Well, this is SOPA and PIPA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) draw in much criticism from Americans claiming these laws violate “free and open Internet.” If passed by Congress, these laws could shut down websites without a court hearing, make patrons vulnerable to Internet hacking, deplete our free speech, and overall damage businesses (even non-profits). This type of censorship is practiced in China, Iran and Syria.

Check out AmericanCensorship.com for graphics on the “Internet Blacklist Bill.”

Websites such as Google, Wikipedia and a handful of others are blacking out their websites today. It’s time to take action and step up for our liberties. Sign the Google petition here- www.google.com/landing/takeaction

On our Twitter page (@BrooksPR) we asked followers to visit the Brooks360 agency blog to read the official rules and then compose a tweet about how random encounters can play an important role in one’s life.

After a week of collecting tweets, one winner was chosen. Huong Vo, a communications graduate of the University of North Texas and social media enthusiast, won by tweeting:

@BrooksPR #RandomEncounters affect our lives in many ways. Big or small, they can change your life: getting a job, finding love, etc.

Congratulations, Huong! (picture above) Thank you to all who entered the contest.

For more information on Is This Seat Taken?, please visit the official website.

Share your own random encounter, book review, or make a purchase on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Follow us on Twitter! @BrooksPR

In her book Is This Seat Taken?, author Kristin Kaufman (Dallas-based CEO of Alignment, Inc. and Brooks & Associates client) offers a collection of highly personal stories that illustrate how a wealth of wisdom may come from the most unusual and unlikely of sources. Kristin searches for the meaning behind each occurrence and learns to truly be present in the moment. Random encounters are rarely just random!

GIVEAWAY!

Enter for a chance to win a signed copy of Is This Seat Taken? by Kristin Kaufman! First follow us on Twitter, @BrooksPR, and tweet us why you think random encounters are not really random. One winner will be notified via Twitter on Monday, Dec. 19, 2011 at Noon.

Check out the official book website here, and share your own random encounter story.

The term “Professional Manners” is thrown around a lot in office culture, but many people overlook every day taboos that are anything but professional. Employers strive to set a good example of professionalism for their staff, but how can one position these traits? Sarah Doyle Lynch, corporate coach and consultant, visited our office recently to share some concrete guidelines for establishing a professional atmosphere. Here are some tips she shared with us that could work for any office environment:

• Be social. Have lunch with a co-worker to get to know the other person better and perhaps learn some new insight. Instead of sitting at your desk scratching your head, speak up and ask for help on assignments. It’s also important to provide continual updates to your boss and other team members.

• Stay positive. Monday mornings may be a drag, but check your negative attitude at the office door. Keep up a positive attitude. Who knows: If you find ways to stay happy at work, others might just follow your lead! Also, keep office gossip and ranting out of your conversations with clients and bosses.

• Personal versus professional relationships. Sometimes we have a tendency to get too buddy-buddy with our co-workers. How can you not overstep the professional boundary? Set the rules. You want to be there for your team at all times when it comes to business, but don’t feel obligated if you pass up a happy hour invite with them.

• Think before you speak. If you have something serious to tell someone, ask them to come into your office to talk privately. Keep those comments out of the social scene where others may accidentally eavesdrop.

• Consider your hygiene and personal appearance. Like it or not, your appearance at work will be judged by others in the office. There’s no such thing as being too professionally dressed. Consider small factors such as neatly pressed clothes, clean shoes and clothing that fits your body type. Your personal health should not be overlooked either. If you are truly sick and contagious, stay home. No one wants to catch your cold.

• Be respectful. Whether you are talking to an intern or the CEO, they all deserve the same level respect. 

What does professionalism mean to you?

Connect with Sarah on Linked In.

Paying dues to join an organization is one thing. Paying dues and becoming an active member of a group can lead to a whole other direction. I joined the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) of Dallas upon graduating college and leaving the student branch of this organization (PRSSA).

PRSA Dallas hosts an annual Communications Summit, and I was stoked to join its volunteer committee this year. This opportunity gave me a chance to meet public relations professionals in Dallas and Fort Worth, and I also learned the how-to on planning a large event. My responsibilities included securing PR agencies for the career expo session, finding student volunteers for on-site assistance, and booking media to attend the media roundtables session.

I spent about four weeks working on the committee prior to the big event. Rosalynn Vasquez and Kai Stansberry headed the committee, and our team consisted of ten people. It was great having a squad of volunteers who supported one another. There was always someone willing to help me when I needed it, and I was able to return to the favor to others.

