"Put it to them briefly, so they will read it; clearly, so they will appreciate it; picturesquely, so they will remember it; and, above all, accurately, so they will be guided by its light."--Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), newspaper publisher

Even though this quote is probably directed more to newspaper writing, I want to talk about my feelings on writing in general. Writing can move people. Have you ever read a book where every time you look at the cover again, thoughts or emotions come back? It's so surprising how simple words, when put together, can have that effect. I'm so grateful that I can learn how to write better and more efficiently in this major. Often times, I find that it just takes practice. Which is why I need to update this blog more. I need the practice. Even if I end up writing press releases all day long, I will want to continue with 'just me' writing. Hooray for putting thoughts down on paper!

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."--William Strunk and E.B. White, in The Elements of Style

I love this quote! It goes to show that writing should always tell the story to the point that it can. I want to work towards this in everything I do. I need to let every word tell.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Public Relations Crisis

For an assignment, I studied up on a few PR crisis situations and how they’ve been handled. In 2005, Wendy’s fast food restaurant was involved in a crisis. A woman had found part of a human finger in her chili she had ordered. Instead of ignoring the situation, Wendy’s went right to work on letting the media and public know of the situation and what they were doing to fix it. Lou Williams, owner of a crisis PR firm, said specialists “should tell it fast and tell the truth.” This is exactly what Wendy’s did. Although this happened, I think Wendy’s reputation was saved by being honest. As one of the core values of public relations, I think honesty is the best policy. People feel more comfortable when they have been told the truth. Especially if it’s a popular organization that many people hope and believe in. Even in the case of fast food.
Johnson & Johnson has a crisis a while ago with their Tylenol capsules containing poison and causing several deaths. Johnson & Johnson immediately went to the media and public with press conferences, took all Tylenol packages off the shelves in all stores and became the first in the industry to use the new tamper resistant packaging just six months after the crisis occurred. The crisis situation I enjoyed reading about most was when Pepsi Cola set up a crisis management team after hypodermic needles had been found in Pepsi cans. They put public safety first, went to find and fix it, and communicated quickly while taking responsibility for solving the crisis. The team used video news releases (VNRs) to show consumers that Pepsi canning processes could not be tampered with. Craig E. Weatherup, Pepsi CEO and president at the time, said, “A can is the most tamper-proof packaging in food supply. We are 99.99 percent certain that this didn’t happen in Pepsi plants”. The public relations team was what got that quote out to the media. They sent out several videos showing how fast the can was blown out, inverted, filled and closed all n less than a second Within 48 hours, the first video was seen by 296 million viewers, three times the number that usually watches the super bowl. By the end of the week Pepsi spokespersons had conducted more than 2,000 interviews with the media. All of this was done through public relations! I’ve come to understand how important it is to have specific knowledge on how to handle an organization’s crisis.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Super Size Me

I will never eat fast food again. Okay maybe that’s a little harsh. But my mind has definitely been changed after watching Super Size Me, a documentary about American obesity and Morgan Spurlock, an independent filmmaker who follows 5 rules …

1. he will eat McDonalds everyday for 30 days
2. he can only buy food from McDonalds and has to try every menu item at least once
3. he has to eat 3 meals a day
4. If they ask if he wants his meal supersized, he has to say yes … hence the name.
5. He will attempt to walk as much as a typical American citizen, averaging 5,000 standardized distance steps per day

Within the first 5 minutes, I learned since 1980, American obesity has doubled and that in the fattest state, Mississippi 1 out of every 4 are obese. Right now, obesity is 2nd to smoking in preventable deaths and Fortune Magazine came out with an article, Is Fat the next tobacco? Spurlock’s reasoning for the experiment was to prove the reasoning behind the spreading of obesity in America and the validity of lawsuits that were filed against McDonalds foods for being physiologically addictive and physically harming. In the beginning, Spurlock was in top shape, all his blood tests ran well, and he weighed in at 185.5 lbs., a perfect weight for his 6’2” height. Within 5 days, he gained 195 lbs, 5% of his body weight. At his second weigh in, after 12 days, he had gained 17 lbs. He describing going “McCrazy”, and having “McSweats” and “McTwitching”. At the end of his experiment, Spurlock had gained 24.5 lbs., a 13% body mass increase, a cholesterol level of 230 and experienced chest pressure, accumulating fat to his liver, depression and other physical and physiological problems. After watching the film, I wondered why McDonalds is still, to this day, one of the top fast food restaurant chains in the world. I came to the conclusion that McDonalds has excellent marketing, advertising and public relations teams. In the documentary, Spurlock said per year, food and vegetables spent $2 Million on advertising, Hershey Foods spent $200 million on advertising, while McDonalds spent over $1.4 billion on advertising. I’m sure that number is even higher now since the documentary was filmed in 2004. It just goes to show that even though a company may be corrupt or not the best for society, they will be fine if they have good PR and advertising.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Reputation

