"Create a Killer Web Strategy for Your Business & Launch Your Website in a Day" is taking place on Saturday, May 14, 2011 from [...]]]> I have a few upcoming events I want to call your attention to. The first is a day-long program aimed at people who need to get their web presence in line.

"Create a Killer Web Strategy for Your Business & Launch Your Website in a Day" is taking place on Saturday, May 14, 2011 from 8:30am to 3:30pm, and I will be one of four speakers / workshop facilitators helping out. If you need to build a new site, or are not happy with the messaging, performance or traffic on your existing site, this is the program for you.

The full-day program will help you bring your business strategy to your website. We'll work with you to determine the most effective design, message, tools and channels to achieve your business goals online. I'm helping with the section on promoting your site and building your community. Hope to see you there!

In this very hands-on program, we'll translate your strategy into technical features, visual design, copy and audience acquisition channels–then start implementing. Mini-seminars alternate with open work sessions and one-on-one consulting to help you reach your goals.

What You Need: Bring your positioning statement and your laptop. Each registrant receives a hosted website that is set up and ready to be customized. If you have a website already running on a content management system (CMS), you can opt to pick up from where you are and improve its effectiveness.

What You Get: You leave with your business website online and with the practical skills needed for ongoing development. Registration includes lunch and two months of hosting and phone/email support.

Cost: $420 | Drupal.org members (10% discount) $378 | Students with valid ID (20% discount) $336

Location:
One Marina Park Drive (near S. Station and Courthouse T stops)
GPS: 55 Northern Ave., Boston, MA 02210

REGISTER NOW

It took me years to admit to myself [...]]]> I have been a big Hugh MacLeod fan for years, and will often retweet his drawings (you can sign up for his mailing list at gapingvoidgallery.com), but his May 10th piece hit home closely, especially after talking about the importance of change in my recent Marine Week writeup.

It took me years to admit to myself (and my father, a second-generation salesman) that PR is really just another word for sales. And it's taken me some time now to come around to the realization that social media, if done right, is first and foremost an exercise in change management.

More specifically, my job is to help you change the culture of your organization. Here are some slides, derived from my recent session at NewComm Forum, that explore this a little more deeply (sorry for the small font, you can get a bigger version here):

In today’s episode #2, Chuck Tanowitz, principal at [...]]]> Welcome back to the Fresh Ground Podcast. Each week, we feature 10 minutes of insights from people driving change in today’s competitive business and media landscape. We talk about the evolving worlds of media, public relations, marketing and business, with a special focus on creating more social organizations.

In today’s episode #2, Chuck Tanowitz, principal at Fresh Ground Communications, talks with Sree Sreenivasan, professor of journalism and dean of student affairs at the Columbia Journalism School. Sree is among AdAge’s 25 media people to follow on Twitter and one of 22 professors named to the “Top 100 Twitterers in Academia” by OnlineSchools.org.

Sree and Chuck talk about the weakening divide between journalism and the corporate world, and specifically about the influence that corporate owners may have on the journalism process and the skills that newly minted journalism school grads need to leave with.

Some of the more interesting excerpts from Sree:

“Even today, any time there’s a light bulb story or anything else connected to GE, [NBC afilliates] make the disclaimer.”

“I presume any time a company owns you, the forces that are at work are much more subtle, and maybe even unspoken and unsaid… When I worked at WABC, we were owned by the Walt Disney Company, and we used get letters saying ‘dear fellow cast members’ from Michael Eisner.”

“I teach reporting, and reporting is something that you can use in a variety of fields. While most of our graduates still go into journalism today, there has been for decades people who’ve gone on to other fields…”

“We can either spend our time being orthodox about what should work and what doesn’t…, or we say ‘look, as long as someone like Saul Hansell is comfortable with the decisions he makes and the stories he tells and the contacts he makes, his ethics are far higher than most people’s, so I don’t worry about it.’”

“Every student must leave here with a new media mindset and a new media skill set.”

“[We use] a term called a ‘tradigital journalist‘ … that Sig Gissler, the administrator of the Pulitzer prizes, [coined that means] ‘a traditional journalist with a digital overlay.’ So we absolutely teach the eternal, if you think about it: truth, ethics, getting the story right, doing it in a timely manner, and then you put this digital overlay over the that traditional stuff.”

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Our opening music is "D.I.Y." by A Band Called Quinn from the album "Sun Moon Stars" and is available from Music Alley, the Podsafe Music Network.