I have some exciting news to share with you all. Something that has been in the works for a few weeks now but which I am now prepared to announce. My good friend Bryce Gruber of The Luxury Spot and I are hosting an intimate luncheon for public relations professionals on April 27th. The title of the talk is “Social Media 2010: The Year PR Steps Up,” and it is intended as an informal luncheon and chat with two people who “get” how new media works. The luncheon will be held at the fantastic downtown restaurant Emporio. It was selected because the staff is wonderful, the food is delicious and locally-sourced, and they have a perfect sun-drenched back room.
The impetus for the luncheon was a series of conversations that Bryce and I have had about the kind of changes the PR firms need to make in order to remain relevant and effectively serve their clients. Bryce has tremendous influence in the PR community because of her success. I, on the other hand, lack that influence or even visibility for a variety of reasons. For one, when I launched my business, I wanted nothing to do with traditional PR practices and methodologies. In fact, I have been a stern critic of the PR mentality for several months here on the blog.
And yet, as I gained more clients, and the experience that came along with them, I soon realized that my earlier orthodoxy was overblown. Slowly at first, and then more rapidly, I came to understand that in fact social media and PR have a lot to do with one another and can be complimentary rather than oppositional. I can tell you that in my last few client engagements I have been urging my clients to use their social media as an addendum to their traditional press outreach. Bryce has been pushing me in this direction for some time, and it was only due to how much I respect her that I didn’t slam the phone down on her on several occasions.
The more Bryce and I talked, the more need we realized existed for bridge-building to occur. As someone who writes about the benefits of community building a lot, I could find no better way than to foster the community than to be part of a team that was willing to reach out and help fellow marketers. The truth is that as a consultant, social media strategist, whatever the heck I am, public relations is a powerful and important business. And Bryce and I want to ensure that PR firms and the wonderfully creative people who work there have a way to learn the basics of social media in a non-threatening intimate environment, one that is conducive to them taking the first steps towards gaining a grasp of the power of social media.
Bryce and I will both be speaking during the lunch, and each of us will focus on our strengths. Bryce will be speaking about effective SEO practices and creating buzz-worthy viral content. I will be focusing on the new tools available to PR professionals: things like Tweetdeck, Twitter Lists, web alerts, listening stations, traffic ranking sites and the importance of blogging. What both of us will also touch on, and which I believe will be the most valuable part of the luncheon, will be the philosophy underlying social media. That philosophy, one of transparency, authenticity and that occurs in public, is the biggest shift the PR industry will need to make. It is going to be a great time, so if you think you’d like to attend, take a look at the invitation below and be sure to click this link in order to buy a ticket. Tickets are $55 now and it includes a 3-course prix fixe lunch (tax and tip are included) Prices are going to go up to $75 on April 10th, so be sure to grab yours now. If you know someone who might be interested, we’d love it if you passed it along!
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