December 2005 Archives

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of the entire Elizabeth Charles & Associates team, I wish you a merry Christmas, happy holiday season and a new year filled with health, happiness, and tremendous business success.

7:30 p.m. at Dexter's in Thornton Park. Dexter's is my favorite casual dining/wine bar spot.

Unfortunately, I'm going to miss it. The Apopka Chamber Christmas party is tonight and since I'm on the board of directors, I need to be there.

I love Google. As a business development consultant and PR professional, I do a lot of internet research for clients and find Google to be a helpful resource. In fact, because its load time is so fast, it is set as the default/home page for my Internet Explorer browser.

This may surprise those of you who know I'm a news junkie who used to have all her favorite news sites on a customized home page. Thanks to modern technology, I now get ALL my news via RSS feeds through Feed Demon.

So why am I telling you this today? My iPod would not turn off when I left the gym this morning. I tried everything - plugging it in, updating from my laptop, "gently tapping" it on the back, but nothing worked, so I did a quick Google search using "ipod won't turn off" and the first link took me to a tech forum with an easy solution (hold the menu and center button down to reset the iPod).

Google gave me a quick way to get an answer to my problem. And it sure beats the old fashioned way (going to the Apple site, entering my search terms, sifting through dozens of irrelevant search results, then picking up the phone and calling Apple only to be put on the interminable hold).

Are you having a hard time coming up with a theme for your company's annual event? Do you want some fun, trivia-type stuff for your next newsletter? Have you spent way to much time surfing the net in search of special holidays and their origin?

Then you'll want to check out Chases's Calendar of Events.

I stumbled across this phenomenal resource a few years ago while helping a client's staff break out of the "same old, same old" mold on their employee events. After reading through the Calendar I suggested ways in which the group could build themes around some of the more unique days and we developed a really exciting calendar of events and fundraisers for the year, including a clean-out-your-desk day contest and an "I love chocolate" day (they also raised over $10,000 for the employee Christmas party, but I'll post about that at another time).

Until September, I was too cheap to fork out the $65 retail price but a much appreciated gift certificate to Barnes & Noble from a favorite client gave me the perfect excuse. I bought the 2006 edition and have already used it several times. It came with a searchable cd and an installer so I can load the entire Calendar onto my hard drive. Now I can "carry" the Calendar with me wherever I go - now that's going to come in handy during a few client meetings coming up (and makes it worth a lot more than $65).

Josh is organizing another blogger meetup in Orlando, probably December 15.

I've been thinking a lot about my inlaw's comment last week about the relevance of blogs. Actually, I've been contemplating the true usefulness (value) of my own blog for several weeks while updating our business plan and setting 2006 objectives.

There is a lot of truth to what my inlaw said. Most of the blogs I read offer a mix of useful information with a lot of editorial content, this blog included.

Josh Hallett validates my concern, observing "most blogs contain a mixture of substantial pieces mixed in with short bits and meta-blogging...Finding the good though-provoking content requires some sifting."

This has long been a fundamental challenge for public relations, marketing and advertising professionals: How do you get your message heard in the midst of so much noise? Blog readers don't want to sift through multiple posts to find one or two nuggets of useful info.

My goal this year was to get my blog up and running then get in the habit of posting on a regular basis. That goal was achieved. However, in reviewing my posts over this past year, I have to admit there are not as many as I had hoped that offer good, helpful info.

Fortunately for my subscribers, that will change in 2006. I will still post random thoughts and observations, but I will also be posting a lot more tactical ("how to") information. Otherwise, for business reasons, what is the point of blogging?

Do you have an online newsroom where media can access information about you and your company at their convenience? Is your online newsroom effective?

TEKmedia has recently updated its Tips for an Effective Online Newsroom, originally pubished in the May 2003 issue of PRSA's Tactics.

Download a free copy.