09.22.06
All over the place…
This post is probably going to sound like a ramble. A few things have crossed my mind as I’ve read my PR student’s blogs, as I’ve started working on my Ph.D., as I’ve just sat here reading e-mail.
Po Bronson is an author I ALWAYS love to read. He wrote a book sometime in the past five years about professions…who loves what, who hates what, who does something truly unique to put food on the table. On his Web site is a rant about the Gen X generation, a cohort I belong to and am firmly esconced within, since the day I was born. His rant almost takes on a 1960s Ginsberg-esque quality to it, in the “I’ve seen the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness…” sort of way. Except Po’s bent is that Gen X has replaced integrity with money and stature, and we are focused on culture consumption instead of good ol’, honest-to-goodness political, economic and societal values. I don’t know. In some ways I think he’s right. He says we don’t vote. We don’t read the newspapers. We walk around like a bunch of birds with our chests puffed out in a proverbial “who’s better” contest. And, being a professor teaching classes in public relations, it got me to thinking…does my generation have an image problem? Or, perhaps, do all generations following the one in current establishment have image problems? I think if this in the “I had to walk to school, uphill both ways, barefoot in the snow” talks our elders have always given us. Anyone younger than the person speaking is considered irresponsible. I joke with my mom about this. I’m in my mid-30s….but I could be 80 and she’d still be “mom.”
Regarding getting my Ph.D., I have to admit I’m tired. I’ve been tired for a while. But I’m very much enjoying what I’m learning. My biggest struggle is that I feel as if I’m meeting myself coming and going. I expected this, so I cannot complain. I’m just ready to be completely done with school and permanently on the OTHER side of the lecturn. 
I’ll continue on later, as more thoughts come to mind.
09.15.06
The Gods, and my students, probably think I’m crazy.
I threw my PR Techniques students into the deep end of the visual communication pool this week by having them dive right in to create a brochure for an organization connected with the School of JMC in which I teach (how many swimming cliches can I cram into one sentence?). Although I’m sure a few of them are cursing my name right now, and most likely digging out voodoo dolls in effigy of me, I really do think this is the best way for them to learn how to create the materials they will be responsible for producing once out in the harsh world of public relations and mass communication post-college.
The production of these designed visual communication tools for use in public relations, I think, is one of the most fun challenges of communications. Why? Because the designer is thrown into the tug-of-war of fitting all the necessary copy into a rather defined amount of space, coupled with the knowledge that it must be visually appealing and grab attention so it will be ultimately read. The great thing about creating brochures and flyers, at least in their purest and most simple forms, is that the guidelines are fairly “cut-and-dry.” You can only set forth so many rules about a brochure until the creativity of the design and the message become rote, dry, and you’ve essentially wasted time and money to produce something that isn’t going to read.
The other reason I provide my students to basic guidelines and ask them to dig into a project like this is because it gets them out into the world of visual communication and looking around. I hope they’ll start keeping their eyes open for other brochures that really seem to “work” and will try to emulate the designs they think meet the challenge. This also gives me the opportunity to work a little more one-on-one with them during classtime, as to provide them a bit of facilitation on this journey through visual communication.
So, for my students who might be reading this, BREATHE! I trust in your ability, your creativity, and your enthusiasm to create something that will be great. You have a fun opportunity here to help out an organization that can use it for great benefit. I truly look forward to seeing what you produce, and remember, THIS IS A PROCESS! I’m not expecting Picasso (or Monet) to come flying out of our design software. I expect you to learn and grow as the great public relations practitioners you are and will be.
09.08.06
“Buzz?”
Even though I really hate the term “buzz” to describe some of the stuff we do in public relations, I have to admit I recently tripped over a few decent resources about blogging as a trend (which unfortunately refer to PR as “buzz”). While I’ll be introducing some of my students (the ones farther ahead in their sequence) to more depth about blogging, I’m also generally introducing my introductory (“Fundamentals”) students to the concepts of it.
That said, The Washington Post featured a great article in March of this year about how the food company, ConAgra, circumvented the potential of waning sales after the low-carb craze started to sputter out by monitoring what they called “blog buzz,” or the chatter being generated on blogs all over the world.
At the same time, this article also turned me on to something called Nielsen Buzzmetrics. You remember Nielsen…the company that puts those little devices in only-so-many homes to measure who is watching what and when, etc.? They now have an entire division devoted to quantifying (essentially, through content analysis…I’m assuming) the chatter being generated about various companies and topics on blogs and other individual communications mediums. Mouthpiece is the blog written by Nielsen Buzzmetrics CEO, as he constantly discusses how consumer-driven media is evolving.
