Toronto and Ottawa PR meetups to discuss social media

August 25, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Public relations practitioners in Toronto and Ottawa have a new monthly forum to discuss social media from a PR perspective.

The Ottawa meetup is called Third Monday. The Toronto group is called Third Tuesday. And, you guessed it, they’ll generally be held on Mondays or Tuesdays.

A great group of bloggers and social media enthusiasts have come together to get these meetups going. Joining me in organizing the groups are David Jones, Terry Fallis, Ed Lee and Chris Clarke in Toronto and Colin McKay, Brendan Hodgson and Ian Ketcheson in Ottawa.

We believe that public relations practitioners have a unique perspective on social media. We look at social media as an extension of the conversations we have always had with journalists and stakeholders to now include a much larger group of citizen journalists and interested people whose online conversations lead to the formation of communities of interest.

Others groups have different starting points and different perspectives on social media. Advertisers, for example, start from the perspective of disaggregating mass media and the need to find new advertising vehicles and strategies that will replace failing mass media campaigns.

Because we have this unique perspective, public relations folks have different conversations than do those people who are grounded in other disciplines. First Monday and First Tuesday will provide us with the opportunity to talk about social media framed as a public relations challenge. We will be able to focus on its potential for and impact on our profession. How we can extend our capablities by embracing social media. How we can enhance our careers. How we can better serve our clients. And how we can then take our best thoughts forward into the broader discussion with others. Ensuring that public relations is well represented. Ensuring that public relations is in a leadership position in exploring and applying social media.

We have a great first speaker to launch our meetups. Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations, will kick off the gatherings with back to back sessions on September 25 in Ottawa and September 26 in Toronto. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the discussion than with a man who hails from PR and who wrote THE book on blogging.

So, if you are a public relations practitioner who wants to meet other PR folks to talk about practical applications of social media, join the conversation. Sign up for Third Monday (Ottawa) or Third Tuesday (Toronto).

And, for those who’ve spotted a similarity to the SF Bay Area Third Thursday group organized by Mike Manuel, Jeremy Pepper, Giovanni Rodriguez, and Phil Gomes, you’re right. In looking for a model, we thought that Third Thursday was exactly what we wanted to replicate in Canada. Mike gave us the go ahead to borrow from the Third Thursday and that’s what we’ve done. Thank you Mike!

Conference Blogging: The FPRA shows how it should be done

August 13, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

A hat tip to the Florida Public Relations Association for the very successful live blogging around the recent FPRA annual conference. To my mind, FPRA blog established a new standard that other PR organizations should study and emulate at their next meetings.

What did FPRA do right?

First, they publicized it in advance of the start of the conference through established blogs. I spotted lead up posts by Josh Hallett at hyku and Erin Caldwell at the Forward Blog. By having established bloggers post about the conference blog in advance of the conference, their established communities of readers were able to subscribe to the conference blog in time to catch all of the action.

Second, the bloggers actually blogged frequently. In my experience, this has been the most frequent failure of other organizations that established conference blogs that remained virtually empty (and unvisited?) throughout the conference. FPRA’s conference bloggers – Josh Hallett, Chris Gent, Jennifer Wakefield and Bob O’Malley – posted more than 70 times leading up to and during the conference. More than enough to attract attention.

Third, the quality of the posts was high – a good mix of informative longer posts with quick hits. This sustained attention.

Fourth, the posts prompted a real discussion. Some posts had as many as 14 comments – which is a lot compared to other PR conference blogs I’ve visited.

Finally, they used multimedia to give visitors that “being there” feeling. A nod to Josh Hallett for introducing hallway interview MP3s to his posts in addition to Flickr photos. A nice touch.

The complete conference postings can be viewed under the Annual Conference category on the FPRA blog.

Congratulations to the FPRA, especially their hardworking bloggers, Josh, Chris, Jennifer and Bob!

PR community warms to social media, but unevenly

June 11, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

I’ve just attended three conferences in the past month – Mesh in Toronto, PRSA Counselors Academy in Savannah, and the IABC International Conference in Vancouver. I came away with a sense that the PR industry is warming to the importance and potential of social media to transform the practice of public relations.

However, adoption is neither uniform nor universal. The conversations I participated in showed that the industry ranges widely in both awareness and understanding. The attendees at Mesh are technophiles who have embraced the full range of social media and are looking for the new cutting edge applications that will further empower online communities and collaboration.

The group that has farthest to travel were the participants in the PRSA Counselors Academy.

