The Gainesville Chapter is hosting a media breakfast from 7:30 – 9 a.m. Thursday, July 22 at Joe’s Place in Gainesville. Enjoy a delicious breakfast with your fellow public relations colleagues and learn what it takes to get your message out through the ever-changing media environment. During this interactive breakfast panel, our local experts will discuss helpful hints and pitching tips, review their news outlets and answer questions from the audience.

If you’re looking for a great opportunity to learn more about getting plugged into your local media and you have ties to the Gainesville community, this is the event for you.

Media Panelists:
Anthony Clark, Business Editor, The Gainesville Sun
Scott Costello, Publisher, Home Magazine
Ryan Frankel, President/CEO, and Linda Michalisin, VP of Public Affairs, Frankel Media Group
Kevin Ireland, Editor and Publisher, North Central Florida Business Report
Chris Malone, Program Director/On-Air Host, 98.5 KTK
Bob Williams, Community Service Manager/News Anchor, WCJB TV20

Cost: $20 – FPRA Members or Non-Profits, $25 – FPRA Non-Members
$10 – FPRA Student Members, $15 – FPRA Student Non-Members

Register at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GCZYYCQ by July 19.

Do you want to kick your brand up a notch?

Register now for the Gainesville Chapter’s annual professional development seminar, “PR Recipes for Success: How to Kick Your Brand Up a Notch,” on Friday, June 25 at the UF Graham Center.

Whether you represent an agency, corporation, governmental entity, non-profit or small business, learn and share innovative, cost-efficient methods to leverage your company brands. This full-day conference has several exciting speakers lined up to present on some tasty branding topics, including the Dalton Agency and a panel of branding experts facilitated by PRO iNK’s Terry Van Nortwick. APR-certified professionals can earn two credits for attending.

Visit the Gainesville Chapter website for more information.
 
There are several opportunities for exhibitor tables and ad sponsorships. If your company would like to join our chef’s circle, contact Laura Johnson, lfjohnson@rtix.com. See you June 25!

Attend the 72nd FPRA Annual Conference to see The Big Picture: Bringing Public Relations Strategy and Leadership into Focus. We will have speakers and topics to hone your strategic thinking, develop your business acumen and enhance your leadership skills, such as:

• Jim Lukaszewski, The Lukaszewski Group – Developing a Strategic Mindset: How To Become a Trusted, Strategic Advisor
• Lisa Malone, NASA – PR strategy around sunsetting of the Space Shuttle program
• Deirdre Breckenridge, PFS Marketwyse  – Putting The Public Back In Public Relations
• Peter Hollister, Hollister, Trubow and Associates – Building a Strategic Plan
• Thomas Smith, Disney – Case Study: Launch of the Disney parks blog
• Douglas Cherry – How PR Pros Avoid Legal Woes
• Debbie Mason, Strategists Inc.  – What Your Boss REALLY Wants But Hasn’t Told You
• Molly Kellogg – Polishing Your Professional Reputation

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: August 8 – 11, 2010 at the beautiful Naples Grande in Naples, Fla.

RESERVE YOUR HOTEL ROOM NOW: Reservation link is up at www.fpra.org

REGISTER NOW: Registration forms are ready! Not sure if you’ll have the budget for AC next year? Have some $$ left over in your 2009 budget? Take care of it now and relax!

It took the help of FPRA’s state office staff and an army of volunteers to pull off this year’s 71st annual conference, but one person led the entire effort. That individual was Karen Smittle, APR, CPRC of the Gainesville Chapter. Karen spent more than a year planning and promoting, securing speakers and sponsors and working hard to ensure a environmentally-friendly event.

This year’s conference theme was PR on F.I.R.E. and we thought you’d like to meet the ‘spark’ behind it all. Congratulations, Karen, on a terrific conference!

Next year’s conference is scheduled for Aug. 8-11, 2010, at Naples Grande Beach Resort in Naples, Fla. We hope you will join us!

