Posts Tagged ‘Counselors Academy’


Tough Talks, Insights for Creating a Win-Win-Win: Alan Cohen, Acts of Balance, Interview With Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Friday, September 23rd, 2011

Transcript -

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at Counselors Academy. We’re joined by Alan.

Alan, will you please introduce yourself?

ALAN COHEN: Absolutely. My name’s Alan Cohen, and I’m president of Acts of Balance Executive Coaching and Training based out of New York City. And I work with public relations executives and PR firms to help develop more effective leaders, and I work a lot with communications skills and team-building.

BURKE: Great. Alan, you did a session on tough conversations for PR practitioners and agency owners here. Can you give us a couple of your insights as far as how people can set up and then have those tough conversations?

COHEN: Absolutely. One of the most common things that I see in my practice is people really avoiding having those tough talks. And in avoiding them, they actually make the situation even bigger and more volatile. We largely like to be people pleasers, and so we avoid having the conversations that may be unpleasant, may provoke some strong emotions. But what I do is really help develop people to think, to plan in advance, to go through a multistep process to really think about how they’re interpreting the situation, to really align their values with having the conversation and to really, really plan it out so that the conversation will develop into a real win-win-win; a win for the individual having the talk, the–a win for the person who’s being spoken to, and really a win for the relationship overall. It’s really about a collaboration. So as leaders, we need to have the courage to have the difficult conversations. And leadership is not always easy, but it’s important that we stay in integrity by really addressing the situations that are causing us discomfort.

BURKE: Alan, thank you so much. Where can people connect with you online and in social media?

COHEN: I’m at actsofbalance.com, and my Twitter handle is actsofbalance.

Or you can join my Facebook fan page, also Acts of Balance.

BURKE: Thank you so much, Alan.

COHEN: Thank you.

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Growing Your Blog: Video Interview w/ Lisa Gerber, Spin Sucks, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 PRSA Counselors Academy

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

Transcript -

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at the PRSA Counselors Academy. I’m joined by Lisa.

Lisa, will you please introduce yourself?

LISA GERBER: Yes. I’m Lisa Gerber. I’m the chief content officer for Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro.

BURKE: Excellent. You know, this is a blog that a lot of those in the PR community actively read and use as a great resource. Can you tell me about how writing for the blog and how managing the blog helps your business?

GERBER: Sure. It’s huge. We–you know, the blog started a couple of years ago. Gini Dietrich had started it. And it takes a really long time to grow, to gain followers, to gain subscribers and build a community. But now we are at a point where we just have this incredible local community, lots of great comments and discussions, and usually a lot of the–a lot of the gold is in the discussion and the comments section of the blog posts. We really welcome that and try to nurture that. In terms of what it does for our business, it just, it–a lot of things. It gives us a lot of credibility, and when we’re working with our clients and trying to show them and help them with their blogs and get them out there we’re able to show that this–you know, we actually do this and show as an example.

BURKE: And I think it’s a great example and, you know, a true testament to practicing what you preach.

GERBER: Right.

BURKE: And I mean, I love the manifestation of that in all of the posts and in the community that you’ve built. So congratulations on a job well done.

GERBER: Thank you.

BURKE: Where can people connect with you online and in social media?

GERBER: They can find me at spinsucks.com. I blog every other Wednesday. And on Twitter I’m @lisagerber.

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Tips for Energizing Your PR Firm: Video Interview w/ George Rosenberg, Consultant, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Friday, September 2nd, 2011

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at Counselors Academy with George Rosenberg.

George, will you please introduce yourself?

GEORGE ROSENBERG: Hi, I’m George Rosenberg. I’m an adviser and consultant to owners of public relations and integrated communications firms. It’s great to be here at Counselors.

BURKE: Great. And, George, you just talked about giving tips on energizing your firm. Can you share some of those high level tips with the people here?

ROSENBERG: There–yes, I can. Thanks, Johna. There are three major areas that suggest that maybe your firm needs to hit the refresh button: you’ve lost your way as a leader, you’ve lost your enthusiasm for business, and you’ve lost your momentum as an agency. So develop a sales plan, commit to spending 75 percent of your time with sales rather than marketing, make sure you have a business plan and keep going. Take the next six months to develop your business plan, develop a budget for your agency. Think about how you reinvigorate yourself as a leader. It’s a great–it’s a great lesson. If you’ve lost your enthusiasm for the business, something’s wrong. If your agency’s not growing, something’s wrong. So think about reinvigorating, refreshing your business through sales, through marketing, and maybe through new management teams challenges.

