Conference Keynote #2
Ronald J. Alsop, columnist for The Wall Street Journal and book author

“The Trophy Kids Grow Up: How the Millennial Generation Is Shaking Up the Workplace.”

That’s the title of Ron’s new book. It was also the focus of his keynote, which – of course – effectively underscored the conference’s theme.

In short, the influx of the Millennials in companies and colleges across the country will inspire and require new thinking about everyday organizational processes ranging from recruitment and retention. Integrating this impending force of about 80 million will not be an easy undertaking and will require significant internal adjustments…but by the organizations, not the Millennials. 

For instance, recruiters are changing their tactics and trying to reach the Millennials via blogs and social networking sites. Companies are also gearing up to meet potential new retention challenges – a result of the Millennials’ tendency to switch jobs easily and frequently.

More about the Millennials:

• Born between 1980 and 2001
• Grew up receiving special treatment from parents, teachers, and coaches
• Have high self-esteem and great expectations for their careers
• Are technology-savvy multi-taskers and civic-minded individuals
• Require a lot of direction and positive reinforcement
• Have “helicopter parents” who stay involved in their lives even after they leave home for college and when they enter the workplace
• Demand a work-life balance
• View job as a place to socialize
• Clash sometimes with other generations, particularly if their work ethic is questioned 

Throughout the presentation, Ron doled out deliciously qualitative data-bytes and first-hand anecdotes from his interviews and discussions with HR professionals, recruiters, educators, and business managers in multiple industries. But, for the full monty, we must turn to his book which also contains the highly anticipated results of a Millennial generation survey conducted by Harris Interactive. I’ve already ordered my copy!

ADDITIONAL READING: Welcoming the New Millennials by Ron Alsop

Leveraging the Web to Manage and Measure Public Perception
by Kent Lewis of Anvil Media, Inc.

Kent started his presentation with some stark statistics that underscored the importance of social media and search engine marketing public relations (SEM PR):

- 98% of journalists go online daily
- 92% use the Web for article research
- 76% search for expert sources
- 73% search for press releases

Source: Middleberg-Ross Pew Internet Study

Using real-world examples, Kent outlined the latest strategies for search engine marketing public relations (SEM PR). By offering a ton of valuable tips and tactics, Kent managed to nudge our our audience of communications professionals a bit closer to the world of online marketing for PR.

Some take aways from the presentation (My comments are in italics):

• Your website newsroom is not just for press anymore.

- Don’t password protect newsroom (I know there’s a statistic out there for this one…anybody out there know?)
- Newsroom version 2.0 features

o Email signup
o RSS feeds
o Webinars
o Podcasts

• Use the “3Cs” of search engine optimization (SEO) for your press releases:

- Content – Make sure your content is flush with keywords (But don’t do so at the expense of readability)
- Code – Modify your web URL tags to match keywords (This is like creating a strong magnet for search engines)
- Credibility – Keep content compelling and make sure keywords are relevant (Yes, searches are intelligent)

• Incorporate pay-per-click (PPC) in your press releases. Start with one important press release, purchase relevant keywords and test the results.
• Add links on your site to places that have already picked up your stories.
• Be sure to include articles in your SEO strategy

- Address an industry issue
- Optimize (See above)
- Syndicate to relevant industry sites

• Tweak your homepage “at least” once/per month with new relevant keywords to stay on top of Google’s search
• Manage your online reputation using social media

- Include your top executives on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…
- Use LinkedIn’s Q and A feature, which can generate awareness, interest and leads
- Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
- Include competitor and/or naysayer sites in your PPC strategy

It was clear that Kent knew his stuff and I enjoyed being on the receiving end of truly “expert” advice. I visited Anvil’s website, too, and was pretty impressed overall (a rare occurrence for yours truly). In addition to being user friendly and simple, the site is a direct reflection of the company and it actually demonstrates what they preach. 

PRESENTATION TIDBIT: Did you know that the large PR firms were blacklisted from updating Wikipedia?!

Conference Keynote #1
Joel Stein, columnist for TIME Magazine and the LA Times

Joel’s keynote was casual and pretty darn funny! He kept it interactive, too, taking questions from the audience throughout.

When he recounted his Martha Stewart days, Joel said it reminded him of “revolutionary times” when he first heard of someone named “Martha”…who lived in Connecticut…and made crafts. HA. Then, at the audience’s request, he dished about Martha, too.  

To get the angles for his stories, it seems that “doing” (like exploring his attic with George Clooney) is more powerful for Joel than just “talking.” He said his Leonardo DiCaprio interview was fairly challenging at the start – until they actually went out and “did” something (in this case, go to a supermarket…and only after Joel offered to pay for the groceries).  

I like this strategy – diverting attention to something very regular, natural, or habitual in life. This makes sense, too, because the mainstream media today focuses often the abnormal and bizarre! I also imagine that these routine actions would contribute to a sense of calm. In the end, Joel’s sighting of Leo’s supermarket discount card proved to be quite catalytic for his interview process.    

Joel also touched on the mainstream media’s role in today’s social media environment. He said: “TIME still feels like they can dictate the conversation. NO WAY.” But, he also encouraged us to avoid completely jumping ship from traditional media until we at least knew where new media was going end up. Joel’s sentiments are underscored by his blog, which hasn’t been updated since 2006. 

Questions and conversations then evolved to information as commodity and the value of “news” today…particularly regarding the 24-hour news channels. “It’s depressing,” Joel said, “I feel like I’m walking into an old person’s home every time I hear CNN or Fox 24-hour news on.” Everyone who had a mother, father, grandmother, or grandfather smiled and nodded.

I thought it was a perfect keynote for our luncheon: Light and lively with a little bit of dish thrown in.

Oh, in case you didn’t already know…Joel’s favorite decade is the 80s. 

Last week I attended the regional Communicator’s Conference in Portland – presented by the local chapters of PRSA and IABC with professionals attending from Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. <See FlickR photos in main sidebar.>

It was a great conference because content was king. The theme was “Being Heard by Multiple Generations.” The topics were timely and relevant, and I learned from each presentation. My only problem was deciding which breakout session to attend. 

And, to top it all off, the networking was fantastic!

A sincere shout out goes to the 2008 volunteers, advisory board and committee members, including co-chairs Abigail Dougherty of Straight Edge Coaching and Taraneh Foster of Woloshin Communications.

STAY TUNED: More about the conference content coming up…