I’ve just enjoyed an enthralling afternoon at the British Museum. Amongst their Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotomian collections were some of the earliest known examples of writing, which really brought home to me the sheer power of words.The earliest known examples of writing appeared in Mesopotomia (what is now Syria and Iraq) in the fourth millenium BC. Shortly afterwards writing began to flourish in Egypt (the oldest surviving texts date to 3200 BC), as tombs were decorated with heiroglyphics. It was amazing looking at the primitive writing and seeing the very roots of a young PR’s stock-in-trade.

Writing was a rare skill in this culture. Few could decipher it, and the majority saw it as magical. Writing was the domain of the rich and powerful, and scribes were members of the upper echelon of society. One of the displays in the museum featured the following on the power of writing:

The God Thoth was believed to have invented writing. The ancient Egyptian phrase for hieroglyphs means ‘god’s words’, emphasising the associations between script and the god’s power.

The signs themselves could have a divine power and were sometimes called ‘gods’. The could also act as embelems or amulets. Stelae inscribed with magical texts had water poured over them, the water was drunk to ingest the magic of the text.

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Just a quick mention that DC chapter of the Social Media Club has a meet-up coming up this week:

Social Media Club - Washington, DC
Thursday, Feb. 22
6-8:30pm
Hosted by Edelman
1875 I St. NW
Washington, DC, 2006

I’m helping to host this one and would personally love to meet some of you that are in the DC area, so I encourage you to come out! There will be food, beer, wine and great conversation. It’s completely free, but we do ask that you pre-register so we’ll know how many to expect.

At each meeting of the Social Media Club, we discuss a variety of issues relating to new media. This week, we’ll take a closer look at the online aspects of the 2008 presidential campaigns. (Did you notice, McCain just launched a new site. He’s got my thumbs-up as far as the site itself goes. Want to hear more analysis? Attend the meet-up!)

And while students are very welcome to attend this and any other Social Media Club event, if you’re underage … and you have a drink … I will hunt you down myself!! Do I really have to say it? Be lawful.

For more about the Social Media Club, visit their site. And to see other events I recommend for young PR folks — including, perhaps, a Social Media Club event in your city — visit the “Forward - Young PR Events” groups at Upcoming.org or check out our new events calendar.

Technorati Tags: smc, smcdc, pr students, young pr pros, youngprevents

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As the Forward Podcast hits the legal drinking age in Australia, Paull still manages to have a lucid conversation with Andrea Weckerle about her approach to networking online.

Andrea uses a number of online tools to build and maintain relationships and she explains how she uses them and how easy it is for young PR folk to take advantage of the opportunities they present.

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Listen Now:

 Forward #18 - A Beginner's Guide to Online Networking: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1301)

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There is a whole lot of buzz in the PR blogosphere about the social media news release, Second Life and a whole host of other topics that warrant discussion. I certainly plan to commit future postings on these new social media topics.

However, in an effort to help the new class of public relations students scheduled to graduate this year, I’d like to dedicate one of my first posts to something I wish I knew my first day on the job: The Corporate Lexicon.

In my two years in corporate firms I’ve cataloged several words and phrases that are guaranteed to baffle any PR neophyte. Some of these terms are more obscure than others, some certainly apply to more than just the public relations corporate world, but if you’re headed to a big agency or corporate communications department, you’ll encounter at least one of these gems within the first month and be glad you’re a reader of Forward. In no particular order….

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I recently sat down with Richard Toth, APR, Fellow PRSA, and lecturer at the University of Maryland-College Park. For my first post, I thought I’d share some of the thoughts from one of my former public relations professors. Let’s jump right with some young pr pro questions…

What’s your advice for recent public relations graduates in terms of the some of the skills you find that young PR pros lack?

New PR pros and students need to demonstrate and follow through on basic curiosity about tactical and strategic communications — the classic five w’s and h on a broad and flexible range of topics. They need to absorb and sort lots of information, going beyond the superficial to ponder and position the “what if?” of situations. Beyond that philosophical big picture, I suggest students and new pros should:

• Read, listen, observe, ask, write, edit, practice more. In a variety of media — traditional, mainstream and otherwise.
• Take every opportunity for feedback and to explore and propose options.
• Take what I call positive risks. Dare to be different, positively.
• Network, collaborate, participate, mentor and be mentored. Getting started early in organizations — such as PRSSA, PRSA, IABC, their local chapters and members. Such activity can help with all of the recommendations above and below. Don’t forget personal, face-to-face interaction. Follow up with personal thank-you notes and updates. Add value to a contact and relationship as a deposit in the bank of goodwill — for both the giver and receiver.
• Keep a file of and leverage ideas, examples, stories, contacts, quotes, testimonials, results, successes, experiences, Web sites, blogs, etc. Then connect them to each new situation, challenge or opportunity.

