07.21.08
Posted in Professional Development at 3:55 pm by elizabethmckinney
Post Written by PD Committee Member, Doug Allred, APR
Three-Mile Island, Bhopal, the Tylenol tampering crisis—everyone in public relations knows of and has studied at least one of them. They are our PR DNA. As a member of the professional development committee, I was pumped about this lineup and couldn’t wait to tell everyone I know. Yet one of the first comments I got in my office floored me: “You couldn’t find someone from this century?”
That threw me for a major loop. But that’s not right. These are not “ordinary crises.” These events—and the people who helped shape the responses to them—have changed our industry. These cases are in textbooks for a reason. They are timeless.
The TarHeel Chapter Professional Development Seminar on September 12 is a unique opportunity to—as Elizabeth points out—catch three giants on the same stage.
We are working on an end of the day Q&A with the group. I can’t wait for that. The answer to “How would you have done things differently with blogs and Twitter and a 24/7 news cycle?” alone will be well worth the price of admission.
I can’t wait. See you on September 12.
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07.14.08
Posted in Professional Development at 4:46 pm by elizabethmckinney
Post Written by PD Seminar Committee Member, Allison White
When I first got involved with the professional development committee this year, I was a little concerned, because I was not completely aware of the three crises that our three keynote speakers were involved in. Being young and new to the profession, I’m still learning, so I did some research after the first meeting I went to. To my surprise, and maybe to some of yours, most of these crises are still having effects today.
As recently as July 12, the Minneapolis- St. Paul Star Tribune published an article describing the hundreds of tons of toxins that are still in the former Union Carbide plant in Bhopal and what is being done about cleaning them up. Dow Chemical, which bought Union Carbide in 2001, and the Indian government still have massive communications and reputation issues on their hands surrounding this issue.
The Tylenol tampering crises in 1982 and 1986 are still referred to today, most recently in food scares and in the Chinese toy scare. Many experts and professionals dealing with recalls and product issues look to the Tylenol tampering crisis for a blueprint on how to handle similar situations.
The effects of “Three Mile Island Syndrome”- as known by some- are still felt today. It is believed to be the reason that so many Western countries do not pursue nuclear energy as an alternative source of energy, according to a recent article in the U.K.’s The Guardian.
Not only are each of 2008 professional develop speakers practicing professionals, but their respective crises, however long or short ago, has a place in today’s conversation on crisis communications.
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Posted in Professional Development at 10:42 am by Leslie Brooks
Here’s a link to a recent blog post from Mark Stevens on PR News Digital PR Blog. He makes an important point – one that I’m hearing more and more from a variety of sources. It looks to me like we need to listen and learn.
http://www.prnewsonline.com/blog/index.php/why-are-pr-people-so-lazy/
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07.07.08
Posted in Professional Development at 4:32 pm by elizabethmckinney
If you know anything about me, you know that I love a challenge. It gives me a chance to test myself, to see what I can accomplish. It’s a hold-over from my childhood years; my family is one of over-achievers. Almost all of us have master’s degrees and at least one of us will end up with a Ph.D., I’m pretty sure. I’m willing to bet on it. So when Donnie asked me to take on the Professional Development Seminar, after talking with Leslie Brooks about her experience last year, I said yes.
I’ve definitely got the challenge that I wanted, even more so than I anticipated.
Tomorrow, at our Summer Social, I’ll be announcing more great news about the Professional Development Seminar. You should have already received your Save the Date, and I hope your calendar was immediately blocked for Friday, September 12.
You know that we’re bringing together the pioneers of crisis communication, but were you aware they have NEVER been presenters at the same conference before? Yes, you read that correctly: the PRSA Tarheel Chapter is the FIRST and ONLY group to ever bring these three speakers together. Not national. Not international. Not DC or San Francisco or Seattle or Denver or Houston. Us. Your group. The Tarheel Chapter. Your chapter.
This seminar is just another step in a long succession of improvements to our professional development endeavors. Professional development isn’t helpful if you don’t ever use it and crisis communications is something we should all be familiar with as professional communicators–because someday, somewhere, somehow, someone will need our crisis assistance.
Please join us on September 12. It will be well worth your time and your money. (And it will help me–and my committee–be successful in this challenge!)
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07.02.08
Posted in Professional Development at 5:05 pm by John Mims, APR
Yesterday’s post about the lifecycle of our blog got me thinking. While he does not come right out and say it, it appears that Rick is over this blog thing. Well, should he be?
While I personally follow blogs and have my own, I do not think that every company, every client every individual should have a blog. Blogs are merely another tactic in our public relations arsenal. Sometimes they make sense for our companies and clients. Sometimes, they don’t.
For the Tar Heel Chapter, I see this blog as moderately important. Outside of our meetings, there is no place for us to share opinions with the chapter as a whole. This blog also gives our members a forum to ask advice of other members. This blog was never intended to replace communications options but rather to enhance and add to them.
