MEETINGS
You're Weird but Fathomable
Kent Dean has a question for you: Ever encountered a person who doesn't get it? You and she never seem to be on the same page. You probably go to great lengths to avoid each other. And because of this, your productivity soars? No, it tanks.
From low output and even lower morale, to employee turnover and communication sabotage, a failure to understand the motivations behind personality types can be devastating. But with just a little information and effort, Dean says, violent waves on the sea of communication can turn tranquil. The results: improved attitudes, atmosphere, performance and profitability.
Dean, a senior accounts manager for CVA Advertising & Marketing and the speaker at this month's IABC meeting, is a corporate trainer for True Colors, which has been hailed as a most entertaining method for recognizing -- and communicating with -- different personality types. True Colors, based on the Myers-Briggs and Dr. David Keirsey personality studies, has proven especially useful for organizational team building.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, May 22
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: members $20, nonmembers $25, students $18 (online sign-up add $1)
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El Futuro: Maximizing Hispanic PR
Living in Texas, most public relations professionals know of the nation's growing Hispanic population. One of the country's largest target audiences will be examined at the May 9 PRSA meeting in the program "From Media Relations to Measurement: Maximizing Your Hispanic PR Initiatives in 2007" with Hispanic PR Wire president and CEO Manny Ruiz.
The program will detail aspects of a successful Hispanic market public relations program with a concentration on media relations. Tips on setting goals and benchmarking Hispanic initiatives will be discussed. Attendees will receive ideas for pitching local media as well as handouts on Hispanic PR case studies and media profiles.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, May 9
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $30, students $20
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What Can Journalists Do When Their Jobs Disappear?
You're a trained reporter or editor. Your career has depended on your knowledge of the language -- writing, editing, broadcasting, reporting, getting the news, etc. Then your job goes away. Whoa, what's next?
Well, there are other arenas for writers and editors: PR, corporate publications, freelancing, teaching, consulting. For a glimpse of life outside the newsroom, John Ostdick and Paige Hendricks will engage attendees at the May SPJ meeting in a dialogue on opportunities. Come and listen and ask questions.
Ostdick is a freelance journalist and former editor of American Way magazine. Hendricks is president of Paige Hendricks Public Relations in Fort Worth. She founded the firm in 1978, and clients include United Way of Tarrant County, Meridian Bank Texas, XGL, and the Covey Restaurant & Brewery. Writing coach and author Paula LaRocque, a former assistant managing editor of The Dallas Morning News, will moderate the discussion.
Time & date: mingling 6 p.m., eats around 6:30, then the program Wednesday, May 23
Place: Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St.
Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $5 students
Menu: Joe T.'s famous family-style enchilada dinner
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Joyce Carol Oates, a three-time Nobel Prize nominee, will headline the 3rd Annual Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest, July 27-29 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine. She will be joined by humor writer Mary Roach and publisher Nan Talese; Burkart Bilger, an author and staff writer for The New Yorker whose work has been anthologized in "The Best American Science and Nature Writing"; William Nack, an author and senior writer at Sports Illustrated; Kevin Fedarko, an award-winning adventure and travel writer at Outside magazine; Allison Adelle Hedge Coke, American Indian author of the stirring memoir "Rock, Ghost, Willow, Deer"; and many other prominent authors, editors and literary agents. "I'm convinced that anyone who attends the Mayborn conference will leave with a new level of insights, storytelling skills and understanding of the aesthetic qualities and requirements of literary nonfiction," said legendary writer Gay Talese, who fully intends to be there. The conference will include a manuscript and article/essay writing contest; the manuscript winner will earn a provisional book publishing contract with UNT Press, and the 10 best articles or essays will appear in a literary journal jointly published by Hearst Newspapers and the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism. The best articles and essays will also compete for $12,000 in cash prizes. Students can register for $200, educators for $250 and the public for $275; the price includes meals. Seating is limited. To register or for more information, visit mayborninstitute.unt.edu or contact George Getschow, the conference's writer-in-residence, at 972-746-1633, or Nancy Eanes, conference coordinator, at 940-565-4778. ...
Janet White, author of "Secrets of the Hidden Job Market: Change Your Thinking to Get the Job of Your Dreams," will reveal six secrets of this hidden market -- billed as unlike any job hunting program you've ever heard -- at the American Society of Business Publication Editors meeting Wednesday, May 9, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Southern Recipes Grill, 2715 N. Collins St. in Arlington. Cost is $20 for the meeting and lunch. RSVP to Tonie Auer, 817-925-2013 or tonieauer@gmail.com. ...
Steve Neubauer, who with his wife, Joan, runs the "royalty publisher and author incubator" WordWright.biz, inc., in Alpine, Texas, will share what he knows with the Dallas chapter of the Writers' League of Texas at its meeting Monday, May 21, 7-8:30 p.m. in the Richardson Public Library. So how many people you know hold a master of science in the study of the future (from the University of Houston)? Neubauer does. That's your reason to go right there. The meeting is open to the public. More from Carol Woods at shurlock@flash.net.
IABC local update: How's your reputation? Warren Bickford, ABC, corporate communications director for the Vancouver (B.C.) Coastal Health Authority and past chair of IABC, will discuss "Reputation Management: Competitive Advantage and Measurement" at the Dallas IABC meeting Tuesday, May 8. Register here.
PRSA local update: Still looking for a summer intern? Metroplex students attending Abilene Christian U. are looking for you. Contact Dave Hogan, APR, with the ACU Journalism and Mass Communication Department, 325-674-2045 or dave.hogan@acu.edu.
