SxSW 2015: the sessions that got away

SxSW is always crammed pack with so much great stuff, I have a hard time deciding what to attend. Sometimes, the crowds decide for me. I was locked out of more than one session at the last festival.

I'm looking forward to sharing some the take-aways from the sessions I did attend, but for perspective on the scope of SxSW, here a list of the session I wanted to see, but didn't get to...

• Simple Ways to Massively Increase Your Content #content123
• Neuroplasticity and Tech: Why Brands Have to Change #neurobrand
• New Media Ethics: Journalism in the Age of GIFs #newethics
• The Art and Science of Shareability #shareable
• Do You Know the ROI of WOM? Do You Want To? #ROIofWOM
• The Emperor’s New Wearables #SXstyle
• How to Rock SXSW in 4 Hours #sxsw #timferriss
  
  
• NASA New Initiatives in Imagery for Public Use
• Content Marketing vs Don Draper: The End Of Ads #MPost
• Visual Storytelling: The Power of Design + Data #TDSXSW
• UX and The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle #Heisenberg
• Behind the Social at PBS' Largest Content Provider #WGBHSocial
• How SciFi Drives Marketing In the Exponential Age #sxsw #innovate
• Brand and Deliver: Creating Custom Branded Content #sxsw #branded
• Beyond BFFs: Using Texting to Promote Empathy #T2C
• Picturing Your Big Ideas
  
  
• The Quantified Us
• How the Google App Finds Answers Before You Search
• Digital Disruption: Do or Die
• Paid Editing of Wikipedia: Getting Past "Gotcha"
• Storytelling For Dummies: Create a Lasting Brand
• The Road to Character
  
  
• Art and Experience: A Future for Creativity
• Are You in a Social Media Experiment?
• Mobile Beyond Marketing: The Era of UnAdvertising
• Personalization for the People
• Harvard Business Review On: How to Hire Superstars
• I Made 180 Websites in 180 Days
• Wearable Drones: High-Flying Fashion
• This Is Your Brain On Visual Data
• Identity In the Future Of Embeddables and Wearables
• Think Outside the Font: How Typefaces Influence
• How CNN and The New York Times Moderate Comments
• Facebook, Twitter and The Future of Free Speech
• Image Creation and Sharing: Practice vs Policy
• The Medium Is the Deliverable
• Princess Reema’s Mission to Empower Saudi Women
  
  
• Are Brands Sabotaging Their Own Content?
• Managing a Shit Storm and Restoring Your Brand
• Beyond Marketing: How Curation Will Work for You

Austin Kleon Keynote

The keynotes at SxSW tend to be big picture, fairly basic and more on the inspirational versus informational side. This was true of Austin Kleon's opening keynote. For me one of the best things to come from this talk was discovering Austin's site AustinKleon.com.

Kleon talked about the process of creativity and the importance of sharing not just the finished product but also the work that got us there. He claims that opening up and sharing your process brings you closer to an audience, adds value to your work, and makes you better at what you do.

He had a great insight for sharing behavior online. He said, when you share other people's work treat it with the same amount of respect you would treat your own work. I really like this concept, and it seems like a nice frame to promote ethical behavior online.

Hashtags: #showURwork

Couldn't Say It Better Myself

After this week's announcement of the death of Bin Laden, I have steadily become more and more disappointed with the reactions of the American media and citizens. Although, I try to keep my blog fairly apolitical (my husband would say that's impossible because everything is political), I had decided I wanted to blog about my own reaction here.

I wasn't quite sure where to start. As I was organizing my thoughts on this topic, I came across this article. It says it perfectly. It's everything I wanted to say here.

The Psychology of Revenge: Why We Should Stop Celebrating Osama Bin Laden’s Death by Pamela Gerloff, Ed.D.

You Can't Make This Up: Political Doggie Toys

When you are married to a political scientist certain things come along with the territory, like pop quizzes on Constitutional amendments and pre-election briefings on candidates and questions. Evidently, political themed doggie toys are also included in the package.

You wouldn't think there would be such a variety, but surprisingly there is. Right now, Boogie Woogie has both a stuffed Uncle Sam and squeaky (how appropriate) lobbyist. That's right, a squeaky lobbyist. It's one of her favorites.

We got this one when John was working with the Oklahoma Ethic Commission on gift reform. He couldn't resist it and he still gets a good chuckle every time he goads Boogie to "Get the lobbyist! Get him!"

APR Flash Card: Benefits of PR

It's been a while since I've posted an APR flash card. I decided it was time to bring them back.

Category: Trends
Front: Benefits of PR

Back:
To Management

• develop and maintain relationships with audience
• anticipate and respond to shifts in public perceptions and opinions

To Society

• make information available
• mediate conflict and build consensus
• help complex society make decisions

I think often we focus too much on the value of PR to management. As I point out in some of my posts on ethics, PR at its root is a public service. The public is just as much a client as the organization paying us, and we have benefits to both parties.

APR Flash Cards: Foreign Registration Act

In a way the law section of the APR exam is difficult, because if a particular law doesn't effect your corner of PR then you are unlikely to be familiar with it. On the other hand, there are only a dozen of so laws you really need to remember and since it's the law, it's pretty black and white. Here's one I had to learn.