Emily Desmery is FPRA’s summer 2009 intern. She is a rising sophomore at William Smith College in upstate New York and in her capacity at FPRA’s state office in Sarasota has been instrumental in planning the conference. From calling speakers to arranging meals to designing conference materials, Emily has helped ensure everything runs smoothly here in Boca Raton. Her experience with FPRA and life under the Florida sun has inspired her to make a strategic move: next spring, Emily will enroll at the University of Tampa to complete her studies in public relations. Thanks for all your hard work Emily, and good luck at UT!

Traditional thinking tells us “You can be anything you want to be if you just try hard enough” whereas the strength-based approach says “You can’t be anything you want to be, but you can be more of who you are!” Are you ready to be more of who you are?

This morning’s closing session is focused on The Strengths Movement and covers an understanding of the strengths movement; the difference between strength, talent, skill, and knowledge; how to identify what is best and most effective in you; strategies for leveraging your strengths and minimizing weaknesses; and establishing and following a plan to move forward.

Shaffer began with an adaptation of an amusing tale: The Animal School Fable by George Reavis.

Determining the difference between a skill, talent and strength:

• Skill is something that can be taught.
• Talent a natural way of thinking and behaving.
• Strength is the ability to consistently provide near perfect performance.

You know that a strength is a strength if: it comes easily; you don’t consciously think about it, you just do it; the more you do it, the better you become at it; the result makes you feel good!

Something that doesn’t come naturally and is difficult, at times seemingly impossible, to learn or is energy draining, and shows little improvement with repeated experience is not a strength.

A weakness is anything that gets in the way of excellent performance.

Shaffer asks how would you like to spend your day – playing to your strengths or wrestling with your weaknesses?

Utilizing The Clifton Strengths Finder from The Gallup Organization provides a 180 question assessment to determine the order of 34 talent themes; enables you to develop a common language; and increases self awareness. Although taking a formal assessment is not necessary, according to Shaffer it is extremely helpful. Shaffer goes on to list the 34 talent themes, expounding on the ones recognized by the audience. An analysis of the strengths-finder program and list of talents can be found here.

Once you know these things, what do you do? Spend some time observing yourself and others … determine what makes you/them tick.  Link your strengths to performance goals, and leverage them accordingly. Re-evaluate your “so-called weaknesses”. Are they really weaknesses and how can you best manage them? Start using “the language”.  Keep the focus!

At RTI Biologics, the culture changing process was a 7 year journey. All employees participated/and continue to participate in strengths finding assessment process to identify the order of their talent themes. Each employee was assigned a strengths coach to discuss themes that rose to the top and those that fell to the bottom. The strengths coaches work with employees to link strengths to performance goals. Strengths based language was infused into every part of the organization.

The result is an engaged workforce. Most employees get to do what they do best at least some part of every day. They enjoy a positive work environment, focusing what is right versus what is wrong. The change also enabled the company to weather some very difficult storms.

At the end of the day, what difference does the Strength-based Approach make? Imagine loving the role you are playing because you get to do what you do BEST every day. Your performance is excellent. You are having fun. You understand why you do what you do and why others do what they do. You call on the right strength at the right time and surround yourself with others that do the same.

Q: What book were you referring to?

A: The Strength Finder 2.0 Other good ones:  Soar with Your Strengths, Strengths-based Leadership

Q: Do you require your new employees to take the assessment?

A: Yes

Comment: Our organization is the beginning stages of implementing this strategy. We are going to have to reapply for our positions and jobs will be retained on the basis of the assessments.

Q: Weaknesses – do you do anything with your employees to identify those and work with them on it?

A: That’s a challenge, because the philosophy says the best you can do with a weakness is to manage it – you will never overcome it. You shouldn’t let folks off the hook for their performance. You don’t excuse poor performance for lack of talent. It’s definitely tricky.

Q: Tell us more about the plan to introduce the program to employees?

A:  In our case, there was change already in the works, so we knew to expect something different and wove this plan into the changes that were already in motion. There was a mass communication plan put into place which included training sessions and a consistently branded approach to implementing the plan. Everyone knew what was coming and what steps were going to take place. Internal communications vehicles carried the education throughout the organization. They have an “engagement team” instead of an “activities director” and the philosophy is inserted into everything already being done.

