PR Academy

Peg Allen (Warren County CC) and Monica Danseck (Penta CC) have been working hard to create the Ohio ACTE PR Academy in order to provide those of us in career-tech with an outlet for professional development and also to connect us in order to share ideas or best practices. While NSPRA/Ohio is a helpful resource, they are very focused on K-12 education, and we all know that CTE is a different animal. Here is an article from an email newsletter I receive regularly from Hoeck Associates, a PR firm in Toledo. It is all about how forming professional groups and meeting regularly with peers is extremely helpful and rejuvenating. Just thought I would pass it along to hopefully boost interest and encourage involvement in the PR Academy and other CTE Communicator meetings!

"I just got back from my Mastermind group meeting in Las Vegas — wow! What a way to get jazzed and rejuvenated!
I’ve found Masterminding to be one of the best ways for me to keep myself stretching and motivated, and have tried to be involved in some type of “group mind” since I started my business 24 years ago.
My first Mastermind was in the form of an advisory board I put together to hold myself accountable for how I ran my business, and although that wasn’t a true Mastermind in that it was only one directional, it worked that way for me. Five years ago, I started meeting quarterly with other marketing communications firm owners, a group from which I continue to get much inspiration and support. And the bunch that just met in Las Vegas is online and information marketing based — something I’ve been really interested in recently — and full of high-powered, successful entrepreneurs who are giving me a real run for my money. I love the challenge of learning new things and being encouraged by others of like mind. And there really is a magic to it!
If you’re not yet doing any Masterminding, I encourage you to find or form a group and dig in!
Marcia E. Hoeck, President, Hoeck Associates, Inc.

Masterminding is not brainstorming. It’s not just a few people getting together and generating ideas and coming out with an action plan, although that certainly has its place. Masterminding isn’t networking, either, although many great relationships can be built through Masterminding. Masterminding is far greater than either of these.
In his book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill describes the Masterminding principle as having two distinct characteristics:
1. The economic advantages of being surrounded by the advice, counsel, and personal cooperation of a group of people who are willing to lend you wholehearted aid in a spirit of perfect harmony, and
2. The psychic advantage that no two minds ever come together without, thereby, creating a third, invisible, intangible force which may be likened to a third mind.
Magic happens when two or more are gathered in the spirit of sharing, supporting, and receiving support. Masterminding was the secret key to success by titans of business like Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and others who changed the modern world. And many of today’s business leaders regularly gather in Mastermind groups to benefit from the powerful group synergies.
Here are the main business advantages of belonging to a Mastermind group:
In Masterminding, challenges are shared and participants are supported by the group. Group energy is used to support and propel participants forward toward individual goals more quickly than could be done on their own.
Participants are held accountable for what they say they want to accomplish, in a way that assists in overcoming obstacles and supports what’s important. This accountability alone assures accomplishment at high levels.
Masterminding gives encouragement and builds confidence in a truthful way. Because everyone has the opportunity to both present their own challenges and to listen and assist others, mutually beneficial relationships form.
Participants are listened to in a safe and non judgemental environment. This is so rare in business today!
Participants have more fun making progress toward goals while others cheer them on to greater results. Ditto here about what’s rare in business — often, we see just the opposite.
If you can’t find a Mastermind group you’d like to be a part of, why not start one yourself? It may take a bit of time to find the right mix of members for your group, but the search will be worth the effort. Here are a few ideas to get you started.
1. Look close to home. By that I mean, take a look at the people you “click” with already, those you find it easy to share ideas with. These could be people in your industry, associations, personal acquaintances, or even online contacts. (Online Mastermind groups can work just as well as in-person groups, as many groups meet by phone for many of their meetings.)
2. Find enthusiastic, like-minded, high-achieving individuals. Make sure you ask people who will have staying power and can commit to regular in-person or phone meetings. Try to find a common thread among participants, such as all are marketing professionals, entrepreneurs, at the same stage of business development, or other common attribute. Ask people you admire and respect!
3. Set some ground rules. There are many resources online for Mastermind group start-ups and guidelines. It’s best to get everyone on the same page as to what’s expected of members, how often and how you’ll meet, and how to best assist each other. Many groups have simple outlines they follow for each session, such as: progress since last meeting, major challenge at this time, and what each member wants help with at the current meeting."

