Media Shmedia: Be your own Newsroom (from #TSPRA2010)

As promised to the attendees of my session at the Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA) 2010 Conference, here are the slides and links:

Media Shmedia: Be your own Newsroom

View more presentations from Richie Escovedo.

Additional Links and Resources
http://www.stateofthemedia.org/2009/index.htm
http://www.journalism.org/analysis_report/how_news_happens
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2009/08/school-districts-sell-trust.html
http://mashable.com/2010/02/11/social-objects/
http://blogs.forrester.com/marketing/2009/12/defining-earned-owned-and-paid-media.html
http://www.conversationagent.com/2010/02/trust-in-media-down-good-news-for-experts.html
http://www.pr-squared.com/index.php/2010/02/trail-of-breadcrumbs
http://www.pr-squared.com/2008/04/social_media_release_template.html
http://www.conversationagent.com/2009/08/creating-the-desire-for-news.html
http://wiki.kenburbary.com/social-meda-monitoring-wiki
http://www.slideshare.net/bnixon/public-relations-during-times-of-crisis-presentation
http://nextcommunications.blogspot.com/2009/10/facebook-fan-page-rules-for-school.html
http://prsarahevans.com/2010/01/how-to-set-up-a-free-online-monitoring-system/
http://www.briansolis.com/2008/11/reinventing-crisis-communications-for/
http://delicious.com/rescovedo/online-pressrooms

Monitoring (Listening):

Perspctv http://www.perspctv.com/
IceRocket http://www.icerocket.com/
Twitter Search http://search.twitter.com/
Google Alerts http://www.google.com/alerts
Backtype http://www.backtype.com/connect
Much more (free and paid) http://wiki.kenburbary.com/social-meda-monitoring-wiki

If you attended this TSPRA session, I would love to know what you think. The comments are yours.

TSPRA Conference 2010: Let the School PR Networking Begin

This is just a short post to say howdy to my fellow Texas School Public Relations Association's Conference attendees. This is a great conference for education communicators and I look forward each year to this time of learning and networking. It is great catching up with old friends and meeting new rookies to school PR. Sharing PR war-stories, wasabi peas, happy pirates, and monkey hands. (Sorry, inside joke for some colleagues.)

In all seriousness, I would encourage any school district administrators and boards who seeks to have their communications and public relations team armed with strategic and tactical ideas to implement and establish in their communities should provide a TSPRA membership and send them here. 

[I will have more to share including a session I am leading entitled Media Shmedia: Be your own Newsroom.]

#HAPPO Trails to You, Until We Tweet Again

HAPPO trails to you, until we tweet again.
HAPPO trails to you, keep smilin' until then...

Image by Calsidyrose via Flickr

Now that you have this altered version of Roy Rogers and Dale Evans' classic duet planted in your head, I'll take a moment to add my thoughts on what is turning out to be a unique twist to the it's all in who you know networking mantra for getting hired.

Help a PR Pro Out
On Friday, February 19 a rapidly growing community of online communicators and PR professionals will attempt to dedicate four solid hours (10:00 am – 2:00 pm CST) to helping fellow PR folks.

Help a PR Pro Out is a community based effort to help those seeking jobs in the Public Relations industry thanks to the coordinating efforts of Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon.

We are hoping to have flurries (hat tip to the folks snowed in) of Tweets, blog posts, job pitches, on/offline chats, videos, Facebook status updates, (and maybe even a few Google Buzz updates) all centered on connecting employers with job seekers.

Follow the fun via Twitter Search (#HAPPO), follow HAPPO on Twitter, on the Facebook fan page, in addition to getting involved in other ways:

• For PR job seekers – If you have a blog, write a creative post on why potential employers should grant that interview. Post it via Twitter with a link back to it. There is a good potential that we'll have a huge audience picking up and peaking in to this initiative so see and be seen. Use the #happo hashtag so we can retweet your information. Offer an email where potential employers can contact you. No blog? Then consider making a video and posting it to YouTube (like Michael did) or leave your details in the comments below. Be sure to also check out the DFW Communicators Job Bank, PRSA JobCenter, and the Ragan Communications Career Center to get started.
  
  
• For employers hiring PR talent – Follow the hashtag #HAPPO on Friday, Feb. 19 and share your openings. Market champions will do their best to connect you with talent they think matches your specific needs. Or leave job details in the blog posts that are going up of the folks you’re interested in, or email them directly. Pay attention to the creativity we are hoping they display as they accentuate their digital footprints.
  
