Author Deirdre Breakenridge, Geoff Livingston, Sarah Evans, and Mark Drapeau will be presenting tomorrow on the panel Become a PR Influencer to Drive Business Value at the PRSA International Conference in Washington, DC. I caught up with Deirdre today, check out what she has to say about tomorrow’s panel:

Next week the District of Columbia will be crawling (more than usual) with communications professionals, publicists, crisis comm experts and the like as that New York-based Public Relations Society of America brings its International Conference to Washington, DC.

Clearly I am excited to attend the PRSA International conference this year. For one, it’s in my city, so no traveling. AND I still get to make it home post-sessions to tuck my kids into bed. For two, it’s chock full of friends, mentors, and others whom I admire. I am excited about sessions by fellow DC PR pros Andy Gilman of CommCore (celebrating 25 years in business this year), James Walker of PR Prescriptions, Heathere Evans Keenan, Robert Udowitz and Ms. Measurement herself, Shonali Burke. And for three, I will be attending the conference on behalf of Mopwater PR + Media Notes, covering the confernece as an official blogger.

In addition to my DC locals, I will be able to hear presentations by my friend and mentor Deirdre Breakenridge, and the always informative Lee Odden of Top Rank. The last time I heard both of these two phenoms speak was at the Vocus Conference in June, which was also (lucky for me) right here in DC.

I’m not saying I won’t travel for a conference, but when the conference comes to your doorstep, what could be better?

Here are  my must attend panels and sessions. Clearly I won’t be able to attend them all, since several are occurring during the same time slot.

Beyond Solo Consulting: How to Effectively Build an Work with Project Teams, Subcontractors and Staff

Location: Monroe

Jamie F. Meredith, chief executive officer, The Meredith Group, Inc.
Katie Coates Ageson, APR, president, PR Projects
Heathere Keenan-Evans, APR, founder, Keenan PR, Inc.

Download Proceedings

How do you seek, secure and develop successful business partnerships with other local or regional independent practitioners? How do you take your practice beyond your four walls? A panel of successful independent practitioners examines best practices for an effective business model using project partners, subcontractors and support staff. Walk away with tips on business expectations, mistakes to avoid, how to find good partners and how to work together.

Framing Messages to Drive PR and Client Communications Goals

Location: Columbia Hall 3 & 4

Andrew Gilman, chief executive officer, CommCore Consulting Group

Crafting clear, direct messages is more important than ever in today’s increasingly complex world. This messaging workshop defines how to frame a message, a common tactic in the Washington political world. Learn the “Haiku” messaging approach to media communications, crisis response and important public presentations. By combining facts, data, and visual, memorable information, you will craft clear messages that resonate immediately and appropriately with each medium and audience in real time.

Socially Diverse: Engaging with Diverse Communities Online

Location: Columbia Hall 10

James Walker, editor, PR Prescriptions

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Embark on a journey through social media — both the blogosphere and social networks. Explore the findings of the presenter’s six-month journey through social media, during which he engaged with active members from several online communities. Gain understanding of how to identify, analyze and engage with active participants of diverse communities and social interactions, and also learn how to create a social media home base from which all online activities can operate. Find out how to create a sustained online presence, and continue to develop relationships. The knowledge and insight gained from this session will prove invaluable as you move through the process of brainstorming, pitching and execution.

Advance Your SEO Skills With Social Media Optimization

Location: Columbia Hall 3 & 4

Lee Odden, chief executive officer, TopRank Marketing

Social media and search engine optimization (SEO) present the most significant opportunity for public relations and communications professionals to master the search and social Web. In this information-packed workshop, learn essential skills for planning social SEO in order to increase reach and engagement. Practical tactics for optimizing blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube will be discussed. Also, learn about free and low-cost social SEO tools that will help you implement and measure success.

Everyone’s a Journalist: Beyond the Beat

Location: Georgetown East

Johna Burke, senior vice president, marketing, BurrellesLuce

The fast-changing media landscape is simultaneously creating challenges and opportunities for public relations professionals. One of the most profound changes is a reconfiguration of the journalistic ranks — while the number of journalists at traditional outlets shrinks, the journalism “community” grows. Thus, PR practitioners must identify the most relevant influencers in both traditional and social media. Gain useful tips and tools, understand the importance of nano-technology and learn best practices for managing evolving media relations.

