Blink of an eye.

by Roger Pynn

How can it be that our world changes so fast?

Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod’s fascinating ”Did You Know” PowerPoint answers the question. Shift happens.

I was there when we all jumped on board the Internet with America Online back in the early eighties. It was a monster … you got AOL CDs in your mailbox, at the supermarket – they were everywhere. “You’ve got mail” became synonymous with one’s personal relationship with the digital highway.

It roared through and beyond the dot com era and into a $124 billion merger with Time Warner and now is probably worth about $6 billion at most while Google and Facebook are the monsters of the day.

The world shifts faster than we can blink. Jeff Kearns Bloomberg story on AOL’s declining value never even mentions its predecessor CompuServ (which AOL swallowed) … much less The Source, one of – if not the first – of these Internet access points. In the late 70s I used to sit fascinated with a Telex machine typing in news queries and watching it print out reams of information from The Source on scrolls of newsprint. That’s right … no monitor.

You have to wonder what is next to go.

Some PR Advice for the NBA

by Dan Ward

I understand that what follows could be misunderstood as the rantings of a rabid Orlando Magic fan, a title I readily accept.  But whether or not you agree the officiating in the NBA playoffs has left a lot to be desired, few would dispute that it has caused an image and reputation problem for the NBA.

Just two years after the Tim Donaghy scandal, NBA referees and their playoff calls are being questioned like never before.  As Charles Barkley said during a national TNT broadcast, it’s been “turrible.”

It’s not enough for the NBA to (rightfully) claim that its referees have an incredibly difficult job and that they get the calls right nearly every time.  Those statements fall flat when the league then overturns its referees’ calls after nearly every game.

As NBC Sports’ Ira Winderman writes, overturning these calls is a great step, because it shows the NBA ultimately wants to set things right.  But it’s also too late to change the impact these calls have on the games.  Denver won a game in its last playoff series after intentional fouls went uncalled.  If Mo Williams’ thrown ball at Dwight Howard in Game 2 had resulted in a made technical free throw, LeBron’s miracle shot would have merely sent the game into overtime.

So here’s some advice for the NBA, the same advice we give all our clients … strategic public relations goes beyond words, and it certainly goes beyond defensive statements.  No amount of public relations strategy will overcome public perception.  When you have a problem, anything you say won’t be enough, because you ultimately will be judged by the actions you take. 

In this case, the NBA should definitely defend its referees, who presumably are honorable people trying to do the right thing.  But it should also take action, acknowledge that too many errors have occurred and institute real changes that improve officiating in the future.

To take no action would be foul, indeed.

 

Stimulating Creativity

by Roger Pynn

I try to stay away from politics here, but there are things political everyone is talking about that provide plenty of room for conversation regardless of your persuasion. The impact of federal stimulus dollars cannot be denied. Whether we will regret the enormity of the expenses is a topic for political debate, but one thing is sure … the availability of stimulus dollars has spawned an awful lot of creativity.

Take for example the folks at Workforce Central Florida who had shut down two offices due to budget cuts then received $13 million in stimulus dollars to fund short-term programs that will end in 15 months and did an about face to put that money to work in the community. They served an amazing 125,000 people last year, but now they are ramped up to provide help to as many as 185,000 in 2009.

I think their WCF Paid Interns program is ingenious in this economy. Companies that need summer help will see the tax dollars put to work to pay them at a time when most companies are struggling to afford the staff they have. And here’s a great way to kick the tires on future employees, as well as lighten the summer load of staff that are probably ready for a break.

Then there’s Planar Energy Devices (full disclosure … they are a client) that stands on the verge of creating a whole new industry for Florida if successful in its bid for a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy. Governor Charlie Crist’s Energy Office stepped up in support of that grant that would allow Planar to create hundreds of jobs in the Gainesville and Orlando areas for the creation of next generation hybrid vehicle battery technology and manufacturing.

Who would ever have thought of Florida as a player in the automotive industry? Planar has some of the most cutting-edge battery technology in the world and is developing next generation concepts at its headquarters here in Orlando. Now it’s acquiring a recently shuttered but state-of-the art lithium ion battery plant in Alachua near the University of Florida and plans not only automotive batteries but is set to provide much of the U.S. military’s battery needs, as well.

