PR News 15 to Watch :: Margie Maddux Newman, Auburn ‘02

Nothing makes you happier than seeing a student and/or alum succeed. Seeing this news brought such a smile to my face.

Congratulations to Margie Maddux Newman, Principal with Hall Strategies in Nashville, TN. Margie has been selected for the PR News Top 15 to Watch list.

The Top 15 to Watch List covers “PR News’ Annual 15 to Watch competition. This program, honoring 15 budding PR leaders and creative practitioners, is open to PR professionals age 30 and under. Nominees must be a practicing communications professional at any of the following: a corporation, PR firm, nonprofit/ association, educational institution, government organization or industry supplier. Nominees may reside anywhere in the world.”

A 2002 cum laude Auburn graduate, Margie is quite remarkable, IMO.

After leaving Auburn, Margie winds up in the Office of the Governor of Tennessee working for Governor Phil Bredesen. During that time she handled many duties. The Assistant to the Governor for Communications, Margie “facilitated event planning for speaking engagements and public appearances, created and coordinated statewide radio station outreach and technology, and founded, organized and directed Governor’s Internship Program.”

Margie announced the great news in her blog, Flack Rabbit. Love that name. ;o)

I remember Margie for a lot of reasons. She was (is) smart. She was curious and diligent. But, this one thing sticks out after she left Auburn. I remember getting a phone call and chatting with Margie about a project she wanted to undertake.

The project involved doing something we had covered in class. Margie was to create a statewide radio PSA campaign. She took what we did in class and turned it into a terrific series of radio PSAs that she created on her laptop computer. :o) That one has always stuck with me. She’s a go-getter. She’s also won awards for her newsletters. Pretty cool, huh.

Please go say congrats to Margie!

Some links: Margie’s Web site, Flack Rabbit and on Twitter, she’s @MargieNewman.

Auburn loves you, Margie. Congratulations!

Digital Portfolios :: Some basics about how we do, what we do, with digital portfolios and resumes

Email provided two requests for information about how we create our digital portfolios in class activities. So, I thought I’d share the information I sent them.

I’ve shared this information with numerous academics over the years. Just realized, I’ve never really posted all of this information in one place. Well, aside from our class syllabi.

So, in a very conversational tone, here we go. Critiques and suggests are, as always, appreciated. I’ve pretty much pasted the email I sent below. Read more

Must Be Redesign Week in Social Network World

Four sites I visit regularly have been redesigned, lately.

Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning and Poynter have all gone throught redesigns of varying degrees.  Poynter’s will launch on August 23rd.  Bill Mitchell, Director of Poynter Online, sent an email to all members yesterday announcing the much anticipated new site.

Mitchell offered a mockup look at the new look. It promises to have enhanced social media aspects. The video below, from January 2008, highlights their desire to create a “journalism social networking experience.” The Alpha version of the site is visible here.

I must say, of all the sites I visit with any regularity, Poynter is easily one of the best Web sites anywhere. Nope, check that. Poynter is the best.

A previous Poynter redesign had its critics. Poynter.org redesign woes. The Online Journalism Review, did a story on that redesign effort. Overall I still liked the site. The new version makes me eager to see it in its full glory on August 23rd.

I’m curious to learn what, if any, impact the Poynter Eyetrack research had on their choices during the redesign process, too.

For budding PR practitioners, you have to understand journalism. You must understand journalists. There is no better place online to gain that knowledge than Poynter Online. Now, with the social networking aspects, it is even more of a must join, must read site for students. Oh, there are other things you can do, to be sure. For instance, you can join the HARO - Help A Reporter list from Peter Shankman. You don’t ever have to respond to anything on that list, if you don’t want to … just read and listen to what journalists look for and how they go about finding it.

The other redesigns have met with mixed reviews.

