Being productive

With my courses all wrapped up nicely and the job searching beginning I thought I would be proactive. I am preparing a package that will be sent out to IABC (International Association of Business Communicators).

I have been to some events run by this association in the past and I feel like it would be a step in the right direction for me to join.

http://www.iabc.com/

Dreamweaver

I have been fooling around with Dreamweaver for school. One of my assignments was to produce an online resume, much like this blog but strictly to display my credentials. It is interesting because it gives me a general understanding of html and web design.

My website

To tweet or not to tweet.

Twitter is blogging at its simplest. Taking the popular status feature of Facebook and melding it with the phenomenon that is blogging, twitter is the best of both worlds.

Watch this short video to see how it works:



Twitter has become so popular because of the large amount of celebrities and companies that have adopted it as a tool for updating their fans. Everyone from Starbucks Coffee to President Barack Obama.

The beautiful thing about "tweeting" for business is that it takes so little effort to set up an account and maintain it, literally seconds to post. There is also the option of adding applications to the service to further streamline it, such as Tweetdeck.

Basically Tweetdeck allows a user to filter followers into categories such as "customers" and "other businesses."

I fully recommend that you start up a Twitter today, and if any companies need me to run it for them, feel free to contact me!


A few more links:

http://www.socialbrandindex.com/ A wiki of the growing number of brands using Twitter.

http://twitter.com The main site

http://twitter.com/BarackObama Barack Obama's twitter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter Twitter on Wikipedia

It is like a real job but with less work and I don't get paid

I know I haven't updated this in awhile but I have been really busy with my professional development. I am currently on my second last week of co-op with United Way Kitchener-Waterloo. During my time at the organization I have been involved in many great experiences, most of which have to do with online communications. Things like fixing United Way Canada's Wikipedia page - which was slated for deletion due to lack of sourcing and a poor writing style - have allowed me to leave a mark on the materials of one of Canada's largest charities.

I have also been working on a large campaign to get generation y (18-28 year olds) more aware of and involved with United Way. I am actually quite proud of the final product, it is definitely the hardest I have ever worked on a campaign and I think it shows.

I have made a good impression with the organization and they have asked me to volunteer in the office after my placement is over because they enjoy having my help. I don't think it will lead to a job as United Way is in a hiring freeze but it is definitely good experience and a worthwhile reference.

A great presenter

Before I say anything, watch this video.



Even if you don't agree with proposition 8 or don't care about the turmoil that is occurring in California, I dare you not to be swayed by Keith Olbermann. The man states he has no personal stake in this issue but the conviction and emotion in his voice is palpable. Though his delivery and views may be an act for ratings I believe him when he speaks.

I love public speaking and speech writing and consider myself quite good at it (not to be pompous) but I would be happy to have a percentage of the delivery and passion that Mr.Olbermann possesses.

Bias and the angry man

Keeping on the subject of influential movies, I have decided to talk to you about 12 Angry Men.



The movie which debuted in 1957 is about the deliberation of the jury for a capital murder case. The case involves an 18 year old Spanish-American who supposedly stabbed his father and murdered him. The case which originally seemed open and shut turns out to be more complicated though as one brave juror tries to convince the other 11 that when reasonable doubt is present, you must vote not guilty.

Besides being a truly interesting watch, this movie is great for analyzing persuasive elements. As the movie takes place entirely in the deliberation room of the court house it is nearly a hour of straight debate and persuasion. There is pretty much every type of argument present in this flick, emotional, logical, ones that use evidence and even some that are driven by pure bias and racism.



I urge you strongly to go out and rent this movie if not for a powerful performance by Henry Fonda than for an in-depth study of elements of persuasion that are useful for anyone in the communications field.

Michael Clayton

George Clooney starred in this movie as an attorney and fixer for a large American law firm. I am not usually a fan of Clooney, I find he plays the same role in every flick but depicting broken down Michael Clayton he really shines.

The central theme of the movie is business ethics, though as the scenes progress it becomes far more sinister as high level employees at a corporation do whatever it takes, including murder, to conceal the truth.

Michael's law firm is the representative of this corrupt corporation and he spends his time wrestling between his need to be loyal to his job and make money and his need to be an ethical man and father.

Though this movie is incredibly exaggerated for the sake of being entertaining it deals with some issues that can be very true to life, namely what to do if you feel your ethics are tested. In my program we deal a lot with ethics because as public relations professionals we could be torn between our need to protect our companies reputation and our need to be transparent and honest communicators.

As a small side note this movie is interesting because Tilda Swindon's character (She always seems to play villains) is shown preparing for media interviews in quite a few scenes which can be a stressful part of any communication job.

When it comes down to it this is a genuinely engaging film that I feel speaks loudly to those in public relations in particular. Check it out my friends.