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2012 CWC Image & Chapter Awards Luncheon Winners!

Category 7 Promotional/Marketing -

Award of Distinction: Dee Zulaf, APR and Dr. Karin Schmidt

Image Award: Sarasota Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and MMGY Global

Category 3 Magazine -

Image Award: Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau, Harry Leopold and the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, Inc.

Category 6 News Release -

Image Award:  Kate Barth and Adam Miller

Category 9 Other -

 Award of Distinction: Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Sarasota Alliance of Historical Preservation

Image Award: Ginya Carnahan, APR, CPRC and Consonant Contact Media

Grand Image Award -

Sarasota Convention and Visitors Bureau, Harry Leopold and the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, Inc.

 

Chapter Award Winners

• Thomas Nunan Rising Star Award:  Seana Mincy
• Promoting the Profession:  Julie Yeh, APR
• Chapter Member of the Year: Jennifer Moss, APR, CPRC
• Ginnie Duffey Troyer Award of Professionalism: Terri Behling, APR, CPRC
• Business Partners of the Year:  Dattoli Cancer Center and the Silverstein Institute

 

SPECIAL THANKS TO GUEST SPEAKER, GAIL CONDRICK, award-winning producer and TV host.

 

PD Recap: Get in the Game.

The March 27^th Professional Development luncheon featured Rachelle Madrigal and covered the importance of community partnerships.

Rachelle knows a thing or two about community partnerships and she should. She is the sales and marketing manager for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Bradenton Marauders. The Bradenton Marauders have the 3^rd longest relationship of any Florida city team. Not to mention, The Marauders have been a staple in the Bradenton community for over 40 years.

How do The Pirates/Marauders partner with the community? For starters, The Pirate’s Community Commitment Program requires all players to commit 10 hours of community service. This isn’t just for minor league players, but for major league players as well.

Only 2% of minor league rookie’s make it to the majors. The Pirates take pride in creating well-rounded individuals in order to back up their baseball careers. The teams also have a lot of international players, offering them free English classes

“It’s our duty to give back,” says Rachelle. The teams partner with organizations such as The Boys & Girls Club and The United Way, promoting frequent benefit games, and donating a generous portion of ticket sales back to the community.

Maintaining these partnerships is huge for them. “Our sponsors get a lot of bang for their buck,” according to Rachelle. It’s a two way street to utilize and invest.

Currently, The Pirates/Marauders are looking to revitalize downtown Bradenton adding new shops, night life and best of all, parking. Recently approved is an 8 million dollar renovation to McKechnie Field. Renovations will begin May 1^st for outside construction, following with inside renovations beginning this September.

No wonder why the Marauders have doubled their attendance from 2010 to 2011. They have an amazing connection with the community! If you haven’t gone to a game at McKechnie Field, we recommend that you do. It’s a great time with the family at a very affordable price.

2012 Media Breakfast

February 28^th marked the date for the FPRA 2012 Media Breakfast at the Polo Grill in Lakewood Ranch FL.

The event had some amazing guests such as the first speaker, James Gregory. James discussed crisis diagnostics and understanding the impact of communications. With over 30 years of experience in advertising, branding and founding the communications firm Corebrand, James’s take on crisis diagnostics was stellar.

James touched on threatened, damaged or brands in crisis such as BP during the infamous oil spill in the Gulf. He also discussed different types of crisis such as cultural, financial, business process. He gave examples of how companies such as Texaco, IBM, Firestone and PNC overcame these types of crisis. Hopefully information our brands and companies will never have to use, but useful none the less.

Next up, was a guest panel of local media experts. This guest list included: Pete Norden from Clear Channel Media, Bart Pfankuch from Sarasota Herald Tribure, Susan Burns from Biz941 Magazine, Jennifer Rich from the Bradenton Herald and Scott Dennis from ABC7.

This group of media pro’s had some great tips on connecting with them and building better relationships with the local media. Connecting in some sort of personal way always helps you as an individual to stand out. Building face to face personal relationships is also key to getting local media to remembering you.

When emailing them, short emails with a descriptive subject line helps to get their attention. Let’s not forget, these people have tons of stories coming in everyday. The better the subject line, the better the chance of making contact.

The media panel also shared a few tips on press release basics. Press releases are still the main way that media gets information. Pitch your story. Add images, snappy subject lines, date is critical, titles, names and all the info. Don’t forget to add descriptions to images and label clearly. A good rule of thumb is that nobody wants to read to much information so a three paragraph press release is perfect.

Following up helps but badgering doesn’t, so be nice. Make sure to send the press release out two weeks in advance to insure for proper planning, but not enough in advance to be forgotten.

Overall, this was a great and informative breakfast. Connecting with local media professionals and learning about them was a treat. We look forward to the next FPRA meeting again at the Polo Club in the near future.

Five Tips on Preparing FPRA Image Award Entries

 
1. Read the directions. Make sure to address all five elements of the summary: Research, Objectives, Implementation, Evaluation and Budget. Don't try to fake any of them. You must provide valid information on each element. 

2. Organize your project notes before you start writing your summary. Examples of project information that you collected through-out the year may be: survey results, proof of research, before and after samples, media clips, letters of appreciation, pertinent reference material. Get audio and video files of all radio and television publicity.

 3. Analyze your results and review your research. Quantifiable goals and objectives are the key. The judges will look for measurable results.  

4. Put the most work into the summary, not just the notebook. It is 70% of your total score. Be clear, concise and factual, not just creative. 

5. Review the checklist provided in the Call for Entries. Be sure all criteria are met. Use this tool to be sure you do not overlook something. 
 
Finally, ask for feedback. Have someone with limited knowledge of your project read the summary. Is it clear to others what you wanted to accomplish, why you wanted to do it, who you did it with, where and when you did it, and how you did it? Would you do it again? Would you change anything? Revise and rewrite where necessary. Communicating all this effectively in two pages is the mark of a skilled public relations professional.

Ugh….Why Are We Switching Luncheon Venues?

If any of you have ever had to plan an event you know that three of the most important things to consider are venue, food, and price. So when our contract at the Sarasota Yacht Club was up for renewal, we as a board had to look at all three areas when deciding whether we should stay at the Yacht Club or choose a new venue for our monthly luncheons.

First, we looked at the venue choices. We needed to choose a venue that was centrally located for all members. This proved to be difficult, especially since we have members from Sarasota, Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch, and Venice. Because our members are from a variety of areas the Yacht Club or downtown Sarasota venues were not the only choices.

Next we looked at food. Food is always an obstacle because everyone has different taste buds and most venues have the same menu….but charge very differently. So that brings us to price. The price is really what helped the board make its decision to switch venues. The Meadows Country Club was able to offer us a price that would allow our chapter to generate revenue-- revenue that will allow us to have additional funds for membership scholarships for those who cannot afford to join or renew, conference scholarships, and special event speakers. Isn’t that what FPRA is all about? Providing opportunity and education to our members? Pleasing everyone can be difficult but we hope you will understand the venue change and support our decision.

We know no matter where are luncheons take place that we have amazing members who are extremely supportive of our chapter and whom we hope to see at the January 24th luncheon that will be held at the Meadows Country Club. Ourspeaker, Maggie Lacher, will share how You Tube can increase your SEO and be more effective than your website.  She will also sharetricks and secrets to fully utilizing You Tube to help your company grow. In addition to You Tube, she will touch upon other social media tools for the advanced social media user. Sign up now: www.cwcfpra.com/events/
 
---Caroline Tanner, VP of Professional Development

 

The Meadows Country Club
3102 Longmeadow, Sarasota FL

941.371.6000

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