FIR Podcast Network

EngagePhase Weekly is the only newsletter that covers the public participation industry in North America and around the world.  And today, EngagePhase Editor-in-Chief Tim Bonneman joins Joseph Thornley to talk about what it took to get EngagePhase going, how he covers the industry and what to expect from EngagePhase in the future.

Interview with Sarah Enelow-Snyder about Black Travel and the Black Travel Movement.

Raised in rural Texas, Sarah Enelow-Snyder is a former guidebook writer and Fulbright Scholar, currently assistant editor at Skift covering the black travel movement and other tourism news. She loves storytelling, genealogy, and researching the Great Migration, of which she’s a descendant. 

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.

Canada’s National Capital Region is getting its own chapter of the International Association for Public Participation. And this week’s Inside P2 guest host, Peter Wilton, joins Joseph Thornley to talk about what’s in store for members of the new chapter.

If anybody tells you 1 hour and 22 minutes is too long for an episode of a podcast, it can only mean they didn’t listen to this episode of “For Immediate Release”! Host Shel Holtz chats with Kami Huyse about whether decentralized social networks can ever compete with the big walled gardens, Michael Ambjorn on why transparency is so important to building trust, and Steve Crescenzo on AI products that digest employee emails to assess levels of engagement. Also in this episode…

* The Mayo Clinic  and CNN exchange jabs over a reputation-damaging report* Elon Musk’s tweet — which nobody reviewed before he sent it — has provoked an SEC investigation* The public wants the big internet companies like Facebook and Twitter to do something about fake news, bots, and other forms of misinformation* Nine communications organizations issued a joint statement supporting a free and independent press the same day more than 350 newspapers ran editorials in response to President Trump’s continued assaults on the media* Google and employees who were divided over the development of a search app that censor came together when they discovered an employee was sending updates from a closed meeting to a journalist* California firefighters are using an Augmented Reality tool to stay up to date on on-the-ground information* St. Louis University is putting Amazon Dot smart speakers into all of its dorm rooms* Smart speaker sales will increase 50% next year* People who buy products using a smart speaker almost always buy the first item they hear* In-N-Out’s lawyers have issued a pun-riddled cease-and-desist letter* Pop-ups are appearing in big cities specifically so people can share photos from inside them on Instagram and SnapchatOnly about 20% of the content produced by marketers gets used by SalesPlastic surgeons are being inundated with requests to make people look better in their selfies

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog.

About our conversation partners

Michael Ambjorn is Past Chair of the International Association of Business Communicators. He is also founder of Align Your Org where – with a participation-centric approach – he and his colleagues enable effective strategic planning, communication – and clarity of execution. He has held leadership roles at IBM, Motorola and the 260–year–old Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. A consummate connector, speaker, facilitator – and mentor – he is also active in a number of further networks.

Steve Crescenzo started Crescenzo Communications 16 years ago after leaving his post as Editorial Director and VP of New Product Development at Ragan Communications.(Steve does a lot of great communication work, but his wife Cindy runs Crescenzo Communications.) Both Steve and Cindy do presentations, internal communication audits, and internal communication consulting. Steve and Cindy both present frequently, together and solo, at a number of communication conferences at events, and Steve has been recognized as the top speaker at IABC’s world conference a number of times.

Kami Huyse is the founder of Zoetica Media. She writes an award-winning blog, Zoetica Talks, on the topic of public relations and social media strategy. Kami is a national leader in the use of social media for public relations. She speaks at social media events and conferences all over the country and her work in social media has earned her the SNCR’s 2008 Repu...

The challenges and complexities of communicating increase with the size and scope of the employee population. It’s one thing to communicate when all your employees are in one city or state. When employees span the country, it gets harder, with the expectations and perceptions of employees in Ohio (for example) not necessarily aligning with those of staff in, say, New York. Add staff in other countries — where cultures (not to mention languages) are different and things get even dicier.

This episode of Circle of Fellows — with Mary Hills, Leticia Narváez, Cindy Schmieg, and Angela Sinickas — explored the nuances of communicating globally, regionally, and nationally.

About the panel

Mary Hills’ career as a marketing and communication professional has been in companies undergoing significant evolution, change, and growth. She has held leadership positions with responsibility for developing plans and schemas to support long-term growth and business sustainability goals. She has more than 20 years experience and expertise in designing and delivering training and development programs for companies and organizations, bringing theories, models, and frameworks into everyday practice. In addition to her role at HeimannHills Marketing Group, Mary serves as Adjunct Faculty in the MS – Global Strategic Communication program at Loyola University Chicago.  Mary speaks internationally and nationally on marketing, communication, standards and practices and women’s leadership topics. She is licensed in Adobe Connect and WebEx, using these to conduct virtual professional learning and education sessions.

