• Treasure trove of topics
• $100 professional registration, $80 student
• Historic Hilton Hotel, downtown Fort Worth
• $147 single/double, $157 triple, $167 quad
• Registration and opening reception Friday evening, March 23
• Registration continues 8 a.m. Saturday, March 24
• Opening session 8:30 a.m. • Conference closes 5 p.m.
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MEETINGS
No meeting this month, but stay tuned on the usual channels — website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn — for information about IABC Fort Worth’s next event, Tuesday, April 24.
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Backlash! When Former Fans Fight Back
What do Netflix, Bank of America and Susan G. Komen for the Cure all have in
common? They could use a little good news. Each organization recently faced a
major public relations crisis.
How effective have their responses been? Find out at the March meeting when
three skilled local pros — Liz Heck and Audrey Taubert of the PR/marketing agency J.O. and Dan Keeney, APR, president of DPK Public Relations — lead an exploration into these occurrences and the common crisis communication
elements among them. Attendees also will learn from the local PR team heading
up the Susan G. Komen Greater Fort Worth response.
Taubert is formerly a nationally ranked wave-runner racer who now finds her
adrenaline rush in optimizing opportunities for clients through social media,
media relations and precision branding. Heck has eight years of media relations
experience with clients ranging from Walt Disney Pictures and DreamWorks SKG to
the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, Goodwill Industries of Fort Worth, Plaza
Medical Center and Worthington National Bank. She is the Greater Fort Worth
PRSA treasurer-elect and a member of Ballet Folklórico Azteca de Fort Worth’s board of directors, and she helps raise funds for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Fort Worth.
Keeney’s firm specializes in crisis planning, response and recovery. A four-time winner
of the PRSA Silver Anvil, he has led numerous high-profile communications
initiatives, from corporate restructurings to product introductions and from
international crisis response to grassroots engagement. He previously held
leadership positions with PR firms on the West Coast.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, March 14
Place: Colonial Country Club, 3735 Country Club Circle, Fort Worth
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $35, students $20 (walk-ups add $5)
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STRAIGHT STUFF
April 1 is the application deadline for a Lilly Scholarship in Religion, a
program of Religion | Newswriters that gives up to $5,000 to take any college
religion courses at any accredited institution at any time. More than 200
scholarship recipients have studied topics including Islamic Movements, God and
Politics, Christianity and Culture, Religious Tradition and Scientific Inquiry,
Buddhism and Science, Violence and Liberation, and Religion and Medicine. “What a ride! The experience of returning to school after many years was even
more of a challenge than I anticipated, and I thought I was prepared! I also
found every ounce of effort was worth it,” said recipient
Daune Robinson Calovini of Virtual News Center. Full-time journalists working in the
general-circulation news media — reporters, editors, designers, copy editors, editorial writers, news directors,
researchers, producers — are eligible, regardless of their beat. The scholarships are offered through
the nonprofit Religion Newswriters Foundation, with funding from the Lilly
Endowment, and must be used within three academic quarters of their award date.
More here or from Amy Schiska at schiska@rna.org or 573-355-5201 ext. 3#. ...
Author-teacher Carmen Goldthwaite will discuss “Creative or Narrative Nonfiction, The Literature of Reality” at the Writers’ Guild of Texas meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, March 19, at the Richardson Public
Library. Narrative nonfiction takes true stories and tells them with the
dramatic tools of fiction — character, conflict, context, dialogue, flashback, narrative arc. Whether you’re writing travel, biography, memoir, profiles, history, commentary, sports,
science or business, Goldthwaite will explore how verifiable drama can enhance
the narrative and dramatic storytelling skills that lure readers (thus editors)
into the story. Goldthwaite teaches creative writing and narrative nonfiction
at SMU and is writer in residence at her alma mater, TCU, in the Schieffer
School of Journalism’s Texas Center for Community Journalism. Third-Monday early-birds: April 16,
Mike Farris, literary agents; May 21, Rachel Simeone, high-impact book marketing. • Improve your writing/editing skills at WGT PCS (planned critique sessions),
third Wednesday of the month, Richardson Public Library basement, 6:30-8:45
p.m. Participants present their own work and receive feedback from fellow
members. • More at writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/. Send calendar items to Carol Woods at carol.woods@verizon.net.
IABC local update II: Mitch McCasland, director of international insights for Carlson Restaurants and TGI Friday’s International, will present “Begin with the End in Mind: Insights and Understanding Your Audience” at the IABC Dallas luncheon Tuesday, March 13. Register by March 8. Info here.
