I enjoy newspapers and still read—or at least scan—a few each day. The content is as interesting to me as the advertisements can be. Savvy readers today will note that there are fewer advertisements for high-end jewelery items and that car prices have dropped. Precipitously.

The Globe and Mail for Monday March 23rd (Globe Life Section; page L1) published an article outlining the pitfalls of social media tools used injudiciously. Net-net: Share judiciously. One citizen of the Twitterscene slagged a client (not a good idea) and another insulted a city that happens to be home to his client and their head office; also a bad idea.

Careeristinas with a past will recall—perhaps fondly—a time when office deportment was more strictly outlined. There were definite expectations for “professional” and “personal” spheres of life. It was not uncommon to know little about the private lives of colleagues; one woman I worked with some years ago kept her engagement and subsequent marriage so carefully under wraps that knowledge of both escaped notice until she arrived at the office on Monday sporting a wedding ring.

Social Media tools have changed how we communicate and how we expect to communicate with one another. Immediate communication tools, strategies and needs trump the now charming, decorous professional demeanour of yesteryear. There are no secrets on the Internet and exposing your life—in all its normal glory—is now commonplace.

The concept of the much-dreaded “personal phone call” at work is obsolete. Never mind a call from your physician, sibling or family lawyer: wide-open work spaces and team-based cubicles mean that co-workers often share intimate details merely by having ears. (Personal phone calls, fyi, are obsolete because cellular phones take up the slack.)

Social Media tools—from MSN as an inter-office yakker to the Biggies like Twitter and Facebook—enable people to indulge in sharing, posting, commenting and more from the relative comfort of their keyboard and an ergonomic chair.

Social Media tools are, however, forever. Each tweet, update and notification is a public announcement.

The ability to instantly communicate is wonderful. It is also powerful in more than one sense of the word and it includes the ability to have your thoughts spread like wildfire across a digital network of untold numbers of people. Publish for sure, but don’t publish and perish because you hit “send” before reflecting on your post.

Readers can consider this a blog post by popular demand. The blogosphere and twitterscene (a word I hope I just coined) are small places; look around and you’ll see a familiar handle.

Futurecasting—something I enjoy as a mild hobby—is a career byproduct. Most PR counsellors practice it at some level. As a lazy blogger (I want to, but I find I don’t make time for it) I have been encouraged to blog more, worry about it less, and go for broke.

This, therefore, is broke. This is what I am following, noticing, observing and paying attention to across various media, scenes, sites and places:

The world’s greatest ponzi scheme is unfolding; Bernard Madoff (which google) is in jail and the legal entities of the United States and Elsewhere are now eyeing his family’s assets with narrowing eyes and a sceptical expression. In a time when many people are questioning how oversight bodies (SEC et al) failed to catch a theft of such magnificent proportion it behooves government agencies to now—perhaps “at last”—step in and show that they are up to the job at hand. That means that la famille Madoff can expect a large team of forensic accountants to exhume every cheque, chit, IOU and other financial instrument going back to who-knows-when and—I hereby predict—confiscate anything that isn’t nailed down. (Even the family piano, according to one report, is under threat of immediate confiscation.) Taking possession of Mrs Madoff’s piano will not nullify her husband’s crimes, but it looks good (the optics of it, if you will) for a public eager to see justice served no matter how late or cold.

Live cheaper to live better? When times get tough people turn to kith and kin for solace and comfort. What is more comforting than a home-cooked meal? A pleasant stroll through a local bookstore conglomerate reveals the new reality of kitchen fun: Cookbooks promoting casserole cooking, slow cooking (see: Futurecasting) and all manner of delectable meals on the cheap are currently in vogue. The very notion of “cooking” is now back in vogue after a long-ish hiatus as a pleasant pass time for busy people. Cooking—the dreary need to prepare meals for yourself or family—was a basic fact of life through much of history. In the latter end of the 20th century, however, cooking—the bane of housewives for eons—morphed into a soci0-economic totem of the good life. Cooking became an activity for couples to share as they entertained on weekends with artfully turned out meals paired with the proper wines, artisan cheeses and unique appetizers. By the turn of the century (that is, 1999 into 2000) fast food, take-out, home delivery, personal chefs and “assembled meals” had taken precedence at the family table and cooking was firmly established as a hobby.

