Deakin University PR student Melissa Wallace delves into the virtual online world SecondLife:

When presented with a challenge or a new experience I’m not one to shy away. That’s why when I and a few of my university friends were approached by our PR lecturers and Belinda Wong from Red Cross about establishing a Red Cross PR campaign on Second Life (see picture right), I jumped at the chance. Having never heard of this new social media before made for an interesting and unique assignment.

Lots of questions and issues arose from this experience. How can the PR industry benefit from the use of new social media? What are the positive and negative aspects of new social media? How can Second Life
and MySpace be used to reach a target audience?
The following podcast looks at the implications that Second Life has on the PR industry. I spoke to Jane McDaid, from Thinkhouse PR in Dublin, Ireland, about how she has found establishing her company on Second Life, as well as running it in real life. I also spoke with two PR lecturers from Deakin University with very different opinions on the use of Second Life as a PR tool.

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Technorati Tags: Second Life, Red Cross, Deakin, Thinkhouse PR, MySpace, public relations

Ross talks with two North American-based internal communication practitioners, David Murray and Ron Shewchuk.

David Murray is the Editor-in-Chief of Ragan’s Journal of Employee Communications. He says the role of employee communication practitioner has never been more difficult. After 15 years of downsizing, he says that practitioners are trying to come to grips with new social media.

“You used to have print, video and photography, now [employee communicators] are dealing with a situation where they are kind of running Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on a corporate communication budget,” David says.

“There are so many choices in terms of media, and there is so much new stuff to learn…ultimately I think it’s going to be a great thing because I think a lot of the new social media is going to help us to great things again, but in the short term it’s been a bit of a distraction – fighting with IT people and trying to learn the stuff ourselves. I think it’s a challenging time for practitioners all round.”

David disputes calls that practitioners aren’t embracing the technology quickly enough.

“I think practitioners are embracing technology as quickly as they can. Remember a communicators job is never done outside this steep learning curve – and there is so much to learn.”

Canadian Ron Shewchuk, ABC, is passionate about employee communication and the importance of more tradition media such as written publications.

Author of “Writing and Editing the Internal Publication”, Ron believes employee communication practitioners are the “heart and soul” of an organisation.

“As internal communicators, everything we say, everything we communicate is essentially defining our organisation and its culture,” Ron says.

“The tone that you set, the words that you use are all creating the culture in which you live and work.”

And communicating well is just plain good for business according to Ron.

“Companies that care about communicating, and engage, with employees do better at business…I think it’s something that gets forgotten a lot of the time. It gets put on the backburner, and there are a range of business issues that take precedence over effective communications, but I think in the long-term employees and businesses suffer because of it.”

To be an effective practitioner, you need a strong stomach, a good heart, and high pain threshold Ron jokes.

“I think that it’s one of the most satisfying and frustrating fields you can go into.

“When you do something really well in internal communication you can make a real measurable difference in the workplace…There is a certain magical quality about being able to connect people.”

Ron’s book “Writing and Editing the Internal Publication” is av ailable online.

His blog, “For your Approval” can be found at http://ronshewchuk.blogs.com/
More information about the Journal of Employee Communication can be found at Ragan.com.

Whilst you’re there, check out the new MyRagan.com site. It’s like MySpace for professional communicators. Well worth joining! It’s still in “beta” stage, but more than 2,000 communicators have jointed already, including me. It’s free, and a great resource for communicators.
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Technorati Tags: employee communication, internal communicaiton, IABC, Ragan, David Murray, Ron Shewchuk

Bronwyn is a year 12 student at Tintern Girls Grammar School in Ringwood, Victoria, and is writing an essay on “the potential benefits and problems of Podcasts in tertiary education”. She approached theMediaPod as part of her research into the topic and decided to podcast the interview as part of the experience (with permission from her parents and teachers).

It’s a great example of how to use technology creatively in education. Rather than just sharing information with just a one, or a small number of people, podcasting research and school work (with permission of course) allows a greater number from around the world to access the information. It also adds a new dimension to study. Rather than just writing about podcasting, using the technology, Bronwyn has actually produced a podcast, and had some fun along the way. Ross and Bronwyn hope you enjoy this special episode.

If you’re an educator or student who has had a similar experience, why not leave us a comment? We’d love to hear from you.

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Technorati Tags: public relations, education, podcasting, Tintern

Joanna Stevens (pictured) is the Managing Director and Founder of Premier PR in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

According to Premier PR’s website, Joanna “established Premier Public Relations in August 2002 after recognising a
need for a specialist public relations firm that could meet the diverse
needs of rural and regional Victoria”.

PR is still a relatively new profession in regional areas, Joanna says.

“Many business are still trying to grasp what public relations can do for them,” she says.

“There’s also the perception out there that to get good quality PR you have to go to metropolitan areas. So we have the challenge of explaining to our clients that we’re not a regional-based PR firm that does national work, but a national organisation located in Ballarat.”

“We also need to explain to local business that we provide services that you can get in Melbourne, but we’re located next door,” Joanna said.

Also in this podcast I talk with Deakin Univeristy tutor and PR veteran Lee Palmer about the importance of good communication skills.

According to Lee, PR is a tool of management, and communication is a tool of public relations.

