Technology Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Sarah Burgess

Texting, answering emails, online shopping or simply watching endless episodes of “Friends” on Netflix; sure, we’ve heard habits like these can be bad for your eyes and attention span, but one of the most recent ailments attributed to these behaviors might surprise you.

So, what is it? Do me a favor – if you’re a millennial and regularly do the things I mentioned above, look at yourself in the mirror. If you’re like me, you may have noticed one or two horizontal lines on your neck. These could be caused by a new phenomenon called tech neck.

Now, don’t think you’re getting off the hook with just a couple lines on your neck! A new study conducted by Surgical Technology International found that tech neck can add up to 50 pounds of pressure on your spine, resulting in poor posture and other side effects.

Flicker credit: U.S. Department
of Education

Think this sounds like a bunch of malarkey? I can personally attest to the dangers of tech neck. After about a year of owning my first cell phone (in the good ol’ days of the Motorola Razr), I started having frequent, unexplained pain in my wrists. After seeing a few doctors and specialists, they concluded that I had developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and the best option to correct it was surgery. Lucky for me, I was extremely squeamish and terrified of getting surgery on my wrists. That’s right, I said “lucky.”

After unwillingly accompanying my father to his chiropractor appointment and discussing why I was wearing braces on my wrists with the doctor, we decided it couldn’t hurt for him to have a look at my spine. Turns out, being so wrapped up in texting all the time had caught up with me. My frequent texting and computer usage caused the upper portion of my spine to straighten in an unnatural manner, which pinched a nerve that shot pain down to my wrists. Crazy, right?

Now, I know it’s virtually impossible to avoid the devices that cause tech neck, but there are a few tips that can help prevent discomfort, bad posture and those unsightly lines.

• Keep your ears parallel with your shoulders.
• Stop resting your chin on your hands.
• Prop up your computer with a couple of books so your screen is eye-level.
• If you use a laptop, get a laptop stand, wireless keyboard and mouse so you’re not forced to look down so much.

Have any other tips to help prevent tech neck? Let us know in the comments below!

Vision

Lauren Hannaford

I rarely set New Year’s resolutions because I hardly ever follow them, and midway through the year, when I suddenly remember what it was I was supposed to be working towards, I find myself disappointed that I couldn’t even remember that I set one. So, going into 2015, I was feeling pretty content with not having one. No pressure, I thought. But, I heard someone speak a couple of weeks ago and was completely caught of guard with a very profound and powerful statement that resonated with me. It was so simple and clear. “If you don’t have a clear vision, no strategy will save you.”

New York Times bestselling author, speaker and consultant Michael Hyatt at January’s Lipscomb & Pitts Breakfast Club meeting made this point in his presentation, and a light bulb immediately switched on in my mind. In fact, here’s an entire blog post by Hyatt on this topic.

Now, it’s not like I haven’t heard this point before, and we often talk about what the “bigger picture” looks like for clients. But, in the complicated world of public relations, I think there are several layers of vision and strategy. You’ve got an overall vision for a client, a vision for a campaign, a vision for one story idea and a vision for one blog post. What I think is important to remember is that it’s necessary to always come back to your primary vision because it dictates where you go from there, and it leads you to your strategy.

On the other hand, having foggy vision can lead you to the wrong strategy. It can also cause you to completely miss out on something that may have been important to your client. So, it’s essential to be sure that you share the same vision with your client. Opinions may differ on the strategy, but a united vision is the only path to a successful outcome.

So, instead of setting a New Year’s resolution this year, I’m focusing on having a clear vision for my personal life, my professional life and for each of my client accounts. While things may not go perfectly throughout the year, my hope for 2015 is that my clear vision leads to successfully executed strategies.

Power of the Pen

Daniel Wade

Power of the Pen

What can you do to distinguish yourself, to set yourself apart? What is your goal, how badly do you want it and what will it take to get there? These are questions that driven individuals ponder on some level all the time but should also have application to what we do everyday. You don’t have to be creating a startup business in your basement or dissecting a corporate merger to think about these things. You can have a similar value proposition as the next guy or gal, yet your unique tactic or slant can make the difference.