Leticia Narváez, ABC,  is CEO and Founding Partner of Narváez Group, a consulting firm focused on Strategic Communication, Employee Engagement, Corporate Reputation, Social Responsibility and Communication Training based in Mexico City. A 30-years experienced professional, she held management top-level positions at Sanofi, Merck, American Express and Ford Motor Co. among others. She builds communication bridges with the utmost excellence standards. During her career path, she has been at the forefront of divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, diversity leadership, issues and crisis management, team and leadership development, strategic planning and senior executive consulting. She has been a speaker at international forums, is the co-author of several books and manuals on business communications and has written a large number of articles on the subject. Leticia has a Bachelor’s Degree in Communications and Public Relations from the Latinoamericana University, a Master Degree on Digital Communications from Cantabria University and a Postgraduate Diploma on Top Business Administration at the Panamerican Institute of Top Business Administration – IPADE-.

Cindy Schmieg ABC, is an award-winning strategic communicator. With 30+ years of corporate, agency, and consulting experience, Cindy now teaches online within the Communications Master Degree program at Southern New Hampshire. She has served in many IABC leadership roles and today serves as IABC 2018 Gold Quill Awards Chair.

Angela Sinickas is the founder of Sinickas Communications, which has worked with companies, organizations, and governments in 32 countries on six continents. Her clients include 25% of the Forbes Top 100 largest global companies. Before starting her own consulting firm, she held positions from editor to vice president in for-profit and government organizations and worked as a senior consultant and practice leader at Hewitt and Mercer. She is the author of a manual, How to Measure Your Communication Programs (now in its third edition), and chapters in several books. Her 50+ articles in professional journals can be found on he...

This week on Inside PR 518, we talk about the upgrade to the Twitter app that makes creating Tweet Threads as easy as clicking on a plus sign at the bottom of your tweet composition window. Twitter threads are a great way to tell more complex stories over time. And they have the extra value of pulling all the tweets in the thread to the top of your followers’ timelines whenever you add a tweet to the thread. This is a great way to stay in front of your audience without repeating tweets.

Sidewalk Labs, a Google/Alphabet company, has big plans to redevelop an industrial section of Toronto’s waterfront into a demo of the smart city of the future. Sounds like a great idea! But Sidewalk Labs’ path to make Toronto a showcase has raised controversy around the stewardship of the data about people that willl be collected. And skepticism has only been accentuated by suggestions that Waterfront Toronto, the agency that is responsible for the lands Sidewalk Labs wants to develop, has been so eager to make the deal that they have become too cozy with Sidewalk Labs too early in the negotiation process. A communications challenge at any time. But an especially big challenge post-Cambridge Analytica.

The New York Times profile of the fake Youtube views business is the latest example of the social platforms rewarding bad actions. This is just plain wrong. But for PR folks, salt was rubbed in the wound by the suggestion in the article that most of the views are purchased by PR and marketing agencies. It’s hard to imagine who those agencies would be. Do you work at a PR firm or know someone who works at a PR firm that buys YouTube views? If you do, we’d love to hear from you and maybe even get you to come on the show to talk with us about this practice.

This week we review what Facebook could be doing to make things better for all of us. Its problems have been well documented, from privacy violations to a massive sell-off in its stocks to untrustworthy comments from its CEO. Its CMO position has remained open for most of the year, prompting Facebook to list the job on LinkedIn, of all places.

David posted his thoughts on some of Facebook’s issues two months ago. We talk about how the company can rescue its image from the recent tarnishing, such as:

* Really being truthful about how our private data is being consumed by Facebook and 3rd parties;

* Eliminating People You May Know once and for all, or at least providing an easy-to-use opt-out mechanism;

* Hiring a solid CMO who is empowered to actually get stuff done;

* Shutting down the remaining data harvesters for real;

* Make a real effort to terminate terrorists, hate-speakers and other vermin (the report from the Counter Extremism Project here is noteworthy);

* Separating truth from fiction and intent, a process that starts with Zuck. No more apology tours of world capitals; and 

* Finally, truly embracing journalists who want to cover the company.

In the first conversation on this week’s episode, Redphlag CEO and former PRSA President Gerard Corbett joined FIR host Shel Holtz to discuss Nielsen’s recent Total Audience data, which revealed some counterintuitive trends. Later, Shel chats with Thornley Fallis CEO and Inside PR co-host Joe Thornley about Pandora’s podcast genome project. Also in this week’s episode, pundits are suddenly talking about “peak social” (it’s surprising that nobody has yet called it the “socialpocalypse“) and three stellar examples of experience marketing that don’t leverage social media. Dan York is also here with his Tech Report.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

You can find the stories from which FIR content is selected at Shel’s Link Blog.

