Recently, I attended a PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) professional development program that featured a panel of well-known D.C. area assignment editors. The editors ranged from broadcast news, to radio and even the good old Washington Post.
Initially, I did not expect much from the panel, other than comments like “never call me” or “do [...]

As communications professionals, we are well aware of Awareness Months / Weeks / Days. This rings especially true if you work in health care. Considerable planning is done around these occasions and ultimately our campaigns depend on being seen during these times. Ironically, communications professionals are constantly fighting for awareness of their awareness. So imagine [...]

As public relations professionals, we like to consider ourselves masters of language. Communication is our bread and butter and the written word is often our choice method of connecting with an audience. From news releases, to speeches, to blog posts, storytelling is among our greatest strengths. But what about story-showing?
I recently watched an interesting TED [...]

I have recently watched with more than casual interest the public relations controversies swirling around News Corporation and, most recently, the Susan G. Komen Foundation. I have former colleagues, now friends, in the top communications jobs at both organizations and have been astonished to hear how similarly the situations evolved. Both scenarios were not dissimilar [...]

In all the noise and commotion of the recent Susan G. Komen debacle, it was not difficult to point out what Komen did wrong.
Within the scandal, something was done so very, very right, that it went almost unnoticed. What Planned Parenthood did, and did not do, in communicating with media and followers of the [...]

He opens his eyes, reaches for his phone, and starts reading the headlines on his news app. Then, he checks e-mail, tweets, sends a Facebook message and makes a new connection on LinkedIn. He gets out of bed. He was a communicator in 2011. And, it’s no surprise that this was and continues to be [...]

Environics Communications sponsored a very successful event a few weeks ago. The panel discussion in downtown Toronto was focused on communicating with social media on a business-to-business level. The event was especially created for those in the technology sector, and the face-to-face approach was, perhaps ironically, appreciated.
Mid-sized technology businesses seem too often to miss the [...]

The Cluetrain Manifesto
Tenth anniversary edition
By Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls and David Weinberger
Published by Basic Books, 2009 (first published 2000)
224 pages
“A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter – and getting [...]

Want to write better, tell more interesting stories and inspire action? Water may be the answer.
After reading The Big Thirst, Charles Fishman’s fascinating book on water, I found myself marveling at how well Fishman illustrates the global health, economic and political ramifications of clean water.
He informs us that at least 1.1-billion people in the world [...]

Chris Anderson, a former tech journalist and the curator of TED – a series of conferences and free online talks that centre on technology, entertainment and design (which I highly recommend if you haven’t checked them out already) – was interviewed on July 22nd on CBC Radio’s Q about how email actively devours people’s time. [...]