I was fortunate to have Kellie Matthews and Lisa Poplawski join me for an interview some weeks ago. Sadly, I goofed the recording and there were pops and hisses … just a general bad audio hair day, so to speak. So, they very kindly agreed to a Mulligan interview. I am grateful.

Kelli blogs at PRos in Training and Lisa blogs at Crisis in Conversation. Please check out their blogs and I’ll offer a bit of bio information here.

Kelli Matthews: “Teaching public relations is also about helping students figure it all out – from the nitty-gritty of writing to the big picture strategic thinking and from stress management to the job search. I teach public relations at the University of Oregon. I have both my BA and MA from the UofO. In addition to teaching, I co-own a PR and graphic design firm, Verve, with my sister and biz partner, Amy Miller. You can check it out here: vervenorthwest.com.”

Lisa Poplawski: “Lisa Poplawski … a senior at the University of Oregon. 21 years old, I’ll be graduating with a BS in Journalism and Economics this spring. A strange combination, I know, but starting at Oregon’s J-school, we were required to take Econ 201 and 202, and I just fell in love. The combination turned out to be fitting, however, as I’ve just turned in 16 law school applications over Christmas break, and will be attending law school this coming fall with not just logical and analytical skills from my Econ major, but I might be able to write a little bit as well.”

I’ve enjoyed watching the social media efforts of many other universities. The University of Oregon is yet another school that is embracing emerging digital media in their classrooms. The good aspect? They do it well. Their faculty and students are great. So, that’s the reason for this podcast. Hope you enjoy it.

The podcast is 28mb and runs 29:24.

I had a thought. Yes, I know … that’s often a dangerous thing.

Why not take our ongoing blogging and podcasting activities and fold them into a real, honest-to-goodness, social network?

So, here ya’ go … LoveliestVillage.org will now become … TheLoveliestVillage.org.

From now on, part of our ongoing projects will be — grow the network. It isn’t enough to just practice the art of writing for an online audience, or preparing podcasts, or dabbling in graphics and layout. All of that means bupkus if you don’t also know how to develop the network (audience) for your project. D’oh?

It is such a simple natural progression on what we’ve been doing, I wanna kick myself for not having done this sooner. Perhaps it is my new infatuation with ASCCAFriends.org and the power of Ning, but this seems like a pretty fun idea. I can see students becoming fairly engaged. A little competition between groups as to which one lands the most signups … huh? Ya’ think?

After all, the students (depending upon the semester and # of classes / class size) combine to crank out 140 to 300+ videos and 240 to 500+ blog posts each semester. To keep it sane, we can limit participation in the ‘open’ social network to the almost 1,000 students in our department and select outiders/alumni. Then, as we learn, perhaps open it up. (Don’t know about that.)

Now, if we can’t build a network of Auburn students and fans around all the video podcasts and blogging we’ve been doing – while letting the network members blog & post, too – well, I’ll feel pretty goofy. (More goofy? goofier?) I’m even thinking about doing some Facebook Ads (just among Auburn students) to get it rolling. Don’t worry, we won’t spend much. The process of creating and launching the ads alone, is worth the cost.

Not foresaking the traditional bread-n-butter PR practices, we build in the traditional elements such as research, media relations, press kit … well, we will have to decide what fits.

So, whatta’ ya’ think? I’m liking this … but, as always, crave feedback and critiques.

I’m thinking that any college, university … any school, could create such a network.

Many thanks to all of the very kind people at UGA for hosting my students and many others from various colleges and universities around the southeast. UGA’s Kaye Sweetser (so this is mass communication?) and Karen Russell (Teaching PR) had their students in top form putting on this conference. Also, thanks to Phil Gomes, Erin Caldwell and the many Edelman PR pros that came all the way down to help us all.

I took seven Auburn students and I’m thinking they had a pretty good experience, too.

The UGA students did a wonderful job putting on the project. Didn’t see a glitch or hiccup in the whole day’s events. Congrats!

During the conference, class activities for students were discussed. Podcasting (both video & audio) was one such experiential activity. The video and audio below are examples I created yesterday.

First, the video was recorded with an inexpensive video camera from Flip Video and features UGA PR student Jenny Reid.

Second, there are two audio podcasts using Utterz. I like their easy-to-use podcasting service.

Utterz is a simple free process which allows you to call a number (1-712-432-6666) to make a recording. Your account recognizes your phone number and posts your recording to your account. You may also send videos and photos to your account by emailing them to go@utterz.com.

To see the three examples of podcasts (2 audio, 1 video), check out the rest of the post …

Here is a simple Utterz audio player. They offer different options to embed or link to the audio/video files. This is the interview with UGA student Jenny Reid. Visit Utterz.com to see/hear the audio with video attached. This audio is with UGA student Jenny Reid.

And, finally, this is the Utter with educators and a photo attached.