Category: Uncategorized

Just a few short days after my last post, I was called on a difficult assignment. Three wildland firefighters injured in a helicopter crash in the Trinity Alps in northern California, seven missing and feared dead. Their employer, Grayback Forestry, devastated and being bombarded by media calls. I partnered again with my friend Leslie Habetler and we answered the phone and answered questions non-stop for 4 or 5 days. I arranged interviews and spoke on the company’s behalf.

I’ll have several “after action” posts, I’m sure, detailing my experience and what lessons I can share with my readers. Right now, I’m a little exhausted and trying to catch my breath from being on site at the southern end of Oregon for 10 days.

In the meantime, the Medford Mail Tribune had a terrific story and image gallery of the memorial service from Friday, August 15 that was a moving tribute for the men of the Iron 44. Take a look.

With the end of the year stuff going on, I’ve been a tad busy. But I had a chance this morning to catch up on PROpenMic and thought I’d share some highlights:

Peter Shankman’s Buy Peter a Sandwich Series is pretty great:

See Peter’s other videos here.

Phil Gomes talks to Julie Crabill of SHIFT about his favorite social media tools (and his wedding ring):

My friend Michelle Honald at Ohio University encouraged her students to post their final projects for the intro to PR class on PROpenMic. There’s tons of new content to take a look at. My favorite:

How Can you Stay Smart with Social Networking? (Natalie LaConte)

‘Tis the season for new jobs, internships, projects and other exciting developments! I’m hoping to need to update this list soon, but here’s what I know about soon-t0-be Duck alumni heading out into the wide-wide world. If you have an update (whether it’s a new job or promotion, let me know!).

Leona Laurie, M.S.: Federated Media
Emily Tormey: Broadway Rose
Megan Soto: Launchsquad
Allie Cefalo: SHIFT Communications
Joey Mucha: Sproutbuilder
Alyssa Carter: Bernard Hodes Group
Kaitlin Stewart: YRG Communications
Branden Johnson: Hill & Knowlton, Portland
Stacey Myers: Waggener Edstrom
Eileen Chang: Waggener Edstrom

Who am I missing? Leave a comment, send me an email or a tweet and let me know!

UPDATES:

Lindsey Durrell: Nerland Agency (Anchorage)
Shelly Ivey: Eugene Faith Center
Beth Evans: T Art Center (Beijing)
Scott Lansing: Grady Britton (Portland)

MORE UPDATES:
Katy Spaulding: Waggener Edstrom (Lake Oswego)

This guest post is from senior Kaitlin Stewart. Winter term 2008, Kaitlin participated in portfolio reviews and had very positive evaluations from her reviewers. I asked her (and a few others) to share their tips.

Top 5 Tips for Presenting Your Portfolio:

1. Be yourself. The portfolio is a reflection of your work and your personality. Make sure reviewers can really see your work experience, skills and character traits.
2. Be professional. Leave the “likes,” “ums” and other slang at the door.
3. Be a storyteller. You need to really paint the reviewers a picture of the situation or event. Why does this press release matter? Why did you put this piece in among all other work you’ve done? Why did you respond the way you did to a situation or problem?
4. Be enthusiastic. If you’re not excited about your work, how do you expect reviewers to be excited about seeing it? You put a lot of time and effort into your portfolio so be proud to show it.
5. Practice. Present your portfolio to a friend or in front of a mirror. You will be amazed at how much better you will present your portfolio after a little practice.

If you’re working at a PR Agency full time and are younger than 26, please take minute to read the info below and respond to our survey (link at the bottom).

*******
Welcome to an exciting profession!

As a member of the up and coming generation of public relations practitioners, we would like to ask for your help. Workplace expectations are changing with the new tide of public relations practitioners. Public relations employers are asking for help in understanding how to build strong relationships with your generation.

If you work at a public relations agency, we hope you will help us by sharing your experiences with us. No scholarly public relations studies have been published that examine the perceptions of young practitioners in public relations agencies. We hope that you will confidentially share your experiences with us through a survey. Participation is voluntary.

Opportunity to Make a Difference
With your help, we would like to make a difference in the lives of new public relations practitioners who work at agencies. We want to make recommendations regarding how agencies can improve their relationships with young practitioners and how they can create an organizational culture that resonates with your generation. In addition, we would like to refine an existing model for ethical decision-making so that it will be useful to young agency practitioners.

