During my opening presentation I talked about how you can create content for your tweets-the kind of content that will eventually lead to twinfluence. Here are a few things that I really wanted to touch upon.

Evergreen Tweets

I briefly described the concept of “evergreen tweets” as being tweets you can pre-schedule to communicate more about what you do and position yourself as an expert. (If you don’t already schedule your Tweets, try co-tweet for scheduling). While you can go the route of scheduling greeting tweets “Good Morning, Good Night, Hope you’re Having a Great Day” you can take this evergreen concept further by asking yourself a few simple questions.

What is it that you have expertise about? What topic do people seek your advice for on a regular basis? What topic are you so passionate about that once you start talking about it, you can’t shut up? This is your content sweet-tweet spot. Develop your evergreen tweets from here.

If you were a business owner/consultant and I was your PR person, I would advise you to decide on a goal for yourself of your business, then craft your tweets to reach that goal. Brand yourself through these tweets and stay on message. Want to brand yourself as a writer’s coach? Craft and schedule a series of tweets about what makes writing better.  Want to position yourself as an expert on personal finance? Write and schedule a series of personal finance tips with your own unique twist.

Types of Evergreen Tweets

• Quotes (Be sure to attribute correctly. Use the Twitter handle of author when possible)
• Industry Know-How
• Professional or Consulting Tips
• Links to articles that aren’t time-sensitive

Time Sensitive Tweets

These can be the easiest tweets to create, but also the trickiest if you want to do them right. These include links to breaking news articles, event updates, links to registrations for upcoming conferences, etc. Responses to @mentions on Twitter would also fall into this category. You don’t want to get too far behind before you respond to those. But the “what I’m doing” tweets are also time-sensitive and are a great opportunity to tell people what you do and what you’re great at doing. Instead of telling us about the great breakfast sandwich you just devoured, why not tell us about the social media policy you’re putting together for your newest client, or the color consultation you’re doing for your new client.

You: Wrapping up this a #socialmedia policy for a great #nonprofit  organization in Colorado.

Your Audience: Social Media Policy?  I didn’t know you did that. I think our organization needs one…

Integrating Your Blog

Most bloggers use Twitterfeed or some other linking service to link their blog feeds to their twitter accounts so that once a new post is up, it automatically goes out as a tweet. So whenever you write a new blog post, you’ve got a new tweet. However, if you’ve been blogging for a year or more, chances are you already have a ton of evergreen content that you can schedule and tweet  from your archives! The 6 Tips for Responding to HARO Queries post never seems to fail to inspire. And unless HARO ceases to exist, it’s timely.

How do you create your content for Twitter?

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This morning, I attended  “Context and Consequences: A Conversation with Shirley Sherrod,” at the National Association of Black Journalists’ 35th Annual Convention in San Diego.

Sherrod has made headlines over the past two weeks for her forced resignation from the U.S. Department of Agriculture after conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted video excerpts of Sherrod’s address at a March 2010 NAACP event on  his website. The NAACP initially condemned her remarks and U.S. government officials called on her to resign. Upon review of the unedited video in context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, apologized soon after and Sherrod was offered a new position. Sherrod has not yet decided if she will accept the job offer.

Sherrod spoke to a round table of journalists about how she feels the media (namely Fox) made something out of nothing. She later went on to note that she plans to sue Breitbart.

I was awestruck by how real Mrs. Sherrod was. As she sat on stage, admittedly in the midst of a career crisis, with notable journalists, and was interviewed by CNN’s Don Lemon, she held a sense of confidence and self assurance that can only come from being yourself and knowing that you have been being yourself. Consistently.

“How I’ve reacted, it’s not an act. That’s how I am.  I couldn’t act any other way, ” she said of her reaction to the firestorm.

Mrs. Sherrod wasn’t shaken by allegations of her racism because she knew at her core that she was not racist. She knew that her actions have never been racist. And if anyone were to do a little digging, they would uncover the same thing.

Because she is living her brand.

Are you?

