Mei-Mei Chan - The Road Ahead

Mei-Mei Chan, (pronounced "me-me") became President and Publisher of The News-Press in March 2010.  She has a broad knowledge of the media industry holding positions in news, circulation, and advertising. 

She shared a little about her history and transition to living in Southwest Florida.  Mei-Mei was born in Canton, China to the first woman in the village to go to school and an uneducated father.  When she was two, she and her mother and father escaped to Hong Kong, and eventually to America when she was 7.

Professionally, she's worked throughout the country, including Idaho, Illinois, and across the country in Seattle, and started out as a cub reporter.  She said that Southwest Florida has a wonderful quality of life.  She especially loves wearing sandals and no socks - which garnered a chuckle from the audience. 

She believes leadership is also a lifelong journey, with many tools and lessons learned along the way.   Mei-Mei discussed navigating a changing landscape, pondering how to stay ahead of the curve.

Changes in landscape... remembering our journey from the first PCs, the first ebay and Amazon purchases in 1995,  first cell phones, to today when 25% of homes don't even have a landline phone.  We also remembered the start of YouTube, where there were 32 billion videos watched in March 2010.  All these changes have occurred in just 15 years. "Ceaseless, creative chaos."

Changing consumer... rising to the chaos, consumers are in control with 24/7 demand, content and access.  People can and will say anything and are no longer naive regarding pricing.  The younger generation is the "D" generation - digital.  If it's not online, it didn't happen.  There are over 100 million blogs today, combined with Twitter and other social media - this has changed society. People are connected all the time.  The new landscape is all about social sharing and social currency.  Consumers are fragmented, fickle and fluid.  They trust their network more than so-called experts.

Implications for communities, businesses and professionals... How strongly are we performing in the social ecosystem in terms of digital differentiation, loyal followers, authenticity, guiding/bridging/leading, reaching wider and deeper to a more challenging audience.  Another factor is considering access for individuals to these social communities, and also what content to provide.  You need sophisticated campaigns across the media to reach consumers throughout the buying process.  Embrace and lead with authenticity.

New media effect on traditional media... The effect of this on traditional media has been a survival of a cataclysmic storm.  Secular changes include classified categories changing, content ownership and have created perplexed advertisers.  Mass media has been redefined.  For newspapers, their unique challenge is their gigantic existing cost structure, including printing and distribution.  Newspapers are adjusting.  Only a handful have actually closed and major metro newspapers are still dominant in their cities.  Newspapers and their web sites remain the strongest of any media in their markets.  Traditional newspapers are trusted, respected brands with a wide portfolio of content and advertising. 

There's room and space for everyone.  Although traditional media still powers the world with 67% of top news sites tied to legacy media (50% of them newspapers), at the end of the day, it's about content and storytelling and using devices to fit your life.  Traditional media is in transformation and still powering the world.

Locally - The News-Press... has been around for 126 years.  3 of 4 adults read their portfolio of products each week in print and online.  Sunday circulation is growing.  April page views to News-Press.com were 12.86 million, and unique visits spend an average of 25 minutes on the site.  The cornerstones of free press are connecting, reflecting, challenging and leading. Chan assures us The News-Press is healthy and staying ahead of the curve.  

Blogger:  Kerri Goldsmith, FPRA SWFL Emerging Media Chair 

Scholarships allow FPRA members to catch “The Big Picture”!

In addition to recognizing excellence in public relations, the Annual Image Awards on April 14, 2010, provided the backdrop for awarding six Southwest Florida FPRA members with scholarships to attend the Florida Public Relations Association’s (FPRA) 2010 State Conference: The Big Picture: Bringing PR Leadership and Strategy into Focus, August 8-12, in Naples, Florida, at the Naples Grande Beach Resort.

All six recipients were awarded scholarships based on their current and past leadership contributions to the Southwest Florida Chapter of FPRA, a statement of what they hoped to gain personally and professionally from attending the state conference, and financial need.