It’s noteworthy that Counselors Academy is composed primarily of principals and owners of mid-size firms. There could be several explanations for these people to be late to the party. Mid-size firms rest heavily on the key skills and vision of their founders, whose imaginations may not have embrace social media. Or perhaps it reflects the need for principals of small firms to be closer to day to day client work. They may not have the ability to gaze into the future in the way that large firms with their corporate leadership can.

Whatever the reason, the mid-size firms ignore social media at their peril. As was pointed out by Peppercom’s Steve Cody when he told people attending his workshop at Counselors Academy that

“Complacency is a killer. It’s critical to figure out how to differentiate yourself because the marketplace is rapidly changing.

“Agencies that just keep on doing what they’ve been doing for years are heading for trouble. The field of dreams approach does not work. We all have the same kind of relationships with journalists. … The more you are seen as just an order taker and a tactical media relations operation, the more your business will be marginalized.”

Much more encouraging however was the IABC International Conference in Vancouver. At last year’s conference in Washington, I can only recall there being one session focusing on blogs. This year there were half a dozen – and virtually every one was packed. The presenters were outstanding: Neville Hobson, Allan Jenkins, Shel Holtz (at three sessions), Tom Keefe, John Gerstner, Tudor Williams, and Tod Maffin.

It’s clear that the IABC conference participants, populated by communicators from larger organizations and business, are engaged in figuring out what social media means to and for their organizations.

Overall, I’m encouraged. And looking forward to next year’s conferences. Without doubt, the pace of adoption of social media will accelerate in the coming year and – based on the pattern of adoption that I witnessed this year – new stars are likely to emerge and other established players may suffer for their tardiness in joining the discussion.

What do you think? Am I seeing patterns that don’t exist? Do you have a different view of how the industry is embracing social media?

IABC International Conference – Shel Holtz

June 7, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Blogger and podcaster Shel Holtz led a session on The practical impact of social media on your organization. And as he has several times through the conference, he held the attention of an audience that included a full range of experience and knowledge from veteran bloggers through to novices who have not yet subscribed to a blog.

Shel noted that this IABC Conference has had at least five sessions on social media, compared with only one or two in the past.

Some truths:

New media do not replace old media. Yes, old media may shrink. But they also adapt to do the things they are best at.

The press release is not dead. It is being reinvented. Look at the new release format developed by Todd Defren.

Markets are conversations.

The audience controls the message. Once you have put out a message, the audience takes it up and talks about it. They extend, build and comment on it.

And it’s not just the most-read bloggers who count. The Long Tail means that everyone counts.

Therefore, institutions must cede control in order to participate in the conversation.

Blogging and other social media software have lowered both the technical and cost barriers to the point that virtually anyone with a computer can participate.

We are going through a seismic change that is driven by shifts in trust combined with demands for transparency. Communications must change to reflect this.

We have entered the era of social computing, in which power is in the hands of communities, not institutions.

The technology doesn’t matter. With the coming of IE7, people will no longer need to be conscious of RSS. They’ll just look for the orange icon. And they’ll be as unconscious of what RSS is as most people today are unconscious that they use SMTP every time they send an email.

RSS feeds have tremendous potential for eliminating email clutter in organizations. It is an ideal platform for the distribution of news and announcements.

Shel provided several examples of corporate blogs. When questioned about the time requirement for blogging, he noted that one CEO had indicated to him that he sees communication as part of his job. And he sees blogging as a useful new tool. So, he blogs. But he doesn’t spend more time on communication. He has simply shifted to his blogging some of the time that he previously spent on other communication activities.

One interesting example of a company that is exploring the potential of creating new communities is wetpaint, with their stable of wikis, such as wikifido.

Tagging is enabling people to experience the wisdom of crowds, seeing what others considered important and relevant to a topic. This is being used by individuals and companies. IBM tags information on their intranet to make it easier for other people to find it. Hill and Knowlton collects and shares market intelligence using del.icio.us.

Podcasts and vidcasts are beginning to make their way into corporations.

The impacts:

Personal relationships are being developed online. Many bloggers and podcasters experience the doppelganger effect of meeting someone in real life who they feel they already know and have a relationship with through their social media interacitons.

For business, new forms of trust are emerging on the net based on sustained exposure and interactions through social media. Hobson and Holtz frequently receive invitations to make joint presentations even though they have no business together.

The workplace will see new methods of collaboration and more two way communications replacing top down communications. These communications will be less formal, more conversational.

To be used effectively, blogs and other forms of social media must be integrated into a comprehensive communications strategy. They should not be approached on a standalone basis. They have particular strengths and uses that should supplement, not replace other communications vehicles.

