September 2010
MEETINGS
Reaching Larger Audiences with Smaller Budgets
Communicators are more strapped than ever to find ways to get their message to
the target market. Michael Fletcher, Studios 121 president and CEO, executive producer Paul Leone and senior technical producer Will Raymond will demonstrate new technologies, explain the driving factors behind the costs
of production, and share tips to reach just the right audience at the September
meeting.
Studios 121 has produced more than 200 episodes of HD and SD programming
(syndicated and original comedies, biographies, music concerts, and music and
entertainment news) for Univision, Telemundo, CMT, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox. The
company has expertise in everything from logo design and branding campaigns to
corporate videos and websites.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 21
Place: Studios 121, 6125 Airport Freeway, Haltom City
Cost: $15 members, $20 guests for a boxed lunch and beverage
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Translucency and the ‘No Comment’ Debate in the Era of Transparency
Transparency is critical to ethical public relations, and PR professionals
struggle daily with whether to comment in sensitive and rapidly changing
situations. Brigham Young University professors Rob Wakefield and Susan Walton believe that while transparency often is interpreted as being completely open at
all times, instances can occur where not disclosing information is the most
ethical stance for both organizations and their stakeholders.
For the September program, sponsored by the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism,
Wakefield and Walton will discuss their recent publication “Translucency Corollary to the Transparency Theory” and offer a list of considerations PR pros can use to guide their approach to
providing information at critical times. Organizers promise a lively
discussion.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8
Place: Colonial Country Club, 3735 Country Club Circle
Cost: $25 members, $35 nonmembers, students $20, walk-ups add $5
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BP and the Gulf Coast Oil Spill: Do We Know the Truth?
CBS 11 anchor Doug Dunbar and CBS Southern Bureau chief Scott Keenan will lead a discussion on the challenges of covering the monstrous environmental
disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Dunbar spent several days in the region filing
video and online reports.
Time & date: mingling 6 p.m., eats around 6:30, then the program Wednesday, Sept. 22
Place: Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St.
Cost: $17 members, $25 nonmembers, $10 students, free if you join right then and there
Menu: Joe T.’s renowned family-style enchilada dinner; cash bar
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STRAIGHT STUFF
TCU’s Dr. Jesús Castro-Balbi will wax musically rhapsodic on the cello at the TCU Guild fall luncheon
Thursday, Sept. 16, at the home of Shannon and Stephen Nolan, 2116 Spanish Trail in Fort Worth. Cost is $30; valet parking is available.
Guild nonmembers are welcome. RSVP by Sept. 10 to Lois Powers, 817-249-7409 or tcuguild@gmail.com. The Guild funds eight scholarships in the TCU Colleges of Fine Arts and
Communication. ...
Journalism and social media heavies Mike Orren, Pegasus News; Theodore Kim, The Dallas Morning News; Jake Batsell, SMU; Jessica Nuñez, Nuñez PR Group; Victoria Harres, PR Newswire; and Mike Merrill, Social Media Club of Dallas, will conduct a workshop from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 11, in Umphrey Lee 283 on the SMU campus. Cost is $10 for
students and Dallas Press Club/Asian American Journalists Association members,
$30 for nonmembers. RSVP by Sept. 3. ...
The Lilly Endowment funds scholarships for religion writers, and applications
are reviewed quarterly. The next deadline is Oct. 1. Info here and here. ...
Four luminaries in children’s literature — illustrator/writer Priscilla Burris, author of “Five Green and Speckled Frogs” and more than 15 other children’s books; Scholastic assistant editor Mallory Kass, who edited “39 Clues” and other middle-grade and young adult fiction; Scholastic executive art
director Elizabeth Parisi, who designs and oversees more than 120 children’s books across four imprints; and author/illustrator Dan Yaccarino, who has created favorite books including “Every Friday” and “Good Night Mr. Night” — will make a rare visit to the area for a kid-lit conference Sept. 25 in
Arlington hosted by the NC/NE Texas Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Burris, Parisi and Yaccarino will present a
seminar and critique illustrators’ portfolios. Kass will present a seminar and critique authors’ first pages. Info
here. Registration deadline may have passed, but this may be good enough that you
should stow away in the cargo hold. ...
