IABC Ottawa invites you to a mix and mingle networking event at the newly renovated and recently launched venue in the Market called My Condo. Start spreading the good tidings and cheer with fellow communicators, marketing and creative professionals – make new connections and catch up with friends and colleagues you haven’t seen for awhile!

IABC Ottawa has been busy from the start of its 2010-11 season and there’s much more in store in the new year. Join us as we launch our new IABC Ottawa podcast – an engaging and dynamic series that will explore themes, issues and news to keep communications, marketing and creative pros ‘in the know.’ Learn about the volunteer and professional development opportunities available through your IABC Ottawa chapter. And of course, what’s a mix and mingle event without a little good cheer in the form of delicious food and refreshments!

Register Now

Thursday, December 2, 2010
My Condo – 34 Clarence Street, Byward Market
Time 5:30 – 8:00 pm

Please register by Monday November 29th to take advantage of the Early Bird rate*.
$20 – members and students │$25 – non-members
*Add $10 for late and on-site registration

IABC Ottawa’s Cancellation Policy
If you register for the event and are unable to attend, we require you to cancel your reservations a minimum of 48 hours in advance of the event to obtain a refund.  Late cancellations and no-shows will be charged the full amount.

I am frequently asked by PR and communications students how they can stand out to potential employers.

Yesterday, I came across this blog thanks to one of my colleagues (@vincentwhite) on the CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau Board.

How smart is this idea by these seven Algonquin College PR students? I guess pretty smart as it got the attention of the President of a PR and communications agency and enough so for me to take the time to write a post about it.

#ACPR Networking is a blog for Algonquin College PR students to share their experiences about networking with communications professionals in Ottawa.

Laura, Derek, Famia, Daniela, Meg, Omar, Lacey: Great idea and initiative!

Of course, now you have the challenge of keeping your site up to date with new posts and updates on a regular basis;)

I will offer you one tip. Each of you should include a link to your CV, your email adddress and links to your online profile, that is, the social media properties you use such as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. so potential employers can contact you directly.

Public Relations Without Borders: Out of Africa

Presented by:
Deanna Drendel, Executive Director, Public Relations Without Borders

When:  Tuesday November 16th, 2010, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Where:  The EXCHANGE Pub & Restaurant, 50 Rideau Street (Rideau Centre)
Cost:  $20.00

About the Presentation:
Deanna Drendel’s involvement with Public Relations Without Borders began in July 2009 when she became the non-profit’s first mission head. Following two fascinating missions to Niger (West Africa), she became PRWB’s executive director. PRWB’s first international project is carried out in partnership with the NGO Oxfam-Québec. PRWB works with Oxfam-Québec’s offices in Niger and Burkina Faso, and their African partners, on a gender-based violence project. Deanna will talk about her work, and that of her two successors, with a 24-member group of Nigerian associations, including five government departments – all working together to fight violence against women and children in this primarily Muslim and polygamist country. Deanna will share her joys and frustrations and what she and PRWB is learning about how public relations theory and best practices can be applied to a challenging problem in one of the poorest countries in the world.

About Deanna Drendel:
Deanna has 30 years of public relations and marketing communications experience acquired in PR firms and private and public sector companies. For the past 11 years, she heads up Deanna Drendel Communications with a clientele in the energy, technology and healthcare sectors. She is currently executive director for Public Relations Without Borders.

Deanna was active on the SQPRP board of directors for 10 years. Recognized for her professionalism, leadership, creativity and determination to advance the profession, she worked to revitalize Quebec’s accreditation program and contributed to accreditation initiatives on the national level. She chaired juries for CPRS excellence awards, developed and taught public relations courses at McGill University and Université du Québec, and mentors young practitioners. She has been involved with UQAM’s Public Relations and Marketing Communications Chair, in the field of ethics. She created and was editor-in-chief of the PR magazine insert published in InfoPresse magazine. She sat on the founding board that created the Conseil de l’industrie des communications du Québec. The SQPRP recognized Deanna’s contributions this year by presenting her with the Yves St-Amand award.

Deanna holds an Honours BA “with distinction” in philosophy from Concordia University and completed masters courses in economic sociology at UQAM. She also studied at the Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC) in Montréal, at La Sorbonne and the Université de Nice in France, and at the University of the Pacific in her native California. She is accredited in public relations and became a CPRS Fellow in 2006.

Registrer to Attend:
Spaces are limited, please register by November 15th on the secure CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau website at www.cprsottawa.com on the Event Page using the Online registration link (https://vws3.primus.ca/www.cprsottawa.com/register/event-registration.php). Prepayment by credit card is required to reserve your place for the event. We accept Visa and MasterCard. Payment at the door is dependent upon availability.

Announcing a new Meetup for Third Tuesday Ottawa!

What: The Return of RichardAtDell

When: Tuesday, November 9, 2010 6:00 PM

Price: $10.00 per person

Where: The Exchange Pub & Restaurant,  Rideau Centre (corner of Rideau and Sussex across from Chapters)

Dell is one of the best known and longest standing case studies of the successful use of social media. It might well not have turned out this way. In fact, Dell was one of the early examples of a company on the receiving end of viral criticism and anger. Rather than go into a shell or attack its critics, Dell chose to enter the social media discussion, learn from it, win friends, and gradually turn things around. Today, Dell uses social media for many purposes, including to connect with customers, build brand and as a retail channel.

RichardAtDell, aka Richard Binhammer, has been from the outset one of the constants in Dell’s social media presence.

Well, it’s not 2006 anymore. A lot has changed. And RichardAtDell has been there to experience the evolution of social media first hand. As the saying goes, he’s forgotten more than many of us ever will learn.