IABC International Conference – Wednesday sessions

June 7, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

The 2006 IABC International Conference wraps up with s series of All-Star Sessions featuring some of the top-rated speakers from past IABC conferences. (All-Stars seem to need extra sleep. Today’s sessions don’t begin until 8AM, compared with the 7:15 and 7:00 starts for the still-aspiring speakers on Monday and Tuesday.)

The first of my All-Stars, blogger and podcaster Shel Holtz, will lead a session on The practical impact of social media on your organization. The programme tells me that I will learn how to “convince management that a different, less-controlled approach to communication is in the company’s best interests.” Yep. Something that I think we’ll need to do frequently in the next year.

Then, I’ll join fellow Canadian Pat McNamara for Fuel your business: Strategies from one of Canada’s fastest growing companies. Pat and her company are based in Toronto (where one of our offices is located.) She has built and sustained a very successful business that has a remarkable record for attracting and retaining a talented team of consultants. (She’s also introduced me to PRSA’s Counselors Academy.) Pat’s a real All-Star and I can’t think of any better way to spend my morning than at a discussion led by her.

The conference’s Closing General Session will feature TJ Larkin’s presentation on Communicating big change. According to the conference programme. “…studies show that 80 percent of companies say that their change communication is a ‘major failure,’ so clearly radical change is called for.” Larkin was the hit of last year’s conference in Washington for his presentation on the relative merits of online and traditional print communication vehicles. This year’s session promises to be no less thought provoking.

And that’s it. My IABC Internal Conference. Three great days of learning, discussion and thought. Now, it’s time to put these lessons into practice.

IABC International Conference – Lynne Lancaster

June 6, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

This year’s IABC Research Foundation luncheon speaker, Lynne Lancaster, addressed the topic Minding the gaps: Engaging four generations in an info-saturated world.

What happens when generations collide?

Generational differences can be very challenging when you are required to communicate across four generations in any one day. The magic lies in people who are able to see through the eyes of another generation.

65% if resondents to the Generations Survey conducted by Lancaster and her partners reported that generation gaps make it hard to get things done at work.

The four generations now in the workplace:

Traditionalists – born pre-1946 – 75 million in the USA (8 million in Canada)
Babyboomers – 1946-64 – 80 million (9 million)
Generation X – 1965-81 – 46 million (7 million)
Millenials – 1972-2000 – 76 million (8 million)

When approaching generational analysis, be careful not to put people in a box. The analysis is just one way to get extra insight into people.

Key issues:

Succession planning: As 80 million baby boomers leave the workplace, they will be followed by only 46 million Gen Xers.
There will be a shortage of skilled workers – 4.2 million by 2010 and 14 million by 2020. Companies like Ernst & Yonge have established programs to stay in touch with their alumni as a source of potential future recruits (*”Boomerangs”).
Knowledge transfer will become an issue as institutional memory walks out the door with longtime employees.

Generations in motion

Traditionalists

72% of Traditionalists plan to return to work after they retire. This is a change from traditional norms. This is driven by several factors, especially a fear of being unable to afford retirement.

60% of Traditionalists say they do not have a clearly defined career path in the place they work. Companies who address this will be able to retain or hire Traditionalists, with their strong work ethic and reliability. Wells Fargo is a company that has understood the needs of Traditionalists and is using this understanding to recruit Traditionalists to return to work.

Baby BoomersBaby Boomers set out as optimistic, idealistic people who could make things better. Today, the number one reason for boomers to stay in a job is “making an impact.” However, this have become increasingly difficult for them to do and frustration is setting in.As boomers age, they are questioning themselves, their situation and rethinking.Boomers are a sandwich generation – sandwiched between aging parents and the needs of their kids. Boomers are feeling “pretty burned out.” They want more personal time. 75% say that “more time off” is the most valuable reward they can get in the workplace.

Generation X

One of the most formative experiences on Gen X was the explosion of media. By age 20, the average Gen Xer had watched 23,000 hours of television.

They witnessed the veil of privacy on the part of public personae drop away in an “anything goes” television environment. This fueled a profound skepticism. Gen Xers believe that they have a better chance of seeing a UFO in their lifetime than they do of receiving a Social Security cheque.

Communications must respect the skepticism of Gen Xers and work with it. Moster.com has done a superb job in doing this with a television ad that plays to Gen Xers’ belief that they cannot rely on institutions to take care of them.

When dealing with Gen Xers give them short, simple, to the point information, honestly.

Millenials

The digital generation: 50% of millenials have a computer monitor in their bedroom. Consider what they have seen – unfiltered. They have tried to sort through information their entire lives.

