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| Interchange 2011/2012 Program Year Jan. 11, 2012: Starring You: How to Talk to the Media  Shelley Irwin, host and producer of radio's WGVU Morning Show, shared her insights from the interviewer's side of the microphone about what goes into being a great interview guest. Through her series of questions and quick tips, the Interchange attendees picked up some good information.
“Why talk to the media?” Shelley asked. “Whatever good news we have, we need to not be afraid to toot our own horn.”
Shelley offered some encouragement for those who want to work in media. Her first career was as physical therapist for 15 years. To make a huge shift into radio, she got experience by becoming an intern at age 40. "Don't be afraid to do whatever it takes to get your foot in the door," Shelley said. Things have really changed since then. “Today, our community has many media outlets: TV, radio, newspapers and other publications, plus online sources like The Rapidian and RapidGrowth. But the good news is that today’s media is archived media. Don’t fret if it’s just a one-time opportunity, because it lives on online and remains accessible to audiences.”
When seeking an interview, she advised, know the shows, the content they provide, the players and the people behind the scenes. “When it comes to connecting with the media, the key is relationship, relationship, relationship.”
For those working in public relations, be sure you know your client, what their message is and the hook that would interest the media and their audience. Ask yourself, “Why should she (Shelley) care?” It’s important to tell a story because stories sell.
Shelley had everyone pair up for an exercise. “Answer these questions,” she said. “What is my expertise and how did it come about? What do I bring that other people don’t? How will the audience benefit from me?”
When making the pitch to media, know who to contact and their preferred to connect. Be sure to give them time to discuss the idea and respond. Don’t call five minutes before 5 p.m. for a story happening at 8 a.m. the next day, but be aware that if you send a release a month in advance it could end up in the “dreaded file system” where it might not be seen again. Be sure to avoid newscast times for pitching a story, like 7:30 a.m., noon or 5 p.m. “And never show up unexpectedly with lunch,” Shelley advised. “It will get cold.”
“Don’t pitch a guest if you won’t share their name. Sometimes people withhold information due to a news embargo until a specific date, but embargoes are risky. Don’t leave a long-winded message on voicemail,” Shelley advised. “And be an adult and monitor your body language, especially if you get a ‘no’ answer in person.”
So what do you do if it’s a yes? Meet all deadlines. Fulfill all promises. Get any materials being pitched to the host as soon as possible. Share cell phone numbers with each other in case you need it the day of the interview. Be sure to ask all your questions. How many minutes will I get? Will I be on first or last? Will I get a copy? Be prepared to sign a consent form so you can’t sell the recording. Do get a copy for your employer or business. If you have lined up an interview for an author, have the author offer to sign the book for the host.
When it’s show time, for television avoid wearing white, solid red or black, or heavily patterned clothing. Don’t clash with or upstage the host, and no cleavage. Dress the part. If you’re a chef, wear your uniform. Be sure your nails and shoes look good. Don’t wear cologne or perfume.
The night before the interview, pack up extra samples of your pitch materials, such as a book, CD or DVD, plus your press kit and release, and bring those with you. Maybe bring little things that relate to your topic in a fun way. “Bruce, you work for the airport, so you could bring a little toy airplane,” Shelley joked with Bruce Schedlbauer, director of Marketing and Communications for Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Don’t be late as most interview opportunities are live. Come early, be prepared to wait. Expect the unexpected, including being bumped for a breaking news story. “When you’re offered coffee or water,” Shelley said, “skip the coffee so you don’t spill it on your clothes, but please take the water. You don’t know how your body is going to respond under pressure. Having some water to drink will probably help.”
For radio, move in close and speak into the microphone. Do your homework and know your interview time frame. “Don’t take over the host’s job by talking too much,” Shelley advised. “Share the conversation.” A good host will ask open questions, not ones that can be answered with a yes or a no. Know your Facebook and website address.
When the interview is a wrap, especially in television, just stay seated and wait until you are told to move. Those moments will be used for credits or transitions. Be sure to give a strong handshake to the host. Find out when it will air and share that with your publics by email and via your social networks.
“And always send a thank you note,” Shelley said. BOOK DRAWING: 
Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that he or she has found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. For our January 2012 giveaway, Shelley Irwin chose Finding My Voice by Diane Rehm, host of The Diane Rehm Show on National Public Radio. In her book, Rehm recounts her battle with a rare neurological disorder, spasmodic dysphonia (SD), a condition that threatened to end her broadcast career. She was off the air for months searching for a diagnosis and treatment. Today her talk show is entering its third decade and reaches 2 million listeners every week. Shelley has interviewed Diane Rehm on her WGVU program and has visited Rehm in her studio in Washington, D.C. The winner of the drawing, picked by Shelley Irwin from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was MIke Guswiler, executive director of the West Michigan Sports Commission. Dec. 14, 2011: Making the Move: UICA  Jeff Meeuwsen, executive director of the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, shared the UICA story and what they do that makes them a truly unique center for creativity in West Michigan, with a national and international reputation and impact on the art world. "We are one of the largest non-collecting, non-selling art centers in the country," he said. "We focus almost exclusively on lesser known artists who are at pivotal points in their careers. It's all about experimentation, it's all about ideas. The UICA is forward-thinking about where the art world is going, what's next." In a video shown at the Interchange gathering, one of the people from galleries across the country called the UICA a rare and important laboratory, one that exists to foster the work of younger artists who will be the stars of tomorrow. Few cities our size in the United States have something like this. In 2010, the UICA had more than 170,000 visitors, up from 35,000 in 2005. They were rated the most visited cultural center in downtown Grand Rapids. ArtPrize probably figured in the increase in attendance, as Jeff was the founding director of ArtPrize in 2009. The UICA is described as an incubator for art, an artistic/educational consultant, and the only institutional partner of ArtPrize. One of their main programs is their free ArtWorks for students in high school and college, ages 14-21. They draw students from more than 70 schools. "It's like a Junior Achievement for creative careers," Jeff said. The UICA even put a unique spin on fund-raising, with an exciting ArtLive event featuring 100 artists doing their work right in front of you. The pieces are then auctioned off in a silent auction to benefit the UICA. The next of these is planned for Feb. 18, 2012. Jeff was a volunteer when the UICA was about to close its doors. He met with the board and tried to convince them it was needed in the community. "It provided a place for people to express different points of view," he said. Within two weeks, he was made the executive director. "My friends thought I was crazy," he said. Jeff started the UICA on a path toward restructuring. He was able to involve community leaders in investing matching funds for the funds they raised. In 2005, during the fourth year of his leadership, the city came calling. A mixed use development at Division Ave. and Fulton St. needed a high profile anchor. They invited the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts to be that for them. "We weren't looking to move," Jeff said. "But because it is a shared use building, with participation from the city for a parking ramp and from the developer of some apartments, our costs were one-third of what they what they would have been otherwise. The new building, called The Gallery on Fulton, opened last July. The UICA has the first five floors and the basement level, but it's only partly finished. A digital film theater opened in October, providing the only downtown movie theater and providing a place for people to see foreign and independent films that might otherwise not be shown in West Michigan. "We will also eventually have a black box theater for the performing arts that seats up to 150, and more finished gallery space, once we raise another six and a half million dollars for Phase II, which could take two or more years," Jeff explained. When completed, the UICA will have 15 galleries, the two theaters, a rooftop terrace for events, two bars/lounges, and much more under a LEED-certified roof. The new building will also have a dedicated youth studio for ArtWorks, which the old building didn't have. Recently Jeff went to Washington, D.C., where the UICA was honored by First Lady Michelle Obama with a national humanities award for their ArtWorks program that often hosts troubled youth and encourages them to think creatively. "For so many kids," she said, "art is not an extra, not a luxury. It is a lifeline for so many of these kids. For every life that is transformed there is a tremendous ripple effect." Artworks takes misfit kids, kids who have nothing, kids who have everything, and it pulls them all together and lets them express themselves. During the Q&A time, Craig Clark (Clark Communications) asked, "Did you find that the move to a more central location has affected your donor base? You have been perceived as an underground center for art, and I'm wondering what may have happened to those who liked that image of you." Jeff answered, "We are closer to our mission than ever. We have the ability for new programs and new educational opportunities. In terms of the artists, they have new opportunities to show their work." One change that people will have to get used to is that admission used to be free. "We've started to charge admission, and the proceeds go into the youth program and the exhibitions program to keep those free," Jeff said. BOOK DRAWING: 
Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that they have found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. For our December 2011 giveaway, Jeff Meeuwsen instead selected a DVD titled Art: 21 - Season 5, which was not immediately available. A gift card to Schuler Books and Music was presented as the prize, with the recommendation to get the DVD. The winner of the drawing, picked by Jeff Meeuwsen from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Dan Holzgen from Echelbarger, Himebaugh, Tamm & Co., PC. Nov. 9, 2011: Behind the Scenes: Clark Retirement Community LipDub ,%20Kim,%20Mary(GVSU)%20006%20200px.jpg)
Jane Brierly, Kim Roberts and Mary Pirkola (L-R in photo) shared insights into what makes for a successful LipDub project, and showed videos of the Grand Valley State University LipDub and the Clark Retirement Community LipDub. Final evaluation: it takes a dedicated production team, buy-in from many participants, a lot of planning and patience for many rehearsals and many takes, plus sponsors to help with donations of things needed for the shoot, and a ton of work by everyone involved. For those who don't know, a LipDub is one continuous shot of video showing people mouthing the words to a song. The longer the song, and the more participants singing along, the more complicated it gets. The Grand Valley State University LipDub was set to "Come Sail Away" by STYX. The production took four months of pre-production before the summer shoot. Kim Roberts, associate professor in the GVSU School of Communications and director of the LipDub, said they shot 10 takes, with more and more GVSU students joining in each time as they saw what was going on and got excited. They used Take #7 as their official 7:41 LipDub video. VIEW IT HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn5L3gsCHgQ But before any of that began, Jane Brierly, director of Marketing and Admissions at Clark Retirement Community, knew about the Grand Rapids LipDub to Don McLean's "American Pie" that became an Internet sensation. Producers Rob Bliss, Jeffrey Barrett and Scott Erickson applied what they learned to form the brand awareness firm Status Creative. Then came the GVSU LipDub and the local, national and international buzz it drew. Jane knew that Clark board member Marcia Haas is married to Tom Haas, the president of GVSU, so there was a connection there. Jane contacted Kim and asked if she would be interested in working on a LipDub video at Clark. "Umm, no," was Jane's answer, well aware of how much work such a project would take. But little by little, she began to see this as an opportunity to involve film and video students in her program in a way that would benefit them in their future careers. The Clark Retirement Community LipDub had two months of planning. After being shown the GVSU LipDub, the residents needed some convincing. "The music has to be a lot slower," they said. The production team narrowed down the song choices to 10 for consideration, but one kept floating to the top: Michael Buble's big band production of "Feelin' Good." The style, the lyrics, and the tempo just seemed an ideal fit for a LipDub involving all seniors, and for promoting the idea that senior community living can be fun. The team of staff, students and alumni included a lot of student assistant directors who were each responsible for producing a few lines in the song. They worked for four to six weeks with about 100 residents, who spent their personal time learning their lines and practicing hitting their marks and doing their motions for the camera. On the day of the shoot, they shot eight takes. "After Take #3," Kim said, "I grabbed the video disc out of the camera, put it into a sleeve and handed it over to an A.D. and said, 'Keep this safe. This is it. This is the one.' I wanted to make sure we didn't record over it!" VIEW THE CLARK LIPDUB HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ7-n930zJo Mary Pirkola, communications specialist for News & Information Services at GVSU, told about the timing and strategy in telling the world about these two LipDub videos. "First, we created internal awareness about the video release, but didn't say anything publicly until we were ready," Mary said. The angle on the Clark LipDub was that, as far as they knew, this was the first LipDub made that featured only residents of a retirement community. They sent a note to the media on a Friday prior to their 3 p.m. Monday July 11 Premiere Party. "At 2:30, the place was packed," Mary said. It was covered by MLive (Grand Rapids Press), FOX17 and WZZM-TV13, and the video went up on Vimeo.com. On Tuesday July 12, the video was launched on YouTube.com. Local radio put links on their websites. On Wednesday, Good Morning America called and sent limos to Clark Retirement Community to pick up residents for in-studio interviews for ABC-TV and several radio stations. Interest came from Today (NBC-TV), NPR Blog, even the UK Daily Mail. It got picked up by video spotlight websites like "What's Trendy," Mashable Video of the Day, and Tosh.O. It was the number one video in Tunisia, of all places, and huge in South Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, which points to the power of the Internet in the world community. Even Michael Buble saw it and said he loved it, that it reminded him of his grandparents. Mary told of a lot of other media attention they were still getting and interviews they were asked to do, including The Daily Dot, the European Television Network, a news radio station in Dublin, Ireland. The latest is the U.K. TV show "RudeTube," which is a collection of ridiculous videos along with heartwarming videos. "We were reticent at first, but they assured us we would be presented in a positive light. We're scheduled to be on their program on Jan. 2 or 3, 2012," Kim said. One of the best things about the Clark LipDub project was how close the GVSU students got with the senior residents. "Sometimes we would be finishing up for the day, and it was close to dinner time and they would offer to feed us," Kim said. "The kids would walk into the dining room and the residents would break into applause." BOOK DRAWING: 
Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that they have found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. For our November 2011 book giveaway, Mary Pirkola brought a 50th Anniversary commemorative book about the history of GSU titled Grand Valley Celebrates 50 Years of Shaping Lives. The winner of the drawing, picked by Kim Roberts from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Joanne Reeves, freelance communications specialist. Oct. 12, 2011: Using Social Media to Promote Your Cause 
Bridget Clark Whitney, executive director of Kids' Food Basket (www.kidsfoodbasket.org), has been involved with the organization since 2002. The 2003 Aquinas College graduate told Interchange about the growth of their outreach and how social media has played an important role in recruiting volunteers and donors, and raising awareness about the great need of providing sack suppers for the children in Kent County. "There are 13,000 children living below the poverty level in Kent County," she said. "About a quarter of the kids in West Michigan face hunger daily." "We are attacking the problem of boys and girls not getting the nutrition they need for good brain development," Bridget said. "We feed 4,100 children a day with help of farmers, local food sources and Feeding America, where we can buy food for just 16 cents a pound. We have an average of 170 volunteers a day packing sack suppers, and we estimate that we have about 15,000 volunteers of all ages in Kent County. This is why we are constantly trying to connect with them and the public via social media. We are constantly linking to our website, and posting to Facebook and Twitter. We have 3,700 Facebook followers, and we use it every day." She went on to say they try to cater to people who like stories and letters from kids, as well as to those who like numbers and facts. They even post information about other events happening in the community that might tie in well with what Kids' Food Basket is doing. 
