One True Sentence

This post was written by DR. WHAW? Contributor Melissa Cafiero.

I’m getting tired of finding different ways to say it was a crazy busy day – such is life in crisis communications. I’m tweaking my post format a bit to include a quote from each article to serve as the summary. Tell me what you think!

For your reading pleasure…what I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work!

DR. WHAW? – July 20, 2010

1. When Did You Last Camp with Hundreds of Followers? By Danielle Cyr

When I first heard Coleman’s latest television spot, which touts the camping supply manufacturer as the inventor of the ‘original social networking site’, I thought, ‘Wow. That’s smart.’ Then I listened to it again. And, I thought, ‘Wow. That’s not entirely right.’ …the idea that social network started by assembling small groups of people is preposterous. While Coleman’s campaign is clearly intended to put the brand in the company of a favorable concept, social networking, does it ultimately make a mockery of social media, implying it is a quaint activity relevant to small groups?

2. Too High, Too Low: Where’s the Professional Line? By Lauren Fernandez

As women, do we struggle more with dress in the workplace, in the sense of being taken seriously by others? While talking about this with Tamsen McMahon, she brought up the great question of branding/company feel, and then the conversation shifted to generations. Is it a generation thing?

3. The Creativity Crisis By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

A recent IBM poll of 1,500 CEOs identified creativity as the No. 1 “leadership competency” of the future. Yet it’s not just about sustaining our nation’s economic growth. Researchers say creativity should be taken out of the art room and put into homeroom. The argument that we can’t teach creativity because kids already have too much to learn is a false trade-off. Creativity isn’t about freedom from concrete facts. Rather, fact-finding and deep research are vital stages in the creative process.

4. 60 Embarrassing Ways to Butcher the English Language: Isn’t Spelling Important Anymore? By Jackie Tithof Steere

In our hurried, communication-addicted society, it’s become far more important to get things done quickly rather than done right. I know schools teach spelling. I’ve seen high marks on my kids’ spelling tests, but, honestly, sometimes you’d never know they’d learned a thing. At this rate, it won’t be long before we’re looking at a nation where these types of mistakes are the norm, not the exception. I think we owe it to ourselves and the future (and image) of our country, to reach out and grab a dictionary, or at the very least, conduct a search on dictionary.com.

5. Twitter time-savers: Tweet success in just 20 minutes a day By Mark W. Schaefer

Can you keep up with everything going on? No way. Not even if you spent 10 hours a day!  Being effective in 20 minutes a day means knowing how to use these time-saving tips and then having the discipline to prioritize.

This post was written by DR. WHAW Contributor Melissa Cafiero.

I was in a meeting yesterday that completely reinvigorated me and made me excited to be part of such a great PR agency! Have you ever been in those types of meetings? They have a way of making you feel valued, don’t they?

Today was a hectic day (and it’s still busy), so I barely had time to find articles for you! But rest assured, here’s what I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work!

DR. WHAW? – July 13, 2010

1. Dealing With the Impacts of Recall Fatigue by Gene Grabowski – Did you know that more than 10 percent of Americans ate food they knew was recalled, based on a recent study? Or that only 30 percent of recalled products are returned by consumers? This is shocking, particularly if one of those recalled products is a baby bed, child seat or some other device essential to your, or your family’s, safety. Costco has a great recall communications plan – check out the article for details.
2. Pitching the Perfect Pitch to Bloggers by Rodger Johnson – “Many would have us believe pitching bloggers is different than pitching a journalist. I would argue there’s no difference.” Really? I was previously taught there was. But I think this has some truth. I was told in the past to make pitches to bloggers much shorter, and even more casual, than those to traditional journalists; however, journalists are busy too and aren’t going to enjoy a wall of text from you. There are really helpful tips here and I love how the author used a real example.
3. 4 keys to to building a social media editorial calendar by Arik Hanson – Remember: platforms/channels, quality, audience, collaboration. Okay those are just the basics, but the post contains the meat!
4. How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude by Mark Harrison – Not to get all Oprah here, but…

“People who consciously attempt to be thankful and appreciative tend to feel happier and at peace to a greater extent than others. According to a research project from the University of Miami, people who practice some form of conscious gratitude:

• exercised more regularly, were healthier, slept better and felt more optimistic
• made more progress towards personal goals
• were more alert, enthusiastic and could handle stress more effectively”

How can you argue with that?

1. The best creativity technique known to mankind by Mark Schaefer – This is an amazing brainstorming/idea creation technique and I can’t wait to try it! There is too much content here to adequately share the process, so go! Read it now!

This post was written by DR. WHAW? contributor Melissa Cafiero.

Happy July, happy mid-year, happy 2010 halfway point! I hope you all had a wonderful and safe July 4^th weekend. I’m sure you were busy catching up today, so let’s just get on with what I Didn’t Read While Hard at Work, shall we?

DR. WHAW? – July 6, 2010

1. Five simple uncluttering tasks by Erin Doland – This was a wonderful helper in getting back into the groove this morning and I think it’s a good reference for any time you return to work from an extended holiday.
2. 52 Cool Facts About Social Media by Danny Brown – I love random knowledge and fun facts so this post is great for people like me! It includes snippets about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Blogging. What fact surprises you? What are you not surprised to learn?
3. 3 Tips for Taking Back Some Control in an Uncontrollable World by Meredith – This is one of my new favorite blogs, Penelope Loves Lists. So, what’s a Penelope? “Penelope is unabashedly organized. She makes no apologies for her love of lists, and notebooks, and pretty office supplies. She adores anything that’s called a ‘storage solution.’ She loves useful websites, design blogs and shelter magazines. She hunts down smart work organization software and swoons for project management tools. She’s tidy, she’s a bit OCD. She’s got a To Do List and she knows how to use it.” I’m not sure what you’d call the male version of a Penelope, so my apologies for leaving out the guys. Anyway, back to the article…. There are only three tips, but all are very helpful and I’m going to try them: “I can reframe my thoughts,” “I can decide I’m going to be in a good mood,” “I can keep my mouth shut.”
4. AP gets billed for use of content – and hypocrisy by Sam Diaz – The AP charges to use its content, so what did Woot.com do when the AP used content from the company’s blog post announcing its sale to Amazon? They sent a bill. Interesting read. The culture at Woot.com seems so fun!
5. Dog by Allie Brosh – Another one of my favorite new blogs. You won’t learn anything here and you won’t find any new concept on which to chew. This simply isn’t that kind of blog; however, you will giggle and walk away with a smile for the rest of the day. In this post, Allie describes the tests she administered to discover her dog may possess a lower than average intelligence.