Lambert, the Sanfords and Tiger, Tiger, Tiger: Our List of the 10 Top PR Nightmares of 2009

by Tony Shelton, Shelton and Caudle Communication Training and Crisis Counsel, a division of Vollmer Public Relations

Politicians and performers, wannabees and wackos made the news again in 2009.  There were even some strong and effective responses to communication crises this year.  Of course, that was before the news became “All Tiger, All the Time.”

Here are our picks for the Top 10 PR Nightmares of 2009 – from bad to worst:

• United Airlines breaks guitars: Wronged customer strikes back. Especially effective approach if you happen to be a talented guy with a following on YouTube.
  
  
• Adam Lambert on the AMAs: Not that we really care who kisses whom, but Lambert’s antics at the American Music Awards should have been preceded by a warning to send the kids off to bed before he started. Still, shocking performances (see Madonna and Britney, for example) have been known to help careers, as this one seems to have boosted Lambert’s.
  
  
• Gross-out Domino’s employees:  Props to Domino’s for jumping in and quickly jumping on this one with both feet.  As good a corporate response as we saw this year to a crisis that struck directly at essence of their business – the implied promise of wholesomeness of their product.
  
  
• Governor Sanford:  No one will ever think of “hiking in the Appalachians” the same way again.  On a positive note, Jenny Sanford, who allowed she was “apparently not” the Governor’s soul mate, showed some class.  At least until she announced her book deal.
  
  
• Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift:   Who knows if it was really staged?  It was an early Christmas to young Ms. Swift. Kanye, on the other hand, was even rebuked by the President. And, he didn’t help himself with his dippy, weepy interview with Jay Leno either.
  
  
• David Letterman’s affairs:  By telling his story in his own loopy way, he reeled us in and kept us from recoiling completely from the “creepy things” he said he was accused of doing with female members of his staff.   The few cries of outrage at the sexual harassment aspect of the story were soon forgotten. Good for Dave, bad for employee relations.
  
  
• Mammograms at 40, 50, when?   Did anybody get a clear recommendation anywhere in this mess?  The Today Show’s Ann Curry should have been ashamed of herself for letting Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius get away with her patronizing and content-free “clarification” on NBC.
  
  
• Secret Service and White House party crashers:   Not funny. If these airheads can get that close to the President, so could somebody whose goal was a little more sinister than getting on reality TV.  Secret Service heads should have rolled immediately.
  
  
• Michael Jackson's doctor:  Took control of his story by telling it on YouTube. We may not all be convinced of his innocence, but he told his story and told it his way.  However, the King of Pop is dead and Dr. Conrad Murray will forever be associated with it whether responsible or not.
  
  
• Tiger’s Tale of Woe:  Hiding never works. Whining either. He could have learned from Letterman about taking control of the story.  To Tiger’s minor credit: At least, his women friends were not subordinates at his workplace.

There was no shortage of choices for our list this year.  You likely have your own favorites. Let us hear from you - give us your favorite PR Nightmare of 2009 below!

One last note:  For the effective crisis communication response, a few basics remain true: We understand that “stuff happens” but, when it does, we want to see somebody step in and do what needs to be done to make it right.  Plus, if you’re famous and you get caught doing something you shouldn’t, you’d better take responsibility and apologize – and you’d better be quick about it.  

The Lingo Tango: 2009 Lexicon Gone Wild

by Helen Vollmer
Founder and CEO, Vollmer Public Relations

Sunday morning found me curled up with my cup of coffee and my New York Times (Dec. 20 edition) laughing out loud.  The article was about the buzzwords of 2009.  Some, like octomom, I expected to see.  But others, like aporkalypse (undue worry in response to swine flu, e.g., removing unnecessary kisses from a Mexican telenovela) provided glee and delight.

Others that particularly caught my eye were:

• Birther - a person who believes Obama wasn’t born in the U.S., so can’t be president
• Botax - a proposed levy on cosmetic procedures
•  Jeggings - jean leggings
• Green shoots - signs of an economic recovery

I love this stuff!  Because as much as those in our offices would tell you that I’m a stick in the mud for grammatical correctness and following appropriate journalistic style, language is meant to evolve and change to better describe what and how humans need to communicate.  Apes may groom each other and butterflies may migrate, but we change our words like we do our clothes to express ourselves.  And, that’s pretty cool!

Certainly, technology has advanced lexicon in new and different ways—from bytes to blogs to tweet-ups, many neologisms (new words) have emerged from how we find, gather and communicate information.  But technology, isn’t the only bearer of new language—think of snarky, staycation or locavore.  And this has been going on since man could talk.  Consider that Elizabethan semantic freewheeler, William Shakespeare, who brought the likes of excellent, lonely and leapfrog, among others, to everyday use.

My favorite of the year came to my attention from our 21 year old daughter. A fomo (the acronym for the fear of missing out) is a person who is constantly focusing just beyond the conversation she or he is currently having.

By the way, the American Dialect Society will select its Word of the Decade in January.  In fact, there’s still time to nominate a word by sending an email to Grant Barrett at woty@americandialect.org before January 7, 2010.

Creating new words and phrases to better express ourselves is just human nature.  The operative word here is “creating.”  We evolve, we change, and we want to give meaning to our lives.  As a species, our use of language truly distinguishes us.

As we enter the next decade, we need to keep up the good work in finding new expressions that provide clear meaning to our intentions.  And if we can’t, then perhaps aporkalypse will come to have a new meaning—the return to the use of Pig Latin when your cell phone dies, you can’t text, and you have to verbally communicate.

*You can follow Helen on Twitter @goofydooly or friend her on Facebook! 

Sometimes You Just Have to Laugh....

by Denisha Stevens
Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

Earlier this year we introduced a new Vollmer logo and design to reflect our company motto of Passion and Expertise in Action. So, in recent weeks we’ve been excited about developing a new website that incorporates these changes.  We planned on kicking off 2010 with a fresh website and fresh outlook for the new year!

One of our last steps required capturing photos of the Vollmer team in action.  I’m quite sure military maneuvers have been coordinated with less hassle than what went into planning this shoot.  We secured interesting locations and juggled schedules that were complicated by year-end projects, 2010 planning meetings and holiday events.  Then there were all of the little details to handle: When would we start?  What would we wear?  Where would we stand?  What would we eat for lunch?

In the end, the shoot was a success.  Everyone pulled together to squeeze an amazing amount of photography into one day.  One team member took on the role of prop master while another assisted with hair and makeup.  Others worked to keep us on schedule and fueled with plenty of coffee.  I was impressed with everyone’s contribution.  Most of all, I felt blessed to work with such a great group of talented and creative people.

Maybe it was all of that coffee, but I was almost giddy when we wrapped for the day.  I drove home smug with the thought that we had captured wonderful photos and moved a step closer to launching the new website at the beginning of the year.

Evidently the universe had other plans!