One of the most essential functions of communicators in dealing with Millenials is to provide cues regarding the reliability and trustworthiness of sources of information.

Millenials arrive in the workforce with less work experience. Teens work less than previous generations. Additonal school requirements, divorced parents, requirements for community service, keep many out of the workforce during their formative years. Employers will have to provide much of the cues and information necessary to help them learn the workplace norms.

Millenials are impatient with the pace of communication. Voice mail demands too much time. They have moved on the immediacy of Instant Messaging.

Millenials look for information online. They have learned to live their lives virtually online. Colleges have increasingly taken their courses and the recruiting experience online. They will expect this from their employers.

However, remember that technology does not equal communication. Technology will never take the place of good research, good planning and well thought-through communication.

Organization communications standards must be flexible to try new things.

IABC International Conference – Jody Humble

June 6, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Jody Humble, regional manager of corporate communication for FedEx Canada, argues that storytelling is an effective way to communicate and shape corporate culture.She opened her presentation with a video narrated by individuals reflecting on how FedEx employees has rallied to help in the wake of Hurricane Katrina’s devastation of New Orleans and Louisiana.“That explains the kind of company we are trying to be.” And the company clearly is doing something right ait ranks number four on Fortune’s list of most admired companies.Key drivers of culture at FedEx include a recognition that “Our product is our people.” Layered onto this is the evolving portfolio of companies (e.g. Kinko’s) and increased competition. Finally, there is a recognition that expectations of the company are changing. For example, in the post-911 world, the company must play a role in ensuring the security of it clients.

FedEx has introduced “The purple promise: Pledge. Attitude. Behaviour.” to shape and sustain its positive corporate culture.

Pledge: I will make every FedEx experience outstanding. Experience includes experiences between employees, with customers and with anyone else the company deals with.

Behaviour: A personal checklist for action. How will I satisfy my customers today? Have I treated them in a professional, competent, polite an caring manner? Have I delivered the highest quality service? Have I processed information with 100% accuracy?

The Purple Promise is an essential business strategy. It provides a basis for empoyees to compete collectively and provide optimal customer experiences, thus improving customer loyalty.

Four elements of embedding the culture:

Policies, practices and tools – must be established at the outset.
Leadership by example (storytelling) – provides a basis in fact.
Communication (storytelling) – delivers and sustains
Recognition & reward – At the end of the day, people need a personal reason to change their behaviour.

Storytelling is a principal vehicle for propagating a positive culture based on the Purple Promise. Our world is a social place. Our view of it is created by social interaction more than facts. We listen to people we trust.

Through the intranet, employee videos, an in-house television network, face to face meetings and other vehicles, FedEx attempts to deliver a constant stream of stories that embody the Purple Promise.

For this to work, it requires an enlightened human resources director who is prepared to work closely and cooperatively with the communications department.

Performance measures have been realigned to service performance, including a bonus based on the company’s service results.

This is backed up by both monetary and nonmonetary recognition and awards. A tiered recognition program empowers managers to acknowledge positive contributions on the spot. A more formal selection process is used to select recipients of Purple Promise Awards, which carry both recognition and remuneration.

In fine David Letterman, form Jody closed with a list of the Top 10 benefits of storytelling:

10. It can be inexpensive – a great deal can be accomplished at relatively little cost

9. Adds endurance ot the message

8. Encourages listening – we all listen to stories.

7. Infiltrates ‘water cooler’ conversations.

6. It is highly persuasive – You’re more likely to believe something in the context of a story.

5. Inspires trust – increased interaction through storytelling enhances familiarity, comfort and trust.

4. Forges the bonds of common experience

3. Simplifies the complex via metaphors

2. Appeals to emotions – a good story moves you emotionally.

1. Captures and leverages institutional knowledge – a great way to share knowledge with your workforce.

In the question and answer session, one participant observed that The Purple Promise is working because it is a way of life, not merely a communications program. For a culture program like this to work, everybody must be part of it – executives, human resources, frontline service deliverers, every part of the organization.

This was a good, practical advice section that had the corporate communications people in the room taking notes.

IABC International Conference – Stephen Lewis

June 6, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

This is a long post, but read it through to the end … please.

When the bottom line isn’t enough.

Stephen Lewis, United Nations’ Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in stunningly and compellingly reminded us of our corporate social responsibility in responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the communication professional’s role in elevating these priorities and encouraging the instinctive compassion of individuals. Globalization is failing to deal with some of the most pressing problems: poverty, disease conflict, the environment.Faced with this, the UN established a series of eight Millenium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015:

To cut in half the most extreme manifestations of poverty and hunger
Dramatically reduce infant mortality rates
Dramatically reduce maternal mortality rates
To put all the primary school age children in the world
To introduce a degree of gender equality
To drive back the scourge of infectious diseases like AIDS and tuberculosis
Environmental sustainability
An accord between the developed and developing world, in which the former delivers on its promises.

