• Micro-blogging
• Industry Networking
• News / Updates
• Contests / Special Offers (increases following if done correctly)
• Answering Questions
• Asking Questions
• Pictures
• Advertising & PR

Understanding Twitter:

For law firm purposes, Twitter is a communication tool used by five groups: Consumers (clients & potential clients), Businesses & Brands, Info Seekers, Info Suppliers and Non-Commercial Tweeters.

Consumers

use Twitter as a way to follow favorite brands, get news/special-offers from businesses, share/receive information with friends about favorite brands and communicate directly with the brand by answering & asking questions

-“mentioning” a company in a tweet or “re-tweeting” the company’s posts (more on that later)

Businesses & Brands

are using Twitter as a way to share information/offers from their company to consumers as well as using the industry networking tool to attract new clients, share industry information and other relevant content.
-Attorneys are befriending other law firms on Twitter in order to gain a greater online presence, appear more social and increase follower requests.

Info Seekers

People using their Twitter strictly to receive information. Not highly active in communicating with brands, but known to share information they find interesting with their entire social networks.
-Interesting articles

Info Suppliers

Companies using Twitter strictly to disseminate information.
-Example: New York Times

Non-Commercial Tweeter

– aka people who do not generally follow companies on Twitter
These people only use Twitter to communicate with friends and share personal content.

Why is Twitter So Great for Attorneys?

• Free Publicity (promote your practice and Website)
• Supports Brand Identity
• User Friendly
• Linked to other social media accounts (Image management)
• Organizes information
• Tracks Information
• Instant (Mobil Application – Highly Recommended)

How do I use Twitter to promote my Law Firm?

1.) Make it personal

ROI – return on influence: http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/new-economy/2011/0914/On-Facebook-Twitter-influence-can-become-profit

2.) Build a following.

There are several ways you can increase your Twitter community.

– Log in to your Twitter account and click “Who To follow” at the top right of your Twitter toolbar. Twitter will make some suggestions you might like, but just start typing in names of companies, brands, colleagues, places around your community, affiliations, restaurants you like and people you know. The more people/businesses/organizations/etc you follow, the more follow requests you are going to get. Thus, you will increase your Twitter presence.

-Use existing contacts. On the right side of the “Who To Follow” screen, you can copy and paste email addresses of friends, family, clients and co-workers into the “Invite Friends” space. Separate each with a comma.

-Use your Facebook. Many companies already have a following on Facebook and/or you have a personal Facebook page. Copy and paste the URL of you Twitter Profile Page into a Facebook status, and ask friends to follow your company on Twitter.

Example: Hello friends! (Your Law Firm) is now on Twitter! Follow us to receive news, tips and updates from (Your practice area) attorneys in (Your city here) local legal community. (Attach your Twitter Link https://twitter.com/#!/LawFirm)

Here is a great tool to help you find who to follow:
<a href="http://www.twellow.com“>http://www.twellow.com

You can also register on JD Supra which might help you get noticed:
http://scoop.jdsupra.com/2008/09/articles/law-firm-marketing/145-lawyers-and-legal-professionals-to-follow-on-twitter

3.) Accept Follow Requests

You may already have people waiting for you to accept their follow request.

-To find out if you have follow requests, click “Profile” at the top right of you r Twitter toolbar. You will be looking at your Twitter page (what others see). Under your profile picture you will see an option to “edit your profile.” Feel free to do so. Under the “edit your profile” link, there is a profile toolbar. Click “Requests” and you will be directed to a page showing those who have asked to follow you. You can accept, decline and reciprocate the follow if you like.

4.) Interact with Followers

One of the main ways to gain exposure is by interacting with your followers. This is called a “mention.”

-When you would like to “mention” someone in your Tweet, simply type @ and start typing their twitter name (example: @LawFirm). You should see the person you would like to mention show up and you can click on them. Or, you can go directly to their Twitter page and create a message to them on their wall. This will help you gain exposure because now their followers will see you!

-Ask your followers questions. They will “mention” you if they choose to respond!

-Answer your follower’s questions.
Once you have a decent following, you can have some fun!
Example: Set up a time (say between 3-4pm where your followers can have “Ask an attorney” time. During that time, your followers can ask you a question (mention you) and you can answer (by mentioning them). Promote this on Twitter and your other social media throughout the week.

