Business Meeting Has Begun, No More Laughing No More Fun (Says Who?)

by Felicia K. Knight

www.KnightVisionInternational.com

The ability to run a meeting, either in person or via telephone or teleconference is a skill to which many are called but few are chosen. And that leaves the rest of us contemplating pulling the fire alarm or feigning a heart attack. Or both.

How many meetings have you sat through that meandered so far afield from the topic at hand, you wondered if you sat in the wrong room or mixed up the conference code? This kind of meeting is rarely productive and usually breeds resentment and frustration, not to mention confusion. After all, the purpose of a meeting is to move a project forward, not foment mutiny.

Meetings don’t have to be excruciating. They are a necessary component of doing business—any kind of business—but they don’t have to be a necessary evil. These people are your colleagues and collaborators (or clients). Why subject them to hours of PowerPoint hell or endless rehashes of decisions that were made two meetings ago? You want your meetings to generate productivity and creativity. As with anything, you reap what you sow. Be a leader and lead the meeting.

Here are some tips to run a more efficient, creative, and non-coma-inducing meeting:

1. Have an agenda, including who you expect to speak and on what topic.
2. Distribute the agenda a day (or at least several hours) in advance so that people can come prepared.
3. Start the meeting on time. If people are late, they’ll know be punctual next time.
4. Respect other people’s schedules and workload by ending the meeting on time.
5. Assign someone to take notes and create a recap for distribution later.
6. Get to the point and stay on topic.
7. Invite discussion, but keep it relevant and moving forward.
8. Clarify next steps and who’s responsible for them.
9. Remember that it’s okay to have fun.
10. When appropriate, serve ice cream.

It’s Not the Mistake, but the Cover-Up that Counts

By Deborah Trivitt

I love teachers.  Anyone who follows me on Facebook knows my daughter teaches music.  She, and most of her colleagues do a great job.

But this is a PR Blog, and hence, it is with a heavy heart I read this article in the Omaha World-Herald.  So, I’m taking this opportunity to remind my clients, my colleagues and my followers it is better to confess to the crime (mistake, if you prefer) than to cover it up.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130507/NEWS/705079937/1694#peanut-butter-cover-up-costs-teachers-their-jobs

I’ll never forget the wise words of a Sunday school teacher and High School counselor, who told us, “It is okay to say you are wrong.”  These teachers and the paraprofessionals have learned a lesson the hard way.  But we ALL can learn from their mistake.  Just think what damage they’ve done to their profession and their district.  Trust is so hard to re-earn.

I have a wonderful construction company client. Every one of their customers I’ve talked with has said that when they find a problem, the company’s workers don’t look for someone to blame, they just find and fix the problem. They get wonderful reviews and clients who are willing to provide testimonials. And I get to do pro-active PR, instead of crisis management!

Protecting Your Online Reputation: It’s No Kid’s Game

By kdprvirtual

Last week, I volunteered to speak to a middle school class about “Protecting Your Online Reputation.” Who better to advise kids on this than a seasoned PR Pro?  After all, reputation management is rising higher on the list of things we do for our clients. I considered myself to be pretty knowledgeable on this subject.

Turns out, I know a lot less than I thought. As I was preparing for my talk, I asked my 13-year-old son what he and his friends would want to know. He threw out a list of things – mostly topics that I had never heard about.  Turns out, my child knows much more than me.

My son told me that every kid in his school had seen the video Canadian teenager Amanda Todd posted on YouTube.  Next, my son showed me his Xbox Live account and talked about how you need to have a generic gamer tag, shouldn’t have a detailed bio and never mention anything personal when playing with people you don’t know. Thank goodness, he somehow knew that he should never share his name, age or location with people he plays. I wondered how many of my friends didn’t know their kids were playing online with strangers?

Next, he showed me one of the newer apps – Snapchat. This app allows you to send a photo to a friend or multiple friends. When they receive it, they have 10 seconds to view the photo, then it disappears. Sounds a lot safer than posting a photo that stays on the search engines for years, right?  But as I looked into Snapchap closer, I found out that people have already figured out how to save Snapchat photos-either by taking a screen shot of the photo sent, or by figuring out other ways to save the picture. I wonder how many unsuspecting users of Snapchat would be surprised to find that their pictures didn’t actually disappear.

The more I researched this topic, the more alarmed I became. I asked my Facebook friends what they thought I should cover in my talk and the comments piled up. I learned that one of my Facebook acquaintances actually has written a book on this topic. It’s even filled with all kinds of scary, but true stories that happened right here in Alaska, while he was working for the Anchorage Police Department.

Protecting a client’s online reputation is only going to get more challenging, as social media sites and technology continue to be a larger part of our corporate, and personal lives. We all have a lot to learn. If you run a company, or have kids, the importance of managing your online reputation has never been more critical. People are losing their jobs because of something they tweeted. Kids are bullying others mercilessly without realizing the consequence. Students are being suspended from school or being kicked-off of sports teams because of what they say on Facebook. High school grads are not being accepted to a college or not being chosen for a scholarship because of photos they post on Instagram.