Soon after I got home and propped up my feet, I received an alarming phone call.  Our photographer and his assistant went to dinner immediately after the shoot.  While they were in the restaurant, someone broke into their car and stole their photography equipment as well as the laptop that contained all of our digital photos from the day’s shoot.

What a shock!  My feet were still recovering from standing up all day and now I was hearing that all of our efforts had been wasted.  I sat there for a few minutes staring into space.  Then, I burst out into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.  I laughed and laughed.  In fact, I laughed until tears came to my eyes.   I’m sure the colleague who called me thought I had lost my mind.

But, why not laugh?  Nobody was injured during the incident. The equipment can be replaced. The photo shoot can be rescheduled. The website will still launch in 2010, just not as early as we’d hoped. And most of all, I still work with an amazing group of people. No thief can take that away.

I invite you to check out the Vollmer website in the new year.  We hope to launch the new design sometime in January after we recreate those fabulous photos.

Until then, you just have to laugh!

Tiger’s Tale of Woe: Five Lessons from Woods’ Fall

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, the Communication Training & Crisis Counsel Division of Vollmer Public Relations

Good-bye, Gillette!  So long,  Accenture!  Adios, millions and millions in endorsement deals!

Why has the public, to say nothing of his sponsors, turned on Tiger Woods so viciously?  Because he betrayed that carefully honed, squeaky clean image and, of course, his wife?  Yes, but there’s more to it than that.

Quite simply, he botched his crisis communication.

Here are five things you can learn from Tiger’s experience:

• If it’s going to come out, anyway, you should be the one to make it known, your way.  The story of the low-impact run-in with the fire hydrant was possibly the weirdest traffic-related story since the slow-speed police chase of O.J. Simpson.  Everyone who heard it tried to make some sense of it. Certainly, after the first woman came forward, Tiger should have known the whole story would come out.
  
  
• Don’t wait.  The very day David Letterman was approached by his blackmailer, he delivered the first part of his story to his audience about the “creepy things” he was accused of doing with women on his staff.  Although he was criticized for not apologizing at that time, he did apologize later and his popularity took only a slight dip.
  
  
• No whining.   Tiger’s first statement was at least half gripe and mostly content-free.  Yes, we know.  Life’s not fair, your personal life should be your personal life, and the media will turn on you.  Blah, blah, blah.  All true, but that’s the life you’ve chosen and, along with the adulation and the millions, comes scrutiny.  Just buck up and deal with it.   Tell us what you’re going to tell us, leaving out the “ifs” and “buts.”
  
  
• Let us see you– at least once.  We’ve got to see and hear you in order for us to decide how to think about you from here on out. You could just put a statement on YouTube, like Michael Jackson’s doctor did, but it’s better to do it at a news conference. (Note: You don’t even have to take questions. You can just read your statement.)  And do not, under any circumstances, ask your wife to stand there while you admit what you’ve done.  Let us hope that Jenny Sanford has delivered us from any such cringe-worthy charades of that kind in the future.
  
  
• Once you admit it fully, STOP talking about it.  Tiger might have said something like: “I’ve done some terrible things.  I’ve been unfaithful to my wife, and we are now working on healing our marriage. I’ve had to admit to myself that I have a serious problem and I’ve entered counseling. I’m deeply, deeply sorry for all the pain I’ve caused. At some time in the future, I hope to be able to return to the game of golf. I truly don’t know what else to say and, for my family’s sake, this is the last time I will be talking about this.”

Curiously, now that Tiger has finally admitted his “infidelity” and said he is taking himself off the tour indefinitely, the jokes may stop, and he may even begin to get some sympathy.  Think of the child who misbehaves and then says:  “I’m just no good.  I’ll go out in the yard and eat worms.” Doesn’t Mommy sometimes say, “Yes, honey, what you did was wrong, but I know you can do better.”  Maybe now the public will begin to forgive and move on.  Besides, we need him.

Without Tiger, professional golf seems to just get lost in the woods.

Happy Holidays! Stand Up and Be Counted!

by Lori Martin, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

Most everybody knows the story about a young woman named Mary and her husband, Joseph, packing up and heading to Bethlehem.  But do you remember why they made the trip?

As ordered by Caesar Augustus, they had to be counted -- for what is now known as the census.
Census and Christmas don’t typically go hand in hand.  However, this year, on the cusp of the next decennial count, the word “census” is buzzing through the hallways at Vollmer Public Relations.  Vollmer recently was awarded a contract from the City of Houston to support its Houston Counts program for the 2010 U.S. Census.

In the 2000 Census, Houstonians were seriously undercounted.  This time around, we are working very aggressively to ensure that Houston gets its full fair share of funding based on this upcoming census. Federal funding allocations for education, social services, and transportation, among other things, depend on counting everyone, including our “hard to reach” residents.

Wherever you live, please make sure you’re part of the solution. The 2010 Census will arrive via mail at your home address in mid to late March. The census form must be submitted via mail to the U.S. Census Bureau on or before April 1.

Remember:

• It’s easy – It’s only 10 questions.
• It’s safe – Your answers are not shared with the IRS, with Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any other agency of the federal government.
• It’s important – Houston failed to receive around $234 million because of the undercounts of the 2000 Census, and many areas are still not receiving the benefits they would have received if the count had been accurate. (If you live outside Houston, your city may also have been undercounted.)

Here are 50 more reasons why it’s important.

So, join us on Facebook and encourage your friends, families and neighbors to be counted, by submitting their census form by April 1, 2010.

Pardon Me, Sir, How Do I Get to Carnegie Hall?

Vollmer's Houston receptionist Maria Cristina Yanez will be singing with the Houston Symphony Chorus when the Symphony performs The Planets on January 21, 23, and 24 in Jones Hall in Houston and at Carnegie Hall in New York on January 28.  The tour moves on to Boca Raton, Florida on January 30th and Miami on January 31st.  We are very proud of Maria and excited for her.  We asked her to give us a few more details....

by Maria Yanez, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

My chance to sing at Carnegie Hall began with an email I received from Dr. Charles Hausmann, director of the Houston Symphony Chorus. I sing with the chorus, and Dr. Hausmann was inviting me to be one of 24 women to sing in a recording session for a high- definition DVD.

 We would be performing The Planets,  Gustav Holst’s best-known orchestral suite. The women have an important and very difficult part in the final movement of The Planets.  For me, it would mean sustaining a high ”g” pianissimo (very softly) for 11 measures.  It requires outstanding musicianship and vocal skill, which apparently Dr. Hausmann thought I possessed, as indicated in his email.  My thoughts were, “Well, he is going to think he made a mistake when he hears me reading Twentieth Century music! “  I despise Twentieth Century music for one reason – it’s hard!  The key signature written is never what you end up singing. There are flats and sharps and naturals and intervals all over the place. Ugh! Nevertheless, I made it through rehearsals -- my eyeballs nearly jumping out of my head because of all the sharps and flats and naturals. I depended on my musicianship and skill to keep that “g” in tune and to count down to when I could stop! It seemed never ending!

