Forward Podcast 39 is a conversation with Bruce Brodoff, recently named Assistant Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Alliance for Downtown New York. Bruce Brodoff is a multiple-award winning communications professional who has extensive experience in communications, public affairs, marketing and advertising, and television news writing and production.

Bruce, formerly the Director of Public Affairs for the Alliance, started his career in Los Angeles seeking fame and fortune, but his interests and skills eventually led him to the communication field through many trials by fire. He worked for the Giuliani administration in New York City as the Director of Public Relations for the Mayor’s Office of Emergency Management. He transferred to the Economic Development Corporation’s marketing and advertising division, where he created advertising and marketing plans and materials that helped attract and retain companies in New York City as well as promoted City property, markets, and business assistance programs and services. Bruce was Director of Communications for the American Red Cross September 11 Recovery Program and subsequently worked as a Public Affairs Officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s FEMA Region II office during the Hurricane Katrina crisis.

Bruce keeps an excellent online portfolio (hint, this is a great idea folks) of his current projects, past experiences, job history, successes and contact information. You should spend some time reading more about him, his case studies and learning from this brilliant man and this site.

Show Notes

00:13: Intro by Luke Armour

01:00: Welcoming Bruce Brodoff

01:14: Who is Bruce?

03:12: The Alliance for Downtown New York

05:00: News Junkie heads to Hollywood

07:40: Trial by fire: Office of Emergency Management in New York

08:17: Writing skills are important?!

09:28: 2 years later – economic development corporation

10:42: Coming to communications from other disciplines

13:24: Networking

16:07: Personal Branding - Get an online porfolio

17:24: A News Junkie in 2008

21:00: Ideas from the unlikeliest of places

24:27: Setting yourself apart

26:08: Success Tips!

30:35: Crisis communication, “it’s cool”

35:33: Front seat to the greatest show on earth

37:37: Wrap up
Bruce has agreed to answer questions left in the comments here or you may feel free to contact him directly through his site. Thanks for listening to Forward Podcast 39.

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Hard to believe that another year has come and gone. As we kick off the new year, I suggest you take some time and reflect. Review 2007. Plan for 2008. It will help you start the New Year with a renewed sense of purpose, and joy for life!

1. Celebrate the best. Bury the worst. Take some time to remember the great things that happened to you in 2007. Celebrate them. If you had a hard time this year, or had a certain thing occur that really caused you pain, learn from it, then bury it and move on. Use the start of a new year as a reason to move forward. Stop looking over your shoulder and look straight ahead instead.
2. Renew old acquaintances. Find five people you want to get back in touch with and contact them this week. Old friend from college? Teacher/mentor? In this age of social networking, there is no way you can’t track them down. Say thank you. More importantly, tell them about you and learn about them. Renew the relationship.
3. Commit to doing less, better. In a column on to do items, this will sound funny, but make a don’t do list. Commit this year to do less, and to do those things better. Concentrate on what you really want to do, and say “no” more often to the things that distract from those goals.
4. Schedule at least one mental health day each quarter. Do it now. With the rush of the season, it’s hard sometime to plan ahead. Take time to figure out one day every three months that you can take off – just for you. Holidays don’t count! Taking this time can make you a better worker, colleague, partner. It’s a valuable investment.

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Guest post from Auburn grad, Evyan Mischke …

Last Monday marked my second month at Evins Communications and looking back, I can’t believe I’ve only been here for 60 days. I feel like the advice I’m going to give to college students I heard over and over, but never listened to. The best word I have for the last two months is “whirlwind.” I thought I knew so much after my internship this summer, but that internship only skimmed the surface of public relations in NYC.

It’s important to keep in mind that the agency I’m at is small and my role here is a little untraditional. Technically, I’m supposed to work 50 percent on clients and 50 percent on social media. Finding the balance of this has been a little more difficult that I had anticipated. I’ve been thrown pretty quickly into two accounts and have been working on social media things on the side. However, my focus lately has been a lot more on social media and the company plan for 2008.

What does this mean for students who are about to be young PR professionals? To me, it means to give it all you can give. One thing I have learned is that it’s ok to be wrong, and it’s ok to ask questions (actually, a tip: I think they like it when you ask questions).

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At one point in time, I’m sure each of us has been victim — yes, victim — to a really, really baaaad handshake. Did you know … employers are more likely to overlook body piercings than a bad handshake? Seriously.

Personally, I’m not very forgiving of poor handshakes. There’s a broad range: too strong, too tight, too flimsy, too long, and everything in between. Mediocre handshakes are just … mediocre. But they’re somewhat more forgivable that the extremes of too aggressive or too weak.

