Communicators Anonymous

My Summer Reading List for Business and Pleasure

Debbie Weil recently posted her summer reading list for business and pleasure. Despite my fascination with tech, my love for books will never diminish. There is nothing better than the smell of a new book...or even better, the book you score at a used book store! I enjoy looking at what books people have listed in their Amazon Wishlists or share on their blogs. I am always on the hunt for a great read to relax or expand my thoughts.

Like Debbie, the following books are also on my list:

• Made to Stick by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds
• Personality Not Included by Rohit Bhargava

Also on my list to read this summer for business:

• The Contrarian Effect: Why It Pays (Big) to Take Typical Sales Advice and Do the Opposite by Michael Port

Also on my list to read this summer for pleasure:

• Dom Casmurro by Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

What is on your summer reading list? What new release books are you eagerly awaiting? Share what books have changed your life.

Taking it a step further...I will also be altering a couple of books and creating an acrylic travel scrapbook.

(Photo courtesy nycnikonian007.)

Social Media Club: Dallas on Wednesday, 25 June!

DATE CHANGE TO WEDNESDAY!!!

This month our very own Diana (@Sollitaire) will be discussing her grad studies in cyber anthropology and latest project. This is one meeting you won't want to miss! No other SMC will have this topic of discussion!

Wenesday, 25 June at 7pm
Astoria Caffe & Wine Bar
15701 Quorum Drive
Addison, TX 75001

RSVP here...

Blog Potomac Rocked It!

My dear friend, Geoff Livingston, and his team truly exceeded expectations for Blog Potomac 2008! (I apologize for the belated blog post about the unconference, but I took a much needed vacation after my DC departure from Blog Potomac...)

The Buzz Bin captures the chatter about Blog Potomac 2008. I have also favorited some BP conversations on del.icio.us. I know this will sound sexist of me, but I thought the ladies really rocked the conference. Maggie Fox is humorous and classy, KD Paine is always spot on with her analysis and Kami Huyse ended the afternoon with thought provoking conversation. Blog Potomac 2008 was the first unconference I have attended. The format and energy of the event has spurred my creative juices into thinking about planning a similar event for the DFW crowd. After all, our community could definitely use some unity too!

Mark those calendars for 12 June because you will want to be at Blog Potomac 2009! I will see you there!

(Photos courtesy Hyku.)

Phreadz Demo

Montreal hospitality was taken to another level this past Tuesday when Adele McAlear graciously took me and Leonardo Souza to a local bistro to demo Phreadz. I have played with Seesmic and Utterz, but have never found those applications to be useful for my current work. However, with Phreadz, my mind is spinning with countless ways to use this new technology in my 9-5 job, teaching and personal public relations business. I am psyched!

Phreadz is NOT a Seesmic clone. It is so much more! British developer, Kosso, is not out to take over Seesmic, but to provide a light-weight platform to dstribute content from all multimedia applications. Currently, Phreadz is closed beta and is in the hunt for funding. Chip in and support opening this technology to all! I am not a beta tester, nor am I being paid by Phreadz to promote the product, but from what I have seen, this technology revolutionizes content distribution. Follow my friend, Adele McAlear (Canadian Phreadz beta user) to discover how we can best use Phreadz.

(Photo courtesy Leonardo Souza. That is me on the left with the funky hat and Adele on the right!)

Class Reunion Drama Dashed

OK, maybe, just maybe I have dreams of sweet revenge at my high school reunion...imagining the cheerleaders who have put on weight and of me flashing success with material goods bought with $$$ from a successful career. (Yes, the latter is very much a dream.) I would be lying if I told you I did not think of these things. However, with the dawn of social networks, I no longer have to wait to see what former classmates are doing with their lives or what they look like. The element of surprise is somewhat lost from class reunions.

So, when I received my ten-year high school reunion invitation last month, I was not particularly thrilled. At first I was shocked I received the invite in my work email inbox. I have not kept in contact with anyone from school...how did they find me??? Doh! A simple Google search for 'Lauren Vargas' brings up several different social networking profiles and contact information. Oh bother! Facebook, MySpace, Classmates.com and other social networking sites have sucked out any excitement I may have derived from a class reunion.

What about you? Have social networks dashed or enhanced your class reunion excitement?

This is not name-dropping

Reputation management and personal branding is essential for the successful pr counselor. The CA Twelve Step Program emphasizes the importance of change begins with the individual. Chris Brogan has a splendid personal branding series, but I found his latest post 'Will Companies Value Your Personal Network?' more telling.

As I wrote in my Now Is Gone post, Scratch My Back and I'll Scratch Yours, social capital is your greatest asset. That being said, just adding to your Friends/Followers list is not building your social network. You must participate in the community and become an active member before claiming people are in your social network. Don't name drop. Just because you may have A-listers on your list does not mean you know them or may claim to be their friend.

