Happy holidays from the whole team at MGA! Here's hoping your holiday season is full of joy, and your New Year is prosperous. We hope you enjoy our bell-isimo tribute to the holidays (and keep watching for the blooper reel!).
Conversations That MatterFiltered by Date: 2010Author: Jim Mascolo Whether the sensationalized rhetoric of Internet romantics or a potent call-to-arms for a citizenry whose right to public Internet access is threatened, the subject of net neutrality engenders fierce debate. Author: Jennifer Watson Below is the second in a two-part series about writing blogs. You can read the first post here. Now it's time to get down to the business of finding ideas and writing about them in an engaging way. This doesn't have to be hard. Really. Here are a few tips: Author: Jennifer Watson Below is the first in a two-part series about writing blogs. In reflecting on the topic, Jennifer commented, "Writing about writing is anxiety-provoking. It's impossible to give others advice without wondering what mistakes or bad prose you is inflicting on others." Author: Kip Cheroutes What college or high school student shows up on a warm autumn Sunday, pays the equivalent of a concert ticket but instead meets with kindred spirits to tackle genocide and promote stability in the world? By Doug Magee Yes, I admit it. I like facts and figures. I always have. Sure, many may view the facts I know as trivia, and in some cases they are, but the search for facts is what drives the client research I do. Knowing the facts can lead to insights that might otherwise not have been uncovered. By: Molly Osadjan Well, you found me! I am the newest account executive at MGA Communications, Inc. I am delighted to be working at MGA and excited to be working with the fantastic clients that we have. MGA Communications has recently added six new clients to its roster including Envirotest, Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Denver, NatureSweet Tomatoes, LeashLocket, Ltd., The Kitchen Hotline, and Dumbbells. Have you heard the news? MGA's President Jeff Julin is behind bars today! Fortunately, it's for a good cause. Julin is raising "bail" money to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association. The funds he raises will send some very special kids to summer camp in Empire, CO. What are you doing the morning of Saturday, Aug. 28? If you love tomatoes, you should plan to be in Arvada for the eighth annual NatureSweet Homegrown Tomato Challenge. Through this Friday, Aug. 13, you can enter a cooking contest on NatureSweet's Facebook page with a chance to win $2,500. Last week, MGA's President Jeff Julin was honored to be named to the Public Relations Society of America's College of Fellows. Two other local professionals and friends, Jane Dvorak and Sydney Ayers, were also named, and we congratulate all of them! MGA's full release is available below or can be downloaded here. Reflections on the Biennial of the Americas The chicken bus rumbled as our driver floored it up the twisting mountain road. Like most busses in Guatemala, ours had a Christian name painted across the front. "Our Savior Protects," the letters proclaimed. I hoped the name applied to traffic as well as spiritual hazards. In the United States, we have a tomb for unknown soldiers who die in combat. Is your strategic communications plan gathering dust on your bookshelf or in the bottom of a file drawer? Dust it off and join MGA's professionals for the next installment of our free Nonprofit Buzz series! On August 25, we'll tackle the topic of making your strategic communications plan work for you – and how it can help your nonprofit save time and be more efficient! This month Denver is staging the first ever 2010 Biennial of the Americas, an international collaboration of the arts, culture, ideas and music among the 35 nations of the Western Hemisphere. The Biennial should remind us of the connection we have with 910 million other earth inhabitants to help make this side of the planet secure and economically sustainable. 