Strategic PR for the Travel/Hospitality Industry

Location: Monroe

Craig Rexroad, president, BLAZE PR
Karen Gee McAuley, executive vice president, BLAZE PR

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As the hospitality industry continues to face a recession and consumer expectations are still demanding, success is no easy feat. By identifying a client’s business objectives and barriers, public relations professionals can lay the strategic groundwork for excellent representation in the hospitality industry. Discover strategies that get consumers to continue to spend. Also, learn how to develop opportunities and tactics that make a client’s business objectives attainable, even when their dollar is down.

Hosted by the Travel and Tourism Section.

Become a PR Influencer to Drive Business Value

Location: Jefferson

Deirdre Breakenridge, president, executive director of communications, Mango! Creative Juice
Mark Drapeau, Ph.D., director of innovative social engagement, U.S. Public Sector Division in Washington, D.C. Microsoft
Sarah Evans, founder, SevanStrategy
Geoff Livingston, co-founder and CMO, Zoetica

With changing media landscapes, shifting consumer behavior and rapidly advancing technology, the role of public relations influencer, who drives business value, is critical. To facilitate strategic communications and engage with the public to drive brand value, today’s PR influencers go beyond the role of communications facilitators, and into the realm of listeners, conversationalists, market experts, sociologists, Web marketers and customer service representatives. This panel of PR influencers discusses this new role and its responsibilities, and how PR professionals are taking the lead in their organizations and social communities. Learn how to become a part of the conversations that lead to best practices in managing reputations and increasing brand awareness. Also, gain insight into how to build strong relationships, and convert friends and followers into loyal customers.

Measurement in the “Age of Now”: A Common Sense Guide to the Business of PR

Location: Monroe

Shonali Burke, ABC, principal, Shonali Burke Consulting

The explosion of social media has shined a new light on the measurability of our profession. However, many practitioners still put far too much emphasis on the tracking and measuring of outputs, not outcomes. In this session, you will receive an overview of how measurement has and has not changed, and the most practical way to tackle it. Learn how to identify what key performance indicators (KPIs) are, and how to connect your efforts to your organization’s KPIs. Also, learn how to measure successfully on a budget.

Building C-Suite Trust Through News and Social Media Monitoring ROI

Location: Cabinet

Jeff Trexel, chief executive officer, Infoition News Services
Linda Odorisio, vice president, U.S. Communications, CGI Group

Savvy public relations executives earn C-suite trust by spending dollars on actions that boast a clear return on investment (ROI) and align with business objectives. Join session presenters for an interactive dialogue on news and social media monitoring ROI. Launch points are data collected from five Fortune 500 corporations and a best practices case study showing what is working inside a multi-billion dollar corporation. Learn how to earn C-suite trust, or risk being ignored.

How to Do a “Really Goode Job” of Creating Brand Awareness

Location: Monroe

Caroline Shaw, senior vice president, communications, Jackson Family Wines
Adam Beaugh, director of social media, Jackson Family Wines

When Murphy-Goode Winery suffered from low brand awareness and sluggish distribution, it reached out to the burgeoning millennial generation — wine consumers between ages 21 and 31. The “Really Goode Job” campaign was initiated, inviting the public to apply online for a job as a highly paid winery expert, charged with reporting on “the wine country lifestyle” via social media. Gain an inside look at the makings of this unprecedented brand-awareness campaign.

Using Social Media for New Business: How One Agency Increases Revenues and Profits, Despite a Down Economy

Location: Monroe

Indra Gardiner, chief operations officer, Bailey Gardiner

Download Proceedings

How do you get consistent referrals and an active new business pipeline, even in a down economy? Hear how one agency treated itself like a client with aggressive branding, community outreach, public relations and a social media program. View examples of how to layer online and offline efforts for maximum exposure. Walk away with actionable programs and recommendations to increase visibility, grow a new business program and use social media for new business development.

The New Global Order: Gain Insight Into Key Drivers on the Global Business Front

Location: Lincoln East

Paul Taaffe, chairman and chief executive officer, Hill & Knowlton

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The rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China (the BRICs) and sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) has implications for brands, community brands and country-of-origin brands. Explore changes the global business landscape has undergone in the past several years. Learn about the rising influence of the Eastern and Southern regions of the world, and connect the changes to the world of communications. You will outline the top five 2011 predictions for this new global order and gain insight into key drivers on the global business front that can be applied to clients or companies.

The New Rules of Media Relations: Pitch Overworked Journalists and PR-Averse Bloggers, and Come Out Unscathed

Location: Georgetown East

Michael Smart, national news director, Brigham Young University

Download Proceedings

As bloggers are developing a reputation for impatience, with an aversion to public relations pitches, how do you earn credibility-boosting coverage in key outlets? Come ready to work and learn techniques that build relationships with journalists, rather than annoy them. Receive four specific templates for e-mail subject lines that work, and learn the correct way to pitch by phone. Uncover six ways to frame your otherwise routine information into newsworthy stories, as well as the key differences between pitching traditional journalists and bloggers. Also, explore new ways to measure pitching success.

