Author: Brian Lee

Speaking tour

Posted on by Brian Lee

I’m sort of glad we had bad weather this past weekend, as I stayed inside for most of it to work on my presentations for this week. On Tuesday, I’ll be guest lecturing on social media for an Edgewood College MBA class. Then on Thursday, I’m the keynote speaker at the SMPS Wisconsin Awards Program, where I’ll explain “How to Pitch and Get Published.”

I also guest-lectured at Edgewood a year-and-a-half ago. It’s fascinating to see how much social media has evolved since then; as a result, I had to make significant updates to my previous presentation.

For the other presentation, it’s taking 10+ years of public relations experience and combining it with my previous teaching of the subject, then condensing it to 30 min.

It’s not a ‘public relations problem’

Posted on by Brian Lee

It’s a disservice to the public relations profession that the phrase “it’s a public relations problem” (or “it’s a public relations nightmare”) has entered our vocabulary as a way to describe a negative situation with an individual or a company.

When you have a leaky faucet, it’s not the plumber’s problem. When you have a rodent or insect infestation, it’s not the exterminator’s problem. In all these cases and more, it’s YOUR problem. The plumber, exterminator, etc. can help you out of your jam.

Public relations practitioners work with internal and external publics to help a person or company. Having those relationships are why we are called upon to “fix” problems, both private and public. This may mean reaching out to shareholders, the board of directors, regulatory commissions, customers, vendors and many more.

Crisis communications also fits under the PR umbrella. This area includes assessing and prioritizing potential threats, drafting Q&A, training spokespersons and developing a plan to contain and counteract the situation.

So next time something bad happens with a company or individual, remember that it’s their problem.

AP Stylebook updates

Posted on by Brian Lee

I’m getting fed up with the AP Stylebook. I thought it was dumb to write “Web site,” but I did it anyway, feeling like I was in the minority. In fact, publications such as Time and Sports Illustrated used “website” instead.

Then the folks behind the AP Stylebook finally relented in 2010 and changed it to “website.” This week, they announced they were converting “e-mail” to “email.”

This reminds me of the late 1990s when the Oxford-English Dictionary added the word “trekker” to describe “Star Trek” fans, even though for years they were known as “trekkies.” Why just make up a new word? In the case of the AP, why force people to write “Web site” and “e-mail” when everyone had previously used “website” and “email”????

The Oxford-English Dictionary eventually dropped “trekker” and added “trekkies.” And now we see the AP Stylebook coming to its senses. Next time, just get it correct the first time.