Month: July 2004

Elizabeth Albrycht has opened a very interesting discussion around the possibility of an “open source” PR project.

The concept is framed as follows:

 Invite interested organizations to post reasons why they would like to participate in such a project. We should have some guidelines, like:

– Will be announcing company, new product or service within 3-6 months

– Encourage an emerging tech company since that is where most of our collective expertise lies.

– Alternatively, this might be great for a non-profit or an association.

– The company shouldn�t be public, as there are too many SEC issues about this type of work, and I don�t think we want to deal with that at this point.

– The company has to be totally willing to do everything publicly. No private emails, no secrets.

– Everything is attributed. No anonymity.

– The New PR community would not charge for this project, except for expenses, although we�d welcome donations.

– We then vote on which organization we want to �Adopt�.

It’s an interesting concept. You can find out more detail at the NewPRWiki.

What does is take to become a successful Public Relations leader?

Heyman Associates, a PR executive search firm have announced the results of a study they conducted with 97 top PR executives on what it takes to success in PR.

It makes for interesting reading. Here’s a summary:

  Outstanding performance record linked to group and organizational goals.

  Experience is good, diverse experience is better.

  Multidimensional set of communication skills.

  Ability to develop and nurture internal and external relationships.

  High energy, initiative, passion and the willingness to take risks.

  Strong interpersonal and relationship-building skills.

  Commitment to learning

When you take a breather, push back from your desk and have a think about how your employer’s or client’s prospects are finding them online, the one common factor is the ubiquitous search engine.

How many PR programs include search engine related tactics? These include optimizing websites, using commercial outlets like Google Adwords, understanding how search engines find and rank pages, weblogs etc.

Very few I imagine.  Yet this is an huge opportunity for PR practitioners in every industry.

Take some much needed time and learn about the how, who, where and why.

Search Engine Watch has a somewhat patchy article on the topic, but it’s not a bad jumping off point. Have a read of it.

 Paige Henson takes a good shot at explaining what Public Relations is and how it works (Warning: It’s primarily focused on Media rather than Public Relations) Source: The Macon Telegraph

 A profile of Paula Pedene, Public Affairs Officer at the Carl T. Hayden Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Arizona. Source: The Arizona Republic

 How many of today’s companies will last 130 years? General Mills has done just that and the Sun Post has an interesting profile of their corporate archivist. Source: The Minnesota Sun.

A big thank you to everyone who has completed the “State of PR” survey to date. The feedback has been fantastic.

It will remain online for a couple of more working days if you haven’t already completed it.

Take the PR Survey here.

In a profession where we all clearly love the sound of our own voice (well I’m speaking on behalf of myself anyhow) it probably shouldn’t be a surprise that the number of PR pracitioners blogging is continuing to grow and grow.

Here are some of the more recent additions, add them to your reading lists and RSS feeds..

• Matthew Podboy
• Steve Cherrier
• Octavio Rojas (Spanish)
• Fredrik Wacka
• Ned Barnett

Footnote:

Thanks to Constantin for the links.

Richard Bailey provides a link to a recent speech (PDF) given by Lord Chadlington, a 40 year PR veteran, at the Guild of Public Relations Practitioners in London.

I recommend you read it.

“I am proud of being in PR and, while I am occasionally appalled at the antics of some who call themselves PR practitioners, I am increasingly impressed with the quality of younger people who are now making it their number one career choice.”

Hear, hear.

 

And of course (ahem) Happy Canada Day…. (I didn’t forget honest)

The perils of selective disclosure is something PR people at publicly listed companies have to deal with every day.

For the unititiated, the basic rules are that you cannot provide sensitive material information that may affect the company’s stock price to a select number of existing or potential investors. Instead, any material information must be openly disclosed to all investors at the same time, thereby providing all investors with an equal opportunity to act on that information.

In 2000, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) implemented “Regulation FD” which provided formal remedies against any company choosing to selectively release sensitive information.

The Financial Times has a story that CRM software vendor Siebel Systems is the first company charge in Federal court for breaking Regulation FD rules. According to the story, four previous cases have been brought since 2000 but they were all settled out of court.

According to the SEC, Siebel’s CFO and the Director of Investor Relations had three days of private meetings with investment insitutions and at these meetings they told the potential investors that the company was performing better than was publicly expected. Also it appears that no one on the Siebel Investor Relations team was trained on Regulation FD.

Doh!

Footnote:

Thanks to Ranier PR’s blog for the link.