A main idea to keep in mind about event planning is to plan early! Since it was my job to contact a handful of PR agencies from Dallas, I knew I had to call them as soon as my contacts list was prepared. In general, PR practitioners and reporters often have busy schedules, so it’s important to invite them to an event as soon the details are in place. The same applies if you are looking to book speakers for an event. Continue to follow up with the invitees as they confirm with information such as what they need to bring, check-in time, dress code and the event address. Also, send a friendly reminder email on the week of the big show.

If you are a newbie entry-level PR person like me, don’t be afraid to jump at any opportunities from professional organizations. The folks from PRSA Dallas were excited and appreciative to have me on board. Serving as a volunteer gave me an inside look to how PRSA Dallas runs events, and I was able to establish personal relationships with the committee and attendees.

Neli, second to the left, poses for a picture along with PR students and recent college graduates at the Communications Summit. (10/21/2011)

Who owns the social media function within an organization? Lately, social media seems to be shared among marketers, advertising, PR, IT, HR, customer service and even sales. A recent Social Media Club of Dallas gathering I attended confirmed this diversity. Clearly, everyone within the company wants a slice of the social media pie.

Here’s why I think PR pros should take the lead:

1. Social media is a form of communication – a function managed by PR. It expands our option for sharing news, thought leadership and an organization’s story.  In addition to writing a news release, we submit a tweet, publish a video with a spokesperson or customer and write a blog article about the news. Jason Falls stated in Social Media Explorer, “Social media is public relations in the online world.”
2. It’s a medium for social interaction. It satisfies the human desire for conversation. Once businesses realize this, they can open vibrant conversations with their customers and clients. In the current issue of Public Relations Tactics, Steve Cody of Peppercom, Inc. described the role of PR as the following: “We own the conversations. We understand better than any other marketing discipline how to engage in conversations and, critically, how to create compelling messages that will be passed along because they’re relevant and informative.”
3. PR controls the corporate message and the story it shares to the public. We’re also best prepared to handle communications with the public during a crisis.
4. Social media demands open and honest conversation. The minute you use corporate speak and sales language with online audiences, you lose credibility fast and people tune you out. PR is already comfortable conversing with different audiences and speaking their language. According to The Spiritual Art of Dialogue, “the key to successful conversation is being open and honest in expressing opinions, feelings, and theories, and having a willingness to share views even when the ideas are controversial and unpopular.”
5. Journalists are now on Twitter – many looking for new story ideas. Media relations is still a PR function.

Whether you are dealing with negative feedback, communicating with the media, or engaging in conversation that represents your brand and image, a communications professional needs to be involved.

Epic PR Group offers this great analogy:

“Liken it to a cocktail party. Technology, legal, marketing, interns, etc. are all invited. But PR should be the host: introducing people, keeping the drinks filled, mingling and stimulating conversation, vacuuming beforehand to make a good impression, and handling ‘that guy’ who has had a bit too much to drink. The best parties are the ones that people keep talking about.”

I read once that there is more information in the Sunday issue of The New York Times than one person in 1850 would learn in a lifetime.

There’s a similar story online. In 2009, 90 trillion emails were sent over the Internet. Of the 234 million web sites that make up the Internet – 47 million were added last year. Twitter is now handling 600 tweets per second. Thirty billion photos are uploaded to Facebook every year. New content is being pushed to the average person at an alarmingly fast rate.

Communications professionals need to consider how to make their words rise above a mountain of information. How do we capture attention and keep it? How do we compete with… well, everything else?

There are millions of words out there. The best way to get yours read is to write things that people will value. Your content – tweets, blogs, article, news, videos – should help your audience. It should be thought-provoking and relevant. If it helps people improve knowledge, skills or their ability to complete a task, it has value.

Alex Bragg, founder of A Bajillion Hits, takes it a step further in a recent Fast Company interview: “You have to have killer content. You can’t just put any kind of garbage out there and expect the Internet to engage with it.”

Also, our attention spans are getting shorter. So, get to your point faster. Cut down on the number of words in your news release. Add bullets. I guarantee writing news in 140-character tweets is good practice.

Feeling the pressure

We recently worked with Microsoft’s Worldwide Oil & Gas team to share findings from its information and computing trends study. One survey finding in particular caught my attention. Over 44% of respondents said the information explosion in the upstream oil and gas industry has had a negative effect on their job performance.