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We all know that I got my current job at Edelman because of blogging. (Well, that’s the short version.) We know that employers — many of the large agencies, especially — have clearly recognized the need to build up their own online-focused practice groups, so they’re hiring webby folks as quickly as they can find them. You know social media, you’ve got a job.

Some students, however, make the mistake of thinking that learning about new media and understanding the online conversation points to a direct career path of all-day-every-day online-focused work. Wrongo!

I can say, with a good deal of confidence, that we are moving toward a time when all practitioners — whether you’re in healthcare, travel and tourism, or crisis management — will need to have some basic new media skills. The way I look at it, new media (dealing with social media, social networks, blogs, etc.) is just another form of media. The other types of media are all currently covered in pretty much every PR degree. I know in Auburn’s program, we learned how to write press releases, as well as how to write scripts for radio/television announcements. We learned how to work with journalists and how to pitch a story. Everyone seems to accept all these as essential skills for a PR professional. So why is it that when educators try to incorporate new media into the curriculum, they’re met with resistance — both from administrators and students?

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If you are in any “customer-facing” profession, whether it’s Public Relations, Marketing, Customer Service or practically any management position, networking is a necessity.

I am good at relating to people. Nice way of saying I’m a good schmoozer! I have always been comfortable talking to people – at all levels and walks of life. It’s probably the primary reason I got into public relations in the first place. I like talking to people.

Networking is an art that can be learned. You don’t have to be inherently gregarious and outgoing. Just have a genuine curiosity and interest in others. The result can be rewarding in your work and in your personal life. Here are a few tips on how to network effectively and, for those who may have difficulty networking, rather painlessly.

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While I am lucky to be surrounded by people who get social media and are able to help me sort things out, I am finding there are a lot of PR professionals out there that know social media’s impact on the industry but don’t know where to start in trying to get a handle on all there is to know to about the subject to put the new tools to good use.

So this post is a tribute to all the social media neophites out there, because I feel your pain. Wikipedia is my new best friend, that and Mozilla Firefox, because right now I have searched Wikipedia for about 10 different terms and have three different firefox browser windows open, each with about 5-7 tabs.

Why?

That’s what it takes it seems to keep track of, or just start to understand, what is really going on with social media these days.
Josh Hallett wrote a post recently called Defining Social Media that helps to express the frustration in keeping track of all the conversations and new developments in our social media world.

The developments and changing ideas in social media turn over so fast it will make your head spin. And to top it off, it turns out, everyone who loves social media also LOVES them some jargon. And jargon being tossed around never helps a learning situation.

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For those of you interested in fashion PR — or even if you’re still trying to settle on your “specialty” — I have a blog I’ve been meaning to point you to that’s definitely worth a read.

Crosby Noricks authors PR Couture, a blog that focuses primarily on the news and happenings in the world of fashion PR. Crosby and I first corresponded about a year ago regarding our common interest in the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, so I was delighted to hear from her again and see that she’s blogging now.

She’s done a great job of networking and is already immersed in the fashion blogosphere — definitely keeping her finger on the pulse of all that’s happening there. Fashion is certainly not my forte, so I will leave all that to her. Enjoy!

(Unilever (Dove) is an Edelman client.)

Technorati Tags: fashion pr, pr couture, pr students

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‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ‘em.’

This quotation from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night came to mind when I kept hearing and seeing Richard Edelman in the media recently (he was interviewed for BBC Radio 4 from Davos, spoke to the Financial Times on ‘trust’ and was profiled in UK PR Week).

I’m not implying that his success is accidental. I’m asking what students and graduates should do to maximise their chances of success (greatness, even) in public relations.

There’s the cynical observation of the late, great Daniel J. Boorstin: ‘Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some hire public relations officers’. Seriously, that could work. Try doing your own PR (for example by virtual and by real world networking).

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