No one has to tell you what a great speech is, right? You know one when you hear it.
Well you’re about to hear a bunch of them—and you’re going to learn from them, guaranteed.
Vital Speeches of the Day editor David Murray presents “Speechwriting Jam Session 2010,” 75 entertaining, inspirational and instructive minutes that will have the hair standing up on the same arm you’re scribbling notes with. We’ll discuss, even debate, what makes these great speeches great.
Through dramatic readings from winners of the 2010 Cicero Speechwriting Awards and highlight reels from the Vital Speeches YouTube site, Murray will help us reawaken the giants within us by sharing together excerpts from speeches contemporary and classic, famous and rare. (In the true spirit of an improvisational jam session, you’ll even have a chance to nominate some of your own YouTube favorites, so come prepared!)
You’ll come away from this session with:
• Concrete examples showing how leaders are addressing the issues of this particular moment in business, politics and society.
• A stockpile of examples—video and text—to show reticent speakers: rhetorical tactics that have passed the test and been pulled off by the best.
• Renewed enthusiasm and an expanded sense of what’s possible in leadership communication.
• And a goose bumps, guaranteed.
SESSION LEADER:
- David Murray writes and speaks about communication—business, political and personal. He’s editor of Vital Speeches of the Day, a monthly collection of the best speeches in the world. He writes about sports, people, politics and travel for magazines, newspapers and websites. publications and websites. And he discusses the communication life at his popular personal blog, Writing Boots.http://www.vsotd.comhttp://writingboots.typepad.com/writing_boots/profiles/http://writingboots.typepad.com/
This webinar will help supervisors get the most out of their writers by creating an environment where writers develop and gain confidence, and where the focus is on the writer as much as the writing.
Practical Advice for:
- Building a collaborative relationship with writers
- Creating an atmosphere where writers develop
- Reducing the amount of time rewriting copy
- Improving editing skills
What You Will Learn:
- How to reinforce the notion that writing is valued
- How to improve communication with writers
- How to get the most out of a one-on-one conversation about performance
- How to build confidence
- How to distinguish between coaching and crisis repair
- What to do when you don’t think the writer will ever “get it”
- What to do when it becomes easier to toss the draft and write it yourself
- How to know when to make changes and when not to
- What you can do if you’re not confident
Real world questions answered:
- What processes can help avoid writer disasters at deadline?
- What do you tell a writer who’s article totally misses the mark?
- How should writers and graphic designers interact, and how often?
Instructor:
Ken O’Quinn is a professional writing coach, who conducts workshops and one-on-one coaching in Fortune 500 companies and global public relations firms. He is the author of Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill, 2006).
He started Writing With Clarity in the mid-’90s, following a 21-year journalism career, most of it with the Associated Press. He now works with companies such as Chevron, Campbell Soup, Visa, Intel, Eli Lilly, Raytheon, Reebok, Motorola and Sprint, and with PR firms such as Fleishman Hillard, Burson-Marsteller, Porter Novelli and Edelman. He also is a writing instructor for the National Investor Relations Institute. He works with all levels of staff and managers. Ken has been a guest speaker at the PRSA and IABC international conferences and at the American Press Institute. His writing has appeared in major U.S. newspapers and in the Harvard Management Communication Letter and the Employee Communication Management Journal.
We’ve all heard the news: Forget flash (or even Flash). To attract and hold prospects to your website, you need content that meets the needs, values and expectations of your market. Great content draws visitors, attracts links, and builds your organization’s reputation for service and expertise. In short, content is king. But where will your content come from? How will you find it? How will you shape it? And how will you write it for maximum impact — and search engine visibility? Crafting Killer Web Content will show you how.
Learning Topics
In one convenient, 75-minute crash course, you will acquire the practical skills you need to:
- Uncover the hidden know-how within your organization
- Solicit cooperation from the crucial product and service people closest to your customers
- Create keyword-saturated Web glossaries in mere hours
- Select the best content options for your pages
- Craft effective, traffic-building blogs
- Incorporate keyword strategies into your writing
- Develop compelling case studies you can use on your website, collateral packages, press kits and more
Other value adds:
- Debunking the myth about writing long
- Why word-specificity is your friend
- Why testimonials and where they should go
- How to write skimmable sub-heads that tell the story
- Guarantees that guarantee believability
- What readers expect from marketing blog
Instructor:
Jonathan Kranz is the author of Writing Copy for Dummies and a marketing/PR writer serving consumer and B2B clients in high-tech, healthcare, banking, insurance, education, financial services and other industries. His clients include Boston Private Bank & Trust, Dell Computers, IBM, Liberty Mutual, Pitney Bowes and many others. He is a regular contributor to leading marketing publications such as MarketingProfs.com, RainToday.com, DIRECT magazine, DM News and the Harvard Management Communications Letter. Jonathan has taught writing courses at Harvard University Extension School, Emerson College and Northeastern University, and offers in-house marketing writing seminars to corporate clients.
Forward-thinking marketing and public relations executives are using the power of podcasting to communicate directly with their key audiences via the Net. Find out what podcasts are and how you can put them to work for your organization. This webinar, led by the producer and host of the popular podcast On the Record…Online, will take you through the process in five easy steps, to arm you with the knowledge you need to evaluate and decide how to integrate this effective, efficient channel into your marketing or communications program.
Learning Topics:
- The ABCs of Podcasting: what podcasts are and where they came from, how to use them, popular formats and lengths, how to measure and monitor them, and more
- Getting started: the equipment you’ll need, where to find freeware and commercial podcasting software, and troubleshooting staples
- Production tips: how to conduct and record live and phone interviews, what freeware to use to edit your podcast, and how to find podcasts through directories and search engines
- Business case studies: Hear excerpts from leading business podcasts, and learn how Disney and IBM use podcasts to promote events and thought leadership
- Marketing your podcast: Get a primer on RSS-enabling and uploading your podcast, learn how to launch a blog to distribute your podcast, and get valuable leads on how to promote your feed.
