Don’t Taze Me Bro: Part 1

The unintentionally public tazering at The University of Florida rippled around the world in a YouTube instant. It’s an interesting incident for PR folks.

First, I saw at least four versions. This reinforces the fact that at any given public event there will be many cameras. If something happens on your campus at an event, you will be almost guaranteed YouTube coverage whether you want it or not.

Second, this incident was the perfect storm for publicity. First you have a former presidential candidate speaking. You have an excitable student, Andrew Meyer, asking provocative but rambling questions. You have police confrontation and struggle and finally you have a really memorable plea, “Don’t Taze Me Bro,” interspersed by screams as they tazer him.

Third, it is great drama.

It created a massive surge of communication on the Web, generating, at last count, more than 360 videos on YouTube, ranging from rambling eye-witness accounts mixed with opinions, (he was a douche. . .it was really gay of the police to grab him. . . ) to humorous takeoffs and video mixes.

I also noticed a blogger complaining that he went to register Don’t Taze Me Bro and it was already taken. And then I found the guy who did successfully register it and now has a full line of Don’t Taze Me Bro merchandise. (I hate to link and thereby support the guy, but this in the interest of studying all angles). So when you have a situation like you get:

-people ready to comment on it on video and in blogs;

-people ready to stir it up even further to bolster their own agenda;

-people ready to satirize it; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDTkTAo_l2g&mode=related&search=

-experts ready to analyze it;

-entrepreneurs ready to monetize it.

If it happens to you, are you ready?

Comments, please.

Webinar Series on Podcasting

Karine Joly recently  asked me if I would do a webinar on Creating Engaging Podcasts. 

I said yes.
Then I realized I didn’t know what a webinar is.
So I signed up for one of collegewebeditor’s webinars and was pleasantly surprised.  Karine has done a great job organizing the structure behind the scenes.  The presenters were good and I  came away knowing more about using video in recruiting than I did before.  And I’m now in with the masses who do know what a webinar is. 

 I’ve spoken to some colleagues who were in the same boat I was, so here’s a poor man’s explanation:  

A webinar is a live presentation with power point in which you can also play audio and video.  There’s a question and answer period after the presentation. The big selling point here is the price, $150 for three one-hour presentations and your staff or others can join you.  $150.  No travel.  No motels, stale bagels and tepid coffee.  You don’t have to politely applaud afterwards because the presenter can’t hear you anyway.
I’ll be doing the presentation November 7 at 1 p.m. 
I’ll be between Micah Ovadia, Digital Designer at the University of Cincinnati who will present Podcasting 101: How to record and produce your podcasts with ease November 6 at 1p.m.  and Ken Ronkowitz, Web Manager at NJIT, who will present To be or not to be an iTunes U(niversity)? Get the scoop from an insider November 8, at 1 p.m.

Like any presentation, preparation forced me to organize and explain things that I’ve taken for granted.  I’ve been doing podcasting for two years and audio production for about 15 years (yes!  I remember the days of tape!) so a lot of things like interview techniques and the art of using a microphone, I don’t really think much about.

More on that in a future post. 

If you’ve been thinking about jumping into podcasting – and it should be part of your marketing mix—click here.

Webinars.  What’ll they think of next?

Students: Broadband, Not Books

I recently had a brief conversation with a senior administrator I respect a lot.  He cares deeply about the university and the students.  He’d just came out of a cabinet meeting which was dominated by a discussion about how our students want more broadband.  “They’re upset about not having enough,” he said. “They’re really upset.  It’s going to cost a lot to give them what they want.”
“They need it to download music, movies and do gaming,” I said.
He nodded  his head slowly in dismay,” mumbling something about it being “sad.”
A hour later I read  the student newspaper editor’s editorial.  It was an angry piece about the fact that the student newspaper was read  faithfully by faculty, staff and administration but not by students.  This is a  girl who last year was very upbeat, positive and proactive.  Why don’t students read  and get involved?  She asked.  She wanted feedback, even if it was not positive.  It was a desperate plea by a committed student who can’t understand why others don’t share her enthusiasm.
I thought a  lot about these two people and their feelings.  The administrator is recognized and respected nationally in his field.  I can understand his feelings of dismay but I don’t agree with them.  To have those feelings at all is to cling to a way of life that’s history.  As a PR person I need to say to him — and I will — “forget the days when people read and made little notes and wrote long term papers in a achingly boring passive voice about something they didn’t care about.  That’s gone.  Better understand who our audience is and how they live and communicate.  Find the money for the broadband because students our customers and if they’re unhappy, they’ll find other colleges to attend.
It’s expensive?  Well, if we invest in it and retain a few more students, it pays for itself.
The tension here is that we’re a university and should instill good study and research habits.  At the same time we have to understand our customers.  Clinging too much to the past doesn’t pay the bills.
I’m going to call the student newspaper editor and ask her to lunch.  I’ll tell her I have a lot of respect for her passion and to keep doing  it with a passion because if she pursues her beliefs with that kind of commitment, she will succeed. Maybe not with the newspaper, but in life.  I’ll tell her to not be negative but to accept the fact that her audience is the faculty, staff and administration.  It’s a solid and appreciative audience.  Her readers remain steady and consistent, which is more than The New York Times can say.
I’ll tell both these persons, separated by two generations and frustrated by the same thing, that we’re in a huge time of transition.  It’s exciting.
Listen to the audience.
Learn how the new conversation is being conducted.
Embrace  it and move forward.

