New Dates to Come -- Stay Tuned

"Motivating Your Organization" has been postponed from Feb. 16 and will be re-offered as a Webinar in the near future

and

We're rescheduling Paul Cahill's presentation workshop after snow prevented us from hearing him on Jan. 26, 2011.

Background on 'Motivating Your Organization:'

The Leader’s Role in a Motivated Workforce

Engaging your workforce is critical in today’s challenging economic environment. Employees who are motivated, productive and loyal give their companies a competitive edge and have a direct impact on the bottom line.   That’s why helping your leaders communicate with employees is essential to business success.

Laura Devlin, principal of Strategic Communications Inc., will show you how to create a successful program for leaders at all levels of an organization.

What you’ll learn:

• How to build an effective communication program for leaders
• How to avoid common employee communications mistakes 
• How and when to partner with Human Resources 
• How to measure the impact of internal communications

You’ll come away with proven strategies you can implement now.

Laura Devlin specializes in helping companies use internal communications to manage change and engage employees. Her practical, customer-focused solutions reflect more than 25 years of experience in communications, marketing, public relations, public affairs, sales and HR addressing internal communication challenges.

Before founding her firm in 2007, Laura worked for Pfizer Inc, as Vice President, Communications. She holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois and earned an Executive Master in HR Leadership from Rutgers University in 2005.  

Background on Paul Cahill's program:

You have one chance to make a great presentation.  Paul Cahill tells you how. 

It's a common problem:  In today's downsized, streamlined world, harried professionals are finding it harder than ever to keep the attention of colleagues and clients.  If you've ever given a presentation and noticed people checking their Blackberries, it’s time to get some expert presentation advice.

For more than 25 years, Paul and his team have trained thousands of professionals on how best to tell their story, to convince people and win business. Paul will offer you his expertise and answer all your questions about better ways to present your message and motivate your audience to act.

Paul is co-principal of Cahill Associates, which has created Needs-Based Speaking, a sequential method that trains people to speak succinctly, in a way that's targeted to produce listener response. According to Paul, the secret to reaching people is fewer details and better headlines.  In this engaging presentation, he will show you how to you hone your presentation skills and communicate better throughout your career.

If your business depends on moving people to action, you won't want to miss this informative session.  Bring a colleague, take advantage of networking opportunities and bring your questions.  Once you RSVP, you will be sent Cahill Associates’ proprietary 'Form the Message' worksheet to help you organize your presentations going forward.

Paul Cahill is a nationally recognized authority in spoken and written communications.  He has taught hundreds of corporate executives and managers to increase the effectiveness of their public and corporate communications.  His techniques improve speech making, sales and marketing presentations, and communications flow to employees, peers and senior management.

In 1984, Paul and his wife, Ellen, founded Cahill Associates -- The Business of Speaking, a communications consulting company providing training to all levels of corporate personnel.  It is the only company in the field where teaching personal communications skills is related directly to developing more effective business relationships and greater productivity.

I changed "Web site" to "website" on my business site this week, following the new guidelines from the AP Stylebook. I've always thought website seemed a bit less stuffy, but adhered to the recognized authority's guidance.

David Pogue reputedly doesn't much care for the new spelling, according to columnist Mallory Tenore, a media news industry reporter, though Pogue acknowledged that "The trend in tech terminology is ALWAYS toward lowercase and no spaces or hyphens. 'E-mail' is rapidly giving way to 'email'," she wrote.

When I posted a note about this revolutionary development on my Facebook page, a reader commented that she made a decision about ten years ago to spell it as "website". It got me thinking that one of the things we do, as PR people, is to write for the news outlets that we hope will cover our stories. For most of us, most of the time, that has meant following the AP Stylebook guidelines.

I do recall writing for a local newspaper editor whose "guidelines" included saying that people lived "in" streets rather than "on" them, which sounded odd to me, but that's the way I submitted copy to him. In turn, he was confident that when I submitted a press release, it could be published without change if he was in a hurry and didn't have time to check every paragraph. For my clients, that turned into plenty of timely coverage.

In today's Web2.0 world, when we pitch online bloggers as well as traditional journalists, and also write for a variety of social media channels, our writing style must also evolve to fit a diverse array of target audiences. What changes are you making in your writing?

- Wendy Van Parys, PRSA-WF President 2010

Folks who attended our January 10 PRSA-WF program with Peter Giles acknowledge it's hard not to get excited about all the new "Technogadgets" that are available to PR Professionals. 

Among the products that drew a lot of interest was what Peter described as a "brand new category" - a tiny portable projector from Pico that looks to revolutionize presentations. Peter noted that the brightness still needs work, but it promises to lighten the load we tote to client meetings considerably. 

For those of you who are Flip aficionados, innovations include a new waterproof  model from Kodak for capturing underwater shots and a new model from Sony that can rotate the lens to shoot images of yourself. A Gorilla Pod flexible tripod was on Peter's must-have list.

Other camera innovations include a model from Nikon that comes with its own projector and a new Wi-Fi enabled SD card that facilitates photo transfer.

Peter also addressed our critical data storage and backup needs. A multi-drive unit from Drobo may relieve concern about that hard drive you use for backup crashing. New USB 3.0 devices provide super-speed transfer. And Peter noted that "Cloud Computing" from a number of sources offers cost-effective online backup.

We also heard about developments in computers, netbooks and tablets, including an iSlate that Apple will unveil this week, as well as mobile devices and their associated apps.

There's so much more - PRSA-WF members should be sure to check out Peter's slide deck, posted in the Member Downloads section of our website, for his list of "essentials" and tips for looking and sounding good on VOIP and Skype calls.

What new technology for PR professionals have you discovered you can't live without in 2010?

- Wendy Van Parys, PRSA-WF President 2010

Online chatter to the contrary, it appears that the press release is not dead in 2010. A study released this week by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism examined a week of news reporting in Baltimore, Maryland. Among the many interesting findings of the study was this conclusion:

"As news is posted faster, often with little enterprise reporting added, the official version of events is becoming more important. We found official press releases often appear word for word in first accounts of events, though often not noted as such."

Blogger AdamSherk observed that "smaller news sources in particular do in fact use that content in full or repurposed form." Companies can increase pickup of the text of their press releases by bloggers and traditional media alike "by giving them a more news-like tone and dialing down the marketing hype," he said.

What role are traditional press releases playing in your PR practice in 2010?

-Wendy Van Parys, PRSA-WF President, 2010

The launch of our new PRSA Westchester-Fairfield chapter website, along with our chapter's social media channels, enhance the opportunity for dialogue with our members, the media, and the communities, businesses and organizations we serve. This chapter blog is our newest communications platform, offering points of view from a variety of your board members and two-way communication with you, our readers.

The public relations profession has evolved over the past few years with the impact of the Internet and "Web 2.0" user-generated content, radical changes in the media industry, and a tight economy. At our program last November, Marsha Gordon and Chris Bruhl, presidents of the business councils of Westchester and Fairfield counties, respectively, shared their forecasts for the new year. Public relations professionals, they said, will play a key role in molding public opinion about the health and well-being of our communities as the economy recovers.

As professionals in a communications-fragmented environment, we are constantly learning about new, exciting places and ways to reach and speak with our "publics" - and to measure the success of our efforts.  The profession always has been, and will continue to be, fundamentally about nurturing "People Relations."

What do you think? How can we help you reach your goals for 2010?

-Wendy Van Parys, PRSA-WF President, 2010