FPRAblog

How to Build a Brand When You’re the New Kid on the Block

2008-06-19T17:40:06Z

The Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA offers an exciting program this month. Nemours, one of the nation’s largest pediatric health systems, recently announced plans to build a children's healthcare campus, featuring a top-tier specialty pediatric hospital, in the Lake Nona area of Orlando.

Karen Breakell, APR, Nemour's Florida Director of Public & Community Relations will share the branding strategies and tactics being used by Nemours to break into an already well established healthcare market.

Click here to download the flyer.

Click here to register.

Wanna Blog?

2008-06-19T17:32:43Z

We have received the go-ahead from FPRA's Executive Committee to offer live blogging of this year's FPRA Annual Conference in Kissimmee. Last year's conference blog was a tremendous success, and we even picked up a few awards along the way for our efforts.

The conference blog will feature session recaps, photos and interviews, as well as posts that provide an insider's look at an FPRA conference.

We have a couple of bloggers who have expressed an interest, but we could use one or two more. Are you interested?

All you need is a laptop computer and the ability to write. Don't worry about the blogging part... we'll show you how the blogging software works and get you set up with a Wi-Fi account at the hotel.

If you are interested, please contact Chris Gent at cgent@kua.com or 407-933-9836.

FPRA Annual Conference Blog Honored

2008-04-28T12:50:06Z

At last week's Image Awards gala hosted by FPRA's Orlando Area Chapter, the FPRA 2007 Annual Conference Blog was honored with an Image Award and a Judges' Award.

In 2007, a volunteer blog team -- led by Chris Gent and Josh Hallett, with writing assistance from Paul Ramey, APR, Donna Foster and student Valerie Norman -- came together to offer live blogging of FPRA's 69th Annual Conference. The blog enjoyed tremendous success, boasting 85 articles, 89 visitor comments, 793 photos and seven podcasts, while drawing 2,207 unique visitors and 7,108 total page views.

Thanks to the vision of Immediate Past President Jessica Rye, APR and the FPRA Executive Committee for supporting and encouraging this endeavor!

Chris accepted the award on behalf of the team. Josh Hallett was somewhere in the deserts of Wyoming and couldn't attending the awards gala.

Courage to Let the Consumer Have Control

2008-01-15T03:31:44Z

This month's Orlando Area Chapter luncheon will feature Dale A. Brill, Ph.D., Director of the Governor's Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development. The program theme is "Courage to Let the Consumer Have Control."

Dr. Brill will seek to assure us that content is still king, but the tables have turned on who controls it. Kick off your shoes with Dale as he guides us through VISIT FLORIDA's recently released web project known as Open Florida. Learn from the trials and tribulations of navigating in a world where the consumer's control has never been greater.

The luncheon will take place on Thursday, Jan. 24 at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater at Loch Haven Park, 812 E. Rollins St. in Orlando. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m.; lunch and program begin at noon.

Farewell, Amanda Stillings!

2008-01-03T17:58:13Z

If you've ever called the FPRA State Office in Sarasota, you've probably heard -- "FPRA, this is Amanda" -- on the other end of the line. Just who is this Amanda? Why, it's Amanda Stillings!

Amanda serves as office administrator for FPRA as well as office administrator for KSC, Inc., a Sarasota-based advertising, public relations and marketing agency.

I learned today that our beloved Amanda is leaving us next week for a new job opportunity in Sarasota. As you all know, Amanda has been the glue behind FPRA these past six years… answering the phones, processing new members, processing conference registrations, preparing and mailing out annual conference packets, processing Golden Image entries… the list goes on and on and on.

I hope you will take just a moment to thank Amanda for her many contributions to our organization. She is an important part of the FPRA family and will be greatly missed.

Amanda’s last day is January 11. Her email until then is stillings@kscadvpr.com.

FPRA's Orlando Area Chapter Scores Touchdown with Backstage Pass Event

2007-11-30T11:05:50Z

The Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA scored the equivalent of a touchdown on Nov. 29 with its Backstage Pass tour of Bright House Networks Stadium in Orlando, home of the University of Central Florida Knights.