Adrienne Wallace, manager of Volunteer Services for Kids' Food Basket, talked about the content formula they use for social media: one-third about yourself, one third about the community, and one-third about what others are saying. "This way, you aren't viewed as pushing a product or an organization but as being engaged with the community," said Adrienne, who teaches public relations at Grand Valley State University. One of the successes the team had was entering a 24-hour vote getting contest run by Toyota to win a vehicle. In Kids' Food Basket's case, they chose to go for a much-needed pickup truck. "We warned our followers on Facebook and Twitter ahead of time, saying the next 24 hours were going to be over the top and all about asking people to vote for us," Bridget said. Adrienne said their approach was to keep it brand neutral and ask their followers to help them win "a truck," and make Kids' Food Basket the brand. "We knew that if we emphasized Toyota, some would not care for the make and might not vote for us," Adrienne said. In the end, they did win the truck, saving them the expense of having to buy one for $25,000. "That's enough money to pull a school off the waiting list and provide sack suppers to their students for a whole year. That's success," said Bridget. 
Also speaking at Interchange was Christine Lentine, Fund Development and Community Outreach Manager for Kids' Food Basket. "One fun thing we did was we had a display at DeVos Place downtown, called 'The Mother of Sack Suppers.' It was 14-feet tall and asked people to have their photo taken with it and post it to our Facebook page for a chance to win free tickets to a benefit for Kids' Food Basket," she said. "It was great exposure and promoted our organization in a variety of ways." Christine also told about the failure of a multiple month social media campaign to try to win a $50,000 grant from Pepsi. "Maybe people wouldn't vote for us because they don't like that brand," she said. It was a learning opportunity that helped them neutralize the brand approach for the Toyota contest, which by contrast was just a 24-hour effort. "We thought, 'we can do this,' this was possible." One of the Interchange attendees asked what they do when someone posts a negative comment on their Facebook page. "We try not to remove them, but respond to them thoughtfully," Bridget said. "We had someone say they had seen a video of our volunteers assembling sack suppers without wearing gloves and thought it was unsanitary. After viewing the video, we realized that the things going into the bags were already pre-packaged. We explained that in our response, and pointed out the health department regulations we follow in packaging our food, and this person replied, 'Oh, great. Thank you.' The main thing is to realize that they are trying to help you, and to respond to them in a positive way." Adrienne pointed out their success in doing an online fund appeal. "Last fall, between Oct. 15 and the day after Thanksgiving, we raised $10,000 using Twitter, Facebook and email. We had two-thirds the number of followers as we have now. We really hope to raise $25,000 this fall and take a school off the waiting list." They are blessed to have "champions" who can provide matching funds for the campaign. After the meeting, Christine shared how their child nutrition program touches people in ways they never imagined. Volunteer groups, senior living communities and churches buy and decorate lunch bags for the program, with 500 bags costing about $15. "The first thing kids do is look to see if their bag is decorated," she said. "There was a social worker who was invited by a child to see his room, where she saw that the walls were covered with these decorated bags, proudly on display. She asked the boy why he had kept so many of them. He said, "Because they're mine." BOOK DRAWING: 
Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that they have found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. For our October 2011 book giveaway, Bridget Clark Whitney chose The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back by Bill Shore, founder of Our Strength (Random House). The visionaries described in this book share the desire to create something that endures. These are people Bill Shore has met on his travels, those who are tapping into the resources in their communities to improve life for the people there. The winner of the drawing, picked by Bridget Clark Whitney from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Kristin Porco, account and project manager for Reagan Marketing (http://reaganmarketing.com). Sept. 14, 2011: Creating and Promoting an Idea - AJ Paschka
 AJ Paschka, of the Grand Rapids Art Museum, has a creative mind. He loves starting new ideas and helping others imagine new opportunities. The Pinckney, Michigan, native got a scholarship to Kendall College of Art and Design in 1997, and graduated four years later BFA in film photography – at a time when digital photography was just coming in. “Leave it to me to choose a major that was becoming obsolete right after I graduated,” AJ joked at Interchange on Sept. 14, 2011.
He moved to Seattle and did fairly well until Sept. 11, 2011, when everything changed. The work dried up, and AJ moved back to Southeast Michigan. He worked for Ritz Camera and also for Urban Outfitters, for which he created some video presentations to be shown to their business executives. AJ next lived a year in Chicago and worked in a prop warehouse, renting items to the media or selling them to restaurants. “Our team revamped the whole business by scanning antique signs that were not under copyright and printing them to fit recycled frames. These became decor items for places like Potbelly's or Fuddruckers.”
He returned to Grand Rapids, working at the new Wealthy Street Bakery and returning to his first love, photography – developing film and shooting photos for a nightlife magazine and the startup of Rapid Growth. “My friends in GR were into new creative opportunities and setting up places to execute our ideas,” AJ said, like Division Avenue Arts Cooperative and his own Avenue for the Arts living and work spaces, where he is the original tenant. He helped to open Nantucket Bakery on evening shifts, and worked part-time at the Grand Rapids Art Museum. He began working full-time at the GRAM, where his work in digital technology has received national recognition.
