Tuesday, Nov. 20
1:30pm ET
Listen here

For those of you who don’t know, our very own Luke Armour likes to spread his podcasting talents around … and he has his own weekly podcast at BlogTalkRadio. “The Rundown,” as it’s called, airs live every Tuesday afternoon and features Luke — entertaining as ever — and a guest or two discussing topics relevant to PR, marketing, the Web, etc.

Well, tomorrow, I will be Luke’s guest as we chat about Forward, PR, things I’ve learned during my first few years as a professional, and whatever else Luke chooses to ask me about. So if you’d like to listen in (and surely hear some audible LOLs from me, as I tend to laugh a lot when speaking to Luke), join us at 1:30pm ET tomorrow.

updated 11/26 with audio

Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, pr podcast, the rundown, blogtalkradio, luke armour, erin caldwell

Listen Now:

 The Rundown with Erin Caldwell: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (3561)

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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 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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Todd And, a contributor to Forward Blog, has come up with an interesting list of the top 150 U.S. marketing blogs. It is Todd And’s Power 150.

The list comes about from a combination of objective and subjective methods that draw upon the following four factors: Google PageRank, Bloglines Subscribers, Technorati Ranking, and something called “Todd And Points”, which is essentially Todd’s personal opinion of the blog’s value.

According to Todd,

All four metrics were added to determine each blog’s total score. The total score carried the most weight in assigning the final Power 150 rank. If blogs shared the same final Power 150 rank, the suborder was determined by Todd And points. If Todd And points were the same, Technorati ranking points were compared – then Bloglines subscriber points and finally Google PageRank points.

Visit Todd’s blog for a more complete explanation. We’d like to note that Forward Blog is currently listed at #56 on the list. Thanks, Todd.

By the way, one of the reasons for this post is to test our new email notification system. Forward blog has about 150 email subscribers. However, the previous email notification plugin we were using for Forward was wrought with problems. So, we’ve changed to the Watershed Studio WordPress Email Notification Plugin.

Please do us a favor. If you received your notification of this post via email, please visit this post on the blog and comment. Actually, if you see this post and did not get a notification, please comment, too. We hope the problem is fixed. But, we won’t be sure until this post hits the blog. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

P.S. This isn’t Erin. I’m Robert. Don’t ask. I just needed to test the plugin. Erin was asleep. Shhhhh! She’ll likely not notice. Now, please say a prayer as I’m about to hit publish. Work plugin, work!

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Hello and happy New Year! At Forward, we’re kicking off the new year with some great news — we’re pleased to announce the addition of another member to our team. John Stauffer is coming on board as a principal contributor and will be publishing his first post to Forward soon. I’ve included his bio below.

John Stauffer graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.A. in Communications with a focus on Public Relations in 2005. As an undergrad, John worked for the school newspaper, The Diamondback, as an advertising representative and more recently as a media relations specialist for Berenson Communications.

He currently works for Stanton Communications, Inc , in Washington D.C., as an AAE with a focus on advertising and new social media as communications tool for a variety of clients.

John is a Web 2.0 enthusiast and is the author of the Young Washington D.C. PR Pros blog focusing on the intersection of new social media and Washington-based public relations. He also is a volunteer reporter for Street Sense, the Washington area non-profit bi-monthly newspaper.

Welcome, John! Looking forward to your contributions!

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As many of you may be well aware, Paull Young kicks off his worldly travels today! While his adventures will brings us all many interesting — and no doubt, amusing — stories and lessons, the regularity of his usual contributions may be somewhat affected. For this reason, we ask your forgiveness for the natural tardiness of Dec. 1’s podcast episode. I’m sure the content to come will more than make up for it.

We all wish Paull the best of luck in his travels, and those of us meeting up with him during his trek are certainly looking forward to it!

Technorati Tags: forward podcast

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Yep, we’re adding another investor to our team! Forward is thrilled to announce the addition of Chuck Hester to our all-star roster of writers. Chuck will come on board as a contributing investor, and we look forward to learning from his perspective and his years of experience. (I’ve naturally included his bio below.)

