From Ragan PR Daily – PR Pro
Fraser Seitel discusses what it takes for PR people to find success, make money, be appreciated by management and much more.
Help Us Communicate With You
Today I attempted to send emails to new members. In many ways, this attempt failed. It has been a practice for some time that the president of the NIOA send a letter of welcome to the newest members.
I have found over the past year that more than half of the emails that I attempt to send to new members are rejected by the receiving agency for various reasons. The most common reason is that the email address on record simply doesn’t exist. Executive Director Lisa McNeal tells me that much of the handwriting on the membership application forms is very hard to read.
The second most common reason that messages are returned is that the recipient agency requires that emails be “whitelisted” before acceptance. Some organizations automatically reject email addresses not in their accepted list.
This situation does not exist solely with new members. Much of the correspondence that the Board of Directors sends is bounced back to us. We have looked at several ways to better communicate with members, but we need to ask the following:
- Be sure that your information is accurate and up-to-date. Find your info in the member directory (password protected section). If anything at all needs to be corrected email the changes to Lisa McNeal at nioa@comcast.net. Be sure to put your first and last name in the message so that she can find your record more easily.
- Enter the email addresses of the Board of Directors and your regional director into your whitelist. You are missing key messages throughout the year if these cannot get through your postmaster system.
We want to help you get value from your membership. If you are not in the communications cycle, it is possible that you are missing some great information about your organization. Thank you for helping us communicate with you.
Candidates on 2009 Ballot
from the May/June 2009 NIOA News
Two candidates have met the June 1st deadline established by NIOA by-laws* to declare their intent to seek the Vice-Presidency – Jack Goldhorn and Krystn McArthur. Lou Thurston is the only candidate to submit his intent to run for Secretary. Both positions will be up for election at the annual Training Conference in Nashville in late August.
If you would like to vote for one of these candidates, but are unable to attend the conference, absentee ballots are available. Please follow the directions* on the ballot clearly, or the vote will not be counted. Download the ballot form here.
Candidates for NIOA Vice-President
Jack Goldhorn, Norfolk VA Fire/Rescue
“As an NIOA Regional Director for six years and organization member for 13 years I have decided to declare for the office of Vice-President. I have been an active member and have attended every training conference since being a member of NIOA and hosted the 1999 Conference in Norfolk, VA. I have worked for the City of Norfolk Fire-Rescue for 25 years and have been an active PIO since 1995. Being active on not only local and regional PIO councils has given me the passion to continue on the National level to share my experience and guidance with NIOA. I look forward to another fine conference that has been planned for Nashville and ask for your vote.”
Krystn McArthur, City of Mukilteo, WA
“I am excited to have the opportunity to run for a leadership position within the NIOA. I have long believed our organization to be very unique and special, which sets us apart from other national organizations in our field. I value and appreciate the friendships, networking opportunities and wealth of information and training the NIOA provides to its membership, constantly working to keep abreast of the latest in media, ever-changing technology and best-practices. I spent more than a decade of experience in public relations, communications and over twenty four years in local government. I retired in 2004 from the United States Air Force and held positions in the Security Forces and the Office for Public Affairs, from 1984-2004. Presently, I am the Communications Officer and Assistant City Administrator for the City of Mukilteo, Washington (including the Mukilteo Fire Department) where I oversee media relations and community outreach efforts, direct the production of the city newsletter and is leading the city’s brand management campaign. I am also responsible for cable television programming, and other promotional strategies for the advancement of the City. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications and Public Administration from City University. I have been a member in good standing with the NIOA since 2005 and have served as Regional Director of Region 10 of the NIOA since 2006. I sincerely thank all of you for this outstanding opportunity to serve our membership and the NIOA.”
Candidate for Secretary
This candidate is running unopposed, therefore no ballot vote is necessary.
Lou Thurston, Newport News VA Police
“First of all I want to express my gratitude to the Board of directors and all who have worked diligently to provide what promises to be another outstanding conference. Until you have experienced the frustrations of putting such an event together, it is difficult to understand everything that is involved. I sincerely believe this year will be extremely beneficial to everyone who attends.
I have notified the Board of my intention to seek election to secretary at this year’s conference and I ask for your support. I have been an active member of the NIOA for over fifteen years, have served previously on the Board and hosted the conference held in Virginia Beach. I have watched this organization grow from a handful of public safety PIOs to the highly respected international organization of today. I am extremely proud to have had the opportunity to work with the NIOA to bring the high quality of training for, and the professional recognition to, the PIO profession. Having worked as a PIO, then in the media, and now as a PIO again, has provided me a much broader perspective and respect for what we do. I am extremely passionate about media relations, particularly when it comes to public safety agencies. I am a firm believer in “working with, not dealing with the media”. I carry this same passion when it comes to the NIOA. I will say this, if elected secretary, I will continue to work as a member of the “NIOA team”, which includes the Board of Directors, the Regional Directors, the Past Presidents Council and, most importantly, you the membership. I believe that in order for any organization to be effective there must be good communications with the membership. I pledge to make myself available to any member who may have a suggestion, question or concern. I can’t promise I will be able to fix every issue or make everyone happy all the time. I can promise to keep the best interest of the NIOA and its membership in the forefront and to communicate as a member of “the team”. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Nashville and hope that you will consider selecting me to be your secretary for the next two years. Please feel free to contact me should you have any questions or if I can, in any way, be of assistance.”
From the by-laws
*XII. ELECTIONS
C. Proxy votes may be cast by filling out a form provided by the Executive Director, and will only be counted if received by mail (USPS or commercial delivery service), postmarked by August 1st. No email proxy votes or proxy votes presented via other members at the Annual Training Conference will be accepted.
Online vs. Print Journalism
I found an article this morning on Tech Dirt that I found to be very interesting. Perhaps you will find it interesting, as well. This blog post compares print and online journalism. They are most certainly similar, but of course, they are not the same. I’m not surprised that some comments include words such as “rumor” and “factual” when they discuss the merits of one form of journalism over another. It also didn’t surprise me to see that there were comparisons such as “real-time processing” and “batch processing.”
The comment thread includes good conversation about the concepts in the article. I enjoyed the quick remark by one writer who said, “I guess you get the journalism you pay for…”
You might find this article interesting. It also includes video (not necessarily work safe) from Comedy Central’s The Daily Show.
Letter for Your Chief
The NIOA board members have worked hard this year (and continue to do so) to prepare for the 2009 conference in Nashville. We know that there are budget concerns for many agencies. We know that travel expenses are tight and that some agencies are not providing funds for “extra” training.
We also believe that this conference is the finest conference available for PIOs to hone their skills, receive new insights to help them improve themselves as PIOs and therefore benefit their agencies, and of course, to build networks with others that can help when help is needed.
In past years the NIOA presidents have presented a letter for members to share with their chief or administrators. This letter helps to show value for the annual training conference. I have provided a letter for you to use, this year, as well. Please download, print and present it to your leaders so that they might better understand the overall value of this conference.
We look forward to seeing you in Nashville.