Flacks & Sacked Luncheon Lends Support to our Recently Laid-Off Journalists

More than 80 local advertising and PR folk hosted a lunch to lend moral support to at least 40 of our laid off journalist friends and to help them find new opportunities, hopefully in San Antonio. Many of the journalists were formerly at the San Antonio Express-News, which took a big hit a couple of weeks ago, despite being – as I was told – a profitable paper. A couple of folk at my table had been “copyboys” more than 35 years ago (though had left and returned since). There were many great minds in the room.

This creative and thoughtful event was organized by Michele Autenrieth Brown and Debi Aronson Pfitzenmaier. From what I can tell, they primarily used Facebook and e-mail to notify folk of the details. Alamo Café was gracious enough to agree to serve as the venue for this loud crowd.

It was great to see the faces of so many people who hadn’t seen each other in a long time. And many PR folk and journalists met each other for the first time after spending years working together via phone and e-mail.

The San Antonio PRSA Board just announced it is offering free job bank access to our journalist friends in the media affected by the economic downturn and subsequent layoffs. (There is never a charge for posting job openings.) Access to the job bank is also free to PRSA members. For more information go to our web site: http://www.prsanantonio.com/job.aspx

Kudos to Michele and Debi for giving us a forum to support our journalist colleagues!

And let me send a special thank you to our journalist friends for your years of dedication to truth and meaningful storytelling for the benefit of our community. Best of luck to you as you craft your next chapter.

24 Top Social Media People You Should Know

One of the best things about being a member of PRSA is the generosity of spirit that all members seem to possess. I haven't met a member yet who wouldn't come to the aid of another member with a problem or issue. That must be why I gravitated to this group! It reminds me so much of the song I learned as a Girl Scout years ago, called "Pass it On."

This week, another group with a tremendous generosity of spirit were honored by the Austin American Statesman during the area's premier networking event, SxSW or South by Southwest. The Statesman took nominations for the Lone Star State's top social media figures and called it the Social Media Awards (though many of the honorees suggested jazzier names to the sponsors!).

To say that our state is big is silly -- just look at the real estate on any classroom globe. But to say that our state is big on social media is worth shouting about. Here's a complete list of the honorees and how you can find them. Some were surprising, like Railroad Commissioner Michael Williams' use of social media to keep constituents informed. Or David Guenthner, whose nomination was linked to his in-depth reporting on public policy issues.

It was good to see some familiar faces nominated as well. Kami Watson Huyse, former San Antonio chapter member, and Bryan Person, who recently spoke to the chapter in a professional development seminar were also lauded at the Sunday afternoon event.

Some new people that I will be watching as a result of attending the awards are Michelle Greer, who was the overall winner and was described as the geek's geek and who has also used social media to help raise money for causes. Also, J. R. Cohen, a coffeehouse owner in Houston, has a devoted customer following and a way for them to Tweet their orders in. He, too, has social causes in mind with his social media efforts.

One thread ran through the entire awards presentation: generosity is alive and well and living in social media (and PR!) in Texas. Take some time to learn about these 24 newly famous Texans.

TV News Directors Pack the House

Most everyone is troubled by the layoffs facing print journalists.
It’s a tough time in newsrooms everywhere including San Antonio.

The news directors from the ABC, CBS, and NBC San Antonio television affiliates discussed the impact the economy is having on local coverage. The PRSA San Antonio luncheon was a record-breaker with 96 people attending to hear the news.

I was surprised just how easy it was to get the news directors to agree to meet. However, one news executive did tell me before the luncheon that discussing the news before the May ratings book makes good business sense.

News directors (seated left to right in photo) included:

• Jim Boyle, ABC Affiliate, KSAT 12 News
• Kurt Davis, CBS Affiliate, KENS 5 Eyewitness News
• Aaron Ramey, NBC Affiliate, News 4 WOAI

In a nutshell, these highly competitive news execs said emerging technologies are forcing them to change. Social media, especially Twitter and Facebook are powerful
influencers today, the news directors said.

TV stations have taken a big hit after their steady revenue source of car dealership ads dried up. However, the was no mention at all of possible job cuts.

So far, it seems, everything’s stable in TV land.

Hard times hit our friends in the press

Everyone probably knows by now that the Express-News staff suffered major layoffs yesterday.