You should know that someone is always watching you. Can you say, as Mrs. Sherrod did that how you are is not an act? If you can say that, even when no one is watching, then you are living your brand.

Brand inconsistencies can come in all sorts shapes and sizes. One day it may be your clothes, but another day it may be how we speak, how we treat people or how we deal with clients and customers. If you get a reputation for dealing with your clients in a fair and equitable way, that reputation will follow you. If all of the sudden you stop paying your employees and /or subcontractors, what do you think this will do to your brand?

Think about this: if you were to face a crisis in your business or personal life the first thing your adversaries will do is begin to try to dig up “the dirt” on you. They will immediately go to someone who may have a “beef” with you. I remember that’s what we were trained to do as journalists to get the other side of the story. But if your brand is strong, and you have been living your brand, there will be no dirt to be found.

Allows let your end goals guide how you carry yourself. How do you want your clients and customers to think of you? If you work for a company, how do you want to perceived by your superiors? When you’re schlepping around on weekends, are you still living your brand? Or do you revert to a careless and less polished version of yourself: a person who may use foul language, treat people rudely, and show up in public places dressed inappropriately?

At the end of the day, when you put yourself in the public eye, know that someone is always watching. Living your brand means not acting real, but being real, so that there’s never any inconsistency.

So I broke down and hired a stylist.

And I’ll admit, I feel kind of fabulous saying that. And even more fabulous having photos like these of my own clothes:

I should back up a bit. And explain why I felt the need (and could justify the expense) of hiring someone to essentially pick out my clothes.

I used to feel so put together back when I was what I considered my perfect size, weight, and when I was doing exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I was about 22-years-old and I felt I had figured everything out. I had done pretty well with college, become this rock star English major who consistently wowed her professors with thoughtful papers on Post-Colonialism, the concept of “the Other” and the Negritude movement. I was, in my opinion (with all of the perspective a 22-year-old can muster) at the height of my writing and focused on pushing the envelope in both literature, cultural criticism and journalism. I was confident and sassy with an artsy twist.  But at the same time, I was about my business.

I was this girl:

Then…something changed. As quickly as I found Amanda, I began to lose her. I struggled to eek out a career path that included my interests in creative writing, content production and business. I started out doing public relations work with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, then I worked for a while at a lobbying firm, and got to travel abroad and do some important networking and learn the ins and outs of consulting with government agencies and  foreign countries. But soon that didn’t allow me to flex my creative muscles often enough. So I started freelance PR writing on the side. And then when this story was published in the Sunday Washington Post, I got the journalism bug. I began putting myself out there and  building my portfolio of clips. After a while, I landed a journalism fellowship to Northwestern University’s Medill School that opened the door to a coveted staff writer position at the Washington City Paper.

During all of this change, my style was in limbo, but it didn’t really matter. Because no one was really looking at me, or so I thought. I was simply the writer; the vessel charged at getting the story out into the world.

Fast forward a few years. I’m on maternity leave, and my editor is calling me to let me know that my paper is making further cuts so I have a decision to make: I can give up my job or stick around and take someone else’s spot. I pass on filling the space since I was contemplating getting back to my PR.

By this time I was a mom, and totally without a sense of style. Marriage, another baby, a blog, and a company later puts me here before you, the same soulful writer who is not  (as I waxed poetically back in 1999)

in my milieu

I want

to pack a lunch

and head for the high grass.

I want to slide my Doc Marten’s on

then kick them off

to wait for me outside

the enchantment of a grass-covering blanket.

But I can’t do that now. Doc Martens? Yeah right!

This stylist is amazing. She told me candidly: “Amanda, you have to represent your company, now.” Recently we were preparing some looks for my upcoming trip to San Diego for the NABJ Conference.  I’m speaking on a panel about Turning Your Passion Into a PR Career, and I never know what to wear to these things.

We picked out a few different things to wear and Robin, (the stylist), helped me pair everything together with accessories and the right shoes. When she pointed to pair of wide leg black pants and said “You can wear these on the plane, with a nice cardigan…” I laughed.

“I can just wear my yoga pants,” I said.