All I can say is that this is a topic that everyone – from corporate execs to parents – needs to master. Start by sharing my presentation with your kids. Here’s a link to a video my KD/PR Virtual team member Larry Bottjen recently produced on underage drinking. It’s a great example of  a communication tactic that resonates with teens. My advice to fellow PR pros and my clients?  Get smart about defending that online reputation today and make sure your employees do the same. Oh yeah, and consider adding a teenager to the payroll. No kidding!

Kathy Day is owner of Kathy Day Public Relations (KD/PR) Virtual, Alaska’s only virtual public relations agency.

Some Grammar and Punctuation Tips To Remember

By Claude M. Gruener, PR Albany

What’s the best way to get your news releases, speeches or your internet posts ignored, or worse yet, ridiculed?

Beyond being irrelevant, wrong or dated, it’s very simple.  All you need do is to include a few punctuation, grammatical or spelling errors.

Our savvy PR professionals at PRCG know all this, of course, but it doesn’t hurt to remind ourselves about a few we need to watch for when writing or reviewing what our clients write that may be seen or heard by the public or media.

Probably the most common mistake I see is the use of it’s as the possessive form of it.  Use its.  With the exception of one’s, possessive pronouns  (its, hers, his, theirs, yours, ours, whose) never have an apostrophe.  They already show possession.  (My city councilman sends out news releases and emails using it’s the wrong way.  I just don’t have the heart to tell him.)

Punctuation with quotation marks can be confusing.  There’s actually a Brit way and an American way in some instances.  Generally in the States, a comma or a final period is placed inside the marks.  Other punctuation marks are placed outside the quotation marks unless they are part of the material being quoted.  He screamed, “Get away from here!”  I can’t believe she had the nerve to answer “No”!  Who asked “Why?”

Commas are normally used between the elements of a series of three or more words, phrases, or clauses.  Sometimes, however, use is optional.  It is always wise to use a comma if it clarifies a sentence.  Thus you can avoid a sentence such as  “Clean sheets, the smell of freshly baked rolls and my little brother all remind me of home.”

Nouns such as family, couple, group, people, majority, percent, or personnel take either singular or plural verbs.  If the word refers to the group as a whole or the idea of oneness is meant, use a singular verb.  The group is meeting tonight at seven.  The elderly couple was the last to arrive.  But if the word refers to individuals within a group, use the plural.  A group of 19th century paintings and statues were donated to the museum.

Regarding indefinite pronouns, the following are always singular:  another, each, every, either, neither, and one, as are the compound pronouns made with any, every, some, and no:  anybody, anything, anyone, nobody, nothing, no one, etc.  Neither of his tax returns was completed correctly.

Use simpler words if you can.  Replace utilize with use, ameliorate with improve, modification with change, deficiency with lack and preventative with preventive.

Finally, here are a few words too often misused:

Affect/Effect – The most common use of affect is as a verb.  Effect is most commonly a noun.   But they can be just the opposite.

Alright — A common misspelling of the words all right.

Disinterested/Uninterested – The first conveys objectivity or neutrality, while the latter is simply lacking interest.

I/Me/Myself – I should be used when I is the subject of the sentence and is what the rest of the sentence is about.  My sister and I went to the opera.  Me should be used when it is the object of the action or thought conveyed by the verb, or is the object of a preposition.  Martha invited Helen and me to play bridge.

Irregardless – redundant, use regardless. Spell check normally catches this one!

Who/Whom – Substitute a personal pronoun in place of the word.  If he, she, or they would fit, use who; if him, her, or them would fit, use whom.

Google Fiber Lands in Austin

By Brenda Thompson

Brenda Thompson Communications provides strategic public relations counsel and services to a broad range of organizations in the corporate, retail, higher education, and nonprofit sectors.

Led by a PR professional with more than 15 years of experience in communications consulting and marketing management, Brenda Thompson Communications focuses on coming up with fresh approaches to tough PR challenges, developing smart solutions, and seeing them through.

 
Google just announced that it’s bringing its super-fast fiber optic cable and television service, Google Fiber, to Austin. We are only the second city in the nation to get this service, launching in mid-2014 (Kansas City was first). At the speed of 1 gigabit, Google Fiber is said to be 150 times faster than typical broadband. That’s not a typo—150 times faster. You can imagine why people are so excited.

This news had been leaked last week, and thousands of social media posts, blog posts, and traditional media stories speculating on whether or not it was true reached a fever pitch by yesterday’s announcement. National media attention also focused on Austin—there were more than 40 media representatives from around the world, including one from the Dallas bureau of a South Korean newspaper.

Within two hours of the announcement, AT&T announced that it plans to bring similar service to Austin.

Elected officials, community and business leaders say the high-speed network could become a critical advantage for the types of companies that Austin is known for: tech startups and creative industries such as film studios; as well as for schools and hospitals. And don’t forget PR firms!

Another Day, Another Blog Post….How Do I Get Inspired?

By Brendy Barr, Brendy Barr Communications

So it’s my turn to write a blog post for PRCG Powerlines and I’m having an attack of writer’s block.  Know the feeling?

It’s time to turn to my Top 10 sources for content inspiration. Perhaps one of them is your favorite muse?

