While some assume NFTs are on their way out as the value of digital artwork has plummeted, brick-and-mortar retailers are increasingly finding ways to offer the ability to mint NFTs right in their stores. In this episode, Neville and Shel look at some of the latest developments in the evolution of collectible NFTs.
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The post FIR #268: NFTs in the Checkout Lane appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

For years, Ernst & Young auditors have been cheating on an ethics test required for them to retain their Certified Public Accountant status. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has levied a record $100 million fine, both for the cheating and the Big Four accounting firm's failure to assist in the SEC's investigation. Now that it has all gone public, what can E&Y do to rebuild trust among its clients and the public? Neville and Shel share what reputation experts have to say along with their own recommendations.
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The post FIR #267: Rebuilding Trust After An Ethics Scandal appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

Big Four accounting firm KPMG has committed $30 million to the metaverse in order to establish an "innovation hub" and train employees so they will be prepared to work with clients as the metaverse becomes a more common interface. Like many organizations, KPMG is citing breathtaking figures as it predicts the metaverse's eventual value. Neville and Shel discuss KPMG's move, various metaverse valuations, and other metaverse-related news and information in this FIR short.
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The post FIR #266: How Many Trillions Will The Metaverse Be Worth? appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

As the economy cooks, inflation ratchets up, and interest rates rise, some companies are faced with laying off staff. As we have moved to remote and hybrid work, how those layoffs are handled is changing. But is it ever a good idea to lay someone off over Zoom or Teams? And if so, are there good and bad ways to go about it?
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The post FIR #265: Fired Over Zoom appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide.

Immediately following the announcement, several companies – including Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Lyft, Dick’s Sporting Goods and JPMorgan Chase – announced that they were offering to cover travel costs for employees who must travel out of state for abortions. This clearly has implications for communicators who are facing the need to respond to their internal and external audiences.

We reached out to Robin Fretwell Wilson, a law professor at the University of Illinois and an expert on healthcare law. (You can read Robin’s full impressive bio here.)

“There’s a bramble of issues in [any] direction that you move,” says Robin.

Among the questions we discussed on this episode:

Send this episode over to your legal partner – and begin that scenario planning. More is clearly to come on this issue.

Other resources:

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The post #63 – Roe v Wade: Communicators on alert for legal implications appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

We speak to Chris Matty, the co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Versium, Inc. about the demise of web tracking cookies and what will replace this technology in the future.
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The post FIR B2B #157: Why the End of Third-Party Cookies is a Bigger Deal than You Think appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

From the title of this episode, you might think we were talking about company sources going on background when speaking to a reporter. (Quick advice: Don't. Either be on the record or don't talk to a journalist.) But that's not what this episode is about. Instead, we're talking about Zoom backgrounds (or Teams, or Skype, or Webex, or Google Meet, or whatever). With flexible work the order of the day in many organizations, is it time to give serious consideration to what people see behind you in a call? There's a book (that's right, an entire book) on the subject. We cover it in 15 minutes.
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The post FIR #264: On Background appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In the monthly long-form episode for June, Neville and Shel consider a Google employee's claim that the company's AI has become sentient, the reactions the claim has provoked, and what it might mean for business communicators. Also in this episode:

In his tech report, Dan York talks about countries that want to change the Internet from a "permissionless" place to one where you have to pay for access to users.
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The post FIR #263: It’s Alive! (AI, That Is. Or Is It?) appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In this special episode of “Circle of Fellows,” meet the three IABC leaders who have been named Fellows for 2022 (and who will be formally inducted during the IABC World Conference in New York later this month). This conversation with Zora Artis, Sue Heuman, and Robin McCasland included their professional journeys and their core philosophies and beliefs about organizational communication. The conversation was moderated by Shel Holtz.
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The post Circle of Fellows #82: Meet the 2022 Class of IABC Fellows appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.

In this episode of Chats with Chip, Dan Englander of Sales Schema explains how agencies can develop these relationships at scale — even with limited resources.
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The post CWC 85: Grow your agency by developing relationships at scale (featuring Dan Englander) appeared first on FIR Podcast Network.