Writer’s block. Everyone has experienced the curse. You sit, idly staring at a computer screen with your fingers hovering over the keys hoping the words will magically pour themselves onto the page.
When this doesn’t happen, frustration sets in. Although, frustration doesn’t fully describe the feeling that every creative thought you possess has dried up like the water in an old river basin.
More often than not we need a quick fix for the block. We need to hammer out this project because there are five more things right behind it on the to-do list. So, how do we shake the block while still being conscious of our time?
Personally, when my mind goes blank, I like to remove myself from the situation with a 5 minute break in someone else’s office. A short, friendly chat usually loosens up my mind and allows me to re-focus.
Some other quick-fixes I have found include:
- Getting fresh air
- Changing your font or pen
- Working on another project
- Clearing your mind by writing all of your “to dos” onto a piece of paper
- Working backwards. Write the ending first
- Dancing (it’s silly and fun – a great way to lighten up)
- Going to a busy place to people watch
- Eating a snack
- Organizing your workspace. A clear desk means a clear mind
- Changing your scenery
The best way to fix writer’s block seems to vary from person to person. So, what is your personal cure to the curse?
- Kara Kelley
FPRA will be hosting its first student edition of ER for PR next Wednesday at out regular meeting time. FPRA members will be matched with FSU student organizations to provide the group with tips and ideas to solve their PR problems. This year’s clients will include Alternative Break Corps, Calvin’s Coffee House, Global Peace Exchange and the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association (MEISA).
During the meeting FPRA will use the “Six Thinking Hats” approach to ensure that each organization’s problems are solved in the most appropriate manner. The “Six Thinking Hats” approach was introduced to FPRA by FPRA Capital Chapter member, Heidi Otway. Heidi suggested Six Thinking Hats by Edward De Bono as a recommended reading during a previous FPRA meeting.
If you will be attending ER for PR here is an overview of the six hats to get you prepared:
White Hat (Data, Facts and Figures)
While wearing the white hat, discussion focus is on neutral facts and figures. Opinion may be introduced, but will become fact regardless of whether the opinion is accurate or not. Overall, the objective is to facilitate a deeper understanding of the breadth and depth of the relevant issue with the neutral statement of data on the table
Red Hat (Emotions)
The red hat discussion focus is on emotions. Emotions can be positive, negative or neutral. The objective is to lend credibility to “emotional” thinking, help feelings surface and free the participants from having to justify emotions, complex judgment or intuitive thoughts.
Green Hat (Ideas)
This hat facilitates “out-of-the-box” thinking. Participants are free to produce crazy ideas that may not be immediately relevant or feasible. The objective is to generate as many (and as varied) ideas as possible
Yellow Hat (Positivism)
The “be positive” hat. The focus is on “how-to-make-it-happen” rather than “how-this-may-not-work.” The objective is to be positive about “making-things-happen” and understand all the benefits of various ideas.
Black Hat (Critical Judgment)
This is the hat of caution. Participants can play the “devil’s advocate,” discuss worst-case scenarios and identify bottlenecks and weak links. The objective of this hat is to critically evaluate and judge issues and ideas, and converge on a specific problem or solution area.
Blue Hat (Control and Overview)
The blue hat controls the flow of the brainstorming session – what hat to wear, when and for how long. The blue hat is used to arbitrate and re-focus. The blue hat is also used to summarize and conclude.
See you Wednesday!
-Tiffany Rogers, FPRA Treasurer
FPRA Capital Chapter Spring 2010 Scholarship
The Capital Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association (FPRA) is accepting scholarship applications from Florida State University and Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College students interested in pursuing a career in public relations. All majors are eligible to apply. The FPRA Capital Chapter will award scholarships to selected applicants. Application, along with requirements and instructions for submission:
Spring 2010 Capital Chapter Student Scholarship Submission Requirements
Applications are due March 12, 2010.
Blog post by Becky Kuitems, FPRA Professional Liaison
WARNING: Sarcasm to follow.
So you join up on Twitter, because everyone talks about how “awesome” it is and you’d like some guidelines on exactly what to post. Never fear, I have some great tips for you. Follow them exactly and you’re on your way to becoming a social media expert.
1. Steal ideas
Take every interesting update you see and re-post without credit. Attribute no one and make yourself seem awesome. No one will ever know, right?