“Six years later, while progress is being made in other parts of the world, it is clear that not one of these goals will be met in Africa – largely due to excruciating poverty and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS.”

Some hard realities. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is spreading irrevocably, ineluctably around the world. In China. In India. In Russia. Eastern and central Europe and Asia. There is no part of the world that is immune. And in the epicentre of Africa, it is astonishingly catastrophic.

“If the present level of infections continue, by the year 2012, we will have 100 million on this planet who have died of AIDS or who will die prematurely from it. … The pervasiveness of death is absolutely heartbreaking.”

Lewis spoke of a class of 10 year olds in Zimbabwe in which the teacher asked them to write what was on their minds. Eight out of ten wrote the word, “Death.” And for these children, the only solace they have is prayer. There is no other hope.

“It’s 2006, for god’s sake. How are we prepared to write off millions of people who … with help .. could break the back of the pandemic.”

Women suffer disproportionately from this scourge. Burdened by gender inequality, they are victims of irresponsible behaviour by men. Women have become an endangered species in some parts of the African continent.

And the plight of orphans … “the unsung heroes of the African continent are the grandmothers, who bury their adult children and then return to parenting their orphaned grandchildren. … And when the grandparents die, you have the extraordinary situation of households of children where the oldest assume the responsibility of caring for the youngest.”

And yet, we can beat this scourge. Simply by the governments of western countries honouring their commitments and by corporations acting on their social responsibility.

“Where is the private sector in the midst of the colossal cataclysm?”, Lewis asked. How does the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria get adequately funded? The governments of the world have begun to back away from their commitments. Hardly a penny has come from the private sector. The only quasi private sector contribution of moment is from the Gates Foundation. Why are corporations failing their social responsibility?

There are some glimmers of hope, Some companies have begun to provide testing and counseling for their workers in Africa. They have extended this to include families and communities of their workers. But what none of these companies has done is to go beyond the self-interest of dealing with the pandemic within their own employee groups to make a contribution of consequence to a real solution to the pandemic.

Lewis is traveling and meeting with leaders of corporations to ask them to exercise their corporate social responsibility by making a significant contribution to the Global Fund. “We need at least one major, significant contribution to break the logjam of indifference.”

“If there is one company anywhere that is prepared to take the first step, there is not a newspaper in the world that would not herald this in its editorial pages. … If you could construct a contribution to the Global Fund, this would be the leverage that we need to motivate others.”

Lewis challenged communicators to respond to this need. He asked that we all consider, what we can do. And that we take action.

He suggested that the IABC Research Foundation could play a role – examining why the coverage of this situation in Africa is under-reported. Awareness translates into a compulsion to act and the invisibility of Africa in western media makes it palatable to ignore the catastrophe.

Why is the communication around prevention not working in parts of the world? There are artful efforts to change behaviour … why are we finding it so difficult to change behaviour? To communicate how to protect yourself? To communicate the impact of gender inequality and the need to correct it.

“When one part of the human family is under siege, the privileged part of must respond.”

Stephen Lewis presented a compelling case for action on a human catastrophe. With wit, erudition and passion. We should not fail to heed his message.

IABC International Conference – Tuesday afternoon sessions

June 6, 2006 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

At this year’s IABC Research Foundation luncheon, Lynne Lancaster will speak about Minding the gaps: Engaging four generations in an info-saturated world. “Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation X’ers, and Millenials … Each of these generations has unique expectations for how messages should be delivered, and which hot buttons are most important to hit. … savvy communicators need to know what’s important to each generation of listeners and how to make an emotional connection.”

Both of the afternoon sessions I’m planning to take in focus on employee communications.

First, David Grossman will discuss Making the most of leaders through effective leadership communication. The programme promises that the session “will explore a proven four-step leadership communications model and teach the skills necessary to coach leaders to drive business results and improve performance through effective leadership communication.” Something which I know that the folks back at my office would like to teach me! Later, it’s back to the online world: Intranets on the cutting edge: A look at what’s possible now and probably tomorrow, with Donna Itzoe and Jerry Stevenson. A look at “one of the most technologically advanced intranets on the planet – Verizon’s Digital Workplace.” Hmmm. I’m not sure it’s in this fiscal year’s budget. But I can always dream.