"there is nothing wrong in this whole wide apartment" by tizzie
If you’re looking to get a jumpstart on my classes at this fall, here are the books that I will be using. I’ve linked to many of them at Amazon.com, but of course you can purchase them from anywhere you like. I recommend you try the Facebook Marketplace first, so you can get a good deal AND help a fellow student.
One day in February, not long after my husband Kevin and I went to the PotholeDaytona 500, I tweeted that one of the things on my bucket list was to ride in a pace car during a NASCAR race.
I wrote it not thinking I’d get much of a response other than maybe a “me, too” from another NASCAR fan. But was I ever surprised when Brandon Mudd, the Public Relations and Media Manager for Gateway Raceway, replied to me a few minutes later.
My first reaction was, “Yeah, right.” Then after a few Twitter, LinkedIn and e-mail interchanges, I realized that this was actually going to happen. All I had to do was get myself (and my hubby) to St. Louis the weekend of July 16 & 17.
Gateway Raceway provided my husband Kevin and me with Hot Pit / Garage / Media Center passes, along with passes to Victory Circle, and even Infield Parking. If you’re not a NASCAR fan this is what it means:
Hot Pit Passes: We were able to stay in the pit area (where the car & truck teams are during the race) before and through the entire race, meeting as many drivers and teams as we wanted to. We just had to be sure to stay out of their way when they were working.
Garage: We could see what the teams were doing to get the cars & trucks set up for the races.
Media Center: We had a place to cool off and relax a bit. The temps were into the 100s, and it was 135 for a while on pit road.
Victory Circle: Before and after the races, we stood in the Victory Circle area. I was able to get a lot of great pictures of drivers chatting with each other before the driver intros, and I was right there as Kevin Harvick drove up his winning truck for the CampingWorld.com 200 race. We even got to see the infamous Hat Dance.
Infield Parking: This made it easy for us to go back to our car as needed to cool off and get refreshments. For a while, we even turned the car around so it was facing the track, and watched parts both races from the air-conditioned comfort of our cars.
On Friday afternoon, we arrived at the track and milled around in the pits and garage area for a few hours before the scheduled start of the CampingWorld.com 200 NASCAR Truck race. As it came time for the pre-race festivities to start, I noticed some pulled-aside conversations going on in Victory Circle. The power had just gone out (momentarily, we thought). It was still daylight, and the loudspeakers worked via generator, so most of the pre-race could happen planned, while we waited for the power to kick back on.
They did the driver intros, which was fun to watch from behind the scenes as the drivers chatted with and teased each other as they waited their turn to be introduced in qualifying order.
Then it was time for the National Anthem. Lincoln Brewster, lead singer and guitarist for a Christian band, prepared to play the song. But there was no power for his electric guitar. He was urged to just sing it a capella, like it’s usually done . . . but he admitted he didn’t know all the words! Yikes. So then it was time to watch Brandon and his team scramble around to find someone who — with no notice or practice — could and would sing the National Anthem before a NASCAR race, on national television. (I would have volunteered, but I think my hubby of almost 25 years would have walked out on me if I did. And if you heard my singing voice, you’d have turned the channel quickly, too!)
All of a sudden, NASCAR’s Jimmy Small volunteered to sing it. Whew! Crisis avoided. Jimmy approached the stage . . . then the power came back on enough for Lincoln Brewster to go ahead with his Jimi Hendrix-inspired rendition of the National Anthem.
And the power stayed off. As it turns out, there was a major power problem offsite. Brandon wrote and distributed a news release from the Media Center with the details. I just happened to peek through the window as he was writing.
The truck race was delayed until Saturday at 12:30 . . . which meant that the nice, coolish evening race we had planned for was now going to be a part of a LONG double-header day of racing on Saturday.
We went back to the hotel to cool down, then headed back to the track on Saturday morning after a fantastic breakfast of the best corned beef hash I’ve ever had at Crepes, Etc. We made a quick stop for supplies, including some Baskin and Robins hard candy for Tati Papis, who had recently lamented on Twitter that the ice cream lady at the track was nowhere to be found.
Our first stop when we got back to the track was at Max Papis‘ hauler. I think I surprised Max when I introduced myself to him (trying not to sound like a fangirl!), but then asked for him to see if his wife Tati would come out. I gave the ice cream candies to a laughing Tati. Then Tati, Max and his crew chief Bootie Barker posed for a photo with me. Nice folks, all of them!
Here’s some video I took with my Flip camera of the CampingWorld.com 200 race (before, during and after), including the Hat Dance by race winner Kevin Harvick and his team. This short video includes the command “Drivers start your engines,” trucks rolling off pit road, racing to green, a few pit stops, then the post-race in Victory Circle.
For the next few hours, we milled around in the pits, the garage and the media center. I took about 250 pictures that day. You can see the best of them in my Picasa web album.
Finally it was time for what I (thought I) had come to the track for: my ride in a pace car during a race, the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250 to be exact. The National Anthem was sung without a hitch, then Brandon walked me down pit road for my ride in the car. I took video with my Flip camera (from the back seat) throughout the two laps I had on the track.
