Inside PR #36 – Tuesday, December 5, 2006

• • Agency Life, Comments, Inside PR, PR, Show Notes

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This week on Inside PR, Terry and David host the call-in show. They welcome audio comments from Gary Schlee, Andrew Findlater, Dan York, Francis Wooby, and Tyler Leisher. Terry also finds time to do his segment of Inside PRoper English.

Show Notes

00:27 Terry introduces the show. He invites listener feedback through email at [email protected], the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog.

01:24 David and Terry make reference to the fact that they will be welcoming a number of audio comments this week. Terry notes that he is exhausted because of a busy hockey schedule of late.

02:43 Terry talks about the Canadian Institute’s New Media for Communications conference, which took place November 28th and 29th. David and Terry talk about their sessions at the conference.

06:30 David introduces the first call/comment from Gary Schlee, the Co-ordinator of the Corporate Communications and Public Relations program at Centennial College in Toronto makes an important point about effectively managing internal communications during a crisis.

07:50 Terry says that he and David were remiss to have neglected discussing internal communications when talking about crisis communications on Inside PR #33.

09:10 David thinks that employees are far more savvy than employers give them credit for. David agrees that writing is the most important skill for PR practitioners.

12:10 The next call comes from Francis Wooby from Iqaluit, who makes a very good point in his comment about the important role listening in the PR professional’s arsenal of skills.

13:40 Terry agrees with Francis that listening skills are crucial to the makeup of a good PR practitioner. David echoes Terry’s view and emphasizes active listening, showing an interest, understanding, trying to clarify what they’re saying, etc. He adds that PR practitioners should be able to take the time to reflect upon a question and get back to people with sound advice, as opposed to reflex answers that can turn out to be unsound.

18:22 Dan York calls in with a number of items to discuss. Among them: Dan enjoys the show, likes the Canadian-isms on the show, recommends making the Inside PR logo more readily available, and has a recommendation for Inside PRoper English.

20:50 David and Terry share their thoughts on Dan’s comments.

24:40 Tyler Leisher, a college student, calls in asking for advice on PR education. David thinks that MBA’s are cool, but he can’t recommend doing one over getting a PR education. Terry thinks that it’s important that PR practitioners gain a better understanding of business, finance, marketing, and everything else involved in running a business. Terry and David have a lengthy discussion about the uses of business knowledge in public relations.

36:45 Andrew Findlater calls in with a short message on message training.

39:30 Terry thanks Andrew for his comment, and congratulates him and National PR on being named Marketing Magazine’s Agency of the Year. He adds that what Andrew meant to say was that two Visa member-bank employees were discussing interest rates, as it is the banks who set the rates, not Visa.

41:20 Terry talks about a clip he often uses in media training. David talks about his experience with spokesperson training.

48:53 Inside PRoper English for the week: that vs. who

49:50 David closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at [email protected], on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site.

Music: our theme music is Streetwalker by CJacks, and is from the Podsafe Music Network; Roger Dey is our announcer.

Audio comment: Gary Schlee on IPR #33 and #34

• • PR

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Gary Schlee, the Co-ordinator of the Corporate Communications and Public Relations program at Centennial College in Toronto makes an important point about effectively managing internal communications during a crisis.  We should have mentioned this in our crisis communications discussion on IPR #33 and we’ll certainly talk about it on IPR #36 (which may well turn into our first ever “IPR Commentcast” in view of how many comments we’ve received).  Thanks Gary.

Audio comment: Dan York with kudos and suggestions

• • PR

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Good friend and regular contributor to For Immediate Release, podcaster Dan York drops in with a comment from Burlington, Vermont.  Dan and I had a great time in California, at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo, hanging out with Shel Holtz, Sallie Goetsch, Heidi Miller, Eric Schwartzman and other podcasting luminaries.  Thanks for the kind words Dan and the great suggestions. 

Inside PR #35 – Tuesday, November 28, 2006

• • Awards, Inside PR, PR, Show Notes

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This week on Inside PR, Terry and David have a discussion about the PR stunt. They welcome comments from Julia Stein and Sallie Goetsch. They play Chris Clarke‘s comment for this week. Finally, Terry does his segment of Inside PRoper English.

Show Notes

00:27 David introduces the show. He invites listener feedback through email at [email protected], the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog.

01:17 Terry mentions the podcast he recorded with Shel Holtz and released as an IPR Special Edition.

04:30 David talks about the Canadian Institute’s New Media for Communications conference, which is taking place November 28th and 29th. Terry and David will both be speaking at the event.

06:30 David introduces and Terry reads a comment on the blog from Sallie Goetsch (rhymes with sketch).

09:30 David introduces a listener comment from Julia Stein, a colleague of David’s from Fleishman Hillard. She asks two questions: one about writing, and the other about leadership.

12:10 Terry recommends not only writing a lot but also reading a lot to improve writing skills. David tells a story about his own writing.

15:15 David says that leadership is parts maturity, confidence, and experience.

