I’ve always thought of myself as an optimist who could accomplish anything in life. Optimistic euphoria is a personal addiction that’s hard for me to kick. Of course, throw in a few overly optimistic failures and self-doubt begins to erode confidence and dull the drug. So, one of my secrets to remaining positive has always been to draw inspiration from others who are on the same journey. What’s really cool is I that I didn’t have to look too far this year to find a big source of it.

At the recent PRSA Counselors Academy Conference in Asheville, N.C., I was browsing the conference program to select my next workshop of the day. I ran across an interesting session being presented by my College of Fellows colleague, Elise Mitchell, APR, Fellow PRSA, who is CEO of Mitchell Communications Group in Fayetteville Ark.  Something about the title, “Postcards from Dartmouth,” intrigued me.  Not knowing what I was in for, I entered her “class” and took a seat right up front.

Continue reading " On Inspiration, Optimism and Winning "

More than 300 public relations and communications professionals gathered in Dallas this week for the first-ever Hispanic Public Relations and Social Media Conference. The brainchild of the Hispanic Public Relations Association and Hispanic PR Blog founder Manny Ruiz, the conference gave professionals a fresh look at communicating with the U.S. Hispanic market. It also provided great networking opportunities and compelling professional development breakout sessions tailored to the needs of practitioners engaged in multicultural marketing.

I was honored to represent PRSA — a conference partner and sponsor — and to deliver the opening reception keynote address. A number of other PRSA members, including Sonia Sroka, chair of PRSA’s Diversity Committee and senior vice president, director of Hispanic marketing, for Porter Novelli, and Stephen Chavez, a member of the Los Angeles Chapter‘s Board of Directors and vice president of Hispanic marketing at Ketchum Public Relations, also took part in the conference.

Continue reading " A Postcard from the Hispanic Public Relations and Social Media Conference "

I don’t consider myself a trendsetter, but I am an early adopter — Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Flickr and, most recently, FourSquare (I’m checking into places and getting “points” for no reason at all).  I’d have an iPhone if I could type on it, and I’d love an iPad, despite its name. I’ve also been accused of being addicted to my “CrackBerry” on more than one occasion.

Perhaps that’s why the study released yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project caught my eye. It found that U.S. high-school girls typically send and receive 100 text messages a day … double the average of all teenagers.

Interesting … but not really surprising if you know a teenage girl. What was surprising, however (no, not that 87 percent of teens who text keep their cell phones next to their beds overnight) were the subtleties of teen communication that this study uncovered. In an interview with Reuters, study author Scott Campbell said focus groups conducted by Pew found that, while boys don’t typically punctuate their texts, such nuances are essential for girls.

Continue reading " A Period Means You’re Angry (and other Lessons Learned) "

An educator colleague and friend recently wrote me to express her frustration with organizations that are hiring former journalists as public relations professionals.

She wrote:
“Public relations” is not synonymous with “journalism.” Thirty years ago, public relations entailed much more media relations experience, but today it requires substantial research and communication planning expertise — skills that reporters don’t have.

“Frankly, I’m upset by these recent hiring decisions. These decisions send the wrong message to our current public relations students, as well as all of the fine public relations professionals who are currently seeking jobs in this difficult economy.”

Continue reading " Turning Journalists into Public Relations Pros? Training Required. "

I was honored to convene the first 2010 meeting of PRSA’s Board of Directors this past Friday and Saturday. We took stock of our organization, participated in engaging discussions and planned for the coming year. I think I speak for the entire Board in saying that we left PRSA’s headquarters energized, excited and enthused about the year ahead, both for the Society and our profession.

We began the meeting by discussing the top-level trends impacting our members. To prepare for this discussion, I had asked the Board to canvass PRSA members and other public relations practitioners in their geographic areas to determine how the economy is affecting them, the biggest challenges they are facing and how they measure success in their places of employment.  The findings from this informal, “Pulse of the Profession” research, our third such study, will be the subject of a future blog post.

Continue reading " PRSA’s Priorities for 2010: Easy as “A, B, C, D, E” "