With Planar’s plans for research partnerships with UF and the University of Central Florida could come a whole new cluster of next gen energy storage activity … a great addition to our economy.

As the Wall Street Journal noted today the federal government is betting $2.4 billion that stimulus funds can help turn the U.S. into the center of battery manufacturing. Planar’s proposal is to set up shop almost overnight, put people to work in weeks and churn out product in a few months while other applicants are still preparing to break ground. Another creative play with what amounts to a pittance of the overall stimulus dollars because Planar seized on the opportunity to do this in Florida and reopen that valuable plant rather than building from scratch.

Tapping into Local Talent

by Ashley Pinder

When one of the world’s leading video game developers operates in your own backyard you have to tap into it as a resource. That’s why we organized a Leadership Orlando visit to Electronic Arts Tiburon’s Maitland studio to provide local leaders an opportunity to learn more about this creative company that’s on top of the competitive digital media industry.

As part of the business group’s Regional Entrepreneurship Day, more than 50 professionals from around Central Florida took a tour of the studio and heard from EA Tiburon executives including Phil Holt, Daryl Holt, Dale Jackson and Roy Harvey about how EA functions.

In order to produce some of the biggest games in the industry, like Madden NFL, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and others, Tiburon recruits highly skilled employees to work in a competitive team centric environment with a strategy to “Win at Everything We Do!”

Executive Producer Dale Jackson compared the company’s hiring philosophy to that of the Navy Seals, “only the best and the brightest,” he said. “We drop them off in the deep end and they have to swim to safety; they use their problem-solving and passion for games to make an unbeatable product this way.”

During the tour, the LO students saw those highly skilled EA team members hard at work. Concept artwork and brainstorming notes covered the walls showing project developments, but it was clear the intensity of the work is balanced by opportunities for fun. Seen below, great minds need an outlet, and what better way to let loose then playing in a ball pit within a conference room?

The mixture of high performing creative minds, casual attire, dynamic leaders and free-thinking atmosphere make EA Tiburon a perfect place to learn about building a team and operating a successful company.

Sex Education

by Roger Pynn

Kudos to USC Marshall School of Business Distinguished Professor Warren Bennis, quoted in a BusinessWeek article on the debate over whether MBAs and their educations were responsible for the financial crisis.

“We have not provided enough information on the practical world of business or the ease with which you can slip into greed and hubris,” he says. “We need to better prepare [students].”

But let’s remember that by the time you get to graduate school your spine is fully formed.

While I agree that our colleges and universities must hammer home the importance of having a moral compass, it begins long before Johnny chooses a grad school. At the risk of sounding like those who oppose sex education in the public schools, isn’t this something that parents have to teach from the get go?

I’ve long wanted to explore a curriculum in consequential thinking … something that says “before you unload toxic assets on the next guy, ask yourself how you’ll feel when the world collapses.”

Citizen Journalism 2.0?

by Elizabeth Buccianti

Since when does a 140 character post on a social networking site count as a trustworthy source of information for a legitimate news publication? Not to mention the anonymity afforded by social media accounts. Where is the incentive to post completely accurate information?

I understand social media is the new wave of communication, but there needs to be guidelines for how information can and should be used in the news media. My colleague Dan Ward recently wrote about Dow Jones’ updated guidelines for ethical uses of social media networks like Twitter. Bet they never dreamed guidelines for information farmed off of Twitter would be needed.

Case in point: Orlando Sentinel.com writer Susan Jacobson wrote a brief account of a bomb scare in a Port Canaveral cruise terminal. The report was informative and seemingly credible – until the last sentence.

“A man touring the Wonder sent a Twitter update stating that roads to the terminal were closed during the scare, but that could not be confirmed.”

As close as Port Canaveral is to the Kennedy Space Center, it makes me wonder whether the Twitterer was indeed a man aboard The Disney Wonder or if, in fact, it was astronaut Mike Massimino aboard the space shuttle Atlantis trying to fulfill his responsibilities as a citizen journalist, but afraid he might be outed for using a surrogate to hit the send button.

