Three out of four marketing and PR workshops for IAPD IPRA went well: lots of space, time and room for conversation. When I saw the room for my Social Media Sampler presentation, I got a bit concerned. Fifteen minutes before I was set to start, it was already almost full. When the crowd started spilling out of the room, I offered to record my presentation for playback.

While the audience here is parks and recreations agencies, much of the information is all purpose. You’ll find the slides and the recording posted for replay. I’ll leave these up for a week or so. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to ask your questions in the comment box.

Please note that this information is copyright protected.

Image: Barbara Rozgonyi for www.thesociallens.com of Dr. Ted Flickinger, accepting an award from Jesse White, Illinois Secretary of State, which I used as an example of how to share images. View the award luncheon photos here.

Looking for a social media marketing or PR workshop presenter?
Contact me at corywestmedia @gmail.com or on twitter @wiredprworks.

Next week, I’m honored to present four programs at the IAPD/IPRA [Illinois Association of Park Districts - Illinois Park and Recreation Association conference]. Thanks so much to Jessica Alexenko of the Lisle Park District for booking me to speak at two workshops and two breakout sessions. We started talking about the conference almost a year ago and just last week I met several people at two different events who told me how much fun I would have at the conference.

In preparation for my sessions, I started scrolling back to think of stories I could share about park districts and realized that communities rely on local park districts for programming and facilities to shape activities, talents, teams, events, friendships and well, a whole lot of livelihood.

Our family photo album is filled with images from park districts and their programs: Magical Morning Workshop, ballet, creative movement, art, soccer, breakfast with Santa, playing at the park, walks around the lake and black and white images I developed in my photography class. I’m really looking forward to speaking to this group, meeting up with our local park district reps and reconnecting with a college friend who’s an area park district board member.

If you’ll be there, too leave a comment, send me a text message at 630.207.7530 or get in touch with me @wiredprworks on twitter.com.

Here are my sessions.

Wired Writing Workshop: How to Write for Screens, Spiders, Networks and People!
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder, CoryWest Media, LLC
No matter what your grades were like in English class, chances are your teachers taught you how to write for print. But, great grammar and spotless spelling aren’t what you need for success in writing online. In this workshop, you will learn how to compose, format, package, repurpose and send your message so it gets action. You can use these skills every day in every message you compose to be read online (and off).
Participants will: (1) learn to organize and create informative or persuasive content that generates results; (2) learn to use tools and strategies to package content for multiple applications from print to online applications such as Facebook and Twitter and create a workplan that will guide consistent development throughout the organization to save time and improve quality.

Real-ize Your Virtual Brand: New Age Marketing/PR
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder, CoryWest Media, LLC
Learn how to capture attention, start a conversation and convert searchers into customers using the power of virtual public relations! With the dawn of the social media revolution, the standard press release evolved into a dynamic new format that lets you take control of the story, presentation and distribution. Discover how you can tap into the PR power of the Internet – today and tomorrow – create news releases that attract readers, robots and search engines and dramatically increase your online visibility overnight.
Participants will: (1) learn how to bypass the press and easily track search engine rankings and readership for future success; (2) learn to masterfully convert simple press releases into multimedia Web sites.

Social Media Sampler: Test Drive the Latest in Marketing and Networking!
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder, CoryWest Media, LLC
Blurring the lines between networking, marketing, public relations and communications, social media nurtures relationships that grow your business community online. You’ll find out how social media marketing can polish your profile, enhance your professional image and present you as the industry leader you are. In this session you’ll go on a live test drive and learn how social media sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blogs and YouTube can benefit you and your agency. You will take away a social media owner’s manual that includes an action guide, resource directory, profile checklist and tips to grow your network.
Participants will: (1) take away a social media owner’s manual that includes an action guide, resource directory, profile checklist and tips to grow their network; (2) learn how to effectively and creatively utilize social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Blogs and YouTube.

