What can we say? We’re having so much fun on our Inside PR holiday that we’re extending it by one week – till after Labour Day.  We’ll be back with episode 2.67 on Wednesday, September 7, 2011.  Looking forward to reconnecting then!

In the meantime, if you have an idea for a topic or question you’d like us to discuss, please send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

Produced by Kristine Simpson.

Well, not literally. But Gini, Joe and I are taking a short summer hiatus on August 17 and 24. We’re planning to enjoy the weather we talk about so much at the beginning of each show.

We’re back on August 31 – fresh from our podcast vacation and ready for the fall.

So…enjoy your time away to catch up on reading, socializing, movie watching, writing, gardening, tennis, swimming, lying on the beach, dining…or maybe even on an old podcast or two.

See you in a couple of weeks!

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

Produced by Kristine Simpson.

 Inside PR 2.66 [15:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For those of you who don’t know, Inside PR is not just the voices you hear every week, but there is a hard working producer behind the scenes.

Every week, Gini Dietrich, Martin Waxman and Joe Thornley drop their files off in Dropbox and patiently wait as an episode magically appears before them. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the Inside PR producer, Kristine Simpson, works her own magic and produces the show.

This week, Gini, Martin, Joe and Kristine “hung-out” on Goggle+ to talk about the behind the scenes of the Inside PR podcast and Kristine gives tips on how to produce your own podcast.

Here is Kristine’s 5 step guide to creating your own podcast:

1. Upload and edit

First you need your voice files – the file that includes your recording. If you are multiple people, use separate microphones to create separate files. This makes it easier to edit out background noise. Upload all files in to an audio editing software, I use Audacity.
Then edit the content. Take out bloopers, add in intro and outro music, take out background noise, and remove barking sounds from Gini’s dog.

2. Export and level

Now time to export the file. Export it as a WAV. file so you can drop the file in Levelator. Levalator automatically makes all voices the same volume. When you record with two or more microphones, someone is always louder than the other. And some people just naturally have a louder voice. Levalator ensures everyone speaks at the same volume.

3. Export the MP3

Although a WAV. file is a popular audio file, convert your file to a MP3. It is very easy to do with Audacity and it shrinks the file to be more manageable and it makes it easier to download. MP3 files are also more popular and can play in various audio and video players.

4. Upload to Libsyn.com

If you make your podcast available through iTunes, your podcast can easily be made available to your followers. Followers can also subscribe and receive new podcasts instantly to their iTunes library.

Once you have created an iTunes account for your podcast, you simply need to upload your finished MP3 on to Liberated Syndication (or Libsyn). Libsyn then makes the podcast available on iTunes. Libsyn also provides you with links (embedded and direct), which you can use to share through social media (i.e. a blog post).

5. Share

There are many ways to share your podcast. Inside PR writes a blog post every week to accompany the podcast. Each week a different host writes the show notes and I push it live on the blog.

The Inside PR blog is a WordPress blog, which makes it easy to add plugins that allow followers to listen to the podcast directly on the blog post.

Follow those five steps and with a flick of the wrist, magic! The podcast is created.

Listen to this week’s episode of Inside PR to hear more about producing a podcast. Kristine also talks about the intricacies of being a producer – i.e. She can tell Gini, Martin and Joe apart, just by looking at their vocal waves.

If you want to connect with Kristine or ask her more questions about producing a podcast, you can find her on Twitter, or catch her blogging at Running a PR life.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

 Inside PR 2.65 [16:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We start this week with a question from a listener, LaBrandon Dates: How do you know when it’s time to search for a new job and can a person stay positive in a company with a negative or non team-oriented culture?

Thanks LaBrandon – great question! We’re going to answer from the perspective of employers and employees.

Joe Thornley left a company after 11 years when he realized the people he’d come to work with – the ones who shared his values – had all gone. The company had been acquired, the culture changed and he was no longer happy.  If you’re not happy, he says, you shouldn’t spend 20 seconds at a place because life is too short.

Gini Dietrich left Fleishman because she wanted a change from the city where she was based, though she liked the people and the firm.  At another agency, she had philosophical differences with colleagues and left because she realized there was no common ground.

Martin Waxman was at a Canadian firm that was acquired by a multinational. And because some of the senior leadership couldn’t accept the change, it felt like individuals were working for different entities rather than a single company and that hurt morale. He stayed about a year longer than he should have and says it’s important to ask yourself the tough questions early and then decide whether or not to leave.