What is Social Media?

I met with Kelly Herzog, public info coordinator at Miami Valley CTC, today on her campus (beautiful place, by the way!). Kelly and I will be presenting on Social Media Marketing at the Ohio ACTE Conference in Columbus on August 7th from 1:40-2:40. We met to break down what we wanted to discuss and we obviously talked a lot about the different tools available. I will preview some of the tools here on this blog throughout the summer and provide some how-to's, but first the question must be answered: What is social media? For that, I turn to the utilization of two forms of social media: a blog and YouTube video clips. These are from a blog called the DivaBlog (http://bloombergmarketing.blogs.com/bloomberg_marketing/), which is committed to discussions about social media, etc. These are first-person perspectives of what social media and I have posted them below.
Shane Haggerty
Communications Coordinator
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
www.ohiohipoint.com

Michael Pranikoff What Social Media Means To Me

Duncan Wardle What Social Media Means To Me

BL Ochman What social media means to me.

Pay Attention

Wanted to share this interested, fact-filled video, much in the same vain as the popular "Shift Happens" video, but this one from TeacherTube (www.teachertube.com).
Perhaps you can share this with your supervisors and directors and teachers, or if you're like me, heed the info in it and apply it to your marketing and communications strategies.

Video is necessary

Did you know YouTube has over 100 million views per day? The number is staggering. Videos are posted by nearly everyone now on this channel, and as a marketer it is almost necessary to have some sort of video presence online. Now, the problem for those of us in school PR: YouTube is blocked by nearly every school technology department! And it is probably necessary. There are some questionable videos on YouTube and it can be a controversial and distracting element in a school environment. However, here is the view I have as someone who recognizes this is where one of my biggest target audiences is hanging out for hours and hours: IT IS NECESSARY. So at OHP, I know it is blocked while students are in school, but based on a recent survey we did, nearly 85% of our students have the internet at home, 93% are watching videos online always or sometimes, and 71% of them are using YouTube. What this means? This medium cannot be ignored. It is a great and FREE avenue to spread the word of what we are doing in a medium that prospective students (who aren't blocked from YouTube at home) and current students identify with and have made into the "new way" of broadcasting. YouTube is located at www.youtube.com

So, if YouTube is absolutely out of the question, I recommend having videos hosted on your website or hosting them on SchoolTube, a safe and moderated YouTube-esque site, that will host your videos and let you embed them neatly into your website. If you look over to the right on the sidebar you will see SchoolTube's Career-Technical Channel being fed into this player I was easily able to embed into this blog. SchoolTube is located at www.schooltube.com

I am going to be attempting some innovative marketing methods using both YouTube and SchoolTube (hopefully if time allows!!) and I will keep you informed on this blog of my progress and results.

Question from Peg Allen at Warren County CC and Responses

Peg Allen, public information specialist at Warren County Career Center, asked this question of her colleagues in CTE:

Do any of you do annual reports? If so, how many do you print, how do you distribute them and what is your time of publication? Thanks! Peg

Peg Allen
Public Information Specialist
Warren County Career Center
www.wccareercenter.com
513-932-5677 ext. 5204
Peg.Allen@mywccc.org


Here are some of the responses she has received back:

"We do not currently do an annual report, although it is being considered in some fashion. We are thinking of doing it as a “special edition” of our district newsletter and tying the information that would be in an annual report around testimonials and feature stories and a year-in-review format. So, it would come out this July or early August if we did it. The cost is what concerns me, though, because if we did it as an edition of our newsletter we would have to print over 50,000, and I don’t know of the value of doing something so costly."
-Shane Haggerty, Communications Coordinator at Ohio Hi-Point Career Center