So, is anyone reading? Turns out, we have a decent following. As of the writing of this post, we have 117 members in the Tar Heel Chapter. Last month we had 153 unique visitors. Each month, that total continues to grow. On top of that, we had 1,329 visits last month meaning that our 153 visitors stopped by the blog more than 8 times. That number, too, has been on the increase since the inception of the blog. Clearly, someone has found value in the posts on this blog.
Rick is right about the frequency of blogging. Frankly, consistency is a problem with most blogs. In the one year that this blog has been operational, we have had about 30 posts or about 2.5 a month. Some months we have more; some we have less. In most cases, the heavy months occur when there is a major PRSA event.
What can we do? Well, more people can post on the blog. If you want to post on the blog, sign up. Having more voices only helps deliver to our readers. You all have information that you can share with the group. Another option is to post comments. Comments are dying on blogs across the Internet. Although readership is up, fewer people are commenting. No one knows why. On this blog, we can buck that trend.
In the end, the conversation about using blogs is akin to using newspapers as a medium. It is important that we understand both mediums and use them when the strategy calls for it.
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05.20.08
Posted in Professional Development at 10:09 am by Donnie Turlington
Read Jim Sinkinson’s article and checked out Gina’s blacklist and thankfully did not see anyone from PRSA Tar Heel on the list — nor did I expect to! I think it’s important to take pride in the work that we perform as PR professionals and media relations is no exception. Bottom line, is that to be effective in media relations the pitches have to be on target. I can’t imagine spammers are getting any results to begin with, so why anyone is still randomly firing off hundreds of e-mails is beyond me.
For those of you who are actively involved in the art of media relations, check out Peter Shankman’s Help a Reporter Out (HARO). You can sign up to receive daily e-mails from Peter with queries from journalists around the country looking for expert sources on a wide variety of topics. I’m a relatively new user and have already found this process to be worthwhile. Only catch, and it’s a good one — if your pitch is off target, you’re officially canned from the e-mail blast. Happy pitching!
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04.11.08
Posted in Professional Development at 3:13 pm by John Mims, APR
I am so excited that we have had so much interest in the APR examination. As you know, we had a general interest session on Wednesday to discuss how we might make the study sessions work best for us. After much discussion, the group decided that it would be best to have a 12-week study course that could be extended to 14-15 weeks depending on summer schedules and such. That would put our group ready to sit for the readiness review panels in August – September.
The group will meet weekly on Wednesdays at noon for approximately one hour. I am currently working on getting a caterer to feed us; each person will be responsible for the $5-$8 lunch. We will rotate the location to make it convenient for everyone.
Our first meeting will be on May 7 at noon. We will meet at Altyris Advertising, 4196 Mendenhall Oaks Parkway in High Point off of 68. It’s not too late to join us!
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04.04.08
Posted in Professional Development at 2:12 pm by Aaron Wall, APR
I just returned to my office from a very interesting lunch meeting with two of the Tar Heel Chapter’s newest members, Kathryn Williford and Ken Luck of RLF Communications. Their interest is to create an improved route for new professionals to get involved in PRSA.
A more common practice in larger markets, Ken and Kathryn feel the new professionals model could be very well received here in the Triad. The idea is one involving a more segmented group of the Tar Heel Chapter’s members who have less than five years of experience.
In theory this group would meet once per month in the evenings at a variety of locations throughout the area. These meetings would of course be in addition to the regular monthly meetings, and could tend to have more of a social/networking flare. However, professional development would continue to be a focus in addition to networking.
I am impressed with their ideas for promotion and events for this new initiative including social networking tools such as Facebook. In addition there is a great tie-in with National’s New Professionals Affinity Group, which will be a great resource for the development of our own group.
Soon we’ll conduct a survey of chapter members to gauge interest in such an offering. Stay tuned for many more details on this new and developing effort. I look forward to watching this new initiative grow and benefit our membership.
Go Heels!
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03.17.08
Posted in Professional Development at 4:39 pm by John Mims, APR
If you’ve been a PR practitioner for any number of years, you have undoubtedly thought about getting accredited. Although very challenging, the APR exam is very rewarding and a great booster to your career. There is no time like the present to begin to prepare for accreditation!
We will be hosting an APR “open house” on April 9 at 5 p.m. at Altyris Advertising, 4196 Mendenhall Oaks Pkwy, Suite 115. The purpose of the meeting is to review the accreditation process, answer questions and discuss with other APR candidates the best way to organize study sessions. The meeting is expected to last less than one hour.
If you plan on attending, contact John T. Mims, APR, at (336) 841-0600 or at john.mims@altyris.com.
We look forward to seeing you in April!
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02.08.08
Posted in Professional Development at 9:54 am by John Mims, APR
During my presentations about social media, I’ve had many people ask me, “What is RSS (Really Simple Syndication)?” That’s a hard question to answer. Fortunately, Ed Lee has come up with a great analogy:
Your Web content is like water in a lake. Lots of people want it, and you want them to have it. They want to drink it, swim in it and play water polo in it.
But to get it, they need to visit the lake, fill their buckets and then go back to their homes to use it.
RSS enables your audience to create a stream from your lake(where the content is) to their home (where they need the content).
Follow this link to read Ed’s full article about RSS.
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