Do you know what pushes your buttons? Have you been ignited to the point of annoyance, frustration or anger? Do you know what to do about these situations?

“Conflict Resolution Simplified,” Tuesday, October 18, 2011 2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the PRSA 2011 International Conference, will address a five-step model to explore what pushes your buttons, and why.

Here’s a little snippet of information to give you background on how prominent this problem is in the workplace.

Continue reading " Who Needs to Learn More About Conflict? "

Join Geno Church for his workshop, Bringing Sexy Back to Offline Marketing, on Sunday, October 16, 2011 3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. at the PRSA 2011 International Conference, Oct. 15–18 in Orlando, Fla.!

During my session, I’ll help you refocus your public relations efforts and evaluate the power of offline word of mouth for your brand.

With all the social media buzz floating around the public relations industry, let’s look at a few statistics:

• 90% of word of mouth happens offline (face-to- face or voice-to-voice) – Keller Faye Group
• 10% of word of mouth happens online (social media, email, texting) – Keller Faye Group
• 93% of retail sales happens offline – Forrester Research report

So why all this focus and attention on online word of mouth? It’s because offline Word of Mouth is very difficult to do. It’s because marketers treat word of mouth as an output (sustaining the conversation) and not as an input (starting the conversation).

It’s time to talk about The 5th P… PEOPLE

Continue reading " Bringing SEXY Back to Offline Word of Mouth "

Join Lee Odden for his workshop, Advance Your SEO Skills with Social Media Optimization, on Monday, October 17 from 11:30 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. at the PRSA 2011 International Conference, Oct. 15–18 in Orlando, Fla.!

The demand for smart Social Media and SEO information from Public Relations departments and agencies has increased significantly this year.  Many PR groups are investing significantly in SEO and Social Media strategy, road mapping and training for their teams. In our work as a resource for these organizations, one of the most useful insights we provide is guidance on what to avoid when it comes to incorporating SEO and SMO (social media optimization) into PR content strategies.

No one likes to #fail, so as PR pros ramp up their SEO and Social Media Optimization efforts, here are seven things to avoid:

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Join Chris Foster, Dr. Gary Puckrein, Rex Repass and Patrick Pho for their workshop, Just Five More Seconds of Mindshare? Use the Best Strategies and Tools to Reach Your Audience!, on Sunday, October 16, 2011 4:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. at the PRSA 2011 International Conference, Oct. 15–18 in Orlando, Fla.!

Picture this: It’s another Monday morning.  As you step out of bed, you are beginning to mentally prepare for the thirteen meetings that stagger ahead on your manic schedule. While gradually awakening, you emerge to commence your daily routine… pick up the paper, make the coffee, pop the English muffin into the toaster and turn on your computer – ready to respond to a series of instant messages and e-mails aggregated in your inbox from the time you kissed the kids goodnight at 11PM until the time the alarm clock went off at 5:45AM. You want to be in the office by 7, so you quickly rush through your calendar reminders to ensure you are on time and aware of all of your obligations. You enjoy that one last sip of coffee before jumping into your suit and you wave goodbye to you family (who are just now waking up). After shutting the car door, you immediately turn on your Bluetooth (allowing you to multitask even more!) and quickly dial-in for your weekly Monday morning staff call.  Turning on your mental auto pilot, you suddenly realize you’re 20 minutes into the call and you’ve been asked to provide your projections for the week.  What did you gather from the first half of the call?

We’ve all been in similar situations before – and it’s likely our audiences have been through the same.  Overtaxed for time, how do we retain our audiences’ undivided attention?

Continue reading " Cut Through the Clutter: Use the Best Strategies and Tools to Reach Your Audience and Measure Impact "

Join Mary Jane Saras, LCSW for her workshop, “Conflict Resolution Simplified,” on Tuesday, October 18, 2011 2:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the PRSA 2011 International Conference, Oct. 15–18 in Orlando, Fla.!

There are some warning signs for team leaders to watch out for when it comes to high stress on a team. When stress hits the hot button, there is a natural tendency for all of us to revert to behavior we learned in our original organization, the family; things we learned for security and survival. These behaviors come to work with us in unique and powerful ways when we are tense and feel overwhelmed. So, if your teammate is behaving like a baby, you’re right. And if you are responding like a thumb-sucking toddler, you are!

In “Conflict Resolution Simplified,” I’ll give you a new perspective on warning signs to watch out for on your team, and why some of these “early warning signs” do come to work with you, even if you didn’t want them to.

Let me share a story.

Continue reading " What Team Leaders Need to know About Stress and Conflict "