Instructor:
Eric Schwartzman is managing director of Schwartzman & Associates, a boutique public relations firm based in Los Angeles that specializes in helping organizations integrate the Web into their marketing and public relations programs. He is also chairman and founder of iPressroom, which helps organizations extend the impact of their public relations, corporate communications and marketing programs through easy-to-use, marketing communications software tools and services.
A recognized expert in the field of new media marketing communications, Eric has presented at numerous conferences and seminars and has appeared at many colleges and universities. He is regularly quoted in articles on podcasting, blogging and new media in publications such as Advertising Age, PR Week, Podcasting News, Econtent, PR News and Media Relations Insider. He blogs about how public relations, the news media and emerging technologies influence perception and shape popular opinion at the Spinfluencer. His podcast On the Record… Online features discussions with leading journalists about how they use technology to cover the news.
Testimonials:
- “Eric makes it easy to understand how to use podcasts to communicate to your key audiences.” Ava Gutierrez, media relations director, County of Los Angeles
- “Just the right amount of information — not too technical and applicable specifically for creating a podcast campaign.” Sarah Prinster, director of marketing, Savi Technology
- “… a must for any marketing or PR exec who wants to get up to speed with podcasting.” Sally Falkow, APRP, Expansion Plus
Business professionals are called on frequently to write messages that attempt to get people to do things: to comply with a request, to accept ideas or to provide support. This often requires overcoming resistance, swaying the skeptics, winning over the “undecideds” or motivating the apathetic.
The ability to influence an audience is critical to business success, yet most people know little about the psychology of persuasion. It is not taught in high school, rarely in college, and almost never in an executive education program.
This session taps into the field of human behavior change and attitude modification. It looks at techniques you can use when you craft messages, for a written communication or for a speech, so that you influence the reader’s thought process and increase the likelihood that your reader or listener will agree. These techniques also will strengthen the writer/speaker’s credibility in the mind of the audience.
Aimed primarily at managers and executives, you’ll learn about gaining compliance and building your credibility through the use of principles of influence. The workshop focuses on crafting written and spoken messages in such a way as to alter the reader’s thought process.
Learning Topics:
- The importance of credibility
- What it really means to analyze your audience
- How to create a strong opening
- How to package your information for maximum impact
- Principles of attitude change: five ways to influence an audience
- Helping the audience remember: tips for making your ideas stand out
Instructor:
Ken O’Quinn is a professional writing coach, who conducts workshops and one-on-one coaching in Fortune 500 companies and global public relations firms. He is the author of Perfect Phrases for Business Letters (McGraw-Hill, 2006).
He started Writing With Clarity in the mid-‘90s, following a 21-year journalism career, most of it with the Associated Press. He now works with companies such as Chevron, Campbell Soup, Visa, Intel, Eli Lilly, Raytheon, Reebok, Motorola and Sprint, and with PR firms such as Fleishman Hillard, Burson-Marsteller, Porter Novelli and Edelman. He also is a writing instructor for the National Investor Relations Institute.
Ken has been a guest speaker at the PRSA and IABC international conferences and at the American Press Institute. His writing has appeared in major U.S. newspapers and in such publications as the Harvard Management Communication Letter and the Employee Communication Management Journal.
Are you the same journalist with the same skills you had five or 10 years ago? When you sit down to write, do you visualize your piece the same way you did then? And what about your publications? Are they keeping up with the times or looking tired and ponderous? What has the Internet taught you about how to produce your publications in such a way that readers can access information more effectively and efficiently?
The Internet has changed forever the way people receive, expect to receive and process information. It’s a “click-here” world in which readers are completely in charge. They want and expect information NOW. So how do you ensure you’re giving them what they want?
Learnings/takeaways:
You will learn how to think verbally and visually and save your readers time. You’ll also pick up practical tips that will help make your text easy-to-read and ensure the information you provide is consistently legible and user-friendly.
The course explores:
- Five characteristics of a good Web site and how to apply them to your publication
- Three principles for writing on the Web and how to apply them to print
- 10 rules for writing on the Web and how to apply them to print.
Best of all, you’ll be able to put these tips to work immediately and see instant improvement in your publications.
Instructor:
Don Ranly is professor emeritus of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he taught for 32 years. He has an M.A. in journalism, an M.A. in speech from Marquette University, a certificate in film, radio and television from New York University and a doctorate in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Don has conducted more than 950 seminars for organizations, corporations, associations and publications. He is co-author of News Reporting and Writing (8th ed.), Telling the Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media (2nd ed.) and Beyond the Inverted Pyramid and author of Publication Editing.
In 1995, he received a University of Missouri-Columbia Faculty-Alumni Award and was named the O.O. McIntyre Distinguished Professor of Journalism for 1995-1996. In 1998, he won a University of Missouri Gold Chalk award for outstanding service in the training and mentoring of professional students. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators. In 2003, he became a William T. Kemper Fellow for Excellence in Teaching and, in 2005, won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors.
He is a former executive director of the Missouri Association of Publications, which he founded in 2004.
This learning opportunity is ideal for:
- Writers
- Editors
- Designers
- Publishers, print and electronic
It’s also an important addition to the offerings of college/university libraries and bookstores.
Today’s readers are better described as skimmers and scanners; the story is the last thing and the least-read thing they read. Writing effective headlines, captions and blurbs must be an integral part of the writing and editing process — from the beginning, with everyone involved.
More about this seminar from Don Ranly:
“In this seminar, we’ll talk about what makes good headlines or titles and the techniques for creating them. We’ll discuss various kinds of heads — those strictly for news, those for features and those for advertising. What they all have in common is that they must grab readers. They must sell the copy. And EVERYONE must be involved in creating them. We will discuss the creative process that goes into coming up with the best heads.
“Blurbs, break-outs, pullquotes, whatever you choose to call them, grab attention. They stop readers and make them try to find other interesting things in the copy. We’ll discuss what kinds of things to put into blurbs and how to construct them.