The Bottom Line: I was able to cross one item off my Bucket List. The ride was fun, and I came away with even more. Throughout the weekend at Gateway Raceway, I was constantly amazed by how approachable the drivers are and how much access the fans have to them. What other sport lets you up so close, not just before a game, but during?
Many, many thanks to Brandon Mudd for responding to my tweet that I thought would go unanswered.
(PS: A Confession :: We didn’t stay until the end of the Nationwide race to see Carl Edwards win. We were exhausted and drained from the 100+ temps, even though we’re Floridians now and drank more than a gallon water each during the day. We listened to the race on MRN radio in the car on the way back to our hotel, then watched the final 50 or so laps from our air-conditioned room with our feet up — and lots of great memories of the day.)
In my Introduction to Public Relations and Public Relations Writing classes at Georgia Southern this summer, a large portion of the students’ grades came from their blogs. Most of the students in this class had never even read a blog before the beginning of the summer, no less written one of their own. For their final Topic of the Week, I asked them to create a list of tips for PR students new to blogging. Here, I will share some of the best tips:
The first thing to remember about blogging is to have patience. At first you will not have many visitors to you page accept you teacher and maybe a few classmates but if you continue on, the readers will come.
Don’t Treat the Blog like Homework! I know since this is all for a class, some people dread working on these assignements. Take in consideration that the teacher is not doing it to torture you. This is part of your career!
Make sure to proofread often. I am not an avid blogger but when I would go to a person’s blog and see that every other word was misspelled or their grammar was poor I moved onto someone else’s blog. One advantage of using Word press is that it offers a proofreading section to make sure you do not have a ton of misspelled words on your blog.
Media. Despite my taste for traditional writing and structure in blogs I can tell you first hand that adding media such as images, videos, and other interactive applications is a great way to keep your blog fun and entertaining. Now this is subject to change depending on your target audience and the purpose of your blog. In general it is a great idea to give some visual content to your writing in any blog.
Post your blog on other websites you are part of such as Twitter and Facebook. By doing this you will have more followers and interaction with your blog.
Try to find videos and pictures that complement your post. Blog posts that are full of text can look bulky. Use pictures to break up long paragraphs or add a YouTube video that relates to your topic to add variety.
Be creative with your headline. Your blog may be very good and interesting, however if the headline is boring then the viewer may not read past the headline.
Link. When blogging, it is important to let your readers know what the source of your information is, if you have one. Be sure to link certain parts of your post in order to guide readers in the direction of more information on what the post is about. This also gives credit where credit is due in order to avoid plagiarism.
Whenever you are given leverage to choose your own topic [like for your PR Connections], try to relate PR with something you are passionate about. If you have a strong opinion about a topic, you should have less trouble overcoming potential writer’s block.
Lastly, have fun! It may seem like a task at first, but there is a thrill in having people show interest in your thoughts. This experience helped me acquire clarity about several issues I once believed myself to be educated on. That’s it, remember to enjoy.
So that’s what my summer PR students had to say. What other recommendations do you have for PR students starting off with a new blog?
[Updated from my original post written in December 2008 :: Additions are in italics]
When I first started using Twitterabout a year agoin 2007, I would follow anyone who first followed me. As Twitter has grown, I have realized that I need to be more discerning so that I don’t get overwhelmed. Here’s a brief description of my thought process.
I tend to automatically follow:
people I’ve met in real life (if I liked them when I met them)
people who live in the Savannah or Statesboro (GA) Lakeland/Tampa/Orlando areas
people who engage me in positive ways with @barbaranixon tweets
Occasionally, I’ll revisit the people I’m currently following and make a determination if I still want to invest time in following them. Today I looked back at the last two days of tweets in my time line. And then I made a purge of about 250 people that I was following. I honestly have no idea why I was following some in the first place. Some were laced with foul language, while others just plain brought me down with their negative tone. Others tweeted about things that I’m no longer interested in.
If your tweets don’t make me learn or laugh, then quite often I don’t keep following. It’s as simple as that. However, I may add you to a Twitter list and look at the list on occasion. Or I may engage with you when I follow a hashtag like #TopChef (as we live-tweet the Bravo TV show) or #NASCAR (during races).
About once a month, I’ll visit my Followers page and hover my mouse over a name. If there’s no real name or any bio at all, I usually don’t look further. I’ll read a bio if it’s there. If in your bio you’re promising me things that I’d hear in a late-night infomercial, it’s unlikely I’ll follow you. Things in a bio that may intrigue me include:
public relations or social media
student affairs / higher education
photography
Auburn University
Presbyterian
NASCAR
autism or Asperger’s syndrome
food/cooking
Though it’s not hypercritical, I prefer engaging in conversations on Twitter with people who use their real photos. It’s nice to have a name and a face together.
If I make it as far as looking at your most recent tweets:
Is there a mix of original comments, @replies, retweets and links? (If all the tweets are of one type, I usually don’t follow.)