Recently, in addition to taking part in the recording, I was chosen as one of  20 women from the chorus  to travel with the orchestra on tour.

This special world premiere event will debut in Houston’s Jones Hall in January.  The audience will experience a collaboration between the Houston Symphony and celebrated producer/director Duncan Copp, who assembled  state-of-the-art, high-definition images from NASA’s exploration of the solar system to accompany the work.  There will also be commentary in the HD film by the world’s leading planetary scientists.

The week after the Houston premiere,  the tour starts at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.  This venue has been host to the world’s greatest, including Luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Horowitz, Benny Goodman, the Beatles and even Winston Churchill.  What a thrill that I will get the chance to sing there! The tour finishes up in Boca Raton and Miami, Florida.

There will be many rehearsals before the tour, but that’s a very good thing, of course.  Because how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!

Fifty Nifty United States: Destination Marketing Meets Social Media

by Kim Tillinghast Vollmer Public Relations Austin

As the media sphere shifts increasingly toward online content, so do marketers nationwide – 50 of them in particular.  State tourism boards are increasingly present on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, developing tangible resources and encouraging two-way dialogue with consumers.  Granted, as governmental entities, state agencies must take caution when considering content and inviting a public conversation.  Despite these boundaries, however, states have tremendous opportunities at hand (or fingertips) to creatively reach new audiences.

The State of Michigan (@puremichigan) offers a solid example of viral destination marketing done thoroughly and effectively.  Michigan’s Twitter page visually represents the state, links back to the Web site, and consistently posts content multiple times a day to 2,700+ followers.  It also transparently indicates that “Michigan has hands, but @mwygnal [a travel marketing specialist] is tweeting.”  The state also has a Flickr page for mutual photo sharing and a dedicated YouTube channel featuring statewide landscapes and attractions. The state’s Facebook fan page consistently shares images, videos and trivia with more than 22,000 loyal, vocal fans.  To top it all off, Michigan’s official travel and tourism blog features special events, recipes, photo tours, interviews, guest bloggers, and media coverage.

Arizona Tourism has reached similar success with its presence on several social media sites, garnering upwards of 10,000 fans on Facebook and more than 6,000 Twitter followers (@ArizonaTourism).  Arizona also has a dedicated Flickr site featuring monthly photo contests,  and tourism officials  pay attention.  A New Jersey nature lover recently tweeted, “Any recommendations of what to do, where to stay and best way to get to the Grand Canyon? Planning a possible trip in December.”  Less than two hours later, Arizona Tourism responded, “Be prepared for cold weather and snow in Dec. See http://bit.ly/41vpEt for lots of info. @GrandCanyonRail is fun and they make planning easy!”  The user likely spotted the recommendation in her “Replies” section and was surprised and impressed by the prompt attention and resources.

Vollmer client Texas Tourism has recently joined the land of Twitter (@texastourism), sharing helpful tidbits, trivia and travel news from around the state.  The site gained followers in triple digits in its first two days and continues to build followers on a daily basis, from loyal Texans and ex-pats, to national convention and visitors bureaus and travel media.  Additional social media platforms are being considered for future roll-out.

These and other state tourism boards (such as New York State’s award-winning @i_love_ny), are smart to capitalize on this quickly expanding method–particularly with domestic travel on the rise in this economic climate.  By inserting themselves into an ongoing online conversation, they become transparent, tangible sources of information, lending a personality and a face (er., icon) to a destination.  And we think that’s pretty nifty!

What’s with the Facebook Changes??

by Mary Kate Smither Vollmer Dallas

I’m a big fan of the motto: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”  

So, when I first logged onto Facebook late last month and noticed the changes to my homepage, I’ll admit I was momentarily thrown. However, in the fast-moving world of agency public relations -- where my brain is constantly changing gears to help deliver effective counsel to our clients across multiple industries – and, as Vollmer’s social media practice leader, I’m also a fan of evolving with the times. That very often means finding the good in change and moving forward with it.

According to recent ComScore data, Facebook memberships continue to grow, as the site added 3.3. million unique users in September alone. If you’ve joined the world of status updates, sharing, commenting and “liking,” you, too, may have felt a momentary jolt when you logged in. You might be wondering what’s behind all of the changes when Facebook seemed to be working just fine.

For one thing, by creating a new News Feed view, Facebook says it is helping weed through the clutter and provide its members with recent content posted by friends, fan pages and groups that Facebook selects as most interesting and relevant to them. Facebook says it makes changes based on members’ questions and feedback, although there have already been questions about how Facebook filters the content and selects which friends’ updates and information to show a member.

For those interested in getting up-to-the-minute updates on all current content and activities posted about a member’s friends, fan pages and groups, Facebook also offers a Live News Feed tab, which users may select as their permanent home page feed. On both the News Feed and Live News Feed views, users can add (or deselect) whose activities they would like to view by selecting the Edit Options button located at the bottom of the News Feed homepage. You may select the number of friends to view in your news feed and show who it has designated as your “recommended” News Feed friends and fan pages, while allowing you to make changes to this list.

In many ways, Facebook has simply centralized content that was already available to users. News Feed content that had previously appeared in the Highlights right hand section of the page has now been moved to the main column, or central focus, of a user’s view. For those of us who don’t necessarily adapt instantly to change, it’s comforting to know that we’re not really losing any content, but instead simply viewing a different presentation of it -- while still ultimately staying in control of what we see.

How long the current version of the homepage will be around remains to be seen. We can only be certain that, at some point, it will change. In the meantime, it’s important to figure out how to best use these changes as a way of further promoting your brand. For answers to questions you may have about these changes or for more information on how to leverage Facebook to promote your brand, contact me at marykate@vollmerpr.com or 972.488.4790. Also, you can become a fan of Vollmer on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/vollmerpr.

Mad Men and Great Pumpkins

by Allen Caudle, Vollmer COO

This week another great season of Mad Men will come to an end. Having started my career with a major international ad agency, Ogilvy and Mather, in 1976, I watch this program from a different viewpoint than most. I experienced David Ogilvy coming for a visit to his Houston office. The experience was exactly, and I mean exactly, as was told earlier this season when the owners from London came for an inspection, er visit. I recognize all the Mad Men characters as people I worked with. I heard the stories told on this program not of legend but of what happened last weekend! I pulled the all nighters to get out a proposal that had to be rewritten because of a new great idea from the creative department. And yes, we imbibed in various creative stimulants. The writers have truly captured the heyday of advertising. Those days are long gone.

I heard a story last week that confirms advertising as we knew it is gone forever.