“Amanda,” she said sternly. “You’re going on a business trip to make a presentation. Who do you think you’re going to see on the plane? Your audience. You can’t look great at the event, and look a mess on the plane.”

That’s what she said. But you know what I heard?

Keep your branding consistent.

Is your branding consistent? You may have the most amazing logo, the most clean copy writing and beautiful brochures. But what about you? Is your personal presentation pulling the package all together? Or are you failing your brand, causing the house you’ve so carefully built to fall apart once people meet you in person?

Ouch.

So now, I try to be cognizant whenever I leave the house because while I may have the heart of the poet, I have to have the sheen of your publicist.

I’m interested to know how you are navigating this terrain. Is your branding consistent? How much time/effort do you put into your outward appearance and how important do you think it is? Have you had to do a rebrand?

*Image Credit: Luxe Chronicles

I think I scare my husband.

Whenever we leave the house, I double and triple check my purse or Mopwater tote to be sure I have my iPhone, iPhone charger and, depending on how long we’ll be away from the house, my Flipcam and MacBook. I have to be equipped at all times because I never know what may happen once we step outside that door.

This is the mindset of the new PR pro-always ready for whatever may happen whenever it may happen and wherever it may happen. You never know when an opportunity may present itself.

Case in point, I recently attended a seminar on fashion and social media that was hosted by my PR pal James S. Walker. During the seminar, James gave a number of great ideas to enterprising fashion professionals (who are ready for whatever) to use social media to score traditional media coverage. I am sharing James’ advice in the video below:

I showed you the video for two reasons. One: James’ message resonates with this notion of leveraging the moment for public relations. You’re down in the Metro, interviewing people with your Flip cam or your iPhone and turning that into some sort of segment on street fashion. Two: I’m showing you how I was there in the room getting footage of James to share with you, leveraging the moment for my own PR. Since I’m in the business of highlighting the work of other PR professionals,  sharing new methods and giving you “tools for great PR”  one way I am able to do that is by leveraging the moment-being ready with my camera and recognizing when the information is getting good and knowing that you, the reader, would love to get the information, too.

James had no idea I was capturing that footage, but you should know that if I’m in the room and you’re saying anything interesting (at least in the realm of PR or social media), it’s liable to end up on one of my content channels

If you’re going to leverage the moment, you’ve got to be ready. You can’t ever be without your tools. Here are some of my tips for leveraging the moment for PR.

Get Equipped If you don’t already have a camera, a simple point and shoot is fine. You’ll need something that takes video (it need not be a Flip, although I am quite happy with mine) and computer software for video editing (I use iMovie). If you travel a lot, you’ll  need a reliable internet connection (I’ve been using the Sprint Overdrive and it’s great because it is a mobile hot spot that can accommodate up to 5 computers at a time.

ABC. Always Be Charged I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been equipped with a dead battery. But it’s bound to happen when you’re a heavy user like me. I’m always on my iPhone shooting photos and video, tweeting and Facebooking. Then there’s my MacBook. I’m editing videos and running multiple programs at one time so the battery takes a beating. So I try to keep my power chords with me and a power adapter for my car on hand in case I can’t find one in a room. Take a spare battery or scope out the outlet situation wherever you go.

Think Links. When you’re out there in the world, be in the moment, but always be thinking how can I turn this moment into a hyperlinked piece of content? Because at the end of the day, if another person online can’t link to what you’re doing, or retweet the link, the sharing stops. And that’s the point of leveraging the moment and making the web work. You have to make things easy for the next man to grab hold of and share.  So if you’re taking photographs with key people at an event, post the photos to your Flickr account. Or better yet, write a blog post, post the pictures and put captions naming the people in the photographs. Then tag the post with those names. If you’re capturing video, upload it to YouTube. Once you do this you have a link that you can shorten (use bit.ly) and share via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, email or wherever. You can also embed the html code into your web site (on a side widget) or into a blog post to get multiple uses out of one piece of content.

Note: how many hyperlinks can you count in this post?