BURKE: Great takeaways, George. And can you tell people where they can find you online and in social media?

ROSENBERG: Georgerosenberg.com is my website, my Twitter handle is prcoach. And I look forward to hearing from people.

BURKE: Thanks so much, George.

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Professional Development and Business Success: Video Interview w/ Joseph Thornley, Thornley Fallis Communications, and Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Friday, August 19th, 2011

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at Counselors Academy. And I’m joined by Joseph.

Joseph, will you please introduce yourself?

JOSEPH THORNLEY: Hi, I’m Joseph Thornley. I’m the CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications in Toronto and Ottawa, Canada.

BURKE: Joseph, you know, here at PRSA Counselors Academy, I know that this takes a weekend out of your life and a lot of time, and so it’s obviously very important. Can you talk about how you work your own professional development into your day-to-day, and how you encourage your staff to do that as well?

THORNLEY: Sure, absolutely. I think–I’m 59, and I was saying to my wife last night, because she’s here at the conference with me, that I’m still learning every day. And that’s what makes me know that I’m still alive. And I learn a lot by reading things online. I’m a big believer in RSS. I can find the people that I really care about and I can read what they have to say and I can learn, I can write about myself. But I come to conferences—I probably come to more conferences now than I did 20 years ago because I’m very often meeting the people I’ve been reading and I’m getting engaged in discussions with them, and it’s a true learning experience. What I look for in a conference is a session where I can have one actionable takeaway once an hour. And if I get that, it’s a tremendous success for me.

BURKE: Fantastic. Now, where can people connect with you online and in social media?

THORNLEY: They can connect with me, I’m thornley on Twitter and I’m—my blog is propr.ca, P-R-O-P-R.C-A.

BURKE: Thank you so much.

THORNLEY: OK. Thank you, Johna.

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Video: Martin Waxman, Energi PR Communications Digital, Discusses ‘Inside PR’ w/ Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Monday, August 15th, 2011

Transcript –

JOHNA BURKE: Hello, this is Johna Burke with BurrellesLuce, and we’re here at PRSA Counselors Academy. We’re joined by Martin.

Martin, will you please introduce yourself?

MARTIN WAXMAN: Yes. Hi, Johna. It’s Martin Waxman from Energi PR Communications Digital based in Toronto, Canada. We want you guys to come to Canada.

BURKE: We want to come to Canada, too.

WAXMAN: We need you.

BURKE: So, you know, Martin, you just did the session on Inside PR, and you do the blog, and there’s so much valuable resources that go into that for the PR professional. How did you decide to be involved with this program and to really help this PR network evolve and develop so much?

WAXMAN: Well, “Inside PR” started about 250 weeks ago, about four and a half years ago. Because I know that, we’re on show 252, 253. And it started by two people, Terry Fallis and David Jones, who actually work with one of the co-hosts, Joe Thornley. And they started “Inside PR” really in the early days of social media as a chance to get out front and talk about where PR fits into the social media mix. Fast forward to show 100, the two of them were getting a little bit tired, so they brought on a number of new co-hosts. I was one of the co-hosts, there were two others. And then after about six months, I was the only one that stayed on. So the three of us stayed on until show 200. Dave and Terry decided to retire and I thought, you know, I know Gini Dietrich, I know Joe Thornley, I thought the three of us might be a really good group and have some interesting things to say, hopefully, on “Inside PR.” So we got together and we’re having a great time recording the shows. We actually record them separately from our own offices or homes, and then the tracks are produced together. So being at Counselors Academy, it’s really great to be able to be face-to-face and also to meet people while we’re doing it. And we appreciate, you know, sponsors like you guys who help make this happen.

BURKE: Great. Well, thank you so much. And where can people connect with you online and in social media?

WAXMAN: You can find me at “Inside PR,” which is www.insidepr.ca. You can find me on Twitter @martinwaxman, or you can find me on my blog, and it’s martinwaxman.com.

BURKE: Thank you so much, Martin.

WAXMAN: Thank you.

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