Luxury that shows is no longer desirable. Famous brands (Royal Daulton, Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood) that reigned for the longest possible time in the finest homes and dining rooms are facing the sad fact that they are in trouble. Public Luxury—which used to something most people aspired to—is now unfashionable. While it is possible to hide your luxury at home (you can drink beer in a Waterford goblet if you draw the curtains) it is impossible to hide your luxury in public. Famous automobile marques (Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Bentley and so forth) will sit longer on the showroom floor while a careful public reconsiders its values. Marketing luxury in an economic storm requires a deft touch; the focus needs to change to “value” and “craftsmanship” and there can be no references to ego-features (custom stitching on leather seats, say, or engines with 8 more cylinders than are strictly required) as in the good old days of joyful and exuberant conspicuous consumption.

This blog is dedicated to Jason Ashton.

While we can’t be accused of opening a hardware store, our front lobby has started to accumulate a nifty little collection of awards. Last week we were honoured at the inaugural CPRS Awards Gala when we won the PuRe Elements Awards of Excellence for Innovation in Communications (Water category). VPs Aimee Deziel and LeeEllen Carroll accepted the award on behalf of Thornley Fallis and 76design. They were part of a great team that ran the SHARP 1080pD82 challenge and helped Sharp succeed in getting Canadians to identify the Aquos television as the leader in high definition televisions. To take the TV from trade publications and into family living rooms, the team conceived and ran an integrated campaign which engaged first time bloggers in social media while reducing their carbon footprint.

Emcee Stephen Heckbert entertained the audience with his “Top Communications Moments of 2008″ presentation and he announced the winners of each category when he opened the sealed envelopes. “This was a creative ad compelling program with a great use of new technologies and an innovative way to involve your audience,” Heckbert quoted a judge as saying.

Canwest’s David Akin was the keynote speaker of the night. He regaled the audience with his behind-the-scenes take on CIBC faxing private banking information to a junk lot in West Virginia. It was a story he uncovered while working at CTV News. Listening to his storytelling was like imagining a kimono being unwrapped. Except this story involved the nation’s most trusted anchor.

Three other awards were presented. The Earth Award for Internal Communications went to the Queensway Carleton Hospital, the Air Award for External Communications was awarded to the Canadian Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists, and the Fire Award for Communicator of the Year was bestowed on Robyn Osgood of Blueprint PR.

CPRS pulled off this inaugural event by pulling together a solid group of volunteers, led by CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau President-Elect Laurie Murphy, LeeEllen Carroll (Thornley Fallis), Leisha MacDonald (76design), Katie Boland (Algonquin student), Adam Weitner (Service Master), and Calline Au (Queensway Carleton Hospital).

“We have very talented public relations practitioners in this area who uphold the values of the profession and of our society through their excellent work,” said CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau Chapter President Danielle Côté. “It’s important for us to recognize their work and their contribution to the field of public relations. Awards like these allow us to celebrate this excellence and share it with other who can learn from their work,” she added.

Blogs, links, jumps, sidebars, comments and emails. Spend enough time on the Internet and you will come across hundreds of thousands of each one.

This one lead me to this.

Then I saw this and I encourage you to read it. It is important, it is Canadian, and it is good. I am even going to encourage you to forward the link to people you know.

Then I read this.

No matter what happens over the next few weeks the spirit of these discussions will not go away. Even the requirement that foreign journalists will need to apply for access to Tiananmen Square 24 hours in advance if they want to interview, broadcast or film in the plaza won’t turn this story off. (Intrepid journalists will, I believe, find people to interview, film, record and photograph at other venues. I’ve visited Tiananmen Square and it isn’t the only venue in Beijing where one can reasonably expect to find citizens milling about. It is, after all, a big city.)

It is just not possible, you see, to shut the Internet down. Nor can true public conversation be silenced. Shouts might become whispers but never silence.

As we draw closer to the start of the Beijing Olympics savvy media dwellers will start to tally the number of Beijing-Olympics-focused articles, features, editorials, op-ed pieces, essays, rants, opinions, diatribes, thoughts and so forth spreading through all forms of media.

Topics will be all over the map, of course, but look for some tried-and-true pieces that are already part of the public conversation.