Category: Law
Front: Foreign Registration Act
Back: All persons working as foreign agents (govt. company, or political party) must register within 10 days with the US Attorney General and report under oath every 6 months the names of foreign interests working for, activities carried out and how they spend their money.

Pretty hard core, huh?

What's on the APR Exam?

When I talk about the APR (Accreditation in Public Relations) I have many people ask what is on the exam. The test covers a variety of topics and is broken down like so.

Researching, Planning, Implementing & Evaluating Programs (30%) Basically the four-step process. It counts for so much because it's the basis of what we do.

Ethics and Law (15%) Not only do you need to understand relevant laws, you'll need to know the PRSA Code of Ethics inside and out and understand how to apply it.

Communication Models and Theory (15%) Understand the implications and applications of various theories and models.

Business Literacy (10%) You need to understand and explain revenue generation, perform SWOT analysis, and identify other divisions that need to be involved in any communication program.

Management Skills & Issues (10%) You must understand audience diversity, make sound decisions, and hold strong leadership and organizational skills.

Crisis Communication Management (10%) You'll need to understand the roles and responsibilities of public relations at the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis phases.

Media Relations (5%) Understand the relationships between PR and media organizations, have news sensibility and understand the media and various distribution systems.

Using IT Efficiently (2%) The category basically gauges your tech literacy.

History of & Current Issues in PR (2%) Identify key figures in the history of PR, major trends and key forces that influenced the field. You'll also have to differentiates among related concepts like publicity, advertising, marketing, and press agentry.

Advance Communication Skills (1%) This covers topics like consensus-building, consulting skills and negotiation.

PRSA-OKC Responds to Smear on the Profession

On Feb. 10, USA Today published a book review which casts the public relations profession in a most unflattering light. PRSA chapters across the country are responding to this attack on the profession. PRSA-OKC has submitted the following letter to the editor.

Thank you to Derinda Lowe, PRSA-OKC President, and Katherine Leidy, PRSA-OKC Advocacy Officer, for actively supporting PRSA's goal of advancing the profession and the professional. Well done, ladies.

Letter to the Editor

February 12, 2009
To the Editor:

As the public relations profession continues to take hits in the media, we feel it necessary to respond to comments made in a Feb. 10 USA Today book review regarding the profession. In his review of the book PR: A Persuasive Industry: Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media by Trevor Morris and Simon Goldsworthy, Seth Brown presents the view that "PR is amoral, difficult to define, and difficult to measure." We'd like to share a local, insider's take on that notion.

As members of the Oklahoma City chapter of the Public Relations Society of America, we're part of a group of 157 metro area PR professionals who abide by a code of ethics that includes specific provisions for advancing the free flow of accurate and truthful information, and for disclosing all information necessary to foster informed decision making in a democratic society. These are professionals that serve an important role in fostering mutually beneficial relationships between the public and non-profit organizations, associations, government agencies, academic institutions and businesses. A majority of our members received a formal college education in public relations, communication and journalism, and 25 percent have taken the extra step to become accredited in public relations.

To the layperson, PR is often viewed as simply "publicity." Writing and disseminating information to the media and acting as a liaison between an organization and the media is but one small part of a PR professional's work. While it is the work that is most visible to the people who write about PR in the media and the people who read it, PR professionals and the organizations that hire them know that there is much more to it.

In our democratic, free society, PR helps people reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions through two-way communication and building relationships. It helps organizations understand the attitudes and values of different audiences in order to further the achievement of their goals. The PR professional serves as a counselor to management and acts as a mediator to help translate an organization's goals into reasonable, publicly acceptable policies and actions, and to mitigate risks.

Public relations involves a wide array of tactics and strategies, however its impact is easy to measure with both attitudinal and behavioral metrics, as well as financial measures, such as return-on-investment. PR's impact can be quantified in terms of sales, market share, brand awareness, stock price, reputation and trust, customer satisfaction, fundraising, employee morale and retention, event participation, Web site traffic, and regulatory changes.

We encourage those who want to learn more about the PR profession to visit the Oklahoma City PRSA chapter's website at www.prsaokc.com and join us at one of our monthly luncheon meetings.

Derinda Lowe, APR, President
Katherine Leidy, ABC, APR, Advocacy Officer
Public Relations Society of America, Oklahoma City Chapter

6 Provisions of the PR Code of Ethics

A mathematician, an accountant & a PR officer applied for the same job. The interviewer called in the mathematician & asked, “What does two plus two equal?” The mathematician replied, “Four.” The interviewer asked, “Four, exactly?” The mathematician looked at the interviewer incredulously & said, “Yes, of course: four, exactly.” Then the interviewer called in the accountant & asked the same question. The accountant said, "On average, four - give or take 10%; but on average, four." Then the interviewer called in the PR officer & again posed the same question. The PR officer got up, locked the door, closed the shade, sat down next to the interviewer & whispered, "Well, what do you want it to equal?"