As a PR educator, Lee says her goal is for students to take away from university an “ability to express themselves to a wide variety of audiences”.

Show notes

1:20 Joanna Stevens, Managing Director, Premier PR, Ballarat.
5:30 Lee Palmer, PR Tutor, Deakin University, Geelong.

[audio:http://themediapod.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/tmp5March07.mp3]

Technorati Tags: PR, public relations, communication, writing, Ballarat, university

According to Rick Bayne, Editor of the Warrnambool Standard, regional newspapers have a much greater connection with local communities than their metropolitan counterparts.

“Here (in Warrnambool)…everyone knows where I work, so if they want to say something about a story, they let me know about it,” Rick says.

“You have to be responsive to local people, and you have to know what boundaries to set.”

At the Murray Valley Standard, Editor Travis Simmons says that responsiveness to local communities extends into recruiting new from the local area.

“Where possible we try to source journalists locally,” Travis says.

We give locals the opportunity to develop a career at the local newspaper, becuase that local focus is very important to what we do”.

I then travel to Canberra to talk with the CSIRO about the Total Wellbeing Diet book. Sales have exceeded all expectations, but were they ready for the criticism from some quaters?

Finally I talk with Laura Stewart about some volunteer opportunities for Deakin PR students. The Geelong campus’s DRT is looking for some PR help – it’s a great way for one, or a small number of students, to get some practical PR experience before they graduate.

And congratulations to 2006 graduate Cara Ash on being appointed Geelong Football Club’s new Marketing Assistant. It was a hotly contested role, and a credit to Cara who was a fantastic student, and I’m sure will be a great asset to the Cats. Go Cats! Check out Cara’s 2006 podcast with Dave Hughes at NOVA FM.

Show notes

1:23 Regional Newspapers

1:59 Rick Bayne, Editor, Warrnambool Standard

16:15 Travis Simmons, Editor, Murray Valley Standard

28:00 Marilyn Chalkley, Manager Media Liaison, CSIRO

34:30 Laura Stewart, Communications Officer, FRH Group

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theMediaPod 26 February 2007

Elizabeth Ann was meant to speak at Frocomm’s excellent PR for a Cause conference in Sydney late last year, but was too unwell to attend. Delegates were disappointed, so she agreed to chat with Ross on theMediaPod.

Also in this program, Ross talks with Belinda Wong, the Australian Red Cross’s Fundraising Officer for the South-West Region of Victoria.

Please note: My airfare and some incidental costs associated with travel for the MCA interview were paid by Frocomm Australia. Frocomm facilitated the interview to allow delegates to the PR for a Cause conference to hear from Elizabeth Ann.
Show notes

0:00 Introduction from Sydney Airport
1:15 Interview with Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, MCA.
22:07 Interview with Belinda Wong, Australian Red Cross.

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theMediaPod 19 February 2007

We also talk Crisis Communication with the Corporate Communications Manager for Australia’s Civil Aviation and Safety Authority, Peter Gibson.

What do stage coaches, telegraphs and company identity have to do with employee communication? Listen to this episode of theMediaPod with Brad Bellaver and find out.

A North American employee communications specialist Brad describes himself as having an “accidental career” in IT, and didn’t start in the communication business right out of college. He is currently head of internal communications at financial services company Wells Fargo. For the past seven years he’s been in an internal communications functions thanks to the intranet allowing him to bridge from IT to communications.

He describes his work as “helping people in their cubes connect the dots between the organisation and their work”.

Whilst heavily involved in work on the intranet, he describes his current work as sometimes media-based, sometimes not.

Brad has some great insights into employee communications, especially in relation to intranets.

“A big challenge in large organisations is when you have large (intranet) systems – how do you make it simple so that people can find what they’re looking for. That’s the secret sauce for my organisation at the moment – trying find out how to do that effectively,” Brad said.

This is a great conversation between Lee Hopkins and Brad Bellaver. I hope you enjoy it.

Show notes

0:00 Introduction

1:12 Vox Pops & commentary on podcasts

5:07 Interview with Peter Gibson, Corporate Comms Mgr, CASA

11.30 Volunteer opportunities for PR students (for more information see DMG World Media’s website, or contact Ross Monaghan.
18:19 Lee Hopkins talk with Wells Fargo’s Brad Bellaver

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theMediaPod 12 February 2007

The changes don’t only need to be taken into account by practitioners working with an external audience, according David. Employee Communication practitioners also need to heed the change.

“Gone are the days when the media paid little attention to what happened inside the corporate world,” David said.

“Generally (in the past) the media thrived on a diet of crime and politics, but business was always left to the back of the paper. But more and more, the business world is now under scrutiny from the media.

“You can have a major development happening within a company, but unless you get your internal communication right, you could wake up with the problem of your staff are reading about major developments in their company in the morning newspaper rather than hearing it first from managers within their own company,” David said.

David also points out that the world is becoming ever more complex, so making sure employees understand company direction is absolutely vital.

This is a great conversation from a very experience practitioner. Students, and practitioners alike will benefit from David’s insights. I hope you enjoy this podcast from Lee Hopkins and David Jones.

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Lee Hopkins talks with David Jones

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theMediaPod interview with Amy Gooen

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theMediaPod interview with Catriona Byrne