“Captions are the most neglected element in most publications. Some photos go without any captions — which is inexcusable. People read captions, so they are a good place to deliver important information and to hook readers into reading the story. Other captions simply explain what’s going on in the photo. People can usually see that. We’ll discuss content of captions and their proper length, as well as typeface, etc. We’ll give you 10 rules for writing them.”
Learning Topics
Underestimating the intelligence of your audience is just one of the 10 major mistakes to be reviewed in this teleseminar. Others include:
- The techniques and importance of brainstorming
- How and why to use literary and poetic techniques
- Four characteristics of brighter, more attractive heads
- How to write summary blurbs that give readers the benefit
- The power of the word “how”
- The importance of tips and of quantifying the benefits
- How to write internal blurbs that tease and coax
- How to write captions that complement and inform
Instructor:
Don Ranly, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he taught for 32 years. He has an M.A. in journalism, an M.A. in speech from Marquette University, a certificate in film, radio and television from New York University and a doctorate in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Don has conducted more than 950 seminars for organizations, corporations, associations and publications. He is co-author of News Reporting and Writing (8th ed.), Telling the Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media (2nd ed.) and Beyond the Inverted Pyramid and author of Publication Editing.
In 1995, he received a University of Missouri-Columbia Faculty-Alumni Award and was named the O.O. McIntyre Distinguished Professor of Journalism for 1995-1996. In 1998, he won a University of Missouri Gold Chalk award for outstanding service in the training and mentoring of professional students. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators. In 2003, he became a William T. Kemper Fellow for Excellence in Teaching and, in 2005, won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors.
He currently serves as executive director of the Missouri Association of Publications, which he founded in 2004
Learn the seven keys to communication credibility and to a more professional you.
Whether you like it or not, how you present yourself in person or in print does more than leave an impression. For yourself and those you represent, it establishes your basic credibility. That quick note, that dashed-off e-mail or that hurried newsletter may be all your colleagues or clients know about your competence — or how much you care. Learn seven keys to credibility and to a more professional you.
In this seminar you will learn the importance of being:
- Correct (get it right – grammar, spelling)
- Consistent (follow a stylebook)
- Clear (use simple words, short sentences, short paragraphs)
- Concise (save people time)
- Coherent (think structure, organization)
- Complete (answer the questions)
- Creative (be interesting, don’t bore)
Who should purchase this webinar:
- Writers
- Editors
- Designers
- Publishers, print and electronic
It’s also an important addition to the offerings of college/university libraries and bookstores.
Instructor:
, Ph.D., is professor emeritus of the Missouri School of Journalism, where he taught for 32 years. He has an M.A. in journalism, an M.A. in speech from Marquette University, a certificate in film, radio and television from New York University and a doctorate in journalism from the University of Missouri.
Don has conducted more than 950 seminars for organizations, corporations, associations and publications. He is co-author of News Reporting and Writing (8th ed.), Telling the Story: The Convergence of Print, Broadcast and Online Media (2nd ed.) and Beyond the Inverted Pyramid and author of Publication Editing.
In 1995, he received a University of Missouri-Columbia Faculty-Alumni Award and was named the O.O. McIntyre Distinguished Professor of Journalism for 1995-1996. In 1998, he won a University of Missouri Gold Chalk award for outstanding service in the training and mentoring of professional students. In 2002, he was elected a Fellow of the International Association of Business Communicators. In 2003, he became a William T. Kemper Fellow for Excellence in Teaching and, in 2005, won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Business Publications Editors.
He currently serves as executive director of the Missouri Association of Publications, which he founded in 2004.
Universal search changes everything! The advent of Google’s Universal Search has been called “the most radical change to its search results ever.” So, how do you take advantage of Google’s new approach that blends listings from news, blog, video, and image search among those it gathers from web search? In other words, how do you get found in all the right places? Purchase this CD and learn strategies and tactics for expanding the audience for their content through Google News, Yahoo! News, Google Blog Search, Technorati, Google Image Search, Flickr, YouTube, Yahoo Video and a growing variety of other sites.
Learning Topics:
- How to optimize, distribute and measure press releases, RSS feeds, images and video files
- Pick your target keywords for news, blog, image, video and web search engines;
- Position your keywords in crucial locations;
- Create original and unique content of genuine value, including text, images and video;
- Avoid search engine stumbling blocks;
- Build inbound links intended to help people find interesting, related content;
- Just say no to search engine spamming;
- Submit your Sitemap, RSS feeds, and videos to search engines and directories;
- Verify and maintain your listings; and
- Go beyond web search engines to include key vertical search engines.
Presented by:
Greg Jarboe is the president and co-founder of SEO-PR, a search engine optimization firm and public relations agency with offices in San Francisco and Boston. He is also a partner in Newsforce, developer of an integrated suite of press release SEO tools.
Greg is a frequent speaker at Search Engine Strategies, WebmasterWorld’s PubCon, and public relations conferences. He is also the news search, blog search and PR correspondent for the Search Engine Watch Blog.
Greg has more than 25 years of experience in public relations, marketing, and search engine optimization at Lotus Development Corp., Ziff-Davis, and other companies. He graduated from the University of Michigan, attended the University of Edinburgh, and worked on his Masters at Lesley College.
In this information-packed webinar you will learn how to turn your trusty old laptop or desktop into your very own personal writing assistant. Listen to Daphne, a writing coach and former corporate communicator and journalist offer dozens of neat tips to make your computer and software work wonders for your writing effectiveness and speed.
What You Will Learn:
- The powerful tools hidden within MS Word you can harness to make yourself a better writer.
- The exact number of words you should write per sentence for maximum reader appeal.
- Three poweful and unusual ways to use the “search” function for better writing.
- The common misunderstanding about correct paragraph length (hint: your high school and college teachers had it all wrong!)
- The names of powerful pieces of software that you should rush out and buy immediately (it costs less than $40!)
