Back to blogging, Post Two. The reason for my long break from this blog was to concentrate on the hefty chore (yes, absolutely, and if anyone knew what it’s like they might’ve chosen otherwise—of course, I do know I’m lucky to be in this position, but still…—a chore) of deciding at which law school I’ll be spending my next three years, nose to the grind stone, in what I expect to be the most academically and emotionally challenging environment I’ve ever been in during my life (I have a ridiculously weak immune system so we’ll add in physically challenging too).

For context, I was fortunate enough to apply to 16 of some of the top law schools in the country, be admitted by 13 of them, wait-listed by 1 and rejected by 2. Even more fortunate, I was offered more-than generous scholarships by many and full rides to a good number. In the end—if only I knew how to convey the tremendous emotion and energy that has gone into my decision into this one seemingly trivial sentence—I have chosen to attend the University of California, Berkeley School of Law.

After visits to six different states—like everyone had explained to me but is only understandable when it hits you—Berkeley—or Boalt, as most call it—just felt right. Terrified enough to be more than intrigued, I am shakingly excited to have a chance to learn from some of the brightest minds in the world, while sitting next to some of the smartest students in the world. If you know me, you most likely know I have an absolute passion for learning. Whether it has to do with my undergraduate concentrations or how the clutch in my ‘92 Trooper works, if you want to explain to me how something runs, what it means, or the history of how that thing came to be, I will listen. It feels an honor to have an opportunity to learn the law at such a level, and I simply couldn’t turn it down. Not only that, but the school was just the right “fit”. Intelligent, but understandable. Highly-ranked, but not pretentious. The administration at Boalt explained to me their approach to learning that encompassed, well, exactly my approach to learning. Understanding how everything in the world works together, they explained. What does a child abuse case have to do with economics? How does this action over here affect that response over there? An intellectual curiosity, they described, that extends beyond law and make your understanding of the law better because of it. THAT is what intrigues me and that is exactly the type of environment I want to place myself in.

So, after the year-long process, from the time I began studying for my LSATs just over a year ago this month, I’ve decided where to focus my time, energy, and quite a bit of money toward for the next three years. Big….sigh….of relief. For now: trying to find a studio in the Bay area for under $1200 a month =).

Welcome Back

It’s been exactly 62 days since my last post. Just over the two month mark, my hiatus from blogging (but not necessarily the blogosphere) has finally come to an end. First off, for any students thinking about taking a break from blogging, DON’T. A short step back while other projects demand your time? Sure. A small rest while you wait for interesting post ideas to spark? Maybe. An officially titled, full-on break? No.

Just. Don’t. Do. It.

It might just be me, but taking an official break from blogging was damn near impossible to return from. Different than some, I have oh-ho-ho PLEEENTY of things I want to talk about. Taking a break for me didn’t mean an end to scribbled posts ideas on what are now eight filled, large, lined post-it notes. No, taking a break for me meant I put too much pressure on coming back. What will my first post be?? Is that cool enough for my first independent, no-longer-for-a-grade post?? How am I going to win back my small pool of now long gone readers?? Taking a break for me meant putting it off and putting it off until finally, it seemed too daunting to even begin! The familiar feeling of writing my very first post way back in January returned; that one of timidity and fear, of stupidity and caution. I’ve been busy, sure, that was the reason for the break in the first place. But busy this long? Definitely not.

Well, finally I’ve gotten over myself and realized the My Blog tab on my toolbar just isn’t so scary after all. Welcome back, readers, welcome back, welcome back, welcome baaaaack (to be sung to above link’s tune).

________________

photo courtesy of fadi3 at http://www.flickr.com/photos/54064658@N00/2196401756/ (original photo by Nganguyen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nganguyen/2191399100/).

Since beginning this blog, I’ve been closely following Jonathan Bernstein’s Internet Newsletter, Crisis Manager, available on his site, Bernstein Crisis Management Inc. This site has been a wonderful source of information for me, as Bernstein focuses much of his crisis management advice on community crises—the very topic of my blog. A recent newsletter article titled, Crisis Manager University, by Mark Towhey, addresses school crises plans as related to the always tragic school shootings and intrusions.

In the article, Mark discusses the difficulty of school crisis planning’s ultimately two-faced effect. One face: planning helps students and faculty become familiar and, thus, comfortable with emergency response plans such as evacuations, lock-downs and fire drills. Second face—the unavoidable, negative side-effect of preparation: planning allows intruders and criminals a formula for your response, a crafted action that they will learn how to react to in their advantage.