Joe comments that talented people who are miserable make others miserable but they can always get a position at a place where they’d be happy.  But before you start looking, be honest with your supervisor and share what you feel and why.

We don’t know anyone who was fired for admitting they weren’t happy in a job.

Gini introduces our second topic. She recently noticed that large companies are looking to smaller, more nimble, boutique firms when they’re conducting an agency search and wonders if this is a trend or possibly an economic shift.

Joe remarks that it’s the slowest recovery he can remember.  People are being careful where they spend money and need to show results.  On the other hand, he’s seen more businesses coming into Canada with consolidated budgets that are going with multinational AORs rather than a Canadian firm.

Martin says he’s been working more closely with U.S. agencies and adapting their initiatives. He feels PR budgets haven’t grown – a good client is one that comes back flat.  Which leads to the question, how can we accomplish more with less?

Gini believes PR people should acquire more marketing skills. And unless we do that, our industry may become extinct…

What do you think?  Can PR successfully adapt?  We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

 Inside PR 2.61 [14:36m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A few weeks ago on Inside PR 2.58, the summer movie releases gave us the idea to talk about films on PR. And thanks to a suggestion from Jody Koehler, we’re opening the page to PR (and business) books we’re currently reading and a few ‘classics’ we’d like to recommend.

Here’s our list:

Content Rules by Ann Handley and C.C. Chapman – a smart and insightful primer on curating or creating content.

Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff – the bible for any PR person moving into the digital world.

What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis – while it’s not PR/communications focused, it helps you think about your spheres of influence and how to connect with them.

Welcome to the Fifth Estate by Geoff Livingstone – a new book that offers a perspective on understanding and working with citizen journalists.

Outcome-Based Marketing by John D. Leavy – a book on measuring results and new rules for marketing online.

Funny Business by Jeff Silverman – the president of Yuk Yuk’s, Canada’s comedy club chain, looks at the business of showbiz and how all his ventures were successful because he built communities.

Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky – about the world we’re living in and the technological revolution we’re living through.

Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management by James E. Grunig – for anyone preparing for their APR. Check out how relevant his two-way symmetrical communication model is to social media.

The Trusted Advisor and True Professionalism by David Maister – how to gain an understanding of business problems that need to be solved and become a trusted counsellor.

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman – well worth reading for anyone who is creating content to get a sense of the trivial and the consequential.

Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirky – takes off on the ideas he presented in Here Comes Everybody and examines the productivity capacity we all have – if we get off the couch.

Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger – opens your eyes to what happens to information when it’s digitized and freed from physical constraints.

Army of Entrepreneurs by Jennifer Prosek – a great primer in how to set up a successful PR consulting business.

Hope that gives you a few ideas to read on the beach (or anywhere) this summer. Do you have any other suggestions? We’d love to hear from you. And we’ll be expecting your book reports in the fall – no extensions .

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

 Inside PR 2.60 [17:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This week we received lots of comments, and we just want to say thank you again for the wonderful comments. Keep them coming.

We want to especially thank Jody Koehler for sending out a tweet telling everyone to listen to Inside PR. We truly appreciate the support.

We also received a comment from Liza Butcher, a recent PR grad, who shares her thoughts on last week’s tips for interns show.

And we received a question from Kristina Dempsy who works for Sara Brady Public Relations in Florida. Christina wanted to know the background of the Inside PR podcast. So we take a walk down memory lane and share the story of Inside PR.

Joe, Gini and Martin then go on to talk about the new social network, Google+ Project.

Joe is excited about Google+. He has started to distance himself from Facebook, because he feels Facebook has become a platform he cannot trust. However, Joe worries that as we explore Google Plus we will all be blind men in a cave discovering fire for the first time.

With Google+ Circles, +Hangouts, +Huddles, +Mobile, +1, Gini, although she doesn’t say this often, is just overwhelmed.

Martin compares Google+ to Wave, complexity was the problem with Wave, and Wave eventually died out.

We will be following Google+ very closely to see if it catches on or not. If you have started using Google+ and have a comment, send it to us.

Gini had the opportunity to interview Steve Rubell and posted the interview on Spin Sucks and she shares some interesting parts of the interview with us.

Stay tuned to next week when we talk about some summer PR reading suggestions.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Post written by Kristine Simpson.