-To view your “mentions,” click the “Home” button at the top of your Twitter page. Under the “What’s happening” section, you will see @Mentions. Then you can respond by choosing to reply.

5.) What should my law firm Tweet about?

• YOURSELF! Brag a little. Winning cases, awards, published articles by the firm’s attorneys, etc.
• Practice areas – Sneak in some Tweets linking to informative pages on your Website [Example Tweet: Know your rights – DUI Arrests in (Your state) + link to site]
• Blog Posts
• Company news
• Offers / Upcoming Events
• Relevant news articles (Re-Tweet Opportunity aka others choose to share)

*Remember, the more you tweet, the more FREE exposure you get! Just make sure it’s relevant.

6.) Track your progress on Twitter.

Know your stats! Monitor your Growth.

• Track your brand, website, topics & others
http://twittercounter.com/pages/twitter-tracker
• Twitter Counter: twittercounter.com
The #1 Twitter stats site powered by Twitter – Twitter Counter

Incorporate popular subjects and legal issues

As an attorney, your credentials make you a reliable source of information. To gain the most exposure on YouTube using your best resource (your knowledge), you should post videos about popular topics, trending topics, legal news on Google, FindLaw and other common issues from the perspective of an attorney. Make the topics fairly broad since your audience could be anyone, from anywhere in the World. Educate the public of their rights and how to protect them. Giving a little free advice could get you a lot of exposure in return. In the social media world, we have ROI (return on influence), and it is a valuable asset for a company these days. A company with a high ROI in social media has more power and popularity versus competitors. Like other social media outlets, YouTube only works if used properly and proactively. Here are some business tips for attorneys using YouTube.

Topics

Social Media – Cyber laws & cyber bullying
Music – Copyright laws, artist issues, legal issues to consider for new artists & news
Sports – Athletes are always in the news! You can give your professional opinion on their issues.
Sex – Sex crimes and abuse in teens, the gay community, etc. (incorporate issues in the news)
Drugs – Narcotic crimes, other issues, laws & news Example: Drug Busts at Vegas Pool Parties
DUI – What happens if I get arrested for a DUI? How worried should they be? What are the different types, levels of seriousness and issues with minors, etc.
Assault, Robbery and Other Offenses – News & Informative information

Techniques

Interview – Influential persons, experts, legal strategies, Q&As with attorney
Client testimonials
Informative messages (Helpful tips, video press releases or PSA)

To get more ideas about what to post look at social media trends (YouTube, Twitter and Facebook). Social media is organized extremely well, making it easy to see what people are talking about week by week. The YouTube Trends Blog and CitizenTube can help you.

Legal Video Blogs should be your Law Firm’s little “SIS.” They should be Short, Informative and Simple. Like a real sibling, they can be a hassle or they can be your best friend.

Short

– Usually 2 minutes or less.

Informative

– Ask yourself what people REALLY want to know about the topic being discussed. Use your expertise to educate. Knowledge really is power.

Simple

– Use language the average person will understand. Not many people know much about legal terminology.

Exposure: Sharing your videos

- No matter how great your YouTube Channel looks, if you don’t have a following, it’s no good.
YouTube is a social media tool now, just like Facebook and Twitter. You can request to add friends, follow channels, receive updates and comment/manage posted material. Expand your network. Befriend attorneys, local citizens in your community and channels with similar interests. By seeing what others are posting you get a better idea of what to post.

Remember:

YouTube literally puts a face to the brand so use it to showcase your firm as the best legal resource out there. Make it look good. Follow the YouTube for Lawyers 101 Guide. Building a community doesn’t happen in a day. Do this once a day for 5-10 minutes and your social network will continue to grow.

Note: Tags are very important! It’s how the internet categorizes your video. Use key words and phrases in your title, subtitle, description and the tag section. If you do not have tags, your video may NOT show up in searches or be categorized. More is better.

Share, Share & Share Some MORE!

Share with your other social media outlets that you already have more of a following with.
- Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, WordPress, etc.
Share with your personal friends and family.
- Personal Social media accounts (copy and paste link into status), Emails, etc.
Share with colleagues.
- Your employees, friends and professors from law school, former associates.
Ask them to follow your YouTube Channel.