2. Tweet as you eat
Everyone should be privy to the details of your meal choices. This is actually really fascinating. Most of your followers just wait around to see what you eat, so they can then eat the same things.
3. Narrate your life
Constantly refer to yourself in only the third person. Nothing proves that you’re famous faster than pretending someone else is doing the tweeting for you.
4. Never.Stop.Tweeting
If you refrain from tweeting for even a minute, your followers may miss out on your news. Every moment of your life is news and your followers need to know about it. If you’re awake, then you should be tweeting.
5. Complain
The world needs to know how you’ve been wronged. Be sure to include explicatives and @reply celebrities asking for their advice on your life story.
—Okay, seriously. Twitter is about having a conversation. Being an egocentric tweeter is completely missing the point. If you find yourself tempted to do any of the above things, you may need some Tweethab.
-BK
I am sure everyone took notice of the Facebook statuses this past month that consisted of the user’s bra color. Apparently, this was a way to raise breast cancer awareness for the month of January. However, the initiative has been at the brunt of much critique as social media analyst and PR professionals claim it did not actually raise awareness about breast cancer at all. It certainly caused quite a bit of buzz in the Facebook world, however there was no call to action to encourage Facebook users who posted the colors to continue and find out more about the disease. This is a pitfall of many advertisers and PR professionals. It is always great to get people talking, but unless the user can tie the slogan/phrase (or in this case color) to a product or action steps, nothing has been accomplished by your advertising initiative.
Recently on FSU campus I noticed chalk writing and signs displaying the phrase “Ask Kayla.” I could not help but think of the “bra color status craze” and wonder if this enterprise is falling into the same trap. I Googled the phrase “Ask Kayla” along with “FSU” and only found hits linking me to other bloggers who were also confused about the random posts around campus. A girl overheard me expressing my puzzlement in a class and informed me it was a Dance Marathon initiative. Supposedly, DM committee members were wearing “I’m Kayla” shirts around campus. There is something to be said for the fact the buzz created and talking about the phrase did lead to me discovering the meaning behind it. However, when raising awareness or in DM’s goal of raising money and recruiting dancers, one must make sure and closely tie the advertisements to a call for action to generate results.
Read Newsweek’s blogger Kate Daily’s thoughts on the “bra color” status:
http://bit.ly/61tPQn
Learn more about Breast Cancer…make the initiative worth while:
http://bit.ly/2Lgih2
Check out FSU DM’s website to learn more about how you can help:
http://bit.ly/8mwTJ3
- EH
Get excited for the FPRA Holiday Party hosted by the FPRA Social Committee! This is a great opportunity to have some classy fun before finals and spend time with your friends in FPRA before we leave each other for a month!
The party is located at Mint 101 Restaurant Downtown Wednesday, December 2 from 7- 9 p.m. Appetizers will be served and don’t forget your cocktail attire! Look here for a description on cocktail attire: http://www.greatestlook.com/dresscode3.html
101 Restaurant is located at 215 W. College Ave. It is directly across the street from the Post Office and next door to Hometown Coffee. For more details on 101 Restaurant, please visit www.101mint.com. Here is a map of metered parking locations downtown: http://www.flsenate.gov/data/capitol_map/parking_map.pdf
Can’t wait to see you all there!
Public Relations: How to Piggyback Your Story Ideas onto Holidays |
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The Fourth of July. National Garden Week. Hanukkah. Veterans Day. Public Service Recognition Week. Thomas Edison’s Birthday. New Year’s Eve. Get Organized Week. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. Tie a story idea into one of the above—and hundreds more holidays and anniversaries—and chances are good that you will catch the attention of a reporter, editor or news director. That’s because the media are obliged to print and air stories on major holidays and anniversaries. Another reason is because on major holidays, and sometimes the days before and after, are “slow news days.” Offices, schools and government agencies Year after year, editors are looking for more than just the cliché stories, such as sending reporters to the local shopping mall to report on the day-after-Thanksgiving crowds. They’re looking for something more unusual—something their readers aren’t expecting. Here are ways to tie your story idea into well-known and lesser-known holidays and anniversaries and increase your chances for coverage.
Posted at 101PublicRelations.com EH |
are closed. People in a position to give official comments are difficult to find. So the media are looking for anybody who can give them a compelling story that ties into a holiday they must cover.The FPRA Social Committee has only just begun creating some really great events for all FPRA members this semester. In anticipation for what will be an amazing Christmas party, we have created two events that you can participate in.