We pitched stories to them and their work often helped make us look good to our bosses and clients, so a bunch of PR professionals, led by Debi Pfitzenmaier and Michelle Autenreith Brown, wants to do something to help the reporters transition to the next step, whatever it may be.

Here's how it will work:

Much like what was done in NYC when Wall Street started the massive lay-offs, a small group of people led by Debi Pfitzenmaier are trying to coordinate a Flacks and Sacked lunch.

A PR person reaches out to a victim of the lay-offs who they know or pitched, invites them to lunch and covers the cost of the lunch along with their own. In turn, the reporter has a chance to network.

The event has been tentatively scheduled for Monday, March 23, at 11:30 a.m., place TBA. If you are interested, e-mail Michelle at mbrown@gdc-co.com to RSVP. If you have already invited a reporter, please let her know at that time. If you would like to help but don't feel you know anyone well enough to invite him or her, let Michelle know that too and she will match you with someone.

I've been on both sides of this fence - the laid off and the left behind. In either case, you are left wondering if (or when) the next shoe will drop, and just how big it will be. If you are one of the laid-off, it really helps to know that your friends are thinking of you.

What's in an Embargo?

This was the topic of discussion today at our chapter's quarterly breakfast for senior practitioners. I absolutely love the chance to meet with my counterparts as it offers us a chance to take each other's pulse on professional matters.

Today's topic was no exception. And was provided by our breakfast ninja, Christie Goodman, APR. Christie got the idea from discussion featured on several PR blogs after Tech Crunch reported they would no longer honor PR practitioners' embargo stamps on press releases.

There's a fabulous explanation here in Shel Holtz's blog about the entire issue and what it means to the PR community.


For the uninitiated, an "Embargo" stamp on a press release is used to limit the reporter's first use of the information. Shel's post details their history, so I won't rehash it here.

Our discussion today turned to who's using it in San Antonio? Our group of 10 had widely diverging uses of the practice. One seasoned health care professional said that they were absolutely necessary when submitting research project results to the major medical journals. This need evolved from the desire to get complicated information into the pipeline and respect the long lead time of many magazines. A trade industry professional said the same thing, but that he hardly used them anymore. An agency PR director shared his former financial public relations experience in which large volumes of information for year-end reporting would need an embargo just for reporters to digest it all. One association professional had obsserved others using them just to get people to press conferences. The "breakfast gang" agreed that this was an abuse of the system. Others at the table had rarely used them.

The common thread in this discussion among all this morning focused on the importance of building trust and relationships with the reporters who cover your "beat" or industry and the clear need to define what the embargo was designed to achieve for your organization. All in all, it was a lively discussion, but we'd like to hear more. What's the practice in your PR world?

Twitter Users Demonstrate the Power of Interpersonal Networking with Worldwide Twestivals

Something amazing happened two weeks ago. Volunteers around the world organized a massive fundraiser using Twitter as their primary communication tool. As a result, 202 cities across the globe held Twestivals, bringing together the Twitter community for an evening of fun and to raise money. The money is still being counted, but so far they’ve counted – are you sitting down? – a quarter of a million dollars raised for charity: water.

It started in London as an idea to tie a “tweet-up” where local Twitter users get together informally to meet face to face to a larger cause. They chose charity: water, a non-profit organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations by funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.

The majority of the cities’ events were planned in less than two weeks, with no brochures, no television spots, no billboards, no Superbowl ads.

Visit the Twestival web site to see the list of cities, learn more about the charity, and keep tabs on similar events.

You can also hear a great interview with the founder on the For Immediate Release podcast, episode #420.

But tell me this, if volunteers directed by no organization can raise a quarter of a million dollars in a few weeks with no seed money by merely using Twitter, what creative things can you be using Twitter for?

The Media in Transition - Social Media Breakfast San Antonio

Traditional media such as newspapers, radio and television are expanding their online audience engagement. Participating in social networks is just one of the new strategies being implemented by savvy publications and television. Join us Wednesday morning as we hear from some innovative members of the San Antonio media who are spearheading the charge into the social networks.