A friend of mine sat down last week with his wife and two year old son to watch the annual airing of Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin. They gathered on the couch in front of the TV as the program began. They viewed the first segment of the program and the parents were pleased to see it not only held the attention of their two year old but he was fully engaged in the program. The first commercial break came and Mom got up and went to the kitchen to make a snack, Dad and son remained on the couch. After about 30 seconds the two year old started to squirm and whine, stood up on the couch looking around. Dad assumed he just missed Mom. As she returned, the program came back on and the two year old settled back into enjoying the program. When the second commercial break came on the two year old began to scream and squirm reaching for the television remote control. This went on for more than three minutes while all the commercials aired. Charlie Brown returned and the child calmed down. The third commercial break brought a repeat of the clear displeasure. Soon the parents understood the problem. Their son had never watched commercial television before; he had always watched public television, DVDs or recorded television with his parent’s fast forwarding through the commercials. He believed that when the commercials came on they had changed the program on him and he wanted to see more of the show. This next generation of television viewers will not tolerate the commercial break.

Our household has come to a point that we rarely watch commercial television at the time of the program. If something we want to watch is about to come on, we’ll find something else to do for 20 minutes to give the program a head start so we can FF through the commercials and not lose continuity of the program. This next generation will never view commercial television the way it was originally designed.

The ripple effect of this phenomenon is massive. If viewers don’t watch the commercials the advertisers will stop buying the commercial time. If the advertiser dollars aren’t there commercial television can’t afford to produce programming. Without programming or revenues the networks are dead. And then there are the advertising agencies who I’m sure are scrambling to justify every advertising dollar spent with volumes of research that show people still watch good commercials. Maybe so, but the Great Pumpkin has appeared and the next generation of viewers will not be reached via traditional television.

What’s the answer?

Advertisers know they must communicate with their audience in new ways. The ad agencies will tell you traditional media can do what social media cannot: aggressively interject messages into people's lives in a socially acceptable way. Research conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation indicates that messages delivered by TV may, in fact, be the fastest and most cost-efficient means to jump-start productive conversations in the digital and real worlds.

Experts at the World Advertising Research Center have also studied what it takes to optimize engagement in a conversation economy. They recommend this media priority:

• Mainstream media.
• Open networks such as blogs and websites.
• Closed networks such as Facebook and MySpace.

The only fallacy in this theory is we don’t watch the commercials any longer.

Public relations firms will tell you the consumer no longer wants to be told what to buy as with advertisements of the Mad Men era. Now they want to learn more on their own, talk to others, listen to what actual users have to say.

We must engage with the consumer and involve them with the product or service as well as the company if we want them to buy from us.

I’m happy to say public relations counselors are firmly entrenched in the social media space developing strategies and tactics that meet the consumers need to feel engaged and involved in the purchase decision.

Both advertising and public relations are games best played on the edge. We are on exciting new frontiers with social media on the rise and mainstream media suffering a slow and painful death.

You’ll find me out on the edge looking for the next great opportunity. Right now that means crafting meaningful messages that are candid and personal. Because not since the door-to-door salesmen have consumers been more engaged in the conversation that makes the purchase decision.

Do I miss the good ole days of advertising? Let’s just say I’ll never forget the three martini lunch when we got approval to freeze a car in a block of ice and melt it in Death Valley to demonstrate the protection of Shell’s new motor oil Fire and Ice. And I will always think fondly of my round of golf with Arnold Palmer after a Pennzoil commercial shoot. There are more good times to come, what a great business I’m in.

Wii Did It! Bowled Over by Striking Success

The TexanPlus Wii Bowling Championships
by The Vollmer Public Relations Wii Bowling Team

Harris County senior citizens put their game faces on and trekked out to Reliant Center on October 1 for the world’s largest Wii Bowling Sports Tournament.

With “Wiimotes” in hand and an eye for friendly competition, more than 600 competitors bowled toward a Guinness World Record and captured the essence of healthy living.

In all, about 1200 attendees joined TexanPlus, Nifty after Fifty and more than 20 sponsors and exhibitors for the first citywide TexanPlus Wii Bowling Championship. Seniors received elite access to free health screenings, flu shots, healthy living lectures and door prizes, all of which focused their attention on the importance of living and aging well. A second tournament, in the Golden Triangle, attracted nearly 100 senior competitors and 400 other attendees, who bowled and Bingo’ed at Ford Park in Beaumont on October 8.

The record-setting events emphasized the importance of activity and aging and provided access to exciting and innovative ways to get and keep seniors moving, from swinging a Wiimote to testing out Nifty after Fifty equipment specially modified for seniors’ use.

With the help of exceptional clients and vendors, Vollmer staff kick-started the flow of some creative juices to develop this ground-breaking concept, generate awareness of current healthcare issues, and invest in relationship-building in order to garner support from local and national media. The group absolutely raised the bar on event-planning protocol to produce the two tournament successes in the span of just 45 days.

The reviews are in, and an annual affair is in high demand! Universal American anticipates doing this again next year and potentially expanding the program.

Some of the most exciting event coverage came from Headline News and Fit Nation on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

Additional coverage included the front page of Yahoo! News, NPR, USA Today, and live shots and reports from a number of local broadcast stations and newspapers. The stories reached an estimated 13 million people and generated more than one million dollars worth of publicity.

Wherever You Roam, Take the Keys to Great Client Relationships

Joel Frey, Public Relations Manager, Travelocity
Vollmer Public Relations Client and Guest Blogger

Dallas. Houston. El Paso. San Francisco. Indianapolis. New York. No, this isn’t the latest wayward itinerary of our beloved Roaming Gnome. Rather, this is a list of cities where any given member of the Travelocity/Vollmer PR team will be working on a typical business day.

“So how does that work?” you might be thinking. “Surely, they can’t get much accomplished with their team so spread out.”

As someone who has worked on both sides of this equation – three years as a VPR account exec and six as PR manager at Travelocity – I can say, confidently, that it has worked and continues to work well. In fact, the Travelocity/VPR relationship has been going strong now for 14 years, dating back to a time when our brand was little more than a half-baked idea being thrown around the marketing department of our parent company, Sabre Holdings.

So how has our relationship with VPR weathered all of the peaks and valleys of the last 14 years? Undoubtedly, executing award-winning campaigns revolving solely around a lawn ornament and having the flexibility to schedule conference calls with team members spread across all four time zones are major factors. But, from my perspective, there are four bigger reasons why we have kept our relationship intact with VPR since 1995.

Candor -- Several years ago at one of our annual “eyeball” meetings, it was late in the day and we were all getting tired of each other. The conversation was lacking direction, the ideas were falling flat and after a while Helen made her feelings known. “This is bull****, guys!” she blurted out. We were stunned and not sure what to make of her outburst, but looking back on it today, I realize that there probably aren’t too many agency heads who would have the guts to say this to their largest client.

Patience -- This one works both ways. There are times when VPR has had to explain to us that a pitch might not quite be ready for primetime or that it wasn’t that good to begin with and we need to go back to the drawing board. Conversely, we’ve required patience from VPR when a hot product launch that has been in the works for months gets delayed or an executive we had lined up for a series of interviews had to back out at the last minute.