Also, if you have videos and content, you can add them all at the same time but change the release dates, making them appear public at different times. You don’t want to seem spamy your followers.

PR for Attorneys on YouTube

Offer an incentive for your social media community to grow and interact with your company.
- Create a YouTube contest
- Partner up with other businesses and/or nonprofits

A Single Girl Evaluates Similarities Between Men & Shoes

I have come to the conclusion that my fixation with shoes is above average of the late. When looking up the term “Shoe Whore” in urban dictionary, there appear the obvious answers such as “a woman with too many shoes.” As we all know, if you ARE a “shoe whore” it is not possible to have too many shoes and to us, that description is inaccurate. You can never have too many shoes, but the real trick is finding the perfect ones.

Not to sound coy, but Men are like shoes, and in this city, it’s easy to be fooled by a knock off. Similarly to a women with too many shoes, a women with society’s standard of too many men in her life might be categorized as a… let’s just call it, “shoe whore.” Now, I’m trying to find the male equivalent of this and it’s impossible.

I have friends with LOTS of shoes and I have friends who favor one particular pair. As a young Houstonian women, I will admit that my love for a tall sexy heel has made me fall head first before and will likely again. In the search for the perfect pair, the real question is, how many shoes can a women have before it’s considered too many? Before men categorize her as a “shoe whore?”

With so many different kinds of shoes on the market it can seem overwhelming when a women first begins shopping. So, what makes the perfect pair? There are the very expensive and fashionable ones women dream about flaunting around in. They look good and even make you feel sexy with them on. The only problem is, the good ones are always the quickest to go. Before you know it, you’ve spent WAY too much on them, your feet hurt and you have to take them off.

Classic neutral heels look good with everything and will always have a special place in my heart, but after so much wear and tear the “sole” becomes a bit worn and they lose their luster. Similarly, purchasing a knock-off, even if they are a beautiful Multi-Colored Christian Louboutin Maggie, may fool everyone into thinking that’s the perfect pair, but really they are just a fake, filling the void of what we really want… the real thing. The absolute WORST feeling is knowing deep down that these beautiful shoes are not right but you don’t want to admit it.

So where does that leave us? Barefoot with blister but still loving shoes. While we can’t afford to make a commitment to buy every shoe we want, what’s the harm in trying them on? I might even stand in front of the mirror for a while and admire how perfectly we look together. Regardless, some will last longer than others and some of the pretty ones won’t fit right but we will still try to make them.

It’s the one pair that fits perfectly and compliments your style to a T that makes it all worth while. Whatever shoe I am wearing, or if I decide to go barefoot for a while, I will walk confidently with a smile… and perfectly pedicured toes. Point being: Until you find the perfect pair ladies, shop on shoe whores!

“Since 1914, two-thirds of Argentina’s native forests have been destroyed. If this destruction continues unchecked, all of Argentina’s native forests will be gone by the year 2024″ (FSD). Measurements of environmental devastation such as this are the reason environmental organizations are desperately seeking to reach the people of Argentina in an attempt to instigate awareness of these issues and hopefully create a movement to protect the environment. Even though several laws and regulations are enforced as a means to protect the environment from corporate pollution on large scales, these often go unregulated due to a lack of government enforcement of these laws, with only a small portion of the national budget going towards environmental protection. In general, only a small fraction of countries’ budgets is devoted to the environment, and this is particularly true in developing countries. Argentina reported 1.1% of the Federal Expenditures in 1999 as being allocated towards environmental protection (Grand, 9). Therefore, it is necessary for other methods of involvement to avoid depletion of such a beautiful environment as Argentina‘s forests and wildlife. So, environmental organizations in Argentina, such as Greenpeace Argentina, are employing public relations techniques to reach those who care most about preserving natures beauties as well as locals, and to create grassroots movements through these people. The question is, What are the best means for reaching people in Argentina through public relations in order to raise awareness of environmental problems in Argentina and create action to preserve environments at risk?