"Hi Peg,Thank you for the clarification and for the kind words about the annual report. It is always nice to hear that someone likes what we’ve done. =)
We had 1,750 reports printed. We distributed them to:
· county commissioners
· the boards of education of the school districts we serve
· our advisory committee members
· JOBS coordinators
· our staff
· agencies with whom we work
· guidance counselors
· principals
· superintendents
· media contacts
· chambers of commerce
· our tech prep partners
· city and village officials
· state officials
· Ohio career centers
· Former seniors
· Boards of elections
The distribution is done by mail. We provide our printer with a database of addresses, and he takes care of the rest. We typically try to have the report finished no later than October, but we really strive for September.
I hope this helps. If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to call me at 740-452-4518, ext. 136 or e-mail me at ktatman@mvesc.k12.oh.us"
-Kim Tatman, Communications Coordinator at Muskingum Valley ESC

If you wish to respond to Peg's inquiry, you can post it here on the blog in the COMMENTS section or email Peg directly at Peg.Allen@mywccc.org

Back to blogging!

So it has been quite some time since I have had the chance to blog. As you all are aware, the time we have as career-tech communicators is limited so the blogging had to be pushed aside for awhile. I truly value this form of communication and look forward to talking more about how it can be used as a communications and marketing tool for career-technical schools, especially at the Ohio ACTE Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio, this August. My session will be all about social media and how to adapt it for use as a marketing tool. I am presenting with Kelly Herzog of Miami Valley Career-Technical Center on Thursday, August 7 from 1:40-2:40 p.m. I will be previewing a lot of the material on this blog as time approaches.
The Ohio ACTE PR Academy is new, and the interest has been fairly un-inspired at the moment. However, I am excited about this opportunity to unite as career-tech marketers, communicators, and recruiters in order to provide assistance to each other and a forum to vent, ideate, and strategize. In my brief time in this position at Ohio Hi-Point, I have become a big fan of what CTE offers students, but I have also become well-aware of the unfair image CTE has with many people still after decades. I believe that by utilizing each other as a resource and speaking with a common message, CTE can overcome negative stereotypes and false interpretations. I hope you will use this blog as a means to communicate with one another, to start discussions, and share ideas. Also, if you want anything posted to start a topic or ask a question, shoot me an email at shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us. I will try to post at least once a week, if not more, so stay tuned...

Posted by:
Shane Haggerty
Communications Coordinator
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center
Bellefontaine, OH 43311
shaggerty@ohp.k12.oh.us
www.ohiohipoint.com

SUMMARY: Book provides marketing ideas

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath
(Random House 2007)
SUMMARY
Prepared for the Ohio Department of Education

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
The book’s two main purposes are to help people 1) understand what makes ideas “stick;” and 2) to create more “sticky” ideas. The primary objective is to apply qualities and principles to propel big strategic goals, but the framework is also applicable to everyday projects, such as speeches.

QUICK OVERVIEW
Six qualities of what makes something “stick” followed by the communication framework are:
· Simplicity – Deliver core and compact message
· Unexpectedness – Pay attention
· Concreteness – Understand and remember
· Credibility – Agree/believe
· Emotional – Care
· Stories – Act
Numerous examples – from the classroom to business-industry and beyond – are used to demonstrate how others used these qualities to make their ideas stick and grow.