Fun -- As our team has become more spread out, the eyeball meetings have become part business meeting/part family reunion. We recently converged upon Dallas for a day of planning, brainstorming and, well, drinking. The dress code was Hawaiian. I was timekeeper and scheduled the meeting to end promptly at 4:00 to give everyone enough time to visit and catch up over a couple of cocktails before parting ways.

Trust -- I’ll close with what, in my humble opinion, is the most important element of building a long term relationship. For us it means that every day, regardless of the circumstances, when any one of us needs an extra hand, we all know that someone will be there to back us up.

It’s hard to place a value on such peace of mind.

Visit www.joelfrey.com for more information on Joel and his book "Two Sides of a Cypress Wall: The True Story of a Reluctant College Graduate."

Everybody Tweetup!

by Mary Kate Smither
Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

So you’ve built your following, and find yourself tweeting and retweeting more than you ever believed possible. Now you’re wondering: What’s next? How do I take the great following I’ve built and leverage it to create even more brand awareness?

The answer’s simple: a Tweetup. It can offer the same benefits as a more traditional event, yet it specifically targets audiences who participate in and follow you on Twitter. It allows you to create an event around a product, brand launch, non-profit cause, public awareness campaign or virtually any other piece of your business you’d like to promote by gathering people together and allowing them to interact with each other, both in person and virtually.

Recently, Vollmer helped develop the first-ever, progressive Tweetup for leading Scotch whisky, The Macallan, with our partners M. Booth & Associates. The event, held during a designated time at three different venues in Dallas, allowed invited Twitter influencers to tweet their experiences throughout the evening about the brand and each venue’s specialty, The Macallan cocktail. In addition, it allowed followers both nationally and internationally to participate virtually via Twitter. A select group of traditional media, as well as social media influencers, all of whom are active in participating on Twitter, were invited to attend, along with their guests.

Whether you want to invite a select number of Twitter users, such as key media you’re trying to engage, or want to open the event to all of your Twitter followers and their followers, too, creating a successful Tweetup can be easy. Just build the right buzz and make sure everyone is coordinated in the Twitter efforts. Following are a few tips and tricks for pulling off a winning Tweetup:

• Select the Venue(s) – Be sure to choose a venue that fits with the theme of your Tweetup. You may want to have your event at a public park, college campus, local restaurant or shopping area. Make sure to check on any necessary permits for holding the Tweetup in your chosen location.
• Choose Your Attendees – When selecting your attendees, think about the kinds of people you’d like to invite. Are they particularly interested in what you’re trying to promote? Are they traditional media or just considered great influencers on Twitter? Do they have a great following locally? These are just some of the things to consider; you may actually want a combination of various types of people.
• Prepping Your Tweeters – As part of the Tweetup experience, be sure to develop information cards about whatever you’re promoting. The goal of the event is to get participants tweeting about their experience as it relates to your brand, so you want to make sure they can easily access key facts about your brand, product, cause or whatever else you’d like them to tweet about. Additionally, it’s a good idea to provide some basic guidelines on how you’d like them to tweet (no profanity, tweet throughout the event, etc.) The goal is not to stifle people in their tweeting but instead to help give a little direction.

These are just some starting points. For more information on how to choose your attendees, get virtual participants or leverage your Tweetup for traditional media exposure, email me at mailto:marykate@vollmerpr.com,call, call me at 972.488.4790 or follow me on Twitter @mksmither. Let me know your thoughts and what you’d like to read more about in an upcoming Vollocity!

How to Ask for Money Nicely

by Mark Latour
Vollmer Public Relations Houston

The scene is a workhouse in 19th century Britain. The camera focuses in on a group of poor, hungry boys drawing lots. Oliver is the loser. He picks up his bowl, anxiously approaches Mr. Bumble, the parish beadle, and says: “Please sir, I want some more.”

Some people have no trouble asking for what is rightfully theirs, and others are timid to the point of their own detriment. You might believe that talking to your clients about money will cause a mild case of angina, but my goal is to help you overcome your fears so you can ask for what is rightfully yours.

In this article, we are going to discuss how to ask for money nicely.

You come to work every day to earn a paycheck, and you work hard for that money. If your employer failed to issue your paycheck, you probably wouldn’t have any trouble saying: “Excuse me, but I think you forgot something.” Asking your clients to pay their past-due invoices is exactly the same.

Fortunately, I work for a great company that provides an extraordinarily high-quality product to its clients. When an invoice isn’t paid on time, I don’t have any hesitation in asking that our company be paid for its efforts. I’m sure you feel the same way. If you are the person at your firm who has that personal relationship with the client, then it may be your job to help make sure your firm’s invoices are paid in a timely manner.

Because most of our clients enjoy excellent reputations and have the highest level of integrity, the people I generally talk to are respectful and professional. They want to honor their contracts, and I try to make these conversations as painless as possible. In most situations, it can be distilled down to a few quick questions:

1. “Have you received our invoice for the month of (fill in the blank)?” It seems so simple, but clients cannot pay invoices they have never received. In my experience, most past-due accounts are the result of an invoice that went missing, so don’t be afraid to ask. After all, some invoices really do get lost in the mail, some wind up on the wrong person’s desk, and a few get buried under a stack of other things in a person’s inbox. If your clients don’t have a copy of the invoice, fax or email them another copy. Then call back and confirm they have received it.

2. “Do you have any questions or concerns regarding your invoice?” Maybe your client needs more information in order to feel comfortable approving the payment. Now is the time to uncover any obstacle. Address their concerns immediately and get their agreement that they will approve your invoice for payment. (Remember that only “approvals” equal payments.)

3. “Will you do me a favor?” Because your client contact is your friend on the inside, he or she may be in a position to help expedite a past-due invoice. Don’t hesitate to ask. Let your contact know that the folks in your finance department are pressuring you because the invoice is more than 30 days old. Explain that you’d like to tell them when the payment should arrive, and you need your contact’s help in getting an answer. It’s a reasonable question – the same sort of question you’d ask if your paycheck were unexpectedly late.

This three-step process is quick, non-confrontational and professional. The questions are very specific, and they generally achieve excellent results. When it is time to ask for money on behalf of your company, don’t hesitate to say: “More, please.”

What I Learned from College Admissions

by Julia Weede
Vollmer Public Relations New York City

Recently Sue Schellenbarger, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, retook the SAT on a dare from her high-school aged son. She wrote about the eye-opening experience , and how it gave her a new appreciation for him and for the rigors that kids endure as they prepare for their next step in life (“I Took the SAT Again After 41 Years,” May 27, 2009). She said the stress instantly sent her “back into a tailspin of adolescent regression and procrastination.”

My first reaction? Not for a million bucks. Funny how the whole college application experience follows you for the rest of your life.

