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Advanced Mobility Systems
Advanced Mobility Systems
November 2006
MEETINGS
Next at IABC Fort Worth ...
Meet the Productive Communicator: You!
Do you need an extra couple of hours at the end of the day? Do you like to keep stacks of paper on top of your desk so you won't forget them? Are you a fan of Post-it Notes?
"Productive communicator" is not an oxymoron. It can happen. An IABC panel -- Mark Cook, founder and president of Compass Partners; Dr. Alicia Lupinacci, chair of the Department of Management at Tarrant County College Northwest Campus and author of "Women Business Ownership"; Danelle Ellis, who founded her own organizing business, Clutter Busters, and now teaches internet and research skills as a librarian at Tarrant County College NW; and Kent Dean, a corporate trainer for the True Colors personality communications curriculum -- will show you how at a half-day seminar combined with this month's luncheon.
The experts will teach tips and tricks for organizing yourself, speaking more effectively to different personality types, and improving your listening skills and time management.
Time & date: 8:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 28
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: seminar and lunch, $75 members, $95 nonmembers; lunch only, $20 members, $25 nonmembers (online sign-up add $1)
RSVP by noon Nov. 21: julie.trowbridge@c-b.com or iabcfortworth.com/paypal.htm
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Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...
Lead Your Organization Through
Strategic Planning, Thinking and Measurement
It's a doubleheader this month, with participants in a morning workshop exploring how to create a workable strategic plan and then in the early afternoon perfecting the leadership skills needed to make people follow it. At 9 a.m., Dr. John Bassler, a recently retired marketing professor at UTA, will share his wisdom gleaned from 20-plus years of teaching strategic planning.
At lunch, Dr. David Mack, assistant dean of the UTA College of Business Administration and director of UTA's Goolsby Leadership Academy, will discuss "Strength-Based Leadership: Learning How to be a Better Leader." Mack teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at UTA. He also teaches in the college's Executive M.B.A. Program both on the campus and in China.
Time & date: seminar 9-11:45 a.m., lunch noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: seminar and lunch, members $55, nonmembers $65, students $30; seminar only, members $35, nonmembers $45, students $15; lunch only, members $25, nonmembers $30, students $20
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Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...
What Were They Thinking?
Ever enjoyed a movie, a play or a concert and then read the next day that critics thought the event was terrible? You may have wondered if the critics were at the same performance.
Here's your chance to ask the opinionated rascals.
Christopher Kelly of the Star-Telegram, Kristian Lin at Fort Worth Weekly and Ed Bark, online TV critic at unclebarky.com and formerly of The Dallas Morning News, will discuss their work and answer questions on their thought processes, their background in the arts and their pedigree as a critic at the November SPJ meeting.
Time & date: mingling 5:30 p.m., eats around 6, then the program Wednesday, Nov. 15
Place: Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St.
Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 students
Menu: Joe T.'s famous family-style enchilada dinner
RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com
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STRAIGHT STUFF
A full day of training and lunch, too, awaits aspiring journalists Saturday, Nov. 11, at the annual journalism workshop sponsored by the Dallas/Fort Worth Network of Hispanic Communicators and the UTA Department of Communication. Registration deadline is noon Nov. 10. More here. ...
Want to immerse yourself in the world of theater criticism, playwriting, directing and acting? The School of Journalism at the USC Annenberg School of Communication and the National Endowment for the Arts are offering their 3rd annual NEA Institute in Theater and Musical Theater, Jan. 30-Feb. 9 in Los Angeles. Most costs are covered by the NEA, including travel to and from Los Angeles, hotel (The Bonaventure), performances, internet use for work and most meals. To request an application, send an e-mail to neainst@usc.edu. Applications are due Nov. 20. Questions? Call Sasha Anawalt at (213) 437-4414.
IABC local update: Eric Morgenstern, APR, Fellow PRSA and CEO of Morningstar Communications in Overland Park, Kan., will show how to "Think Excellence, Not Difference: Positioning Strategies for Success" at the Dallas IABC meeting Tuesday, Nov. 14. Register here.
PRSA local update: Ruth Cogswell of Strategic Communications Partners will plumb the finer points of litigation PR -- what it is, how it works, how to craft a successful strategy -- at the Independent Practitioners SIG meeting Thursday, Nov. 16 (different day this month), 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Four Star Coffee Bar, 3324 W. Seventh St. Cogswell has worked in presidential politics and network news in Washington, D.C., and represented law firms and their clients in marketing and litigation PR cases. Her experience spans the S&L crisis, environmental and mass tort class action and white-collar crimes in local and appellate courts as well as before the Supreme Court.
