Posts Tagged ‘Counselors Academy’


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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Building a Successful Brand: Dana Hughens, Clairemont Communications, Video Interview w/ Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Friday, August 5th, 2011

Transcript –

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

Dana, will you please introduce yourself?

DANA HUGHENS: Hello, I’m Dana Hughens with Clairemont Communications in Raleigh, North Carolina.

BURKE: Dana, you did a great presentation on the three P’s, kind of the pillars that you use to build your successful business. Can you share those with the audience here of PR practitioners and communicators?

HUGHENS: Sure. The first P is promise, and it’s all about defining your promise or pinpoint your promise. And that’s promises that you make to other people, and also you have to think about the promises that you make to yourself. And those promises tie to principles, which are your founding principles and your guidelines for your agency.

The second big P is potential. And what I like to say is purpose plus passion plus possibilities equals potential. So you have to think about your purpose. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Go back to the original thought of why did you start you agency, or why did you accept the job that you’re in now? And then you have to think about the passion, and the passion that you have for that, and how you instill that and nurture that with your other team members. And with those things, what are the possibilities, where can you go with that? Be willing to be open to possibilities and open to take a risk.

And the last P is people, and there are three P’s under this P. And it’s preference. Think about how people prefer to get information from you, and work with them and give them the information in the way they like to receive it. The next one is predict, and that is really just predict that there are a lot of things that you can’t predict when you’re dealing with communicating with people. The last P, and perhaps the most important, is plain and simple.

And this just goes back to a general rule about communications that the more basic that we can make it and the more straight-forward, the easier it will be for people to receive the message that we’re intending to communicate.

BURKE: I think it was a great session. I was there. And I think the power of plain language is always the strongest hook at the end.

HUGHENS: Thank you.

BURKE: Because, you know, we get so caught up in industry jargon, and then information that just doesn’t convey to our audience. And so, Dana, where can people connect with you online and in social media?

HUGHENS: My Twitter IM @blah2voila. You can also connect with Clairemont Communications on Twitter @ClairemontComm. Clairemont Communications is also on Facebook, and you can visit our website and blog at clairemontcommunications.com.

BURKE: Thank you so much, Dana.

HUGHENS: Thank you.

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Ethics in the News and PR: Gini Dietrich, Spin Sucks, Interview With Johna Burke, BurrellesLuce, at the 2011 Counselors Academy

Friday, July 29th, 2011

Transcript –

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

Gini, will you please introduce yourself?

GINI DIETRICH: I’m Gini Dietrich. I own Arment Dietrich in Chicago, and I’m also the author of Spin Sucks and Spin Sucks Pro.

BURKE: Fantastic. Gini, you know, there’s a lot of talk about ethics with some of the current news events going on, and I would just like to get your perspective on how you educate and work with your clients and with your staff on how to be ethical in all of their activities.

DIETRICH: Yes. So, you know, I mean, one of our values is ethics, and being very ethical and being very honest. And of course, Spin Sucks is the fight against destructive spin, so it’s very integrated into our culture and into our values. We actually have one client who will say, `Why won’t you let us do that?’ And we always say, `Because it’s not ethical.’ And he’s always like, `But why?’ And so, you know, we have a really good rapport with him in helping him understand why certain things are ethical why certain things are not. And it’s really an ongoing education process because there’s so many bad examples in our industry. So we just keep educating and just keep talking about it.

BURKE: Gini, thank you so much. I think holding that line will continually elevate and educate those about public relations and all the value that can bring. Where can people connect with you online and in social media?

DIETRICH: So Twitter is Facebook–or not Facebook–ginidietrich. Spinsucks.com is the blog, and then facebook.com–facebook.com/armentdietrich is our page.

BURKE: Thanks so much, Gini.

DIETRICH: Thanks for having me.

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