Our job is to establish relationships and our best example to a client, employer or future employer are those relationships we have forged on our own. As you build your portfolio, consider demonstrating the value of those relationships. How have you extended assistance to others? How have others aided your efforts?

Look Who's Talking

IF there is a revolutionary change in thinking, the public relations industry has the chance to enter a golden age. Actually, the revolution is to go back to our roots and practice the basics. Todd Defren, in his always poetic fashion, deconstructs the pr industry with a modern SWOT analysis. Kami Huyse readdresses the two paradigms of public relations. While both authors have a track record of posting about the health of the public relations industry, both posts are in reaction to negative generalizations of those practicing public relations.

Recently, the Strategic Public Relations Center at the USC Annenberg School of Communication released its fifth study of generally accepted practices in public relations today. Please take a moment and read the report in its entirety.

The Best Practices (as defined by study):

1. Maintain a higher than average ratio of PR budget to gross revenue (GAP PR/GR Ratio).
2. Report directly and exclusively to the C-Suite.
3. Optimize the C-Suite’s understanding of PR’s current and potential contributions to the success of the organization as a whole.
4. Establish an effective social responsibility strategy for your organization.
5. Establish an effective digital-media strategy for your organization.
6. Establish an effective issues-management strategy for your organization.
7. Optimize integration and coordination of PR/Communications, both within the PR/Communications function, and with other organizational functions.
8. Encourage highly ethical practices across the organization, beginning with communication.
9. Encourage the organization-wide adoption of a long-term strategic point of view, beginning with communication.
10. Encourage the organization-wide adoption of a proactive mindset, beginning with communication.
11. Encourage the organization-wide adoption of a flexible mindset, beginning with communication.
12. Optimize the integration of PR and reputational considerations into top-level organizational strategies.
13. Measurably contribute to organizational success.

It all comes down to the individual practitioner...

What constitutes a best practice? Do you agree with these best practices? Realistic?

Not So Zany: The Future of PR

Rather than my routine Friday off-the-wall zany post, perhaps it is time to sober up with a look back at The Communicator's Twelve Step Program. These steps are not a one time fix, but guidelines to live by each day.

Adele McAlear asks Is PR Innately Immoral? As I said in my comment on Adele's post, I feel as if this debate never ends. What is most frustrating to me is that the industry as a whole seems to reinforce the behavior of the bad apples.

If twelve step programs work for alcoholics, gamblers, and special sexual interests, the approach can surely be adapted to the rebuilding of public trust in the communications industry. One cannot make progress until he/she admits that one has a problem. To succeed in repositioning the industry, reform begins with the individual practitioner. 

Step 1: We admitted we were powerless over word – that our lives had become unmanageable.

Step 2: Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step 3: Made a decision to turn our lives over to the care of the customer as we understood Him.

Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

Step 5: Admitted to the customer, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

Step 6: Were entirely ready to have the customer remove all these defects of character.

Step 7: Humbly asked the customer to remove our shortcomings.

Step 8: Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

Step 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

Step 11: Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with the customer as we understood Him, praying only for the knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to communications practitioners and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

(Those words highlighted are words differing from the original twelve steps text as written by Alcoholics Anonymous.)

Social Media Club: Dallas 29 May!

Last month was an informal meet-and-greet to celebrate the relaunch of Social Media Club Dallas. This month is a round table discussion about correlating social media data with business data.

Thursday, 29 May at 7pm
Astoria Caffe & Wine Bar
15701 Quorum Drive
Addison, TX 75001

Mark your calendars and be sure to attend next month's meeting (LAST Thursday of each month) because our very own Diana (@Sollitaire) will be discussing her grad studies in cyber anthropology and latest project. This is one meeting you won't want to miss! No other SMC will have this topic of discussion!

Also, check out the Social Media Club Room on FriendFeed! Better than a mailing list...

Zany: Behind Closed Doors-Unclutter Yourself!

The list of blog post drafts and items on my to do list is ridiculous! So, I am taking this weekend to unclutter my life in the hopes that by doing so will motivate me to carry on with writing and studies without distraction. Thanks to @mindofandre who pointed me to the Unclutterer: Daily tips on how to organize your home and office blog!

Some brilliant posts to begin the decluttering process:

1. Unclutter unwanted content in your RSS feeder with Yahoo! Pipes
2. Finding order on your bookshelves
3. Five spring organizing activities
4. The real cost of financial clutter on the road to a remarkable life
5. Going paperless
6. Clutter-free scrapbooking
7. My New Year's resolution: laundry
8. Organize your life on your wall
9. Uncluttering with Twitter
10. Stop spending your weekends cleaning your home

Liberate yourself with me! I am tired of waking up and feeling anxious the second I open my eyes and see the clutter.

(Image courtesy sindesign/Flickr.)