PRSA local update II: The f stops here. Photography, its techniques and talents -- the latter personified by Star-Telegram photo director Max Faulkner; Glen Ellman, freelance photographer (and husband of Greater Fort Worth PRSA president Holly Ellman); and NBC 5 photographer Mike Grimm -- will dominate the PRSA Education SIG meeting Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 11:30 a.m. in TCU's Dee J. Kelly Alumni & Visitors Center. Faulkner will discuss how Star-Telegram photographers now take video footage as well as still shots and how video will influence the paper's future, while Ellman will explain the best way to manage digital assets. Grimm will talk about KXAS using new video technology in the field to get video online and on the air faster. The forum is free for PRSA members, $10 for nonmembers. A boxed lunch will be served. RSVP to Gayla Todd at g.todd@tcu.edu.
PRSA local update III: PRSA Masters, the special interest group for accredited practitioners or those who've been in public relations for 15 years or more, dined in late August with former Fort Worth PIO Pat Svacina, now communications director for U.S. Rep. Kay Granger. Sixteen masters met at Reata and enjoyed Svacina's take on the Wright Amendment, the Trinity River Vision and defense appropriations, as well as his lessons learned from the 2000 tornado and the Wedgwood shootings. The masters also met with the NuPros and TCU and UTA PRSSA students Sept. 28 for a "speed mentoring" session at the Fort Worth Club. Six masters hosted four roundtables while the 12 NuPros and students rotated, mixed and discussed résumés, career paths, technology and new media forms. The 90-minute session introduced the students to the masters and their sage, real-world experiences.
PRSA local update IV: Learn all about "Models for Behavior Change -- How the Cooper Aerobics Center Has Promoted Health for Over 36 Years" at the Dallas PRSA luncheon Thursday, Nov. 9. More here.
SPJ national update: LA Times editor urges others to fight cuts; and when the rhetoric and the votes don't match. Los Angeles Times editor Dean Baquet, who publicly opposed staff cuts at his paper in September, encourages other editors to push back against similarly inclined owners. "Sometimes when I sit down with editors and managing editors, I find them all too willing to buy the argument for cuts," he told more than 100 editors at the annual gathering of the Associated Press Managing Editors in New Orleans. "We need to be a feistier bunch." Baquet made headlines when he objected to cuts proposed by the Times' owner, the Tribune Co. of Chicago. He said he received support from newspaper people nationwide, as well as from two publishers and even a Wall Street analyst. More here. ... The nation's largest organization of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans has released ratings of Congress members on votes regarding issues affecting U.S. troops, veterans and military families. IAVA surveyed the 107th, 108th and 109th congressional sessions, tallying more than 300 votes. Fewer than one-quarter of House and Senate members scored an A. All Senate Democrats rated higher than any Senate Republicans. Texans Kay Granger and Joe Barton scored a C, Kay Bailey Hutchison a D+ and John Cornyn a D-. "Every member of Congress claims to support the troops, but this guide shows us that more often than not, the rhetoric does not match the reality," said Iraq War veteranand IAVA founder Paul Rieckhoff. More here and here.
SPJ national update II: Judge orders release of White House logs; and "media let the country down." U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina on Oct. 20 ordered the administration to release information about who visited Vice President Dick Cheney's office and personal residence, an order that could renew debate over lobbyists' White House access. The Washington Post asked for two years of White House visitor logs in June, but the Secret Service refused to process the request. More here. ... New York Times executive editor Bill Keller says the American news media failed to do its job in the months leading up to the invasion of Iraq when it should have been digging deeper into the administration's rationale for war. "The American media let the country down in its reporting before the war," Keller told a standing-room-only audience at a lecture at the University of Michigan. More here.
SPJ national update III: Evangelical's book says Bush using Christians; and state legislators' financial disclosures from 43 states now online. More than five years after the president created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, the former second-in-command there says it was used almost exclusively to win political points with evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities and that its primary mission -- providing financial support to charities that serve the poor -- never got the presidential support it needed to succeed. "National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control' and just plain 'goofy,' " David Kuo, an evangelical Christian conservative, writes in "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction." The political affairs office headed by Karl Rove was especially "eye-rolling," Kuo's book says. It says staff members in that office "knew 'the nuts' were politically invaluable, but that was the extent of their usefulness." Kuo's former boss, James Towey, disputed many of the assertions in the book. More here and here. ... Most states require legislative candidates to disclose their personal finances as well as campaign finances, but about half the states don't post the reports online. The Center for Public Integrity has filled much of the gap. More here.