- Two tips for better incorporating research and interview notes into your writing
- How you can become your own best editor.
Presented by:
Daphne Gray-Grant started her writing life as a journalist at her family’s weekly newspaper in Vancouver, B.C. – and then quickly advanced to become features editor at a busy metropolitan daily. From there she moved into corporate communications, producing newsletters, brochures and annual reports for a wide range of clients. Despite her many years of experience she never really enjoyed writing — until she set about developing the tools and techniques to do it better. To share this knowledge, in 2005 she launched an online coaching business, http://www.publicationcoach.com , working with individuals and companies seeking to improve their writing skills. Through her site, she offers a popular and free weekly newsletter called Power Writing.
Who should purchase:
- Writers
- Editors
- Designers
- Publishers, print and electronic
Learn the laws and myths that can help keep you out of copyright hot water
As the topic of copyright use and abuse grows in importance in both commerce and everyday life, so do the assumptions about how the law works. This session focuses on 10 of the most significant misunderstandings and misperceptions about the role of copyright in commerce and culture. It reveals the philosophical and economic foundations of American copyright and considers ways that globalization is changing the system.
Learning topics:
- What may be protected by copyright and what may not
- What rights copyright holders have and how they can enforce them
- The limitations of copyright and why it’s important to know what they are
- How digital technology and networking are complicating the copyright system
- How the globalization of culture and commerce is complicating the copyright system
Siva answers real-world questions on:
- The ability of reusing one’s original material after one has left a company
- Using other’s words and images, externally and internally
- How to indicate copyright in text
- Grabbing other’s graphics off the Internet and using them in one’s own presentations
- Using client logos in one’s marketing brochures and Web sites without their permission
- Copying-and-pasting text from other Web sites to use on one’s own site
- The best way to protect one’s writings and photographs published on the Web
Instructor:
Siva Vaidhyanathan, a cultural historian and media scholar, is the author of:
- Copyrights and Copywrongs: The Rise of Intellectual Property and How it Threatens Creativity (New York University Press, 2001)
- The Anarchist in the Library: How the Clash between Freedom and Control is Hacking the Real World and Crashing the System (Basic Books, 2004).
Siva has written for many periodicals, including American Scholar, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York Times Magazine, MSNBC.COM, Salon.com, openDemocracy.net, and The Nation. After five years as a professional journalist, he earned a Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at Wesleyan University and the University of Wisconsin at Madison and is currently an assistant professor of Culture and Communication at New York University. He lives in New York City.
Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wikis. A lot has changed on the web in recent years. So isn’t it time you revisited your organizations’ web site content strategy? An obsolete strategy can confound your audience and keep them away in droves. A successful content strategy, however, can be the spark that ignites your web site and helps you plan for and create compelling web content that rings true with your brand, aligns with your marketing plan, and keeps your target audience coming back for more. No small trick in a 140-character world.
What You Will Learn:
- Reasons why you need a web site content strategy
- Benefits of having a web content strategy that integrates with your marketing plan
- Key questions to ask to develop a successful web content strategy
- How to write web copy that is customer-centric, not sender-centric
- Top ten tips for writing concise and easy-to-scan web copy
- Tips for organizing content on a web page
Other Questions:
- What is a web content strategy and why do you need one?
- What process should you use to develop a web content strategy?
- How can you get customers and prospects to read your web copy?
- How can you determine if web content is good or bad?
- If your web content sucks, what’s the best way to fix it?
- How should you organize content on a web page?
Presented by:
Barbara K. Mednick is an experienced and award-winning marketing communications and PR strategist, copywriter and trainer with more than 25 years of broad communications expertise. As president of BKM Consulting, Inc. in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., she provides strategic marketing communications/PR consulting and planning, copywriting and training to a variety of clients including businesses, universities and nonprofit organizations. Prior to launching BKM Consulting in 1999, she held senior account management positions at several top Twin Cities PR and advertising agencies. During her career, she has garnered a number of industry awards for successful PR and marketing campaigns conducted for clients. She is a member of Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) and an active member of the Minnesota Chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) – serving on the board of directors three times. She also serves on the board of directors for Minnesota Computers for Schools and the Ramsey County Workforce Investment Board. Barbara publishes a monthly e-newsletter for clients and colleagues along with a blog (www.bkminsights.blogspot.com), which focus on the intersection of marketing communications, public relations and social media marketing. Read Barbara’s complete bio.
Lisa Graham-Peterson, MA, ABC, is marketing communications director at CHS Inc., a Fortune 100 company and the largest farmer-owned agricultural cooperative in the U.S. Lisa integrates offline and online strategic programs to support the CHS brand and mission as a diverse grains, energy and foods company. Lisa is an accredited business communicator and active with a number of professional and community organizations. She has been a guest lecturer on integrated communications topics at the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, as well as St. Catherine University and Metropolitan State University, both in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area.
Have you ever watched your client on television and thought: “Oh, my! Look at how many chins he has, and what’s that terrible glare coming off his shirt and forehead? I never noticed in our meetings that he was that heavy. He also looks scared to death – and why does he keep licking his lips?” You tried to coach him on his message. In fact, you did all you could do to help him develop sound bites, and now you can hardly concentrate on the message with the way he looks, because he is doing so many distracting things.
This CD will teach you how to effectively coach your clients and colleagues for appearances on TV, both live and prerecorded. It will teach you when and how to offer praise and criticism without being offensive. And it covers how interviewees should dress, posture themselves and provide effective message delivery. Your purchase also includes a slew of extras – at no extra cost!