Tibet will appear here and there, with all manner of references to the mechanisms put in place by the Chinese government to stifle any possible suggestion of even a whisper of discord. These stories will dovetail with references to “protest pens” and increased border security measures to make sure no one smuggles a “Free Tibet” lapel pin into China. If (and this is a big if) an athlete stands to accept a medal and–gasp–whips out a protest lapel pin the world media will take loud notice.

Look for a few heartwarming notes about athletes away from home, forging new friendships in the Olympic Village, and adjusting to training conditions in Beijing. Blogs home to hometown newspapers are a nice touch, but a cozy blogpost home to the neighbourhood might be difficult to see and hear amid the media clutter of the Olympics.

The pollution in Beijing will be given a great deal of coverage. I visited Beijing in late 1999 and while there was, indeed, a 30 storey building across the broad avenue from my hotel I couldn’t see it 5 mornings out of 7. Back in those dark days daylight could not penetrate the morning smog (cheerfully called “fog” by private and state tour guides) and the city planners devised an ingenious solution for lighting the murky streets.

Streetlights about 4 feet tall interspersed with their regular counterparts serve to illuminate the day, like taller versions of garden or pool lighting found here at home, because light does not sink to street level. Pedestrians would be hopelessly lost without these lamp posts in miniature and I used them as dim beacons leading me back to my hotel. The air quality truly is terrible.

The old adage taught to children, “Stop, look and listen before you cross the street” is a handy guide for any visitor to Beijing where crossing even the quietest backstreet is an exercise in both courage and luck. Passenger cars are being reduced from the local trafficsape (a word I hope I just coined) using a “day on/day off” plan while old beaters that are deemed to be embarrassingly high on the pollution inducing scale are made to disappear. Reducing vehicular traffic is a clever move–look for media features about how citizens are coping without their cars–and will have the pleasant side effect of making crosswalks safer. (Urgent Footnote: When in Beijing always cross the street in a crowd. There is safety in pedestrian numbers.)

Since joining Thornley-Fallis a few weeks ago (and particularly since arriving here earlier this week) I’ve been receiving a lot of questions from friends, colleagues and associates in response to the announcement I forwarded to my contacts revealing my new career direction.

Q: Why did you move to Ottawa? (from everyone I have ever met)
A: I moved to O after 20+ years in TO because I wanted a lifestyle change. There are no reasons more sinister than that.

Q: Why did you join Thornley-Fallis? (from a client)
A: A career in public relations is a very public experience. After 8 years with my own practice it was time to challenge myself and invigorate my career with new colleagues, new experiences and I wanted to have partners with whom I could work and grow a business. I made sure that the jump I was making was the right jump for me. I wanted to be able to contribute and have a learning curve at the same time. I also knew that change is good. (It is not, however, anywhere as good as a rest despite the old adage.)

Q: Was this a rash decision? (from family)
A: I never make rash decisions. I decided in early 2008 to make some career changes and I joined T-F in July. I spent time networking and speaking to a lot of people. I touched base with people whom I consider to be mentors, plus with clients and friends who knew me and my career path. I also trusted my own instincts.

Q: Don’t you miss Toronto each and every day? (from a downtown TO hipster)
A: I miss the club sandwiches at Swan on Queen Street each and every day.

Q: Are you still in touch with your colleagues and biz associates in TO? (from a friend)
A: Of course. It’s called email.

Q: Are you having fun? What’s T-F like? (from a colleague contemplating a career change of her own)
A: I am having fun. I am growing. I am learning and I am making a contribution. I am working with smart people who are dedicated. I’ve been fortunate that throughout my career I have been able to work with people who are at the top of their game and Thornley-Fallis is no different.

Q: Did you manage to find parking? (from my father)
A: At long last. And it is no cheaper than parking in the financial district in Toronto. Go figure.

Q: What are your colleagues like? (from a client)
A: Solid. Check out their bios and see for yourself. Note who has published a book or an article or who is a thought-leader in social media. Check out the diverse experience and wide range of talent. Surf around our design shop–76design–or read a few blogs. Note the wide range of clients and if you want to learn more just call me.