SPJ national update IV: Study puts Iraq death toll past 650,000; and report says thousands wrongly on terror list. A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq than would have if the invasion had not occurred in March 2003. The estimate, produced by interviewing residents in a random sampling of households throughout the country, is more than 20 times the estimate of 30,000 civilian deaths that President Bush gave in a speech in December and more than 10 times the estimate of 50,000 civilian deaths made by the British-based Iraq Body Count research group. The survey got the same estimate for immediate post-invasion deaths as an earlier study. Death certificates substantiated the great majority of deaths. "We're very confident with the results," said Gilbert Burnham, a Johns Hopkins physician and epidemiologist. More here. ... Thousands of people have been mistakenly linked to names on terror watch lists when they crossed the border, boarded commercial airliners or were stopped for traffic violations, the Government Accountability Office reports. More than 30,000 airline passengers have asked the Transportation Security Administration to clear their names from the lists. More here.
SPJ national update V: Fox News in decline?; and fewer reporters embedded in Iraq. Fox News Channel marked its 10th anniversary by experiencing its first ratings slump. Viewership the first eight months of the year was down 5 percent compared to 2005, with a steeper 13 percent decline in prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research. For 12 straight months, Fox's prime-time audience has been smaller than the year before. More here. ... The number of embedded journalists reporting alongside U.S. troops in Iraq has settled to below two dozen. The figure rebounded only slightly from a low of 11 in September. During the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, more than 600 reporters, TV crews and photographers linked up with U.S. and British units. "This is more than pathetic," said Sig Christenson, a reporter for the San Antonio Express-News and president of Military Reporters and Editors, a journalists group. More here.
SPJ national update VI: Number of books facing challenge drops to all-time low; media firms counted as small businesses; and so much for separation of church and state. The number of books threatened with removal from library shelves fell last year to its lowest total on record, with 405 challenges reported to the American Library Association. The ALA has tracked efforts to pull texts since the early 1980s, when it helped found Banned Books Week as a celebration of free expression. Challenges have gone up and down over the past few years but overall have dropped by more than half since Banned Books Week was started. Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, cited a couple of possible factors for the decline: Librarians are better prepared to organize community support on behalf of a book, and would-be censors are focusing more on online content. More here. ... Some of the nation's largest media companies, including the Associated Press, were counted last year by the government as small businesses for contracting purposes, inflating the Bush administration's record of help to small companies. Other companies cited as small businesses by the White House included The New York Times Co., USA Today International Corp., Bloomberg, PBS, ExxonMobil and Microsoft. More here. ... Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring in engineering, mathematics, science or certain foreign languages. That absence apparently indicates that students in the evolutionary sciences do not qualify for the grants, and some observers wonder whether the omission was deliberate. More here.
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The Heat Was on at Joe T. Garcia's ...
by Susan Tallant
... But it wasn't the hot sauce that spiced up the evening. A debate between Tarrant County District Attorney Tim Curry and challenger Terri Moore turned into an often-sharp exchange at the packed-house Fort Worth SPJ October meeting.
Republican Curry boasted of 34 years of professionally managing what he called the county's largest law firm and noted before the night was done that he has been endorsed by the Fort Worth Police Department and Arlington Police Department, the Fort Worth Firefighters Association and the Tarrant County Sheriff's Department. Democrat Moore, who made a run for the office four years ago, touted her accomplishments while working for Curry and being in private practice.
"I tried the largest internet porn case in U.S. history, and, folks, they got slammed," she said. "That is what you can expect from me as district attorney."
Curry said Moore's claim is an oxymoron because she later represented a high-profile admitted sex offender in court. "I find it a little bit odd that she is touting the pornography case as a federal prosecutor, then turns around and represents a notorious pedophile," Curry said.
Moore acknowledged the case but said she was just doing her job. "Everybody, no matter what you have been accused of, has a right to have representation," she said.
The format called for written questions from the audience, a three-minute answer, then a response and counterresponse. One of the questions for Moore concerned her husband's criminal record.
"Shame on you, whoever asked that question," she said.
Moore said her husband of 25 years had once had problems with the IRS. Curry agreed that the question was inappropriate, but his statement was not enough to cool things down between the candidates.
"Four years ago when I ran against this man, he put it in a piece of mail," Moore said.
Other issues of audience concern were ethics and corruption. Curry said unethical behavior is unacceptable in any government and that his office has prosecuted cases involving corruption in the past but has not had any major cases recently.