AJ shared how his Weather Collage concept took off. "In March 2010, my idea on innovating weather data struck a chord at 5x5night," he shared with Interchange attendees. He recounted his pitch to the judges. An admitted technology and art geek, AJ spends a lot of his professional and his personal life navigating the hybrid of left and right brain thinking, such as exploring the intersection of weather and the arts. A web application called weathercollage.com he had built about a year earlier with a friend, Andy Weber of People Design, led to a number of insights. “Weather has the unique ability to make us feel,” he said.
%20copy%202%20300px.png) He shared a scenario. "You wake up, turn on your laptop, and check your Weather Collage. You see it is going to be sunny with chance of rain later on and notice the collage is showing you images you chose of favorite clothes that you think are appropriate for the weather. You are going to check out ArtPrize so you choose the "ArtPrize filter" which shows you all the places with an outdoor venue. You email your friend the image and post it to your favorite social site. After checking out some venues, your friend and you get thirsty and decide to grab a beer. You check the “weatherCollage” app on your phone and use a filter to see what a top beer specialist thinks is the perfect beer for 62 degrees. It leads you to a great watering hole with the perfect beer." The 5x5 Night judges were hooked.
“What I want to do is to look at something in a new and creative way that enhances the experience of living,” he said. “This application is able to be an amazing tool that taps into emotional intelligence. This project is long-term, its scope is global, and it can make our lives better in a very fun way.” The judges that night were Rick DeVos, creator of both 5x5 Night and ArtPrize; artist and columnist Tommy Allen; Cynthia Kay, owner of a media company and chair of the Small Business Association of Michigan; entrepreneur Mike Morin; and Gwen O’Brien, co-principal and creative director at Plenty Creative.
AJ Paschka won $5,000, and is currently in technical development of WeatherCollage applications, including compelling and innovative apps for Android and iPhone. And it all began with an idea. BOOK DRAWING: Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that they have found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. We are unable to pick up a copy of the book chosen by our speaker for our September 2011 book giveaway, so we gave away a gift card for Schuler's Books and Music. The winner of the drawing, picked by AJ Paschka from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Sherrie Willson, Senior Communications Specialist for Steelcase (www.steelcase.com).
Interchange 2010/2011 Program Year April 20, 2011: Interchange Communicator of the Year - Meegan Holland Meegan Holland, online community editor at the Grand Rapids Press, was pleased to be honored Wednesday April 20, 2011, as the Interchange Communicator of the Year her outstanding work in online communications at The Grand Rapids Press. The award was presented by Interchange Board members (L-R) Treasurer Tamara Bergstrom, Program Director Holly Higginson, President Michelle Bennett and Communications Director John Elmore. (Not pictured: Vice President Juanita Vorel, Membership Director Carol-Ann Schaefer) "When I was also asked to bring an update to what I had shared in January, I wondered what else I could add," Holland said. "Then I remembered the great things that have happened at The Press since then. We continue to learn and grow in our online efforts." She told us about the progress they have made in raising the quality of comments on MLive stories, and talked about the Press’ efforts to use social media in new ways, plus lessons learned from a recent incident that epitomizes the confusion about online media. Holland said that more aggressive actions against nasty commenters on MLive have had an impact. Getting rid of just a few bad eggs has already raised the tone of the conversation, as confirmed by feedback saying the site is more friendly. Also more people say they’re clicking the "Alert Us" button on inappropriate comments.  The Press is experimenting with new ways to use social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter. Their statistics indicate that Facebook is more effective than Twitter in drawing people to MLive, but Holland made the point that Twitter tends to attract a sophisticated social media crowd that shouldn’t be ignored. “Twitter has proven that it can turn against us in a hot minute,” she said. “The Twitter crowd loves to keep an eye on us, and if they don’t like what they see, they don’t hesitate to say so. If we don’t weigh in on the conversation they begin, we look out of touch.”
She cited a recent incident in which some tweets were used in a story – and those behind the tweets objected to their use because the reporter didn’t ask for permission. They also said it constituted lazy reporting and that the reporter should have picked up the phone. Holland defended the reporter’s actions saying that many stories borne out of social media aren’t intended to be indepth stories, but instead to be more edgy blog items that are more slice of life. She also said that no one should expect reporters to ask for permission to use observations that appear on a public social media forum, whether it’s a public Twitter account or an open Facebook account. “The whole point of social media, used professionally, is to raise your profile,” Holland said. “If you don’t want exposure on an issue, don’t put it on a public social media forum. I know that may sound harsh, but as communications professionals, we all need to understand that anything in social media is fair game for broader consumption – and it may be used against us.” On the flip side, if you do want to raise awareness of an issue, she suggested that Interchange members befriend the Press at facebook.com/grpress and follow the Press at twitter.com/grpress. And clicking on the Lists page on the Press’ Twitter page will reveal Twitter names of reporters you can follow. Meegan Holland, online editor for The Grand Rapids Press, oversees a team of editors that handle the online content in a new "Online First, Print Important" approach. From the stories posted on the website, content is drawn for the daily printed newspaper. Holland is an experienced journalist and editor, and has worked at several papers in Michigan and Illinois. Prior to her return to The Press, she spent 17 years in Lansing overseeing the Booth Newspapers' state government and professional sports reporters. She used to edit fashion, feature and entertainment sections at The Press in the late 1980s, and returned here three years ago to become online editor. BOOK DRAWING: 
Each month, we ask our guest speaker to select a book for our giveaway, one that they have found particularly enjoyable or beneficial. For our April 2011 book giveaway, Meegan Holland chose The Irresistible Henry House: A Novel by Lisa Grunwald (Random House). Inspired by a true story of a real baby, Grunwald spins a tale about Henry, loaned by a local orphans home as a "practice baby," passed between a dozen young women at the Practice House of Wilton College's Home Economics program in an era that discouraged mothers from holding babies "too much." The story follows Henry into adulthood and how this affected him. The winner of the drawing, picked by Meegan Holland from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Teri Stora, Marketing Director for Echelbarger, Himebaugh, Tamm & Co., P.C. (www.ehtc.com). March 9, 2011: Promoting Nonprofits in a Difficult Economic Climate  Diana Sieger, president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation for the past 23 years, has certainly seen a lot of economic ups and downs in West Michigan. Even so, she is steadfast in her confidence that if people can catch your vision and believe in your mission, there is support available for nonprofits. "Promoting nonprofits in a difficult economic climate presents a great opportunity to exercise creativity," Diana said. "It is definitely the time to shine a light on the good efforts of any organization. Bringing life to the "what ifs" of possibility -- instead of being dismissive of "what won't happen because of the economy" -- captures the imagination of any person who will want to learn more! Come to Interchange to hear some scenarios that will demonstrate how this has worked." Diana credited Roberta King, her vice president for public relations and marketing, for creating a strong message that has encouraged giving to the foundation in support of nonprofit organizations. She said that according to a 2007 report from the Community Research Institute of Grand Valley State University’s Johnson Center for Philanthropy, there are 3,150 nonprofit organizations in Kent County. Sieger said, “That 2007 number reflects an estimated nonprofit payroll of $1.43 billion, and the total estimated economic impact on Kent County of $2.2 billion!” Diana emphasized the importance of nonprofits telling their story and pointed to Jim Collins, who wrote a 30-page book called Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking is Not the Answer. He wrote, “If a nonprofit spends money, donated dollars or whatever, on paid advertising or public relations or a graphic designer