Oregon Trail Council

In my public relations campaigns class this term my group and I worked with the Oregon Trail Council. It was a fantastic experience. The two men we worked with were very open and interested in our ideas.

We had the opportunity to help them with retention numbers and recruiting new scouts. I gained experience in giving presentations, doing public relations research, writing a public relations plan and contributing to staff meetings.

In the beginning I didn’t realize how much research needed to go into public relations, but that ended up being one of my favorite parts. I also enjoyed our impromptu mini presentations and our final large presentation that we delivered to our clients. After the presentation we sat down with each other and the clients and talked more about our implementation ideas.

In our final plan we ended up recommending that they implement everything that we pitched to them in the presentation. Our main program that we recommended was a mentor program were Boy Scouts would partner up with Cub Scouts, like a big brother program, and mentor and guide them into becoming a Boy Scout. They would help teach them scouting practices and show them how wonderful it is to be a Boy Scout. 

 We also had several smaller ideas to help with participation and retention. These were: an updated volunteer mission statement, a short exit survey to send out to parents at the end of the scouting season, a video competition for the scouts and a more efficient blog for volunteers and leaders to share their ideas. 

Overall, I really enjoyed working with the Oregon Trail Council and getting a real client experience this term. I can’t wait to dive into the public relations field, hopefully in professional sports or tourism.

Here is a link to a Public Relations site that has great resources: http://advertising.about.com/od/publicrelationsresources/Public_Relations_Resources.htm

I also added our Client Report number two that I wrote regarding our Research to my E-Portfolio on this blog. It is called Oregon Trail Council Research Document.

Tweeting Athletes

I can’t imagine when an athlete would have enough free time during a game to Twitter. When I discovered that Milwaukee Bucks forward Charlie Villanueva was twittering on his cell phone from the Bucks locker room during halftime, I was shocked.

As an athlete, I have never experienced a moment of free time during a game or race where I felt a desire to get on the Internet. I believe this was a poor choice in judgment.

His tweet, for the most part, was innocent saying, “in da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We’re playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up.” However, this makes the whole team seem like they are goofing around not taking the game seriously.

I think it’s wonderful how many athletes are immersing themselves in social media. There are several positives behind blogging and twittering, one being that athletes can connect with their fans creating a casual and personal relationship. Another strength behind this is that it helps increase awareness of events. Athletes are role models for people of all ages, so it reminds people that they are real people too, which helps fans feel like they can relate to players. Social media is great for a team’s image because it helps them market themselves by using statistics, updates and other types of information that fans enjoy reading about.

One of the first athletes to begin tweeting was Shaquille O’Neal. He starting tweeting back in November under @THE_REAL_SHAQ and has almost one million followers. He is known to really interact with his fans and followers, occasionally he even gives away free game tickets to fans.

Lance Armstrong is another example of an athlete who tweets often. He posts race pictures, results and other entities that interest his fans. He likes to stay positive and involved.

Tweeting and getting involved in social media is one thing. However, I believe Charlie Villanueva took it to a new level. He was tweeting during the halftime of a crucial game. I believe he made a poor decision, which could have compromised the whole team. Tweeting made himself and the entire team look bad. It demonstrated a lack of focus and teamwork.

I strongly disagree with athletes tweeting at any point during the game because it takes away from the seriousness of the game and privacy of a team’s locker room. I believe athletes should blog and tweet often; however, they need to wait until they are off the court.

I have included a Web site that gives more information http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3990853

Recycling Efforts Recognized

 Being recognized for recycling efforts is no easy feat these days when everyone is working at being environmentally conscious.

On Tuesday, May 5 the Seattle Seahawks and Qwest Field received the “Event Recycling Award” for 2008 from the Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA). This is a tremendous honor. It makes me proud of my state and impressed that the Seahawks would strive to recycle so much material.

This is not only great pr for the Seahawks, but something that also makes them great role models for professional sports venues to follow. I believe we will see an increase in the amount of material recycled from sporting venues thanks to the Seahawks.

Qwest Field hosts 1.5 million guests and over 300 events annually. In 2008 Qwest Field Event Center generated 1,000 tons of waste material and from that amount 35% was recycled; including plastics, wood, paper products, metals and compost.