First, lets start with the basic understanding of what we are dealing with. “Public relations” has been defined as a managerial communications application used to build and maintain long-term relationships between organizations and their publics, and “a public” is any group of people or organization desired to be affected (or reached) by a message (or campaign) which is formulated by another institution. Public relations is technically a relatively new aspect of the business world, but has actually been practiced as an informal method of reaching publics long before Moses even had a message to deliver from God. PR should not be confused with advertising, which uses monetary resources in order to promote ideas or information to publics. On the contrary, public relations has been known for using non-monetary techniques to deliver messages. On the other hand, research and implementation of campaigns can be costly, but several techniques rely on the basis of gratuity. For instance, pitching a story to a newspaper editor or TV producer in Argentina about how a person living in Argentina can decrease their personal “carbon footprint” would be an example of how environmentally concerned organizations in Argentina are doing this.

In these developing countries, online protection campaigns are increasing, too. In 1999, Latin American Internet growth was at 927.2%. While, internet penetration was at 32.1%. These are way above the world averages of 26.1 % and 371.9 % (Latin America International Usage Statistics). This shows a great opportunity to reach publics through the use of internet sources and Argentinian companies are taking note. It is now a viable method in reaching audiences through social networking such as Facebook, Twitter and possibly MySpace, in order to expand grassroot efforts trying to influence lawmakers and government policy. Facebook and Twitter are the primary social networks being used today.

Greenpeace Argentina contains a great example of a Facebook page used as a tool for environmental public relations. The Facebook page states their mission, information about the company, objectives, promotional tools, current interests, news and issues. Fans can also post their articles and concerns on the page. With over 361,000 fans (as of 07-06-2010), just on the Argentina Greenpeace website, this seems to be an effective way of communicating with a large public. It is also a good way to maintain a long-term relationship since every time an article is posted to the site; the fans receive this message on their news-feed. This keeps the fans updated on a daily basis. The major benefit being that Greenpeace Argentina is informing the public about issues or opportunities to help save Argentina’s at risk environments without the fan having to actually go to their website or fan-page.

Facebook and its unobtrusive way of delivering messages with little effort needed by the public to actually search for the message, and it should be an essential part of a Public Relations campaign for any organization. The fans can “opt-out” of seeing the updates as well as impute other articles on environmental issues, so the site is a less intrusive yet involved way that creates a positive relationship with those connected. It is important not to badger the targeted public when you are delivering messages to them so they will not form a negative image of the company or message; therefore, if used correctly, Facebook is an effective way to reach publics, and I believe it is crucial for every organization or cause to create, monitor and update their company’s Facebook page to better enhance distributing their mission and works to the publics they are connected with. If performed correctly, such as the Greenpeace Argentina Facebook page, it serves many Public Relation functions. The best part is, it reaches an enormous public for free.

Environmental grassroots movements created by the people or government are also using Facebook “Events” as a public relations tool to recruit members to join their cause. This not only gives information regarding the event, it also allows attendees to make reservations online, recruit new people for the event and make comments about passed similar events and their feelings towards those as well as ones to come. Public Relations via social networking generates “buzz“, a term us PR folk hate but cannot avoid, which is a critical part in a Public Relations Campaign. “Buzz” is in essence, generation of a message, event or product by “Word of-Mouth” and Word-of-Mouth is the promotional dream if it’s positive. If a firm is lucky enough to have buzz, consumers tell each other about the firm’s products and the most satisfied customers hopefully become ambassadors for the brand. Word-of-Mouth is particularly effective as promotional communications because each message comes from a trusted source—a friend, family member or acquaintance. Furthermore, the Word-of-Mouth could result in a “Media Mention” which for several organizations is their ultimate goal in reaching targeted publics (Robinson, 4). If buzz becomes apparent to a newspaper or magazine and they decide to research the topic to write an article about it, then that is a Media Mention. Media costs can be a pricey investment to organizations and are usually assigned to the Advertising budgets, which is why they are so important to a company when done by a public relations professional for free. News releases are a Public Relations tool that has the goal to gain a Media mention in mind when disseminated to journalistic organizations.