I found what happened with Tiger Woods over the past week to be very interesting from a public relations perspective. Tiger Woods, the famous and billion dollar golf player was found early Friday morning next to his SUV that had crashed into a tree and fire hydrant with the back windows shattered. Tiger Woods, at the time was unconscious but his neighbor, who had found him, called police for help. After the incident, Tiger Woods would not make any comments to the media and said he and his family were handling the situation alone. I wondered why he was so reluctant to release any information, thinking the worst case scenario is that he had been drunk or recklessly driving. After information had been released, it was found that Tiger Woods had been involved in several affairs and his wife, after finding out, hit him and the back windows of their car with a golf club (ironically). Woods did not want anyone to know because of his reputation and his name. After this came out, I found it fascinating that someone as prominent and respected as a world class golf player would keep this information from the media and the public. If I was a personal public relations consultant for Tiger Woods, I would suggest an immediate press conference announcing exactly what happened and what would be done to fix it. Although Tiger Woods had been involved in several affairs, his character may have been in more danger if he had waited any longer to explain the situation. This follows back to why it’s so important to answer to the public or media when a crisis happens. The information is put out there along with the comfort to investors or customers that things are being worked on and the situation will be fixed. As a public relations specialist, reassurance and coming to the public first is always eminent.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Live the change you wish to see

For a PRSSA activity, we had Sarah Reale come and speak to us about her job as Utah State University’s public relations and marketing director. She gave us tips on what works now compared to what was done in the past. She all gave us an article that, through reading, has made me realize the importance of remembering the basics of public relations and it’s functions. The article is called The State of PR, Marketing and Communications: You are the Future by Brian Solis, a co-founder of the Social Media Club and principal of Future Works, an online public relations/communications firm. The article talks about where public relations stands today. “Contrary to popular belief, social media isn’t killing public relations, but the business of public relations IS in a state of paramount crisis. It’s not without merit however. Perhaps up until now we have been our own worst enemy,” Solis said. Many think that social media will produce the death of public relations but as Solis said, public relations will always have to step up and become more than people make it out to be. Solis said our future lies in the ability to shift “PR” from a business of publicity to a schedule of true “public” relations. He also said the public relations industry should embrace the socialization of the Web which will bring out a “more meaningful, relevant and lasting renaissance.” It’s interesting to think what the future of public relations holds as social media grows more and becomes more advanced. If public relation specialists can remember most of the time, it is about the people and ‘public’ aspect, then the future of technology or anything related won’t affect the field of PR.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...PRSSA

I wanted to make a post about the amazing opportunity I've had to be a member on the executive board of PRSSA (public relations student society of America). I have learned so much with these girls about public relations and more importantly about leadership.

The picture above is when we were able to attend the PRSA (public relations society of America) monthly luncheon in Salt Lake City. There were so many public relations professionals in the room and it everything to keep me from asking all of them how they got to the position they are in now. They had a Halloween themed luncheon where each table got a 'scary' case study that needed to be fixed. The case study my table received was on a Dell Inc. announcement of the largest recall in the history of consumer electronics. The actual event happened on August 15, 2006, where Dell faced a number of challenges on the PR front and the news of "exploding batteries" first surfaced six weeks prior to the recall. Controlling the timing of the announcement was critical and ultimately, another organization leaked the announcement to the press. As a result, Dell accelerated its launch plans by about 12 hours -- including launching the recall Website early.

