The Importance of A Single Year

Sometimes a single year can prove a decisive turning point in a life.

1967 seemed to be that pivotal time in Lyndon Shea's life. 

Military man, public servant, activist and poet, Lyndon Shea was buried today after battling with cancer. His funeral was truly a celebration of a life richly lived and obviously loved by those attending his standing room only service.

Prior to 1967 Lyndon had been the sixties poster boy of young, conservative, male Australia.  School captain of one of Australia's most prestigious private schools, ruggedly handsome Lyndon was a  star footballer and athlete with a sharp, incisive mind. 

In 1966 Lyndon was selected to enter the Royal Military College Duntroon, Australia's equivalent of the American West Point.

Like his classmates, Lyndon's Duntroon time was marked by incessant, mindless bullying.  Officially it was designed to prepare him for the role of a junior Army leader in the Vietnam War and beyond. In reality it was profoundly dehumanizing experience that gave no credit to the individual or the institution.

By the end of his first year, whether he quit  or for some other reason, Lyndon moved on.  From that point onwards he was no longer fighting for the system but rather fighting the system over the range of its contemporary injustices.

Throughout his life Lyndon campaigned for Indigenous rights, education reform, the womens' movement, gay rights, the environment and other issues long before they became fashionable. In doing so Lyndon often put himself on the margins working for the marginalized.  

Today his funeral was marked by tributes from people from all walks of life.  Each noted his commitment, strength and single minded determination to shape a fairer community. 

Over the past 100 years the Royal Military College Duntroon has had many luminaries.  However it would be hard to find many like Lyndon who displayed the qualities of fairness, commitment and a fair go the rest of us aspire to.

Vale Lyndon Shea...  mission accomplished and superbly well done.

A Social Media Conversation I Didn't Expect

Old attitudes die hard.

This past I ran a workshop talking  about social media. Most of those attending saw the value of integrating social media into their marketing mix.  However an influential minority remained suspicious of platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

Their opposition was a conversation I fully expected up to two years ago, but not today.  We have shifted to a new communications paradigm, but it seems many in influential positions still don't get it. What are they afraid of?

My concern is those who don't at least try the new technologies may well end up talking to themselves in future, not their audiences.

The Value of Journalism

Emailing The Newsroom With Your Story

An article by Ryan Zuk in a recent edition of PRSA Tactics newspaper shared tips on emailing journalists to pitch a story.

Ryan suggests:

• Creating subject lines that stir interest.
• Limiting the body of your email to two or three sentences.
• Providing links to images, video or additional information.
• Identifying your spokesperson, why they would be good to interview and when they are available.
• Tracking who is opening your emails and when, to learn which date and time works best for the media.

Ryan's advice is timely given local newsrooms are shrinking and journalists are becoming harder to reach by phone.

Stage Fright Is Not Nice But Necessary

In recent years I must have given hundreds of talks to different groups across Australia.

All have been about communications, PR or marketing. I have spoken to groups at workplace seminars, big conferences and, at times around kitchen tables in rural areas.

I still get nervous before each presentation, whether the audience is a group of critical professionals or enthusiastic volunteers eager to learn about the fundamentals of communications.

Over the years I have come to appreciate the value of stage fright before a presentation. It keeps you sharp, focussed and always keen to do your best. Complacency alongside poor preparation ranks among the worst things a speaker can display.

One thing that helps me before a talk is to visualise a happy ending where the audience leaves the room satisfied they now know something new that will help them in the future.

So while I may not like pre-event nerves, I have come to accept them as necessary.

How do you steady your nerves before talking to a group of strangers?