Learning Topics:
- The tricks of the trade to help people appear calm and confident on camera, even if they are not
- How to look natural — from make-up to body language and movements
- Tips and techniques to help prevent some of the unexpected distractions that can prohibit your true message from getting out to your audience
- How to motivate your clients and colleagues to improve their media performances
- How to tactfully and effectively learn to stress the need for “rehearsal”
TJ answers real-world questions on:
- Suggestions to get your boss to undergo some training
- How to convince your CEO to talk to the press
- Techniques to overcome annoying speech tics
- How to keep your answers concise and to the point
- How to provide constructive feedback in a jiffy
- How not to come off as though you’re dodging a question—even if you are
- What your executive should bring into a television or radio interview
- How to prepare an executive for the hard questions
Instructor:
TJ Walker, president of Media Training Worldwide, is one of the world’s leading authorities on media and presentation training. With more than 20 years of media training experience, TJ has trained thousands of CEOs, authors and experts, including Nobel Peace Prize winners, leading government officials in the United States, European prime ministers and African diplomats. He is producer and host of daily audio and video Speakcast broadcasts, covering media and presentation training tips and techniques. A leading corporate trainer, he has personally trained top executives at Unilever, Bank of America, Hess, Allstate Insurance, Charles Schwab, Akzo Nobel, US Trust, Dun and Bradstreet, The Hartford and EMC. He is also the official media trainer of the Miss Universe Organization.
TJ is the world’s most widely published and produced media trainer, with more than 50 books, training videos, CDs and software programs to his credit. He has also been a media columnist for Investor Relations Magazine. Additionally, Walker is known internationally for his many years as a political commentator for the Voice of America Radio Network. More than 65,000 readers subscribe to his weekly Media Training Tips Newsletter, including most of the Fortune 500 corporations. He is a frequent news commentator and has appeared often on MSNBC, Fox News Channel, Court TV and Bloomberg TV. He also has been a syndicated TV and talk show host, appearing on or hosting more than 2000 TV and radio shows. He has also hosted talk radio shows on seven different networks and has been featured in the New York Times, NBC News, ABC News, CBS radio and most major radio news outlets.
Walker was a merit scholar at Duke University, where he graduated magna cum laude. He has lectured or conducted trainings at Yale University, Columbia University and Princeton University. He is also co-leader of the Communitelligence Media Training community and posts a daily video clip on the site.
Who should Purchase:
This practical, information-packed learning opportunity is ideal for public relations professionals, as well as professionals in:
- Corporate Communications
- Internal Communications
- Public Affairs
- Public Relations
- Marketing
- Webcast Marketing
- Anyone who is associated with television broadcasts
- College/university libraries and bookstores
PowerPoint is one of the most used and one of the most loathed tools in the world of technology today. Reminiscent of the old Listerine commercials (“I hate it…but I use it, twice a day), use of PowerPoint has become standard operating procedure for 99% of the business population that needs to communicate with others. The problem is that most people learn PowerPoint in about 15 minutes and then declare themselves proficient. They spend the next 10 years using the same 15-minute skill set. No wonder “Death by PowerPoint” is in everyone’s vocabulary.
This webinar replay will help everyone understand how easy it is to fall into the trap of creating boring, annoying, and useless slides, and how rewarding and easy it can be to fix what is clearly broken.
What You Will Learn:
- Bullets can make you stupid
- Reading bullets can make you stupider
- Conversations aren’t linear; why are most presentations?
- If it moves on screen…kill it!
- Single most important tip? The B key!
- Well-placed photos can save the day
-
Simple design tips that anyone can follow
-
Use templates smartly
Questions that are answered:
- How can you begin to use PowerPoint to enhance your message instead of risking having it get in the way?
Instructor:
Rick Altman is the host of the PowerPoint Live User Conference and a long-time crusader of bringing a sanity check to the presentation community. Through multiple books, training videos, dozens of online articles, and now a blog and webinar series, Rick offers advice, strategy, and technique for those seeking to master their presentation projects.
PowerPoint Live is attended by over 200 annually and has become one of the must-attend events for those in the business of creating and delivering professional-grade presentations.
Who Should Purchase:
- Communications professionals who want to enhance their partnership and value to the business.
If you are like most communicators, you know that text alone is just not enough—today’s employees not only want to see their leaders on video, but want to be seen themselves. YouTube, Vimeo and FaceTime are teaching your employees how powerful video is, and learning about video in their non-work life makes them want to do more with it at work.
Creating meaningful business communications is not the same as recording cute dog tricks. Your employees need to know what works, and what doesn’t. And more importantly, you and your company need to be ready for: increased demand on your IT networks; the need to put policies and procedures in place and the importance of providing training to help them get it right.
In this series you will hear top practitioners talk about how they’ve put a new generation of digital video tools to work in their organization to inspire, lead and train employees; to cultivate employee engagement by putting the right tools in the hands of employees themselves; and to integrate external and internal communications for the kind of results one can only get with truly aligned communications. We’ve found practioners from leading companies to share specifics on what works across categories including internal communications, marketing, PR, social media and human resources.
What You Will Learn:
- How leading companies use employee created video: when, where, and how
- What the IT and regulatory issues are that you need to be most concerned about
- How leaders train and manage employees who are contributing video
- How video can be better integrated with intranets and social media
- The three most important things to AVOID with employee generated content.
- AND most importantly, what kinds of good results happen when you get it right.
Presented by:
Ronna Lichtenberg is co-founder and CEO, Videotrope. Prior to her entrepreneurial career, Ronna had a long-tenured career contributing to strategic planning and marketing initiatives at Prudential and Prudential Securities. During her tenure, she was the first woman named to Prudential Securities Operating Council. As a superior communicator and strategic consultant, Ronna’s experience incorporates wide-ranging personal experience as a communicator, including former contributing editor of “O”, the Oprah magazine and regular appearances as a workplace expert on national TV. She has published three books in ten languages (to rave reviews) and has a decade of experience as a keynote speaker with Fortune 500 companies and helping small to large businesses successfully execute business development imperatives and strategic initiatives.