Share. Send. Immortalize Online. Once you have this awesome content shorten the link (the blog post or YouTube video) and tweet it, Facebook it, E-mail it, create a newsletter with it. Send it out into the world. Once you send your leveraged moment out into the online world, guess what? Your moment just became immortalized. Check back in one month, 3 months, or even one year. That blog post or YouTube video will still be there accumulating equity on the web.

Pretty cool, huh?

What are your favorite tips for leveraging the moment for PR?

I hear this question more often than I would like to admit. What, exactly is public relations or PR? I even hear this question from people who are in the industry or trying to get into the industry.

Public relations is an overarching discipline. A definition from The Public Relations Handbook:

Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organization and its publics; involve the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.

So many people equate public relations with publicity (media relations) but there are many other activities. Here is a rough list:

• Internal communications (communicating with employees through in-house newsletters, intranet sites and suggestion boxes, etc.)
• Corporate PR (Communicating on behalf of whole organization with annual reports, ethical statements, conferences, etc.)
• Media Relations (Communicating with journalists with press releases, press events, briefings, and increasingly social media)
• Business to Business (Communicating with other organizations like suppliers and retailers at trade events, exhibitions and through newsletters and e-mail campaigns)
• Public Affairs (Communicating with opinion formers and politicians, monitoring the political environment)
• Community relations and Corporate Social Responsibility (Communicating with local community, elected representatives, creating exhibitions, presentations, letters, meetings, sports activities and other sponsorships)
• Investor Relations (Communicating with financial organizations through newsletters, briefings and events)
• Strategic Communication + Reputation Management (Identification and analysis of situation, problem and solutions through research, planning and executing a campaign to improve the ethical reputation of the organization)
• Issues Management (Monitoring Political, social, economic and tech environment )
• Crisis Management (Communicating clear messages in an emergency as the PR people at Toyota or BP needed to do to deal with the media in light of recent crises)
• Copywriting (Writing for different audiences to high standards of literacy, writing press releases, newsletters, web pages, annual reports, crafting copy for tweets)
• Publications Management (Overseeing print and media processes like leaflets, internal magazines, and websites)
• Events Management (Organizing conferences, press launches, trade shows)

Was that overwhelming? It shouldn’t be. It should help you focus in on what you want to do, what you do best or a potential focus area. Most firms and/or solo practitioners pick 2-3 focus areas to specialize. Larger agencies can afford to pick more. If you’re just starting out, try a few things and see what you like. You can probably tell whether or not you’re interested in, for example, investor relations or public affairs which require an interest and deep subject matter expertise in finance and politics respectively.

Thoughts?

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Best-selling author David Meerman Scott has a new book and a new mantra: “Real Time Marketing and PR”. Down with the New Rules. Up with the Real Time. The book doesn’t come out until November, but it’s already on my “must buy” as is anything this man puts out. His ideas are always winners.

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“It doesn’t matter what story I’m working on, it always begins with a search…”

I heard an amazing presentation last week from Lee Odden of Top Rank Marketing who is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) genius. I literally could not keep up with all of the tidbits he shared in his awesome presentation. Luckily I captured it all on my Flip.

I have been working on improving my SEO game for months, and listening to Lee was just the bit of inspiration I needed.

Here are the first ten minutes of the presentation for your listening pleasure. Just press play and listen since you can’t see the slides. And if you aren’t already subscribed to the TopRank blog, get it in your RSS reader ASAP.

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You may have missed my live blogging and tweeting from the Vocus Conference, but no worries. Here’s a recap:

From Mopwater Mobile:

Conference Opening Moments (I got to meet Peter Shankman just before the Vocus Acquisition Announcement!)

How Perry Uses Vocus I adore Perry. He obliged me this interview on how he uses Vocus at his conservation organization. Though he was not allowed to speak as an official spokesperson, hence the organization’s name is withheld.

How a Roofing Company Uses Vocus Tara shared an amazing story of a business’s resilience during a recesssion and how Vocus has helped her company stay efficient and keep revenues stabilized.