But it got me thinking. There is probably not an adult alive who would willingly relive that first college search. But there are some pretty great life and career lessons you can take from it even if you have left the halls of your alma mater.

I live in an education household. My husband is the “enrollment guy” at Butler University, and I spent years in college admissions. So I posed the question during a long car ride. If selecting the right college is such a big deal, what are some lasting truths you can learn from the whole process?

Here’s what we came up with:

• You can do this. Whether it is finding a college, getting a first mortgage, or launching a brand, you’re rarely the first to face an overwhelming process. Find someone who knows the path. Jump in and ask questions.
• Hard work matters. It shows.
• So does following your passion. Choosing a major, career or business opportunity based solely on money, or someone else’s expectations, usually backfires.
• Grammar matters. Texting friends is fun, but important decisions are made based on how well you communicate big ideas. Pay attention to the craft of communicating.
• Be open to opportunities. Focus is good, but don't walk past the road less traveled. You don’t have to go where everyone else is going. If you are open to unexpected options, you'll be surprised by life.
• Be nice. It matters and people notice.
• Fit is important. If you are facing a difficult choice and quality is comparable, go with the people you like.
• Don't let cost be the only deciding factor. You usually get what you pay for. Go for the best you can afford to give you what you need most.
• Give back. If you went to school on a scholarship, it’s probably because someone donated the money. When you can, throw the rope back to the next generation.
• Breathe. Even if you are afraid of making a decision, remember your future includes great things you can’t imagine and options that haven’t been invented yet.

So just do the very best you can today. It’ll all work out. Really!

Smelling Memories

By Helen Vollmer
CEO, Vollmer Public Relations

Over appetizers accompanied by a really good Manhattan with my husband a few days ago, we started talking about what brought us around to who we are at our core beings.  Strangely enough, we came around to how incredibly important the smells and their associated memories are in taking us back to a place that is forever etched in time.

For me, it’s the smells of incense, disinfectant and leftover No. 2 pencil shavings that every Catholic school in America still smells like.  Likewise, the smell of summer is that of melting asphalt on a hot Texas August day.  To this day, I can walk into any lighting shop and once again the perfume of burnt out filaments tells me that I am safe in my family’s electrical contracting shop.

On the other hand, my husband Allen immediately said it’s the smell of a first class cabin on an airplane where coffee is getting freshly brewed that reminds him of who he is and from where he’s come.  No surprise, as his father was one of the guys who negotiated TWA’s worldwide routes in its heydays— he’s the only 50 something I know who actually traveled around the world on an airplane in the ‘60s ( that’s another story).

A few years ago, we were representing a national Assisted Living chain and I commented on how wonderful it smelled inside the front door.  “We either bake chocolate chip cookies or pop corn every day on purpose,” my client said, “to invoke familiar, comforting smells of home.”  He went on to say that research shows that our sense of smell is the last sense to leave us.

Take a moment to conjure the smells that are intrinsically a big part of who you are. The trip down memory lane is worth the time.  You may surprise yourself at what surfaces as you get a better grip on what made an indelible impact along the way.

Gotta run—have to go bake some pineapple cookies . . . we always knew when mom had a good day if the bits of fruit combined with nutmeg were wafting through the house after school was out!

How to Introduce a Speaker

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle Communication Training &Crisis Counsel, a division of Vollmer Public Relations

Too many introductions run too long.

They recount faithfully the speaker's degrees, job history and seemingly every award she has won since second grade.  Rather than get the audience's attention and convince them that something good is coming their way, such introductions cause the audience to tune out.  That can give even the best speaker a handicap from the start.

An effective intro, on the other hand, gets our attention and whets our appetite for the speaker's words.  The best intro:

• Is less than two minutes long
• Gives just enough examples of credentials (2-3, no more) so audience members can decide the speaker probably knows what she or he is talking about
• Connects the speaker to the "introducer," to the occasion, the location and the audience members and organization in some meaningful way
• Includes a lighthearted reference to the speaker's humanity and passion for the subject matter.
• Say the person's name, initiate the applause and sit down.

Dayna Steele, a motivational business speaker (and occasional media trainer for Shelton & Caudle), has a good example of an intro she provides to meeting planners:

Our speaker is the author of Rock to The Top:  What I Learned About Success From The World’s Greatest Rock Stars.  She reigned for years as Houston’s First Lady of Radio, creating an army of fans known as Steeleworkers and her radio broadcasts have taken her to concerts and interviews with countless bands and rock stars around the world. She is also the creator of Smart Girls Rock and was named one of the “35 People Who Inspire Us” by Reader’s Digest.  Ladies and gentleman, please welcome Dayna Steele.

At that point, all the introducer should do is sit down and enjoy the show!

Capitalizing on a Brand

by Helen Vollmer, CEO Vollmer Public Relations

In Tuesday’s New York Times, writer Stuart Elliott notes that many of the big mealtime packaged foods companies that we all knew in the Mad Men days have made a branding comeback. Seems that the Kellogg’s, Kraft’s and Jif’s of the world are sustaining, and in some cases, increasing their advertising buys. All I can say is hooray!

As someone who cut their teeth working on brands like Coca-Cola, Kinney Shoes, Pentel Pens and Borden’s, the fact that Americans are going back to basics and actually spending time at home and cooking in their own kitchens is really pretty wonderful. Of course, the foodie in me felt gut punched on learning of Gourmet’s demise, so clearly all is not well in the land of Madison Avenue media spends.

With that said, as these brands come back to life and into the mainstream, who wants to bet that we’ll be seeing more of them via mobile phone promotions, YouTube, and at tailgate sampling events? Oh yes, and on blogs like this one that celebrate how PR initiatives have always been and continue to be a cornerstone of brand building. Anyone want a Swanson TV dinner topped with a Betty Crocker cupcake for dinner?

What has Your Association Done for You Lately?

by Christina Felton, Vollmer Public Relations Austin 

You may ask yourself: Why should I join a professional association? Are associations worth my time and the cost of the membership? The answer is yes. There are many benefits to joining and participating in associations specific to your occupation.

Many are surprised to find that the costs to join associations are minimal and are often combined with discounts on event registration, continuing education courses, complimentary newsletters on industry news and a multitude of networking opportunities. Most importantly, professional organizations are formed to unite and inform industry professionals who work in similar occupations about critical changes and updates to their specific areas of practice.

For instance, the heated healthcare debates have left many professionals feeling uncertain and concerned about potential changes to their occupations and, more specifically, to their industry licenses. With critical changes lurking around the corner for many practitioners, healthcare associations fight for the rights of professionals through education and legislative advocacy.  Two of our clients are great examples.

The Texas Podiatric Medical Association (TPMA) and Texas Speech-Language-Hearing Association (TSHA) are both committed to ensuring quality care is made available to the citizens of Texas. With more than 600 members, TPMA promotes the understanding and awareness of podiatrists and seeks to secure the enactment of fair laws for the practice of their members through regulatory and legislative processes. For many Texas podiatrists, TPMA has been an essential part of the growth of their practices.