Do I see @replies to people I know?
Do I think I’ll learn something from you?
Are many of your tweets of a positive nature (not whiny)?
Do you avoid foul language (most of the time)?
Do you make me laugh?
If I haven’t followed you, and you would like me to, it’s generally a good idea to send me an @barbaranixon so that I know you’re interested in engaging in conversation with me. And if it seems like I’ve been talking in a foreign language here, take a look at A Twitter Lexicon.
So, what’s your strategy? How do you decide whom to follow?
We are in the homestretch of Summer 2010, believe it or not. I will start evaluating/grading your blogs as soon as you submit your blog URL to the Assignments area in GeorgiaVIEW; the earlier you let me know you are done with your blog, the earlier I can start evaluating it. See GeorgiaVIEW for the specific due date and time.
Please complete this checklist to be sure your blog is complete. NOTE: You will need to scroll down in the form to complete all areas and find the Submit button.
Can’t attend the June 30 Mashable Social Media Day Meetup in Tampa? Then attend virtually via the Justin.tv live feed. The event at Tampa Bay Brewing Company starts at 6 p.m., which is roughly when the video will become available.
I am so looking forward to meeting many of the Tampa social media people I am connected to via Twitter and Foursquare, but whom I have not yet met in person.
NOTE: Thanks to SPARKbrand, I am able to provide the live feed to those who wished to attend tonight, but could not. I have NO control over the content or camera placement in this live feed.
"Les Nessman" with my infant son James and me (1990)
As we start wrapping up our summer semester in Introduction to Public Relations class, it’s time to end the semester in my traditional way: by watching a classic episode of the classic 1970s TV show “WKRP in Cincinnati” :: “Turkeys Away.”
According to the Internet Movie Database: “[Station manager] Mr. Carlson is beginning to feel useless at the new formatted rock station so he decides to create a big Thanksgiving Day promotion. His idea? Get a helicopter, with a banner attached to it saying “Happy Thanksgiving From WKRP…” Then, based on a botched promotion from a radio station in Arkansas, live turkeys are dropped from a helicopter. Chaos ensues.
Take 20 or so minutes to watch the episode below, keeping in mind what you’ve learned in PRCA 2330 during the semester.
So what can public relations students learn about how NOT to do a promotion from Mr. Carlson’s fiasco? I’ll get the list started:
Communicate with your entire team before launching a promotional campaign (or a turkey).
Do your research! It’s best to learn ahead of time that turkeys don’t fly.
Get permission before doing a stunt.
What would you add to this list? Add your thoughts in the comments below.
Let’s face it . . . whether you’re a PR student, practitioner or faculty member, we’re all busy. So how can you get (and stay) up to speed with the ever-changing world of public relations? Here’s a quick guide to how I stay current in public relations.
One: Listen to PR podcasts.
Some of my favorite podcasts are: For Immediate Release, Inside PR, The Creative Career, Trafcom News, Marketing Over Coffee and Coming Up PR. My favorite time to listen to podcasts is during my daily two-mile walks in this sweltering Florida heat. I also listen to them when I drive, work out and clean the house. Some people prefer to listen to podcasts on their computers; my preference is listening to them on my Palm Pre or iPod.
Two: Subscribe to daily or weekly PR e-mailed newsletters.
My favorite PR newsletter is one that comes into my inbox daily from Ragan Communications: the PR Daily newsfeed. When I want to read the latest on PR, this is the newsletter I turn to first. Another helpful newsletter comes from Chris Brogan; Chris provides different content in the newsletter than he does on his blog, so it’s definitely worth subscribing.
Three: Follow PR practitioners on Twitter.
Are you a public relations student (or recent grad) just getting started using Twitter? Try following some (or all) of these people or organizations in my Twitter Starter Pack for PR Students. They all have something in common: they tweet useful or interesting information for people involved in public relations.
Four: Read PR blogs.
There are hundreds of blogs about public relations. I’ve bookmarked many of them in Delicious for you. You can subscribe to them using your favorite RSS reader (such as Google Reader), or just read them on the web. Some of the most helpful blogs I’ve discovered recently include The Comms Corner and Karen Russell’s Week’s Best (which I just learned is on hiatus for the summer), as they aggregate current posts of interest to PR practitioners.
Five: Watch the news on TV.
Yes, I said “watch the news on TV.” I mean on a real TV, with a complete newscast, not just bits and bobs that you catch online. I start off every day a steaming mug or three of chicory coffee and at least an hour of broadcast news, usually with 15 or so minutes of local news followed by the Today Show. By knowing what’s going on in the world, it helps frame the snippets of stories I read or hear online throughout the day. To be sure that I’m keeping up on the news, I also listen to the podcast version of NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me weekly news quiz. (I sometimes even play the Lightning Round of Wait Wait in class on Mondays to see how much my students know about what’s going on in the world.)
So that you are prepared for our next blog checkpoint, which will take place sometime after June 12, please complete this form. (NOTE: You will need to scroll to get to the bottom of the form.)