I like Facebook’s new look. It is cleaner and provides better navigation, as well as a less cluttered look. Downsides, along with the redesigned look, Facebook has changed some of the functionalities. They’ve not given users enough control over what appears in their news feed. Sure, you can get less of someone’s feed items, for example, but it is difficult to block their content totally. Finding pages is more difficult than before, too. Those are my experiences, so far.

LinkedIn has a rather mild redesign. It is cleaner, too. More white space, easier navigation and a bit of improvement in the admin areas highlight their changes. I like it. They’ve made the site better, in what I’ll call a slight, or minimal, redesign.

Ning’s redesign is really in the admin areas. They’ve made the “Manage” section look more like the backend of some open source CMS platforms or even an old version of Plesk, for instance. (That’s server admin software.)

I really love Ning. It is powering six of the sites we have running for class activities right now. In fact, one of the recent student campaigns was to design a site for the Dadeville/Lake Martin Chamber of Commerce. Their board recently voted unanimously to adopt the site and campaign the students designed. I want to work more Ning sites into class activities in the future.

If you’re interested in great resources regarding Web redesigns and the daunting process all of these organizations faced, look no further than Karine Joly’s CollegeWebEditor.com Web site redesign articles and her Web standards articles, too.

Don’t forget this other terrific site, too. eduStyle from Stewart Foss is a wonderful gallery of hundreds of college and other education Web sites. One cool aspect is this Social Sites Foxx describes as a “collection of sites that you may use outside of your official college pages to connect with your school’s prospects, students, alumni, friends, parents or community.”

OK, that’s my look at some recent changes in my favorite sites. Poynter’s launch on August 23rd is still much anticipated. What do you think of all these redesigns?

Sprout Builder :: Student Multimedia News Packages for Submission to Online News Sites

Always looking for new ways to create news releases for newspaper Web sites, I had a little epiphany regarding Sprout Builder and multimedia news packages for submission to news outlets.

Mindy McAdams’ book has me intrigued. I’ve been going through it in preparation for including it in this fall’s PR Style & Design course. It is a great book. Her site, flash journalism, even offers class tutorials. Visit her blog, too. Read more

Alabama democrat candidate for U.S. House reaches out to bloggers

The political season offers many opportunities for exploring how candidates are using social media in their campaigns. I didn’t think I’d find many (if any) examples in the Alabama races this year. Then, a Google ad popped up in my mail reader: “Turning Alabama Blue - Segall2008.com - Viable democrat running in Alabama. Watch his intro-video and join us!” Read more

Spring 2008 Student Digital Resumes and Portfolios

As we enter Summer 2008, I realized I forgot to post the resumes & portfolios from my most recent classes. So, here they are.

They’ve been cross-posted at PR Prospects, the site I started to promote our wonderful Auburn University PR majors.

Please check out the most recent group from Spring semester. They are a fun group and quite bright. OK, I’m biased.

Below you’ll find a group of students with a wide variety of PR interests. Some of them have graduated, or will soon, and you may be able to grab them for a job. So, please check out their offerings.

This semester, we’re stepping up the digital resume/portfolio project. More on that, later.

Read more

Meet Danielle Warby :: Most Recent Member of PROpenMic

Yes, I’m still focusing on the work we’re doing at PROpenMic, the social network for PR students & faculty. Bear with me for a bit, please.

I’ll admit, all of the people signing up are my favorites. I’m still kinda stunned by the turnout we’ve experienced. We surpassed the 500 members mark in just 3 weeks.

Today, however, a new truly favorite member signed up. Look at her work and her involvement online. She’s remarkable, and I haven’t even met her, yet.

Meet Danielle Warby at PROpenMic (free signup required). But, you don’t really have to go there. Trust me, there is much more out there online.

templatedata - The web at www.usyd.edu.au

“This blog is based at the University of Sydney. It is written by members of the Digital and Print Media team. Other university staff members with ideas for articles are most welcome to contact us about writing for Templatedata. Readers and comments from the general public are most welcome. The views expressed on this blog are those of the respective authors and not those of their employer.”