Respondents complained about:

• Difficult and time-consuming search of diverse systems to find information (44 percent)
• Data appearing in unstructured forms not easily captured or archived (44 percent)
• Too much redundant and/or unnecessary data available (35 percent)

I don’t think this trend is limited to just one industry. Most of us are overburdened with information.

Commit to rise above the clutter and respect your readers’ time limitations. As Information Age professionals, communicators should strive for content with value, brevity and relevance.

By Robyn Brown

Two community organizations in Brooks & Associates social responsibility portfolio were officially welcomed to the McKinney, Tex. community recently. McKinney-based Seed Sowers Ministry and 3e McKinney held a ribbon cutting and open house at their shared office space near the McKinney downtown square, hosted by the McKinney Chamber of Commerce. Several Chamber staff and ambassadors were on hand to welcome the nonprofits and offer their support and resources.

Directors for both organizations, including B&A president and Seed Sowers board member Virginia Brooks, offered attendees a warm welcome and showcased community programs and plans for the future. Staff and volunteers were also well represented at the open-house event, along with individuals who benefit from the organizations’ programs.

Both Seed Sowers Ministry and 3e McKinney provide hands-on community initiatives to support individuals and families living in poverty in the McKinney area. According to recent Census Bureau data, the percentage of Americans struggling below the poverty line in 2009 was the highest it has been in 15 years, with one out of every seven Americans living in poverty. Communities in North Texas are no exception to this statistic. We applaud the work that Seed Sowers and 3e are doing in the community to better the lives of those who face the effects of poverty every day. To make the world a better place, we all need to pitch in to support our neighbors, stop the cycle of poverty and provide hope for future generations.

A recent article about the ribbon cutting in the McKinney issue of Neighbors Go!: http://www.neighborsgo.com/stories/60166.

Internships give a developing PR professional an education that a college course just cannot fully provide. After all, it’s one thing to learn about a successful PR campaign; it’s quite another to be a member of the team that organized and ran that campaign. Additionally, students benefit from being immersed in a professional work environment, interacting with AEs and directors and learning the silent mores of office culture.

The internship has an equal benefit for the agency. Often the research and support functions that an intern provides are crucial to the pitch, event or PR campaign. This includes media list development, research on trends and reporters, and tracking coverage so we can demonstrate results with our clients. Truly, interns can be key members of any PR team.

At Brooks & Associates, we have been fortunate to work with a number of bright and hard-working upperclassmen, who were eager to learn and help our team. Over the years, we started to document the good qualities that we have come to admire in our interns. On day one, we hand each intern the list as a guide for a successful PR internship.

So, here is our guidance on How to Be a Good Intern in 26 Easy Steps. Melissa Smith, our latest intern and now research assistant, contributed the first three.  Several others are borrowed from design firm Number 17, who knew what they were talking about.

1. Don’t be afraid to share what you know. Trends in PR change so frequently and you as a student may have the best insight into what is going on NOW.
2. Carve out a niche for yourself in the agency. Take on responsibilities and make them see that they just can’t live without you. You want them to miss you when you’re gone.
3. Do your part in the office, but also try as hard as you can to tag along to client meetings. Not only will you figure out how these things work, but you will have made a new contact.
4. Take your internship very seriously. (Seriously).
5. Get in on time (without complaining about how early it is or how late you were up the night before).
6. Listen very carefully and always take notes (just when people are giving you assignments, not during social situations). Keep a pencil and notepad with you at all times.
7. Don’t feel entitled. (Your boss should not have to bend over backwards to accommodate your every need. She worked hard to earn the respect she receives and so should you).
8. Find a mentor. (You are a fool if you miss the opportunity to soak up as much experience and knowledge from the people around you. Believe me: they will be excited to share with you… when they have time).
9. Do more than is expected on every single assignment (unless more costs more).
10. There is (almost) always something you can do (so let your bosses know when you are available; don’t just wait until someone notices you are free).
11. Show up. People are relying on you. (A school assignment is NOT a reason to ‘call in sick.’)
12. Understand that you don’t know it all (even though you feel like you do).
13. Turn off your cell phone (even if your ringtone is really cute).
14. Do not unnecessarily distract others who are busy working (even though Big Brother was particularly great last night).
15. Bring snacks (sometimes sweet, sometimes salty).
16. Be proactive. If there is nothing official for you to do, figure something out on your own. (Like get to know the magazine or periodical collection so when someone is looking for something you can be helpful. Or go through the case studies so you can really study the company’s work).
17. Look out for opportunities to demonstrate what you do know and how you can contribute (but don’t push it – nobody likes a show off).
18. There are (almost) no stupid questions. (Ignorance is not bliss, just ignorant and it can be a major waste of time).
19. *Don’t just follow directions. Think about what you are doing while you are doing it. (So when the account executive says, “but that’s full of typos” you won’t have to say “I know!”).
20. Be eager to learn and people will be more likely to teach you.
21. Don’t take it personally. The road to success is a bumpy one and you won’t grow unless you make mistakes.
22. Never stop learning. From day one to day 1,351 – you will never run out of new things to learn.
23. Don’t be afraid to show the rest of your team that you are overwhelmed or stressed out. This is not a sign of failure. Most likely, they have been there too and can probably help you out.
24. Find opportunities to apply what you just learned in class to a client activity. Perhaps your professors will allow class credit for a project you took on at the agency.
25. Be social media savvy. Account teams look to the younger generation for insight on social media apps and how to use them for PR projects. (This does not mean you are allowed to play on Facebook all day).
26. 26. Understand that the success of the internship is (almost) entirely up to you.