Press Releases are a fundamental asset to a gaining Media Mentions. Press releases need to be timely and thought out in advanced to customize the focus of the information to the public it will be distributed to. “Simply sending out a press release to numerous media outlets is not the best method for placement. The release must be targeted to specific media professionals who want or need the information” (The importance…). Targeting a Press Release to the correct media outlet is crucial. Newspaper and Magazine editors do not create articles on every story they are pitched. Therefore, the Press Release should spark their interest, and their interest concerns the followers of their publication. So, if the information does not appear in the interest of the ultimate consumer, it will not get picked up by the editor and will be lost in the sea of Press Releases. Press Releases are not advertisements. They present something new or interesting about a company or purpose the company supports. For instance, if a new CEO was appointed or if a company came up with a new invention, or in this case, a company may be trying to raise awareness of an environmental issues the company is dealing with or an event or protest held to promote environmental protection. These are just a few examples. So, Media Vehicles focused on the environment, like Environment Magazine and National Geographic, would be an appropriate pitch outlet for Environmental Press Releases, as well as the local and national newspapers, depending on the severity of the subject matter.

The important factor of a News Release is that it should be “Newsworthy“. This is the key difference between a Press Release and an advertisement. “While reading a press release readers do not feel that they are reading some other disguised advertisement about a product. Readers and online visitors are more likely to trust credible sources like columnists, editors and reviewers about the authenticity of any write up appearing anywhere. Editors will not publish anything that is not well written” (What is the importance…). Besides providing the newsworthy information, Press Releases should also provide background information about the company, its goals, contact information and a catchy title.

Organizations should have a functioning Website that updates Press Releases, research, and other organizational information frequently in order to utilize this medium for communication. Therefore, the company website should contain all Press Releases they have formulated because it is an appropriate outlet. If someone is already on the website, they should be able to access this information. Centro de Derechos Humanos y Ambiente (CEDHA) uses their website in this manner to promote their initiatives but to also raise awareness of companies who may be harming the environment. Their Press Releases are available to the public on their website. Environmental topics are often controversial considering those concerned hold very strong emotional opinions to their beliefs on how to approach its protection and conservation. Inevitably Press Releases can very easily lead to bad press. CEDHA uses these emotional attachments of their publics to generate bad press concerning big businesses that are performing harmful acts to the environment. For instance, in 2005, one Press Release on CEDHA website informs about a Canadian mining company that wants to relocate three glaciers on the border of Chili and Argentina, “Barrick Gold mining company is proposing to “relocate” 900,000 cubic meters of glacial ice in order to preserve the ecosystem around their Pascua Lama mining site in the Andes Mountains.” This method is a good example of generating buzz on the internet that could lead to media coverage and grassroots movements to stop environmentally dangerous business practices.

CorpWatch is an organization that investigates and exposes corporate violations of human rights, environmental crimes, fraud and corruption around the world (CorpWatch Website). They too were angered by Barrick Gold and the glacier movement plan. They created a harsher Press Release bashing the company and igniting sentiments of people everywhere against the plan. They even had an animated cartoon attached to their Press Release making fun of the Barrick’s ignorance on cutting up and moving glaciers to mine for gold. This project was estimated to transfer 816,000 cubic meters of ice on the border of Chili and Argentina.

The grassroots opposition due to public relation efforts from environmental organizations and grassroots lawyers caused the company to produce an advertising campaign in counter defense, donate $10 million dollars to fund local educational and cultural community projects as well as contribute billions of dollars to ensure water and air pollution would be avoided. Fiscalia del Medio Ambiente (FIMA), Chile`s leading grassroots environmental law organization, “has joined ecologists, indigenous communities, farmers, and civil society groups that are mobilizing against the Pascua Lama project” (ELAW). The controversy generated so much buzz that those opposed to relocating the glaciers created a Facebook page which contains videos of debates and current updates on the subject. This controversy is a perfect example of environmental companies reaching people using Public Relations techniques such as Press Releases and Facebook to generate a grassroots movement on environmental matters in Argentina.