1.    Turn on CNN, or FOX News or any national news channel. See what stories are breaking relevant to your industry that you can offer an opinion about.

 2.   Subscribe to e-newsletters and RSS feeds distributed by industry associations and peruse them for content that interests you. Re-post content with a brief introduction of why it amuses you. Be sure to credit your source appropriately.

3.   Photos. A picture speaks 1,000 words right? But don’t just turn to photos and video you shot at a work event. Plug key words into a Google Images search and see what you come up with.  This is the result of a search for “public relations professional cartoon”…

4.    Interview an expert in your industry and post it as a straight Q&A. Your readers will appreciate a fresh voice as well as insight from a leading authority.

5.    Revisit some of your old blog posts and see if it’s time for “Part 2.”  Perhaps there is new info on the matter to share? Or maybe your viewpoint on the issue has changed?

6.   Everyone loves a good story. Share something funny or embarrassing or remarkable that happened to you at work. What, if anything, did you learn? Did it incite change?

7.   Review comments from previous posts. Thoughtful insights from followers can often trigger new topics to write about.

8.   Ask your readers what they want to know more about…relevant to the focus of your blog, of course.

9.   See what’s trending on social media. Check out the day’s most popular YouTube videos, Pinterest pins and Twitter hashtags for some content inspiration.

10. Flip through your stack of favorite recreational reading materials. I still love to get print editions of Cooking Light, Bazaar, Health and a host of other consumer magazines, and I often uncover great ideas for PR-blog related content.

So what am I going to blog about today? Hmmm…..

Author bio:  Brendy Barr is the president/founder of Brendy Barr Communications, a Detroit area PR firm specializing in entertainment, retail and consumer product publicity. You can connect with her on Twitter at @BBCDetroit and Facebook.

Crisis Communications = Mental Fatigue

By Brian Chandler, Commonwealth PR

I remember this client’s crisis like it was yesterday.

We were in the middle of a meeting at their office when the CEO was immediately ushered out of the room with no explanation. A few minutes later, I was also summoned out of the room, leaving everyone confused and unsure whether to continue the meeting or call it quits.

What happened next involved me setting up shop in someone else’s office, using their computer, paper and even some supplies, to handle a crisis situation that involved a death. In respect for the family and my client, I will refrain from mentioning their names.

You should know that this wasn’t my first crisis. In fact, throughout two decades in public relations I have helped clients with at least a dozen or so major crises that involved everything from layoffs, to accidents, and even death.

What I recall the most about this recent crisis was the mental fatigue experienced. I remember driving home that evening and thinking: they don’t teach you how to deal with the mental side of this in school.

To explain, there’s fatigue one might experience if they work a physically demanding job, but there is also the feeling that your mind is simply exhausted from thinking, talking, planning, strategizing, and writing, as quickly as possible, all in regards to someone’s death.

If you dealt with a crisis, you know that you have to be quick, thorough and smart. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, I have the experience to know what steps to take and how to counsel clients through these tough situations. But that still doesn’t mean that I wasn’t mentally exhausted at the end of the day.

Almost a year later, I thought I would reflect on this situation and use it as an opportunity to share with others how to be mentally fit and ready for your next crisis.

Tip #1: Know Your Stuff

If you’re dealing with your first crisis, you’re going to have a rough time. All the book smarts in the world won’t prepare you for what’s to come. However, if you have spent some time preparing (develop a crisis plan) and create a list of steps to take, you’ll be better off.

Tip #2: Work With A Team

Don’t ever go at a crisis alone without some form of back-up checking what you are writing or producing, providing input on counsel and helping you through the tough experiences. At Commonwealth Public Relations, we have a team of industry veterans who each have all dealt with some type of client crisis in the past. Our team as a whole is an important asset when it comes to these situations.

Tip #3: Hydrate and Eat

It’s easy to avoid eating and drinking while you are in the heat of a crisis situation, but you must remember to take care of yourself. If you become dehydrated, you won’t be able to think as clearly as you should. The same goes with if your stomach is growling. You don’t have to take a one-hour lunch break, but ask someone to bring you a meal so you can continue to work. This is something they never said in Crisis Communications 101, but it makes a difference.

Tip #4: Separate Yourself From Those Who Hurt

This is one of the hardest things to do in a crisis situation. When you hear your client’s employees crying and their family members crying and see the look on their faces, mentally it takes a lot out of you. I’m not saying to not be compassionate, but you are there to guide the client through what steps should and shouldn’t be taken.  These steps are imperative to ensure that future crises don’t happen or that the entire business isn’t lost. It is definitely a tough situation to be in, but you have to separate yourself as a counselor.

Tip #5: Rest

When you get home at night, take a long, hot shower and just relax to the best of your ability. Know that tomorrow will bring another set of challenges for this client and their situation, but for now, you are going to take some time for yourself to de-stress and separate yourself for a short time.

Again, all crisis situations are difficult and come with their own problems and challenges. Chances are you’ll know what strategies and tactics to implement, but when it comes to preparing yourself for the mental exhaustion, you will hopefully now be ready for that next call.