09 Tuesday Sep 2014
Posted in best practices, communication, environment, sustainability, Thought Leadership
≈ Comments Off on SBC—People Planet, Profit
Last spring, when snow was still on the ground in sad little clumps, I began some conversations with Lucy Blake and Steve Frisch about Sierra Business Council’s beginnings, goals and the perspective they will bring to their 20th Anniversary Conference, Peak Innovation at Lake Tahoe’s Granlibakken October 8-10, 2014.
19 Sunday Jun 2011
Posted in best practices, public relations, social media, technology
≈ Comments Off on Pull is the New Push
The best thing about talking to many people from different places is that all manner of things find their way into conversation, allowing me to discover what I know…sometimes my opinions have changed and I may not have quite caught up myself.
Case in point: I recently was discussing growth plans with a small manufacturer and taking a look at their structure, I saw they were really pushing their products out in a traditional way, with on the ground reps seeking just the right places to sell merchandise. Yes, they have social media, yes they have other marketing in place. After this examination and conversation I realized that I don’t see a future in ‘pushing’ products—so much points to ‘pulling’ buyers or prospects or clients to an organization. Of note also is that over the last decade I have witnessed the almost complete abandonment of on the ground sales forces, driven by lots of complex factors, but still concluding with the same simple reality.
09 Wednesday Mar 2011
Posted in best practices, digital media, environment
≈ Comments Off on Spontaneous Sprouting
Add to Eric Liu’s considerable credentials as founder of Guiding Lights Network, former Clinton speechwriter, author, and lawyer—garden brain enthusiast.
Liu spoke and at the recent Four Peaks event in Seattle, examining Seattle’s key attributes and meaningful ways to commemorate the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Space Needle.
19 Sunday Dec 2010
Posted in best practices, communication, social media, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on Social Media Club Seattle: State of the Social 2011
Earlier this month I attended the Seattle Social Media Club’s monthly meeting hosted at Microsoft’s Conference Center on December 8, 2010 in Redmond, Washington. There was a good mix of public, for profit and non-profit speakers discussing what they had experienced in 2010 and what they saw emerging for 2011 “State of the Social”. Social media shapers Eugene Cho, Jeremy Bertrand, Scott Porad, Kathy Gill, and Sean O’Driscoll showed up and gave frank and fresh insights.
08 Wednesday Dec 2010
Posted in best practices, Social Change, Thought Leadership, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on TED Women: Seattle Stream
ThinkSpace played host to TED Women: Seattle Stream Dec. 7-8. I carved out a few hours from my afternoon and found a rewarding pocket of insights and perspectives streamed live to a quiet, dimmed conference room in downtown Redmond, Washington.
The afternoon presentation Life’s Symphony included a wide range of speakers, covering cultural influences, television and global issues. Activist and author Courtney E. Martin talked about her desperation after graduating from Barnard College and finding few ways to impart change. Her book Do It Anyway chronicles 8 activists who are bringing a message of change to everyday life. At the end of the day the humanizing force of engagement may outweigh a preconceived notion of success, and it may just be that we must do it anyway, even when the outcome is far from certain.
30 Monday Aug 2010
Posted in best practices, communication, public relations, Uncategorized
≈ Comments Off on interview improvers
David Spark has an interesting perspective on interviews, sometimes writing, sometimes being written about. Spark gets that relationship matters and where you go with this may make or break the story you would like to see about your cause, self, book, etc.
Often people approach me about getting things in print and my answer is mostly the same— Take time to know something about the publication and what the editor wants. It seems odd that in charging ahead to communicate, so often the simple is left behind:
learn what’s wanted and try to provide it
This is not to say write or say what people want to hear, but rather take a moment to consider things from an editor’s and reader’s prospective. Basic? Yeah. Forgotten? Often.
26 Thursday Aug 2010
Posted in best practices, communication, public relations
≈ Comments Off on social smarketing
Is it called social marketing because it promotes social activism or because it uses social mediums to share messaging?
Both? Neither? Increasingly it seems like something that started as a way of building ad hoc interest has become co-opted by Fortune 500. Either way, there will be more of it and more to learn.
In my search for best practices, I ran across this collection of notable case studies on Mashable. Concluding with this memorable advice:
04 Thursday Mar 2010
Posted in best practices, communication
≈ Comments Off on Coming to a Computer Screen Near You Soon
Computer History Museum
Where better to bring together technology thought leaders together than the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
Last night Dice launched NextTech, an industry event designed to inform and entertain, all while supporting tech professionals, many whom are Dice job site users.
NextTech brought together tech industry visionaries, a select group of tech professionals, and leading tech companies to learn about the future of the tech industry, software, gaming, social media and more – beyond 2010. My guess is that 300+ showed up to this capacity event.
08 Wednesday Jul 2009
Posted in best practices, public relations
≈ Comments Off on More with Less
Change is afoot. 2009 is a different kind of year, full of challenges and opportunities. My communications ‘toolkit’ is all about honing skills which allow for quick situational response, minimal investment and sure results—in other words, I am providing more basic public relations services.