City Provides Internet Tools For Volunteers

In some respects Australia's councils are leading other government agencies in using the Internet to connect citizens.

In an Australian first, the City of Casey in Victoria is establishing an on-line community for groups and individuals who live, work or meet in the municipality.

The Casey Connect project is providing a web-based portal for local groups to help them communicate with members, promote their services and generally link to the wider community.

The City is providing the Internet infrastructure that lets local voluntary organisations create their own web presence, I particularly like the interactive nature of these sites and the list of resources to get people started is impressive - on-line tutorials, user manuals and help guides.

The City of Casey is providing a service few volunteer bodies could afford.

Internet Blackout Matches Victoria's Power Blackout

In Friday 30 January it was very hot in Canberra. Well into the evening the temperature was hovering around 82 degrees F.

But to the south, Melbourne was far, far hotter and the City was suffering significant power shortages as the overloaded power grid struggled to meet the electricity demands generated by the heat. Melbourne's rail service ground to a halt under a combination of the heat and the power outages.

A significant part of the City was affected by power cuts. And at least on 30 January the power blackout was matched by an Internet blackout.

Only two of the five power utilities servicing Melbourne had up to date outage information on their websites. Well done to those two - Jemena and SP AUSNET. For the others, well it was business as usual.

The Victorian Government Internet portal carried dated information. And the websites of the Victorian Police and the State's Emergency Service had no current news on the outages.

Although local newspapers and other media carried news, key corporate and government websites were strangely silent on an event that impacted on so many people including concerned relatives like me in other States.

Victoria gets a "could do better" grade for its effort to use the online communications to keep Melbournians updated on what was happening in their sweltering off-line world.

Media Maven's Methods

US media maven Margo Mateas has been in the communications business for 20+ years and in that time has trained thousands of PR professionals in media pitching and other skills.

An ill-considered blogpost recently attacked the maven's methods.

We can only speak from our experience. But using Margo's methods we have been able to achieve over 7000 media items for Australian clients with almost universally high favourability ratings.

In 2008 working alongside the media team of a major Australian cultural institution we helped the institution reach a cumulative media audience of 56 million people for one of its programs.

I review Margo's materials before I start each campaign to remind myself of the essentials of media relations.

So thanks to Margo for her ability to take people behind the newsroom curtain and learn effective skills that get their stories covered.

PR2.0 Book Review

"PR2.0 New Media, New Tools, New Audiences" by Deirdre Breakenridge

Is this evolution or revolution?

Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, Twitter, Slideshare and a host of other social media tools are changing the way we communicate. And doing so rapidly.

Which leaves PR professionals looking similar to 19^th century pioneers. We’re leaving the familiar world of brochures, media releases and other one way tools to travel the plains in search of the promised land of digital communications. We don’t know how long the journey will be or where we will finally settle. But as communicators we instinctively know there’s no turning back because things will never again be the same.

And for those who continue to doubt, look at Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign. It firmly put the seal of legitimacy on new media as a mass medium.

Fortunately US author Deirdre Breakenridge has written a book to help us find our way around this new frontier.

Her book PR2.0 is a valuable reference for communicators who need to understand new media, how to use it and how to integrate what we’re doing now with what we may be doing in the future. It offers a balanced view of social media but settles on a firm conclusion. New media’s ability for us to go one on one with our audiences means we live in the most exciting of PR times.

Most books on the subject either deal in generalities or descend into tech babble. This book does neither. It is written by a PR person for PR people and covers the things we need to know for our campaigns and projects. It starts with sections on digital research, monitoring and evaluation before dealing with new tools and applications such as social media releases, RSS feeds, blogs, video and audio.

Every chapter has blessedly simple explanations of the new technologies and features interviews with companies using it to good effect. Each concludes with a bullet point summary which is handy when so much rich information is presented.

The later chapters deal with planning for PR.2.O with valuable case studies showing how companies are using social media tools right now to get results. You could easily develop a template from these examples.

PR2.0 is a must-have reference for PR people. Get it, read it and keep it handy besides your desk or in your briefcase. It’s more than a book. It is a road map to the next PR destination.

Polish Up Your Presentations

We run a lot of workshops most of which are based around PowerPoint presentations.

Over the years we have found that the best presentations are simple and highly visual. So our top tips for preparing and using slides are:

• Use a neutral background in each presentation and avoid fancy templates which too easily distract an audience.
  
• Work with a single font that contrasts strongly with the background. (We opt for a plain black background with white text). And don't be too fancy with italics and bold type.
  
• Avoid straight text. Aim for no more than six simply expressed bullet points per slide.
• Custom animation is a great tool but go easy on all the fancy fly-in effects that can leave the audience dizzy.
  
• Include a title on each individual slide so people can see the big picture of what you are talking about.
• Use an image on each slide to reinforce the message you are making. Make sure it complements and does not overshadow the meaning of the text.
• Develop your presentation so you speak directly to the audience and not read from a screen.
• Use a remote control device plugged into your laptop or computer that allows you to change slides from anywhere in the room. (These are readily available and don't cost much).

And post your presentation to a social networking site such as Slide Share so people can access it after you leave. Either post it permanently or tell your audience it is only available for a limited time.

But above all avoid the common mistakes shown in this humourous video.