 Inside PR 2.59 [16:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

One of our listeners, Yasin Akgun, asks,

As a final year marketing student about to embark on a summer internship I would be grateful if you could discuss what you guys think makes a good intern, examples of good students you’ve had and common mistakes that you’ve seen them make.

We thought this was a great question, and really well timed, as most of us are in the beginning of the summer intern season.

Because of that, we spend a few minutes talking about, from our perspectives, the qualities that make a great intern.

They include:

* Act as though you’re auditioning for a full-time job

* Take initiative and always go the extra mile

* Show that you have the ability to reach out and meet other people

* Show a  thirst for work

* Ask questions

* Learn how to negotiate

* Learn the gentle art of persuasion

* Really begin to understand where you best fit

* Have a “let me figure that out” attitude

* Be creative

* Find a project that you can see from beginning to end

And, while we’re talking about interns and their roles within the PR industry, we saw some interesting news about a global agency changing the titles of their staff and restructuring to fit the changing times.

GolinHarris is moving from generalists to specialists to adapt to the way consumer behavior is changing…and changing quickly.

The New York Times broke the story a day before the announcement and details what the agency is doing.

From the article:

The four specialties are strategists, who analyze a client’s business; creators, people like writers, designers and producers who generate ideas and tell brand stories; connectors, people who reach target audiences through traditional and social media as well as other channels; and catalysts, account leaders overseeing relationships with clients.

Martin Waxman makes a great point: It seems like they’re borrowing from Malcolm Gladwell’s “The Tipping Point.”

But, in this case, their creators are his mavens, their catalysts are his salespeople, and their connectors are, well, his connectors.

This really is a sign of the times, but Joe Thornley wonders if GolinHarris simply is responding to the smaller, more nimble agencies that are already well down the road of adding specialists to their teams.

What do you think? What qualities make for a great intern? And what are your thoughts on the GolinHarris restructuring?

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Posted written by Gini Dietrich.

 Inside PR 2.58 [17:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Just before we recorded the show, I had lunch with Guy Skipworth, a friend, colleague and long-time listener.  He had an in-person comment for us: that we should talk about PR more…

Thanks Guy, good point.

So… in the spirit of the comment and the fact that summer movies are being released, we thought we’d look at a few films that depict PR.  And while most of them deal with stereotypes and preconceived notions, they shed light on why so many people have a negative perception about our profession.

Here’s the list:

• Sweet Smell of Success – a brooding black and white drama about the darker side of PR with Tony Curtis as a sleazy press agent who will do anything to curry favour with a powerful columnist.
• Days of Wine and Roses starring Jack Lemmon as a burnt out, former reporter and current alcoholic, whose job is less about messages and more about procuring women for corrupt businessmen. Billable hours anyone?
• A more contemporary PR film is Wag the Dog, which features Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman.  The comedy revolves around a fabricated war that’s presented as a real event to take the heat off a president’s personal issue.
• Other movies about PR include Thank You for Smoking and America’s Sweethearts.
• Martin predicts the next big PR movie will be based on The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis.

What movies would you add? Please let us know.

In the second half of the podcast, we talk about Steve Rubel’s ‘scorched-earth’ approach to his blogs: he deleted all his content opting instead for a new online presence on Tumblr.

Gini starts by talking about the strong community she’s built at SpinSucks and why she wouldn’t want to leave it. She goes on to say that you can always recreate the content but not the community.

Joe advises everyone whose name is NOT Rubel – not to try this at home.  He feels Steve can do it because of his leadership position in PR and social media.

Martin asks about the notion of creation and the implications of deleting what is, in essence, a public record.

Joe says the nature of community is that we don’t own what we’ve created once it’s public-it belongs to the community. However, he also commends Steve Rubel and other thought-leaders who experiment and try the extraordinary.

Steve Rubel – do you have anything to add?  And, we’re interested to hear from all our listeners, too.

Do you have an idea for a topic you would like us to discuss? Send us an email or an audio comment to insideprcomments@gmail.com, join the Inside PR Facebook group, leave us a comment here, message us @inside_pr on Twitter, or connect with Gini Dietrich, Joe Thornley, and Martin Waxman on Twitter.

Our theme music was created by Damon de Szegheo; Roger Dey is our announcer.

This week’s episode was produced by Kristine Simpson.

Posted written by Martin Waxman .