Blizzard Whiplash!

  December's North American blizzard is "dead and gone"(haha like my reference to Justin Timberlake?) but with another storm approaching Tuesday night going into Wednesday's morning commute, many New Yorkers must be concerned, considering the way clean up was handled in late December.

  Today's hearing held amongst the NYC Council, regarding the storm cleaning mishaps, addressed the many mistakes made.  Not surprisingly, Mayor Bloomberg was not in attendance.  Others were left to take the blame and scrutiny!  Probably for the better though, considering Bloomberg's lackadaisical attitude and statements regarding the December snowstorm.  The Daily News quoted Bloomberg as saying "The world has not come to an end...The city's going on. Many people are taking the day off. Most stores are open. There's no reason for anybody to panic." [Bloomberg's PR people are really going to need some magic to work on his communication skills.]


  Deputy Mayor of Operations, Stephen Goldsmith fessed up to the following mistakes:
-Failure to declare snow emergency
-Not enough accountability tools
-Insufficient deployment resources
-Failure to procure private resources
-Inadequate ability to communicate with fields unit
-Breakdown in the 9-1-1 emergency system

  Each of these mistakes caused severe repercussions for NYC's community.  Ambulances were unable to reach victims in need of help in a timely manner due to uncleaned streets and major back-ups.

  I drove into the Bronx, the 29th, for Yankees Stadium's 1st ever Pinstripe Bowl, and was astounded to see the streets still shabbily cleaned leaving locals no where to park safely, hence the parking tickets/fines. Sidewalks unsafe to walk on, and garbage stacked and piled up to God knows where land.

  Hopefully the city will have its act together for the storm to come.  Better to be safe than sorry!  Future NYC council meetings are to be held concerning the MTA's part during the storm.

Mid-way marker

As I chain myself to my chair in the library to get all of my last minute work done, I'm thinking about how I'm half way completed with graduate school.  Whew!- it most definitely took a toll on me but it feels great to almost be done.  It's been a rough journey thus far and I'm sure it will only get worse but I have gotten a lot from these five classes within the last four months! 

I am more confident in my knowledge of the theoretical disciplines of the field as well as how to apply the concepts to the "real" work in the industry.  Four months down, four more to go and already I feel like I have a better idea where I'm heading and where I would like to be in the industry.  When you're a kid in school, your teachers always have the assignments of "What do you want to be when you grow up" but actually figuring it out it is a lot harder then you think. (Or at least it was for me.) 

Pin-pointing the field of public relations was one step, but in my undergrad I still was unsure of where in public relations I fell or in that case where I wanted to fall.  Now, the picture is becoming a little clearer to me.  I'm finally starting to focus on the bulls eye! 

Well, back to the books I go...it is finals week!

Thank God for # 2

Glory day! The Yankees and Derek Jeter have finally come to agreement after a month of negotiations. I can't imagine the Bronx bombers without shortstop and captain Derek Jeter.

As a BIG Yankees fan, it would break my heart to not see Jeter in the lineup. Jeter embodies a true "capitan" and still has much to offer. During negotiations, Jeter remained private on the progression. On November 18th, Hal Steinbrenner said "it is important what our fans think...this is a business negotiation! None of us want to make this personal because it's not personal. Both sides have a lot of respect for each other. My family has a lot of respect for Derek and I believe it's a mutual thing. Its been a good history!"


Following Steinbrenner's comments, Casey Close, Jeter's agent, said to AOL FanHouse "we do agree with Hal's and Brian Cashman's recent comments that this contract is about business and winning championships. Clearly, baseball is a business, and Derek's impact on the sport's most valuable franchise cannot be overstated. Moreover, no athlete embodies the spirit of a champion more than Derek Jeter."

Jeter's new contract is expected to be $15-$17 million(3 year deal) per season and will include deferred money.  It has not been officially announced because Jeter still needs to pass a physical examination however, in 2014 the deal can also increase in value depending on performance.

I say, lets go Jeter! I know you still have the heat. God bless #2.

Power of SPSS

   Statistical analysis is the numbers that matter in public relations.  It's time to let go of the common fear of numbers and jump into a crucial portion of public relations, demonstrating the value of our work! 

  SPSS formerly known as "Statistical Package for the Social Sciences" is widely used.  Market researchers, health researchers, survey companies, government, education researchers, and marketing organizations are a few to name.  As I sat in on yesterday's seminar, "How to measure public relations in a new media age" at Quinnipiac University, by KDPaine & Partners (Measures of Success) I realized the vast importance of this measurable communications tool. 