We talked about immediately accessing Dell's social networks with Twitter and Facebook status updates and changing everything online. We wanted to get the CEO to admit the error and clarify what happened through an online video. We also talked about a PR Newswire distribution of a letter and putting signs in a display window or all Dell's computer stores. After we shared our idea and listened to the other group's situations, I learned that the first priority when it comes to a PR crisis should always involve the consumers and customers. Holding a press conference to consumers and the media should come before anything else. If possible, notifying the consumers and investors simultaneously is also a good idea.

I learned so much about PR crisis situations at this luncheon. We were also able to hear from Sarah Reale, Utah State University's Public Relations and Marketing director. She has really put Utah State in an amazing light and has come up with a lot of ideas including a video series, Don't' Apply, that advertises attending Utah State University. I've been grateful for my opportunity to work within PRSSA and all that I have learned through being involved outside of the classroom.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Stokes Nature Center

For my group midterm project in Intro to Public Relations, we took on the PR for Stokes Nature Center. At first, I viewed the assignment to be easy. Come up with a few press releases, throw out a couple of fliers, announce the center to my friends and classmates. It seemed to be pretty easy...until we met with the nature center's program coordinator, Adrea Wheaton. It wasn't until then that I realized the project we had ahead of us.

I really wish we would have had more time to implement what we created. After seeing what the nature center needed, we went to work on surveying, coming up with ideas, researching other centers, and even using Facebook to our advantage, with some of us asking our contacts what they knew about the center.

After all of our research, we discovered that the center's main objective should be to increase the audience and awareness of monthly programs. We created several tailored press releases, brochures, fliers, a question and answer document, as well as a calendar announcing events and programs.

The work we did on this project made me even more excited for a career in the public relations field. I know each day will not be the same and there will be times when looking over an organization's well being will seem stressful but I look forward to it! The job descriptions fit my personality and I can't wait to get into the real world to practice what I've learned.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Facebook Kid

I love social media. From keeping in contact and reuniting with friends to being updated on recent news, the benefits of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets are unlimited. What if, however, social media could keep you from being accused of a crime you did not commit?

Rodney Bradford of Harlem, New York was committed of gunpoint robbery on the morning of Oct. 17, 11:49 a.m. to be exact. When the 19-year old Bradford was arrested next day, Facebook became his best friend and alibi.

Arrested for the gun point mugging of Jeremy Dunklebarger and Rolando Perez-Lorenzo, between Bridge and Prospect streets at 11:50 a.m., Bradford argued he was visiting his father at that time, and ironically updating his Facebook status. When Bradford’s defense lawyer, Robert Reuland, told a Brooklyn assistant district attorney, Lindsay Gerdes, about the Facebook entry, the page was reopened to verify the update had been typed from a computer located at 71 West 118th Street in Harlem. When that was confirmed, the charges were dropped.

John Browning, a lawyer and member of the Dallas Bar Association who studies social networking and the law said, “This is the first case that I’m aware of in which a Facebook update has been used as alibi evidence.” Browning is currently writing a book about lawyers and social networking.

Many other cases have been solved or proved evident through Facebook and MySpace accounts including divorce situations and burglary cases. One employee who said he was too sick to work at his desk was found to have been well enough to add numerous blog posts nearly every day. Postings by a sheriff’s deputy on his MySpace page led to his firing for “conduct unbecoming an officer.” Social networking has become a powerful tool for almost any situation involving a crime, questionable event or act.

Bradford’s friends have nicknamed him the Facebook kid and Bradford is now able to continue to attend school instead of prison all because of a status update. Hopefully, none of us will ever have to use our Facebook postings to our advantage in this way.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Students Take on PR for Attorney General's Campaign

COME SEE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL! (This is my article that was published in the Statesman on it)

On September 29, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff came to Utah State University to present his campaign on Identity Theft and even brought along a shredder for a demonstration. Much to his dismay, his appearance was a letdown. Nobody knew he was coming. Based on information from Shurtleff’s Director of Communications, press releases were sent, but responses were few. Whether from a lack of communication or not enough publicity, the Attorney General came to Utah State and left without announcing his campaign.

Preston Parker, public relations professor, was surprised at the lack of communication and publicity for such an event.