Oh, to be sure … there’s more: Danielle’s DesignDyke’s bookmarks on del.icio.us, her Flickr: Photos & Video from danyell.com.au, even a MySpace.com account - Design Dyke, not to be outdone … she’s into video, too. YouTube - LesbianIntent’s Channel.

Staff - The University of Sydney

“Danielle is the Web Support Officer for the Faculty of Economics and Business. Danielle’s responsibilities include website content management and production of marketing materials for print and web. Her main interest is in the area of Social Networking and other Web 2.0 technologies such as blogging. Danielle is also a qualified graphic designer.”

From there, we find Danielle engaging in all manner of social media sites, like Twitter / designdyke … Danielle Warby - FriendFeed … and her personal blog at Vox.

Design Dyke at Vox. Danielle is a student, too.

“I’m an independent, creative woman and I know what I want from life but I’m usually too busy enjoying myself to get my shit together. I have my own graphic design/digital marketing business, I work at Sydney University on their online marketing communicatiions [sic] (specifically social media) update a few of their websites and design the occasional logo. I’m studying Post-Grad Marketing at Sydney Uni… all which leaves me with little to no social life but plenty of time in front of the computer. In my spare time I sleep.”

She’s also a business woman. LinkedIn: Danielle Warby. And that brings us to her business. Design.

Yes, I saved, perhaps the best for last. warbyweb: graphic design web design

Visit and look at Danielle’s work. The level of broad interests at work here is quite simply amazing. She’s even “in the process of setting up an online lesbian magazine that focuses on art and design. I am here to check out what the dykes are doing.” (Source: YouTube)

Now, I ask you. When would I have ever been able to meet someone like Danielle without the advent of social networks? Never. I’m very happy we started PROpenMic. Danielle, you’re pretty damn cool. We must ask her to chat with our class next semester. Hope she’ll agree.

Admit it. You love her. I know you do. Yeah, and a bit of jealousy, too, I think. Yep, I hear ya’.

Student Digital Resumes and Portfolios :: Summer 2007

Note: All student digital resumes and portfolios are featured at PRProspects.com.

This summer’s digital resumes and portfolios are complete. The project wound up being a bit different than usual, due to the short five week mini-mester term. But, the projects have some new aspects which, I believe, make them more appealing.

I appreciate the work of these fourteen students. Hire them and/or select them for internships.

Each project contains two major sections. First, there is the resume, an HTML version of the usual Word document. Second, you’ll find the digital portfolio. It contains samples from the work product of these students over their college career. Read more

Something New This Spring :: Student Digital Resumes and Portfolios Online

Note: All portfolios are now being posted to PRProspects.com.

Spring semester brought something new for the PR Style & Design class. They published their digital resumes and portfolios online.

The students completed their final projects this week. The links below lead to their digital resumes and portfolios.

In the past, some students took it upon themselves to do this. Each semester, more and more chose that path. So, I thought about having all the students stake their place online with a resume.

I think this is a positive opportunity. Already, some of the students have received positive feedback from those they’ve applied to for internships and jobs.

A diverse group, these students are either graduating, heading out to do their internships or about to search for internships/jobs. So, if you’re interested in hiring … check these links out now.

We’ve been doing a final project like this for years. But, this is the first time I’ve required the students to obtain a domain and publish their final projects online.

Here are the results … Read more

CollegeWebEditor.com Gets ReDesign :: Same Great Writing

For her blog’s second anniversary, Karine Joly chose to update the look of the site. I like it. Visit collegewebeditor.com. Karine’s all about “web, marketing & PR in higher ed.”

One of the many things I really like about Karine’s site is the writing. She’s quite good … and very thorough. The site is filled with great tips and news items I’d likely never see without her tireless efforts.

Karine’s agreed to a podcast interview down the road. We hope to get that done within the month. Look for it, or listen for it?

