In the past year we’ve celebrated drive-by graduations from the safety of our cars and shared meals in make-shift plastic igloos in restaurant parking lots. We’ve adopted video conferencing for such diverse purposes as doctor’s visits, wine tastings, family holiday gatherings and worship services. And the COVID-19 pandemic has radically changed the way we gather for school and work. How [...]
To say the least, this past year has been one of unprecedented change. The phrase “new normal” has entered our daily lexicon, as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have significantly altered how we live, gather, socialize and work. No person nor business has been immune to the change. Our client BitTitan, a Seattle-based cloud enablement company that is the [...]
Recently, I was asked to describe the purpose of a communication toolkit and thought it would be helpful to provide some details on what they are and how people use them. The communication toolkit typically includes ready-made materials or template materials that can be customized by others to aid them in achieving a particular goal. The goal might be education, [...]
We’re excited to share results from our work with one of our newest clients, ABC Legal Services. ABC Legal is the nation’s leading provider of process and court filing services and is the official process server to the U.S. Department of Justice. The company also owns Docketly, an appearance counsel provider that has created an efficient, cloud-based platform to connect [...]
The social and emotional impact is not insignificant. Our team has been working remotely since March 4. We are fortunate that we all transitioned to working from home without much disruption. Our IT infrastructure was already cloud-based, making the functional aspects of the transition seamless. And we have a highly functional team, made up of individuals who take pride in [...]
As PR professionals, an inalienable truth of our work is that we cannot be successful without the help of reporters, journalists, bloggers and news media. We build relationships with media members because we need them. Yes, we rely on journalists for valued coverage, but also for information, guidance and greater insight into what’s going on in our communities. This year, [...]
Heading into the final quarter of 2020, many of us continue navigating the familiar challenges of this trying year. Many businesses are relying on remote workforces for the foreseeable future. Teachers and students are pivoting to online learning and virtual engagement. Collectively, we are still acclimating to our new normal. Like many others in neighboring industries, PR professionals find themselves [...]
Is your inspiration and motivational drive lacking this morning? Maintaining a positive and determined mentality while confined to working at home with the world in unrest can seem impossible. Recently, I came across an article published by Forbes that stuck with me, as it succinctly summarized five key "power skills" to focus on during the pandemic. Reading this article, I [...]
On Monday, July 13, 2020, NPR broke the story that more than 1,200 current employees at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed a letter calling for the federal agency to address "ongoing and recurring acts of racism and discrimination" against Black employees. NPR contributors Selena Simmons-Duffin and Pien Huang note, “The letter offers a rare glimpse inside a [...]
For many organizations worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work. We’re more reliant on collaboration technologies than ever before. The pandemic has forced an abrupt dislocation of how employees work, how customers behave, how supply chains function and even what ultimately constitutes busines performance. With a sudden shift to a remote workforce a new era of leadership [...]
In a recent episode of The New York Times’ “The Daily” podcast, Counting the Infected, the team discussed how the newspaper handled tracking and analyzing data related to COVID-19 cases and deaths. Beginning in early March, the Times formed a dedicated COVID-19 data team. This group of reporters and researchers were tasked with aggregating case and death data from a [...]
The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a shadow over every aspect of our lives for the past three months. In addition, recent civil unrest has ignited across the country and world in response to the senseless murders of George Floyd in police custody in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment. Conversations are happening across the country about systemic racial [...]
For many, workplace culture is a driving force for keeping employees motivated and engaged at their jobs. The workplace atmosphere, the relationships with co-workers, the watercooler chatter and the snacks on hand give many folks something to look forward to when going about their daily work routine. However, maintaining workplace culture has become much more challenging while working remotely. Days [...]
Each spring Cision releases its State of the Media Report, analyzing trends in the media, uncovering insights into journalists’ view on the state of the industry, and describing preferences on how they prefer to work with PR professionals. I keep an eye out for it each year, knowing that it will provide information that will be highly useful when pitching [...]
My copy of The Associated Press Stylebook 2019 arrived in my mailbox after Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee had already issued the order to shelter in place, so learning AP style has been one of my projects while social distancing. Faced with reviewing a 600-page book filled with rules, I was a little intimidated. My first instinct was to read [...]
Organizations in nearly every industry are facing unique challenges brought on by COVID-19. Businesses are determining how to be nimble and maintain their operations, while keeping their employees and customers safe. As a result of government mandated stay-at-home orders, the global remote workforce has expanded seemingly overnight. This change has brought an increase in the adoption of digital collaboration tools [...]
Microsoft, Amazon, and Zillow have announced that regardless of when local governments lift stay-at-home directives, their employees can continue working from home through at least October 2020. That flexibility has been seemingly well received; however, many people are looking forward to being able to venture away from home for a change of scenery and in-person interactions. Many business leaders are [...]
Today when I drove from my home to our empty office to pick up mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, I had the opportunity to catch a few minutes of Michael Barbaro, host of The Daily, who interviewed the New York Times’ Donald G. McNeil, Jr. They prognosticated about the next installment of the pandemic and what they expect [...]
This week marks the eighth week of working from home for the Communiqué PR team. We consider ourselves fortunate to have a job that we can perform from home, and that our team is supportive of one another during a stressful and uncertain time. Despite the unforeseen circumstances, the transition to working from home has been relatively painless for our [...]
As we all adapt to the “new normal” during the coronavirus pandemic, like many industries, PR agencies are rewriting playbooks for how to pitch reporters. It’s a balance of continuing to drive results for clients while ensuring pitches are not tone deaf, appealing to reporters’ humanity, and counseling clients on the risk of appearing like they are capitalizing on the [...]