Rydex Investments Vocus Experience Rydex did say they were shopping around for other software because reporters who move around aren’t always updated in a timely fashion, but for the most part they enjoy the software.

From PR’s Past to Social Media Power This is a snippet from Deirdre Breakenridge’s amazing presentation, one of my must-sees.

Meeting Journalistics Founder Jeremy Porter I got a chance to meet one of my favorite bloggers at the conference, Jeremy Porter. What a great personality. He’s totally from the South like me, we clicked immediately.

How the EPA Maximizes Vocus Software The EPA so has it together, Mary Simms is a former reporter and Vocus should hire her to be a spokesperson. She was teaching people at breakfast how they can use the software more efficiently. It’s amazing to hear her speak about it.

Engage or Die! Meeting Brian Solis Buy the book, read the blog, become a fan of this man. He’s a genius.

How the National Wildlife Federation is Using Vocus You may not be able to hear this one, the audio is a little low, but it’s a good take on how a non-profit is using the software.

Game Change: The New Rules of Marketing and PR with David Meerman Scott What an electrifying presentation! If you ever get the chance to see this man speak at a conference, GO!!!

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In all of my excitement about live blogging the Vocus Users Conference, I neglected to properly introduce you to Mopwater Mobile, the official posterous site of Mopwater PR + Media Notes. Mopwater Mobile will be especially for coverage of PR events, photos and on the spot news.

As I mentioned earlier, some amazing news from today came in the form of Vocus announcing they’ve acquired HARO. And Brian Solis’s Engage or Die address was absolutely amazing.

So have you seen photos and video interviews from Day 1 of the Vocus Users Conference? Check it out and subscribe. And after you do that, check out the above video.

And of course, if you’re not already over there, please join Mopwater on Facebook.

Vocus plans to launch a free service!

Peter Shankman’s free service HARO, short for Help a Reporter Out, which has become an almost ritual  for PR professionals was just acquired by public relations software giant Vocus. The announcement was made this morning at the Vocus Users Conference opening presentation.

Vocus purchased Shankman’s service for an undisclosed sum, but both parties seemed excited about the acquisition. HARO will remain free for its 100,000 + subscribers.

PR pros responses on Twitter were mixed.

@ChiOKate:Yay for Vocus and HARO!! soooo excited

@robertdveloRT @chicagoprgirl: Help A Reporter Out (HARO) Joins Vocus http://bit.ly/aQmvxy. A little worried they may end up charging for this.

Both Shankman and Vocus say the service will remain free. I am personally excited about having a free version of Vocus.

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The other day I caught up with one of my PR faves Robert Udowitz, a very well-respected, long-time PR soloist who, despite never doing any formal marketing, has kept a steady flow of work for years! If you’re in the DC area, you probably know Robert because everyone knows him. He’s at every PRSA-NCC event, and most major communications events. We’re working together on the International PRSA conference that will be held in DC this fall.

He met me at the newly renovated Northside Social in Arlington (formerly Murky Coffee) and obliged me with a quick interview because I knew it would be helpful and inspiring for those of you who are hoping to break into “the game”. Pull up a seat and take notes as he shares his experience in the public relations industry.

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Mopwater PR + Media Notes is proud to be a media sponsor and official blogger for the 2010 Vocus Users Conference in Washington, DC on June 10-11. I’ll be bringing you my take on the sessions and live tweeting under the #vocus hashtag. You can follow me on Twitter at @amandamogul.

If you’re not familiar with the Vocus conference, it’s a pretty big deal and boasts some of the biggest names in the PR 2.0/social media game namely, the man who coined the term and wrote the book (literally) on PR 2.0 Brian Solis and the lady wrote the book that made me fall in love with this facet of online communication, and wrote the foreword to my book-Deirdre Breakenridge. David Meerman Scott is also giving a keynote. Both will be playing big roles in the conference as they did last year.

A couple of the sessions I’ll be attending, covering, tweeting and blogging:

The New Age of Blogging and Twittering (a keynote address by Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz); From PR’s Past to Social Media Power; PR’s Role in the Integrated Marketing Process; and Integrated Marketing Communications: Engaging Audiences Online.