I guess I have little patience for poor handshakes because it’s SUCH an easy thing to address! And the benefits of nailing a good handshake can be huge. Don’t you want someone to shake your hand and literally think to themselves, “Hmm, good handshake. I like this person so far.”? (Yes, I’ve literally had that cross my mind when meeting someone new before.) So what makes a good handshake? I would describe it as … firm, but not too strong, a brief pause without lingering, one or two small and solid shakes (from the elbow, not the wrist), with confident and friendly eye contact. It’s also good to step toward the person and lean slightly forward as you extend your hand. (By the way, I learned this from a workshop session with a career and etiquette coach. I’m not just pulling this out of my arse!)

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After a rather unusual introduction from your hosts, Luke Armour and Paull Young, we roll the recording Paull did at Podcamp Boston with some thought leaders in the online public relations and marketing space. Featuring Bryan Person author of the Bryper Blog and the voice of the always informative New Comm Road podcast as well as Anna Farmery all the way from England of the Engaging Brand blog and podcast.

Show Notes:

• 00:13 A very Young/Armour Intro
• 01:16 Housekeeping:
• 01:23 UGA wrap up
• 03:47 The rundown on The Rundown
• 04:16 Podcamp Boston
• Special Irish Pub Converseon edition of Mitch Joel’s Six Pixels of Separation #75 podcast. Featuring:
• Constantin Basturea – The New PR Wiki – Converseon.
• Christin Eubanks – My PRception – Converseon.
• Scott Monty – crayon – The Social Media Marketing Blog.
• Bryan Person – Bryper Blog - New Comm Road.
• Paull Young – Forward Podcast – Young PR – Converseon.
• 05:18 Paull thinks he’s funny
• 07:50 Interview with Bryan and Anna
• 09:10 Global vs Local hiring/Cultural Shifts
• 11:36 Social Media Resume
• 13:40 PR Tools You Need
• 15:30 Personal vs. Professional Online activities
• 18:12 Anna mentions Wal Mart stats and follows up via email with “Ryan Lohen of Wal Mart Stores Inc said in Wall Street Journal that he spends 1-2 hours per week searching through blogs for new talent or information about candidates. He says that he had filled 125 vacancies that way…”
• 20:45 Legal Issues
• 23:00 Wrap Up

Please leave your comments for Paull, Luke, Anna or Bryan about this podcast or any ideas you have for future podcasts. We are here to serve you! Well, Paull is, Luke is here to sip drinks with tiny umbrellas.

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If you are familiar with me at all, especially through my LinkedIn profile, you are aware that I try my best to live the Pay-it-Forward life.

Contrary to the attitude of “what’s in it for me,” the Pay-it-Forward philosophy starts with the question: “How can I help you?”

I am blessed with a wife who is the love of my life and a job I can’t wait to get to in the morning. In return, I try to help and give back to others as much as I can on a regular basis.

Here are a few ways you can start living a Pay-it-Forward life…

1. Enter new business relationships without an agenda. How many times have you met someone in a business setting and the first thing that crossed your mind was “how can this person help me?” Turn it around. Look at new business relationships as an opportunity to help others. Develop a network that will be mutually-beneficial not just to you, but to others you know.

2. Remember where other people are coming from first. When you talk with someone, do you ask them their needs, listen to their concerns, or are you wrapped up in you and your agenda? “Pay it Forward” means working with others to help them along, so in turn, they can help someone else.

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Money…they say it’s what makes the world go ’round. I am not sure about that, but it can determine your fate in getting a position you want. Most people do not like dealing with salary requirements and negotiation. It seems to have become a game between job candidates and companies. I have received questions as of late in terms of a salary negotiation strategy and thought I should share my opinions to help you in your negotiation efforts.

Companies typically handle the initial discussion of salary in one of two ways: the company will provide you with the position salary range or the company will ask what you desire in terms of salary. It is always a gamble when pitching a desired salary to a company. Some companies are very in-tune to market salaries and skill-worth while other companies think it perfectly acceptable to pay a very low salary for a very valuable job. A good company should engage in negotiation, but some companies simply remove a candidate from the applicant pool if the salary request is too far out of range.

The key to successful salary negotiations is to first, DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Research salaries for the specific type of position for which you are applying. When matching positions on those sites, try to match the position and your skill set as close as possible. The second key is to KNOW YOUR WORTH. You know your education level, experience, and so forth. Know what your skill set is worth and be prepared to defend that worth in a salary negotiation. The final key to salary negotiation is to KNOW WHAT YOU WANT. If you have your heart set on a specific geographic location with minimal opportunities, the company may be in a position to offer lower wages. If this geographic location is really where you want to be, you might have to accept a salary that is not exactly what you want. If you are focused on a particular career path, it may require you to start low. You need to be educated and realistic in approaching your salary negotiation. Do your homework…know your worth…and know what you really want.