By Robyn Brown

Corporate social responsibility, cause marketing, community relations, sustainability – call it what you like, companies today are waving the banner of social activism. Proctor & Gamble Company recently teamed with Changents.com to launch a clean water initiative. Carfax partnered with Michigan International Speedway (MIS) and The Conservation Fund to lessen the environmental pollution from stock car racing. That corporate/nonprofit team was recently recognized with a Communitas Award for its CSR efforts.

Suddenly, a company’s goodwill efforts are less about philanthropy and more about hands-on change. Today corporations are expected to have a CSR strategy embedded into their business practice. CEOs rather than marketing teams have become the face of these efforts to the public, building morale with employees, influencing stakeholder opinion and reshaping brands.

Given these trends, most companies are not wasting their CSR efforts for the sole purpose of media hits or to disguise an already negative reputation.

For public relations professionals, a company’s social engagement should be an element in the overall corporate story. Companies that align with social issues and non-profit organizations that resonate with who their company is and what it does can succeed in connecting with their key audiences. They can also create a compelling campaign for change that others can follow.

For those exploring the nascent terrain of CSR, the field can be pretty overwhelming. After all, many people and many non-profits are hurting right now, especially financially. I don’t doubt that most would gladly accept a check as quickly as an in-donation.

So, how do you select your company cause?

1. Each of us believes in something greater than ourselves. Poll your employees and understand what weighs heavy on their hearts. When you get employees passionate about a cause, you’ve already built a community of advocates.
2. Provide a service or product that your company already offers to an organization or group that is deserving. This could include a book store donating children’s books to a poorly funded school or a family medical practice offering free flu shots to the elderly.
3. Determine the purpose of your CSR efforts and create a mission statement about why you care. This mission should align with your company brand and overall mission. Disconnects are quickly detected by the public and leave them skeptical about your motives. Then select a not-for-profit that mirrors those values.
4. Who are your customers or your greatest stakeholders? Ask yourself how you can more closely align with them and strengthen key relationships by joining a cause they are concerned about or supporting their personal interests.
5. Select a cause where you can directly measure the social outcomes of your investments in the community. If you donated money, can you check in a year later and see where your support made a change?  Then tell those stories from the viewpoint of the recipients. The whole world loves a success story – and they’ll love hearing it from you.

At Brooks & Associates, we work with our clients to communicate what they are passionate about.

Rent-A-Center, for example, targets its CSR efforts on programs that benefit kids and families, developing partnerships with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Junior Achievement and other related non-profits across the country.

Joint programs most often involve significant donations of Rent-A-Center merchandise. Each year the company donates new couches, tables, TVs, computers and video consoles to 20 Boys & Girls Club teen centers nationwide. The re-modeled ‘RAC Rooms’ give the teens a safe and positive place to hang out and do homework.

For Rent-A-Center, one of the best things about the program is seeing and hearing what a difference the new merchandise makes for the clubs. After an initial donation, individual stores continue to work with their adopted Boys & Girls Club in their area and volunteer whenever possible.

The RAC Room donation events have become a social gathering of Boys & Girls Club and Rent-A-Center staff, area teens and parents, as well as local newspapers and TV stations.

Check out this recent newscast at a Boise, Idaho event.

RAC Room Donation

As a final note, successful CSR programs start with commitment from top management, particularly the CEO, who then communicates and leads support throughout the organization. Rent-A-Center’s community involvement is championed by CEO Mark Speese, an active supporter of Collin County area non-profits including Children’s Medical Center at Legacy and the Collin County Children’s Advocacy Center.