The Word-of-Mouth Confessional: Lessons Learned in Creating Brand Movements

Location: Jefferson East

Geno Church, word-of-mouth inspiration officer, Brains on Fire

“Generate buzz.” “Go viral.” “Tweets and fans.” While these phrases are commonplace within the marketing stratosphere, many organizations still struggle with how to incorporate these tactics into a results-driven strategy that truly connects a community of brand ambassadors. Get a revealing look at results and methodology behind case studies from successful word-of-mouth movements, including the new Best Buy Musical Instruments (MI), the Colonial Williamsburg programs and the award-winning Fiskars Brands “Fiskateers.” Learn how to identify your own brand story and connect with a community of true brand ambassadors. Discover the difference between passion conversations and product conversations.

Author, Speaker and Rockstar David Meerman Scott + Amanda Miller Littlejohn

CANCEL your meetings. HOLD your calls. BLOCK your entire day on Wednesday July 28, 2010. Vocus is hosting an online version of their 2010 Users conference: Retweet: Engagement Means Business — an event you shouldn’t miss – and you don’t even need to leave your desk to attend.You want to get this information.

And it’s free.

What?!?!

I attended the Vocus Users Conference in June and saw these presentations in person. Let me just tell you, the fact that Vocus is repackaging them and offering them online and for free is absolutely incredible. I am traveling part of the day on June 28, but I’ll be jumping on from the airports and wherever I can get a good Wi-Fi signal so that I can relive this awesome content all over again.
Here’s the line-up:

• Deirdre Breakenridge: From PR’s Past to Social Media Power
• David Meerman Scott: Game Change: The New Rules of Marketing and PR*
• Beth Harte: Integrated Marketing Communications: Engaging Your Audience Online
• Lee Odden: Optimizing PR for the Web in 2010
• Brian Solis: Engage or Die!

Date:  Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Engage! Author Brian Solis with Mopwater PR's Amanda Miller Littlejohn

Time:  9:30AM – 5:30PM Eastern

Cost:  The Online Conference is FREE. Free, y’all! The in-person conference started at $800 per attendee. Yes.

Click Here to Register

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I recently had lunch with author, speaker and veteran PR Pro Deirdre Breakenridge. Deirdre is the President of hybrid communications firm Mango!, co-founder of weekly Twitter chat #prstudchat, and author of numerous books on public relations and social media including Putting the Public Back into Public Relations with Brian Solis. I asked Deirdre what advice she would give her daughter Meghan if she were graduating this year from college with a degree in public relations and communications.

I found Deirdre’s advice to be sage and applicable not only to students. I’d share this advice  not only a new graduate, but a person leaving a 9-5 to start hang out their own shingle, or someone who may be switching over from another industry to start their career in PR.

So many people want things quick and easy; but the truth is-even if our economic climate were great-if you want to build a strong and lasting reputation, you have to be willing to work hard and be flexible as she mentions. It’s a totally different business environment now.

Head on over to the Mopwater Facebook Page and say hi on the wall

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.

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.

Happy Thursday Media People! I’m super-excited about today’s Test Drive My Job interview with Deirdre Breakenridge, whom I “met” at the Georgetown Barnes and Noble while searching for some PR and Marketing reading. I was in one of those saw-sharpening moods that I go through periodically, so when I saw Deirdre’s book PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences I thought it would be the perfect remedy. And it was.

Seldom do I come across game-changers, but this book was definitely one of them. Without going into too much detail (go pick up the book, you won’t regret it) PR 2.0 gave me a ton of great tips that I am already implementing for my clients. For instance, Deirdre writes about how important online newsrooms are for SEO. I’ve improved two online newsrooms just using her suggestions, and I do believe it’s eventually going to make a difference in our search engine rankings.

In PR 2.0, Deirdre also breaks social media, blogging, social media press releases, etc. all the way down and helps you figure out ways to get measurable, affordable results for either yourself or your clients. It’s a must-read, so check out her blog for info about PR 2.0 and her other titles. Let’s get on with the interview…

Deirdre Breakenridge, 42

New Jersey

President and Director of Communications for PFS Marketwyse for the past 10 years

Author of PR 2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences and co-author of Putting the Public Back into Public Relations

Blog and Twitter

Mopwater: What are your typical work hours? DB: I pretty much work all day and night. A normal day could easily be up to 12 hours. I guess this is typical when you own your own marketing/PR agency. You just never stop. I help my employees with their work during the day and then I do my own work (strategy, writing, new business proposals and reports) at night.

