As I sat and watched the events of September 11, 2001 unfold, I, like most of the nation, struggled to wrap my mind around the gravity of the day. This day, as December 7 had been 50 years earlier, would be a day that marked change, and would define a generation.
Of course we all have our stories of that day. Some, more painful than others. But we will never forget where we were, and what we were doing as we heard the news.
For PR, this day, and the days that followed, gave us a tremendous example of how to handle crisis communication.
As a city, and a country, awaited information on loved ones that had been in the towers, the mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani, was faced with the task of disseminating that information.
One thing that is important during crisis communication is to have one spokesperson for the situation. Giuliani took on that role. He was simple, poised and definitive, and helped to calm a city that was looking for answers.
As good information became available, it was quickly delivered to the press. This is vital during a crisis. Not only does the information need to be delivered quickly, but make sure that the information is credible before reporting it. In the days following 9/11 there was wide spread speculation on the number of dead. I remember hearing the number 10,000 dead being tossed around on T.V. shows. But Gulianni only gave the number of confirmed missing, until there was an official death toll.
The key to effective crisis communication is to remain calm in the situation. That morning, no one could have anticipated how the day was going to unfold. But the staff of the mayor of New York City, stepped up to the challenge at hand, and did the job that needed to be done.
Always have a plan in place for any crisis that might arise. Delegate responsibilities, and practice some of the situations.
We, along with the world around us, changed that day five years ago. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lost a loved one that day.
This past weekend as most of us celebrated our mother’s with cards, flowers and gifts, there was a 13-year-old girl who had given her mother a different kind of gift two weeks earlier.
Dakoda Dowd, a talented and accomplished junior golfer from Florida, competed in the LPGA Tour Ginn Clubs and Resorts Open, April 27th and 28th. Dowd was given a special sponsors exemption into the tournament by Bobby Ginn, president and CEO of Ginn Clubs and Resorts, when he learned of the family’s very special situation.
Kelly Jo Dowd, Dakoda’s mother, was diagnosed with breast cancer in the fall of 2002. She underwent double mastectomy and chemotherapy treatments and doctors thought the cancer was in remission. In the fall of 2005, doctors discovered she now had cancer in her bones and liver, and she was given a terminal diagnosis.
As the family struggled with medical bills, Dakoda decided that she was going to quit playing golf so she could spend time with her mother. However, Kelly Jo had a different idea; her dream was to see her daughter play on the LPGA Tour.
In-steps Ginn, who had heard of the Dowd family’s plight and gave Dakoda, who has won 185 junior tournaments, an exemption into his tournament, making her the youngest girl to ever compete on the LPGA Tour. Dakoda responded by shooting a two-over-par 74 in the first round, with a birdie on the first hole. She went on to shoot 82 the second day, missing the cut by eight strokes.
The tournament committee gave the Dowd family a replica tournament champion trophy in honor of her and her mother’s struggles.
From a PR standpoint, this was great for the tournament’s community relations and the publicity of the tournament, as this drew great media attention. It also brought attention to the Dowd’s fundraising efforts for Kelly Jo’s medical needs, and gave the LPGA a boost in the goodwill department.
But I share this story, not for the PR reasons, but for the human reasons. This is simply a wonderful tale of family and love. It’s a story about a situation that happens everyday in this country, as families struggle with cancer and other diseases. But it makes you feel good when a young girl can fulfill her mother’s greatest wish.
The inaugural meeting of the Atlanta Biz-Bloggers took place at The Grape and brought together a lively crowd of bloggers and a couple of soon-to-be bloggers (we hope). The evening was organized by the always entertaining Josh Hallet of Hyku fame and featured wining, dining, plenty of laughs, and conversation about PR and of course, blogs. I look forward to the next get-together and really enjoyed meeting Toby, Scott, Teresa, Carol, Abigail, Justin, Polly, Dave, Julie and Tim (who will soon be starting a construction blog). WAR EAGLE everybody!!