Speakers

• Donna Tuttle (@writeontime) of the San Antonio Business Journal

• Laura Lorek (@lalorek) of the San Antonio Express News

• Elaine Wolff (@emwolff) of the San Antonio Current

• Joe Ruiz (@joeruiz) of KSAT Channel 12

Social Media Breakfast San Antonio

• Date: Wednesday, February 18, 2009
• Time: 7:30-9am
• Place: The Magnolia Pancake Haus (210-496-0828)
• Address: 606 Embassy Oak, Suite 100 San Antonio, Texas 78216 [map]
• Registration: Register on Eventbrite, as tickets are limited

Questions about this event? Contact Jennifer Milikien or Jennifer Navarrete.

Demo Today Presented about Jott

At today’s PRSA chapter luncheon, I presented a brief look at Jott, a voice-to-text service that records your voice message and sends it to you in a text e-mail. This was the first in a series of mini-demonstrations PRSA will be offering free prior to our luncheons. Following is a recap of what we looked at today.

Why use Jott?
Send reminders to yourself.
Dictate things you want to write.
Send text messages.
Send e-mail messages to others.
Send messages to lists of people.

How to sign up
Fill out the registration form.
Use the cell phone you will be calling from.
Use the e-mail where you want the emails to go.

Features
You can view and listen to your messages at the Jott web site.
E-mails come with the text version and a link for the recipient to listen.
Build a contact list.
Get ok first before adding their cell phone numbers.
There are Jott feeds that you can get to listen to news and updates from certain web sites.
There are aps for your Blackberry or iPhone.
Create tasks in Outlook.

Pricing
This service is no longer free, now that Jott is out of beta. But there are three payment options, so you can choose the best for you. Go to the Jott web site for details.

Next month, we’ll see how to set up a Google homepage and how to set up news feeds

Sharing With Students

We care a lot about students at PRSA. We support two student chapters, one here in San Antonio, and one in the Rio Grande Valley. Coming up this month is our semi-annual Shadow Day event with the UTSA chapter. While details are still being finalized and will be available later this week on PRSA San Antonio's Web site, today a Twitter post caught my eye. David Mullen of Communications Catalyst is developing a shopping list for PR students he's meeting with next week. Read his post titled What Advice Would You Share with These College Students . There's a lot of great information about do's and don'ts that should be part of every student's vocabulary. Come to think about it, they should be in every practitioner's vocabulary too. Share it with a student today and we will all become better practitioners.

Finding Blogs in Your Industry or Market

One of the first steps in a blog monitoring or a blogger relations campaign is to create a list of blogs in your industry that you want to follow. You can’t possibly watch them all. So how do you prioritize those blogs?

Jason Falls has demonstrated how he created a list of education blogs for a client that his firm was working with. Even if you're not following education, the process that he describes is really useful. He even ranked the blogs based on an engagement score.

So go to his blog post, “Determining the Top Education Blogs” and see what he did. If you are working in education or with clients focused on education, Jason has generously made his list available to everyone who wants it.

Jason also has a post, “How To Pick The Right Blogs For PR Outreach,” where he provides a presentation called, Not All Blogs are Created Equal,” he made recently to the Blugrass Chapter of PRSA.

For an added dose, listen to the interview of Jason by Eric Schwartzman for the On the Record Online podcast. They talked about how organizations should and should not get into social media. It's an excellent interview.

San Antonio Joins the Social Media Breakfast "Franchise"

On Wednesday, January 21st Social Media Breakfast San Antonio will hold it’s first meeting. Founder of Social Media Breakfast, and recent transplant from Boston to Austin, Bryan Person will be on hand to kick off the event and will speak on the topic "Humanizing Business Through Social Media."

I had the opportunity to meet Bryan in Boston in October when I attended Chris Brogan's "New Marketing Summit" and found Bryan to be a fabulous resource on social media as well as someone interested in passing that knowledge along to those interested in learning.

Bryan and I discussed the opportunity to expand his Social Media Breakfast into San Antonio, and when I then discovered Jennifer Navarrete (organizer of the San Antonio Social Media Club) was also interested in starting a breakfast, I knew it was time to move!

Join us on Wednesday, January 21st at the Magnolia Pancake Haus from 7:30 to 9 a.m. to help us kick off the fun in style. Seating is limited to 20. So, be sure to register for your seat and breakfast from the Magnolia Pancake Haus.

Resources for Learning about Podcasting

Here is some information about new resources available about podcasting.