Gerard Corbett is Chair and CEO of strategic communications consulting firm Redphlag LLC., Founder and Partner of Wise Counsel, and CMO of real estate tech startup Producers Forum, Inc. in Palo Alto. He also is an award-winning career coach, blogger and Past Chair & CEO of the 32,000 member Public Relations Society of America, having served as Chair and CEO in 2012. Gerry is a versatile branding, marketing, public relations and communications executive and coach having served four decades in senior marketing and communications roles at Global Fortune 100 firms and earlier in his career in aerospace engineering and information technology with Silicon Valley firms and NASA.

Joseph Thornley Joseph Thornley is CEO of Thornley Fallis Communications, which comprises several well-known brands:

* Thornley Fallis Communications, a digital engagement and communications consultancy,* 76design, a digital design and software development studio* 76engage, an online public participation platform,* 76insights, an analytics tool focusing on the resonance of social objects and gestures, and* 76BrandFilms, a video studio.

Joe recognized early the power of social media to change extend and transform our relationships to one another and the institutions in our society. He actively uses social media to explore the evolution of those relationships. Since 2005, he has blogged a ProPr.ca, and is co-host with Gini Dietrich and Martin Waxman of the Inside PR podcast, which, since its launch in March 2006, is now the second longest continuously running public relations podcast. (Shel Holtz’s FIR For Immediate Release podcast is the longest continuously running PR podcast.). He is @thornley on Twitter, thornley10 on YouTube and Joseph Thornley on Google+ and Facebook.

Links from this week’s episode:

* Snap’s Drop in Active Users Could Signal a Social Media Peak

* PEAK SOCIAL? The major social platforms are showing a significant slowdown in users

* Has Snapchat already stopped growing?

* Snapchat loses 3 million users despite Q2 revenue growth

*

Integrating real world facilitation with online engagement

Rebecca Sutherns, CEO of Sage Solutions, co-hosts this week’s podcast. 

Rebecca shares her insights into the value of facilitated conversations with stakeholder groups and the challenge of facilitation in an era in which people are more focused on the screens of their mobile devices than to the people who may be sitting only feet away. She talks about integrating the richness and value of in-person experiences with online experiences that will reach larger numbers of people. This presents not only the challenge of asking questions to obtain useful responses across media, but also the challenge of interpreting data sets that will vary in both number and richness of data.

Let’s Talk IAP2

Last September at the IAP2 North American conference in Denver, IAP2kicked off an examination of its organization and business model. This has been underway at an elite level, driven by a “Change Committee” drawn from North America, Australasia, Indonesia, Southern Africa and Latin America.

This week, IAP2 sent an email to members like us inviting us to provide our input on a set of strategic directions that were established by the Change Committee. The intent is to gather member input via the Let’s Talk IAP2 website for the next few weeks and then for a consensus decision from national and regional affiliate boards at IAP2 in Victoria.

Both Rebecca and I are looking forward to providing our input. However, for me, the fact that IAP2 is consulting members so late in the process, and only consulting members, as opposed to the groups that it is “involving”, such as trainers, or empowering (both of those terms are defined in the IAP2 spectrum) elevates my puzzlement at the top-focused nature of IAP2. It is the only membership-based organization that I have participated in that treats members as peripheral to decision-making. That’s ironic, when you think about the mission and mandate embodied in the organization’s name – the International Association for Public Participation.

IAP2 is important to me — I hope they get it right.

Let’s Talk IAP2 launched August 8 and runs to August 27. Find out more information at Let’s Talk IAP2.

Sidewalk goes off the rails?

Sidewalk Labs is planning to build a model smart community in Toronto. But their approach to community relations and public participation has undermined trust and raised opposition in the community.

Interview with Jiri Duzar and Michaela Claudino from Czech Tourism about Over Tourism.

For more than 5 years Jiri  Duzar has been working with CzechTourism, the destination marketing agency of the Czech Republic, on digital and social media campaigns, content creation, and web and mobile apps development. He also builds and executes digital, influencer & social media strategies in the United States and Canada and works as a freelance photo & video content creator in New York City where he also runs a small family-owned specialty coffee business.

 

 

Michaela Claudino has been working for CzechTourism North America for over 10 years. She is responsible for trade relations development; marketing and overall promotion of the Czech Republic in the United States and Canada. She previously worked as a Media Manager at the Portuguese Embassy in Prague. She is an active member of the National Tours Association, United States Tour Operators Association , European Travel Commission and SKAL. She has also served on the board of American Tourism Society (ATS).

Hosts: Leif Pettersen of Leif Pettersen PR and Chris Christensen of BloggerBridge.com and AmateurTraveler.com.