Complexification

by Roger Pynn

Furthering our notion that successful communications are guided by answering four simple questions, Jim Ylisela at Ragan.com introduces a set of guiding questions by saying “Simple is not dumb. And clear does not mean basic.”

Amen.

His conclusion is as spot on as his premise: “If you can’t explain why the readers should care, then what business do you have doing the story? Once you figure out why, you’ll be able to organize the communication around your answer.”

All too often people in our business try to complexify what we do. If we had wanted to go into rocket science we wouldn’t have chosen a field so clearly driven by the science of common sense.

You Can’t Replace a Visit

by Ashley Pinder

In the competitive hospitality industry there’s nothing like first-hand experience for travel reporters to get a taste of what a resort offers its guests. Last month, we managed a press trip for six travel writers from across the nation to visit Nickelodeon Family Suites along with one young guest, so they could experience the hotel through a child’s eyes.

We planned a poolside dinner with live entertainment, secured front-row seats at the Studio Nick nightly show, reserved a cabana and delivered milk and cookies to their rooms every night.

But it wasn’t this special treatment that made it into the feature articles that have come about from this trip, nor is it what impressed the trip attendees. In fact, it was the opposite. It was just being at the hotel. Seeing it in person and experiencing it by walking around and watching other guests.

We can tell the media that Nick Hotel is kid-friendly until we are blue in the face, but after seeing it first-hand, they know that is an understatement. A picture may say a thousand words, but it’s still two-dimensional.

The bean bags in the bright-orange-and-green lobby, the sound of upbeat music and laughing children, the themed KidSuites with life-size Nickelodeon characters on the wall …. you can’t experience that through a news release.

As the media relations industry changes and we rely less and less on traditional publicity tactics and move toward social media – let us not forget the true power of first-hand experience. This can apply to a company in any industry hoping to share its story. Because, you can’t replace a visit.

How Effective is Your Communication?

by Kim Taylor

Do you regularly spend weeks writing the content for your next big presentation and then wait until the night before to rehearse?

Do you know the difference between a transition and a ‘hot start’?

How about the importance of holding your gestures and keeping them ‘above the belt’ and outside the ‘breadbox’?

These are just a few of the things I learned while attending “Presenting with Impact & Influence” last week at the Academy of our affiliate, MS&L.

The stats were astonishing. When it comes to the 3 V’s of Effective Communications: Vocal, Visual and Verbal, we typically focus on the Verbal … the content of our presentation … yet, the Vocal and Visual are really what counts.

Try this exercise:

Say the heady words we all wait to hear: I Love You … and say it like you really mean it.

Now, say them again, but this time, say the word ‘love’ with doubt and questioning … I Love You?

The same result happens when you shift that doubt to the word ‘you.’

Same content, completely different meaning.

That exercise alone should help validate the importance of Visual and Vocal skills when presenting. Content still counts, but never underestimate the value of thoughtful gesturing, eye contact and replacing your ‘ums’ and ‘uhhs’ with silence.

Tried and True

by Dan Ward

Too often today, communications plans start with tactics, focusing on tools to get a message out to as many people as possible. “Let’s establish a Facebook page,” “get the client on Twitter,” “issue a news release.”

But what if the objective is to educate and influence five people? What if none of those five people use Twitter, and live in a community where “social media” means journalists are nice, sociable people?

We recently had that experience, managing a communications program for an electric utility client whose franchise agreement with a small, rural city was up for review. Commissioners were reviewing their option to purchase the system and run it as a municipal utility, and we had to convince them that a renewed franchise agreement was a better choice.

While updating local media and communicating with customers were part of the plan, they were secondary to strategies that allowed us to talk directly to the commissioners and to a small group of community leaders that had access to them.

Old-school public relations … instead of trying to shoehorn the latest technology and communication methods into our plan, we crafted a message, anticipated opposition arguments, and guided face-to-face communications — all the things we were once taught in school but often forget in a world of Blackberries and Tweetdecks.

In the end, commissioners voted unanimously to renew the franchise, with nary a tweet to be heard. Moral of the story: while we always need to stay abreast of the latest and greatest communications tools, we should also remember that tried-and-true strategies continue to work … they’ve been tried and they remain true.