10.29.08

How many?

Posted in PRSA News at 11:33 am by elizabethmckinney

How many press secretaries has our current president had?

I’m not sure about you, but it feels like it’s been a revolving door up there. I know that many of us are fans of the original press secretary, Ari Fleischer, but I’m continually shocked to see a new press secretary. If my count is right, we’ve had four: Ari, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow and now, Dana Perino.

In contrast, President Clinton had four as well, over 8 years. President Bush’s father had one. President Reagan had two.

So, what’s the point? I guess I just wonder why these changes have been so frequent. We all know that consistency in your message to your audiences is important. Changing spokespeople that often just seems like a challenge that is not be worth the consequences.

10.23.08

Shankman Speaks at Spinks

Posted in PRSA News, Spinks Awards and Banquet at 10:43 am by Stephanie Skordas

You may have seen it in your inbox already, but just in case you didn’t … Peter Shankman is the speaker for this year’s Spinks Banquet.

Shankman may be best known for his free email service, Help a Reporter Out or HARO for short. A CEO, entrepreneur, a social media guru, Peter Shankman runs The Geek Factory in New York City with clients worldwide.

If you’re one of the PR pros who’s never heard of HARO, click the link above to learn more.  It’s a free three-times daily email filled with queries from top reporters and bloggers, all looking for sources.  There are more than 36,000 subscribers now, and it all started with a Facebook page less than a year ago. The group got too big for Facebook quickly and now Shankman does the daily emails instead.

AdWeek offers this article about Shankman. Editor and Publisher says this.

In addition to his HARO emails and PR/Marketing work, Shankman is an author, a skydiver and owner of two big-boned cats. If you’re not following him on Twitter yet, you should be. (http://twitter.com/skydiver)

And you can follow me too if you want: http://twitter.com/stephskordas. Just sayin’.

So now you know who the speaker is! Great news, huh?

On to other stuff … time to get your nominations in! We have reached out to the Raleigh and Charlotte chapters to make up the judging panel, so we need to make sure there’s enough time to get your nominations to them. The deadline is NEXT FRIDAY at 5pm. That’s Halloween folks. Don’t get spooked, but do get your nominations in.

You can mail them, deliver them … heck,  you can EMAIL them to me. I’m looking at shiny trophy catalogs. Don’t you want your name on one?