About the speaker

Carolyn Shaffer is the former vice president of human resources and organizational development for Regeneration Technologies, Inc. (now RTI Biologics, Inc.). Prior to joining the company in 1999, she owned and operated CJS Training & Development, a private consulting practice with the primary focus of designing and conducting training programs on a variety of topics. Before that, Shaffer worked for 12 years with General Electric Company/ GE Capital, holding various management roles in their Retailer Financial Services division.

Shaffer earned her master’s degree in business administration with a concentration in strength based leadership from the University of Nebraska and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Fairfield University. She is also a graduate of GE’s Financial Management program.

Tom Hoof passionately talked about how the Tampa Bay Rays took a broken brand – Tampa Bay Devil Rays – and turned it into a winning brand to hit it out of the park! Using tried and true public relations strategies the team was transformed from “bad boy” to “community player” with an integrated marketing communications approach. Let’s play ball!! Finally, after 20 years of planning, negotiating and singing “Take me out to the ballgame”, baseball fans in South Florida were taking the seventh inning stretch with their own team! In 1998, Tampa Bay Devil Rays brought major league baseball to the area!

In the beginning, the going was rough and the team was struggling to get out of the bullpen! The brand image was in disarray. Attendance began to fall and the team was striking out with the fans. Less-than-favorable relations between fans, players and employees and a losing record become the norm. Owners blamed the fans but they didn’t do anything to improve relations.

Things began to turn around in 2005, when a new owner came out of the clubhouse with a creative campaign that was tagged “Under Construction”.

Rightly so, the first order of business was to rebuild relationships… and the brand.  It’s been said that if you build it, they will come! The new strategy started with measurable promises to the fans…and the organization did everything they could to make sure they were fulfilled! This included free parking, permission to bring their own food/sodas into the park and other above-and-beyond gestures.

Reconstructing the brand was an integral part of the campaign and it included touting the magic of baseball, the family experience, and the many benefits of Tampa Bay, embracing the community and earning a reputation for being sharp. These core values help the organization make decisions.

Community involvement became one of the major building blocks and it started at the top.  Directors and top executives each became members of at least two non-profit boards and engrained themselves into the community.

The organization also found an avenue to use their expertise to benefit the community in other ways and help grow future baseball players by refurbishing at least two little league fields a year – priced at about $100,000 per field!

Aside from resources, they contributed funds to non-profits throughout the area. They took the extra step to include personal community contribution provisions in play contracts.

Thanks to a strategic marketing move to target MOMs, the tactics they used resulted in a grand slam and attendance increased in the next two years.

With a great foundation for the brand already laid within the community, they worked on a new name, new logo and new attitude! The integrated new look helped to move away from the old and capitalize on new changes.

All PR professionals know that a change of this magnitude cannot be implemented without first conducting research.  With the help of a NY agency, fans were polled and 1,700 potential name choices finally ended back at home plate with “Rays”. Colors and logo were carefully considered and marketing the results was high impact. Changed from a bottom-feeding fish to sunlight and sparkle.

By 2007, the marketing team was ready to put together a plan that would make the launch event special. They developed a teaser campaign including unique tactics. What is more impressive than Kevin Costner and his band launching the new logo at a local concert event that was publicized and promoted like crazy! The event received national attention. They included the new logo on virtually every space available at the event but kept it unveiled until a kick-off video was presented and all was unveiled at one time. The strategy had a major league impact and the next day follow up was incredible with players and coaches making the rounds throughout the community promoting the change and sporting the new colors/logo.

A bonus partnership with Champs helped to grow the excitement and reach target audiences and merchandise campaign went gangbusters after the launch. The brand is strong attendance is up and the crowd is going wild.

Tom explained that he is in entertainment marketing for a sports team. They target families with special weekends, fun promotions. They utilize print, TV, print, radio, outdoor, new media, social networking and street teams who go out into the community and live the brand. They have also added a summer concert series after a game with top-name talent which is adding to the buzz! The diverse list of concert headlines ensures that every demographic is reached. OK, you might not be an LL Cool J fan but what about Loverboy or Trace Adkins??

Post-season campaign: ensures top-of-mind awareness and targets the sports fan with pre-sale season tickets. They also utilize some of the popular players to promote the Rays experience. The most recent campaign is “baseball is beautiful”. Various versions of the TV spots are geared toward multiple target audiences. Print, billboards and radio support the campaign.