“I was surprised that someone as prominent as the attorney general, someone who is running currently for the U.S. Senate could come to a venue like Utah State University and have so few people know about it,” Parker said.

When any other school might pass up the opportunity to invite him back, Utah State University public relations students have jumped on the task to put into practice what they are learning.

Public relations students, through the mentoring of Parker, have taken on the task of publicizing the event. From press releases, to flyers and posters, to finding the best location on campus for a shredding truck, assignments have been uploaded onto a Google document where any public relations student can access the document to contribute.

Preston Parker has been the main point of communication with the attorney general’s office directly although his students can ask questions and contribute.

“I’ve worked directly with the office to get the date scheduled, October 22, and the time, from 4 – 7, specifically the attorney general from 6 – 7,” Parker said. “It’s been great working with the office and planning out 2 to 3 weeks into the future on this event.”

PR students have been in charge of scheduling the location and have been invited to include other prominent people. USU PR students are running on no budget, meaning they are relying heavily and solely on the ability of Utah State University locations to provide for advertising.

Natalie Curtis, junior in public relations, is a volunteer for Fusion Radio and has been communicating with Fusion to announce the visit. Curtis reserved a space for a banner announcing the event that will hang in the TSC October 20 – 22. Curtis has also developed an official social media hash tag, #utahagusu, that has been used by social media to publicize the event.

Curtis hopes people will want to hear what Shurtleff’s views are so they can become more educated about him and what he is doing for Utah.

“I just hope that people see it since we’re doing so much advertising and promotion,” Curtis said. “A lot of people will see it in different places and hopefully, from all these different angles, people will want to come and hear him speak.”

Curtis also set up a Facebook event page with information on the event.

Radio interviews have also taken place. Jessica Vasil, junior in political science and public relations participated in an interview with KVNU.

“I think it’s awesome because one of the things we talked about is that we’re literally taking ‘learn this on Tuesday, apply it on Wednesday’,” Vasil said. “I think it’s really cool to not have to wait and right away get an opportunity to apply what we’re learning.”

Renae Cowley, junior in agriculture communication, also participated in the radio interview. Cowley hopes the outcome will be big and hopes it will be talked about for a while.

“I hope that they’ll be talking about how the students came together and united and were able to take what they were learning and apply it through the diversity of media to communicate that message,” Cowley said.

Students are also e-mailing USU faculty and departments, getting on the Utah State University activity calendars, and getting news stories and coverage for the event. Students have also been involved in passing out leaflets, fliers, and placing posters around campus and the community. One goal is to not only get students to attend the event, but also members of the community.
Parker hopes people will come and become more educated on Shurtleff’s campaign on identity theft as the outcome of the event.

“People should show up and listen to his ten to fifteen minute speech on identify theft,” Parker said. “That will help people become aware of identity theft and for that matter the attorney general’s campaign on identify theft.”

Parker hopes the outcome of the project will provide students with experiences resulting in tangible material such as articles, press releases, and letters of recommendation that will benefit them in future career opportunities.

“That’s something that speaks much more than a resume,” Parker said. “You hand a portfolio over, and say ‘I can do these things, I’ve already done them. Give me an opportunity to do more’. We’re finding portfolios in real world experiences are what get our students internships in part time and full time positions.”

The Attorney General, Mark Shurtleff, will visit Utah State University on October 22 to unveil the latest technology to stop consequences of identity theft. From 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Shurtleff’s crew will provide free shredding services to the public to promote his identity theft campaign. Between 6:00 and 7:00 p.m., opening remarks will be made by the attorney general, Mark Shurtleff followed by a presentation on the IRIS (the Identity Theft Reporting Information System) by Scott Morrill. Enable Secure Shredding will give a presentation on shredding followed by a question and answer time on identity theft and Shurtleff’s campaign. The event will take place in the TSC Sunburst Lounge.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...NieNie Dialogues

I’ve always been amused by blogging. From different layouts to clever storytelling or pictures, everyone seems to have their own story to tell. Imagine my surprise when I came upon one of my favorite blogs still to this day. The NieNie Dialogues is published by blogger, Stephanie Nielson and is a diary of her life as a wife, mother and everything else. It started in 2005 for close friends and family but overtime seemed to attract viewers from around the world. The way she talks about her marriage to ‘Mr. Nielson’ and her adventures with her four children all under the age of 6, (Claire, Jane, Oliver and Nicholas), is almost captivating. As the New York Times put it, ‘to her admirers, she was Supermom.’