Often times, companies work with environmental and humanitarian organizations in order to improve the image of the company to the public. It is important for a profit-making company to have a public image that demonstrates their sentiments for the better good of society. This positive image in the consumers mind creates value for the company and helps manage a long-lasting relationship with the client, which is every organizations overall goal. This relationship between the company seeking to create a better public image as well as the humanitarian organization becomes beneficial for both parties. One of the best forms of this I have found is Greenpeace Argentina’s use of the influential persons to create awareness campaigns.
In 2009, in an attempt to reach the sentiments of the publics to be aware of environmental issues, Greenpeace created a commercial with Javier “El Pupi” Zanetti of the Racing futbol team in Argentina. The ad runs with Zanetti commentating on how difficult the fight is on the field but later goes on to say the fight of the field is even greater, referring to the Environmental issues facing Argentina. The Zanetti encourages people to become a part of “el equipo contra el cambio climatico” (http://www.greenpeace.org/argentina/downloads/probono-tv). Working with people whom others look up to and aspire to be like to increase awareness of environmental issues helps generate a greater sense of importance to the public. It makes those who look up to them ask, “If he/she is concerned about this issue, shouldn’t I be too?”

I would like to see more influential persons in the Argentine society, especially persons of the government, become involved in environmental campaigns. However, currently President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is often delivering the opposite message. The case I discussed earlier concerning glacial movement manually in order to continue mining for Argentine resources would have been a great opportunity for the government to demonstrate the importance of preserving the prestige of these awesome and mysterious land forms by putting their foot down and preserving the glaciers. However, Argentina vetoed the law to protect glaciers, and instead favors the mining projects due to possibility for financial gains. You would think that Argentina would want to preserve these unique landscapes, if not for the preservation aspect then for tourist reasons, but “As usually happens in Argentina, authorities seem to have favored big corporations over environmental common sense” (Alverado). The message President Fernandez is sending should be one that says she is concerned about the preservation of Argentina, instead of one that shows money is more important than environmental preservation. Not to mention, the overproduction of soy depleting the land. Another effective way to reach people is by using promotions. Promotions give people an incentive to act in a certain way, and some companies are using promotions to help the environment.

Starbucks has an ongoing promotion across the countries it serves that allows consumers to save money when they switch from paper cups to reusable mugs. Starbucks shows a passion for the environment, “Since 1985, we have offered a discount to customers who bring in a reusable travel mug and will continue doing so. This is just one of the ways we are fulfilling our commitment to environmental stewardship while we work towards a long-term goal of 100% reusable or recyclable cups by 2015″ (Starbucks Website). This is a great way to get people involved in changing wasteful habits; however, this has not been a prioritized in promotional campaigns. This incentive often gets overshadowed by their campaigns that center on the season’s new blend of coffee. As great as this promotion is in theory, without proper placement in promotional campaigns, it gets lost in the clutter. This goes back to the basic topic I discussed earlier about disseminating messages properly in the right place and at the right time, but overall it’s a start!

Before I had this epiphany, I booked a flight to NYC for a networking conference to leave at 10am (much too late to avoid the problematic traveling) on March 14th, 2011. After an entire day of traveling, due to flight delays, connections, and public transit travel, I arrived at Grand Central Station in Manhattan around 9pm.

Seeing as it was my first time in New York and my birthday was coming up in t-minus 3 hours (March 15th), I was a bit excited. I took a couple of pictures, trying to capture the majesty of the famous terminal. Then I booked it to the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel on 54th between 5th and Madison. Thankfully I have a Smartphone, so I could avoid getting completely lost by using Maps to give me directions.

So I get to the hotel that resides in Midtown Manhattan, which looks like an old yet lavish part of town. I assume every building has been renovated on the inside within the past twenty years to be replaced with chandeliers and velvet carpeting, because that is really the bulk of what I encountered in Midtown Manhattan, along with some deli’s or street food here and there.

The hotel was garnished with pretty things (not the average traveling accommodations consisting of hostels and bunk beds but it was for a conference). I checked in, went to my room to meet my suite-mates for the next three days and quickly exited back onto the streets of Manhattan. I walked around Midtown at midnight to find some street food near the Hotel, even though I had a long and early day coming up. I encountered a gyro stand, and ordered one chicken and one lamb gyro thinking “I’m so hungry I could eat a whole lamb”. Each gyro was so large I could only put down one, but wow, it was amazing, even spicy, which I heard was not common in the North.