Compensation
If you participate, we will add your name to a random drawing. The winner will receive his or her choice of either an iPod Nano or a $150 gift certificate to iTunes. A $50 gift certificate to Target will be given to two runners up, also randomly chosen. We expect the odds of winning one of the prizes to be about 3 in 500.

At the end of the survey, you will have the opportunity to contact us to indicate whether you would like to participate in an interview or focus group. If you are selected to participate in these activities, you will receive financial compensation in exchange for your participation.

Survey Completion
Because the survey is online and the questions are about your experiences with your employer, please refrain from completing this survey at work. Your employer could otherwise intercept the data. Your participation is confidential.

Sponsors
We are grateful to the Public Relations Society of America Foundation and the University of Oregon for funding this study.

Survey
You can begin the survey here:

Thank you for your help!

Questions and Comments
If you have questions or comments, you are welcome to contact us via phone or through e-mail from a personal email account (away from the workplace). You will find our contact information listed below.

Sincerely,

Pat Curtin
University of Oregon
(541) 346-3752
pcurtin@uoregon.edu

Tiffany Derville
University of Oregon
(541) 346-2035
derville@uoregon.edu
Blog: PR Post

Kelli Matthews
University of Oregon
(541) 346-3744
kmatthew@uoregon.edu
Blog: PRos in Training

Chris Brogan declared Monday, April 28th World Comment Day. Rather than blog today, he said, go be part of the conversation – comment on three other blogs. The suggestion picked up steam on Twitter. According to TweetScan, roughly 80 or 90 people retweeted. I saw it half a dozen times on my Twitter stream.

I often talk about the benefits of commenting to students and clients alike. In fact, I require my Advanced PR Writing students to comment once a week on another blog. But, honestly, I don’t comment as much as I should. Or even as much as I’d like to.

So, I took Chris’ edict and ran with it. It was hard! But, I had retweeted the announcement myself and even posted updates during the day about my progress, so I was determined to lead by example.

When I finished my last comment, on Jason Fallis’ Social Media Explorer blog, I promptly (and proudly) send a reply to Chris proclaiming my success. I appreciated the nudge to comment today. Can’t talk the be-part-of-the-conversation talk without walking the be-part-of-the-conversation walk.

Chris replied back and then tweeted the link to this blog… to his 7,000 followers. This might be bigger than the one time I had a post on Digg. 🙂

So, now you know why I love World Comment Day. Declare your own and join the conversation.

As we approach the end of the school year, everyone always has a seemingly overwhelming number of items on their to do list.

Idea Sandbox has just launched its “Prioritizer” to help you get things in order.

This. is. brilliant.

It’s very simple. Just enter your tasks; be specific! Then click “next steps” and the prioritizer gets to work. Giving you the choice of two of the tasks on your list the Prioritizer will help you figure out which tasks have the higher priority for you.

And it works. I put in a dozen or so tasks, went through the steps and ended up with a really clear to do list that ranks the tasks in priority order. Give it a try and maybe it’ll help you breathe just a little easier this week.

April 27 – May 3 is National Volunteer Week.

I was raised with a heart for helping people. My parents were pastors of a local church most of my life, which meant a lifetime of giving. Those lessons have followed me into adulthood. Sometimes it’s hard to create balance, but I enjoy the volunteer work I do.

Volunteering is a terrific way for students to get involved with a cause that they are passionate about and to get some hands-on experience at the same time to add to their resume. This volunteer week, think about seeking a new opportunity.

• For students at the University of Oregon, check out 211Lane.org. It’s a local resource, sponsored by United Way of Lane County, that identifies most the nonprofits in Lane County, along with their current needs and contact information.
• For others, check out VolunteerMatch. You can search for opportunities near you, or even search for “virtual opportunities.” With the keyword “public relations,” you can find a wide variety of organizations needing help.

Now go out and do some good!

A couple of student posts caught my eye this week. They both offer a rich perspective on transparency and I thought they were worth sharing with you.

In Propoganda in an Age of Transparency, Hannah Smith offer critique on the FDLS Web site and its PR campaign.

In Is American Apparel Transparent Enough, Lee Magner asks this question after he finds it difficult to trace the companies practices from crop to shelf via its Web site.

What do you think? Leave a comment – or even better, leave a comment on either students’ blog.