Counselors Academy: a double major in business and PR

This is a slightly revised version of the message I wrote as chair of the 2012 PRSA Counselors Academy conference, which is, as I've said on a number of occasions, my PR highlight of the year. I've learned more about running a business, understanding people and communication industry trends and challenges from Counselors than anywhere else (including Mad Men ).

If you're a PR agency owner or leader, I'd encourage you to check out this year's schedule and join us in New Orleans. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or want more info. 

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Forecast from my social media barometer

PodCamp Toronto is an unconference at its best – a volunteer planned two-day event every February on the campus of Ryerson University – where URL meets IRL with equal parts learning and socializing. The casual atmostphere takes you back to days when social media was mostly outside the status quo.  Of course PodCamp, like social media, is more mainstream but that entropic start-up energy is still very much at its core.

This year, I gave a talk called 'Social Media Barometer' – my take on some of the recent trends and changes happening in the social communications space. It's by no means exhaustive; more of a roundup of some of the developments and tools that have caught my attention recently.  And it's all new material, so to speak.

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So you wanna quit your job

I often get calls from people looking for work. And I’m happy to help. Over the past few years, I’ve written several posts on how to get a job in PR. You can find them, here, here, here and here.

But one thing that never comes up is the flip side – how to leave a job. That is, how to leave it decently without slamming a door on your way out.

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and now that I don’t have any employees I figured this is as good a time as ever to share my POV.

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I have some news…

A little over a year ago, I co-founded energi PR. I was looking to start something new.  What I didn’t realize then was that my dream was to work pretty much exclusively in social media.

I wanted social to be the core.

So, after many sleepless nights and lots of deliberation, I’ve decided to make a change. A big one for me both professionally and personally. (more…)

Counselors Academy 2012: call for presentations

I’ve said this before: my PR highlight of the year is PRSA Counselors Academy conference, which features some of the smartest agency leaders you’ll ever meet.

In fact, it means so much to me that I’m chairing the 2012 event in New Orleans, May 6 to 8, 2012. We have an amazing and talented committee of volunteers putting it all together, including my co-chair, Dana Hughens and the folks at PRSA. (more…)