Do Your Homework!

By Katie Hornstrom

            “Don’t shop at Target anymore,” My stepsister stated at the beginning of a recent conversation.

            “Why?” I asked, incredibly surprised because this woman practically lives at Target. 

            “They don’t support the gay community,” she informed me.

I wouldn’t say my stepsister is a huge activist for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender) community, but she does try to spend her money, and encourages others to do the same, at businesses that support LGBT individuals whenever possible, especially if the business is her favorite store on the planet (aka Target). Not one to just take something at face value, I researched the situation and found that with one donation, the folks at Target had taken a baseball bat to a hornets nest.

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New Principles for PR Measurement
By Christie Goodman, APR

At an international summit in Barcelona, industry leaders in PR measurement created a set of principles for PR measurement. This is the first time we’ve had anything like this to move us from using either inappropriate measures or nothing at all. The event was the European Summit on Measurement, organized by the International Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication and the Institute for Public Relations.

In his “On the Record Online” podcast, Eric Schwartzman recently interviewed David Rockland, partner at Ketchum, who also serves as chair of AMEC. David was one of the key developers of the draft standards through PRSA. He gives a good overview in the interview.

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Meet & Greet Etiquette á la ZZ Top

By Melissa Vela-Williamson

Recently, I had the pleasure of assisting a photographer at a convention downtown. My job was to help him keep track of photos and subjects during some celebrity meet and greets. What fun!  After a killer concert, the legends from ZZ Top were prepping to meet some lucky fans. Their manager came in before their arrival and laid out some simple rules that I thought were valuable to share. It was obvious this wasn’t the band’s first rodeo, because that session was the smoothest and quickest of the convention.  While I thought the crowd might complain, they understood and followed accordingly. In fact, I’d say they were more comfortable because they knew what to expect.

Click on the title above for some guidelines to give fans if you ever arrange a celebrity meet and greet...

            Lately, there have been so many discussions on being happy, what is happiness, who is happy or even measuring happiness.  Everyone is talking about it: Facebook, ABC News, Science Daily and even a website about a conference in Australia, “Happiness & Its Causes.”

            We all have our own definition, causes, reasons but who could help from wondering really what is real happiness.  After talking with a friend who recently lost a four-year-old child to cancer about this subject and if she could ever be happy, I thought I needed to find the answer if not for me but for my friend. 

My answers were found in unexpected places right away.  I picked up a book entitled Connect by Dr. Edward Hallowell, a well-known psychiatrist.  I flipped through the book quickly and landed on the last chapter, If You Want to be Happy.  The first sentence took my breath away. (Please click on the title to read more...)

Keeping pace with technology

By Abbey Forney

“Me and computers just don’t get along.” I cringe when I hear this helpless phrase. In today’s business world, it’s vital to be up to date with technology. Whether you are an administrative assistant or a CIO, you have to be familiar with the programs and technologies that bring value to your audiences.