Even though Stephanie would never tell of the bad, her life was turned upside down on August 16 of last year. After buying her husband flying lessons two years before, the couple was returning home from a weekend trip at a family ranch in New Mexico accompanied by Mr. Nielson’s flight instructor, Mr. Kinneard. It’s uncertain who was behind the controls on that flight, but the plane crashed. Mr. Kinneard died shortly afterward but Stephanie and her husband were able to get save their lives by escaping from the burning wreckage. Once they reached the hospital, Christian and Stephanie sustained severe burns, Stephanie over more than 80 percent of her body.

Almost, immediately family members and the community (try 30,000 readers) jumped in to help with the Nie Nie donations. The family’s story, covered in the New York Times, said visitors to the Nie Nie Dialogues blog had increased from 1,000 to well over 20,000 a day. The Today Show interviewed Stephanie’s sister, who took all four of her kids while she was recovering.
During reconstructive surgery on Stephanie’s badly damaged face, doctors retrieved enough tissue from parts of her body to craft a new nose and ears. If you visit her blog today, pictures show how she is healing along with her new outlook on life and continuing love for her kids and husband.

The point of this post is to talk about the power of social media. Who knew, that because of one blog and one individual’s story, so much help could come in such a desperate time of need. Medical bills that have reached in the millions will be paid for through donations and online auctions. Bloggers from around the world including countries like Australia, Israel, Spain and Germany have helped raise more than $100,000 in donations. It goes to show that you never know the affect social media can have until you see it in real life events.

Eccentric Homes in Cache Valley

Yet another opportunity to write for the Statesman. This article was extremely fun to write. I never knew there were so many unique homes close to campus! One of my favorites was the Retro House because of its different colors and unique style.

JCOM 2300 Thoughts...Whittier Center Playground

If anyone got involved or heard about the Whittier Center Playground service project, then they know what an amazing experience it was! It was a project to bring a handicapped accessible playground to the neighborhood all thorough volunteer work. Statistics have shown that between 11 and 13 percent of the 23, 763 children in Cache Valley live with a disability and building the playground would be able to service that percentage fully. What originally started out as a 'go if you can' thing for me turned into an all week extravaganza! I was surprised how fast I got attached to the project and how I wanted to be there every second! It started on Monday, September 14 but for me, the best day was Saturday and seeing the finished project. I would have never gotten involved if it weren't for PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) and my public relations major announcing it. I was even able to become a construction captain with no prior experience and was promoted to a 'skilled' volunteer meaning I knew how to operate a skilled saw (which would have never happened before)! I've included some pictures to show what I was able to work on!

Drilling holes for bolts.

This is the playground almost finished! One of my favorite parts about it is the castle.

I was able to nail the fish on the bottom of the boat.

I tried to make the illusion of him jumping out of the water and making the nail his eye.

My tree house! Okay, maybe not mine but this was my main project. Learning how to operate a jigsaw and router was key here in making the squiggly branches and leaves. Note the hidden 'Aggie' A!

The project almost finished!

This is Barry with Leathers and Associates. He and his team fly in from Ithaca, NY to create these playgrounds using only volunteers. He's seen a lot and taught me everything I learned! He was a great guy to work with.

Overall, it was an amazing experience and something that I wouldn't have traded. I learned so much about not only constructing but about people and service. I hope to get another opportunity like this again.

On Belay? Belay on!

For some strange reason, I am writing for The Statesman again. Not that I don't love the opportunity to interview a range of amazing and interesting people...or to learn about the weird, quirky, successful, or whatever other adjective you want to describe the articles I sign up for... but it can just be stressful! After doing this last story however, I realized why I continue to write and give in to submitting the finished product after battling with my OCD-ness. It's too cool! Who else gets to see girls scream and get the guts to drop and swing after being lifted 40 feet into the air?.....Sigh. Too bad I couldn't have a hands on experience with this lil' beauty. Tune in for the next article... I'm really excited about it.