or anyone who can help in telling the story of the organization, it is accused of being wasteful or extravagant, of taking money away from the additional people who might be served by the organization.” Diana told of an instance in 1981 when she and a social work professor from Western Michigan University led a seminar with area human services agencies. They were facing a declining economy and significant government cutbacks during the early months of the Reagan administration. “The professor suggested that after all the layoffs, the organizations should hire or keep any person responsible for PR. At first you could hear a pin drop,” Diana said. “Then there was a small revolt. Remember, this was 1981. The social sector did not have PR-Marketing-Communications staff. In fact, PR generally amounted to brochures often duplicated on a photocopy machine.” Diana gave two examples of nonprofits that are growing and making a huge impact in this down economy. One is Kids Food Basket, which serves 3,700 children at 27 schools. Their website, kidsfoodbasket.org, is full of ideas for volunteering, donating and compelling stories. They recently moved into a larger facility. The other example resulted from a meeting two years ago of several foundations and this area’s larger arts and cultural organizations whose donations and audiences were down. They agreed attention should be drawn to how important the arts are to the vibrancy of Grand Rapids and the region. They created a website portal called “What’s Your Art?” (www.whatsyourartgr.com) that connected more than 60 diverse arts and cultural organizations. The highly interactive site has a calendar of events, links to purchase tickets, video and audio components and social media connections. “These two examples are quite different but do share one key point,” Diana concluded. “They did not shy away from promoting during these trying times.” Diana Sieger has served as president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation for the past 23 years. In her role there she is responsible for the leadership, management, strategic planning and development of this dynamic community foundation. Diana has two honorary degrees, both a Doctor of Humane Letters, from Aquinas College and Grand Valley State University. She earned a Masters of Social Work degree from Western Michigan University focusing on Policy, Planning and Administration. Diana was named by Grand Rapids Business Journal as one of the "50 Most Influential Women in West Michigan" 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2010. BOOK DRAWING: 
For our book giveaway, Diana Sieger chose Leadership On the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading by Ronald A. Heifetz and Marty Linsky (Harvard Business School Press). The winner of the drawing, picked by Diana Sieger from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Mike Guswiler, Executive Director of the West Michigan Sports Commission (www.WestMichiganSportsCommission.com). February 9, 2011: Opening the DeVos Children’s Hospital  Tom Hanley, director of Communications for Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital, said the biggest community public relations challenge he faces is overcoming the idea that their services are only for the sickest kids. “‘My child is not sick enough’ to go there, is what people think,” Hanley said. “And that’s our problem. How do you communicate the value of a place you never want to have to take your child to?”
Their primary message for what they do is “All Kids, All the Time.” They point to their dedicated children’s specialties and extensive equipment, like 12 different sized blood pressure cuffs, including the smallest and most expensive one for a one- or two-pound baby that you may not find in most hospitals. They also have radiology machines that operate at an appropriate lower intensity for children whose bones are still growing instead of the potentially harmful higher doses on equipment designed for adults. After learning that 80 percent of their clients brought their child to the hospital because their doctor recommended it, they set out to visit as many doctors as possible and talk about what they have to offer. Hanley himself has visited 50 area pediatrician offices. “There is a lot of pride in this great new building,” Hanley said. “We understand the importance of getting out, meeting with organizations and speaking. Our coverage area is 70 counties, across Lower Michigan and up into the Upper Peninsula. Hanley shared that one size does not fit all for internal communications when preparing 2,200 employees for the opening of a new $293 million facility. Going beyond email, they hosted face-to-face open forums with staff. They created a 2011 Countdown News publication, started an internal webpage, put together talking points about the hospital for staff, established a new email address specifically to address questions and put up a hotline webpage for posting the answers. Opening events required the scheduling and management of 1,500 volunteers over 14 days. A full-time person from Reagan Marketing took charge of that. The volunteers were posted throughout the hospital, and each wore a red scarf so the guests could easily identify them. These could be quickly taken off so the next shift of volunteer hosts could put them on. Local media across all platforms carried stories before and on patient move-in day, identified as “1-11-11.” Several days earlier, TV stations were invited to a mock patient move-in practice event using actual patients. Cameras were allowed to wander down the hallways and follow the action. Mindful of the HIPPA regulations protecting the privacy of the children, they made it easy for the media to identify those young patients whose guardians had signed consents allowing media to use their images. “We gave the approved patients green blankets,” Hanley said. “We told them, ‘Anyone with a green blanket is okay to videotape or photograph.’” Based on that test experience, Hanley and company decided to keep the media in one spot at the receiving end in the lobby on the actual move-in day. They produced some B-roll video footage of the new facility and included that DVD in the media packets for TV stations to use. Hanley’s hospital communications team created video releases, including a five-minute overview, and put those on DVDs for the press kits on media day and posted them to the hospital’s YouTube channel. Also included was some B-roll video footage touring the new facility for TV stations to use. Other media stories caught attention, such as the 96 volunteer guild ladies who run the beautiful new museum-quality gift shop and who also raised $1 million for the new building. TV personality Miranda interviewed a 14-year-old patient and followed her as the youth took kids on a tour of the hospital. A national cover story about move-in day appeared in MD News magazine and was featured on their website. More than once Hanley shared how his guests at the hospital are surprised by the taste of “the best pizza in Grand Rapids,” prepared in the hospital’s own new pizza ovens. Another story-maker was having 8,000 children create healing art that led to 1,500 pieces of art on display throughout the hospital. A blog called “A Child’s View of the Hospital” was started, and the hospital’s use social media itself became a media story. Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital has 20,000 Facebook Fans all over the U.S., some of whom used to live in West Michigan, and Facebook has become a platform for reposting blog entries. Those status updates have brought in 700 comments. An article put out by the Huffington Post was not pitched to them, but was picked up from something the hospital had posted online, pointing to the echo effect of good stories. Hanley described the challenges of the planning the logistics of14 opening events in 10 days with the help of Reagan Marketing. The big one was Opening Day. They were worried about thousands of people showing up all at once because the lobby holds a maximum of 500 people. They worked with the Fire Marshall to stay within the fire code, and successfully hosted 7,500 people that day by creating a reservation system that allowed them to schedule a certain number of people in half hour blocks. When reflecting on the successful opening of the hospital, Hanley expressed his gratitude for the staff and the consultants and the 1,500 volunteers who made everything run so smoothly. “It was a huge team effort by everyone involved, and this could not have happened without all of them,” he said. “We did it together.” Tom Hanley has served as director of Communications for the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital since 2007 and has more than 20 years of director-level experience in children’s hospital marketing, physician communications and public relations. He was named by PR News and CommCore Consulting as 2005 National PR Spokesperson of the Year for Crisis Communications in 2005. BOOK DRAWING: 
For our book giveaway, Tom Hanley chose Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Industries (Harvard Business Press). The winner of the drawing, picked by Tom Hanley from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Molly Murray, Grand Valley State University student and account executive with Grand PR (www.grandpr.org), which is run by PRSSA members at GVSU.