Demystifying PR: Five Ways to Become an Expert News Source
Barbara Rozgonyi, Founder, CoryWest Media, LLC
Discover five ways to become an expert news source with new media tools and techniques you can start using today. Going beyond the meaning of PR as public relations or press releases we’ll cover: page rank; platform research; professional reputation; personal relevance; and process repetition. In one hour you’ll be on your way to planning your route to expert status. Participants will: (1) discover how to find and contact media sources; (2) learn how to craft traditional and social media press releases.

Images: Barbara Rozgonyi from the www.thesociallens.com copyright 2009. All rights reserved.

Your Turn: What’s your parks and rec story? How would you – or do you – share it via social media?

Leave it to Chris Brogan to write what I’ve been thinking about. In his post, Grow Bigger Ears in 10 Minutes, Chris walks you through a process for listening to conversations online. You need to do this. It takes a surprisingly short amount of time to tune into online conversations – using Chris’ system.

And, you need to do something else: talk to people. In person – about what’s important to them and how you and your organization connect with their life.

Talk to lots of people, face to face, on the phone or via skype – especially if you rely on members or donors for their volunteer and financial contributions.

One person may give the impression that everything’s almost okay while another in their circle will give you the real story. And then, a third person will add their perspective from the organization’s point of view. You need to hear all of it.

In my corporate life we used to have focus groups. Several people would come in for lunch and a few dollars. We’d sit around a table and have a kind of contrived conversation. We didn’t really know what was on their mind, we only recorded what they told us.

Here at CoryWest Media, we tell our clients to let us talk to their best customers – when we want success stories.

But, the loudest stories we want to hear the most are the quietest and the least trackable: people who say they like you, but don’t want to offend you by telling you why they really don’t like you.

Tracking conversations online is huge, but for organizations who don’t have a place for online conversations, commentary comes out at the fitness center, in the grocery store, at the coffee shop and my favorite place – a friendly family room. If you want to know what people are saying about your organization, test out these hearing aids.

Hearing Aids to Improve Community Public Relations 

1. Call people you miss – ask them where they went and why.

2. Find out what people are looking for – exactly – before you invest time and effort in anything new.

3, Look for patterns and holes in your process. Where do people tend to drop off?

4. Is there a problem with conveying your message – or how it’s being delivered?

5. How can you get closer? Where’s the living room?

6. Put on a pot of coffee or set out a cooler and invite people over to talk regularly.

7. Detect where your people are talking online and unlock their keyword codes. They, go back to Chris’ model and add that information in.

8. Appoint or recruit ambassadors to represent your organization in the community.

9. Be a face people recognize and connect to something you stand for: your business, your family and your communities.

10. Let’s keep the list going – add your ideas in the comments and I’ll bring them back up here in the post. 

It sounds strange, but sometimes I forget that I’m a photographer. A photographer who is published, sells images and truly loves making pictures.

Giving strategic marketing advice, crafting news releases and coaching clients is different than being the one capturing images, but it’s how I usually position myself and my Chicago area strategic marketing and public relations company.

Yesterday afternoon I sent an email RSVP to a fund-raising event manager with this line:

“Let me know if you’d like me to take pictures. I’m happy to donate my time and a CD with images.”

Today I got email asking me to get there early and to watch for a list of shots they’d like to have.

Will I be the official event photographer? I don’t know, but I might be. If you’re a photographer who is looking for work, think about donating your time. Here’s what’s in it for you. If you represent a charity that needs an event photographer, feel free to use this list when you contact photographers about shooting your event.

• credit: when your images get published
• recognition: at the event and in charity communications
• promotion: run a live slide show at the event with as they’re being taken images
• portfolio pieces: food, architecture, portraiture – all possible subjects, get permission to reuse
• income: let Photrade take orders and sell images for you
• reach: post images with event/charity tags on site like flickr, facebook
• gratitude: so many people will thank you
• legacy: you’re the one that people will remember as the event image-maker

Your Turn

How do use photography to promote your charity – or business?

Image Credit: Barbara Rozgonyi, copyright 2005-2008

Today is Blog Action Day. Almost 9,600 bloggers with over 10 million readers will take over the Internet to talk about one topic: poverty.