The key to keeping lock-down plans and other crisis-response drills effective then, is flexibility. Flexibility is what allows these plans manipulation for each new circumstance. In studying crisis situations, what seems to go most wrong is the lack of adaptability from managers, staff and students. While the students, of course, rely on instruction and guidance in emergency situations at schools, the managers and faculty must quickly adapt seemingly dry-cut response plans into more malleable guidelines for their emergency at hand. Yes, schools should continue with emergency drills like lock-downs and evacuations, Mark says, but drilling should emphasize adaptability. Innovative ways to keep your students safe and hidden from intruders should be an emphasis and new approach added to crisis workshops and training sessions. Flexibility allows the leap to be made from trial to reality—the difference between a sheet of glass or metal stronghold between your classroom and what Mark describes as the “copper jacketed bullet.”

There’s been a disappointing trend I’ve watched develop over my college years. A trend, I suspect, that has been present through decades and centuries, each time with a new twist relevant to the times. This trend, brought to my attention through numerous male acquaintances and a few male friends, is the scoffing of men at their female counterparts for discussing successful women and female accomplishments. “Girl power,” as they sarcastically and with an accompanying “girlie” tone say, is a mockery for them, a good chuckle as they shake their heads and roll their eyes. Now, I am certainly not saying my male friends are all sexist jerks, but I have certainly noticed the lack of seriousness and a “feminism is oh-so overdone” quality to all female success-related conversation. The sad thing is, is feminism has become equated for these men with hairy-legged, decades old, bra-burning antics. Perhaps the mention of “bra” in history class grabbed their attention and resulted in that description leading their feminist definition. While that may have been a harsh guess, the reality is that many early-twenty-something males seem to think feminism is both a cliché and a bore.

Feminism is simply the support of equal social and political rights for women, and, while I do not fall into the superficial category of a feminist brought to mind by most of my same-aged male peers, I do overwhelmingly support equal rights for women, gravitate toward articles on women’s rising accomplishments in the workforce and in social endeavors, and will gladly spend any conversation persuading my listener of the needs for flex schedules and accommodations for working mothers. In fact, even my term-long empirical project for econometrics investigates the impact of rising child-care costs on women’s participation rates in the labor force.

My interest in these topics lies in the ulterior motive—as I’ve mentioned before—that I, one day, would like to be a mom in the midst of a successful, thriving, and busy career. Far ahead of schedule, I am already looking into types of company adjustments and offerings for working mothers (for the corporations that are catching on) and have a few advice/support blogs for working moms in my feed reader. While some may think this is overkill, especially as I am only 21, this early research makes perfect sense for my goal of establishing a professional career—becoming a smart and efficient employee and mom. Perhaps my early concern is the result of seeing the somewhat recent new wave of working mothers spark blogs, articles and support groups for their kind. Realizing how difficult all these publishing make the process seem, I want to be prepared (as well as I can, anyway) for the transition of becoming a mother during a career, without compromising my talent in both the workplace and at home.

I was delighted then, to see my interest in successful women and my search for advice on working mothers coupled together in a new website founded by five ultra-successful and inspiring women: Joni Evans, former president of Simon and Schuster and an ex-publisher at Random House; Liz Smith, author and famous New York gossip columnist; Mary Wells, advertising executive whose work includes the “I Love New York” campaign; Peggy Noonan, political columnist and former presidential speech writer; and Lesley Stahl, television news reporter and a CBS 60 Minutes correspondent since 1991. The website, Wowowow (somewhat standing for Women on the Web), is aimed at women 40 and older, but is full of information that I believe women of every age can find useful.

With over 15 contributers including Candice Bergen and Marlo Thomas, Wowowow is an inspiring source of female talent and energy for more than fashion advice, with sections like Change the World and Conversations. The New York Times covered the launching of the website here, and explains the humorous process of choosing a domain name, learning about blogging and becoming part of the Web 2.0 culture. The site does cover what The New York Times says is, “in some ways no different than that of other women-focused community Web sites like iVillage: horoscopes and posts about love and marriage, health and fashion,” but Wowowow is also an inspiring culmination of talented minds with advice and political commentary for its readers. More than another site for women, Wowowow is a step toward social media being utilized by all generations and I couldn’t be prouder, nor more inspired by these successful women.