I heard a lot of stereotypes about New York really that seem to be untrue. I didn’t encounter a bunch of cold, heartless, work drones, even though there are obvious work minded people walking around in suits. Quite the opposite! Almost everyone seemed happy to help out an obvious tourist at times when I would lose my way. I’m pretty outgoing and ask for help whenever I need it. On the other hand, like most World Cities, everyone in NY thinks they know where something is, but in actuality you’re better to look it up on your own. I literally would have one policeman tell me to go one way, and then another to tell me the same thing I was looking for was in the opposite direction. Classic big city stuff.

I woke up early the next day (24 years old) at the luxurious Omni Hotel in Midtown, Manhattan. The second birthday in a row not at home. The last was in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It was day one of the networking conference; so, I got up early and got ready with my suite-mates. I met the PR team in the conference room of the hotel around 9am. We were visiting with one celebrity publicist, Timothy Yates. Then we were to go to three of the largest PR firms in the World to have discussions with their HR representatives and employees. It was a two-day conference. On day one, we went to Edelman, Cohn & Wolfe and, “the big boys”.

Timothy Yates is a publicist for the stars. He started his career, if I’m correct, as an Intern and entry-level at Ruder Finn. He decided the structure of a PR firm was nice for the first couple of years working, but he wanted to become an independent publicist. So, he hustled, gained clients, built relationships with media personnel and is in his own right, is now a successful independent publicist. A PR person’s dream! I could relate to Mr. Yates on the way he conducted business which was aspiring for me.

After our playful yet informative meeting with Mr. Yates, we were off to see the big boys, starting with Edelman. Mind you, these companies have reputations of being the best in the World. Everyone in our business aspires to work with them at the senior level; however, the cubical mazes don’t exactly exude passion after hearing Timothy Yates free-spirited lifestyle and passion for his work.

Walking into Edelman looked like walking onto another planet. Electric blue lasers rotated the news around a glass entry way. Hard to explain, even crazier to see in person. There were three people at Edelman holding the meeting who had never met each other, until then. Also, Edelman even seemed proud to have freshly brewed Starbucks coffee in the office everyday, seeing as Starbucks is currently one of their clients. On the way out of Edelman, we spotted the TED talks office, hiding on one of the lower floors of the building. Pretty sweet if you are a TED junkie like most “in-the-know” people are.

These three companies were very much similar in their presentation styles to us. There was a very modern theme going on in all the big boy offices. Each company talked about the accounts, brought in some entry-levels to talk to us about their two years or less experience with the company, collected resumes from the hopeful college seniors in the bunch, gave us an office tour and then sent us on our way. We got a lot of business cards from this process, that’s about it.

We ended our day in the Union Square district after the Burson-Marsteller meeting, about 5pm. Since it was my birthday, I was not ready to go home. So, I asked my PR peers if anyone wanted to join me for Happy Hour somewhere. Thankfully, one girl Jill accepted my invitation, and we went to an Oyster bar nearby. Jill has short blonde hair and wore a grey skirt suit with heels. She had lived in New York for a couple of months for a summer internship once and is now looking forward to moving there again after she graduates in May from UT in Austin.

I was glad to have met Jill, because after a few cocktails at the Oyster bar and then taking it next door to the “Olives” bar residing in the W Hotel, where two men proceeded to treat us to a plethora of mixed drinks in honor of my birthday, I needed her to guide me through the subway and get us back to the Omni in Midtown. By that time, we decided to go to the Meatpacking district later that night to celebrate my birthday proper. We actually considered trying to get into Harold Burson’s (a PR legend to those non-PR readers) birthday party, seeing as it was the same night as my birthday. After a few drinks, we figured since he and I had so much in common, and we had just been to his NY office that day, we must be ordained to find ourselves on the guest list; however, we eventually decided against it, assuming we wouldn’t fit dress code or something obnoxious like that.

Jill and I met again in the lobby of the Omni, dressed to kill and ready to explore, knowing we had another long and early day ahead of us. We didn’t care, because we were in New York and it was my birthday! Thank God for Jill. Otherwise, I would have been by myself having drinks and dinner somewhere at a random restaurant. We originally tried to get into the Boom-Boom Room, but apparently after 11pm they only allow celebrity or high-profiles in. Then we saw three beautiful Russian women standing outside of this pretentious club as well with the same problem; so, Jill and I started chatting with them. They invited us to join them at a near-by place called SL. So we did, and got in no problem. Later on in the week I tried to take some other friends here (with two men) and we couldn’t get in. They will direct you to a bar called Kiss & Fly where tourists are assigned to party.