January 12, 2011: Impact of Social Media and Online Commenting on Business  Meegan Holland, who oversees social media and online content strategy for The Grand Rapids Press, said there have been four sides to her experience in mass communications. “As an editor, I chose and assigned stories. As a concert promoter, I begged for coverage. Thirdly, I was an inadvertent source for reporters by being present at a news-worthy event. And lastly, I have been an on-staff source for the Grand Rapids Press, putting out fires every day.”
Those fires came in the flood of more than 300 comments to her editorial in The Press on Dec. 22, 2010. In it, she pointed to the one percent of the hundreds of thousands of online Press users who are defined as “trolls,” because they search the MLive.com website for places to post negative, often inappropriate comments in response to the stories posted online and the comments of others. If you missed Meegan’s editorial, called “you can find it here: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2010/12/time_to_target_mlive_trolls_ne.html The whole point of allowing open commenting online is to engage the community while allowing free speech and interaction. For the most part, the comments on “MLive.com/grand-rapids” are not offensive. There is a way to complain to The Press about a posted comment, but disagreement in opinion or with the use of certain terms do not constitute grounds themselves for removing what someone has said. Just recently, Meegan and The Press were given the authority and technical know-how by their parent online tech group to remove comments and block profiles, something they have had to use on occasion. With Editor Paul Keep’s new “online first, print important” approach to their newspaper, reporters have to own their own news beats and post their stories online, sometimes without an editor seeing it. “There will be some misspellings,” Meegan said, “but it’s a trade-off to getting information to the people faster. We’re not waiting for the newspaper to print a story before it is posted online. Getting news up on a breaking level is important, especially with fires, crime, and weather. It’s much more ‘TV’ now.” Meegan tells the reporters that they are their own best promoter. “You should be posting on Facebook and linking back to your stories on MLive, but you do have to be careful what you say,” she explained. “I sometimes cringe at their posts, and yes, it does have to have some attitude or no one will read it. But most reporters do well with this.” And part of the cutting edge is figuring out how to tap into the newer technologies, such as mobile applications and cutting-edge content delivery systems. “We want to provide information anyway people want to get it.” MLive.com and The Grand Rapids Press work hard to attract an audience to Web news, and it's paid off. MLive.com/grand-rapids is the top news website in the region and 7th in the nation. BOOK DRAWING: For our book giveaway, Meegan chose Googled: The End of the World as We Know It by Ken Auletta. The author takes us on their journey from starting the business in a garage to the giant it is today. He tells how the company grew into a global force that handles 70 percent of all Internet searches in the world and takes in 40+ percent of all dollars spent online advertising. The winner of the drawing was Rob Pocock, associate vice president of Corporate Communications for Priority Health. December 8, 2010: Navigating Glocal Communications  Beth Dornan, Social Media/Public Relations Lead for Amway Corporation, brought an intriguing mix of expertise and insights about social media and communications to the Interchange lunch program on Dec. 8, 2010. Beth attributed all that she knows about communications to one of the preeminent cultural anthropologists of the 20th century, Edward Hall, and also... to Winnie the Pooh. Most messages now are not strictly local or global, but what Beth describes as “globalocal” – meaning they have a global message with a local feel. This reflects a gradual shift over the past decade away from using different messages for different regions or countries toward using more streamlined messages that apply to all targets. Edward Hall is the author of such books as The Silent Language, An Anthropology of Everyday Life, The Hidden Dimension, Beyond Culture, and Proxemic Culture, in which he was one of the first to consider the "anthropology of space." His theory suggests that people will maintain differing degrees of personal distance depending on the social setting and their cultural backgrounds. Hall's ideas on spatial perception had a significant impact in communication theory, especially intercultural communication. Beth said that in reading books by Edward Hall, she found four aspects of communication that are good to keep in mind when communicating with others. These are time/work (you can multi-task without a plan, or you can stay focused on a single task); status in society (of communicator, and of the recipient/audience); contribution to society (well-involved, or not); and agreement (relationship or image driven). Through the stories of Winnie the Pooh, Beth identified five themes that are constant with regard to communication. They are: keep the message simple, get out there (no one will hear your message if you don’t speak up), understand to be understood (understand your audience), look and listen (see and hear), and be “Scout” (be helpful, friendly and considerate). Beth ended by encouraging those in attendance, saying that we would all be better communicators if we took a few tips from the wisdom of Winnie the Pooh. It was Pooh who said things like, “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?’” And “If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear.” And “When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish.” BOOK DRAWING: As you might have guessed, Beth Dornan’s book choice for the December 2010 book giveaway was The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. (Alan Alexander) Milne. “I was completely immersed in the first sentence. It opened a world of vision in words which has never released me.” The winner of the drawing was Carol-Ann Schaefer, the Membership Director for Interchange and Education Program Administrator for Consumers Energy. November 10, 2010: Communicating Through a Crisis  Curt Bechler, from the consulting firm Venture International, LLC, (http://vianswers.com/) in Hudsonville, Michigan, brought his years of insights and personal experience in conflict resolution and crisis management to a more intimate setting for the Interchange lunch meeting on Nov. 10, 2010. He asked questions that led to his first illustration taken from a real crisis for which he was called in to advise leaders of a health system. "What happens when a special interest group attacks a health care system, or any business or nonprofit, and seeks to drive the CEO and the board out of office? How should your key organizational leaders respond when special interest groups deliberately create crisis situations?" And from another example, he asked, "What is the progression that occurs