  Katie Delahaye Paine, CEO of KDPaine & Partners says that when hiring, people that know SPSS are automatic shoe-ins!  She also says the purpose of measurement is demonstrating what doesn't work and applying the appropriate measures to those actions.  Paine also notes the importance oh how to do measurement correctly. 



  It is all about learning  how to improve business performance  IBM's, SPSS Sample Power, provides a guide to providing effortless precision.  IBM's SPSS software has been being used for over forty years in planning, data collecting, data access, data management and preparation, analysis, reporting, and deployment.  
 
  We are now in a field that it is not enough to just say this is what I did, or I put out "x" amount of press releases.  We must be able to bear the fruits of our labor!    

Twitter--Innovative & Savvy way of introducing Healthcare PR jobs

Just out of mere curiosity, today I googled "health care pr jobs."  What came up should not have surprised me, yet it did!  One of the first items that caught my eye was @Twitter-HlthcarePRjobs.  Savvy idea of creating a Twitter account just to list available positions. 

@HlthcarePRjobs is the Twitter account of Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, NY.  Orange Regional Medical Center is said to be a "health care leader that still maintains a sense of intimacy and a state-of-the-art facility with a tremendous sense of community. You'll find the benefits you deserve with the rewards you can see. You'll find the advancement, flexibility and resources to advance your career and provide the care that your patients need.Orange Regional Medical Center - successful careers are common here."  As a prospective student seeking employment, it all sounds so enticing!



This is an example of how social media is becoming such a powerful platform for various organizations/companies. Social media is becoming a fundamental tool in how we communicate.  Take a look at this"Social Media Revolution" clip--Word of mouth or World of mouth?!?! Social Media Revolution 

 

This gives even more reason to why "us," the students soon to be seeking employment, need to be well rounded an adverse to all social media platforms.  If you haven't already...it's time to jump on the ball!

 

  

 

Palin's Strategy

Every time something comes up about Sarah Palin's new series on TLC I can't help but wonder what her strategy is behind this.  What are her PR people thinking?

"Sarah Palin's Alaska" premieres this Sunday.  Alessandra Stanley of the NY Times writes "It’s a nature series for political voyeurs: viewers get to observe Ms. Palin observing nature."  What's the angle on this?  Besides the fact that clearly Palin enjoys being in the lime light.

It is unsure of whether Palin intends on running in the 2012 presidential election, but in my opinion if she is, does she think this is going to help.  Palin does have a strong fan base, shockingly! But for those who are not in the midst of her popularity, myself particularly, I  remember her saying in a preview of one of the episodes, how she'd rather be doing this any day than be in office (something along those lines).  I take that offensively because if she does intend on running, what does that say about her work ethics?

PR strategy or not? Who knows.  I don't think it's going to work in her benefit though. Time will tell.  I can't wait for Sunday!

PR's BIG QUESTION...what's the ROI?

Practitioners within the field are constantly being pressured to have hard evidence and clearly demonstrate the return on investment (ROI).  But how exactly do we measure the value of public relations within organizations?  Much research has been done and is still being done on how we can prove our value, but "we" practitioners know that public relations is a strong force to be reckoned with. 



Mark Weiner of PRSA writes about the steps you could take to prove to your organization the wealth in public relations.  The article titled "Make Your Case for Public Relations" provides the following steps:

• "Measure and evaluate your PR performance, whether it's requested or not."
• "Know the difference between measurement and evaluation.  Measurement is a form of arithmetic and evaluation is a form of professional and contextual analysis, from which value is derived."  (Babbie describes evaluation research as research that studies the effects of social interventions.)
•  "Make it easy for executives to understand the power of public relations by speaking the language of business. Data is power — many PR practitioners can’t define “buzz,” let alone impute a value."  (No, not Buzz Light Year or buzz like a bumble bee but when I think "buzz" in regards to public relations I think about the conversations/controversy that occurs from press releases.  In a sense we get people talking.  You want your product or idea out there, well public relations can and will find a way to get people talking about your product/idea....thus creating a "buzz." 
• "Uncover the value system in your own organization before fussing over “what to measure.” Executives will tell you what’s important — follow their guidance to reduce risk but incorporate higher forms of measurement to help them evolve."
• "Create a research, analysis and measurement culture within your own PR team. Validate success and use shortfalls as opportunities for learning."
   
   Sooner, rather than later though, I do believe that we will have to prove our efficiency through numbers.  Where is research studies going with ROI?  Who will be the all-mighty one to crack the code?