Dave Williams has been working at ESPN since 2000. Prior to joining the corporate communication team he worked with ESPN’s production operations team on all of ESPN’s studio shows including SportsCenter, Sunday NFL Countdown, and Baseball Tonight. As a senior internal communication specialist, Williams brings his vast videography, digital editing, writing, and production experience to the internal communication team. He ensures that the multi-media aspects of the organization’s internal communication strategy are of the same high-quality production techniques that ESPN employees are accustomed to seeing on their external programming.
Deirdré Straughan is a Technical Content specialist for Solaris Product Management at Oracle. In this position she produces and/or manages production of technical content (video, white papers, web pages) about key Solaris technologies including storage, networking, and installation. Examples of my video work can be seen here (look for the items with my name in the description). In this position she produces and/or manages production of technical content (video, white papers, web pages) about key Solaris technologies including storage, networking, and installation. Examples of my video work can be seen here (look for the items with my name in the description). Deirdré has been communicating online since 1982. Her experience managing and communicating with online communities dates back to 1993, when she began interacting with Incat/Adaptec/Roxio customers via CompuServe, the Usenet, and listserv. She also wrote, edited and managed a stable of newsletters with 140,000 subscribers, and managed websites and online strategy for Adaptec/Roxio.
Ok, if we professional communicators would all come clean, we would admit we’ve been paying a lot more attention to the sexy new digital communication workplace tools than we have to that oldest but most important social medium, face-to-face communications.
Unfortunately, practice and research says ignoring manager communication is a bad idea. In the midst of so much change, workplace stress, confusion and mistrust, there is a powerful human case to be made for attending to this most basic kind of communication. Gallup research shows that “managers from hell” are creating active disengagement, costing the U.S. an estimated $450 billion to $550 billion annually.
According to ROI Communication’s annual benchmark survey:
- One in four managers is not considered a credible source of information
- Only 55% offer recognition and appreciation for a job well done
- Only 25% clearly understand their communication role (which coincides with the fact that only 27% receive communication training), and
- Only 18% are measured for communication performance in their performance reviews
Roger D’Aprix has been preaching the face-to-face communication mantra since he was a communication manager at Xerox in the late 1970s. He’s convinced today’s workers want and expects more than command and control, top-down communication. In fact, if face-to-face communication is failing, there is an excellent chance that all of the other forms of communication in the organization are also failing.
Drawing from his new book, Creating an Engaged Workforce: the Face-to-Face Communication Toolkit, Roger will arm you with the basic strategies and tools to either launch or reignite your organization’s manager communication program in ways that will prepare them to fulfill the all-important role of interpreter for their people. It’s time to fire up your face-to-face communication program.
What You Will Learn:
- Why human satisfaction with work and business success both demand a face-to-face strategy for delivering critical issues to employees
- How to build the business case and form the key team you need to seriously impact face-to-face communication in your organization
- Why too many face-to-face communication programs fail and the secret sauce of those that sing
- The key tools and processes you need to make your face-to-face communication program a winner
Presented by:
Roger D’Aprix is internationally known as a practitioner in the theory, strategy and practice of employee communication. His ground-breaking work at Xerox Corporation beginning in the 1970s qualifies him as one of the pioneers in employee engagement. As a communication consultant, lecturer and author he has assisted scores of Fortune 500 companies in developing their communication strategies and designing their communication training.
In 1998 IABC named him ‘one of the most influential thinkers in the communication profession in the last 25 years.’ He was named an IABC Fellow, that organization’s highest honor, in 1978. For 15 years he held senior positions with two of the leading human resources consulting companies. He served as vice president and global practice leader for Towers Perrin’s human resource communication practice and as principal and service developer for Mercer Human Resource Consulting.
Before that, he led employee communication for Xerox Corporation and held executive communication positions at General Electric and Bell and Howell. Presently, in addition to his own consultancy, D’Aprix & Co., he is affiliated with ROI Communication as a member of its advisory board. ROI is a global consultancy that specializes in internal communication strategy and practice. He divides his time between residences in Rochester, New York and New York City.
Can you speak the language of management? If not, here’s what you’re missing:
· The ability to add value in financial discussions with your boss and other top managers
· The skills needed to get your latest brainstorms adopted by key financial decision makers
· A plethora of financial tools that can help you make better business decisions
· An understanding of how your company’s financial performance affects its most critical asset: the workforce
In just 90 minutes, you’ll gain a new skill set¾and a potential ticket to the management table
Before you take a seat at the management table, you’d better have a solid understanding of key financial terms and accounting concepts. If not, you won’t be able to converse with those seated around you, because finance is the only language they speak.
Overcome the financial language barrier — for good — by attending this audio seminar. Using an easy-to-follow format, James Cole will demystify financial terminology, translate the accounting jargon and illustrate how communicators use financial information to increase their effectiveness.
Don’t miss this vital training event, designed to give you the skills and knowledge you need for holding your own with those who hold the company’s purse strings.
Key learning objectives:
· What’s at stake: Why every communicator should have a solid understanding of finance
· How a balance sheet, income statement and cash flow statement are used to analyze a company’s performance
· What management accounting tools CEOs use to monitor a company’s fiscal health, including EBITDA and pro-forma earnings
· How to cut through the jargon to translate complex financial data into meaningful and useful concepts
· Which financial terms are “must haves” for boosting your business vocabulary, including expenses, assets, capitalization, cash, accrual transactions and many more!
Audio Seminar Bonus: Understand the basics of financial decision-making
James answers real-life questions on:
- What communicators can do to help their organization’s employees better understand how their business works, with the objective of improving performance
- Tips to better communicate financial concepts to a lay audience
- Learning from the mistakes made by Enron
- The best tools to measure financial performance
Your audio seminar leader
James Cole is director of development for the Masonic Home of Virginia. His 25 years of professional experience include roles as auditor, founder, officer and consultant with numerous organizations throughout the U.S. He regularly speaks on such topics as financial reporting, taxes, accounting, fundraising and board development. He was a featured speaker at IABC’s 2005 International Conference in Washington, D.C., and Financial Communication Conference in New York.