QUALITY DETAIL
I. Simplicity – What’s my core point?
· You need to unpack information to determine the most critical point.
· Separate “critical” from beneficial and keep the critical from being buried.
· Use short, easy-to-understand words and sentences in layers to allow knowledge to build.
· Tap into audience’s prior knowledge, invoking schemas that already exist.
· Coming up with a short, compact phrase is easy; coming up with a phrase that fits the core point is more difficult.
· AVOID – Avoid starting with something interesting, but irrelevant. Work to make the critical/core message more interesting and relevant. Avoid the “curse of knowledge” – difficulty remembering what it was like not to know something.
II. Unexpected – How can I get and keep attention?
· The most basic way to get attention is to break a pattern.
· Surprise gets attention, generally by making the audience interested in find an answer; interest keeps attention.
· The more knowledge people have, the more likely they are to want to know more.
· Help people care by providing a context that they relate to.
· Unexpected ideas create insight and knowledge gaps.
· Curiosity happens when there is a knowledge gap.
· Unexpected messaging relating to the core message can have surprising longevity.
· AVOID – Avoid surprises that don’t relate to the core message. Common sense or the obvious should be avoided. Avoid telling facts before people realize they need the facts.
III. Concrete – How can I speak in “everyday” language?
· Concreteness is basic to understanding.
· Details help with understanding and memory to make messages stick.
· Try to replace or supplement abstract nouns like “justice” with concrete language.
· The more “hooks” (prior knowledge) connected to the core, the better it will be remembered.
· Try to imagine what it was like before you had the knowledge you have.
· Concreteness makes the core message more transparent.
· Use visuals to assist with concrete messages to help change audience attitude from reactive and critical to active and creative.
· AVOID – Avoid abstract language because it’s harder to understand and remember. Avoid thinking and talking abstractly because you believe it defines you as an expert.
IV. Credible – Why would someone listen to me?
· We believe people because of their credentials, because we want to be like them and/or “star” power.
· Audience beliefs are influenced by how our families and friends believe, by prior experiences and through faith and trust.
· Anti-authorities (former drug addict, etc.) can be more credible with a message than authorities; discern when to use this.
· Make statistics more credible by contextualizing them in terms that are more human.
· Honest data enforces boundaries – a good thing – but there is still “wiggle room” to put data in the context of audience understanding.
· The audience itself can be used as the source of credibility to make an idea stick – involving audience in testing a claim.
· Remember that engaging audience in testing credibility may result in an invalid conclusion.
· AVOID – Avoid searching for data to match. Use statistics/data as input – not output; use them to make up your mind and not to match what your mind has already made up.
V. Emotional – How can I get others to care?
· When it comes to our hearts, one individual is better than focusing on the masses.
· For people to take action, they need to care.
· Use memory and tap into emotions that already exist (what people already care about).
· Use “you” or names in appeals.
· Recognize what motivates people (Maslow’s Pyramid) but that the physical, security, belonging, esteem, learning, aesthetic, self-actualization and transcendence to helping others realize their potential can happen simultaneously.
· People are more motivated by the emotions of esteem and to learning than to being given money or things.
· People are motivated by what they believe they should do and what their special interest group (gender, race, etc.) believes they should do.
· Message needs to address “why” something should be done as well as “what.”
· AVOID – Avoid overuse of statistics, which shift people to an analytical frame of mind. When people think analytically, they are less likely to think emotionally. Avoid overuse of emotional terms or phrases to dilute the impact; the audience sees this as exploitation.
VI. Stories – How can I get others to buy-in and do something?
· Stories inspire and help illustrate problem-solving and relationships.
· Stories provide 1) knowledge how to act; and 2) motivation to act.
· Stories about past events to illustrate the core message usually “stick” better than stories with simulated future outcomes.
· Stories help people solve problems.
· Stories have three main purposes: 1) Challenge – make us want to work harder and take on new challenges; 2) Connection – bridge gaps and show us how we and/or our situations are alike; and 3) Creativity – help us solve problems with new creative approaches.
· Stories can be a springboard to demonstrating how things can change.
· AVOID – Avoid a good story that doesn’t fit.

Pat Huston (pat.huston-holm@ode.state.oh.us)
Manager, Products & Customer Services
Office of Career-Technical and Adult Education
Ohio Department of Education