North to Alaska

In a couple of days, I’ll be heading to what I’ve always thought of one of the most fascinating places on earth: Alaska.

Image: Travis S.’ Flickrstream, Creative Commons

“Alaska?!” you ask.

“Why?!” you sputter, flavoring your morning coffee with a healthy dose of envy, I imagine.

It all began when I met Mary Barber at the 2009 PRSA International Conference. Mary and I had corresponded on Twitter (is it weird to use that word in conjunction with Twitter? I don’t care.) and made a breakfast date to finally meet IRL.

You know what it’s like when you really like someone online and then you meet them in person and you go, “Oh, no…”

Nothing like that.

Mary’s a wonderful person and seasoned PR professional. Since then, we’ve become good friends, chatting often not just on Twitter, but the phone, email and Skype.

Since I love traveling, I’d mentioned to Mary I’d love to come to Alaska… perhaps even to do a presentation to PRSA Alaska on measurement which, you hopefully know by now, is an area of PR I’m committed to.

Next thing I know, I’m booked to speak to PRSA Alaska.

Being energetic, erstwhile and entrepreneurial, Mary did a Skype interview with me on what I plan to share.

In a nutshell: strategy rules, measurement rocks and … um. Oh well, it’s in the video, if you care to take a gander.

Give me a break. I’m 40. I’m allowed a junior moment now and again.

So I head out on Monday for a week, to let Anchorage and Fairbanks take me by storm, which I’m quite looking forward to.

Being supremely organized, Mary and her cohorts have put together quite an itinerary that includes:

• The World Eskimo Indian Olympics opening ceremony, for which I’m told the Alyeska Pipeline Service Company donated tickets
• An Alaska Goldpanners v. Mat Su Miners baseball game, courtesy Flint Hill Resources
• A trip to Santa Claus House in the North Pole (OMG, I’m so excited!)
• A train ride from Fairbanks to Anchorage on the Alaska Railroad, which takes about 12 hours and is supposed to provide breathtakingly beautiful views, courtesy the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation and the self-same Alaska Railroad
• Salmon. Lots of salmon.
• Hopefully, moose. No, not to eat, to see. Seriously, what are you thinking?!

It’s ok. I’d be envious too, if I were you.

I promise to take as many photographs as I can to share, if I’m not overwhelmed by just how gorgeous everything and everyone is.

I can’t thank Mary and everyone at PRSA Alaska and the companies who pitched in to make this a trip of a lifetime enough for this incredible opportunity to meet new people and see a part of the world most of us never will.

(Yes, I know that sounds a little like “it’s an honor to be nominated.” Whatever.)

And I hope those who attend my session see that strategy trumps all when it comes to PR, that measurement really isn’t that difficult and AVE is evil, and, er… oh well, whatever the video said the third thing is.

Hey, I said I’m 40.

I’d love to come to your neck of the woods, if you think you’ll get something out of it. Will you let me know?

Filed under Measurement, Public Relations, Speaking | Tags: mary barber, PR measurement, prsa alaska, Speaking, strategic planning | Comments (3)

The Ragan Experience

Last week I had the pleasure of presenting, for the first time ever, at Ragan Communications’ 2009 Corporate Communicators Conference in Chicago. As someone who’s wistfully devoured the CCC brochures every year, this was a big thrill for me.

My session on strategic communications planning took place a week ago today; unfortunately I wasn’t able to stay over and attend the “unconference,” so missed meeting many of the wonderful and smart people I’ve gotten to know on Twitter. I did get to meet Amy Mengel (whose Ragan recap is absolutely killer), Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR, and Lee Aase among others, catch up with the lovely Angie Jeffrey, APR, Katie “queen” Paine and the amazing Jim Ylisela, and have a fabulous lunch and walk with the effervescent and super-smart Kate Zimmer (see how happy we are?).

The Skinny on the Presentation

The presentation itself went well (I think); I must admit I was tickled by having to move from a breakout room to the main ballroom in order to accommodate all the attendees. I very much hope it was worth their while.

When I’m asked to make these presentations, I often wonder – as I’m sure all speakers and presenters do – what I can provide to the audience that will be of most value. Or am I going to say the same things everyone else does, but with a slightly different accent?

So Beth Harte’s recent post, “Social Media’s Dirty Little Secret” really resonated with me. If you haven’t read it yet, you should, as well as click through to Dan Keeney’s post to see the video she mentions and read all the comments.

See – I agree with Beth. Social media is nothing new. And I’m going to go one step further and say that 99% of the time, PR is nothing new. Strategic communications is nothing new.

A vast majority of the time, I find the tweets, blogs, LinkedIn questions, yadda yadda, that I follow and read/respond to… nothing new. And that includes the stuff I say.

Before your jaw quite reaches the floor, I think that’s OK.

We’re not – as the rest of the world loves to say about us “PR types,” rocket scientists, tech geniuses or wildly-brilliant theorists. Most of us will probably never rise to the level of a Les Potter or Jim Grunig.

But that’s OK.

Where we add value – I hope – is in reinforcing time-tested communications best practices with practical examples of how we’ve achieved success for our clients or organizations, and showing others how they might adapt those practices for their use. I have to believe that younger professionals in particular derive great value from this.

And perhaps we’re saying it in a new voice, or a new style, that people identify with, and which drives them to adopt the aforesaid practices.

That’s what I hope attendees got out of my presentation which, in a nutshell, tried to reinforce the importance of starting with your end in sight, putting measurable objectives in place, and figuring out your strategy accordingly. (Gosh, where have I heard that before? Here, and here, and here.)

So if you were expecting a flash of brilliance from my presentation, I’m going to apologize in advance for disappointing you.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, here it is.

A special word of thanks to everyone who contributed to the presentation, particularly Lauren Vargas for reviewing it beforehand, and Bryan Person and Jenna Woodul of LiveWorld for a fabulous case study.

Filed under Communication, Measurement, Public Relations | Tags: amy mengel, angela jeffrey, ann marie van den hurk, beth harte, bryan person, ccc09, dan keeney, jenna woodul, jim grunig, jim ylisela, kate zimmer, katie paine, lauren vargas, lee aase, les potter, liveworld, Measurement, pr, Public Relations, ragan, strategic communications, strategic planning | Comments (8)