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Whew! First Forward post from me in a long, long time. Apologies up front. But no excuses. (None are adequate.) Just diving in to the post …

I’ve been working hard the last year or so. Buried myself in getting oriented in my new career. All’s well. Good news is I’m finally surfacing with some thoughts and perspectives worth sharing. (Well, I think they’re worth sharing anyway.) Interestingly, over the past year, I’ve had several lessons from my younger years resurface and be overwhelmingly relevant.

It dates back to when I was in high school, working for my parents at our family business. My mother was my boss. She supervised many a’ high school students over the years and she earned a reputation for being a tough boss. Very high standards for her employees. She expected the best from them, and by golly, she would work with them patiently and firmly until they were polished into first-rate employees with stellar work ethics. Me working for her? Same top-notch standards applied, naturally.

My random lesson from Mom for today: follow directions.

This simple, seemingly insignificant thing is actually enormously important and can set you apart from other young professionals. It’s easy to shrug this off. “Well, of course. Everybody knows you should follow directions.” Yes. You SHOULD. But you’d be surprised how few people actually DO. Even fewer who do this well.

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Bill Sledzik, Associate Professor at Kent State University, joins us for Forward Podcast 32 to give a snapshot of PR academia. Bill is a blogger, PR professor and former PR professional (can you really be a former PR professional?).

In this segment, Bill answers the tough questions that are on students’ minds. What are professionals looking for in a new hire? What questions are you getting from other students? Does blogging matter? How? What about Facebook? Where will I find a job? Is this thing on?

As mentioned in the interview, Bill posted a two-part summary of a study with Kent State and Burrelles Luce. As promised, Bill has threatened to send the full academic tome to anyone who requests it at wsledzik [at] kent.edu

• Study post Part I
• Study post Part II

During the Intro, Paull plugged the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication “Connect” Public Relations & Social Media Conference. Well, look at that, Paull’s speaking at that conference! He’s right there on the Agenda talking about the Forward Blog. The conference has an all-star cast of some of Luke’s favorite PR bloggers. Paull, Kevin Dugan (twice the pr blogger), Constantine, Josh Hallett, and Katie Delahaye Paine just to namedrop a few…and Karen, mustn’t forget Karen. Seriously, if all of those blogs aren’t in your feedreader, get to it.

Paull then bravely mentioned that we’d have links in the show notes, which is easy to say because he’s not doing the show notes this week. So there they are.

Please let Bill, Luke or Paull know what you really think of them. You can email luke [at] forward-moving.com with all your sincerest and most personal thoughts about this or any Forward podcast or leave a comment right here on this blog.

Technorati Tags: pr, public relations, forward podcast, pr students, pr education, career advice

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Forward Podcast 31 responds to some recent hot debate in the PR blogging space about just how vocal young PR professionals should be, both in the office and offline.

This episode is an interview with Edelman’s Phil Gomes in response to his post about the importance of young PR professionals ‘managing up‘ - talking up to their boss or colleagues when they feel they have a deeper understanding of an issue. Paull and Phil also discuss the debate that has recently sprung up about whether inexperienced communicators could be doing their reputations harm by speaking up online.

The podcast ends with some brilliant thoughts from young PR professional and blogger Kait Swanson. Her thoughts really put Phil’s theory into practice from the point of view of a young communicator. She’s clearly a fair bit smarter than Paull and Luke, so hopefully she’ll start commenting regularly. Of course, you can join the conversation at any time by leaving a comment or sending us an audio file to include.

This episode is the second time Phil has appeared on the Forward Podcast, he was previously the subject of episode #6 on the dark art of podcasting. Paull has a post at his personal blog summarizing the numerous mentions of this debate so far, there are some excellent thoughts across the blogosphere that can teach a lot to young professionals.

In other housekeeping news, Forward will be the subject of a case study at the Connect: PR and Social Media Conference at the University of Georgia, Athens, on October 19-20. The conference is intended to educate public relations professionals and educators on social media and Paull Young will be presenting on the mission and history of Forward as an example of how social media can be used to attempt to help both young communicators and the industry as a whole move Forward.

We strongly suggest you take the time to read through the entire debate - there’s a post covering the conversation from start to finish at Paull’s blog. The discussion to date on this topic, from both experienced and inexperienced viewpoints alike, is really a case study of the power of social media to move our industry forward.

Technorati Tags: Phil Gomes, managing up, decision support, reputation management, pr blogging, young pr blogging, marketing blogging

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