Ok, if this is still your idea of PR, shame on you, scroll down and read my intro to the PR Code of Ethics. The second half of the code is made up of 6 provisions. Here's the official version and the Bonnie translation.

Provision 1: Competition
PRSA says: Healthy & fair competition among professionals preserves an ethical climate while fostering a robust business environment.
Bonnie says: Play nicely with others.

Provision 2: Conflict of Interest
PRSA says: Avoiding real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest builds the trust of clients, employers & the publics.
Bonnie says: If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck...

Provision 3: Disclosure of Information
PRSA says: Open communication fosters informed decision making in a democratic society.
Bonnie says: No lying by omission.

Provision 4: Enhancing the Profession
PRSA says: PR professionals work constantly to strengthen the public's trust in the profession.
Bonnie says: If you don’t look good, we don’t look good.

Provision 5: Free Flow of Information
PRSA says: Protecting & advancing the free flow of accurate & truthful information is essential to serving the public interest & contributing to informed decision making in a democratic society.
Bonnie says: Your actions should do nothing to bias or alter the flow of open communications.

Provision 6: Safe Guarding Confidences
PRSA says: Client trust requires appropriate protection of confidential & private information.
Bonnie says: Know how and when to keep a secret

6 Core Values of PR

September may be PR Ethics month, but it's really too important of a topic to save discussion to one month a year. As an accredited public relations professional, I feel obligated to not only help my fellow PR practitioners embrace the PRSA Code of Ethics, but also to talk to people outside the practice about our code and what it means.

First off, yes we have a code of ethics! If you are working in PR and don't realize this key fact then get yourself to a PRSA meeting now. If you're not in PR and think we are all a bunch of hack Karl Rove wannabes, stop buying into the stereotype. It's not true. Like any profession (lawyers, mechanics, politicians, etc.) most of us work hard to do the right things. It just a few high-profile jerks who make us all look bad (which in itself is a violation of the code).

So here's a quick run down of the first half of the PRSA code of ethics, and the lay-person translation I created to help me keep it all straight.

Value 1: Honesty
PRSA says: We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy & truth in advancing the interests of those we represent & in communicating with the public.
Bonnie says: Don’t lie. Don’t lie to your client, don’t lie to your colleagues, don’t lie to the media. Just don’t, ever. Period.

Value 2: Independence
PRSA says: We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.
Bonnie says: Don’t be a lapdog. You are hired to be a counselor, an adviser. You are not hired to blindly go along with what your client wants you to do.

Value 3: Loyalty
PRSA says: We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.
Bonnie says: Don't screw over your client. The best interests of your client are always a top priority. They are putting a lot of trust in you, and your commitment (of lack of) to them can have huge impacts.

Value 4: Expertise
PRSA says: We acquire & responsibly use specialized knowledge & experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research & education. We build mutual understanding, credibility & relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.
Bonnie says: Remain credible. You do this by applying the things you’ve learn, like the four-step process, by being able to articulate why we do research and evaluation, by continuing your professional development and by maintaining good relationships.

Value 5: Advocacy
PRSA says: We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts & viewpoints to aid informed public debate.
Bonnie says: The public is always your client. My favorite definition of public relations is “building mutual understanding between a client and their publics.” At its core PR is a public service.

Value 6: Fairness
PRSA says: We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media & the general public. We respect all opinions & support the right of free expression.
Bonnie says: Don’t be an asshole.

Next time, I'll look at the second half of the code: the 6 provisions.

PRSA-OKC Advocates Clean & Fair Campaign Communication

Just one example of why PRSA-OKC rocks. Today, we received this from our fearless leader, Danielle Walker, APR.

I wanted to let you know about an exciting initiative that the Oklahoma City Chapter, Public Relations Society of America, is undertaking.

PRSA-OKC is taking part in a national effort to challenge local political campaigns to agree to uphold the highest standards of ethical practice in every facet of their campaign communications. This dovetails with the PRSA national office's challenge to the McCain and Obama campaigns, which launched last month. PRSA formally requested that campaign communications directors Robert Gibbs (Obama for America) and Jill Hazelbaker (John McCain 2008) sign a pledge obligating them to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in their campaign communications. Specific guidelines relevant to campaign communications policies under the PRSA Code include: being honest and accurate in all communications, acting promptly to correct erroneous communications, investigating the truthfulness and accuracy of information released on behalf of those represented, and avoiding deceptive practices.

On the local level, today our chapter is sending letters to campaigns for the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, U.S. House and U.S. Senate, asking them to take a pledge to commit to the principles of the PRSA Code of Ethics in these last weeks before the elections. We have also distributed to the local media an OpEd article regarding our challenge to Oklahoma's candidates to make a formal commitment to accurate, truthful and respectful discourse.

The OpEd article also communicates that PRSA-OKC is responsible for representing, educating, setting standards of excellence and upholding a stringent code of ethics for not only our members, but the public relations profession within our state. In that role, PRSA-OKC is committed to advancing ethical communications practices and the free flow of accurate and truthful information. These principles not only guide our members and the profession, but also support fundamental rights of free speech and the public good.

Many thanks to you all for what you do each and every day in upholding the standards and ethics of our profession.