Trafcom News Podcast 79: The Podcaster's Toolkit
Donna Papacosta’s latest podcast episode outlines the “podcaster’s toolkit” in less than 20 minutes. Her web site includes links to all the resources she mentions in the podcast.

Podcasting 101: How to connect with targeted, passionate listeners
Shel Holtz will be leading a 90-minute webinar on podcasting on January 27. An earlier webinar he led is what helped me get IDRA’s Classnotes started. I recommend it. There is a fee of $209, and the session is sponsored by Ragan Communications.

Cleaning House When the Calendar Turns

It happens every year, usually around Halloween. The overwhelming piles of paper, files, news articles to read, and other minutae from a year’s worth of projects begins to aggravate me. I move them around from left to right on my desk, sometimes buying fancy containers from one of those organization stores to make ti look better. After a month of rearranging and, occasionally, even purging some of the paper with repeated trips to the recycle bin, I start to get serious. I go on all-out binges, saying ‘who needs this?’ to myself or ‘why did I save that?’ and ‘what on earth was I thinking when I stashed this in the drawer?’ and suddenly, the cleaning goes into high gear.

By Thanksgiving I usually move a trash can into my office. This is when the high gear “chucking” begins. After completely purging the paper nonsense of the current year, it’s time to start on the electronic files. Delete, delete, delete, what do I need all this little documents for? Why are there 3 versions of the same release? What on earth are all these empty folders doing here?

Before you know it, it’s December and I have removed the professional dust bunnies and am laying the groundwork for a new year. I can go off and celebrate the holidays with a clean conscience, knowing I am ready for the challenges of the new year. In case you haven’t yet mentally gotten your year started, here are a few questions to ask yourself as you clean house:

1. Does anyone else but me care about this project, paper, document?
2. If this project were in a time capsule, what would happen when it’s opened in ten or 100 years?
3. Do you want to tell your grandchildren about it?
4. Is it worth submitting for an award?

If not, then let the “chucking” begin. Happy New Year!

Podcast Interview with Michael Cherenson, PRSA’s chair-elect for 2009

You may remember the recent visit to our chapter by Michael Cherenson, PRSA’s chair-elect for 2009. Now he's been interviewed by Shel and Neville on their For Immediate Release interviews podcast. It's an excellent interview, and as usual Michael does not hesitate to answer the tough questions.

Listen now online or download the audio file to listen on your iPod or mp3 player.

Don't Miss FreelanceCamp San Antonio on Jan 31

If you are a freelancer or independent practitioner, you may be interested in San Antonio’s first FreelanceCamp. This is an unconference for freelancers, entrepreneurs and independent business owners. What’s an unconference? It’s an open, participatory workshop event where the agenda is set by the participants. Thanks to the help of sponsors, this event is free.

It will be held on January 31, 2009 from 9:00 to 4:00 at Radius Café (across the street from the Municipal Auditorium) in San Antonio. I attended a similar event, PodCamp San Antonio, and found it useful and easy to share ideas with peers.

As the web site describes, FreelanceCamp will be a day of “user-generated sessions on a variety of topics regarding business, habits, techniques, how-to’s, success stories, all shared by both the new and veterans of the freelancing world…There’s something for everyone no matter what industry you’re in.

The organizers are Luis Sandoval Jr., Alysan Delaney-Childs, Jennifer Navarrete and Angelica Sandoval.

See the useful flier here or go to the web site now to sign up.

Insights for PR Firms in a Recession Environment

Tough economic times will affect many industries. Some will be hit hard, but experts predict others, like health care, will weather the storm just fine. I’ve come across several stories trying to anticipate the effect on the public relations profession. I’ve never worked for a PR firm, but if we just look at that sector of our profession, there are some interesting prospects. I want to share two with you.

First, a recent episode of the Inside PR podcast focused on actions agencies can take when confronted with an economic downturn. The three people in the conversation (Terry Fallis , Martin Waxman and Julie Rusciolelli) are all with agencies, and part of their conversation points to opportunities agencies can take advantage of when companies reduce their in-house PR staff (sigh) and turn to agencies to take on some of that workload.

By the way, Inside PR is a podcast that I have strongly recommended you listen to before. I still do. It’s insightful and entertaining.