Here’s the new look. But go see it for yourself. The site is a must read.

Update On Our PR Grads :: Looking To Hire? Here Are Some Candidates

For the past few years, we’ve been blogging in classes. Some of those students have turned those experiences into valuable job resources post-graduation.

Every once in awhile, I like to post updates on some of the graduates. Here are the some of the latest bits of news from grads with jobs. The new graduates, or soon to be graduates, will follow.

• Erin Caldwell: In an email from Edelman (Washington, D.C.) vice president Mike Krempasky - via Edelman me2revolution president Rick Murray, titled “The least surprising promotion you’ll hear about,” I learned that Erin has received a “promotion to Account Executive.” She now heads up activities for one of their premiere clients. Great news.
• Diana Keating: Now leads the communications/marketing and advertising activities for W. P. Cary, New York, a leading global real estate investment firm. No kidding. The story behind this is great, but too long to share here. Diana’s terrific.
• Jessica Stephens: Departed Publicis for Elle Magazine in New York. Jessica is working with the advertising departments for Luxury Goods and American Apparel. This kind of work has been Jessica’s dream and she is very happy. Jessica is in the photo to the right.
• Melanie Sollid: Melanie is the publications & marketing manager for a non-profit in DC, The Student National Medical Association. The student portfolio work I’ll discuss below (in their Style & Design class) is directly related to the work she does today.
• Paige Bagby: Paige is with a public affairs firm in Washington, D.C. (She never wants me to mention the name.) Recently, I received an IM chat from Paige with the following, “Robert, you will be so proud… I have a blogging question for you… I’ve introduced the idea of blogging to the firm, and got a very positive response.” Some of their principals may begin to blog. Pretty cool.

Actually, all of these ladies are terrific. There are others, too. I’m just trying to find the emails. When I do, I’ll post again.

One of the reasons I bring this up? Each of these students, and others, have pointed to class activities as being helpful in acquiring their initial jobs. To make them more valuable to the students, I’m considering altering some of our activities. I’d like your feedback, please.

So, like the blogging activities for those previous students, we’ve also done some portfolio creation projects. For the last five or so years, I’ve been requiring students to create digital portfolios. They have been created in several forms.

…should I continue this practice and require all future students to create these digital portfoliios?

This past semester’s group has completed their portfolios.

They used open source templates from oswd.org and worked with the HTML/CSS. They also used the following software: Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Flash, SnagIt, Skype, HotRecorder, Audacity and a little program to create a branded / personalized browser - BrowserBob. They use that browser to create a CD-ROM version of the portfolio. The Flash template came from FlashKit.com.

We aren’t trying to create Web designers or graphic artists with this project. We are trying to give our students exposure to these tools so that they may better understand how to incorporate them into a campaign for a future client. Awareness and familiarity are our goals.

Here is a sampling. Some of the students decided to get a domain and hosting to put their resumes / portfolios online. I hope the others will follow their lead and send me the links.

• Kristin Hill
• Christin D. Eubanks
• Adam Keeshan
• Mary Kneeland Metcalf
• Elizabeth Wood Rodgers
• Ashley Erin Robertson

What if I make this site / domain aspect a required part of the course? You know, have the students get their own domain and post the final project to the site. It will then serve the purpose of a simple resume / portfolio they may share with potential employers. Send a link to the site. No attachments necessary.

Here are two former students, listed above, who already have jobs in New York City and Washington, D.C. I believe having their resumes online helped them.

• Diana Keating’s Resume
• Erin M.Caldwell

Also, with the domain, they will get their own email address. This is important because they quite literally live in their school supplied account. It, however, gets turned off about six months after they graduate.

The students could also launch a blog on their new hosted site and use that to help build search engine placement for their site. In fact, we could get the domain and site in the first week of class. Launch the blog. This way they are four months along in developing search placement when the semester is over.

Suggestions and comments are appreciated.

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