Now, if only they’d add an RSS Feed icon…

Searching for a great photo is the first thing I do when beginning every post. That photo must slightly hint to my reader each posts’ topic, while at the same time mirror the tone and suggestions of my writing. To explain my response to this week’s Linky Love post on Generation Y then, I immediately typed Generation Y into Google, clicked on images, and began searching for two opposing images: the sluggish, lazy, early-twenty something, and her same-aged young professional counterpart. I did settle on two satisfying images, but what I came across in the search was much, much less satisfactory. Many of the Generation Y images were on pages written about Generation Y-ers, of course—newspaper and magazine articles, blogs and others. And, most dishearteningly, a quick scan at each story just to see the images was more than enough for me to blaze across words like self-centered, self-promotion, self-motivated and self Self SELF! Oh, and quite possibly the worst title, that of the story belonging to the ever-intrigued girl to your upper-right, holding the magazine and just waiting to roll her eyes: The Graduate Diva. Being female myself, The Graduate Diva title was just all too much for me. Come on! I began this post in response to the Business Week Article “Getting to Know Gen Why,” but now feel much more compelled to write a response to well, the greater blogosphere on all topics related to my millennial peers.

Born in 1986, I am grade-A Generation Y. I look to the computer to answer almost every question, I text at a shockingly comparable speed at which I type (god bless T9), and I have grown accustomed to immediate information and even faster change. In his Business Week article, writer Marshall Goldsmith sits down with President Eric Chester of Generation Why, a consulting firm that analyzes generational differences. The first highlight from the interview asks for the most common complaint employers have of their new Generation Y hires. Eric answers: “They don’t want to pay their dues, play by the rules, or give their best to any project unless they are sure it will get them a promotion, a raise, or some kind of recognition. And then if they aren’t totally happy, or if you look at them wrong, they’ll bolt for the next job!”

Two things. First, I am extremely taken back at even the possibility of this being the most common “rant” from everyone from a “shift manager at a burger joint, [to] an exec at a Wall Street investment firm.” More than harsh, this complaint is over-the-top and a generalization of all Gen Y workers in one statement (I won’t even go into my response to Eric’s insulting “weird looking” description of the “impossible-to-understand 16- to 24-year-olds” on the front page of his company website). And second, should I be ashamed that my peers and I are being smeared across many articles and web pages under such description as this? The answer to this question is, well, I don’t know. A soon-to-be college graduate followed by a most likely miserable (yet, excited) 1L in law school, I fit the mold of Generation Y yet see no resemblance between myself and the new employee described by Eric. I go through most days surrounded by intellectual peers in both my Journalism and Economics classes—different types of strengths and qualities from two very different groups of people; both equally brilliant and creative. I’ve also seen my share of the lesser brilliant portion of my peers, usually out at parties on weekends. The majority of my interactions on campus, though, and a large part of conversations held with classmates in these months nearing graduation, focus on career-savvy tips, discussion of a PR plan, or help on a regression analysis for econometrics. While I have fallen in love with school, I would like to emphasize—for full comprehension of my position purposes—that I like to have fun, meet new people and spend my time out on the weekends. Work hard, play hard—you’ve heard it before. I find it difficult then, to believe that the hundreds of college campuses around the country filled with students who succeed at their undergraduate schools under this same mantra can evoke such feelings from employers—enough so that a generational analyst comments on it. How can I be spending so much time with so many hardworking, sharp, soon-to-be graduates, when the supposedly most common complaint heard by employers describes a fickle, self-serving newbie??

The article continues on to have Eric answer why Generation Y seems to be this way—pop culture, increased parent time in the workforce, “raised with change as a constant”. What we haven’t learned, Eric says, is how to put our nose to the grindstone, show up for work on time and dress in appropriate attire. While I may not be a typical 21-year-old, I do believe I am a near-typical college graduate seeking a professional career. What is disappointing about this article is it paints all Generation Y-ers the same nauseating color: unmotivated, undedicated and unappreciative. Admittedly, I do know there are twenty-somethings out there like this, and yes, many are also college graduates. But, also admittedly, I am banking on those specific twenty-somethings to show up to the same interview I’m at, looking unkempt and unshaven. I am counting on those specific twenty-somethings to be too lazy to research the company, prepare questions to ask the interviewer, and perfect their portfolio. In my defense to this article, there are a number of Generation Y graduates out there looking for a professional career and are absolutely expecting that career to come at the price of hard work, time and sacrifice.

