MEETINGS
Printing Pointers: Getting the Most from Your Print Jobs
Dealing with printers can be a big responsibility, but most communication professionals lack a printing background. Binding, finishing, stamping, varnishing, selecting inks -- it can be overwhelming.
Learn at the August IABC meeting how to develop project specifications and distribution plans and production schedules, plus how to integrate sustainability into project design, thus benefiting both the client and the environment.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 22
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers, $18 students
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Marketing to American Latinos, Part II
Nationally acclaimed speaker Dora Tovar returns to GFW PRSA to further discuss best practices and the pitfalls to avoid when developing a PR campaign with cultural facets. She will outline well-developed campaigns that are relevant to Hispanics and that capture the interests of this fast-growing consumer segment.
In particular, she will discuss Oscar Mayer through a case study of Kraft Foods North America. She will share strategies such as ensuring that an organization has relevant grassroots initiatives, and how to approach integrated marketing. Bring questions for a spirited Q&A session.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 9; lunch at noon
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers, $20 students
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And on the Twelfth Month of the Fiscal Year, They Rested
Professional development programming resumes Wednesday, Sept. 20, at Shady Oak Barbeque & Grill in Arlington. Details next month.
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Flagons, ho! You are invited, all of you, to sample a smorgasbord of wines from Australia, Argentina and Chile at a wine tasting from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 10, at the Rebecca Low Sculptural Metal Gallery and Studio, 7608 Camp Bowie W. (Spur 580). "We think this will be a wonderful opportunity for PRSA, IABC and SPJ members to meet other young professionals in the Fort Worth area and discuss common interests and share ideas as well as taste some great wine. Bring a friend!" says Lindsey Tyler of the sponsoring World Affairs Council. RSVP by Aug. 3 to 817-212-2696 or intern_ftworth2@dfwworld.org.
PRSA local update: Brian Oberkirch from Weblogswork.com. will discuss blogs and wikis and the implications for independent PR practitioners at the Independent Practitioners SIG meeting Friday, Aug. 18, at the Four Star Coffee Bar, 3324 W. Seventh St. Info from Nancy Farrar with Farrar Public Relations at 817-937-1557 or nancyh829@aol.com. ... Chapter members are needed to grab a paint brush and sign on for the annual inner-city rejuvenation project Cowtown Brush Up from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7. Contact Richie Escovedo, the chapter's community service chair, at rescovedo@mansfieldisd.org.
PRSA local update II: Greater Fort Worth PRSA is offering two teleseminars this month. In the first, at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 8, "Media Maven" Margo Mateas will provide suggestions to hone public speaking skills, including how to get an audience to "eat out of your hand" and how to master fear and prevent going blank on the podium. Register by Aug. 4. The second teleseminar, at 1 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31, will explain how to develop a communications plan for an avian flu outbreak. The session will help PR pros identify the questions they should ask to prepare for a pandemic. Register by Aug. 28. If enough members commit to attend a teleseminar, the chapter will pay for it and find a place to hold it. Contact Marc Flake at mflake@tarrantcounty.com. More here.
PRSA local update III: John Bourke of Bourke & Associates in Dallas will discuss "Crucial Confrontations: Influence, Relationships and Results" at the Dallas PRSA luncheon Thursday, Aug. 10. More here.
SPJ national update: Keeping FEMA incompetence under wraps; soldiers have their say; and in California, one-party consent not enough when taping calls. Less than a week after Federal Emergency Management Agency security guards told reporters who were interviewing Louisiana residents in FEMA trailers to leave, the agency reversed course. The incident, reported July 15 by The Advocate in Baton Rouge, sparked protest among journalists after FEMA spokeswoman Rachel Rodi told the newspaper: "If a resident invites the media to the trailer, they have to be escorted by a FEMA representative who sits in on the interview. ... That's just policy." Revised policy allows media unescorted access to the trailer parks, lets reporters interview residents and, if invited, enter residents' trailers. If a public information officer is not available, that cannot be used as a reason to deny access to the trailer park, according to the policy. More here and here. ... J.P. Borda started a blog during his 2004 National Guard deployment in Afghanistan to keep in touch with his family. But when he got home, he decided it was the mainstream media that was out of touch with the war. He found that hundreds of other troops and veterans were blogging, and many focused on a common enemy: journalists. So Borda started a web site, Milblogging.com, to organize as many blogs as possible by country, military branch and subject matter. The site, which links to more than 1,400 military blogs worldwide, was recently bought by Military.com, a site catering to soldiers. More here. ... Callers from out of state may not secretly record phone conversations with California residents -- even if the practice is legal in the caller's state -- because the California law was designed to protect the state's residents from just such an occurrence, the state's supreme court ruled. More here.
SPJ national update II: Texas school enlisted to weaken FOIA; pressure on CPB never lets up; and FCC combing air tapes for dirty words. The Defense Department is sending St. Mary's University School of Law $1 million to study ways to limit the scope of the Freedom of Information Act, a landmark open government law that celebrated its 40th anniversary July 4. Jeffrey Addicott, who heads the school's Center for Terrorism Law, said the yearlong project intends to find ways to rewrite the law to prevent terrorists from getting sensitive information about water, sewer, electricity and transportation systems. Addicott is a frequent commenter on Fox News and a former senior legal advisor to the Army's Special Forces. More here and here and here and here and here. ... Less than a year after the chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was forced to resign amid charges that he injected Republican partisanship into the agency, President Bush has nominated to the nonprofit's board a television sitcom producer who describes himself as "thoroughly conservative in ways that strike horror into the hearts of my Hollywood colleagues." The nomination of Warren Bell, executive producer of ABC's "According to Jim" and a contributor to the online edition of the conservative National Review, raises the concern that he would revive the sharp political debate that engulfed the system last year. More here. ... The FCC has requested football and NASCAR tapes from broadcasters that might include vulgar remarks from unruly spectators, coaches and athletes at live sporting events. "It looks like they want to end live broadcast TV," said one executive. "We already know that they aren't afraid to go after news." In a March decision, the FCC found that the CBS news program "The Early Show" violated indecency rules because of a profane slip-up, but a fine was not issued because the incident occurred before new rules were instituted. More here.
