Tampa Takes On The South ...

He sat there quietly, nervously and apparently absorbed by a world of inner wonder. He seemed someplace else. Yet there he sat. Next to me. On an airplane, just inches away, eyeball to eyeball.

Sure, a bit odd, but nothing scary really. Just blandly odd. Then he started licking. Yes, licking ... licking the top of his right palm. Like a dog. First, I thought maybe he was just uncooth (is that a real word?), he had a ripped scab, a hang nail or chronic itch condition ... uh, nada. Nothing. He'd lick, stop, go back to InnerWonderWorld. Minutes later, he'd lick again. After about an hour, he stopped. Thank God I'd bought a Reader's Digest. Then it got me to thinking: Who IS this guy? And what a wacky world we live in. Then I smiled, reflecting the great weekend I had in Tampa, site of the IABC Southern Region Conference.

I had the privilege to go since I'm immediate past president of Dallas/IABC, thus a regional senior delegate. And yes, friends, communicators are a bit wacked themselves. What a wonderful group of professionals. I stayed the entire conference, met and re-met great professionals such as R. Carter Langston, Carol Barreyre, Laura Luchini, Richard Barger, Michael Sponhour, Diana Rogers, Adrienne Schutte, Judy Holmes, and many more. I learned about Litigation PR, Branding for Big Companies, Body Language Tips and Truths, and on and on ... I was even asked to be guest speaker at a couple of different IABC chapters. Awesome.

Here is a quick phone-camera shot of a local chapter volunteer who insisted on showing her husband that she does wear her seatbelt while traveling ...

Great time, great people, great topics. Thanks IABC!

Want to get a feel for my time in Tampa? Read my Tampa Talk notes here.

Thou Shalt ...

Any time I hear about someone sharing a story about unmet expectations, getting ripped off, or wondering "where did all my money go?," I wonder about the experience, relationship, supplier. And customer. I also feel my gut twirl and whirl with discomfort. I hate when PR gets a bad rap or dissed because of someone's poor experience with it.

But it also opens a door to share exactly what PR can do, will do ... and cannot do. It allows us to share that PR can work, when executed diligently and dutifully. It's no panacea to the world's problems, but PR--public relations--does help you and your company relate to the "publics" you care about. Maybe a PR campaign focuses on investors, or sales prospects, even employees. Maybe the focus is legislators and political influencers. PR starts with Someone wanting to Relate a message to another Someone.

It requires research, thoughtfulness, intelligence, planning--yes, a communications strategy to help optimize results and meet expectations. It requires a plan.

So, with that, I invite you to check out how to find the PR agency that's right for you. We've put together a 10 Commandments to help that process. Check it out. Let us know what you think. See the 10 at http://www.rgmcomms.com/ps10-07.html.

--Roy G