Yes, I do agree we are keen to change and quick to speak up. A story my step-dad recently shared with me—he is an engineer in Portland, and has been loyal to his company for many, many years—made me beam so widely and nod my head so eagerly that I couldn’t be prouder of my millennial counterparts. Chris explained how they had just recently hired a handful of new graduates, slightly older than me and enthusiastic to work. Chris then described how, following a meeting, one of the new hires walked into the boss’ office on his “open door policy,” and voiced her opinion that the meeting seemed to have no clear objective, and it was difficult for her to see the need to take time out of the day for such an event. “Gawking,” as Chris explained, my step-dad and his own peers were more than shocked she so confidently strolled into the boss’s office and gave such an honest recount of her opinion about meetings that had been carried long before she’d arrived. Well, I asked, does your boss say it’s O.K. to walk into his office when the door is open? “Well, yes,” Chris answered hesitantly. “Then why not??” I burst out. What I can confidently say we have been taught is, if invited to talk and share our opinions, we will talk and share our opinions. As it turns out, the boss agreed. There didn’t seem to be a clear objective to the meeting and this one Generation Y-er’s opinion revved up a new process for planning and implementing team meetings with visible objectives and structures for time.

Now, I am not saying this glory moment will always be the case, but I am saying we are more likely than our older co-workers to speak up when we see necessary, even when in a new environment. What I don’t see, however, is evidence to Eric’s statement that my generation “hasn’t been taught the rules”—rules like hard work and necessary time commitments. Yes there are the slackers of my generation, but working hard, pulling all-nighters and stretching myself thin with 20hrs a week at work and four 400 level college courses is not only the norm for hopeful professionals, but it is also expected of myself in order to reach the successful career I dream of. Different than Eric points out, I absolutely value hard work and admire my peers for notable persistence, as well as my professors and mentors who can just seem to “do it all”. Rather than Graduate Divas, myself and many of my female peers are fiercely competitive, eager to learn, and excited to put in the hours to first break into the industry, and then succeed in it. As indicated in my About page, I will speak up when I feel the need, but I will also know my place as both a beginner and a learner. As I’ve said before, learning is absolutely what I do best. As a Generation Y-er I value hard work, I recognize integrity’s importance, and I am humbled by experience and education. As a Generation Y-er I will not fall into Eric’s common complaint from employers: Instead, I will defy it.

Graduate Diva courtesy of http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=511379&in_page_id=1770.

Young Professional courtesy of http://www.salaryexpert.com/images/job-salary.gif.

With too much to do this week, I have lagged behind the relentless blogosphere and am struggling to stay up-to-date on my school work, let alone the hundreds of potential posts I want to read but simply couldn’t get it done. So, taking a break from crisis and PR blogging, I thought I’d direct you to my crisis and PR podcast. This podcast was made about two weeks ago during my first experience with any type of recording equipment and program, and certainly during my very first experience podcasting. I’ve been waiting to publish this for the public and found a great site at podcastpeople.com where I could post my podcast for free!

After deciding on a topic, the experience went rather well. Much better than I had hoped and, like blogging, once I settled on what I wanted to say, maaaannnn did I have a lot of talking I wanted to do. The time requirement—as this was an assignment for my Advanced PR Writing class—was no challenge for me, and I quickly found talking out loud, alone in my room, making hand gestures to no one in sight, was all quite easy =).

Posted here are my show notes for the podcast—a casting about crisis terminology, Dr. Peter Sandman’s risk formula, and three categories of risk management in crisis situations. I was originally introduced to Dr. Sandman’s formula by my Plans Professor, Tom Hagley, and have since analyzed its use and application in local community crises. Dr. Sandman, a professor at Rutger’s University, identifies risk (a useful replacement for the term crisis—listen and you’ll see for yourself) as a compilation of varying levels of hazard and outrage. That is,

Risk = Hazard + Outrage.

Dr. Sandman then creates three categories of crisis situations to accommodate different combinations of hazard and outrage. Like I said, this formula and its indications are extremely useful for community crisis. Have a listen to my very first podcast—I apologize for the sound of my voice in advance (I swear, it doesn’t, err, sound like that in person!)—and gain some useful basic knowledge of analyzing and handling different types of crisis situations…plus the intro/outro music I’ve chosen is awesome.