Can you prove the value of your communication, marketing and PR programs? It’s a simple question, and your bosses rightfully expect concrete answers. How you respond affects the objectives you set, the programs you embark on and ultimately your career success.
Join “Unleashing the Power of PR” author and PRIME Research CEO, Mark Weiner, and SVP of BurrellesLuce, Johna Burke, as they walk you through the current communication measurement landscape in a way that makes new sense. Moderated by award winning journalist, communicator and president of Communitelligence, John Gerstner, Mark and Johna will answer — and sometimes debate — the most important and challenging questions every communication professional needs to know to prove the value of their internal and external communication programs.
This won’t just be a 5,000-foot fly-by of the topic. You’ll gain practical takeaways and actionable advice. Don’t miss this special webinar designed to amp up your skills in measuring PR programs and proving your worth. Did we mention this stuff is critical to your career?
Audio Excerpt
Some of the questions that will be answered:
- What kind of metrics should PR people be measuring?
- Why are clear, concise terminology and metrics so important when executing a public relations research and evaluation system?
- How can research be used to set better objectives
- What are the Barcelona Principles and what do they mean to me?
- How does research and measurement help to guide business decision-making?
- How can research and be used to avoid catastrophe?
- How do you foster a culture for communications research within the team? Among executive leadership?
- How do conduct research and measurement with little or no budget?
- What’s the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? How do you know which to use and when?
- What’s critical to know about measuring social media programs?
Presented by:
Mark Weiner is the CEO of PRIME Research in North America. PRIME Research is one of the world’s largest public relations and corporate communications research and consulting providers with offices in Western Europe, North and South America, Eastern Europe and the Far East. Since 1993, Mark has devoted his career to helping many of the world’s most respected organizations and brands to demonstrate and generate a positive return on their investment in corporate and brand communications. He is the author of “Unleashing the Power of PR: A Contrarian’s Guide to Marketing and Communication” published by John Wiley & Sons. Weiner is a member of the PRSA, IABC and the Institute for Public Relations for whom he served as Trustee and Chairman of the Research and Measurement Commission. He is an editorial advisory board member of PRSA’s Strategist and PR News. A frequent provider of provocative public relations content, Weiner is a recurring conference speaker at international and domestic events, and a prolific author, having published more than one hundred articles.
Johna Burke has 23 years experience working both as a public relations practitioner and a provider of services that are vital to the successful performance of communications professionals. For 11 years, starting in 1989, she was associated with U-Haul International, ultimately becoming head of public and investor relations. Ms. Burke joined BurrellesLuce, in its Phoenix office, in 2000. She served as West Coast regional vice president, a corporate vice president in 2008 and October 2009, was appointed senior vice president-marketing. Ms. Burke is a highly rated speaker who is often invited to talk about best practices in media relations and monitoring, including the measurement of PR effectiveness; her written views have appeared in a variety of PR industry outlets and she is a regular contributor to Fresh Ideas, the incisive blog produced by BurrellesLuce. Ms. Burke is immediate past chair of the Southern Region of the International Association of Business Communicators and current chair of its Nominations Committee.
PR & Marketing Is Changing – Are You? Online PR provides the means to reach target audiences directly, with or without participation of the news media. Internet marketers have been doing that for years, but public relations professionals have been slow to get on board. No PR professional can afford to ignore online PR or outsource it to specialists; it is an essential part of the skill set all PR professionals must have. It’s as fundamental as writing, pitching and building relationships.
So, what must you know to thrive in this ever-changing online environment? If you’re like most public relations pros, you need a broader knowledgebase, greater online skills – and perhaps, a new mindset. PR pros are doing a better job with social media than keyword research and SEO, which much change. To define online PR simply as social media is short-sighted and will lead PR pros astray. This jam-packed webinar will give you a critical understanding of the basic online PR skills you need to master fast, for the sake of your clients, employers and your career.
Learning Topics:
- When SEO meets PR: how to write effectively for sites, releases, articles and newsletters
- When PR meets social media: which sites, what to monitor, and how do you know it’s working?
- How keyword research for Online PR differs from online advertising
- Online PR best practices for your website
- Optimizing online press releases—what’s most effective now
What You Will Learn:
- 4 results-driven SEO techniques for online PR
- A 10-minute keyword research method that always yields insights
- The right and wrong role websites play with Online PR
- 3 proven ways to write copy for both humans and search engines
- Traditional vs. online releases: the real data may surprise you
- An overlooked yet powerful method to gain consistent web site traffic
- The Online PR Social Media blueprint: it’s not what you think
- Buzz and reputation monitoring: recommended tools and tactics.
Presented by:
Jim Bowman has broad experience in all functional areas of public relations and corporate communications, with an emphasis on media relations. As Vice President of Corporate Communications for Nokia Inc., he was part of the global team that established Nokia as one of the world’s top 10 brands. Jim’s strategies and creative thinking have helped build the brands and images of some of the world’s most respected companies and get small companies known. As owner and President of J. R. Bowman and Associates, LLC, Jim now concentrates on serving small-to-medium-size businesses. Jim’s ability to diagnose PR problems and suggest solutions earned him the name, “The PR Doc®” among his associates. He has launched http://www.theprdoc.com to help small agencies and individual public relations practitioners get affordable access to PR tools and expert help from senior practitioners. Jim was recognized by his peers with election to the Arthur W. Page Society, a selected-membership organization of senior public relations executives, and appointment to the client advisory board of the Council of Public Relations Firms.
Mike Moran, is author of the acclaimed book on Internet marketing, Do It Wrong Quickly, on the heels of the best-selling Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Mike Moran led many initiatives on IBM’s Web site for eight years, including IBM’s original search marketing strategy. Mike holds an Advanced Certificate in Market Management Practice from the Royal UK Charter Institute of Marketing, and is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. He also writes marketing columns for Internet Evolution and Search Engine Guide. Mike frequently keynotes conferences on Internet marketing for marketers, public relations specialists, market researchers, and technologists, and serves as Chief Strategist for Converseon, a leading digital media marketing agency. Prior to joining Converseon, Mike worked for IBM for 30 years, rising to the level of Distinguished Engineer. Mike can be reached through his Web site (mikemoran.com), which is also home to his Biznology newsletter and blog.