Q: Who got your apartment in Toronto? (from a contact who wants to move)
A: Faysal Jaber worked for me for a few years and he scored the apartment at Avenue Road and St Clair. Faysal is completing his MBA and the apartment, which must be the most valuable parting gift ever presented to an employee, is now his. (If you want to get your hands on it you’ll have to negotiate a deal with him.)

Q: What are you working on? (from an old client and friend)
A: Lots. Check back in from time to time but in the meantime I am working on some interesting projects for a variety of clients. I am also reaching out to former clients to see what we can do for them. I am crafting some proposals for some projects that are challenging, unique and destined to be fun.

Q: Are you back to blogging? (from a webhead who lives online)
A: I never left. If I am guilty of anything it is lurking, not leaving.

Q: How do I reach you? (from a person who lost my number)
A: bmw@thornleyfallis.com or 613-231-3355 x 225

Prominent Canadian military and defence reporter, David Pugliese, who writes for the Ottawa Citizen, has his articles published in other CanWest Global newspapers and is also the Canadian correspondent for Defense News has started a blog called Defence Watch on Canada.com.

David’s first post was on December 10th and to date he’s posted 11 times, more than once a day. Given I have a few defence industry clients at Thornley Fallis, I’ve subscribed to and will be following David’s blog intently.

In my role on the Board of CPRS Ottawa, I have organized a panel discussion on how social media and online networking are changing the communications landscape for next Tuesday, November 13th (all board members organize professional development events for our members throughout the year).

This event sold out a couple of days ago and unfortunately we’ve had to turn several people away, granted the venue can only accomodate 50 people.  However, we’re always in rooms about this size for our professional development events and this is the first time we’ve sold one out, and well in advance, since I’ve been on the board (2 years).  And its a first for several years according to colleagues that have been on the board longer than I.

This is a testiment to the growing interest in the area amongst PR and communications professionals in the national capital region and also to the great moderator and panellists I was able to line up for this session – thanks again gentlemen for agreeing to participate.

Rob Henderson, President of CNW, will moderate panellists John Blackmore, Joe Thornley and Colin McKay in free-ranging discussion on blogs, podcasts, wikis, Facebook, online communities, etc and the impact they are having on traditional media, public policy and communications with customers and citizens.

John Blackmore is leader of the Internet Marketing and Content team at Cognos, Canada’s largest software company. His team’s responsibilities include content creation and navigation, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, eNewsletters, a regular iTunes podcast Radio Cognos, and a non-media blog outreach.  John and his team have directed the evolution of cognos.com from educational “brochure-ware” to its current role as demand-generation engine that delivers tens of millions of dollars in marketing pipeline.

Joe Thornley is President and CEO of Thornley Fallis & 76design, the company he established in 1995 to provide senior executives with communications counsel and programs aimed at achieving business and organizational objectives.  Mr. Thornley developed the company’s blog strategy to establish thought leadership through active participation in the blogosphere and early adoption of new methodologies and technologies. His blog, ProPR.ca, is dedicated to best business practices, practitioners and building the ideal PR firm.

Colin McKay, aka CanuckFlack, is Director of Public Education and Communications at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. In addition to his two personal blogs, he is responsible for the recently launched Office of the Privacy Commissioner blog. He has been dabbling in social media and online communications for more than four years. 

… like one of my good friends has a blog he doesn’t update, but I still found something cool on it.

This is the result of the “What Does Your Birthdate Mean” quiz:

Your Birthdate: December 18

You are a cohesive force – able to bring many people together for a common cause.  You tend to excel in work situations, but you also facilitate a lot of social gatherings too. Beyond being a good leader, you are good at inspiring others. You also keep your powerful emotions in check – you know when to emote and when to repress.Your strength: Emotional maturity beyond your years Your weakness: Wearing yourself down with too many responsibilities Your power color: Crimson red Your power symbol: Snowflake Your power month: September

So I don’t know if that’s me or not, but still …

The Ottawa Chapter of the Canadian Public Relations Society has launched a new website.

The site was designed, built (on WordPress) and will be maintained (all in-kind) by Thornley Fallis and 76design.

The new site is built around a blog that board members of the local chapter will contribute to.  There are already a few posts to check out.

Note: Keelan Green & Stephen Heckbert of Thornley Fallis and contributors to this blog are CPRS Ottawa Board Members.