Likewise, speech-language pathologists and audiologists who join TSHA benefit from the ability to maintain their Texas state license through continuing education opportunities.  TSHA members also can regularly monitor the issues that affect their jobs, licensure and reimbursements. For members, TSHA serves as a voice at the Texas Capitol, advocating to legislators to promote their professions and the consumer’s right to quality care.

Another key benefit to belonging to an association is networking with your peers at association meetings and social events. Aside from the opportunity to meet individuals who share a common interest, membership can also spark new connections within your industry.

For businesses and practitioners who rely on referrals and recommendations, an association membership can become a great source of new business, simply as the result of attending events or having a listing in membership directories. Many association directories are distributed outside the core network, further increasing business opportunities.

The bottom line is that professional organizations are worth the investment. Whether you are a small business just getting started or an established practice, a well-run association can provide the information, leadership and support necessary for greater personal and professional success.

Back to the Future or What I Learned in the PR Wars

by Helen Vollmer, CEO Vollmer Public Relations

The more things change, the more they stay the same.  Er . . . what I meant to say was, “Wow, the world of PR is completely different than when I started in this business.”

So, am I talking out of both sides of my mouth when I tell you that both of the above statements are absolutely true when it comes to my profession and the role it plays in the world around us?  Perhaps, but hear me out.

First, the way we operate in public relations is completely different than when I was a young whippersnapper starting out at Ruder Finn more than a few years ago.  With content now in the hands of the public as much as, if not more than, in the hands of traditional media, the rules of the game are changed forever.

We don’t talk so much about media outreach anymore as we do influencer outreach.  Our communication strategies are guided by an ever-expanding universe of individuals, associations, social media applications, policymakers and, yes, journalists who have the power to change the course of a discussion and impact outcomes in powerful ways.   Transparency has forced better, more consistent and more dynamic communications.  It also has given public relations and public affairs experts a seat at the C-level table, as captains of industry have realized that leadership is as much about communication as it is about knowledge of their business.

The world has become flat through technology; however, communicating to a host of important audiences via a myriad of distribution channels is extraordinarily complicated.  And, frankly, this makes the role of a public relations practitioner more important and relevant than ever before.  Public relations counselors must understand the nuances of a situation and be able to dig at a granular level, as well as offer views from above the storm clouds.  This is what good PR people have been trained to do:  address individual niche audiences and develop communications techniques for specifically addressing their needs.

This is where I started, literally, in this business.  Public relations is and always has been about developing means for communicating in meaningful ways targeted to make a difference in outcomes. Of course, what is meaningful today is different than it was 5, 10, 15 years ago.  Typewriters and liquid paper may have gone the way of the dinosaur, but surveys, sampling events, grassroots promotions and brokering meetings with people who can help your cause are all still effective PR cornerstones.  The means for reaching people via these techniques has evolved, but what tugs at the human heart for a change in perception or a purchasing decision comes from an old-fashioned understanding of what’s important to whom.  And communicating effectively, whether it’s via Twitter, the editorial page or on stage at a trade show, is all about the audience, not the sender of the message.  Some things never change.

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow? The Future of Sites Such as Facebook and Twitter

by Mary Kate Smither, Vollmer Public Relations Dallas

Each day, I log on to my computer and seem to discover that another social media site has launched.  Along with questions about what the site offers, whether I should join and how I’ll find the time to manage my account, I’ve also started to wonder about the business side of the ever-growing universe of social media.  How can all of these sites possibly sustain themselves, become profitable and ultimately grow?

This caught my attention again recently when I read in the Los Angeles Times that Facebook had become profitable ahead of its original predicted date of 2010.  With the addition of 150 million users, for a total of 300 million users in less than nine months, there’s no doubt that Facebook has seen astronomical growth and success.

But how did Facebook do it, and how will other sites like Twitter follow to achieve equal, or even greater, long-term success?  According to a recent article in Advertising Age, keys to Facebook’s success are: its continued user growth, with a fastest-growing demographic of users 35 and up; its low overhead, with a total of 1,000 staff members, or one engineer for every million users; and its strong advertising partnerships with companies such as Microsoft.  Facebook also continues to work on developing its own advertising model to achieve greater benefits from brands wanting to use the site as a vehicle for engaging consumers and other businesses.

Meanwhile, it appears that Twitter is taking a stronger look at advertising as its road to profitability, as well.  As has been noted in recent reports, Twitter’s changes to its terms of service have paved the way for advertising and possible future revenue.  As founder Biz Stone stated in a recent blog post, Twitter is interested in keeping its options open.  Other reports relay that Twitter may begin working with verified corporate accounts as a way to begin driving revenue, with The Wall Street Journal citing companies like Dell and Starbucks and their already popular tweets that help further their brands and build business. It will be interesting to see how sites like Twitter can learn from the current success of Facebook and build their own winning models.

In the meantime, we can all breathe a deep sigh of relief as our Facebook addictions remain alive and well. Friending, sharing, becoming fans of our favorite brands and causes are all still possible--at least for now.

The Most Important Partner Relationships

by Micah Reeves, Vollmer Public Relations Houston

Earlier this month, I was asked to write an article about our partner relationship with Microsoft. While that is a great topic, I find it difficult to write about it right now. While a relationship with Microsoft is important, it is not the most important to me at this time.

My relationship with my employer, Vollmer Public Relations, is having a much larger impact on my life at this time. You see, my father is undergoing surgery to replace part of his hip, which he broke a couple of weeks ago when he fell. Looking back over the past few years, it seems I have spent quite a bit of time in hospitals with various family members. I have had the joy of seeing my son’s first moments and the disappointments of cancer, stroke, food poisoning, and malpractice from treatment in a foreign country. Through everything that has happened, I have seen compassion from many people - especially the people I work with at Vollmer.

These days, it seems like most companies are mainly focused on the bottom line and forget how that line gets driven. People are the cogs that make businesses run and are essential to success, regardless of what a company is doing. The most valuable commodity for most companies is their employees. Even with this simple truth, many companies forget that people are human and have issues that affect their lives and work.

I believe that a direct correlation can be drawn between the productivity of an individual employee and the way that employee is treated by his or her employer. If a company supports its employees through their personal challenges in life, the company will receive more from the relationships with them. I am grateful to work for a company that recognizes this.

Working for Vollmer over the past nine years has shown me many things, and top amongst them is that we are a family. I have never worked for another company where the leadership of the company truly cared about their employees’ personal lives. Vollmer’s leaders commit to their employees, not only on the professional side, but on the personal side of their lives, as well. I don't know what the future holds for me, but I do know that I have a family at Vollmer, one I can count on for support. That is very comforting to know at times like these.