Here it is: http://www.crisisincommunication.podcastpeople.com/

Show Notes for Week 1: Defining Crisis and the Risk Formula

On this episode of Let’s Talk Crises, I will discuss the lesser-known distinctions between the terms crisis and risk. I will then examine crisis communicator Dr. Peter Sandman’s formula for risk management: Risk = Hazard + Outrage. This episode will also explore Dr. Sandman’s three proposed management techniques for varying levels of hazard and outrage in his risk formula.

Intro Music 0:00 – 0:15

Introduction, Myself 0:16 – 1:32

Introduction, Podcast 1:33 – 2:59

“Risk” vs. “Crisis” 3:00 – 5:13

Risk = Hazard + Outrage 5:14 – 6:24

Precaution Advocacy 6:25 – 7:55

Outrage Management 7:56 – 9:22

Crisis Communication 9:23 – 10:49

Closing Summary 10:50 – 11:55

Thank you, Goodbye 11:56 – 12:23

Outro Music 12:15 – 12:39

_

Photo 1 courtesy of stock.xchng at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/81101

Photo 2 courtesy of stock.xchng at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/468911

Yes, you read right, I am courageously stepping up to the plate and publishing a post on what I think the experts should be doing and why the non-experts appreciate it. Brazen? Yes. Harmless? I hope. As bold as it sounds, I am posting on behalf of many new blogging students—both timid and tense, myself included—who have been required to break into this blogosphere and Web 2.0, and who find it both exhilarating and terrifying to not only try and sound like we have something worth saying, but also to try and get the PRos out there to listen. Myself? I have enjoyed this experience more than I could have ever imagined. I have a large sticky note (the lined, rectangle shaped kind, which, just happens to be my must-have for every-day functioning) in my planner with scribbled post ideas that I frantically add to in class, walking on campus or sitting in my room when a “brilliant” (yes, in my mind =)) idea comes to mind. Blogging has forced me to find a voice that I am unable to utilize in most of my academic writing. I love writing in a conversational tone and in one that, should you one day meet me, you could perfectly equate with my speaking style. Yes, I have taken to social media through blogging, a podcast (which, again, I actually enjoyed!!) and even a profile on Twitter. Now, having made my way into the bubble, I want to RESPECTFULLY draw attention to what some wonderful PRos have done for me, and use them as suggestions for all the experts to welcome the new generation of PR bloggers into your coveted world.

1. Read our blogs.

You may not like us, in fact, you may have read one too many poor posts that has turned you off of young PR bloggers forever. However, what we do best as students is learn. The first way to find out if we have something worth reading is to take a chance and glance over a couple posts. Most of the PRos blogosphere is connected enough for PR professors to get the word out that their students are blogging so it shouldn’t be too hard to find a new voice. One visit may be enough to decide we aren’t the “project” to sweep under your wing, but lord knows we would love our blog stat to tick up once more.

2. Comment on our blogs.

Liked what you read? Think we had an ok idea worthy of your time? Tell us!! I still remember the grin slicked across my face for a good twenty minutes after reading the first comment on my blog. Didn’t like what you read or think we should have approached/discussed the topic differently? Tell us!! Again, I am a professional student and I have spent the last 16 years listening to instruction and criticism. A suggestion or constructive criticism for a comment will elicit that same silly smile as mentioned before. One apprehension in student blogging is we feel no one is listening. Who cares what we write? No one is going to read this and moreover, no one is going to care. At worse this sentiment will start reflecting in our posts. At best this sentiment should drive PRos to let us know we have a potential audience and it’s our job to earn it. After my first comment I wanted to write better than ever. At least ONE person is listening, I thought, and I wanted my post to seem worthy of a second view.

3. Respond to our comments.

In my PR class, commenting on posts is a requirement, and again, a task approached with nervousness for fear of “sounding stupid,” only this time it will show up for tons of other people to read, including the author!! Contributing to the conversation with comments is something I have struggled with. Agreement is easy. Adding something new is much more difficult. Some of my comments I feel are stronger than others, and only one comment have I found a response to when I re-visited the PRos website. The response to my comment not only validated what I believed to be a new thread in the dialogue, but it gave me a glimpse of what an appropriate and useful comment is, and helped direct me toward a format for commenting in the future. Again, someone was actually listening to what I had to say and it was not only appreciated, but also useful for helping me understand how a successful dialogue is formed over the blogosphere.

