PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Holly Ellman, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
Wow! The last quarter of 2006 is shaping up to be a busy time.
The chapter is fielding a team for the annual Cowtown Brush Up on Oct. 7, where we will help spruce up more than 100 homes of elderly, disabled and low-income citizens. We'll paint houses, plant trees, remove graffiti and just generally enjoy a great bonding experience while making a visual impact on our central city neighborhoods. Contact Richie Escovedo, community service chair, if you want to join the fun.
We will host two events Oct. 11, including our second members-only media forum. Membership VP Marc Flake has put together a dynamic panel of television news assignment editors who will give us the skinny on the best ways to make an effective pitch. This free special event runs from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Petroleum Club.
Then stay in the room for the regular chapter meeting featuring Teisha Van de Kop, senior vice president in the Dallas office of Weber Shandwick. She will share the secrets to improving internal communications and engaging employees to help promote your brand. The chapter meeting is open to members and guests.
In November we will host a professional development seminar on strategic planning. John Bassler, Ph.D., will discuss SWOT analysis, SWOT-driven strategic planning, and environmental and competitor analysis. He also will provide tips on how to develop a strategy and measure the results. Following the seminar, David A. 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.
Also in November, we will celebrate the chapter's 20th anniversary with an evening soiree. A committee is feverishly working to find the best location with great food, drink and festivities. If you'd like to serve on the committee, contact me at hellman@fwcds.org.
And finally, we wrap up the year with the SPJ/PRSA/IABC holiday party and our annual holiday networking luncheon. Who knew you could have so much fun in a professional organization?
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Ken Roberts, IABC Fort Worth
Chapter president-elect Betsy Boyett returned from the 14-state IABC Southern Region Conference last month with a broader perspective on IABC. "Before going to Kansas City, my IABC experience had been limited primarily to our local chapter," she said. "I have worked with individual members from other chapters on Bronze Quill awards judging, but this was the first time I spent significant time with a large group of IABC members from several states."
The Silver Quill awards banquet opened the conference Sunday evening, Sept. 24. Monday and Tuesday were filled with more than 30 educational sessions on skills, leadership and marketing and iscellaneous. Keynote presentations were made at breakfast and lunch on Monday and Tuesday.
"The classes and the keynote speakers were outstanding. I came back with my head and notebook full of new ideas that I'm ready to implement," Betsy said. "It was also great to meet so many people whose careers are similar to mine. I probably learned as much from them as I did in the classrooms and my professional network grew tremendously."
I look forward to Betsy sharing her experiences with the chapter. Having attended last year's conference, I can attest to personal growth and a fresh enthusiasm for all things IABC.
We don't have to leave Tarrant County, however, to enjoy professional development and networking. IABC Fort Worth is finalizing plans for a half-day professional development seminar this fall. Watch the web site, iabcfortworth.com, and next month's e-Chaser for details.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
What if even half of this is true. Who are we? What have we become? ...
More reasons to experience Tim Curry and Terri Moore on Oct. 18 -- you might hear things like this. Moore: "Whether someone is hit by a drunk driver or shot by a capital murderer, we need the case assigned to a court and a prosecutor and kept there -- from the time the case is presented to the grand jury, until we get a conviction and it is appealed." Curry: "The DA is responsible for the overall operation of this office, and we have a $28 million budget. I would say that calls for some management skills. Wouldn't you?" I'd say this calls for your attendance. Arlington Star-Telegram publisher Gary Hardee will moderate the debate. If history serves -- Curry and Moore conducted a similar event four years ago -- it will be the questions from the crowd that need moderating. ...
Contact SDX Foundation president Steve Geimann at sgeimann@spj.org to be considered to represent SPJ on the Accreditation Council for Education in Journalism and Mass Communications. SPJ is among 16 professional groups committed to the accreditation process endorsed by more than 100 colleges. Candidates will be expected to study ahead of each visit and to spend four days on a campus conducting investigations.
Closing words: "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." -- Samuel Adams
Closing words II, G.W.B. & the Pharisees division: "Well, for example -- there's a -- we -- we uncovered a -- a potential anthrax attack on the United States. Or the fact that -- Khalid Sheik Mohammed had got somebody to -- to line up people to fly airlines, to -- to crash airlines on, I think, the West Coast or somewhere in America. And these would be Southeast Asians. In other words, we've uncovered cells." -- George W. Bush, responding to Katie Couric's question on what the United States has learned from interrogating high-value terrorism suspects; Couric to Bush: "I'm really grateful. Thank you. Thank you." ... "It wasn't just a crocodile tear. I felt like I moved him. I don't think he's going to wake up tomorrow and say, 'Oh my gosh, I've been wrong this whole time and I'm going to change all my policies because of my meeting with this woman.' I just hope that with each soldier, he remembers my pain." -- Hildi Halley, whose husband was killed in Iraq, after a meeting with the president
Closing words III, special FCC war is heck installment: "It's a really sorry state of affairs if we're Disney-fying combat." -- "Frontline" producer Martin Smith on sanitizing part of an upcoming documentary, "Return of the Taliban," wherein Canadian soldiers are heard swearing