My father just came out of surgery and is doing great. It turns out that the fracture was caused by a tumor from the bone cancer. To everyone at Vollmer, I want to say “thank you” for everything you have done for me and my family through all of this. I couldn’t imagine working with a better group of people.

Reputation CPR

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, the Communication Training &  Crisis Counsel Division of Vollmer Public Relations


CPR and crisis communication have the same goal – survival.

A while back, the American Heart Association updated its guidelines for CPR.   The old guidelines were good, but the new ones emphasize the need for harder and faster chest compression to increase victims’ chances of survival.

A crisis planning and training program can be thought of as the CPR of company survival.  An important part of that program has to do with communication. Companies that want to increase the chances their reputations will survive when the worst happens must know how to communicate even quicker than before.  Also,  they have to know how people are communicating today.

Here are four steps you can take now to make sure you’re not still looking for email addresses when the world is tweeting about the downfall of your organization:

• Do a Vulnerability Analysis - Where are your weaknesses, not just in the operation, but in your reputation?   What have your customers complained about?  What are the near-misses you’ve experienced lately?  Have your competitors faced any crises?  It’s great to learn from your own experience, but it’s smart to learn from the experiences of your peers, so you don’t have to experience them firsthand.
  
  
• Test Your Internal Communication - Have you smoothed out the communication between management, operations, legal and PR?  The need for speed has always been great, but these days you have minutes, not hours, before your story is being told by others. Make sure your communication won’t come to a halt because a member of the team retired three years ago and hasn’t been replaced on the contact list.
  
  
• Get to Know Social Media -  Whether or not your company “allows” employees to engage in social media, you need to know what’s being said about you. At least start monitoring a few sites, including Twitter, YouTube, Technorati and Facebook, and set up free Google Alerts to come to your inbox.   Use the search features.  You might even discover a small complaint and be able to address it before it becomes a crisis. (Note:  Even email is going out of style.)
  
  
• Update Your Communication Training – Make sure that your crisis-communication training includes a company-specific scenario with a social media component.    You can be sure that the next real-life crisis will.   After the training, use the outcome of the practice to find any holes in the communication chain.

The basics of crisis communication remain the same:  You need to get out there fast and show the world somebody in the organization is paying attention and doing something useful to address the crisis.

What’s new is that you no longer can control the news about your company.  The best you can do is be part of the conversation.  But that’s hugely important.

It can mean the difference between surviving and not surviving when your company’s reputation starts to “flatline” in the digital world.

Vollmer Video Series: Branding in this Economy

Vollmer Public Relations Dallas GM Denisha Stevens talks about the importance of branding in the current economy.

Vollmer Video Series: Pitching the National Media

Vollmer NYC GM Judy Haveson talks about successfully pitching the national media.

Wording of Letter Apparently Kills Deal to Buy Hospital

by Tony Shelton, Shelton & Caudle, a division of Vollmer PR

"My baby, she wrote me a letter.”   ...from The Letter by the Box Tops

These days, when your “Baby” is much more likely to text or tweet you than write, the nuances of letter writing can seem almost old-fashioned.

Everywhere, that is, except maybe in business. According to news reports today, the Harris County Hospital District backed out of a deal to buy a medical complex in southwest Houston from the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, and the decision was based largely on the tone and wording of a letter sent by Memorial Hermann.

According to the Houston Chronicle, some apparently offensive elements of the letter included: use of demands and deadlines, the use of boldface type and “at least one exclamation point.”

Whatever the real impact of this one letter, it does give us reason to reconsider some basics of approaching the business letter.

• First we need to ask: What objective do we want this letter to achieve? Move the other person to act? Put him on the defensive?
• If there’s a negotiation going on, also consider how other communications are progressing, including phone conversations and face-to-face meetings.
• Who is the specific recipient of the letter? What’s the personality of that person, as well as of the organization? Is he or she open to direct language or likely to react strongly to something that seems like a demand?
• What’s the tone? Can we use neutral words, such as “challenge” instead of “problem”? Such choices can help soften the tone, which might have come across as accusatory or derogatory. (It’s also generally a good idea to skip the boldface type, underlining and exclamation points – all of which can seem like “shouting” on the page.)
• What’s the likely reaction to the letter you’ve drafted? If possible, show it to someone who’s not intimately involved in the negotiation and get an opinion.
• Finally, ask: If we’ve got tough issues to hammer out, is it really better to put them into a letter or should we try to work them out face to face?

If you’re in doubt, involve a communication expert. Vollmer’s counselors often work with companies and organizations involved in negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, as well as crises of all types.

Remember that a letter lacks the emotion and nuances that color conversation. That’s why it’s even more important to carefully consider every word -- and every exclamation point, too, Baby!

When Kanye Takes the Mic From You

by Linda Edwards, Shelton & Caudle/ Vollmer Austin

From shoe throwing to town hall smack-downs to a Congressman heckling the President to Kanye West grabbing the microphone at the MTV Awards, public speaking requires ever more courage and grace. It used to be: Come to the podium if you care. Now it's: Come to the podium if you dare!

These days, more and more city governments, police departments, and even universities are turning to communication consultants to train staff to deal with hecklers and hostile people. Such instruction has always been a part of communication training, but now it has begun to play an even bigger role.

So what’s a public speaker to do? Here are a few tips for those planning to speak at a public meeting or other venue where heckling is a possibility:

• Know your topic well. What's the meanest question somebody could ask you about it? How would you respond to it?
• Acknowledge in advance that an interruption might happen, so you won't be rattled if it does.
• For a single outburst, just ignore it. Keep going.
• If the heckling continues, remember to breathe. Relax. You're still in control.
• Quickly zero in on the essence of the heckler's complaint or question. Is it cost, safety, accountability? Others may have a similar concern.
• Address the essence of the interruption - briefly.
• For example, you could restate the purpose of the meeting and the proper time and place for people to state their concerns. (If there will be time at the end for questions, say so.)
• Or try using phrasing like this, "I understand people have strong feelings about this issue. However, if we're ever going to find a solution, we've got to discuss it in a respectful way. All I ask of you right now is that you hear me out."
• Don't wait for a response. Immediately pick up where you left off.
• If the heckling continues, stay calm. Repeat the steps above.
• And most important?  Never invite Kanye West.

Sometimes humor can go a long way, such as when President Bush commented on the size of the shoes hurled at him during a news conference in Iraq. However, for most of us, attempts at humor amid tension can fall flat. (And, of course, you’ll want to resist the temptation to respond in kind.)

There's another basic thing each of us can do: Resolve to be civil and employ more self-control about what we say and how we say it, whether in a crowd, in person -- or on the internet. Emotional, snarky outbursts, like shoe throwing, rarely result in a useful exchange of ideas.

At least Rep. Wilson kept his shoes on.

Shelton & Caudle Crisis Counsel & Communication Training is a division of Vollmer Public Relations.