Let’s get out of the clouds and into something practical that you can wrap your hands around. It’s a small yet powerful example that has made an impression on me in the last year. When was the last time you received a handwritten note? It doesn’t matter the occasion – a thank you for a gift; an appreciation for a visit or going the extra mile somehow; an out-of-the-blue acknowledgement for something you worked hard on - or, even better than these, just because. What made that special and different? From my perspective, those same sentiments may have been communicated in other ways, but they took on a new level of meaning when I held the paper and read the words.

Can I let you in on a little secret? This blog post is as much for me as anyone who happens upon this space. I’m on the laptop all day, so why can’t I just send an email? They know I love them – does it really matter if I write it out? You’re just being sappy and dramatic. My handwriting is chicken-scratch anyway. Handwritten notes are for grandparents. Here comes the big one. I just don’t have time to sit down and write out handwritten notes. They’re busy; they’ll understand.

So, here’s my small exhortation to take those big questions/thoughts from earlier and choose a simple, practical way to apply them. Be intentional. Don’t use it as a sneaky sales tactic. Be genuine. I was talking to a reporter a month or two ago, and he brought up a client by name – “Got a handwritten note from [so and so]; boy, you sure don’t see those much anymore.” I’ve had a boss who excelled at this characteristic, as well as a father who modeled this as well.

I don’t know about you, but it’s high time I picked up the pen and paper.

So, What Do You Do?

Mary Catherine Banister

Family events. High school reunions. Catching up with college friends. These are times that, in the post-graduate world, give many people (some who you probably haven’t seen in a while) the opportunity to ask you lots of questions. About everything. You know what I’m talking about? I thought so.

Now, being a recent college graduate with an exciting new career, I would expect to be asked plenty of questions about my job by those family members and friends who are interested in keeping up with my activities. I would obviously be prepared to answer their questions, but recently I got to thinking…do my family members even remotely, kinda-sorta understand what I do for a living?

So, I did an experiment. I emailed my mom, dad, grandmother and two younger brothers with the question of all questions: “What do you think I do at work?” And, even better, “What do you think public relations is?”

My parents had a solid understanding of my job (probably because I talk to them about it every day). They chalked it up to me spending my time promoting a company’s brand or image to the public and working with traditional and social media. They were also spot-on regarding how much of my time I spend writing.

One of my brothers – the one who bothered to respond (Thanks, Will!) – had more of a “Mad Men” view of what I do as a PR practitioner. He thinks that I work with various accounts to make sure they are all happy with their public image. Not bad!

My wonderful 91-year-old grandmother gave me some great insight, as well. She told me that her thoughts about what I do encompass many areas – computer skills, paperwork, sales, event planning, working with TV and radio, producing websites, writing and acting as “a connection between people and companies.” She even touched on the importance of brainstorming and research! On the surface level, she was 100 percent correct.

So, my immediate family has a decent grasp on what my job entails. However, what would I tell my extended family about the work that I, and my fellow PR professionals, do (and do well)? Would I leave it at the surface, the level that my parents and siblings know and understand? Or do I explain the importance of strategy and planning and the meticulous way we do research, develop tactics and follow up with the media?

It can be tough to explain our jobs in a way that everybody can fully grasp. The fact that we have clients from all industries, with varying goals and objectives, makes every work day different from the last. But to me, that’s what makes PR fun! So, do what you do best, and craft a little PR pitch to explain your work to everyone who stops you at your next class reunion or sits near you at family dinner. Let them know that what you do is important, and there’s no doubt that they will be impressed!

Marathons are not for meetings.

Kelli Brignac

Recently, I traveled to Memphis to meet up with our Obsidian team and to see a few clients. But I made a huge mistake. Between traveling and scheduled meetings, I literally only had nine and a half hours of time in my week to actually get things done. Let’s just say there were a lot of late nights that week, followed by a few not-so-relaxing weekend days.

The example above is a pretty extreme case. I’m usually always stacking meetings when I travel because I want to maximize my face time with clients and with my account partners. But lately, it seems that I can’t get through my day without a meeting or five breaking it up. And, I’ve started to make a concerted effort to make the most of that meeting time while also keeping it efficient. Here are a few things I’ve learned to keep meetings on track instead of letting them turn into marathons.