“Write the best book you can.” In today’s competitive market, that isn’t enough. As the publishing world contracts, jobs disappear, including editor
and copyeditor positions — another reason why it’s important to submit a polished manuscript. Retired librarian Cindy Vallar, associate editor of Industry of Solander, the magazine of the Historical Novel
Society, will provide a checklist of ways to get that manuscript past the
initial query at the next Writers’ Guild of Texas meeting, 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 20, Richardson Public Library.
Expect a discussion of tight writing, cause and effect, dangling modifiers,
choosing the right word, and punctuation and grammar tips. Third-Monday
early-birds: Oct. 18, Ben Johnson, author of Sam Zell biography; Nov. 15, Clay Reynolds; Dec. 20, Christmas party and WGT All-Stars read-in. Suzanne Frank, the author of seven novels and director of SMU’s creative writing program, will lead a workshop Saturday, Nov. 6. More at writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/. Send events calendar items to Carol Woods at carol.woods@verizon.net.
PRSA national update: Greater Fort Worth PRSA will have a presence at the PRSA 2010 International
Conference: Powering PRogress, Oct. 16-19 in Washington, D.C. Chapter director Richie Escovedo will be an official conference blogger. PRSA public relations manager Diane Gomez invited him to attend via, what else, Twitter. More on the conference here. Escovedo also was recently quoted in a Dallas Morning News story on local school systems establishing social networking policies.
PRSA national update II: Selected webinar. “Gulf Spill Communications: Behind the Scenes with Key Responders”; 1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8. Take a look at communications management for the
Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill with Neil Chapman, head of communications for BP Global Refining and Marketing, and Gerald Baron, founder of PIER Systems, a web-based crisis communication management service
operating as the primary platform for Unified Command. Chapman and Baron will
discuss meeting the communications challenges of the largest environmental
disaster in U.S. history, from managing nearly 60,000 inquiries to
orchestrating interactive web tools, including the Deepwater Horizon website.
Register here.
PRSA local update: Five officers will be voted on at the Oct. 13 annual membership meeting:
president-elect/membership chair, Allyson Cross; VP programs, Chris Smith; treasurer-elect, Lara Kohl; secretary, Jahnae Stout; and director, Margaret Ritsch, APR. Five officers and directors have already have been elected to serve in
2011: president Carol Murray, APR; treasurer Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR; directors Joan Hunter and Lisa Starnes, APR; and assembly delegates Laura Van Hoosier, APR, and Andra Bennett, APR. As immediate past president, Bennett chaired the nominating committee.
Committee members were Van Hoosier, Murray, Holly Ellman, Tom Burke, APR, and Paul Sturiale, APR.
PRSA local update II: North Texas PRSSA needs speakers for its meetings. Interested? E- Kevin Williams at kw757@yahoo.com.
PRSA local update III: Standing reminders. The DFW Communicators Job Bank lists full-time, part-time and internship positions in PR, media affairs,
advertising/sales, event planning, graphic design, marketing, and corporate and
employee communications throughout North Texas. Employers who are members of
the participating organizations may post a job listing for $50; the cost for
nonmembers is $75. Nonprofits get a 50 percent discount. Each posting runs
three weeks. Greater Fort Worth PRSA receives a portion of the proceeds when a
member marks his or her membership status on the submission form. More from
Jerrod Resweber at jresweber@webershandwick.com. ... Stay on top of emerging trends and industry news, extend your network
while increasing your knowledge, and keep learning and stay competitive. Any
practitioner with at least two years in the field is eligible for membership in
the world’s leading organization for PR professionals. Those with fewer than two years
experience or who recently graduated from college and were active in PRSSA may
join as an associate member. More from membership guru Carol Murray at cmurray@fwmsh.org or 817-255-9408.