Marc Harty is CEO of MainTopic Media, Inc., a strategically focused, values-driven, marketing consultancy and training company. Ever the entrepreneur, Marc has owned an ad agency, a web development firm, and a search marketing firm. A marketing strategist with over two decades of distinguished service, Marc has won over 200 local, national and International awards, including two Clio’s and “Best Of Show” from The Dallas Ad League. Marc speaks regularly on Online PR, Thought Leadership, Social Marketing and Internet Business Transformation. His true passion? Developing proven marketing programs that can help anyone get the visibility and results to successfully manifest their life purpose.
Stop repeating these 10 proven mistakes when dealing with the media and managing your media relations program!
Ever since outlaw Jesse James wrote and issued the first news release, media relations practitioners have steadfastly refused to learn from the mistakes of their forebears.In James’s case, he didn’t take into account the suspicious and questioning nature of the reading populace, who viewed his bombastic news releases as early American “spin control.”
Learning Topics
Underestimating the intelligence of your audience is just one of the 10 major mistakes covered in this session. Others include:
- Not being a student of the media, keeping up with their changes needs and trends
- Confusing media output numbers with bottom-line outcome measures
- Annoying editors with misdirected and/or badly-prepared materials
- Not routinely evaluating your media relations programs and management
- Trying to substitute media relations for communication
Wilma answers real-world questions on:
- Holding the media accountable and keeping them from allowing bias or half-truths from creeping into news coverage, so that what is reported is straight, honest and fair
- How recent college graduates — with no contacts — can build relationships with the media
- The most effective ways to pitch
- Dealing with a less-than-objective journalist
- The best way to get to know a editor, writer or reporter
- The most important and effective tools in media relations
- The best day/time to pitch stories
- The least offensive way to bring a reporter’s error to his or her attention – and how to ask for a correction
- Pushing the envelope: How persistent you should be in making your pitch
- Teaching senior management the difference between a subjective, self-serving news item and a legitimate, content-rich press release
- Measures practitioners should routinely implement to measure results on the fly – especially during a crisis
- The biggest changes in media relations over the past 10 years
Presented by:
Wilma Mathews, ABC and IABC Fellow, works for Arizona State University as director of constituent relations. She also conducts media relations seminars, provides media training for corporate executives and is co-author of On Deadline: Managing Media Relations (4th edition, Spring 2006). Her background includes corporate communications and international public relations for AT&T/Lucent; nonprofit communication for two chambers of commerce and a medical center; and writing/editing for a newspaper and magazine. A national and international speaker, Wilma also contributes articles to trade publications and lectures on PR and media relations at ASU.
With the passage of new laws and regulations to curb white-collar crime, executives are paying increasing attention to corporate governance and compliance programs. But what role do compliance programs play in employee behavior?
Research shows that compliance programs can actually do more harm than good when it comes to actual employee behavior. However, carefully designed compliance programs, supported by other elements of culture, can be instrumental in building an ethical culture that not only drives ethical employee behavior but also employee engagement and business results.
You will learn:
- Key research on the connections between ethics and employee engagement
- Four building blocks of ethical culture
- Elements of an effective ethics/compliance program
- Links between ethical culture and employee engagement
- Importance of ethical leadership and trust
- How character gets defined in leaders
- What is moral language, and how to use it
- Three strategies that can make a real difference in creating an ethical culture
- Three steps executives and managers can take to encourage ethical behavior within their organizations and departments
- Three audience segments you need to consider when designing ethics/compliance initiatives
Kate answers real-world questions on:
- Best practices in talking about ethics with employees
- How to reward employees’ for good ethical behavior
- Explaining the success of the hit TV show The Apprentice
- What channels work best when delivering the ethical rules of an organization
- Advice to those in an organization who have either observed or have strong suspicions of unethical behavior in their company
Presented by:
Kate Nelson is a consultant, Wharton professor and author specializing in ethics program design and strategic organizational communications.
- Formerly a senior fellow in ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, she currently teaches business ethics at Wharton Executive Education and to executive MBA students at the University of Delaware.
- Co-author, with Pennsylvania State University Professor Linda Klebe Trevino, of Managing Business Ethics (published by Wiley; 4th edition due in August 2006)
- Consultant on ethics and communications for 15 years
- Formerly a principal and communication practice leader for Mercer HR Consulting in Philadelphia
- Formerly vice president and head of worldwide HR communications at Citicorp in New York City; held similar positions at Merrill Lynch and Honeywell
- Guest speaker on ethics and values at many conferences and organizations, including the Conference Board, World@Work, Society for Human Resources Managers, Young Presidents’ Organization, the Ethics’ Officers Association and Wharton Executive Education.
- She has designed and/or conducted ethics training programs for numerous business schools, including Harvard, University of Chicago, Columbia, Vanderbilt, NYU, MIT, Temple and Northwestern; and for numerous organizations, including GE, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan, Prudential Securities, Morgan Stanley, Aviva, Degussa, Shell Oil, AC Nielsen, Glaxo SmithKline, Citibank, Dupont, Lockheed Martin and NASA.
- The ethics game that Kate created at Citicorp, The Work Ethic, was awarded the Gold Quill of Excellence by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) in 1987 and was featured in numerous media, including the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Fortune.
- Communications she created have been recognized by the American Institute of Graphic Artists, the Art Directors Guild, the IABC, and have been exhibited in the Whitney Museum of Art in New York.
- She received her B.A. from the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York City and has been affiliated with Wharton since 1991. Kate also is a 2002 graduate of Leadership, Inc., a Philadelphia organization that mobilizes the private sector on behalf of the community and trains executives to serve on boards of directors.
- She is a member of the Council of Communication Management (CCM).