Chuck Hester has over 25 years experience in public relations, marketing and branding, with stints as an in-house marketing director, public relations director for two agencies. Some of the clients Chuck has worked with include TEAC, Western Digital and the Department of Defense Technology Transfer Program.

Chuck is the Director of Public Relations for IntelliContact, an emarketing software company in Durham, NC, where he is in charge of all company public relations. He also teaches marketing and public relations for Duke University’s continuing education department and has taught at the University of Irvine, California.

An advocate of straight-forward, relationship-based public relations, Chuck has worked with all kinds of media, from national publications to local television stations. A recent transplant to North Carolina, he was a Southern California resident for over 27 years, graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in Journalism and Communications.

Welcome, Chuck!

Technorati Tags: Forward, Forward Moving, pr, public relations, pr students

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[Editor’s Note: This post is long and I had reservations about putting it up, but Luke promised to buy me some Whole Wheat Fig Newtons and I agreed to post it in its entirety. It’s also LOL funny]

The Internet has totally made geography obsolete. Well, for socializing, anyway. And every day broader broadband and wider wireless networks make the world smaller and smaller. Before long, tech savvy people were posting their prose, poetry and thoughts on the web in the form of logs. Then along come these lightweight content management systems that make posting notes on the web way easier; and soon everyone is a publisher with their own web log (web-log…blog, get it? Seriously, how many of you didn’t know that?)

And that’s when the magic happens. That’s when boundaries became really loose, borders became stretchy, and geography blurred. The social aspect of the web came alive. Instead of speeches and soapboxes, people were engaged in conversations.

There are two people I personally know who have had their lives change dramatically by the social aspect of the blogosphere. One is me, the other is Paull Young. Of course, there are a myriad of people whose lives have changed more than mine by the social network of the Internet; bands making it big on MySpace, desperate people meeting in strange bars, that lonely woman who orders that special trinket on eBay, and that fool Aussie embarking on a world blog tour.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Today marks the fifth anniversary of the tragedy of 9/11. You’ll find plenty of discussion in the blogosphere and beyond centered on remembering that day — what we’ve learned, how the world has changed, the many heroes that emerged — all that is worthwhile, necessary and important.

But here at Forward, we’re going to … well … look forward. The focus of this site is PR education — broadening the horizons and expanding the minds and skills of young people in PR.

We have readers and contributors from around the world who take part in a continuous effort to share and discuss ideas in hopes of bettering our own understanding of issues as well as improving the industry as a whole. To do this well, a mix of global perspectives is required, and we continue to strive to expand and improve in this regard.

So with this, I introduce a series, “Building Bridges Beyond Borders,” in which select Forward contributors will offer their own perspectives, unique stories, and critiques about the bridge-building nature of this modern medium we all take part in. We look at this in the context of a post-9/11 world — considering how the industry has changed and how our “neighborhood” (whether personal or professional) can, and should, extend to every corner of the globe.

Feel free to include your own story or thoughts as a comment, or if you’d like to share a longer commentary send me an email and we’ll include it as a guest contribution. (erin at forward-moving dot com)

Technorati Tags: 9/11, September 11, global pr, pr, public relations, pr students, pr education

(Image credit: Steve Rubel; Hat tip to Paull for pointing me to it)

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Forward welcomes a new contributing investor: Todd Andrlik (you may be familiar with him from ToddAnd.com). I’ve included his bio below, but you can also view it and all of our other contributors’ updated bios at our new and improved contributors page. (The rest of the site has been updated some, as well. This is what happens when Erin finally gets a free weekend!)

Todd Andrlik is a seasoned marketing professional with an award-winning PR portfolio and significant agency experience. He authors “Todd And - The Power to Connect,” a new blog about all things marketing (www.toddand.com). Over the years, Todd has consulted more than 100 companies and individuals, including many Fortune 500 firms, and ‘rock star’-caliber executives/lawyers. He’s developed hundreds of integrated campaigns, managed major crises, coached spokespeople, built brands and generated news. His body of marketing work has won numerous awards, including the coveted PRWeek Award for Campaign of the Year.

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