MEETINGS
Program to be announced.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, June 24
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $30, students $20 (online add $1)
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Measuring the Impact
Research abounds on the power of non-paid media to generate real business
results. But what happens to an organization when positive ad messages collide
with negative news? It’s not pretty.
At the June 11 luncheon, Angela Jeffrey, APR, editorial research vice president at VMS and a member of the IPR
Commission on PR Measurement and Evaluation, will present research that proves
public relations works. She also will examine cases that illustrate the synergy
of paid- and non-paid media working together. The session may get a bit
granular, too, with a five-step measurement process and faux case study on how
to do it yourself in Excel.
The Petroleum Club has temporarily relaxed its dress code so “casual” is cool for meetings this summer. The club newsletter states that “jackets and ties are optional through August.”
After two decades in PR, advertising and marketing with JCPenney and major
national agencies, Jeffrey started Houston-based Jeffrey Communications. Armed
with the PRtrak measurement system created by her programmer brother, she
talked data giants Nielsen, Arbitron and others into letting her resell their
data a la carte. In 2002 she sold her company to SDI, an international analytics firm, and three years
later played a large part in the acquisition of SDI’s PRtrak division by New York-based VMS.
Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, June 11
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $30, students $20
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Scalawag or Scapegoat: Someone Had to Pay
Did James Scott really cause a destructive levee break during the Great Midwestern Floods of
1993, or was he an easy target for a town raging at its devastation? Adam Pitluk, for seven years a contributor to Time magazine and now editorial director at
American Airlines Publishing, wrote “Damned to Eternity: The Last Victim of the Great Midwestern Floods” on the heartbreaking community loss and subsequent events, and he will sign
copies of the book and share his views at the next SPJ meeting.
A former staff writer at a host of publications, from the Dallas Observer to
CourtTV.com, Pitluk brings to life the horrific impact the floods had on West
Quincy, Ill., and the possible miscarriage of justice that ensued. After a
levee failed, suspicions focused on Scott, then 24, who a dozen years earlier
had helped set fire to a school. Scott eventually was convicted in the levee
break and sentenced to life in prison under an obscure state statute of
intentionally causing a catastrophe.
Pitluk writes that the case against Scott was weak, relying mostly on his
alleged admissions to unreliable witnesses. Seemingly overlooked was compelling
expert testimony that the levees could have broken without human help.
Pitluk also wrote “Standing Eight: The Inspiring Story of Jesus ‘El Matador’ Chavez.” He advised the UTA student magazine, Renegade, which in its first year of
publication (2003) won two of the most coveted awards in college journalism:
the Pacemaker, presented by American Collegiate Press, and the SPJ Best
Magazine award.
Time & date: mingling 6 p.m., eats around 6:30, then the program Thursday, June 12
Place: Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St.
Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $10 students
Menu: Joe T.’s famous family-style enchilada dinner
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Everything you want to know about self-publishing could very well unfold Saturday, June 28, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at a workshop on
self-publishing at the Richardson Public Library, 900 Civic Center Drive,
sponsored by the Writers’ Guild of Texas. All WGT events are free and open to the public. More from organizer Carol Woods. ...
Brian Hinchcliffe, an instructor at the Right Management outplacement firm, will discuss online
and social networking at the Freelance Alliance meeting at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday,
June 17, at the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, 10707 Preston Road. Bring
your own lunch. No charge for AWC, IABC and PRSA members; guests and nonmembers
$10. More from Pat Pape at patpape@yahoo.com or Kelly Lane at kelly@klanepr.com. ...
Deadline is June 16 to apply for the 7th annual USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Fellowship, to be offered Nov. 1-22 for six or seven mid-career arts editors and critics.
Based in Los Angeles, the fellowship includes attending as many as 23
performances, art exhibitions and architectural sites. E-mail an application
request to uscgetty@usc.edu. Include your name, media affiliation(s), number of years you have been
practicing arts journalism and contact information. ...
The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation seeks nominations for the Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award. Honorees do not have to be journalists. In fact, the foundation encourages
recognition of those outside the profession — public officials, lawyers, educators, librarians, students — for their First Amendment initiatives. The recipient receives $10,000 and an
engraved crystal, plus airfare and two nights at the 2008 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Atlanta to accept the award. And if you’re looking to hone your editorial writing skills but can’t find the time, apply for the
Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing. The $75,000 award allows time for study and research for a mid-career editorial
writer working at a U.S. newspaper. More on both awards from Heather Porter at 317-927-8000, ext. 204, or hporter@spj.org.
IABC local update: Can social media thrive behind the firewall? You bet it can,
says Steve Crescenzo with Chicago-based Crescenzo Communications. He will offer a 90-minute webinar Tuesday, June 17, on how to set up blogs and discussion boards for inter-company dialogue, do interactive workplace podcasts that
entertain, inform and educate, and convince management that social media tools
are business tools that can have true return on investment. The session,
sponsored locally by IABC Fort Worth, starts at 2 p.m. at Immotion Studios,
4717 Fletcher Ave. Cost is $25 per person. RSVP to
Tim Tune at tim.tune@fortworthgov.org.
PRSA local update: Rassai Internet Solutions at 500 Throckmorton St., Suite 375,
in downtown Fort Worth will host PRSA members and their guests for an evening
of professional development and networking Thursday, June 12, from 5:30 to 7
p.m. Space is limited. E-mail your RSVP to Bill Lawrence at lawprmrk@flash.net or Laura Van Hoosier at lauravanhoosier@gmail.com.
PRSA local update II: The Texas Public Relations Association needs volunters on the awards banquet and
in promotion, sponsorships and Best of Texas/Silver Spur judging for the
Southwest Communicators’ Connexion, next year’s combined TPRA Annual Conference and PRSA Southwest District Conference, Feb.
27-March 1 at the Frisco Embassy Suites Spa and Conference Center. Contact TPRA
president-elect Scott White at scottwhite@bizcompr.com or 972-490-0903.
PRSA local update III: Join PRSA national before July ends and receive a $45
chapter membership for one year. National membership is $225, plus $65
initiation fee. Visit prsa.org/membership/freechapter.html; be sure to enter CHAP2008 on the application. PRSA national benefits include
teleseminars, e-Learning, on-demand research from the PRC search database, the
relaunched JobCenter, RFP Exchange and Blue Chip Expert service. Contact Andra Bennett, APR, at abennett@fortworthchamber.com or 817-336-2491, ext. 265, for a snail-mail application or with questions on
other membership issues.