The awards ceremony took place in Yakima, Wa. WSRA is one of the leading recycling associations and has been around longer than most recycling association in the country, so, one can imagine, being recognized by WSRA is quite an honor.

Another environmentally friendly activity the Seahawks have implement is the “Blue is Green” program, which includes a half-time performance that promotes recycling.

I have included a Website that provides more information

 http://www.seahawks.com/news/articles/article-1/seahawks-and-qwest-field-recognized-for-recycling-efforts/626e8fe6-41be-474a-9d34-62ef7a0fc7achttp

Again With the Swine Flu.

   I am man enough to admit when I am wrong about something. I commented too quickly on the H1N1 Flu in my previous post not giving enough time for the facts to settle in. I believed that health officials and public relations practitioners were releasing excess information that was unnecessary to the public and would only cause panic. However, I believe that the information being released was and is important. The public has a right to know all the facts.

This flu is spreading fast and far. Last week, when I commented on it there were only a handful of cases in the United States. According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) there are 2,600 cases in 43 different states. Luckily, the cases in the U.S. are less severe than the cases in Mexico have been. Anne Schuchat, a deputy director with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, believes that the flu will make to every state soon. So far, there have only been three deaths due to complications from the H1N1 flu in the U.S. The three people who have died all had other sickness as well. This flu is similar to other flus that the U.S. has experienced before.

It is important that this illness is reported on and continually researched so it doesn’t turn into a serious epidemic like the U.S. has seen several times before. I believe the constant reassuring press releases and updates from health officials are keeping citizens calm and informed. The relations with the public with this matter seem to be excellent.

I have included a link I found on MSN news regarding new information about the illness:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30398682/

our text right here…

PR Plans

 Writing a public relations plan that your audience and clients understand can be difficult. In one of my public relations classes we are learning about how to write a complete public relations plan.

Public relations plans include: introductory statement, situation analysis, goal, focus, objective, strategy, activity, timeline, evaluation, and budget.

I am finding that some of these areas closely overlap the other making it difficult to differentiate one from another. My group did a plan that included the first six areas. The three main areas we struggled with were the situation analysis, focus and objectives. Our professor gave us feedback on these areas so we could better understand these parts of the plan.

For the situation analysis we neglected to include all the information provided. We believed it to be more of a summary. However, we learned that it is necessary to provide all the information included, so the audience can understand the proposal and not have to ask more questions at the end of the presentation.

The focus section must focus on people because people are going to be what puts the plan in action. It is important to remember that any person involved is part of the focus, not just one party. Also, the disposition of each entity toward the subject and originator of the plan should be included in the focus.

The objective part of the plan was the most difficult because there should be multiple objectives for each focus. An objective needs to include an action, receiver of the action and a desired behavior response to the action. The action must begin with the word to, to distinguish it. The part we struggled with the most was included the desired behavior response because we had trouble determining how people would respond.

I have included a Web site that includes more information:http://www.nawma.org/documents/Professional%20Improvement/Public_Relations_Plan.htm

The Eugene Marathon

  My roommate and her friend have been preparing for the Eugene marathon for the past few months. I kept hearing about the race from them, but I hardly saw information or advertising about it on campus or around town. First, this made me think about how much fun doing public relations for an event like this would be, especially for a sports fanatic like myself. Also, I began wondering if a public relations team had been assembled for this event.

I became curious about whether there were public relations people on the event because I kept hearing about it from friends but I wasn’t seeing anything about it. If I had been on the public relations team for the race I would have immediately had a press release out to local radio and television stations announcing the upcoming event. I would have made sure to have the press release submitted by January to give everyone plenty of notice and time to prepare. I would have also figured out several easy locations around Eugene where people could go to sign-up; on top of assembling a Website providing all the information about the race with an easy sign-up application included. Another important aspect to take care of early on would be: recruiting volunteers, to work at the sign-up locations, organize the race entries and numbers, and work at the race. Planning the actual race would be the most fun and crucial part of the event. Getting all the times communicated and people organized would be just a few of the many task involved in getting the day off successfully. I hope I get the chance to do something like this one day.

I have included the link to the 2009 Bloomsday Website as an example: www.bloomsdayrun.com

The Swine Flu!