when an organization hits a crisis, like embezzlement, impropriety or negative news? What stages do leaders go through as they respond to difficult situations? What are the 'invisible' problems that often create crisis situations, and how does one "see" what those are? What should we do next?" Curt pointed out the importance of making sure leadership members stay on the same page even as a crisis is happening. He also explained why leadership members don’t see a crisis situation until it explodes. And he shared how the immediacy of social media demands a quick response in using it for handling crisis situations. The thrust of Curt’s presentation was a review of the stages or progression of a crisis situation, comparing what is occurring within an organization with what is happening cognitively and emotionally to their leadership team. In it all, he emphasized that “the crisis is symbolic, but the pathology (our response or perception) is real.” The goal of conflict resolution and crisis communications is to help leadership of an organization avoid things that make the situation worse, and to work intentionally toward a resolution that is the best one for all. Steps of a crisis include the Critical Event (response: disbelief); next, the crisis with its potential damage is perceived (response: reality sets in and a siege mentality imagines the worst); then there is an escalation of the event and interconnections (response: panic – fight or flight; leaders move from cognitive understanding to behavioral to physiological reaction); then there is a demand for information by media, stock holders and the public (response: narrow-minded focus, trust no one, defensive walls up); what can follow are rumors and speculations due to silence (response: pointing to scapegoats and shifting of blame, sacrificing someone); there can also be a negative emotional response from outsiders (response: hurt feelings); and finally the crisis is suppressed instead of being resolved and the dysfunction is embedded in the organization, which means things will be even worse next time (response: leaders are confounded and unaware of what to do in the next crisis). Ideally, a consultant or advisor should work with the CEO to proactively resolve and dismantle the internal dysfunction in order to arrive at a positive (though often not painless) resolution and to avoid future crisis events. If done properly, this can stimulate positive change. BOOK DRAWING: Curt Bechler's book choice for the November 2010 book giveaway was "Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong" by Eric Dezenhall and John Weber. “A mandatory read for any corporate person who is facing a gut-wrenching crisis right now or is likely to one day—which of course means just about everybody.” —Stanley Bing, Fortune columnist The winner of the drawing, picked by Curt from among all of the business cards collected from those in attendance, was Rosemary Martino, a communications specialist who moved to Grand Rapids from New York. October 13, 2010: Communications & Politics Lisa Posthumus Lyons brought her experience in the world of politics to Interchange for our October 2010 meeting. She is the daughter of former Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus and has worked as an advocate for small businesses at the state capitol in Lansing. She has been serving as the director of Public Policy and Community Outreach for the Grand Rapids Association of Realtors and the Commercial Alliance of Realtors. She also was running as a candidate for the 86th District of the Michigan House of Representatives. Her grassroots campaign enabled her to defeat Walker Mayor Rob VerHeulen in the GOP primary in August 2010. (Update: On Nov. 2, she won the election and was voted into office.) Lisa pointed out three resources that you can never have enough of when it comes to political communications: time (not renewable), money and volunteers. Facebook and social media is becoming more and more important in a campaign, but in Lisa's opinion, nothing is better than getting out and meeting the people face to face, door to door. Lisa did say she hates robo-calls with political messages like the rest of us, but they work. If they didn't work, people wouldn't use them. We're not going to see them go away. Lisa also said another form of political communications is telling our elected officials with our concerns. It is important for the official to respond in the same manner -- send a letter in response to a letter, return a call with a follow-up call, reply to an email with an email. And she admitted that while public officials might not consider the content of each of the tons of "form emails" that public policy advocates get their people to send in, the emails are counted. Lisa said it is important for elected officials to communicate with the people they represent. In addition to email newsletters, actually showing up and greeting people is also important -- in the public library, a local coffee shop, where an open forum can be offered to hear people's concerns. Then there is public policy and advocacy, which Lisa has been doing for seven years. In this case, there are two audiences for the communications: local elected officials, and the people that the advocacy represents to government. The two kinds of messages to educate elected officials and mobilize the members. Lisa pointed out how differently we understand things. She told a story about her son Easton, 5, and daughter Charlie, 4, holding hands and counting, "One, two, three!" And then they jumped from something six feet off the ground while their 2-year-old brother watched. Lisa complained, "You're teaching Gage that this is okay to jump off of." "My son said, 'No, Mom, we're teaching him to count.'" BOOK DRAWING: Lisa Posthumus Lyon's book choice for the October 2010 book giveaway was "To Kill a Mockingbird" by Harper Lee (Simon & Schuster). "I like the childish innocence in the story, the southern whimsy, but also it moves you." The winner of the drawing was Alex Guffin, a student at Grand Valley State University. September 8, 2010: Harnessing Social Media Josh Depenbrok is the founder and owner of GRNow.com and the serves on the board of directors for the Grand Rapids Young Professionals as their website director. Josh shared the good lessons he has learned about what works and what doesn't with regard to social media. He began his popular Grand Rapids website GRNow.com in 2005 and built it up to include various lists of events, restaurants, nightlife hotspots, meetings and more. It is a prime example of the PR and marketing value of social media when it is effectly applied. One key to success is to utilize cross-promotion via multiple social media platforms. Josh explained how he grew his Facebook page to draw more fans. GRNow.com boasts over 16,000+ Facebook fans and more than 2,700+Twitter followers. BOOK DRAWING: Josh Depenbrok's book choice for the September 2010 book giveaway was "The Facebook Effect" by David Kirkpatrick (Simon & Schuster). The winner of the drawing was Kristen Carrado, marketing and communications manager for the Grand Rapids Public Library.