4. Link to our posts.

While this one may be stretching it here, if you like what you’ve read enough and it’s relevant to something you’ve been posting about, link back to our blog and help us increase our readership! I may be dreaming big, but I have truly set this as a goal for my blogging experience. As my professor appropriately calls it, Linky Love is something I hold as the ultimate test of one’s worth in the blogosphere, and I can only hope that my contributions will be relevant and useful enough to be carried on in someone else’s conversation. A great goal to work toward, every student should strive for a link, forcing their posts to be meaningful and worthy of not just their small audience, but also the audience of the PRos.

And, if you really, reeaaallly want to make us feel welcome:

5. Follow us on Twitter.

Again, stretching it a little here, but that same familiar grin crept onto my face when I saw I had some well named PRos following me on Twitter. Not only that, but many have offered up suggestions and links to helpful websites when my updates read something like “Trying to find a podcast topic.”

Reaching out to the new bloggers does take up some of your busy time, I know. But the experience and exhilaration I have gotten from interacting with professionals who run the industry is absolutely invaluable. I so appreciate those who have reached out to my classmates and student bloggers and want to say thank you. We are here to learn and believe me, we want to learn from the best. We want to learn from the PRos.

Photo courtesy of ChampionshipChess.net at http://www.championshipchess.net/research.html.

You can pay someone to clean your house, you can pay someone to clean your office, why not pay someone to clean up your online reputation? The PR blog Murphy’s Law recently posted about an interesting service offered to help keep online reputations clean by ensuring top search engine results yield links to only positive comments about your product, brand or company. The post, titled Cleansing Your Online Reputation, describes how now-a-days, people jump to their search engine of choice to find out about a company, client, service or industry. It’s important, then, to make sure those results that pop up on the search engine are monitored and managed so as to best reflect your company for this potential customer or client. What if a nasty product review was posted on a blog seconds before your next would-be client searched your product on Google? The first piece of information available to them could possibly be that damaging review. Companies like Reputation Defender in the US and Tiger Two in the UK, however, offer to ensure that “only friendly entries appear on the first few pages” when a client’s name is run on a search engine. This handy online maid service will run you $25,000 per year though, and $300,000 for the most premium version.

Money, however,—and wow, is that a lot of money to a college student—isn’t even my first concern. What these services are doing is blocking blogging’s very purpose. Yes, Search Engine Optimization is key when monitoring the blogosphere, but control is not the goal nor should it be the method. Managing your reputation means participating in the sometimes harmful dialogue and responding to bloggers who want to be heard. I disagree with these services and think instead, insightful management of the blogosphere enlisted under a social media campaign can run you a cheaper and more ethically sound reputation control than these companies hope to offer. Companies interested in these services don’t seem to be all that experienced with social media in the first place. Otherwise they would understand social media’s potential as a tool for raising reputation by fostering relationships through conversation, communication, and just some good ol’ fashion listening.

Photo courtesy of Daily Candy at http://www.dailycandy.com/seattle/article/28462/Maid+to+Order.

Gaining local and regional news coverage requires a different approach than pitching a story to say, Charles Gibson at World News Tonight. The practical blog Getting Ink recently asked 101 trainer Linda Jones what PRos should be doing to get local and regional coverage.

Jones’ tips include helpful, yet seemingly obvious suggestions like spelling names correctly, making sure your news is timely and, of course, relevant to that small town or specific region, and respecting local journalists by paying attention to their deadlines and any email/photo clutter. The problem is not a lack of knowledge in dealing with local media, but is instead a lack of professionalism in dealing with local media. Perhaps, because PR practitioners know these aren’t the big wigs—heck, they may even be reporters straight out of the local college—local media are sometimes treated with less respect and attention than they deserve. Spelling names incorrectly, pitching a story about Crater to a reporter in Salem—mistakes like these happen when dealing with local press and are mistakes that should never happen, no matter the occasion, no excuses.

This lack of attention becomes a particular burden when the local media is useful and, in fact, necessary to your PR campaign. Case in point: local crisis management. PR professionals working on small-town cases, alerting communities about disasters and emergencies, need to have local media on their side and willing to assist in damage control as much as possible. Like the story I linked to on my very first post about the news media strategist in a child kidnapping case, local crisis calls for hand-in-hand work to be done with the local media. This strategist site can be used as an addition to Jones’ tips for getting ink in local newspapers. I encourage you to revisit this site and notice the focus this local crisis has on local media. National or local, professional or newbie, all interaction deserves professionalism and respect.

Photo courtesy of WLNY-TV at http://www.wlnytv.com/tv55-news-team.shtml.