Pushing Back

I was struck by  Eric Eggerston’s Common Sense blog last week   in which he said

“Executives (in big companies, and small) spend so much time pursuing their company goals that they sometimes forget the relative importance of events.

A change that took a massive effort may be important to your organization. The employees may be fired up about it, and eager to know the details.

That doesn’t mean anyone else cares.

Really.

The PR function has to be able to push back when told by management to make a big splash about something that’s a non-event to customers, regulators, competitors and the media. It may be possible to get your message out, but if the result won’t be a changed perception about your organization, why bother?”

I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment.  But the situation is more complicated than “pushing back.”

We have the same problem in higher education.  Let’s say the music department wants to fill a 500 seat auditorium with their performance of a Mozart concert.  Can’t be done.  Not with all the publicity and advertising. On the other hand, we just instituted some new emergency procedures in the event of a Virginia Tech type scene.  Other schools had done pretty much the same thing and my news director wondered if any  media would use it. I thought they would.  The Virginia Tech tragedy affected all of higher education and it weighs on parents’ minds. Yes, local media did use it. This was  a case where our executives and our employees made changes and were “fired up about it,” and the public was interested.

A former president loved to have his picture in the paper, and while most area papers didn’t use whatever photo op, one or two did and that was enough to satisfy his ego. Is there any PR director in the U.S. who’s going to tell his or her president they’re not going to take his picture?

Business — and higher education is a  business — is not a democracy.  It is a bureaucracy and when the Alpha Dog barks, the pack falls in line.

Eric hits it right on the head: “a massive effort may be important to your organization.”  Yep, if it’s important to the president or CEO, you will find an outlet for it because it’s not an intellectual issue.  It’s an emotional issue.  It’s an issue of pride and accomplishment, even if editors don’t share the excitement.

The  other side is that the more the public (even if it’s a “local paper” public) sees your company’s name, the deeper it’s branded into audience consciousness.  They may not read the Mozart performance story but they see the headline, “Mozart Performance at X University.”  They may not read the article on bio tech research but they do see the headline, “Bio Research Advances at X U.”

As PR pros, you can nudge, but it’s hard to push back.  Better to educate, a little bit at a time, gently leading.  

The media has changed a lot over the past decade, but the  above challenge hasn’t changed.  The company (meaning the CEO or college president) is excited about something.  They want to see it in print or on TV.  It’s a third party endorsement of their university’s or department’s accomplishment.

In most cases, PR folks have to find the most efficient way to do it, and get on with the bigger business of PR and marketing. 

Thanks, Eric, for a thought-provoking post.

Note:  I asked Dick Jones of Dick Jones Communication for his thoughts.  His reply:

Dennis.  I agree.  The only thing that I would say is that you can push back—every once in a while.  But you can’t do it too often or you get the rep as not being a “team player.”  So you have to pick your battles VERY carefully.  And ask yourself this question:  “Am I willing to die on this hill?”  If the answer is no then you nudge but don’t push back. 

 Early in my PR career I pushed back a lot.  And eventually I lost the confidence of the University president because I pushed back too often.  If I had to do it all over again I would have pushed back occasionally, but less often.  I would have saved my push backs for times when it was really critical for the welfare of the institution to do so.

Juggling 3 Blogs & Dropping The Ball

I was checking my blog stats here this afternoon and was mildly surprised and embarrassed.  I uploaded a post here that should have gone on my personal blog.  Here’s the deal.  I have two blogs and a website.  The web revolves around my novel, The Perfect Song.  The blog is a light look at the life of a middle-aged suburban guy in the 21st century.  It also contains a  spoken version of my book with  music and sound effects.

So it was as out of place here as a Big Mac at a fruit stand.   How did it happen?  Too many projects, too much in a hurry.

I apologize for the inconvenience to my readers who I know are also busy professionals.

(Please note that I could have linked to my sites because some folks might be interested but it struck me as a kissing cousin to link baiting and I didn’t want to take away from my message, which was: I need to pay closer attention. . . . )