1. Respect everyone’s schedules.

The shared calendar has worked wonders for me. As long as my calendar is updated and my account partners can see it, we can schedule meetings fairly easily without wasting 30 minutes trying to figure out who is available when.

When you’re working across various organizations, keep in mind that everyone has different pressures, so it’s important to schedule the meeting for as long as you expect it to last. Don’t put 30 minutes on everyone’s calendar knowing that you’d be hard-pressed to finish in less than an hour. If you can trust your calendar, it’s easier to plan your day and workload.

2. Make an agenda beforehand.

Without an agenda, your meeting may fall prey to chit-chat while you try to remember what you were supposed to talk about. And SHARE the agenda! Give everyone a chance to weigh in, at least by the day before. That way you don’t run into an unexpected topic that takes up all your meeting time.

Bonus tip: Arrange your agenda in order of importance. That way if someone has to leave the meeting early, they won’t miss the most important thing you’ll cover.

3. Stick to the agenda.

While unexpected discussion can produce wonderful things (it’s actually how Obsidian’s PR 180 Project was born) it can also waste a lot of time. By passing around the agenda beforehand (see tip No. 2), you should have a pretty complete idea of what you need to discuss.

4. Take notes.

Trust me. You won’t remember everything you talked about if you don’t jot it down while it’s happening. I like to take notes on my computer in my meeting agenda so I can refer back to them later.

5. Establish next steps for everyone. And assign deadlines to all tasks.

I work with five different people. And they work with others aside from me. It would be impossible for all of us to remember everything the other was supposed to do for our clients. So we keep to-do lists. They are wonderful for making sure we’re on time with everything.

When we have calls with our clients, I’ve found that the best way to make sure we stay on track is to send a follow-up email with next steps for everyone. That way, even if the person you met with wasn’t taking notes, he or she knows what needs to be done before you can accomplish your next steps.

6. Short regular meetings > long irregular meetings.

I’ve got six weekly meetings and even more bi-weekly or monthly meetings with my account partners, clients and managers. It might seem like a lot, but they are never long. My weekly meetings almost never last more than 30 minutes because we follow all of the above protocols when scheduling and executing them. And, there is nothing worse than letting things pile up until you really can’t do anything without talking to someone first.

7. Schedule time to work.

The calendar works both ways. Sometimes it’s important to schedule time to knock out a few projects and have no threat of being interrupted by a meeting. And there’s no shame in that!

Got any meeting efficiency tips I missed? Leave them in the comments! I’m always looking for better ways to streamline my meeting times. 

Social Media – PR Pros Should be Savvy, Not Sassy

Mary Catherine Banister

It is a PR professional’s top priority to make sure that all information presented about, and by, a client is sending the right (and appropriate) message. In the age of social media, it is all too common for an individual or a brand to present messages that are not conducive to the image it wants to maintain, or that is offensive or harmful to its audience. This can turn into a public relations nightmare and can tarnish the person’s or the brand’s reputation. That’s where we, the PR gurus, come into play. We work to prevent these problems from happening in the first place, but then we are ready to react appropriately on behalf of our client should an issue arise. It’s our job to deal with such situations, and we do it well!

Yes, we are able to recognize when an individual or a company posts a questionable photo and caption on Facebook or writes an insensitive tweet. We know where they went wrong, and how they should try to resolve the problem. But what about when it comes to our own social media presence? Are we always presenting ourselves with poise, dignity and respect to our audiences? Here are a few rules of thumb regarding being appropriate on social media platforms, especially when the line between being professional and being personal can get blurry:

• You have your right to free speech, but be mindful when putting your personal thoughts and opinions on the Internet. State your own points of view, but never attack others’ – you never know who you might offend with whatever “clever” political statement you decide to make while watching The State of the Union address.
• Don’t go overboard. I have been guilty of this a few times – when Auburn lost its bowl game over the holidays, I could have spoken my mind about it in 10 separate 140-character posts. But, I kept it to a short tweet about my Tiger pride and left it at that. Your followers don’t want to see a million tweets and retweets about a sports team or TV show that they might not even care about – you could lose credibility (and a few followers) if you let it all out!
• Post meaningfully. Don’t try to tell a long, drawn-out story via Twitter – if you feel the need to express yourself in a long post, use Facebook or a personal blog. Or, in all honesty, don’t post at all! Call your parents, have coffee with a friend or write in a journal – some things are not necessary to share publicly with your “closest” 250 Twitter followers or 1,500 Facebook friends.
• Keep your audience in mind. If your Facebook friends are primarily acquaintances from high school, college sorority sisters and relatives, posting a silly photo or funny video shouldn’t be a big deal. However, if your Twitter followers are a mix of friends, family, members of the media and coworkers, you should probably think twice about sharing that “super cute” #TBT photo of you and your BFF dancing on the bar at a fraternity formal in 2012.
• Watch your language. If you use your personal social media accounts to also interact with coworkers, the media or other professionals, you should always be on your best behavior. Not all of your posts have to be work-related, but steer clear of any foul language, inappropriate photos or emotionally charged interactions with others. Once it’s published online, there’s no going back!

Don’t be afraid to use your social media platforms as a way to appropriately mingle your professional and personal lives. You can brand yourself as a well-rounded and interesting individual if you play the game correctly, and that’s what it is all about. Don’t put yourself into a situation where you have to clean up your own social media crisis. Instead, stick to a plan and be mindful of your messages, and your reputation and image will continue to grow.

The Five Pillars of Personal Branding

Kayla Stringer

Bernard Kelvin Clive of The No Nonsense Guide to Personal Branding for Career Success once wrote that personal branding is the combination of skills and talents to create significance by forming “an impression, a perception and a reputation in the minds of others.”

Many people live their entire lives never recognizing their full potential, their purpose or worse - neither. Personal branding is a culmination of how you perceive yourself and how you want others to perceive you.

Building an effective and stable personal brand takes time and dedication and is important in today’s society for establishing who you are and what you bring to the table in your particular market.

I’ve established five important factors to consider when building a personal brand and why they are important.

1. Clearly identify yourself to others.

Who do you want to be? What do you want to be known for? These are difficult questions, but once you’ve identified the answers for yourself, you can begin to identify the brand you want to build. Choose a character trait that combines your abilities with your beliefs. Whether that’s aggressive or passionate or whatever it may be. Use that trait to drive the character you want people to recognize when they think of your brand and what it stands for.

2.  Manifest your personal growth.

Personal brands, much like corporate brands, evolve with time and development. The key factor in manifesting your personal growth is to evaluate where you began and set personal goals for yourself to measure where you are headed in the future. A demonstration of your personal growth builds credibility of your skills and reliability of your personal character in the minds of others. 

3. Build a reliable reputation.

Perhaps the most important aspect of building a personal brand is getting people to buy into who you are and what you stand for as an individual. A reliable reputation means the perception others have of you isn’t swayed from one person to the next. People associate your professional abilities and your personal values as one unit, creating one reputation. The reliable part is up to you. How you build that unit defines the association people have in their minds of your brand. Building a reliable brand is useful for credibility with future employers, colleagues or even friends. Be someone you’re proud of and someone that you would surround yourself with.

4. Understand your value and promote your uniqueness.

It’s been said to me a hundred times - you know when people ask you about the “it” factor. That’s what you have to find with your personal brand. What’s your “it” factor? What makes you shine? What makes you different? What makes you better? Understanding your strengths and weaknesses is half the battle. When establishing a credible personal brand that people want to buy into, you have to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses and use them both to your advantage. But, you may ask, “How can I use weaknesses to my advantage?” Turn them into strengths. Educate yourself on your weaknesses and use them as a defense to make yourself more marketable and to continue learning in your field every day. If you can’t write press releases well, read a couple that have been sent out to different media outlets and write a few samples of your own that you can give to a colleague to edit for practice. Play on your strengths - you have them for a reason. Give yourself credit where credit is due, and use your strengths as a marketing strategy to promote your uniqueness - your “it” factor.

5. You are your brand’s voice.

At the end of the day, brands are effective in communicating professionalism and responsibility. They also need to have the individuality of a human voice. Aside from the etiquette of branding and how it should be used in real-world settings, give your brand a voice that has your personality and your own special touch. Whether you do this with a vibrant logo or you build an app that intertwines your unique rhythm with your professional capabilities, remember to be yourself. Like Dr. Seuss said, “There is no one alive who is youer than you.”