Second, Joseph Thornley, CEO of Thornley Fallis, posted a story, “Managing through the coming recession,” from an agency exec’s point of view. It presents some strategies that those of you in similar positions might want to consider.

Reflections on the PRSA International Conference in Detroit

Posted on behalf of Trisha Box, PRSA San Antonio's Vice President of Programs and Chair of Gift of Guidance Program

I recently had the honor of attending the PRSA International Conference in Detroit after winning the "Eat and Win" program hosted by our chapter. It was a privilege to be among 3,000 PR practitioners from around the world representing corporate America, independents, non-profits and many PRSSA students. Speakers like Craig Newmark founder of Craig’s List, Bob Lutz with GM, and an author and former sports anchor Mitch Albom were all engaging and educational. The many sessions to choose from offered to succeed in today’s economy and especially how to jump into social media.

I was also proud to represent San Antonio by serving as an assembly delegate. We discussed important trends and issues facing our profession. I attended our district meeting where I met members from Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Next years’ conference is in sunny San Diego on November 7-10, 2009. With the ever changing economy, I highly encourage everyone to consider attending the 2009 conference to educate yourself on our ever changing profession and be a bigger value to your employer or client. Put in your '09 budgets, if you register by the end of the year you get this year’s price. See www.prsa.org.

Thanks again to the 2008 chapter board for hosting me and for voting me as an assembly delegate to represent our chapter.

Trust and Reputation in Public Relations

Today PRSA San Antonio members were treated to a presentation by Mike Cherenson, APR, Chair-Elect of PRSA and Executive Vice President of Success Communications Group. Mike is a second generation counselor, who grew up "doodling his ABC's on news release stationery."

Mike's lively presentation included numerous research examples about building and maintaining reputation, a particularly timely topic as our nation struggles with the effects of the federal bailout and an uncertain economy. Cherenson explained that public relations practitioners are the keepers of trust and repetition in a company and the CEO should be its chief trust officer. He offered a formula for the group: Reputation equals expectation plus credibility plus authenticity.

Cherenson advocates that social media is empowering more and more to join in on the conversation, but cautioned that in this age of "infodemics" it is difficult to sort out fact from fiction. Infodemics is defined as the combination of rumor, truth, fact, propaganda and interpretation. This presents new challenges for managing an organizations' reputation.

He offered a useful analogy called the Credibility Bank. Organizations make deposits each time they doing something good or well. Withdrawals, on the other hand, are made when wrongs go uncorrected. He sugggested all practitioners should develop a score card and share it periodically with their CEO. His advice to practitioners hoping to build trust among their many stakeholders is that the simpler the message, the easier it is to reach your audience. Mike's presentation will be available on the chapter web site.

Update: Kami Watson Huyse shares this video interview with Mike Cherenson on trust and reputation. Enjoy!

Photo of Mike Cherenson courtesy of PRSA Member Randy Escamilla

Election Retrospective: The Power of Political Words

Like millions of Americans, I watched the election coverage last night. Beyond the sheer wonder of the computer interfaces, integration of social media, and the usual political speculation, one basic of our culture and our democracy stood tall. The power of words. The defining moment for me last evening was two moments, actually. First, John McCain's eloquent concession speech, delivered with humility and grace. You can read his speech or watch the video of his speech.

It made me recall the basics of what drew me to public relations in the first place, the writing part, and how cool it would have been to be someone's speech writer. Then, before too much more time passed, President-elect Obama took the stage more than half a country away and delivered another powerful speech, which you can read or watch .

Many social media folks and media watchers are referencing the words of the evening, including Michael Sebastian at Ragan.com.

The power of words is evident all around us, and, thanks to Web 2.0, we can read, view, listen and comment on the words that will define our next four years.

Check Your E-mail Release for Spam-like Issues Before You Send It

Another PRSA member forwarded this link to me. It’s so cool. With this tool, SiteSell’s SpamCheck, you can just test a news release or advisory before you send it by e-mail. You’ll quickly get a report telling you how likely it is to get caught up in spam filters.

I tested one I sent a couple of months ago and was happy to get a low score of 0.2. It says that any score under 4.5 is great. The really cool part is that it tells you the precise problems it identified so that you can fix them if you choose.

Note that this tool does not keep you from spamming reporters with mass irrelevant messages. We have to tend to that ourselves.