask that if you have an opportunity that you feel is a good fit for our organization to do some work for you, let us know by contacting us at prssa@lonestar.utsa.edu.

Kami is Interviewed by Shel Israel

One of our chapter members has been interviewed by famous blogger, Shel Israel. Shel is co-author of the popular book, Naked Conversations. He is conducting a series of interviews on the issue of PR and blogging. Kami’s quick rise to prominence in the PR blogosphere through her insightful blog posting and commentary led Shel to select her as one of his five interviewees.

You can read the entire interview at “PR & Social Media Part 3: Kami Huyse.”

Note that Kami is the instigator behind this PR Byline blog as well. Without her, we’d be nowhere, blogopherically speaking that is.

Great interview, Kami!

Ethics in Business Awards Nomination Deadline Extended

PRSA friend Debi Pfitzenmaier sent me the following notice about the annual Ethics in Business Awards. Since this is ethics month for PRSA, and we just held an excellent luncheon on the topic today, it is certainly appropriate that I share this opportunity with you.

Plus, the deadline for nominations has been extended. But you'll still have to act fast!

Here's the notice:

The Ecumenical Center is now accepting nominations for the 2007 Ethics in Business Awards. The annual program recognizes individuals, nonprofits and businesses that have exceedingly high ethical standards that are reflected in their relationships with individuals, businesses, employees and the community.

There is no fee to submit a nomination. It is easy to nominate an individual, onprofit or business online. The deadline for nominations was September 7, but we are accepting online entries through Tuesday, September 12.

One recipient in each of five categories (large business, medium-sized business, small business, nonprofit and individual) will be recognized at an awards dinner to be held April 7, 2007. Ethics in Business recipients in 2006 were Labatt Food Service, Monterrey Iron & Metal, OsteoBiologics Inc., Southwest Mental Health Center and Charles E. Cheever, Jr.

Established in 2005, the Ethics in Business program is designed to provide an opportunity for students - our future business leaders - to study ethics first hand in the real world, with today's leaders, as they research each of 40 finalists as part of the business ethics curriculum at The University of Texas at San Antonio. In addition, the program seeks to promote the importance of ethical business practices, recognize the efforts of outstanding local individuals and companies and provide a forum for dialog about how ethical practices can effect change in our community. Proceeds from the dinner event benefit the Ecumenical Center's programs and outreach and The University of Texas at San Antonio through academic scholarships.

For more information, please contact Vicki Boyce Ecumenical Center at 210-616-0885.

About the Ecumenical Center: The Ecumenical Center is a San Antonio-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to alleviating suffering and facilitating spiritual, physical and emotional healing and growth. Founded by in 1967, the Center offers counseling within a faith context, education, consulting and a variety of special outreach programs. More information.

What a great way to highlight someone in your business or organization!

Accreditation Keeps the River of Learning Flowing

When water stops flowing, it becomes stagnant. Icky things start to form, like mosquitoes and foul odors. It can no longer nourish people.

The same things happen when we become complacent in our profession, when we stop pushing ourselves to learn more and when we take shortcuts rather than seeking new paths.

When we don't nourish ourselves professionally, we can't nourish our profession or the society we serve.

My friend Kami has been blogging recently about the value of accreditation (see "PR professionals should consider getting accredited"). And I just saw an excellent summary of the blogosphere debate at the Forward blog.

It's a topic that's been dear to my heart since I became accredited over a decade ago. So much so that I developed a training seminar for people who were interested in accreditation. Our chapter hosted the seminar several times over the years with folks coming from across the state to attend. Others in our chapter (like fellow Byline bloggers Monica Faulkenbery, APR, and Kami Huyse, APR) have since greatly improved the seminar.

Accreditation is important to me because professional development is important to me. I couldn't do my job well if I didn't keep learning how to do it better. And while I don't believe that accreditation is the sole answer to what ales our profession, I can attest to the fact that my employer's view of public relations became much more positive when she learned about our accreditation process.

In 1995, I was asked to write a little article for PRSA's Tactics about what accreditation had done for me. I just reread that article and found some statements that could have been written today:

"We are facing a new horizon. As a result of corporate downsizing, more and more people have created small businesses and freelance operations. The current trends of two-way communication, audience-driven messages and information on demand offer new avenues of opportunities in public relations. And computer technology, now more than ever, enables the average person to produce a publication. Anyone can put a sign on the door to advertise 'PR' services."

At the very least, accreditation demonstrates that you're not just anybody.

In that article, I also outlined some personal goals, "In [these] times, I want to be creative, trustworthy and effective."

Still true.

And I could never hope to get there by being stagnant.

Business Journal Runs Story about PRSA Workshop

Andi Rodriguez ran a story in her Marketing and Media column in this week's edition of the San Antonio Business Journal about tomorrow’s workshop that we are hosting with the IABC San Antonio chapter. (I can’t give you the link, because it’s only available to subscribers.) Shel Holtz is coming to town, and thanks to Frost Bank, will be leading an afternoon workshop for us, “Introduction to Social Media.” The response has been incredible, especially since we only had about a month to promote it. But it is Shel after all.

Walk-ins are welcome. So if you’ve got a little time to spend preparing for your future, come on over. Details are on the chapter web site.

Every time I attend a session led by Shel (this is my third) or participate in one of his webinars (three so far), my professional knowledge has leaped forward dramatically. And it always pays off big time in my work.

And thanks, Andi, for helping to spread the word!

Some AP Stylebook Rules Deserve to be Broken

PRSA’s Strategist magazine recently discussed an issue regarding diversity and the AP Stylebook. At issue was use of the lowercase black rather than Black when referring to the racial group. Some readers criticized the magazine for doing so just because the AP Stylebook says to. Interestingly, the folks over at AP say the rule is lowercase because that’s what newspapers do. And the cycle continues.

In my editing, I’ve always used uppercase for racial and ethnic terms, like Black and White. It’s both respectful and logical.

After reading the discussion, I got to thinking about other AP rules that deserve to be broken. Here are a few from the styleguide I created for my organization. Interestingly, two are kind-of gender-related.

1. Chairman, Chairwoman: I agree with AP about not using chairperson. It says to use chairman or chairwoman. I prefer chair (“The chair of the board said…”). It’s clear and brief.

2. His, Her: These AP guys actually state that “the pronoun his when an indefinite antecedent may be male or female.” (They also approve of the use of mankind.) Excuse me! The better choice is to either use his or her, use he or she, or revise the sentence from singular to plural. Though I am icked-out by combination forms like he/she and (s)he.

3. Abbreviations and Acronyms: This is the one I struggle with the most. AP says not to follow an organization’s name with an abbreviation or acronym in parentheses. Every time I try to follow this rule, I hear about readers getting confused – even coworkers who know what the acronym stands for. Ed Tijerina, columnist for the San Antonio Express-News has repeatedly expressed dismay that most PR folks break this rule. It is by far his pet peeve. The conflict though is that acronyms are jargon, and the more jargon you have, the less likely the piece will be read. But taking out the first-reference acronyms causes confusion and slows reading, which means the piece is less likely to be read.

What do you think? What AP Stylebook rules do you break (on purpose)?