More than 60 public relations professionals -- including members of the Space Coast and Ocala Chapters -- gathered at the 45,301-seat stadium for a VIP tour. The tour included stops at the recruiting club, home locker room, digital production studios, press room, luxury suites and presidential suite.

At lunch, the group gathered inside the 4,200 square-foot Club Lounge where a panel of UCF employees shared the strategies, experiences and challenges of opening a new football stadium.

The panel included Cynthia Sucher, Associate VP for Community Relations; Joe Hornstein, Assoc. AD for Athletics Communications; Grant Heston, Assistant VP for News and Information; and Fred Kittinger, Associate VP & Director of State and Local Government Affairs. The panel discussion was moderated by Brian Craven, Director of Public Affairs and Communications for Bright House Networks.

Also during the lunch, Dr. Bob Davis, APR, CPRC, ABC presented six FPRA Roast & Toast scholarships to the following UCF students enrolled in the university's Nicholson School of Communications: Tabitha Bernabe, Matt Harper, Jason Holic, Melissa Patterson. Allie Schwartz and Juliann Whitebread.

Congratulations to these deserving students and thanks to everyone who participated in the Backstage Pass event!

Click here to view the complete photo set from Thursday's event.

Photos: Chris Gent

FPRA Backstage Pass: Behind the Scenes at Bright House Networks Stadium

2007-11-20T20:58:23Z

Make plans to attend the Orlando Area Chapter's backstage tour of the Bright House Networks Stadium, the new home of the University of Central Florida Knights.

Dave Hansen, UCF's Senior Associate Athletics Director, will give us a behind-the-scenes tour of the stadium, including the Knights' locker room, recruiting lounge, and then to Roth Tower where we'll enjoy lunch and experience the club seats, suites and operational areas. Dave will also discuss the public relations strategies used to open the stadium.

Double click the arrows to preview the event video teasers. Video 1 (2:56), Video 2 (:51)

The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, November 29 at Bright House Networks Stadium. Click here for directions.

BlogOrlando 07 a Huge Success!

2007-09-29T02:51:39Z

Nearly 300 bloggers and blog enthusiasts from throughout Florida and across the nation gathered at Rollins College in Winter Park today for BlogOrlando.

Sponsored by the Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA, the day kicked off with a keynote presentation by social media expert Shel Israel of Silicon Valley, Calif. The remainder of the day's sessions were divided up into four separate tracks: Public Relations/Communications, Media, Technology and Life/Local.

The day concluded with a presentaton by blogger Chris Heuer of San Francisco, Calif.

Visit the BlogOrlando account on Flickr to see images of the day.

Thanks to FPRA's own Josh Hallett who coordinated this informative and engaging event!

BlogOrlando 07 Next Week

2007-09-20T17:01:04Z

Just a quick reminder that the Orlando Area Chapter of FPRA is helping sponsor BlogOrlando next week. This FREE un-conference is being hosted by Rollins College in Winter Park. The PR/Marketing track features an all-start line-up of social media experts from around the country. Registration closes next Monday night

Opening Keynote

The State of Social Media in the World
Leader - Shel Israel, CA - Global Neighbourhoods
Keynoter Shel Israel recently conducted a 10 week Global Survey of the state of social media on behalf of enterprise software giant SAP. He interviewed more than 50 people in 20 countries on four continents. His primary finding: social media is evolving at different rates in different corners of the globe, but it is changing all cultures and businesses. It is beginning even to change some governments.

Israel will report on his finding, some of which are quite surprising most of which indicate that social media is rapidly changing the entire world and in a great many ways, it is for the better.

PR/Marketing Track

Blogger Relations and Ambassador Programs
Leader - Tom Biro, NJ - Open the Dialogue
Working at MWW, Tom spearheaded the Nikon D80 Blogger outreach program. Tom will talk about working with bloggers and building ambassador programs.

Using Blogs for Product Development
Leader - Dave Coustan, Atlanta, GA - Earthlink
Dave Coustan, corporate blogger for EarthLink will talk about how organizations are using blogs as communication tools to develop better products by (gasp) actually asking people what they want.