The “Major Match” program is a great way to get to know your peers and receive invaluable one-on-one time with College of Communications students. Junior and senior “Major” students will be paired up with freshman, sophomore, transfer and simply interested “Majorees”. The possibilities are endless- talk to your Major about applying to the College of Communications, get advice about internship opportunities, talk about career goals or just become acquainted with people who will quite possibly be your peers and co-workers even after you graduate. We will have a meet and greet on Wednesday, Nov. 18th at 6 p.m. at Hometown Coffee House.
If you thought it couldn’t get any better, you were wrong. FPRA is going bowling at Crenshaw Lanes. It is only $1.50 for shoes and $1.75 per lane per hour to spend a great evening with your fellow FPRA members on Nov. 19. We are going to have dinner at Chili’s at 6 and begin our night of bowling at 8. Make sure you let us know as soon as possible if you are going to participate by emailing clm07g@fsu.edu. Make sure you let us know if you’re going to dinner as well so we can allow Chili’s a bit of warning before FPRA takes it over!
We all really look forward to these events and hope you will “Carpe Diem” and make the most of these great opportunities!
-FPRA Social Committee
The first trip of the year was a huge success. Minus a couple traffic problems both days were smooth sailing.
Wednesday night a group of 25 FPRA-ers were lucky enough to attend the Orlando Magic game. About half way through the game our group was welcomed on the jumbo-tron over the court and once the game ended we were invited onto the court for a post game photo with two of the Magic dancers. One of our members, Danielle Brydia, caught a t-shirt from the promotional team and another, Shelby Garriga, received a text from her friend that our group made it on to TV. It was a pretty exciting night.
Thursday morning the group woke up bright and early for a 9am meeting with Mason Moore from Fry Hammond Barr in our hotel. Fry Hammond Barr is a local public relations and advertising firm focusing mainly on healthcare, retail and nonprofit clients. Their 5 core competencies include media relations, community relations, crisis communication, social media and event planning. Mr. Moore was engaging and enthusiastic and he gave us a wide range of advice from dealing with clients to the changes in modern media to how to find a job in a tough market. His presentation proved to be a great way to start off an early morning.
- Great quote from the meeting: “I don’t claim to be an expert but I know enough to be dangerous”
Next, we were off to the Florida Hospital where their 5-man public relations team described how their office runs similar to a newsroom. Before meeting with Mrs. O’Lenick and her team, many of our students had never considered a field in healthcare PR but afterwards some found a strong interest in it. The team was kind enough to feed all 50 of us a delicious lunch and we engaged in an almost 2 hour question and answer session. The discussion was going so well, we were forced to cut off someone mid-question because we had run over our allotted time.
- Some great advice the team gave us: Be flexible, learn about your beat, network within the organization, network with reporters and always try new techniques.
Darden Restaurants was our third meeting of the day and we were honored to not only visit with a fortune 500 company worth $7.2 billion but to see their brand new ½ million square foot facility. The sprawling campus includes a gym, wellness center, Wachovia bank and dry cleaner. Our hosts explained the background of Darden and the structure of their communications teams.
- Fun fact from the meeting: Darden is the 29th largest employer in America and believe a satisfied staff is of the upmost importance for a successful company.
To wrap up Thursday, the group headed over to the Orlando Magic RDV Sportsplex facility. We met with Joel Glass, Vice President of Communications and he was more than happy to field all of the questions we had about sports public relations, rogue athletes and crisis communication. Mr. Glass even presented a case study of their most recent crisis situation and how they successful answered the media’s tough questions.
Friday morning we all got a little bit later start because our meeting with Universal Studios was not until 10 am. We met with a fellow Florida State public relations program graduate who was also active in FPRA while at FSU, Alyson Lundell. Alyson and her colleague showed us how they use creative tactics to keep the tourism media interested in their messages. She also gave us a sneak peak of the brand new land at Islands of Adventure, “The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.” After she answered all of our questions, they took us out into the park to ride Spider-Man and the Hulk.
- A perk with the job: When the Universal staffers are having a tough day or need a break, they head into the park and jump on a ride.
After Universal the trip was over and everyone went shopping, met up with friends or headed home to Tallahassee. It was a wonderful experience and we learned a lot from the professionals we met with.
- Kara Kelley
