Tune for Two (2011) from alfa primo on Vimeo.

An execution takes an unexpected turn…

The Emergency Response Studio currently on display at Rice. For more visit the ERS site.

“You’re constantly on the brink of crashing because that’s the fastest.” – Danica Patrick

First – HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Barak Obama, our new President! 2009 is going to be better than 2008, and I hope and pray he can lead us back to what so many of us believe America is capable of.

From a tech perspective the switch of the site from change.gov to the actual whitehouse.gov and the first blog post by Macon Phillips, the Director of New Media for the White House, is quite amazing. Comments are not enabled, but the start with a conversational tone is appreciated by this citizen. He lists as goals:

1. Communication
2. Transparency
3. Participation

In addition to having a “Director of New Media”, I noticed from a PR perspective is the new Office of Public Liaison on whitehouse.gov. Doing a quick google on it there seems to be a disagreement between this article and on the leadership bio names listing Valerie Jarrett, Tina Tchen and Michael Strautmanis on the site.

I did notice that Jarrett is an attorney, and Tchen and Strautmanis are both litigators. Hmmm, no APR communicators in the office of public liaison? What does this say about the PR profession that the Obama team chose not to bring in any professional communicators on the leadership team? Or am I missing something?

Three of my favorite MKL quotes:

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”
‘We may have come here on different ships but we’re all in the same boat now.’
-    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

It’s one of those days that just seems so predictable and yet so impossible at the same time with our new President‘s inauguration tomorrow!

“A bat and a ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs a dollar more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?”

- Kahneman (hint: it’s not $1)

Seriously, 2009 has got to be better than 2008. Seriously. So HAPPY NEW YEAR!

road to tampa
Originally uploaded by eschipul

go vote. no really, go vote. take the time, take the pto, do what it takes, go vote.

how should you vote? think. do that. then vote.

David Herrold
by The Fuzzball

First – I really liked this photo from @thefuzzball on flickr of @davidherrold at Barcamp Houston 3. Great photo!

Second – embedded below are my slides from the “Strategic PR using Social Media” that are posted on slideshare.net. I did have to delete a few graphics to get below the 50meg limit. Let me know if you need those as well.

And thanks again for all of the organizers for a great event! From the wiki:

• Kelsey Ruger Twitter: themoleskin
• Marc Nathan Twitter: marc1919
• Robert Brackenridge
• EricaOgrady Twitter: ericaogrady
• Matthew Wettergreen Twitter: organ_printer
• Josh Tabin, Twitter: joshtabin
• Kurt Stoll, Twitter: kurtstoll
• Scott M. Stolz, Twitter: WisTex

And here is the presentation I gave on Strategic PR using Social Media. Hopefully the biggest take-away is that without RESEARCH and STRATEGIC PLANNING, well, social media is as useless as anything else. You can’t evaluate results if you don’t have an objective. The basics of PR remain the same, with social media being another outlet for your ethical strategy. or something like that.