I’m so looking forward to presenting “Media Training: How to Deliver Compelling Messages” on Monday, Oct. 15 from 11:45 a.m.–1 p.m. At last year’s Conference, this session attracted a standing-room only crowd that generated stimulating questions and dynamic interactions. I hope you’ll plan to attend this year’s workshop and join the fast-paced, engaging program designed to guide you through spokesperson preparation, message development, delivery and control techniques, and personal presence.

Spokespersons—and PR practitioners who provide behind-the-scene counsel and support—know successful communications skills are honed by media training and practice. The most effective are strategic and follow a simple five-step process to drive message development and interview preparation. 

Continue reading " Media Training: A 5 Step Process to Drive Message Development and Interview Preparation "

Increase the value of your work to clients or your organization with measurement principles from the PRSA/AMEC Measurement Symposium , a special Sunday event on Oct. 14, from 8:30 a.m.–6 p.m., during the PRSA International Conference. Examine the Barcelona Principles with measurement experts from Starbucks, FedEx, Philips North America, Ketchum, Weber Shandwick, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide and more.

Save $50 on Symposium registration with code LD12 through Friday, Sept. 7.

The PRSA/AMEC Measurement Symposium, held on Oct. 14, is a one-day event to give PR practitioners a complete course on measurement and evaluation, as well as the tools they need to succeed.

Participation can be part of overall Conference registration, or you can purchase it separately.

As part of your registration for the stand-alone event, you also have the opportunity to attend the plenary Conference session that day featuring an array of speakers, as well as the opening party that night, which is a great networking opportunity.

Here are some details

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Join Ann Wylie for her in-person training session, “Web Writing Boot Camp,” on Sept. 21, 2012 9 a.m.–4 p.m. EDT in New York, N.Y., and learn how to make your posts personable, and write dramatic, compelling status updates that draw followers and get clicks.

Are you still relying on words alone to tell your stories?

Comic by Bill Wylie

When Campus Progress published an illustrated story on education finance in April 2011, Erin Polgreen reported the following:

• The Huffington Post featured the story on its front page.
• More than 4,000 Facebook users shared and Liked the story.

Continue reading " Five Ways to Communicate Using Comics "

It may be 98 degrees outside, but winter is coming.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have a passion for period TV, and I really love “Game of Thrones.” In case you’re among the uninitiated, the series chronicles seven noble families fighting for control of Westeros, a mythical land that — among several fascinating traits — features seasons and climates of varying and completely unpredictable lengths and severities.

“Winter is coming” is the foreboding promise and motto of House Stark. The meaning behind the words is one of warning and constant vigilance. In a land where seasons are of an indeterminate length, this mantra reinforces that winter remains on the horizon even if we just wrapped what is the hottest July on record, and it very well could be a blazing-hot, ozone action day in your neck of the woods.

Uncertainty is certain: we know that we can’t definitively predict what our next business and communications “season” will be like — or even how long the one we’re in will last. Variables like the presidential election, European and Chinese economic instabilities, groundbreaking R&D and emerging cultural phenomena can shift communications and business climates overnight. But as communications professionals, we shouldn’t feel powerless in the face of unpredictability, because knowing that change is inevitable can actually center us — just as House Stark’s mantra keeps them focused and prepared.

I’m not the type to bask in the sun and deal with winter once it arrives; in fact, I’ve found that the sun’s warmth is all the more enjoyable knowing there’s a plan in place for my firm’s and our clients’ winters. I’ve found that the following steps have helped us prepare even our fastest-moving clients for the inevitable change in seasons, whenever that may occur: 

Continue reading " “Game of Thrones” and Conquering Communications Uncertainties "

Join Ann Wylie for her in-person training session, “Web Writing Boot Camp,” on Sept. 21, 2012 9 a.m.–4 p.m. EDT in New York, N.Y., and learn how to make your posts personable, and write dramatic, compelling status updates that draw followers and get clicks.

In the headline for one of his articles, usability expert Jakob Nielsen asks, “How do users read on the Web?”

“They don’t,” he answers in the first sentence.

If you’re lucky, then your Web visitors may scan through your site, searching for specific facts and key ideas. But they aren’t reading. Check out these research results:

• Half of all Web users scan content instead of reading methodically, a 2007 eyetracking study by the Poynter Institute found.
• Visitors read only 20 percent of the words on a page, according to a 2008 analysis of nearly 50,000 page views by European computer scientists, psychologists, sociologists, engineers and other professionals.
• Visitors view most Web pages for 10 seconds or less, concluded four German researchers who studied those 50,000 page views.
• Fewer than one in 10 page views extend beyond two minutes, the same German researchers discovered. That included unattended browser windows that users left open in the background.

It’s enough to make a Web writer toss his or her laptop out the window.

But you can reach these online scanners if your page will pass the “skim test.”

Continue reading " Lift Your Ideas Off the Screen with Microcontent, or Online Display Copy "