Moore said the reason no cases have been prosecuted lately is due to lack of prosecution. "Fort Worth is a big, old good ol' boy town, and you tend to see a discrepancy there," she said. "Do you think it's because Fort Worth is so good that there is no corruption and Dallas is so bad that there is?"
Moore said establishing the gang unit was one of her major accomplishments. Curry said Moore did not start the gang unit but was assigned to run it.
Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 7.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Cathy O'Neal is one proud mom. Her son, Sean, has been named Austin city editor for The Onion, which is adding print editions to its online presence. ...
Big doings at Balcom. Edwards Ranch has selected the Balcom Agency as the advertising and marketing agency of record for the 850-acre mixed-used development in southwest Fort Worth. The first phase of residential development will launch in early 2007. Established in 1848 as a working cattle ranch, the Edwards Ranch development will encompass three communities: Riverhills, a 320-acre high-end custom residential neighborhood encompassing 500 lots; Clearfork, a 279-acre town center and office campus; and Overland, a later phased mixed-use development. Meanwhile, the Nocona Athletic Goods Co. has chosen Balcom as its public relations agency of record to handle all corporate communications, media relations and event publicity. The Nocona Leather Goods Co. was founded in 1926 and later became the Nocona Athletic Goods Co. Its Nokona baseball glove was trademarked in 1934 (spelled with a "k" when the U.S. Patent Office would not allow the name of an incorporated town to be registered) and to this day is recognized as the last handmade, American-made baseball glove. ...
Skip Hollandsworth, an executive editor at Texas Monthly; Russell Hurst, executive director of SPJ (then Sigma Delta Chi) from 1962-81, during which time membership more than doubled; and PR legends Jerre Todd, owner of the full-service ad/PR firm the Todd Company, and Camille Keith, an original employee of Southwest Airlines who rose through the ranks to become VP of special marketing, were inducted last month into the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism Hall of Excellence in ceremonies at the annual Journalism Exes Breakfast, held at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. Previous inductees are journalism educators Warren Agee and J. Willard Ridings, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer, Broadway and TV actress Betty Buckley, newspaper editor Ken Bunting, sports journalist Dan Jenkins, online journalism pioneer Johnny Livengood and writers Bud Shrake and Gary Cartwright. ...
A dozen UTA alumni and former Shorthorn reporters have been nominated for Katie Awards, a recognized symbol of excellence presented by the Press Club of Dallas. The annual competition is open to journalism and communications pros in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Colorado, New Mexico and Arkansas. The UTA nominees include, at Bloomberg, Mary Schlangenstein; at the Associated Press, Matt Slocum; at Al Dia, the Belo Spanish-language publication, Liliana Vargas; at the Star-Telegram, Steve Wilson, Michael Currie, Tom Pennington and Linda P. Campbell; and at The Dallas Morning News, Reese Dunklin, Tawnell Hobbs, Mike Hashimoto, Tom Fox and Michael Ainsworth.
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NEW MEMBERS
SPJ ... Melynda Bonner
PRSA ... Christy R. Jones, Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital ... Chiaveli Navarro
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Holly Ellman, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
As we wind down the year, there is a lot of which to be proud, yet still much to do.
In October, president-elect/membership VP Marc Flake fielded a dynamic panel of broadcast assignment editors for a free, members-only media seminar. Dee Coleman (CBS 11), Lance Conrad (WFAA-TV), Gary Daniels (Fox 4) and Steve Wright (NBC 5) discussed their daily activities, the difficulty of filling the air with news the viewers want and how we can best work with them to get our company's/client's events and news covered. Flake served as the moderator for what has become a tradition for GFW PRSA members. Well done, Marc!
At the regular meeting in October, new officers were elected, including Laura Van Hoosier, president-elect; Chris Smith, vice president, programs; Krista Brown, treasurer; Nancy Farrar, treasurer-elect; and Joan Hunter, secretary. Directors are Lyndsay Nantz (term expiring December 2007) and Tom Burke, APR (2009); they join Carol Murray, APR, whose term expires in 2008. Andra Bennett, APR, was elected assembly delegate (term ending 2009), joining Heather Senter, APR, whose term expires in 2008. Also at the October meeting, the proposed amendments to the chapter bylaws were unanimously adopted.
Don't miss the Wednesday, Nov. 8, professional development seminar that Lisa Orr has put together. John Bassler, Ph.D., will discuss SWOT analysis and SWOT-driven strategic planning, environmental and competitor analysis, and provide tips on how to develop a strategy and measure the results. Following the seminar, David Mack, Ph.D., will discuss leadership on a practical level -- how to lead effectively, strategies to be a good leader and how to motivate (and discipline) employees. Visit fortworthprsa.org for more information and to register.