PRSA local update IV: Beginning June 1, 2011, the Irving Arts Center will host Genghis Khan: The
Exhibition, the largest number of artifacts from the great Khan’s reign ever gathered in a single showing. Jennifer Wilson, PR specialist for the Irving Arts Center, will share Khan knowledge and the
attendant volunteer, education and large-scale marketing programs at the Dallas
PRSA luncheon meeting Thursday, Sept. 9. Register here.
Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: FOIFT and the Office of the Attorney General are co-sponsoring the fourth, and
last, open government training seminar of 2010, in Harlingen. The free morning
session provides information that meets the criteria for SB286, which requires all elected and appointed officials to take a class on the
Texas Public Information Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act. The afternoon
session costs $50 and provides more in-depth material, including cost rules
that apply to public information request charges. FOIFT advances the rights and responsibilities of citizens to access their government.
SPJ national update: Legislators are amending the federal shield bill, which was passed by the Senate
Judiciary Committee in December 2009 but not yet brought up on the Senate
floor, to exclude websites that publish leaked U.S. government documents. It is
not clear, however, that a federal subpoena could even be served on such sites,
which have operations in Iceland, Sweden and other locations. More here. ... The author of the Rolling Stone article that ended the military career of
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the former top commander in Afghanistan, was denied permission to join U.S.
troops fighting in Afghanistan. The rejection came as the Pentagon ramped up an
investigation into the circumstances behind some of the most salacious material
in the Rolling Stone piece. More here and here.
SPJ national update II: Patch.com: You live in the community, you cover it. More here and here and here and here. ... Interview with Evan Smith: Texas Tribune brings old-school reporting online. ... When New Orleans` Times-Picayune lost its presses to Hurricane Katrina, it
turned to its web affiliate, nola.com, to publish on the internet. Overnight,
Katrina knocks out the traditional newspaper industry and forces a new form of
media to emerge, “online journalism.” For its innovative coverage, nola.com received a Breaking News Pulitzer Prize. More here. ... Pakistani mom to reporter: Take my baby, she’ll have a better life. ... How technology is renewing attention to long-form journalism.
SPJ national update III: Davis Shaver may be the future of alternative student media. The Penn State sophomore
battles a storied college newspaper that employs 200 student journalists. His
weapon: an unruly news blog called Onward State, which finds itself part of a
national wave of student-run web outfits that are challenging student
newspapers in web hits. Competitors and college officials carp about their
publish-now-correct-it-later approach. More here. ... The great limitations of journalism’s web revolution. ... Journalist’s Resource: New site to help journalism educators.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
The new Social Media Club of Fort Worth provides a community for novices,
enthusiasts and business practitioners to share their passion for social media
and explore industry trends and technologies. The Fort Worth chapter, founded
in July by Stephanie Scott of Fort Worth’s Balcom Agency, is the latest of more than 200 local branches of a global
organization. Meetings range from casual get-togethers to seminars. “I wanted to continue to learn as much about social media as I could,” Scott says. “Having to drive to Dallas to attend events was a challenge.” Mike Merrill, president of the Social Media Club of Dallas, encouraged her to start the
chapter. Find SMCFW at facebook.com/smcfw, twitter.com/smcfortworth or socialmediaclub.org/chapter/fort-worth.
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NEW MEMBERS
PRSA ... Shelby Jean, Legal Aid of NorthWest Texas ... Lesley Weaver, Northwest Independent School District ... Laura Hutyra, Hill School
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
Partnerships are a good thing. Unless Tiger and Elin are your names.
Nothing wrong with the name Schieffer, however, as in the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism. Greater Fort Worth
PRSA, thanks to Julie O’Neil, is partnering with the Schieffer School on our Sept. 8 luncheon meeting, “Translucency and the ‘No Comment’ Debate in the Era of Transparency.” Again, thanks to Julie, those attending the luncheon will hear professors Rob Wakefield and Susan Walton of Brigham Young University discuss their recent publication “Translucency Corollary to the Transparency Theory” and offer practical considerations public relations professionals can use to
ethically guide their approach to handling critical situations.