Symbolic of the generational diversity in the public relations industry today, scholarship recipients this year represent professionals at various points in their career, from relatively recent college graduates, to Southwest Florida industry icons.

Recipients will share lessons learned and valuable tips garnered at the state conference with the SWFL Chapter membership during a panel discussion at the August business meeting.

Full conference scholarship recipients:

Angie Strait
PR Coordinator
Lee County Port Authority

Carla Ulakovik
Community Project Specialist
East County Water Control District

Partial conference scholarship recipients:

Susan Bennett, APR, CPRC
President
Susan Bennett Marketing & Media

Danielle Flood
PR & Communications Manager
ECHO (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organizational)

Kerri Goldsmith
Administrative Assistant
HBK Source Financial

Samantha Scott
President
Pushing The Envelope

FPRA's May meeting to focus on Politics & PR

The Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Tuesday, May 4th luncheon program from 11:30am to 1:00 p.m. at the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre in Fort Myers focuses on “Bridging Politics and Public Relations”. Learn from three of our area’s savviest political pros as they share their insights on the role public relations plays in shaping Southwest Florida’s political landscape. Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall, Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington and Lee County Democratic Party Chairman Will Prather will discuss their experiences (both good and bad) with PR in politics and trends they see emerging in the 2010 elections season.

Lee County Commissioner Tammy Hall – Ms. Hall was elected to the Board of County Commissioners in 2004 and became the first woman to serve as chairwoman of the commission in 2005. Prior to her election to the Board of County Commissioners, she served as Ward 1 City Councilwoman for the City of Fort Myers.

Lee County Supervisor of Elections Sharon Harrington – Ms. Harrington has served as Supervisor of Elections since 2004, when she was appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush to fulfill the unexpired term of retiring supervisor Philinda Young in 2004. She ran unopposed for election in 2008. Sharon has worked in the Elections office since 1989 and has worked previously as a fiscal officer, human resources director and assistant supervisor. 

Lee County Democratic Party Chairman Will Prather – Mr. Prather is an active leader in the Democratic Party including heading local campaign efforts on behalf of presidential candidate Barack Obama, and was elected chair of the Lee County Democratic Party following the presidential election. In addition to his political efforts, he is Executive Producer for the multi-state Prather Family of Theatres which includes the Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre.

The cost to attend FPRA’s May luncheon meeting is $18 for members, $25 for non-members and $10 for students.  Walk-ins are welcome for an additional fee. For more reservations or information, visit http://www.fpraswfl.org/.

Building Bridges between You and Your Boss or Client

PR “storyteller” Art Stevens, APR, Fellow, PRSA added a new perspective to the employee/boss and service provider/client relationship at yesterday’s FPRA Southwest Florida chapter meeting held at the Broadway Palm in Fort Myers. His reference to building bridges is more than figurative. In his own career, the act of building a bridge literally built a bridge between him and his boss, skyrocketing his career at a young age.

Stevens has had a very successful career spanning over four decades in public relations, which he says came about, “by accident.” After majoring in English at City College of New York envisioning a career as a top-notch editor, his actual meager beginnings as an assistant textbook editor grew through building some very important bridges. After helping his friend write a successful job application dubbed "Ode to Personnel" for Prentice Hall, he was returned the favor when his friend helped him get a position as assistant to the Director of Public Relations.

The CEO of Prentice Hall at the time was John Powers, who had developed a great interest in Japanese art and culture. Powers was creating a beautiful park near the Prentice Hall offices in New Jersey, which was to include an authentic Japanese Benkei-bashi bridge. The construction of the bridge was a major project. The young PR assistant Stevens suggested a dedication ceremony and was given the go-ahead. He took the lead role on the project, contacting dignitaries and making plans for the event. One day when the CEO, John Powers was asking for a special update on the event, Stevens was called in to provide details. Powers took note of the talent and work done, and asked to be updated personally by Stevens throughout the planning and execution of the event. Following the successful bridge dedication, he summoned Stevens to his office.