We lost each other by the end of the night, both ended up at other clubs (as I found out the following day, she had as well). Our meetings the next day were a different pace. Smaller companies than the corporate grand daddy’s we had seen the previous day. Each of the offices had a niche. One being Broadway and play publicizing, another with media training, and then there was Ruder Finn. Still a large company in its own right, but not the largest and not wanting to be.

Ruder Finn had a corporate culture that caught my attention and stood out from the rest, in my opinion. The company was founded on arts and culture, my two biggest passions as well, besides PR. The passion was oozing from David Finn’s artwork off the walls and his paperclip sculptures all around the office. The company also has an Ethics Committee to help facilitate what kind of work they deem appropriate, which is important to our field for many reasons. Their presentation was so inspiring that I was jotting down blog ideas. One of my upcoming posts will be concerning emotional intelligence, something we discussed in the meeting at Ruder Finn.

Seeing as I was exhausted from the previous night, I took it easy and went to get pizza with some of the girls at one of New Yorks renowned pizza parlors in SoHo, called Lombardi’s. We split a white pizza. Another misconception about New York is that they have the best pizza. From my experience, that is uber-false! Once you’ve had authentic Italian style pizza, covered in prosciutto, cheese, capers, olives, fresh tomatoes and basil, nothing comes close. I experienced this mouth-watering treat almost every day in Buenos Aires last year. But, we made friends with the bartender and wait staff at Lombardi’s and managed to score some free shots. He also took out a dancing Italian doll that sang “That’s, Amore”. After the Lombardi’s experience, we went to a random college-vibe-brew-bar and made some local friends.

The following day, I had a meeting with one of the Communication Placement Representatives from Heyman Associates, a company that places professional communicators and consultants with large corporations. She was a contact I have through a former professor of mine. We went over the past few days, office visits I had seen and things I should do to help my transition from Texas to New York. Since they only deal with senior level head hunting, I hope to use her as a resource in case I have any more questions when I’m in New York, and in the future possibly as a client.

That day was also Saint Patrick’s Day, and the day my best friend and boyfriend were coming to visit me in New York, too. After my meeting, I went back to Grand Central Station to welcome my current boyfriend to The City. I spent the weekend doing touristy things. We spent time at Rockefeller Center, Times Square and even spent one night in New Jersey. We stayed at the Sheraton at Lincoln Harbor in New Jersey and the W Hotel in New York’s Midtown Manhattan. We also checked out sushi at the W Hotel in Times Square, which had a cool ambiance but was much too “in the middle of the craziness” for us. We even watched the sunset atop the Empire State Building, the evening of the “Super Moon”

This networking conference in New York showed me several sides of PR, from independent publicist to corporate PR consultant. Also, it helped me solidify that New York is the place I want to be at this time in my life. I’m interested and have dabbled in all practices of public relations such as healthcare, consumer, financial, crisis management, etc. but ultimately, as cliché as it may sound, working around passion ignites the passion in me. For example, the meeting with Ruder Finn inspired me to start blogging. So, my goal is to find an environment in NYC to nurture my desire to explore, create and deliver powerful and persuasive communication plans. Step #1 = Move to NYC!!

This blog was created to share my experiences as a young public relations consultant making the change from student to professional. 

I love traveling and experiencing new ways to live and do things.  Traveling expands your network and opens up many opportunities for a professional in any field.  It invites a sense of self-education as well as a worldly one. 

Helping people communicate is the essence of public relations.  Learning about the cultural differences and similarities is imperative to understanding how one should communicate effectively with others.  This is a lifelong process that keeps a person’s mind healthy, as well as their heart. 

It’s important to look for opportunities for adventure, exploration and making connections.  I will be sharing a few things I have learned from my personal adventures on this blog.  I hope you enjoy!

Chau Chau for now,

Denise Rohrer

Acaba PR
University of Texas alumna
Public Relations and International Communications