  
• For people that know of open PR jobs – Please leave a comment here, via Twitter, or just e-mail me so we can get that information out and positions filled.
  
  
• For my Dallas/Fort Worth friends, please feel free to contact me directly (or any of the other volunteer HAPPO market champions listed below) and let us connect you.
  

The Chorus
Over this next week leading up to Feb. 19, we will post and tweet about the event. Make sure you are connected with the Regional Champions if you’re a job seeker or an employer looking for PR talent. That will help us all get on down that HAPPO trail.

• Jeremy Pepper (National)
• Mary Deming Barber (National)
• Jeremy Porter (Atlanta)
• Kellye Crane (Atlanta)
• Doug Haslam (Boston)
• Jennifer Wilbur (Southern CA)
• Gini Dietrich (Chicago)
• Sarah Evans (Chicago)
• Allan Schoenberg (Chicago)
• Lauren Fernandez (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• Richie Escovedo (Dallas/Fort Worth)
• Jamie Floer (Florida)
• John Sternal (Florida)
• Justin Goldsborough (Kansas City)
• Arik Hanson (Minneapolis/ St. Paul)
• PR Cog (New York Metro)
• Deidre Breakenridge (New York Metro)
• Valerie Simon (New York Metro)
• Heather Whaling (Ohio)
• Anne Buchanan (Philadelphia)
• Abbie Fink (Phoenix)
• Deanna Ferrari (Pittsburgh)
• Adrienne Biggs (San Francisco)
• Danny Brown (Toronto)
• Dave Fleet (Toronto)
• Shonali Burke (Washington, DC)
• Mike Shaffer (Washington, DC)
• Heather Huhman (Washington, DC)

I am so thrilled to play a part in the HAPPO community initiative. It has been impressive and inspiring to watch as it has bloomed. Help a PR Pro Out has received accolades and  has even been featured on the podcast For Immediate Release: The Hobson & Holtz Report, in PR Week, and even PR Daily News. Also, bloggers such as Sarah Evans, Dave Fleet, Allan Schoenberg, David Mullen, Shonali Burke, Rachel Kay, Diedre Breakenridge, Danny Brown, Heather Whaling, Gini Dietrich and others will or have already posted some thoughtful writings.

(Quick hint for my readers: I've added all of these links to resources and bloggers because they are among the best for PR industry news, posts, links, and topics for discussions.)

Now it's your turn: Can you Help a PR Pro Out? The comments are yours.

...HAPPO trails to you, 'till we tweet again.

Mining PR Gold: Being Human and Going Red

As a tool for quick conversations, networking, research, etc. Twitter is a must-use tool for me. Every so often Twitter is another time-suck and not very worthwhile. And then some days, the serendipity of Twitter lead to the remarkable. Today was one of those days.

A PR colleague in health care, Laura Van Hoosier, APR, retweeted Reace Alavarenga-Smith, APR who works for Texas Health Resources:

RT @ReaceS: It's Go Red week--check out what @texashealth FW did to increase awareness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjHz-ErKqlg

Why this video is PR gold
The team at Texas Health Resources were able to come up with something informative on heart disease and quite endearing through an otherwise amateur video. By interlacing key messages about heart disease within scenes of dancing, laughing, and playful employees, the medical center created a great example for communication professionals.

The video is not too heavy or preachy with its important facts about heart disease (even though it's the #1 killer of women in the United States). Hospitals, like many large organizations, can have a tendency to be faceless. This group opted to be human and share a bit their organization's personality.  I especially loved the laughing older gentleman in his office (minute 3:20 in the video) spinning around his chair in red socks with a huge smile. Don't know who he is, but that's just awesome.

I can also imagine this was a huge undertaking to organize and set-up for the medical center staff. Members from all around the building in hallways, offices, conference rooms, even medical areas were all included.

At a time when health care issues, debate, politics, and general problems are the looming messages, this group has shared a glimpse into their culture along with a desire to inform their community about heart disease. (Plus, big props for using one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs.)

What do you think? Could you use this tactic in your organization? How might a video like this help from an internal communications standpoint? The comments are yours.

Oh, and here's a hint for my PR friends, Laura and Reace are worth the follows on Twitter if you aren't already.

Now Go Red for Women and Beat It.