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CPRC tip: Fake it until you make it!

Submitted by Mary Briggs, APR, CPRC

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received is from my fellow PR pro, Teri Hansen, APR, of Priority Marketing. She probably doesn’t recall this conversation, but it has been burned into my memory. About twenty years ago, Teri approached me after an FPRA chapter meeting. I was surprised when Teri said I had been tapped to serve as the Chapter President. What, me? I was in my twenties and felt waaaaay too young and inexperienced to take on such an important role. When I expressed this to Teri, she said something I will never forget. “Fake it until you make it,” she said. “Act like you know what you are doing, and pretty soon, you will.”

I’ve always treasured that advice, so I’m passing it along to you. Present yourself with confidence and you’ll find your colleagues believe that you really do have what it takes. Act poised and professional, and voila, you are! Don’t let others see your uncertainty. Take on that stretch assignment and then go burn the midnight oil to figure out how to get it accomplished.

The thing about faking it is that pretty soon you aren’t faking it at all. Your positive thinking and can-do attitude will eventually turn you into a genuinely confident and poised PR professional! I’m not advocating arrogance, or encouraging you to think you are Superwoman. Be realistic, but aim high! Believe you can accomplish anything you set your mind to, and others will believe it too.

Now you know my secret. After 25+ years experience in public relations, sometimes I still second guess myself and occasionally question my abilities, but I never let them see me sweat, and neither should you!

Mary Briggs, APR, CPRC, is a marketing consultant and co-owner of Briggs & Rogers, a public relations and advertising firm based in Fort Myers, Florida. The firm specializes in media relations, marketing communications, branding, and issues management.

Mary is a certified public relations consultant, co-chairs the Southwest Florida chapter’s Credentialing Committee and serves on the Executive Committee of the FPRA State Board of Directors. Mary was named the 2006 Public Relations Professional of the Year by the Southwest Florida chapter of FPRA and has received numerous awards for her marketing and public relations programs.

APR Accreditation Study Tips!

Studying for your APR credentials? FPRA Accreditation Chair, Mary Briggs, offers some insights to help you prepare.

• Create flashcards from the study materials (this helps with the material that is pure memorization).
• Attend the chapter study sessions. You’ll learn from other members of the group and it will help keep you on track.
• The day before the exam, do a last minute cram, then get to bed early and get a good night’s sleep.
• Create your own case studies. Look at issues being covered in the local media and create a plan or part of a plan on how you’d handle it.

Call or email Mary to get more info or visit http://www.fpra.org/Professional_Development/APR.aspx for more information on the APR process .

Member Spotlight: Wendy Payton-Enriquez

Wendy Payton-Enriquez applies an original mind and her instincts to help clients establish, articulate and achieve their integrated marketing communications goals. She uses her seventeen years of experience to guide marketing planning, brand strategy development and account service activities at pearl brand communications (discoverpearl.com).

Wendy started her career in 1993 in the public relations department at The Florida Aquarium, a million-visitor tourist attraction in Tampa. Since moving to agency work in 1997, she has directed a broad range of accounts with annual budgets up to $15 million. After a six-year stint at Fort Myers-based Tweed Advertising, she and creative partner Scott Qurollo launched pearl in 2008.
She currently serves as president of the American Advertising Federation-Southwest Florida and is a member of Florida Public Relations Association. She holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in marketing from Cleary University of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her work has earned numerous national advertising and marketing awards.

What would you like to do in FPRA next year?

The FPRA year is far from over, but it’s time to begin planning for 2010-2011 already! According to our chapter bylaws, nominations for the Officer and Director positions open on April 1 of each year, and within 30 days a slate must be presented to the current Board for review. The approved slate is then presented to the general membership by June 1 of each year and is voted on at the chapter’s annual business meeting, held in July. This process is guided by our chapter bylaws and it all takes place in time to coincide with the statewide annual conference in August, when the President and President-Elect are sworn in as members of the Board of Directors on the state level. Depending on the dates, during our chapter’s August business meeting, outgoing Leadership Team members are recognized, incoming Officers are sworn in and Directors and Leadership Team members are installed. Then, before you know it, it’s September 1 and the new FPRA year begins! What would you like to do in FPRA next year?

Full job descriptions for each Leadership Team position can be found on the chapter Web site at http://fpraswfl.org/leadership-opportunities.html.

Send your nominations to Nomination Committee Chair Ginny Cooper at ginny@mycoopergroup.com. Nominations will close on April 23, 2010.

Please be advised that the Board adopted a policy in 2008-09 that all members of the Leadership Team must have been a member in good standing of FPRA for at least one year prior to assuming leadership responsibilities.

Bridging the Generations

FPRA's March 8th luncheon theme was “Building Bridges for Mutual Benefit” and who better to speak to that topic than Jack Levine, communications and public policy consultant and founder of 4Generations Institute? 

Levine opened his candid discussion of the four generations by posing an introspective question, “Who helped shape you – positively or negatively - how to be or how not to be?”  Specific people in our lives, from previous generations, have been influencers.

At the turn of the last century (1900s), there were typically three generations in families: children, parents and grandparents.  Life expectancy has been increasing dramatically since then.  In 1908, the average life expectancy was 47; during the depression, it was 62; today – almost 80.  This longevity has led to the addition of a fourth generation: the great-grandparents.

Levine provided some additional statistics: of every 75 year old ever alive in the history of the United States, two-thirds are alive today.   Currently, there are 53,000 centenarians in our country.  With the current trend of longer life expectancy, in 30 years, there will be 500,000 centenarians.

Emotional and economic attention is needed for this surge in elder population and meeting their needs. According to Levine, “In order for us to have a future for all our generations, we need to have a plan.” 

One of the keys to that plan is intergenerational bridging, rather than segregating the older population.  Seventy-five percent of children under the age of five have two parents working. Teens need positive influencers that help them gain interests.  The older generations can help provide the younger generations with a brighter future by sharing learning and life experiences, passing down skills and interests to the later generations.

In business, these theories can be applied through communications which evoke an emotional connection to inspire a buying decision.  Levine dubs this an emotional intelligence – knowing the motivations for each generation.  Bridging the generations is about mutuality – approaching multi-generational community “with something”, rather than “for something.”

In closing, Levine encouraged us to leave a legacy as we personally work to bridge the generations.  What will you be remembered by?