Don’t miss this program! Also, don’t miss our fall professional development event and annual meeting Wednesday,
Oct. 13. A large member turnout is necessary for a quorum to vote on bylaws
changes and 2011 officers. Let’s set an attendance record at the October luncheon.
Toto may not be in Kansas anymore, but if you’re in Wichita, Kan., Sept. 17, you can experience a program by that city’s PRSA chapter, ”PR Evolution: A Hands-on Social Media Workshop.”
Speaking of social media, if you’re a blogger or a tweeter, and who isn’t these days (oh, yeah, me!), send congratulations to GFW PRSA director Richie Escovedo, otherwise known as “Mr. Tweet” and “Sir Blog.” Because of his social media skills and the fan base he has built through
tweeting and blogging, Richie has been selected to attend the PRSA
international conference as an official blogger. The conference is Oct. 16-19
in Washington, D.C.
And don’t be surprised if Tiger and Elin, separately, of course, tune into Richie’s tweets and blogs. He’s that good. Just don’t ask him about his golf game
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Laura Hanna, IABC Fort Worth
Goodbye Texas heat (I hope), hello football weather. And with the changing
seasons comes a great new year of IABC events — meetings, half-day seminars and the Christmas JPS book benefit with SPJ and
PRSA.
To get the fall schedule underway, we’re heading to a new location for the Sept. 21 meeting — Studios 121 — where the production company’s Michael Fletcher, Paul Leone and Will Raymond will share their secrets on “Reaching Larger Audiences with Today’s Smaller Budgets.” Sounds like advice we can all put to use!
In October plan for a half-day seminar at Texas Wesleyan University. Check back
soon for details.
For those of you who want to get more involved in IABC this year, opportunities
abound — assisting with special events like Bronze Quill, serving on a committee, etc.
We have a great group of folks, so it’s a perfect time to jump in. You’ll be able to network, enhance leadership skills and make some new friends along
the way. To learn more about volunteer opportunities, contact Cheryl Hart at Hart Marketing, 972-691-3209 or cheryl@hartmarketing.biz.
For more information about IABC membership (individual or corporate), contact me
at lhanna@txwes.edu or 817-531-5810.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Register now, or pay the price. Sept. 8 is the early-bird deadline for the 2010 SPJ
Convention & National Journalism Conference, Oct. 3-5 in Las Vegas. ...
Hooray for syntax artiste Paula LaRocque, who last month signed a book contract for her first mystery novel, “Chalk Line,” to be published by Marion Street Press a year from now. MSP has published her
and husband Paul’s nonfiction books — Paula’s three on writing, Paul’s two on editing and headline writing — and also is considering a prequel to “Chalk Line.” Paula has a new website, too. She does get around, and with an abundance of style. ...
SPJ is adding a tool to its communication arsenal. Membership committee chair Holly Fisher will host the first edition of SPJ’s new online program at noon Sept. 9. A new show will air each month. Much like traditional talk
radio, listeners may call in and ask questions of Holly and her guests. ...
Application deadline is Sept. 19 for the Kyoto Prize Journalism Program, which provides fellowships to encourage greater reporting depth in advanced
technology, basic sciences, and arts and philosophy. Selected journalists will
travel to Japan to attend the 26th annual Kyoto Prize award ceremony on Nov. 10
and laureate lectures and workshops Nov. 7-14. The program is designed for
professional science, technology and arts writers, and editors in print, radio
and broadcast.
Closing words: “Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious
conviction.” — mathematician and mystic Blaise Pascal ... “Are you really sure that a floor can’t also be a ceiling?” — M.C. Escher ... “I don’t want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.” — Marilyn Monroe ... “Man can embody truth but he cannot know it.” — William Butler Yeats