 I am afraid all the information online about the swine flu is going to cause chaos, like in this picture. Social media seems like it is making this whole situation worse than it already is. There is so much news online with precautions and information about the sickness I think it is scaring people and making others panicky. The flu started in Mexico surrounding pigs, but it seems like the only people at risk of contracting this disease are people working closely with pigs and individuals living or traveling in Mexico. There have only been a handful of cases confirmed in the United States. It is important that the government is taking this issue so seriously, providing precautionary statements and necessary funding if this disease spreads quick and far. However, I am worried that all the scary pictures and updates on the Internet are freaking people out more than necessary.

There have only been 12 documented cases in the United States in the past four years. It is impossible to catch the swine flu from eating pork. To me it seems pretty rare to get this sickness. I think the public relations professionals who work for the U.S. government in the health area may be spreading too many scary pictures and worrisome documents for the publics own good. Too much information could cause a frenzy of panic among people, which would only make things worse.

I have provided a link explaining all areas of the swine flu:

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100237427&GT1=31036

 

My First Podcast!

  Today I recorded my first podcast and it was wonderful. I had fun picking out the music, working on the fade out control and just recording. I talked about ski racing and social media which are two of my greatest passions. This is an area that I hope to work in one day, so I explored the importance of blogging in all industries. I think the title of my show and sing off and pretty creative and fit me well. Let me know what you think. I hope you like my podcast. I have added it as a link here:

http://www.jcomm.uoregon.edu/Members/clambers/01%20Track%2001%2050.m4a

School District Case

I worked on a difficult case today in another one of my public relations classes and I wanted to explore it more and maybe get some feedback. This was an interesting case, it took place about 15 years ago in Georgia and it involved racial incidents at a high school. The racial incidents were public, leaving all the parents extremely concerned for their children’s safety. What shocked me about this incident was that the following day school went on as if nothing had happened. The day, however, did not play out that way because another inappropriate episode took place: a student’s arm was broken after having an oboe thrown at her.

What baffles my mind is that after the first event happened on Wednesday the principal did nothing about it until Sunday. It took him four days to take action and when he finally did, no one felt any better. He called all the parents to a meeting that would take place on Sunday, but he didn’t say a word as to what it would be about, only that it was serious. When the worried parents arrived the principal had no crisis communications plan, and more importantly no plan as to how the students would be kept safe while simultaneously continuing classes. The entire situation was a disaster all around.

This seems like a situation where the public relations professionals working for the school distract should already have had a crisis communications plan laid out for a situation like this. Events similar to this event already had taken place in various locations around the U.S. So, I don’t understand why a plan in response to this wasn’t already compiled. Another issue that confuses me is why the public relations practitioners were not called immediately to fix this. The principal had no idea how to handle this situation, or what to say to the parents to make them feel more comfortable. Everything was so unorganized. Where were the public relations practitioners?

 

I have included a link to the American Association of Homes and Services that has a great example of a crisis communications plan:

http://www.aahsa.org/article.aspx?id=1272

PR and Ethics

 I’ve become more aware of ethics in public relations lately. There are so many fuzzy lines in public relations; for example, there are over 500 definition of the profession and people don’t need specific credentials to be a public relations practitioner. This makes ethics difficult to follow. One very important aspect practitioners need to follow is being true to their word. If they say they will do one thing they better follow through, or it could lead to them losing clients and credibility. I’m sure everyone has experienced another person not following through with their word, but in a professional setting it can lead to many more problems.

Another serious issue in ethics is being timely and informed. This is especially important to a company during a crisis. When a company has a crisis that must be dealt with it needs to happen in a timely fashion. A press release needs to be put out quickly, with no errors. Any media questions should be answered thoroughly and without hesitation, so the media knows the company has everything under control and they are handling the situation. Doing this leads into another important ethics topic: preparation.

Preparation is important in all parts of business, but especially in public relations. If a company is not prepared for the worst case scenario they will could be put into a bigger mess than they already are in. Public relations practitioners working for companies need to have a crisis communications plan already laid out, so when a crisis does happen they don’t have to waste time developing one. There should be binders informing the company what to do in any case: how they will respond to the media; what they will say; and how to deal with the company as a whole. An example of a company who did not have this together was Peanut Corp. They got themselves into trouble after the salmonella outbreak. Another example of something perfectly laid out is the picture at the top of the post. It is a special exhibit about perfection that was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York City.

I have included a link to inform about art at the MOMA:

www.moma.org