Sound tempting? If you haven’t registered for the conference, there is still time.

Branding yourself online can help you to find and be found. In response to the professional  who still asks “Why Twitter?” that is one reason: to increase your visibility as a professional. The tweets and photos and status updates all create a massive digital footprint that tells the world who you are and in the case of business, tells potential customers what you do. Each time you post on your blog, update your status on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare or one of the countless other social sites available to you, you are creating yet another opportunity for someone to learn about who you are, what you do, and the services you provide. You are creating another opportunity for people to click on the link in your Twitter profile that leads to more information about you (why some people leave this critical opportunity to link to a purchase page, company website or professional profile at the least is still beyond me).

Anyway, I digress.

Remember, you are leaving your virtual trail of breadcrumbs, so this is your opportunity to add something to the larger conversation.Choose the conversations you want to be a part of and take the lead. Inform your contemporaries on the latest research in the field. Write analysis of the latest research or the latest news. Once you capture your audience, continue to inform them with helpful links to videos, articles, blog posts that they otherwise would have missed. Make your followers come to you for information and see you as a wire service. Leave behind information that you would want to stumble upon yourself. Be relevant and timely, and try to fill a need.

Here are five specific ways to create an online trail that not only helps people find you, but also brands you as an expert in your field.

Start a Twitterchat. Research a hashtag and make sure no one is using it, establish a time and begin promoting it. Successful chats occur weekly and are between 1 and 3 hours long depending on the time of day. I personally believe a twitter chat has no business being longer than an hour. The seminal Twitter chat for media pros is of course Sarah Evans’ #journchat, but there are others. Good chats that I like are #solopr with Kellye Crane and #prstudchat with Deirdre Breakenridge. But you can start a chat for any field and on any topic-not just PR.

Blog Blog Blog. And Tag Blog Posts. If you want to be considered a thought leader, you have to have to have a blog. Especially if you provide a service that entails you giving counsel to your clients; your blog can really help you stand apart from the others who do the same thing you do when a potential client is conducting a preliminary internet search. So much of our personalities can shine through in our writing; why not showcase that and show a prospect who you are and what it would be like to work with you? Get those blind date jitters out of the way early. Write about the area of which you have expertise and position yourself as the expert on the subject.Once you blog, make sure you tag your posts with keywords to improve your search engine optimization (SEO).

Start a LinkedIn Group If you are already talking about issues and drawing people into a subject about which you are passionate, you may consider starting a LinkedIn group to organize professionals around this topic. Note: this works better for topics and issues rather than products and services. However, you can start a group and establish yourself as an expert on an issue or topic (healthy eating and access to healthy foods) to find people who may like to purchase your products and services (healthy eating seminars, healthy food recipes, etc.)

Tag Your Tweets with Keywords. Don’t quite have time to set up a twitter chat? Tag your tweets with words that communicate what you do and what you want to be known for. If you don’t have self-authored blog posts to tweet, tweet news articles you’ve read about important happenings around a topic of interest or your expertise.  Since I make my living as a PR and social media expert, I also post articles and tag them #PR and #socialmedia. But I advise my clients to find their 3-5 core tags and use them to tweet up a storm. My tags: #DC #PR #socialmedia #media

Get Into Video. Start a regular videocast where instead of writing; you talk about the issues about which you have expertise. Add your personality and make it your take on the problems facing your industry. Or you can interview experts in the field and create your own web talk show. A fantastic example of this is Fletcher Prince’s brilliantly produced  Conversations in Public Relations. I remember when I first saw it,  I thought “why didn’t I come up with that?!” But now I’m just waiting my turn. I want to be a guest!

So often, awards for career accomplishments are delayed into the latter stages of our careers, which can be discouraging for those of us who like the glory in addition to the hard work. But luckily, one professional organization has created a designation that allows professional PR women the chance to be recognized for career accomplishments.