I hope that you’ll join us at Third Tuesday to hear from one of the leading corporate social media practitioners as he talks with us about the journey he’s been on, the path we’re following, and where he sees things going in the future.

To RSVP for this Meetup, go to: http://www.meetup.com/third-tuesday-ottawa/calendar/15182785/. You must sign-up for Third Tuesday Ottawa in order to RSVP.

Student Tickets

The Third Tuesday speakers have a lot to teach all of us. And we want students to be able to participate. So, Thornley Fallis is sponsoring free admission for any registered students who want to attend. If you’re a student, please register in the normal way. But when you arrive at the registration desk, simply present your student ID and we’ll refund your registration fee.

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED

On Wednesday, October 13th, Lauren More, Vice-President of Communications for Ford of Canada, will deliver a presentation on Satisfying Consumer Mega-Trends.

Ms. More’s presentation will take place at the Sheraton Hotel (150 Albert Street, O’Connor Room) from 11:30am to 1:30pm.  Costs: $50.00 for CPRS Members, $65 for Non-members and $40 for CPRS Student Members.

Spaces are limited. Please register by October 8, 2010 on the secure CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau website at https://vws3.primus.ca/www.cprsottawa.com/register/event-registration.php. VIsa and MasterCard are accepted.

About the Presentation:
As business people and communications professionals, we certainly live in interesting times. We are witnesses to unprecedented shifts in the global economies – new population growth patterns are emerging, market purchasing power is changing and consumer preferences around the world
are converging. Many of the decisions we make today, during this unique economic era, will shape our companies for decades to come. How do we ensure we’re delivering the products and services customers and clients really want? In this session, we’ll explore some of these consumer mega-
trends from a global perspective.

About Lauren More:
Lauren More is the Vice President of Communications at Ford Motor Company of Canada, Ltd., where she manages multiple media communications programs and serves as a company spokesperson on a number of topics, including: corporate news, manufacturing and assembly operations, environment and safety, human resources issues, and crisis communications.

Ms. More has more than 20 years experience as a communications professional and daily newspaper reporter. Prior to joining Ford, she served as the Public Relations Manager for Canada at one of the world’s largest technology and management consulting firms and has held a variety of
positions at Toronto-based public relations agencies.

As a journalist, Ms. More earned both national and regional awards for her work covering everything from educational issues and local politics, to high-tech and the automotive
industry. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Journalism degree from Carleton University and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from York University’s Schulich School of Business.

[Ford is a client of Thornley Fallis and Keelan Green is President of CPRS Ottawa-Gatineau]

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.

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.

Yesterday I substituted for Joe Thornley and chaired a conference in Ottawa about Social Media for Government. The conference was hosted by the Advanced Learning Institute under the direction of Kelly Flynn, who put together a one-of-a-kind event.

The attendees were engaged, interested (and interesting) and all were either operating with social media tools now or preparing to launch them in the near future. It was a high-energy day with ideas, innovation, thought-leaders and learners collaborating together in sessions, presentations and meals. (Kudos to ALI for creating dynamic lunch and supper sessions that offered both choice and networking.)

Joe has a following among innovators who are active with social media tools and there were a number of people who already interact and communicate with him now plus a new cadre of people who joined social media sites–for the first time–yesterday and learned directly from Joe how to make these cutting-edge tools a part of their work lives.

This was a connected day. I was learning myself while chairing the day and I made some great contacts among the crowd.

Today (Weds) Thornley Fallis was again present; Joe is back to chair and lead the day while John Sobol and Nick Rusczkowski (my colleagues) presented at the morning session.

I will be adding more information about individual sessions as soon as I touch base with the presenters. As a teaser, however, I can announce that there are a number of federal government entities who are planning to launch social media tools in the near future. What I would like to do is post some Q&A sessions on CapitalPR with these innovators and share their message and knowledge with  an even broader base.

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

There are a few events coming up next week that may be of interest to you and/or your colleagues.

EVENT 1

On Monday, December 3^rd from 11:45am to 1:30pm at the Lord Elgin Hotel (100 Elgin Street, between Laurier and Slater), CPRS Ottawa/Gatineau and IABC Ottawa with Dell and Thornley Fallis Communications are pleased to present:

An hour with Richard Binhammer, Dell’s Director of Corporate Communications

Richard is visiting Ottawa from Dell’s corporate headquarters in Round Rock, Texas. Dell is Fortune 500 leader in social media and online networking / communication. Richard will discuss Dell’s experience in the ever-evolving space and why his company thinks it is important to be there.

The cost is $45 for CPRS / IABC Members, $30 for student members and $60 for non-members.  To register, visit CPRS Ottawa or IABC Ottawa.

EVENT 2

If you can’t make the lunchtime event or would like to learn more about Dell’s adoption of social media from someone who has been at the center of it since the beginning, Richard Binhammer, is also speaking at the Third Tuesday Ottawa on Monday, December 3^rd at 6:00pm at Fresco Cielo (354 Elgin Street, 2nd Floor, between Frank and Waverly).

There is no cost to attend this event, but you will need to join Third Tuesday Ottawa to view the event notice and RSVP. 

EVENT 3

Lastly, CPRS Ottawa’s annual Holiday Reception is taking place on Tuesday, December 4^th from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at Metropolitan Restaurant (700 Sussex Drive, at Wellington/Rideau).

This event is open to CPRS members and non-members at no charge, but donations for the Salvation Army’s Christmas Kettle Campaign will be welcomed.

Cash bar with hors d’oeuvres provided by Thornley Fallis & 76design.

Note: I am on the CPRS Ottawa Board and Dell Ottawa is a client of mine at Thornley Fallis.