Crisis Communication
Leader - Laurie Mayers, MI - MS&L
How do you handle a crisis via blog, or created via blog? Laurie Mayers of MSL (think the GM Fastlane Blog) will talk about how GM handles ‘issues’ online, and the limitations of what a publicly traded company can say on a blog.

Customer Relationships with the Rabid Crowd
Leader - Jake McKee, Dallas, TX - Community Guy
As former director of global community development for LEGO, Jake knows a thing or two about working with passionate users. What can your organization do to develop deeper, longer term relationships with your audiences?

Tourism and Social Media
Leader - Annie Heckenberger, Philadelphia, PA - Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation
As the social media guru for the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation Annie oversees a number of social media programs used to promote Philly. Annie will discuss how tourism groups are adapting to the new media landscape.

Business Blogging the Next Steps
Leader - David Parmet, Pound Ridge, NY - Marketing Begins at Home
David Parmet returns to BlogOrlando to lead a session on the business blogging. We’ll assume you know what a blog is….and start to talk about what some of the next steps are.

Participation is Marketing
Leader - Geoff Livingston, Alexandria, VA - Buzz Bin
In the end it’s all about getting involved. Geoff will touch on a number of topics presented during the day…the foundations are honest, open communication. Can you do it?

Technorati Tags: blogorlando, blogorlando07

]]> Media Track

Transitioning to Blogs for Reporting
Leader - Benet Wilson, Washington, DC - Aviation Week
Benet Wilson is one of the new breed or journalists who uses her official company blog – Towers and Tarmacs -- to break news stories, expand on published stories and offer her unique take on the airport industry. Working with McGraw Hill’s Aviation Week group publications, Benet will talk about how a traditional media outlet is making the shift to include social media as part of the reporting process.

Community Blogs and the Newspaper
Leader - Danny Sanchez, Orlando, FL - Orlando Sentinel Community Blogs
The Orlando Sentinel recently launched a series of community blogs that are written by citizens (not reporters). Danny Sanchez heads up this initiative and will talk about the partnership between traditional media and readers/contributors.

What’s Next for Newspapers Online
Leader - Nik Willets, Augusta, GA - Morris Digital
Nik Willets is director of research for Morris Digital, the online division of Morris Newspapers. Nik will talk about some of the new technology and tools that papers are using to interact with readers.

What We're Teaching in J-School
Leader - Mindy McAdams, Gainesville, FL - Teaching Journalism Online
As the Knight Chair for Journalism at the University of Florida, Mindy is in a unique position to educate the new breed of journalists in school today. Mindy will talk about some of the new trends that students are learning about.

Hyperlocal - Moving On
Leader - Tommy Duncan, Tampa, FL - Sticks of Fire
Last year Tommy Duncan of Sticks of Fire helped out with a session on hyperlocal. Tommy will be back again this year, and hopes to focus on using blogs to strengthen geographical communities.

Technical Track

Videoblogging
Leader -John Rife, Orlando, FL - Finding America
John knows a thing or two about videoblogging. He and his wife traveled across the U.S. and documented their entire journey via a video blog. John will talk about how to get started with video blogging and the latest developments in the Vlogosphere.

Podcasting
Leader - Ryan Price, Orlando, FL - Ryan Price Media
If you want to talk podcasting in Orlando there is one name, Ryan Price. Ryan runs a few podcasts of his own and assists organizations with their podcasting needs.

Blogging Basics
Leader - Chris Scott, Orlando, FL - I Am Zed
Just looking to get started with a blog? Local developer/geek/triathlete Chris Scott will cover some of the basics to blogging.

Design on a Dime
Leader - Jeremy Harrington, Des Moines, IA - Crawl Space Media
Former Florida resident Jeremy Harrington is coming back to Orlando to talk about design. As a leading web and blog designer Jeremy will address some tools/tips/tricks that non-designers can use to spruce up their sites.

WordPress
Leader - Mark Jaquith, Brandon, FL - MarkJaquith.com
Florida is very fortunate that one of the leading WordPress developers lives in the area. Mark Jaquith heads up WordPress development for B5 Media and also contributes frequently to the WordPress community. If you have WordPress questions, Mark has the answers.

