Fun and surprises at the September Meeting

In PR we know we need to be prepared to deal with anything, and that nothing goes at planned. Well the September PRSA breakfast meeting on measurement proved to live up to that expectation.

What do I mean by that? Fifteen minutes before the event is scheduled to start, we receive a call that one of our three panelists was in an accicendt on 128 and was going to be late. (She was OK. More upset that anything). So we stall for 15 minutes and she arrives (fine thankfully). Then 45 minutes into the session I get paged - my wife went into labor four weeks early and I needed to leave *right then*. The majority of folks has no idea why I had to leave.

Tom Nutile, the president-elect picked up my moderating duties without a pause and the program went on.

In the end though, everyone seemed to get a lot out of it, and we heard a lot of praise for the panelists, the topic, and the questions, Share your thoughts on what mattered the most to you and what were your favorate takeaways.

And yes, on Tuesday evening, by second son (Jack Michael McClennan) was born 4 weeks early. But he still managed to be 9 lbs 14 ozs.

I will post again soon.

Valleywag Sucks!

Not really. I actually like reading it quite a bit. But I wanted to lead with that because it was just one of many entertaining comments I heard at the Social Media Club Boston event last night. (Note: The quote was from Dan Lyons stating that they didn't out him as the Fake Steve Jobs)

PRSA puts on great programs, but we are not the only font of PR knowledge. Judging by the number of PRSA members I saw there, you all agree with me.

I wanted to share a few interesting snippits from the event:

Josh Bernoff’s advice to companies planning to engage the blogosphere (POST):

P—Profile (who are you trying to reach)
O—Objectives (What do you want to do?)
S—Strategy
T—Technology (How do you want to do it?).

It is a mistake to pick a Tech and build from it (i.e. What are we going to do with Facebook?).

He also stated companies need to have one of five goals before creating their blog and engaging in the blogosphere:

Speaking
Listening
Energizing (getting people to help you sell your stuff)
Support
Embracing—Get other people to help you design your next product/services (i.e. Dell and the Linux PC)

Have something to measure against. (a common theme of mine, so I was glad to hear it) What’s the goal? Not just “we need to”

They summed it up nicely – Social media is only bad for liars.

We will continue some of this discussion at the PRSA September event on measurement on 9/25. See you then.

Where should PRSA go in the next three years?

Next month, at the PRSA Annual Assembly, the National Board will be seeking input from the Assembly Delegates on the strategic direction of the Public Relations Society of America. This is part of the update of PRSA’s three-year strategic plan.

PRSA Boston has a wonderful group of delegates. PRSA Boston has a great board. But we are not the font of all wisdom. New England is a bastion of participatory democracy. Open Town Meetings are still where most business gets done. I want to extend this to PRSA. Discussion doesn’t need to be constrained.

Over the past few years, some of our best ideas have come from our members. So I wanted to use this blog to seek input from all of you.

Specifically, right now I have five questions:

1) Where do you want to see the society go in the next three years?

2) What would you like to see PRSA National start doing that is not currently doing?
3) What do you wish PRSA would stop doing (no need to comment about sending less e-mails, we already know this).

4) How can PRSA National help you more with professional development?

5) What are we overlooking? What more can we do for you?

I will aggregate this information left here as comments and present it to the PRSA Boston Delegates prior to the Assembly.

I expect there to be a number of follow up posts as the Assembly approaches and as comments lead us onto new tangents.

When responding, I ask that even if you post anonymously, that you indicate:

a) Are you a member of PRSA
b) What Chapter are you a member of?

9/25 - PRSA Boston Measurement Program

It really must be fall, two posts from me in a day.

I strongly encourage my readers to register for the Sept. 25 PRSA Boston *breakfast* program on measurement: Measuring Up: Gauging the Effectiveness of Your Public Relations Efforts

We will be looking at practical advice, including continuing the debate about social media measurement.

More information is available here.

Praise for a disaster handled well

I wanted to take a step back from promoting PRSA Boston and its events, to give praise to a company for handling crisis PR very well.

Like many families, mine was impacted by the Thomas the Tank Engine wooden train recall. My 2 year old son loves playing with them, brings them everywhere and reads the train catalog daily telling me what he hopes Santa will bring (he calls it 'Reading the news').

Two weeks ago we send back his Red Sodor Island Caboose for replacement with one with less lead in the red paint.

On Friday we received a package and a letter from the manufacturer - RC2. The letter was a standard apology, and a check for $1.30 to cover the cost of postage. Nice, but expected.

The package included a new red Caboose, and not just one new train as a thank you/apology but two new trains. My son is ecstatic with his new spotlight lorry and cherry picker (It picks cherries, daddy...).

I will be buying more from them in the future.

Quick response an apology and over the top customer service made a bad situation into one that reaffirmed my commitment to buying from the company in the future.