Interchange 2009/2010 Program Year April 14, 2010: Communicator of the Year Award presented to Juliette Cowall
Juliette Cowall, marketing director for Godwin Plumbing, was presented with the Interchange Communicator of the Year Award by Interchange president Juanita Vorel on Wednesday, April 14, 2010. She was chosen for this award in recognition of her of her innovative approach to developing a new kind of professional women's networking group. Three years ago Juliette recognized the need for a professional group that was exclusively for women. Women-to-women networking was not new, and small, loosely organized groups of women existed throughout West Michigan, but Juliette saw a much larger opportunity. Instead of creating a formalized association with dues, a board, and a static meeting location, Juliette’s vision was to create a group of professionals that could communicate their products and services in a friendly, non-threatening atmosphere of peers! The result is what Juliette calls Girls’ Lunch (http://guidedcomm.com/Girls_Lunch.html). Unique to Girls' Lunch is the “everyone is the speaker” format. At each lunch attendees are encouraged to bring something that they can give away (with no strings attached). With that small offering, the “giver” is entitled to a 30 second “commercial” about her business, service, or product. Those 30 seconds provide a chance to network… with everyone in the room. Juliette then showed how they would do a 30-second promotion and did the gift giveaway by drawing business cards for her gifts. A liquid fertilizer sprayer was given to Craig Clark of Clark Communications, and a free ticket to a future Girls' Lunch gathering went to writer Sharon Hanks. BOOK DRAWING: Juliette Cowalls book choice for the April 2010 book drawing was "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Search Engine Optimization" by Michael Miller. The winner of a gift card to Schuler's Books went to Sherrie Willson, senior communications specialist at Steelcase. March 10, 2010: Bridging 96, featuring Carole Valade of Grand Rapids Business Journal Carole Valade, editor of Grand Rapids Business Journal and Gemini Publications (www.geminipub.com) and associate publisher of Grand Rapids Family Magazine, was our presenter for the March 2010 lunch program. She told how 27 years ago publisher and owner John Zwarensteyn was asked to provide business news for Grand Rapids. It was another 10 years before the Press had a business section and a business desk. Carole shared some of the successes and lessons learned from her past partnership in "Bridging 96" with professional colleague Mary Kramer, publisher of Crain's Detroit Business. The online news magazine, geared toward a niche audience of CEOs and company owners, was an ambitious project that had its last issue released in October 2009. Carole and Mary were unique in that they were the first two women in the country to be named as editors of business publications. Carole pointed out that in an effort to include news from various parts of the state, the smaller local news would be excluded for space. She and Mary soon learned that people didn't appreciate the aggregating of statewide business stories at the expense of not getting all the local news. Another lesson learned is the personality differences between the west and east side of the states. The perception among business leaders across Michigan is that Grand Rapids is more closely aligned with Chicago and Minneapolis, while Detroit is more closely aligned with Cleveland and cities to the east. BOOK DRAWING: Carole Valade's book choice for the March 2010 book drawing was "When Character Was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan" by Peggy Noonan. The winner of a gift card to Schuler's Books went to Holly Higginson, marketing/PR assistant for Grand Rapids Art Museum. February 10, 2010: ArtPrize featuring Ginny Seyferth Ginny M. Seyferth, public relations counsel for ArtPrize and president of Seyferth & Associates Inc. (S&A) (www.seyferthpr.com), spoke to a sold-out gathering of Interchange. She discussed the ways the community got behind this first year of the biggest public-vote ArtPrize competition that Rick DeVos called "an experiment." She told of social media users who promoted ArtPrize during the event as they walked around and saw the artwork, creating an extra buzz of excitement. She told of lessons they learned that will help improve the second ArtPrize event in September-October 2010. One is adding more large gallery type venues, after realizing that about 80,000 people visited the two large artwork display sites last year. That same day, Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk of the Grand Rapids Press, who was there, wrote a summary for mlive.com the Interchange meeting. (To read his article, click here.) BOOK DRAWING: For this month's drawing, a red "Ask Me" ArtPrize volunteer T-shirt was given to Jeff Christians, from Gilson Graphics, and a gift card to Schuler's Books was presented to Joann Reeves, who does public & media relations and freelance writing. January 13, 2010: Jennifer Maxson on nonverbal communication Jennifer Maxson shared the three channels of interpersonal communication, how audiences rate you, and what it takes to quickly make a good first impression (hint: breathe!) Maxson, Practice Group Leader, Consultant and Coach for Varnum Consulting spoke about what goes into communicating with impact, beyond a focused and organized message that contains clear, concise points and motivating, inspiring language. She pointed out the importance of sustained eye contact with individual members of your audience (at least five seconds) to make a true connection with them and increase their interest. She also told how posture, professional dress, and purposeful, descriptive gestures can enhance your professional and personal credibility. BOOK DRAWING: Jennifer chose the book "Speak Like Churchill, Stand Like Lincoln (21 Powerful Secrets of History's Greatest Speakers)" by presidential speech writer James C. Humes. Because a copy was unavailable for purchase, a gift card to Schuler's Books was presented to this month's winner of the drawing, Eva Sitek, production management and design of print materials. December 9, 2009: Andrea Robyns & social media policies Andrea Robyns, Marketing Project Manager for the Grand Rapids/Kent County Convention & Visitors Bureau spoke about encouraging employees to use social media to be advocates for your organization or business while also maintaining guidelines for their use. The overarching rule? "Be smart." She pointed out two areas as examples of industries where a privacy policy and a more stringent set of guidelines regarding social media use would be very important: those who work in the medical fields or in human resources.  Many questions, comments and concerns came from those in attendance. The fact that whatever is posted to the Internet lives there forever was a good reminder. The temptation for social media, because of its informal style, is to turn off the internal editor. This program was a word to the wise. Thoughts about employees posting a response to a critical blog or tweet (on Twitter) was discussed. Opinions covered letting the organization itself post an official statement to the ethical need to identify yourself as an employee, rather than posing as some person out in the public, when defending a business, product, service or organization. The atmosphere of the gathering allowed for a positive exchange that was interactive and beneficial for all present. BOOK DRAWING: Andrea Robyns chose the novel "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, to which someone commented it is "good winter reading." Congratulations to this month's winner of the drawing, Amy Sawade, public relations specialist for Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. November 11, 2009: Seth Getz on marketing  Seth Getz, small business coach, founding director of Alliance for Entrepreneurial Leadership, and owner of Business Mastery, brought a lot of humor, reviewed real life business marketing success stories, and offered some straight-forward, practical advice. He gave our group some good pointers such things as how to identify your ideal customers, target your messages, choose the medium that works best, and produce postive returns on your marketing efforts. Seth even took it one step further and concluded our time by offering to those in attendance a free one-hour phone consulation for anyone who would fill out and fax to him the marketing plan strategy sheets he brought along. BOOK DRAWING: Seth Getz chose two books -- "The E-Myth" by Michael Gerber (won by Grand Valley State University student Leah Zuber) and "Mind Capture" autographed by co-author Tony Rubleski (won by Dave Hunt, business owner of Doody Calls Pet Waste Clean-up and of Two Men and a Truck along the lakeshore). October 15, 2009: Mickey Graham & the 5/3 Burger
 Mickey Graham, marketing director for the West Michigan Whitecaps, shared how the idea of a huge burger came to introduced this past season as just one of five new menu items at Fifth Third Ballpark in early March. It drew a few local stories, but after a blogger wrote about it and it caught the attention of a writer with a national following, the unique angle about this beast of a burger -- dubbed the "minor league concession food of the year" -- was picked up by media outlets all over the country to become a news sensation.  Mickey keyed in on what drew media attention -- the fat and cholesterol content, that is, its unhealthiness, which he leveraged into a novelty story of a 4-pound (with trimmings), 4,800 calorie burger that caught play in newspapers and TV news across the nation and even internationally. What surprised him was that it also drew the ire of the health-conscious public, as well. Mickey's response? "This isn't for everybody. It's a gimmick. If you think it's unhealthy, then don't eat one." Just to be clear, the burger is meant to be shared by a family of four or more.
However, to get the 5/3 Burger T-shirt with unhealthy stats on the back, more than two dozen individuals have polished all the behemoth single-handedly. In fact, the Fifth Third Ballpark Burger became another of the many huge food eating challenges faced by Adam Richman, star of "Man vs. Food" on the Travel Channel. The special ballpark edition aired on Sept. 30, 2009 - ironically after the close of the Whitecaps baseball season. BOOK DRAWING: Mickey Graham chose a book by Malcolm Gladwell called "The Tipping Point: How Little Things Make a Big Difference," about how word-of-mouth trends get started and grow. | |
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