GFW PRSA will celebrate its 20th anniversary with style at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, at Shady Oaks Country Club. Members and guests will enjoy a delicious array of heavy hors d'oeuvres and hear Cheryl Procter-Rogers, APR, Fellow PRSA and president and CEO of PRSA, discuss the challenges facing today's public relations practitioners. Members, look for your invitations in the mail. Guests are welcome. For more information, hit that web site again, fortworthprsa.org.
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Ken Roberts, IABC Fort Worth
Heavy hitters. That phrase came to mind while listening to the speakers at October's IABC meeting.
A panel of Gold Quill winners -- Texas Instruments' Jenifer Ragle; Stephani Hawkins and Scott Hunt of Sabre; and Scott Cytron, a Dallas-based communications consultant and member of IABC's International Board of Directors -- shared lessons learned from their successful Gold Quill entries. Scott brought an interesting perspective because he's not only a former Gold Quill winner, but a current Gold Quill judge. The Gold Quill is IABC's highest award.
The meeting topic was "How to Prepare a Gold Quill Communications Plan," but the information presented has value beyond the award. One of the not-so-secret steps to success with a Gold Quill entry is being able to show pre- and post-campaign measurement and demonstrate how the campaign changed perceptions, prompted action or increased awareness. Other traits of Gold Quill-caliber campaigns are crisp strategic planning, a clearly defined audience and knowing the messages you want to deliver.
While I would love to win a Gold Quill, the competition is held just once a year. But I work on communication projects every day. I left the meeting plotting how to bring Gold Quill attributes to the proposal we're preparing for one of our municipal clients, and the enhancements we're making to our intranet, and the booth display we're creating for a trade show.
I'm feeling a bit challenged, which is great because I believe we achieve more when responding to challenges.
IABC Fort Worth's November meeting will certainly inspire challenges as we host a half-day professional development seminar Tuesday, Nov. 28. The morning seminar will be followed by our regular monthly meeting. Details are on p. 1 in this eChaser issue and at iabcfortworth.com.
I look forward to seeing you Nov. 28. Member or guest, at IABC Fort Worth you're always welcome.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
That was a joyful time time Kristin Sullivan, Gayle Reaves-King, Rebecca Bosquez, Kay Pirtle and I had with SPJ national's Christine Tatum at Reata last month. What a power-packed new prez, all effervescence and verve and fresh ideas. Come again, Christine, when you can stay longer. ...
Tim Curry, Terri Moore and Joe T. Garcia's also made us happy last month. At 10 a.m. on the day of the debate fandango we had 60 RSVPs. At 2 p.m. we had 80. When the candidates started talking, a bunch more than that had jammed into Joe T.'s converted chruch-ballroom, La Puertita. Big draw, big demand on the kitchen, big night for SPJ. ...
President Bush recently signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Anyone out there actually read it? It's here. Maybe we should. Wonder if Bush has, or anyone in Congress, or even one editor in the big-time media. MSNBC's Keith Olbermann has. He says the country now faces "a government more dangerous to our liberty than is the enemy it claims to protect us from." Writer Ronda Hauben has. Says the new law essentially enables the executive branch of government to create its own processes and procedures, with no oversight from the other two branches. Says the law resembles the Enabling Act that Adolf Hitler used to consolidate fascism in Germany in March 1933. Her article is labeled opinion. So is Olbermann's report. But what if they're right? ...
They're blogging all over the place at the national web site, and one of the most impressive entries is FOIFYI, a running treatise on the free flow of public information. More at spj.org or from Joel Campbell at joel_campbell@byu.edu. And on the subject of blogs, check out the Oregon chapter's blog, which serves as the chapter home page: oregonspj.blogspot.com. It's an experimental effort to connect journalists throughout Oregon and southwest Washington. Members will find a slew of things, including upcoming events, great work by local journalists and changes to local laws that affect news-gathering.
Closing words: "Show me a sane man and I will cure him for you." -- Carl Jung ... "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot." -- Charlie Chaplin ... "Earth laughs in flowers." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson ... "What people are ashamed of usually makes a good story." -- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Closing words II, G.W.B. & the Pharisees division: "I want justice. And there's an old poster out West, I recall, that said, 'Wanted, Dead or Alive.' " -- President Bush when asked if he wanted Osama bin Laden dead (CNN, Sept. 17, 2001) ... "I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any comma nd structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him." -- Bush press conference March 13, 2002