A few posts back, I lovingly linked to Tiffany Monhollan’s tips for beating blogger burnout and avoiding the lazysphere. Of these tips, I’ve taken a particular interest in number five, which suggests bloggers create a series or feature to keep your blogging consistent—a topic you can always fall back on should you run out of fresh content for the week. Brewing over this idea since I first read Tiffany’s post, I’ve finally found a satisfactory feature that I would like to introduce my readers to starting today.

My feature, appropriately titled “Ask the PRos,” is directed at the PR Pros I’ve been following these past couple weeks, seeking their advice and feedback on questions and situations that have crossed my mind, and ones that I am particularly interested in having answered by the people who eat, breath and sleep PR. (o.k., just a PR Professional’s opinion. You know what I mean.) What I hope to accomplish with this not-necessarily-weekly feature, is real feedback and dialogue with people who have been in the tough situations and can offer the best advice there is to give. We can only have so many guest lecturers in class, complicated by the fact that the questions must be ready for them at that moment, not to mention then having to be brave enough to overcome the “this is a stupid question” complex and actually ask the guest lecturer what has been on your mind. Looking to the future, I hope this feature can serve as an open forum, where students like myself can ask advice, and PR Pros can offer it. Granted, this means they must actually read my blog in the first place, so I will do my best to get the word out.

If you are a PRo, “Welcome” =) I hope you have time to share your opinions and find the topics stimulating and worth your while. Now, let the first edition of Ask the PRos commence.

Ask the Pros: To Cater or Not…THAT is the question.

Throughout my entire schooling career, even into the workplace and in almost all daily interactions, I go about my tasks with the teacher/boss/woman at the post office counter, always in-mind. Yes, no matter the assignment, I will cater to the ultimate reviewer’s tastes as best I can decipher them. This means placing the files on the corner of my boss’ desk because I know she likes them there. It means approaching the seemingly-empathetic postal woman with my ‘poor college student’ stance on display just so she’ll let me use the packaging tape at the counter because I just don’t have the cash to buy a new roll, and well, I really don’t want to for the one package I send every six months. And finally, this means completing PR Plans and assignments to my professors’ tastes because I know they are the one who ultimately gives out the grade. While this sometimes seems common sense—the boss case for example—I have often wondered, should I really be catering to my audience no matter the situation, or should I be creating plans and papers with the creativity and formats that I believe to be best? Now, I must explain that this technique only works in specific situations. You must be able to determine your reviewer’s tastes, for one. And, you must also be sure that catering to those tastes will actually help them look favorably on your work. Myself, I am an over-analyzer. When certain approvals are needed, I think about everything from the smiling and positive atmosphere at the introduction, to the way I thank them and say goodbye after the meeting/interview/presentation. I actually believe these are smart aspects to consider where a job interview or meeting with a client is concerned. However, where I am not sure that catering is the correct approach when devising public relations plans.

Over the past few months, my PR Plans class has performed several mock meetings with clients—our professor acting in different roles and sometimes, with costumes to match. Meeting in our groups, every decision I make and suggestion I put forth has been decided or suggested only when I know the character my professor has created for us will approve. Now, I want to be clear that here, I have my “fake” client in-mind always, not my professor. But, pleasing the client, acted by the professor, will certainly get the job done to satisfy both. My situation posed to the PRos then, is this: Because I am catering to this client created for our class, I am forgoing ideas and possibilities in our plans that I believe the client would not like. I am intentionally tailoring every aspect of the plan to their EXACT tastes, and this definitely means passing on some ideas that I think would work best to acheive the goal and objectives we’ve laid out when outlining the plan. Now, some of you PRos might be shaking your head, thinking this is an absolute no-brainer. OF COURSE you work only to please the client! They are the one paying you to devise a plan for them, right?? Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t know if that’s right. Should we always cater to the client? Is it best to forgo your creativity for ideas and strategies you know they will be happy with? Shouldn’t catering have some limits because, well, we (not me yet, but one day) are in fact professionals who have been trained to devise plans that are truly outstanding?

So, in sum, is catering always the best thing to do? For both your client’s sake and your sanity? I would love to hear all opinions on this and even some real-life examples if you have them. Thanks for reading the very first edition of Ask the PRos and, I promise, the next one won’t be quite so text-heavy.

Photo of American Gladiators–Aaahem, I mean, PR Pros–courtesy of The Big Lead.