Mopwater: Describe a typical work day. DB: I get into the office around 8:00 a.m. (that’s after commuting for about an hour and a half). I like to get some “think” work done and prepare for the day before the staff arrives. Usually, mornings are filled with internal staff meetings that include team production meetings, communications meetings and creative brainstorming. I also devote morning hours to operational responsibilities, so that I can work with the accounting office on financial matters or with the project management department. I tend to schedule most of my client meetings in the afternoons whether they are by telephone or in person. I leave the office by 5 p.m. to beat the traffic, but will finish the work day/night at home. It’s no surprise that I’ll still be emailing clients or members of my team long after the normal work day ends, especially if those clients are across the country or in another part of the world.

Mopwater: Describe your office. DB: I spend four days a week in the office with the staff. We are about 20 minutes outside of New York City, in Northern New Jersey, which is a fairly busy area. I spend every Friday working from home. It’s my favorite day of the week because I feel I can get so much accomplished without interruption. Being in an office is great so that you can interact and brainstorm with colleagues, but there are times that it’s difficult to concentrate. I have an open door policy, so my office door is literally always open. I do feel that you have to be disciplined working at home because there are distractions there too whether it’s the refrigerator or the fact that laundry always needs to get done. But, if you can get into a good routine then you will find the time out of the office is much more productive, not to mention the fact that you want to go back on Monday to see everyone.

Mopwater: What types of clients does your company work with and what services do you provide? DB: We have a variety of clients in different industries including technology, healthcare, financial, HR, and food manufacturing. Our company is made up of three divisions; Communications/PR, Creative Marketing and Video/Multimedia. Many of the services we provide from PR and advertising to FLASH development and streaming video, help companies to bridge the gap from traditional marketing to new media and Web 2.0. Our clients’ campaigns are customized so that they can interact with the most important influencers, at the right time, to gain maximum exposure and engage in new and innovative ways to build brand loyalty.

I really enjoyed the strategy, planning and launch behind GettingHired.com, a website that helps people with disabilities find jobs. GettingHired is also a social networking platform, so that people with disabilities can interact with peers, service providers and advocacy groups. It’s one of my favorite projects, not only because it’s such a necessary service for the 23 million people who have disabilities, but also because the campaign has traditional elements of advertising, direct mail and PR and bridges over to Web 2.0. We used several successful strategies to interact with new influencers and Web communities (blogging, social networking and social media releases, to name a few).

Mopwater: What are your favorite things about working at PFS? DB: My favorite things about working at PFS are the people/culture as well as the diverse client base. The culture at PFS is very hands on and proactive. PFS employees take tremendous pride in their work and have been complimented by clients for achieving aggressive deadlines and staying under budget. I also love the diverse client base because you never feel that you are “stuck” in one industry. It keeps your mind fresh. Each employee has the opportunity to learn about a variety of companies and their communication challenges in the market.

Mopwater: How do you best collaborate with your team (standard board room meetings, conference calls, BaseCamp or other project management tool, etc.)? DB: We have 15 employees in total and I work with all employees in their separate client teams. We collaborate best when we are together in our creative department which is a big open room with comfy chairs surrounded by our computer technology. The atmosphere gets the creative juices flowing when we’re brainstorming. That’s not to say that we don’t have meetings in the conference room. We have our standard production meetings and client meetings in the boardroom setting, and also do a lot of telephone conference calls/Web Ex meetings there for our clients.

Mopwater: What do you wish was different at your job? DB: I wish I could find the right PR person/Director of Communications to run my communications department and to work with me on strategy/planning for clients. This would allow me to give more focus to my Presidential responsibilities (operations and finance), new business, speaking engagements, interviews, etc.

Mopwater: Do you see yourself in this job in 5 years? If not, where do you see yourself? DB: Yes, because I own PFS Marketwyse, I do see myself there in five years. However, my role will be more strategy and consultation to clients and less operational. I will also continue with my writing career, and, hopefully, in five years, be on my 8th or 9th book. I have my 4th book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations” being published in March 2009. And, I’m in the process of pursuing book #5 with my publisher Financial Times Press.

I think as a communications professional you need to be an excellent communicator (both oral and written), have a lot of energy, be a total “people-person” and enjoy working in teams. As a business owner and President of a company, you need a tough skin, be able to handle stressful situations, and learn the art of negotiations.