The Washington Women in PR (famous for their PR Woman of the Year Award) are looking to honor the area’s up and coming public relations professionals this spring with a new distinction: the Emerging Leaders Award.This new award is a special designation for those women who have already made a significant impact on the industry and highlights their potential to contribute to the industry for many years to come, making them truly emerging leaders. WWPR will honor three outstanding young women, ages 21-35, in the Washington, D.C. metro area who have excelled in public relations and related fields.

The application deadline is April 30.

Let’s face it: awards and speaking opportunities can easily raise your profile and get you as a PR professional added visibilty. Visibility can set the services of your firm apart to potential clients, or accelerate your career.

For those of you looking to take your career to another level this year or next, maybe it’s time to apply for an award from PRSA. If you’ve got a stellar campaign or project you worked on in the past year, check out the Bronze Anvil Award. If you don’t have an Anvil-worthy project, not to worry. PRSA has a great opportunity for practitioners with deep subject matter expertise to present at the upcoming international conference in Washington, DC this October. If you’re a social media guru or knower of all things crisis comm, why not put together a proposal to present? The deadline has been extended.

Public Relations Society of America October International Conference Presentations-February 23

Due to severe weather conditions in many parts of the United States, PRSA has extended the Call for Presentations deadline to February 23.

Showcase your strategies, theories, ideas, research and results at the most dynamic gathering of public relations professionals in the world! This is your opportunity to share your expertise and network with thousands of Conference attendees while enhancing your leadership profile in the public relations community. Join us in Washington, D.C., October 16-19, 2010, and experience the excitement, the power, the people and the places of a true capital city. Combine that with the best professional development, influential speakers and networking opportunities, and you’ll be “Powering PRogress.”

PRSA is seeking expert speakers. Are you a public relations or marketing communications professional, educator or expert in a related field — CMO, CEO, CFO, economist, social scientist, futurist, management consultant, journalist, blogger, technologist or editor? Are you a specialist in social media, public affairs, sustainability, design, or research and measurement?

Public Relations Society of America Bronze Anvil Awards-March 12

From the PRSA Web Site:

Recognizing Tactical Excellence

PRSA’s Bronze Anvil Awards annually recognize outstanding public relations tactics — the individual items or components that contribute to the success of an overall program or campaign. These tactics — whether a media relations program, Web site, annual report, podcast, blog or use of social media or word-of-mouth — are the hardworking parts of any public relations program.

Now in their 40th year, the Bronze Anvil Awards celebrate the “best of the best” in public relations tactics, reflecting their growing scope, creativity and importance in strategic public relations. Learn how you can gain industry recognition by entering and winning a PRSA Bronze Anvil Award.

You know the feeling. You’re working on a new project and you’re in the zone. Your brain is rapid firing idea after idea; you’re drowning in a deluge of creativity. You’re thinking to yourself, “Wow...this client is doing some amazing work in the community,” or “This campaign is briliant; it’s so cutting-edge, the PR element needs to be over the top…” Especially when you have a new client whom you are trying desperately to impress, it seems that the ideas just keep coming and coming; you’re ready to produce the YouTube video and tie the Twitter campaign to a creative giveaway. PR superhero to the rescue!

Not so fast. Hang your cape back up on its hook.

If you find yourself working on a project and the scope seems to grow in medias res, take the time to solidify the details of your compensation before you continue doing your work. It can be nearly impossible to do for those of us who tend to get inspired and want to just do the good work. But a big part of our jobs as communications professionals, frankly, is communicating these evolving scopes with our clients.  Educating the client on how long things take, what steps are involved and how much things cost is all a part of that communications challenge.

Should you find yourself ready to rush to save the day, keep these things in mind first:

Don’t Squeeze: The same way you wouldn’t try to squeeze size 8 thighs into size 2 jeans, don’t try to fit a 2-Year campaign Into a 6-Month Contract. When you do, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If your client has limited time and goals that would normally exceed the time frame, let them know that in the future they should plan ahead so that everyone has the time to do a great job. And then let them know what in your professional opinion can be successfully achieved in the time they have left. Continue Reading