Life is replete with lessons, some difficult, most instructive, all character-building. Every once in a while I find it helpful to remember the lessons I’ve learned – to assure myself that I “got it” the first time and, in some cases, to make sure I don’t make the same mistake twice.

Here are a few things I’ve learned over the years, all with one thing in common: they involve doing what’s right, not just what’s easy.

1. Tell the truth. Easier said than done? Try it sometime. Not only is it the right thing to do, it’s the best way to live your life. Does this mean you should be brutally honest? Not necessarily. Tact is an important quality too.

2. Speak up, not out. Avoiding the knee-jerk reaction to want to speak out can do you a world of good. By the same token, learning to speak up and let your voice be heard – with intelligence and grace – will always do you well. The hard part is picking your time to speak, not just speaking to hear your own voice.

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So … big news for our very own Paull Young …

Paull has taken a job in New York! At this very moment, he’s finalizing the details of his visa and looking for an apartment in Manhattan — so it’s really happening — he’s moving across the globe to embrace his passion for new media and public relations. Congratulations, Paull!!

We’re good friends, so we’ve naturally been emailing back and forth while he’s been on his worldly travels the last few months. As has been his message throughout his journey, Paull attributes the success of his adventures — and now, his new job — to the relationships he’s made in the online world.

“I feel strange saying it, but social media has changed my life. When I started my blog I was motivated by a desire to help out my peers - I never expected to find myself immersed in an international network of PR bloggers.

Getting involved with Forward was an integral part of this. Through Forward I’ve developed some amazing friendships, learnt more than I thought would be possible in such a short time period and found the means to communicate with my peers and senior industry types from around the world.

It seems like a dream that I’ll be moving to New York to join Converseon, and it wouldn’t have come about without my involvement with social media. Of course there’s more substance to me than just a blog, but blogging and getting involved at Forward opened doors that never would have been available otherwise. Now I just can’t wait to see how the site continues to grow.”

So yes, he’s joining Converseon, where PR blogosphere leader Constantin Basturea is director of social media.

Really, now. Is anyone surprised that Paull got snatched up with a great job offer at the end of his famous world tour? He’s by far one of the industry’s best and brightest — on a global scale. Congratulations, again, Paull. We’re thrilled for you and your success and wish you all the best!

Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, paull young, paullyoung, young pr

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You must be familiar with the argument by now. It’s the one about media fragmentation, message bombardment, cost and waste. In short, it’s about the failure of mass marketing. If you’ve missed it, where have you been? You’ve not been listening to the likes of Seth Godin, the Cluetrain authors or Al and Laura Ries. Even marketing academics such as Philips Kotler and Kitchen have been joining the chorus.

Add to this Punk Marketing, written by Richard Laermer (author of Full Frontal PR) and Mark Simmons (a British marketing consultant who lives in Los Angeles and who is - disclosure - my brother-in-law and the source of my review copy).

This manifesto for revolutionary marketing is an assault on the large and the predictable and a plea to replace it with the smart and the tailored. So punk marketing is defined as ‘a new form of marketing that rejects the status quo and recognizes the shift in power from corporations to consumers.’

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An interesting discussion took place in one of my classes the other day with regards to the number of females in public relations. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but it is one that I have heard before.

In our class of 25 public relations students, four of them are male. As any PR student knows, this isn’t uncommon. If anything, four is a little high. Still, I always wonder why this is.

Recent statistics show that 70% of PR practitioners are female. This is up from 50.1% in 1980 and 41% in 1979. Based on those numbers, the trend is obvious. One could argue that this increase has occurred in many sectors over the past forty years and is not restricted to public relations. Still, 70% is quite high.

For forty minutes, students in my class argued over the various reasons why females make up the bulk of public relations practitioners.

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Forward Podcast 20 features a conversation with one of the world’s most experienced PR pros with online communities - Neville Hobson.

Neville is Vice President of New Marketing at crayon and is one half of For Immediate Release, the premier PR podcast. For this podcast he outlines his lengthy experience with online common interest communities and the relationships he has formed within them.

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 Forward # 20 - Online Communities and Relationships: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1821)

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On the face of it, this doesn’t make sense. Many people are turning their backs on public relations because the phrase still doesn’t quite sound respectable. What are they turning to instead? Public affairs. Since when did affairs become more respectable than relationships, I wonder?

My evidence for this trend comes from a recent PR Week survey in the UK which showed that careers in public affairs were more highly sought after by graduates than those in technology or healthcare PR. I’ve also noticed it in the frequency in which practitioners seek to clarify that it’s public affairs work they do, not public relations. There’s also a respectability in the academic field, witness Otto Lerbinger’s Corporate Public Affairs published last year.

One of my placement year students is currently working in a junior public affairs role for a UK bank. She gets to her desk by 7.30am in the City of London in order to review the day’s newspapers and to compile reports on debates in the UK and European parliaments. It’s an untypical role for a PR student, but one she’s performing well and which will help her in her ambition to work in financial public relations.

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You may already be familiar with Scott Mac Donald from the Fuzzy Gloves blog. Well, we’re also pleased to announce that he’s joining the Forward team — our first Canadian contributor! I’ve included his bio below, and we’re looking forward to publishing his first post soon.

Scott Mac Donald hails from the East Coast of Canada. A life long resident of the Atlantic Provinces, he recently graduated with a business degree from Acadia University. Currently, he is a student of Humber College’s post-graduate public relations program in Toronto. Scott has a variety of experience in the not for profit sector and hopes to pursue his career on the agency side upon graduation in August 2007.

A recent convert to social media, Scott is a regular reader and commenter on a variety of blogs. He also posts regularly on his personal blog, Fuzzy Gloves.

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Social Media is changing the world piece by piece with simple yet powerful communication tools - most recently I’ve noticed how the world of backpacking has been turned on its head in just 5 years due to new online tools.

In 2001 I spent a few months bouncing around Europe, and five years on I’ve returned to the backpacker scene with a vengeance. Much of the scene is the same: cramped dorm rooms packed with bunk beds, a much higher proportion of dreadlocks than you’d find in the employed population and strange people working reception (like the guy in Copenhagen who looked like a member of Kraftwerk and treated me like a celebrity because I have the same name as his favorite pop singer…)

The arrival of Web 2.0 has changed how backpackers organize and communicate, in turn the world of the backpacker has become a microcosm of the wider media environment. Five years ago backpackers only used the web for email and a little bit of research, now they use a wide variety of social media to enhance their travels.

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It must have been fifteen years ago. I was in London with the UK marketing director of the world’s biggest computer manufacturer (at that time). We were discussing that morning’s press briefing with the always-challenging technology press. ‘Never complain and never explain’ he shrugged, demonstrating great calm and insouscience.

The phrase was new to me, but was it right? Surely it was my job as a PR advisor to be ready to challenge the press and to be always willing to explain, justify and defend my client.

Fast forward fifteen years to today. This phrase, credited to British prime minister Bejamin Disraeli, is quoted in Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity’s Life’s a Pitch… as the confident person’s motto. As we know, confidence is infectious.

So should this phrase be considered good public relations advice? It probably should, but let’s take both parts of it in turn.

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The 19th Forward Podcast focuses on one of the most important areas for PR pros: reading.

This episode is an interview Paull Young recorded at the AlwaysOn conference in New York with leading Canadian blogger and Thornley-Fallis Vice President Michael O’Connor Clarke. Michael talks about his reading habit and why wide reading is an essential activity for young PR pros and students.

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 Forward #19 - The Importance of Reading: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (2263)

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