17:20 Terry mentions that you can learn just as much from people who you don’t see eye-to-eye with than from those you consider mentors.

19:20 Terry tells a story about leadership from his time in university.

20:00 This week’s major topic for discussion: the role of stunts in PR. Terry thinks that stunts play a smaller role than most people assume in PR, and that they should be used as a tactic, not a strategy. Terry talks about a stunt he and David worked on many years ago.

22:40 David talks about the stunt as a means for a quick hit.

25:25 Terry points out that the public view is that the stunt is all there is to PR. He notes that the stunt is ususally what gets the most attention from the media, which makes the public view it as the only part of a campaign instead of one aspect of a campaign.

27:06 David advises to use stunts wisely. He also points out that award-winning campaigns often revolve around stunts, which he considers unfortunate.

29:13 David introduces and plays Chris Clarke‘s segment for the week.

34:20 Inside PRoper English for the week: tricky singular forms

36:00 Terry closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at [email protected], on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcomes listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site.

Music: our theme music is Streetwalker by CJacks, and is from the Podsafe Music Network; Roger Dey is our announcer.

Inside PR Special Edition – Shel Holtz and Terry Fallis podcasting presentation in Toronto

• • Agency Life, canadian podcasting, PR, social media

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On November 15th, Shel Holtz and Terry Fallis presented a breakfast session on the power of podcasting to a group of Thornley Fallis clients in Toronto.  The entire presentation and the Q&A session that followed were recorded for this podcast.  There was a PowerPoint presentation that accompanied Shel and Terry but their “conversation” stands alone quite well without the slides.  While the questions in the Q&A are not audible, the answers are self-explanatory.

This podcast runs just over an hour. 

Comments on this IPR Special Edition are welcome through the usual channels.  Leave us an audio or text comment directly on this blog, send us an e-mail or audio comment to [email protected], or call our comment line at 206-600-4741.

Opening and closing music by Alamantra on the Podsafe Music Network. As always, Roger Dey is our voice-over guru.

Inside PR #34 – Tuesday, November 21, 2006

• • Inside PR, PR, Show Notes

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This week on Inside PR, Terry and David have a discussion about what skills transfer best from another sector into PR. They play Chris Clarke‘s comment for this week. Also, Terry does his segment of Inside PRoper English. Finally, Terry and David play a skit from Luke Armour.

Show Notes

00:27 Terry introduces the show. He invites listener feedback through email at [email protected], the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog.

01:17 Terry starts off by talking about the Shel Holtz/Toronto Third Tuesday event.

03:10 David talks about the Canadian Institute’s New Media for Communications conference, happening on November 28th and 29th. Terry and David will both be speaking at the event, along with a slew of other Canadian social medialites.

05:58 David brings up the ads running on a number of Canadian PR blogs from Canada News Wire, including his own.

08:48 Terry introduces a listener comment from Scott McDonald about negative blog comments. David thinks that negative comments are better expressed on your blog than out in the open. He adds that sometimes blogs aren’t the right answer. Terry agrees with David and says that negative comments are easy to respond to on a blog.

15:20 Terry brings up this week’s topic: the skills required when transferring from a different field into PR. David says that the risk of hiring someone from another discipline into PR are high. He advises that those considering such a change understand the PR industry before attempting to make the switch.

18:30 David thinks the core skills of PR are, first and foremost, writing, then strategic thinking, creativity, multitasking, and the ability to work under pressure. Terry adds that there are not as many good writers out there as people think. He says that it’s difficult to teach a bad writer ow to be a good writer.  It is possible to teach a good writer to be better. One important skill that Terry adds is common sense (which is not very “common” at all).

21:25 Terry thinks that the ability to speak and have a presence is important.

22:23 David used to think that the best PR people were the total package, but now comes to believe that there are 3 clearly defined roles: practitioners, managers, and leaders.

24:00 Terry’s final trait is the ability to connect with other people.

27:11 David wraps it up: the ability to write, the ability to think, and the ability to connect with people.

27:45 Terry introduces and plays Chris Clarke‘s segment for the week.

30:00 Inside PRoper English for the week: that and which.

32:40 David closes the show and invites listener comments: through email at [email protected], on the comment line at 206-600-4741, or comment on the Inside PR show blog. Also, they welcome listeners to the Inside PR Blubrry site.

33:40 Luke Armour has graciously sent along the following skit he put together lampooning the PR podcasting community. The Virtual Geek Dinner.   Hilarious!

Music: our theme music is Streetwalker by CJacks, and is from the Podsafe Music Network; Roger Dey is our announcer.

IPR #34 delayed as Chris Clarke recuperates

• • PR

Poor Chris Clarke, our trusty podcast producer, is at home today under the weather, but hopes to be back in the saddle tomorrow (Tuesday, November 21st).  As a consequence, IPR #34 will be delayed until sometime late Tuesday.  Thanks for your patience.  (Chris, we hope you’re feeling better.)