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MEETINGS
No meeting in May, but stay tuned on the website and the usual channels — Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn — for information about IABC Fort Worth’s next event, Tuesday, June 26.
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Not Your Average Leadership Program
You’ve heard it before: “To be a better leader you must do A, B, C and D.” But what about plan Z or option M? No more fighting for scraps from the table. Sam Sims, APR, will offer luncheon participants this month a fresh look at public
relations professionals and leadership development. Learn how PR can earn its
place at the executive table — or even in the driver’s seat. Attendees will take away guidelines on ways to increase leadership
capacity, the mentor/mentee process, and how to build a pipeline of strong
leaders in PRSA and in business.
Sims has been with US Fleet Tracking since 2009, rising to PR/marketing director
in 2010. He has weorked in the architecture, engineering, energy, medical,
science, technology and arts industries with specialties in communication
planning, development, media relations and crisis situations.
He is the 2012 chairman for PRSA’s Southwest District and sits on the executive committee of the technology
section. A past president of the Oklahoma City chapter, he has overseen the
chapter’s website since 2000.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, May 9
Place: Colonial Country Club, 3735 Country Club Circle, Fort Worth
Cost: members $25, nonmembers $35, students $20 (walk-ups add $5)
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Let Us Pray for Story Ideas
Covering religion is part of a journalist’s routine, whether the beat is politics, education, criminal justice, law,
sports, arts or business, and it comes with particular challenges. At the May
meeting hear from experts who have covered the religion beat and from those who
help journalists find religion sources.
The Dallas Morning News’ Jeff Weiss, former Star-Telegram religion writer Jim Jones and religionlink.com’s Mary Gladstone will lead the discussion.
Time & date: mingling 6 p.m., eats 6:30, then the program Wednesday, May 9
Place: Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St., Fort Worth
Cost: members $17, nonmembers $25, students $10, cash or check, free if you join right
then and there
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STRAIGHT STUFF
The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference, July 20-22 at the Hilton DFW Lakes Executive Conference Center in Grapevine,
will explore the myriad ways in which storytellers crisscross the murky terrain
between fiction, nonfiction and other genres. Speakers include Luis Alberto Urrea, a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist who has been published extensively in all
genres, including poetry; Richard Rhodes, the Pulitizer-winning author and editor of 26 works of fiction, history,
biography and memoir; Isabel Wilkerson, the first black woman in the history of American journalism to win a Pulitzer
Prize; Pulitzer-winning biographer Debby Applegate; Esquire writer-at-large Tom Junod; Jeanne Marie Laskas, a best-selling nonfiction author and journalist known for narratives in GQ,
Esquire and other magazines that capture the voice of her subjects more
adroitly than a ventriloquist; and Alisa Valdes, a former Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times staff writer who has become a
best-selling novelist. The conference, now in its eighth year, sponsors a
national writing competition that awards $15,000 in cash prizes and publication
in its literary journal, Ten Spurs, for the best essays and narratives
submitted. The conference also offers cash and a book publishing contract for
the three best manuscript submissions. ...
Join the DFW Freelance Alliance from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Trinity
Hall at Mockingbird Station in Dallas, next to the Angelika Theatre. Bring a
friend or another freelancer. There’s no charge except for your food and drink. Contact Pat Pape at patpape@yahoo.com. ...
Book marketing expert Rachel Simeone uses her 20-plus years in internet and consumer marketing to help authors
achieve their dreams, and she’ll tell all about it at the Writers’ Guild of Texas meeting at 7 p.m. Monday, May 21, at the Richardson Public
Library. Implementing proven marketing strategies, Simeone develops customized
marketing programs that attract readers. She is known for ideas that exploit
hidden opportunities to give authors a marketing advantage. In addition to her
work with authors, Simeone developed a book-marketing training program for the
online publisher Blurb.
• Improve your writing/editing skills at WGT PCS (planned critique sessions),
third Wednesday of the month, Richardson Public Library basement, 6:30-8:45
p.m. Participants present their own work and receive feedback from fellow
members. • More at writersguildoftexas.org/joomla/. Send calendar items to Carol Woods at carol.woods@verizon.net. ...