Media promotions: also integrated within the campaign to promote TV and radio spots. The idea is to cover all the bases and come at the target audience from all angles.

Street team: appear at hundreds of events per year. This includes large festivals, small community festivals, sponsor locations and more. The teams consist of college age employees knowledgeable about the Rays and comfortable speaking to fans of all ages. They have 3 vehicles, a boat, games and give-aways. They also have a parade float!

Question: What do you see happening with the new stadium? There are some people who are against it.

Answer: Tropicana field has been good for us. Some are against a new field, some are for it. We are staying out of the preliminary talks to a certain degree.  A group of community businesses are looking into options. We are taking a back seat and listening to our fans and once they have definative options, we are willing to talk about plans.

Question: When you were apologizing for past practices. Did you target audiences? What was the strategy?

Answer: it was easy…we had to rebuild the relationships with everyone! This included sponsors, season ticket holders, community players, politicians and even employees. The “Under Construction” campaign helped us buy the time we needed to get it right. We spent hours, hours and hours over years developing our strategy.

Question: You have a large staff. How much of this fabulous branding campaign was implemented internally or externally?

Answer: I inherited an agency from NY and they have been great. We have a candid open relationship so it is easy to work with them. They handle the collateral but most of the brand strategy and implementation is developed internally.

Question: Why add concerts to your offering? What was the strategy behind it?

Answer: If we had popular games on weekends (Yankees, Red Sox) we could make our season with just those attendance records. But if we had less local popular teams scheduled on the weekends we knew we had to have another incentive for weekend attendance. The concerts drew the crowds and the strategy has worked very well!

Question: How much longer should I hold on to my Devil Rays memorabilia to make it valuable on E-bay?

Answer: Most likely, a long time! Maybe 10-20 years. We would have to have a few more winning seasons.

Question: Since your target audience is families. How do you deal with some of the player behavior issues?

Answer: We had some issues with players in the past. We HAD! We now do the best that we can to ensure that our guys are the good guys. We get to know their parents and know their background before they join the team and we try to engrain our core values and beliefs in them while they are on the team. They know what we expect.

Question: After last season’s thrill are you concerned about how to keep this going?

Answer: It is really important to put a good product on the field. We are challenged because we are maxed out with payroll and we can’t compete with some of the other teams. We might lose some of the good players, but our biggest promise is that fans who show up at our field will have a good time.

Question: The street team is a great idea. What about green efforts reflected in your choice of vehicles (Hummer)?

Answer: We bought the vehicles before everything went green. Our Tahoe was donated and is a hybrid so we are heading in the right direction. We will continue to move toward greener, sustainability efforts.

Question: As a season ticket holder, I am interested in hearing what you see the new season holding? What about your new location?

Answer: I don’t think there will be a marketing campaign for the new ballpark once it is established. Hopefully the politicians will work it out. You won’t see a lot of threats about us leaving town but you will see a new ballpark without a lot of hoopla.

About the speaker:

Tom Hoof joined the Rays in 2006 and has oversight over both marketing and community relations. He played a key role in coordinating the team’s launch of its new name, colors, logo and uniforms in 2007. He is also largely responsible for developing the team’s image and advertising campaigns. Armed with 10 years of experience at Walt Disney World Marketing as director for the top 20 markets including Florida, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Philadelphia and Atlanta.

As promised, here are the photos from Tuesday night’s Golden Image Awards gala.

Click here to see the entire photoset.

At last night’s Golden Image Awards gala, the FPRA 2008 Annual Conference Blog was honored with an Award of Distinction and a Judges’ Award.

In 2008, Chris Gent led a volunteer blog team — Suzanne Dameron, Kelly Donovan, Melissa Filipkowski, Amanda Forbes, Dr. Allen Moore, APR and Paul Ramey, APR – came together to produce the blog for the 70th FPRA Annual Conference. The blog enjoyed tremendous success, drawing 2,570 unique visitors during the 3-day conference that generated 8,810 page views. The blog also boasted 85 posted articles, 122 visitor comments, 515 photos and two hallway interview podcasts.

Thanks to FPRA Executive Committee and FPRA state office for supporting and encouraging this endeavor!