Powers asked Stevens how he would handle the public relations efforts on behalf of Prentice Hall, if he were given the opportunity. Although weak-kneed and very nervous, Stevens responded quickly and adeptly with much of his response crafted from the Cutlip and Center textbook he had been studying. Powers must have liked what he heard, since his next act was to promote the 25-year old Stevens to Director of Public Relations and to reassign his (former) boss to another position in the company.  It was the beginning of an exciting career in public relations, which still continues today.

Stevens boils down his experiences in building bridges with bosses or clients into six lifelong lessons:

1. Know thy boss or client. Be aware of their career path and interests.
2. Volunteer. Don’t be passive in your job.
3. Anticipate. Be aggressive, intuitive and ahead of the curve.
4. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind and tell it like it is. Be sure to know the whole picture and absorb all you can.
5. Always approach your boss or client with well-thought-out new ideas.
6. Always provide honest feedback on how things went – good or bad.

Thanks to Art Stevens for your enlightening discussion and also, thanks to Shell Point Retirement Community for sponsoring the luncheon meeting. 

Photo: Wendy Iverson, Jessica Clark, Rochelle Cherniawski, Kathleen Taylor, Art Stevens

Click here for another interesting article about Art Stevens being honored by PRSA with the Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service.

FPRA and AdFed: Stronger as Colleagues

Recently, the Southwest Florida chapter of FPRA has begun re-building bridges with the American Advertising Federation Southwest Florida chapter. VP of Community Relations Laura Puerto has been leading the effort for FPRA. Incidentally, FPRA members Wendy Payton-Enriquez and Angie Basile are also currently serving AAF-SWFL as president and vice-president, respectively!

In this economy, and with the continuous evolution of our communications-related professions, we each have much we can learn from each other, similarities to share and valuable connections we can make. We have agreed to cross-promote our events and look for ways we can offer our members greater benefits through ongoing partnerships. Watch for details about an upcoming joint event that you will not want to miss!!


Check out what AAF-SWFL is up to now on their Facebook page and or click on the event flyer posted to the right.

Annual Conference Update: Think Business, Think Pleasure

For the Florida Public Relations Association's Annual Conference, "The Big Picture: Bringing Public Relations Strategy and Leadership Into Focus,"

Think Business, Think Pleasure

MARK YOUR CALENDAR: August 8 – 11, 2010 at the beautiful Naples Grande in Naples, Fla.
RESERVE YOUR HOTEL ROOM NOW: Only $125 per night! Reservation link is up at www.fpra.org
REGISTER NOW: Registration forms are ready! Take care of it now and relax! Go to www.fpra.org to download your registration form.

Attending Annual Conference is always a good bet on both the professional development side and from the angle of personal enjoyment!



Practicing what we preach, research before tactics, FPRA has a link to an Annual Conference survey (emailed to all members on Tuesday, January 19). Please click through and let them know your thoughts!

For the price conscious concerns (I’m sure we all think of these a bit more these days), the Naples Grande has just reduced their room rate to FPRA Annual Conference attendees! The cost per night has dropped from $149 to $125 per night. Even if you already booked your rooms, the hotel will honor these new rates. Just be sure to let them know you’re with FPRA, and you’re in! This is a real bargain on their rooms, by the way. The Annual Conference committee continues to keep costs in mind, looking for ways to further enhance the value of attending this year.

To help emphasize the value for our members (and those holding the budget strings), please continue to send in your testimonials about how the annual conference has benefited you and your employer, please e-mail it to wwacker (at) rtix (dot) com.

FPRA Goes to The News-Press

Several members of FPRA enjoyed a visit to The News-Press Editorial Board Meeting on May 27, 2009, where Lynn Schneider, APR, CPRC; Susan Bennett, APR, CPRC and Kate Gooderham, APR, CPRC gave a presentation on FPRA - it's mission, dedication to professionalism, it's widespread influence around the state. We shared our Code of Ethics with the Editorial Board and discussed ways we could improve the two-way conversation between our industries. Many thanks to Kate for arranging the visit!