No doubt one of the biggest stories to hit the Atlanta area was the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing by Delta Airlines. Delta’s financial importance to the Atlanta market can’t be understated. The Georgia House even approved a bill that allowed Delta to not pay $28 million in taxes, to try to help the company get back on its feet.Delta has found itself in the unenviable position of trying to restructure its finances in bankruptcy court, expand its international routes, fight off a pending strike by its pilots union and, oh yeah, convince the public that it is still one of the best airlines in the world. This is certainly not a dull time to be working on Delta’s PR.So, how do you battle the negatives of the bankruptcy; the very public spectacle of the pilot union’s arbitration hearing; and still promote the airline as solid, sound and reliable?
(Originally posted at Forward)
The story of the sports world is
George Mason University’s run to the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament. Mason, an 11 seed, defeated 1 seed UCONN in what some are calling the greatest upset in NCAA Tournament history. The Patriots have become the darlings of the sports media and the biggest Cinderella story in years. So how can the university capitalize on its basketball team’s “15 minutes†of fame?What does Mason need to do to utilize its new found notoriety to raise attendance, bring in new boosters and get out its message about the quality of its school? What type of campaign can it put together to reach out to potential students and draw them to Mason? Should it create commercials, put up billboards, take out ad space in the Washington Post, create a MySpace page, start a blog or use some other form of new media…? As always, these are just a few of the things that you
could think about.
I haven’t posted here in a long time. The Forward launch has been taking most of the time I usually reserve for Links. So, I’m going to re-post some of the things that I’ve written for Forward and see if the comments are different here. I always enjoy comparing and contrasting. 
Here are some links to those talking about Forward:
Everybody, this is Forward. Forward; everybody. Now that you’ve been introduced, let me tell you a little bit about Forward.
Forward is an online community for new PR professionals and students to converse, learn and grow from the insight provided by experienced professionals. Forward is a collaborative effort of a team of students, faculty and professionals from around the globe with varying levels and areas of expertise. Forward seeks to be THE place for young PR professionals and students to discover some of the necessary tools that they will use in their careers (we don’t pretend have everything, but we seek to be the best place to start).
I have been invited to be a principle contributor to the site and I’m very excited about the opportunity to contribute to the conversation that will be going on at Forward.
I encourage you to visit Forward and contact Erin Caldwell, the managing editor, to see how you can become part of the conversation at this exciting and fresh online community. We welcome comments, feedback and ideas. As Erin says, “Two heads are better than one, three are better than two, and so on.”
I’m excited to see what the future holds for Forward and for the careers that it will help “move Forward!”
Two artists that I have come across recently are Dana Parish and Shana Crooks; two wonderfully talented singers/songwriters, that are pretty dern cute too.
You need to check both of them out. Each has a page at Myspace Music (follow the links above) or their personal websites www.danaparish.com and www.shanacrooks.com
What I love about both of these artists is that they write with a passion that comes through in there music. And they both have dynamic and powerful voices. I can’t wait to turn on the radio and here them instead of Britney, Christina, the Pussy Cat Dolls, The Black-Eyed Peas (I really don’t like them)…the list goes on.
Full Disclosure: I am not compensated or affiliated with either one of these artist. I just like their music.
We’ve all known two types of people in our lives; ones who are seemingly good at everything (or a lot of things) and ones who are great at one or two things. Now that I’m in the professional world, I find myself asking, “Which one should I be.”
Most of my life I have made a diligent effort to be a well rounded person. I have many natural talents, so I tried to cultivate them all too some extent. I also felt the need to be well read on a variety of topics. This way I would always have something to contribute to a conversation or could present a cogent argument during a debate.
However, as I begin my professional career, I wonder to some extent, if this has been a detriment to me. Maybe if I had focused a little more in one area, but did a lot of things within that area, would my career be getting off to a faster start? I suppose it’s a moot point now, but as I’m always trying to better myself, I find these types of questions popping up.
Any thoughts or advice from my loyal Links readers?