Blogging Tools
Leader - Judson Collier, Jacksonville, FL - Macteens
Local teen-blogger-geek Judson Collier will review some of the blogging tools that are available to help you post quicker, incorporate multimedia, and other work-flow related tips. The goal is to make you a better/faster blogger.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Leader - Mark Jaquith, Brandon, FL - MarkJaquith.com
Yes some SEO or Search Engine Optimization is evil and un-ethical, but Mark will be talking about some of the good stuff you can easily do to help with your search rankings.

Life/Local Track

Politics and Blogs
Leader - Jim Johnson, Tampa, FL - State of Sunshine
Is there an election going on? 2008 is yet another election year where blogs are a major focus of the candidates. Local political blogger Jim Johnson will talk about how the campaigns are using blogs and how bloggers themselves are covering the campaigns.

Separating Your Work Life From Personal Life
Leader - Alicia Dorset, MI - MS&L
A repeat of Alicia’s session at BlogPhiladelphia, she’ll discuss how people are learning to blend their work/personal digital lives.

Building Connections and Networking Online
Leader - Connie Reece, Austin, TX - Every Dot Connects
Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn…..and all these other online tools allow you to build relationships for work and play, but when does information overload set in? Connie Reece will talk about how to effectively manage it all.

The Orlando Scene
Leader - Alex Rudloff, Orlando, FL - eMurse
There’s a lot going on in Orlando, from BarCamps to Un-cons to co-working. UCF grad and Orlando local Alex Rudloff will talk about building up the local development community in Orlando.

Wrap-Up

Closing Session
Leader - Chris Heuer, San Francisco, CA - Social Media Club
Chris capped things off last year and he'll be back again this year to weave together all the threads.

Turmoil on the Tarmac: Crisis Communications Lessons from Inside JetBlue

2007-09-17T16:15:30Z

Over a thousand canceled flights. Hundreds of stranded passengers. Millions of dollars in lost revenue. What would you do if you were an airline in this situation?

Find out at this year’s FPRA Professional Development Workshop on Thursday, October 25 at the Rosen Plaza Hotel in Orlando.

Jenny Dervin, director of corporate communications at JetBlue Airways, will share how her company dealt with the winter storms crisis and how they came out the other side as a stronger airline.

Additional breakout sessions will include: preparing your company’s crises plan, pitching to opinion editorials and alternative outlets, creating creativity in PR and more.

Make sure to mark your calendar for this half-day workshop and luncheon. Stay tuned for details!

Blast from the Past: FPRA Online 1995

2007-09-04T14:41:59Z

Do you remember FPRAonline? I'm not talking about the first web site, I'm talking about the original FPRAonline....from 1995. Yes, a little over 12 years ago the organization created its first online presence with a dial-up bulletin-board system (BBS). It all started on January 3, 1995.

While cleaning out some files this weekend I found a copy of the original install floppy-disk, remember those? I took a photo to post here.

There was also an instruction sheet that came with the disk. Here are some highlights:

Q. What is an 'on-line' service?
A. A computer filled with information that others may access from their computers via modem over telephone lines.

Q. Does it cost to use this service?
A. The cost of operating the FPRA system is included in your membership dues. You will incur long-distance telephone charges.

Q. If I don't use the system will I 'miss' important communications?
A. No, not at present. FPRA will continue to publish written communication via Esprit!, PR Florida and the membership directory. However, over the next several years it is expected that the trend will be electronic delivery of information. At some point in time, the association may deem the online service as the primary method for communicating with members.

Q. What will I find on the system?
A. General FPRA Information, Statewide Job Bank, FPRA Book Source, News, Tips, Accolades, Electronic Mail, FPRA Calendar, State Board Information. In the future: Golden Image Winner Summaries, Shopping Mall, Annual Conference Information.

Quite a look back. While some of the questions are dated, some of the same core issues are still around today. Has electronic communication taken over for print? Yes and no.

