The nationally syndicated columnist had this to say about the publicity staple: “A news release is an article that has been typed up by a public relations professional hired by a client who wants to get certain information published, which is then mailed out to several thousand newspapers, almost all of which throw it away […]
Read more →When he left Stanford University after 30 years as director of the university’s news operation, Bob Beyers was recognized on the front page of The Wall Street Journal. His approach of handling and communicating the affairs of the university with the objectivity, aggressiveness and candor of an in-house journalist had earned him a national reputation. […]
Read more →Management and meetings expert Roger Flax has a remedy for those long meetings we all have to attend. Try standing up. “When you remove the chairs and donuts,” he says, “participants come right to the point. They don’t settle in and get overly relaxed. They’re not distracted by side-issue conversations with people sitting next to […]
Read more →We’ve held on to this thoughtful and thought-provoking appeal sent to us two decades ago by a friend. Think freely. Practice patience. Smile often. Savor special moments. Live God’s message. Make new friends. Rediscover old ones. Tell those you love that you do. Feel deeply. Forget trouble. Forgive an enemy. Hope. Grow. Be crazy. Count […]
Read more →Leon Lederman, 1988 Nobel Prize winner and former director of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, on the importance of communicating science and the need for journalists and scientists to better understand each other. “I have the naive idea that all science can be communicated. Whether it can be packaged in 90 seconds or 900 seconds […]
Read more →Loved this confirmation of what public relations folks already knew. PR is one of the world’s most stressful professions. The list is from the 1989 “Jobs Rated Almanac.” The 15 most stressful jobs: Firefighter Race car driver (Indy class) Astronaut Surgeon NFL football player Police officer Osteopath State police officer Air traffic controller Mayor Jockey […]
Read more →Karl Skutski, now retired founder and president of Skutski & Associates, a public relations firm in Pittsburgh, asked the question “Who Needs Public Relations?” back in 1989 and he provided a pretty good answer in the Allegheny Business News. Skutski defined public relations as “a management process which to be effective must be managed against […]
Read more →The stunning lack of writing skills among many of today’s college graduates seeking careers in PR made us harken back to a “PR Week” article written by Alan Hirsch, president of G&A Communications of New York, who identified this serious and enduring problem two decades ago. “We wonder how a student can get a degree […]
Read more →During our years at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh we taught an undergraduate public relations class and often invited in guest lecturers so we could avoid any real work in preparing for the class. One of the very best folks we brought in was then Newsweek education editor Dennis Williams, who later joined the faculty […]
Read more →We’ve always admired Dick Jones, president of Dick Jones Communications in Pennsylvania. He has always been a thought leader in the higher education public relations field. A good example is this advice he provides as you confront the sometimes very difficult task of generating publicity for your institution’s commencement. There are about 3,000 colleges and […]
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