Blog Action Day 2007’s topic? The environment – last year I wrote about why you need environmental PR.

Blog Action Day 2008’s site lists all the posts about poverty. 

I’ll be honest: writing about the environment was easier for me. Poverty is a complex topic that touches many tangents, including hunger, housing and overall quality of life. I know that as I write this there are people here in my community-and yours-who need help. That’s why this Blog Action Day post is about how to use publicity to raise awareness about poverty in your town.

15 Ways to Make Poverty an Issue that People Want to Support

1 Organize Around the Issue

How is your organization changing lives? What service do you provide to make life better? Ask people what they were looking for when they found you – both the people you serve and the people that serve them. Put what you do in their words.

2 Preserve Dignity by Protecting Privacy

Use first names, initials or change names and locations to hide identities. When I wrote a Welfare to Work brochure for Sears, Roebuck & Co., I got to interview several women who had stories that begged to be told. They were, but no one knew who they were about. What did come through? The power of giving someone a second chance at being successful. 

3 Talk about the Cause

What  causes poverty? Why are people poor? It’s not because they don’t want to work. In fact, many of the working poor work more than one job. When I interviewed formerly homeless women, they told me about student loans that required them to pay double or triple their loan amount, medical bills that soared out of control and credit card debt at high interest levels. What’s the cause? Quite often, it’s managing the cost of living. Or, it could be losing a job.

4 Identify the Tipping Point

How many people in your area are one or two paychecks away from being homeless? What’s the poverty line where you are? Did you know the average age of a homeless person in the US is nine years old? This last statistic puts a face on poverty that surprises people.

5 Quote Volunteers and Donors

“I’m volunteering because my friends are homeless. Alan’s getting has master’s degree, but he lost his grant at the university. Anna’s got a degree, but she just had Anna and Alex. With twins, it’s hard for her to work. They lost their apartment. I know they’ll be okay, probably sooner than later, but there are other people out there who need more help.” a young woman told me when I asked why she supported Sleep Out Saturday, a county-wide sleep out hosted by Bridge Communities on November 1, 2008 to raise funds to help homeless families in transition.

6 Get to Know the Media

Call reporters and let them know about the issue. Hold a press conference to talk about the issue of poverty and homelessness in your community and invite an educated panel to address the public. Have a sign up sheet and a receiving person ready to take names and donations.

7 Distribute Press Releases Online

Using a free or low-cost service like WebWire, you can get your news out and in search engines so that you can be found. Post the releases in an online newsroom you can set up with a free service like PitchEngine.

8 Start a Blog – Membership Site

Set up a place where you can tell your story and give your community a place to participate with a service like Wild Apricot. Set up a free online community and social networking site on ning, if you don’t have the budget to build a website.

9 Accept Donations Online

Add the link to your donation site in every communication; set up an account with paypal or set up a free ChipIn fundraising collection device.

10 Leverage Partner Communications

Churches, scout groups and businesses can volunteer to assist you in exchange for promotion in the organization’s publication. They can also promote your organization in their communication channels on and offline.

11 Build a Database

Give people a way to subscribe to email updates with service levels along with a call for volunteers and donors as needed. Use your direct mail list to drop inexpensive post cards every other month to stay in touch.

12 Set up a Google Alert

Google offers a service that emails you every time your organization is mentioned.

13 Sign onto twitter

You may not know what twitter is yet, read the twitter guide for ways to use twitter . Search for people in your community on twitter, follow them and ask them if they will help you promote your organization.

14 Set up a Facebook page

Having a page on Facebook is optional, but recommended if you want to be the one that manages a group that people can join for more information about your group.

15 . . . .

Your Turn

What’s missing?

Image: rainbow in late fall sky at the Morton Arboretum by Barbara Rozgonyi taken for Blog Action Day 2008, 10-14-08 copyright 2008

Want to help now? Contribute to Blog Action Day 2008 partners TheGlobalFund.org and Kiva.org.