Chris Gent Named Orlando Area Chapter Member of the Year

2007-08-24T20:09:43Z

Each year, the Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association presents two of its most prominent and prestigious awards, the Bob Davis Award and Member of the Year.

This year's Bob Davis Award recipient is featured in a separate post.

The Member of the Year award is intended to recognize one member of the chapter who has made a significant contribution through outstanding leadership, demonstrated enthusiasm, extraordinary involvement and loyal support.

This year's Member of the Year award recipient is Chris Gent, vice president of corporate communications at Kissimmee Utlity Authority.

Chris is a past president of the Orlando Area Chapter and has served nine years in various roles on the chapter's board of directors, including chapter management, newsletter editor, Webmaster and vice president of online communications. In addition, Chris served five years on the FPRA state board of directors, including three years on the FPRA Executive Committee.

Chris received FPRA's Doris Fleischman Award in 2001 and the Bob Davis Award in 2004.

(pictured, from left to right) FPRA Orlando Area Chapter President Susan Ennis, APR and Chris Gent.

FPRA honors Cynthia Lambert with Bob Davis Award

2007-08-24T11:14:20Z

The Orlando Area Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association on Thursday, Aug. 23 announced that Cynthia Lambert, public relations specialist for METROPLAN ORLANDO, is the recipient of the chapter’s 2007 Bob Davis Award for outstanding contributions to the public relations profession.

The award is presented annually to an individual for his or her “behind the scenes” volunteer efforts that go largely unnoticed by chapter members and are not recognized by other awards programs.

The award is named in honor of Bob Davis, Ph.D., ABC, APR, CPRC, a professor at the University of Central Florida who has given tirelessly to FPRA and the profession for the past three decades.

Since joining FPRA, Cynthia has served on several chapter committees, including newsletter, 2006 Central Florida Media Roundtable, Roast & Toast and Image Awards. Beginning Sept. 1, she will serve her first year on the board as co-vice president of professional development.

(pictured, from left to right) FPRA Orlando Area Chapter President Susan Ennis, APR, Cynthia Lambert and Dr. Bob Davis

FPRA Annual Conference: 19 States, 9 Countries and Windows XP

2007-08-13T11:15:54Z

This morning marks one week since the 69th FPRA Annual Conference officially kicked off in Sarasota. This post will be my final look at blog Web stats related to the conference.

Total unique visitors: 2,207
Total page views: 7,108
The average visitor stayed on this blog for 4 minutes, 56 seconds.

Web stats are an interesting thing. The stats tell me that 44 percent of those who visited this blog in the past week had a computer monitor resolution of 1024x768, followed by 15 percent who had it set at 1280x1024. And the stats tell me that 72 percent of the visitors had Windows XP as their operating system, while 18 percent were using a Mac.

They also tell me from where our site visitors originated during this past week.

Of course, we had lots of visitors from cities throughout Florida, including Altamonte Springs, Cocoa, Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville, Groveland, Indiantown, Maitland, Naples, Orlando, Ormond Beach, Pensacola, Rockledge, Sanford, Sarasota, Tallahassee, Tampa and Winter Park.

We also had numerous visitors from other states, including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.

And we even had a group of individuals following our conference from the countries of Australia, Canada, Fiji, Germany, India, Romania, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

This blog has allowed our Association to reach individuals we might not have reached otherwise. It has allowed us to share information about our growing profession with others living outside the state... and the country. Despite being one of 71 million blogs worldwide, the FPRA Blog found a niche and reeled in more than 2,000 unique visitors in one week.

Not bad, not bad at all.

Thanks, again, to our dedicated blog team who made it happen: Donna Foster, Chris Gent, Josh Hallett, Valerie Norman and Paul Ramey, APR. Special thanks to Tina Haisman, APR for championing the cause with FPRA's Executive Committee and to the FPRA State Office for assisting with promotion and logistics.

FPRA Annual Conference: More Golden Image Photos

2007-08-13T04:04:10Z

Photo Joe generously provided us with a disk of all the photos he shot before, during and after last Tuesday's Golden Image Awards gala. Josh posted them all this evening over on Flickr.

Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fpra/sets/72157601288568774/