under Around Colorado
Author: Sarah Rasmussen Each week in MGA's staff meetings, we share "lessons learned" from the prior week. At the end of last month, I shared mine: If you have someone who believes in you, and you put your mind to it, you can accomplish more than you think you can. On June 20th, I rode 100 miles on my bike as part of the Denver Century Ride. Previously, the furthest I had ridden at one time was 40 miles. Author: Jennifer Watson You're writing a speech or sitting in a meeting when you have a funny thought. Do you share it? Do you include it in your remarks? Before you answer, let's stipulate that your funny thought isn't an obvious clunker. You're not prone to sexist comments, racist jokes or unkind put-downs. Your thought is just funny - at least to you. Author: Doug Magee Most of the discussion about online communications by organizations focuses primarily on websites, blogs and social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. You seldom hear any discussion about the importance of Wikipedia. I know I didn't until I read an interesting blog post by Katie Paine, CEO and founder of KD Paine & Partners, LLC. Paine is an expert in measuring relationships and organizational accountability. Author: Kip Cheroutes Public Radio International personality Ira Glass was in Denver recently to talk about his show and his method of journalism. My family and I went to the historic Paramount Theater expecting to be mildly entertained. We left greatly impressed.
under News from MGA
MGA is looking for an Account Executive with experience in public relations and social media. See description below. Position closes Friday, May 28. MGA Communications is seeking a public relations professional with exceptional writing and social media skills to join its growing team. Author: Sarah Rasmussen
Regardless of whether you or your organization sees value in participating in social media, you still need a policy – lack of one is simply not an option.
Why? Because whether your organization is actively participating or not, it’s highly likely someone connected with you is – your employees, vendors, partners, customers, and/or competitors. At a minimum, you need to provide guidance to employees and have a way to monitor the conversations taking place.
Last night, MGA's president Jeff Julin was honored by the Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) with its Swede Johnson Lifetime Achievement Award. In accepting the award, Julin spoke from the heart and earned a standing ovation from the crowd of over 200. Author: Claire Haupt Volunteering and community involvement are values my parents instilled in me when I was young. When I found myself in Denver in the summer of 2005 looking for a job, I turned to what I knew to do – get involved. Author: Jim Mascolo MGA has given me the flexibility for the last year to volunteer each Friday in a local second-grade classroom. In that time, I’ve had the privilege of working with one of the kindest, most masterful teachers on the planet. She’s something of a cross between Mother Theresa and Stephen Covey: not tough love, but highly effective love. (Where was she when I was in second grade?) I’ve been impressed by her since she taught my son not so many years ago, and, to my surprise, she had no reservations about me helping out. I don’t know if I’m really much use in the classroom. I have trouble keeping my parallelograms straight from my trapezoids, but I’m having fun. And the kids? They are still--as always- sweet, lively and precious. Call me a Rousseauian romantic, but I think of them as our national treasure, the untapped reservoir of dreams that will spell our future as a nation. Author: Jennifer Watson Years ago, during an unusually busy day at the office, I ripped open a note addressed to me, glanced at the signature and stopped. The heavy stationary bore the handwriting of Joanne Holbrook Patton, wife of Maj. Gen. George S. Patton and daughter-in-law of the famous World War II general. The lengthy note contained her thanks for my assistance on a conference she was helping to organize on volunteer administration. Like many businesses and organizations in the Denver area, MGA Communications has a strong commitment to enhancing the Denver community through our volunteer and pro bono work. In fact, we were just recognized as the Denver Business Journal’s 2010 Small Business of the Year for their Partners in Philanthropy Program. We are honored to be selected among other winners including Qwest Communications International, Education Partner of the Year, Wheeler Trigg O’Donnell LLP, Medium Business of the Year, CoBank, Large Business of the Year and Peter Beaupre’, President PCL Construction Enterprises Inc., Corporate Citizen of the Year. Earth Day has a direct Colorado connection. Current Denver resident John McConnell designed the Earth Flag in 1968 after seeing the first photo of Earth in Life Magazine. Each year, the United Nations uses this Earth Flag as part of its Earth Day Ceremony. In September 1969, McConnell proposed Earth Day to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and won strong approval for an Earth Day Proclamation (issued March 21, 1970 on the March equinox). The idea spread worldwide. Author: Doug Magee, VP of Research The Pew Research Center for People and the Press reported Monday that public trust of the federal government has reached near record lows. From a survey in March, the Pew Center found that 22% of U.S. adults say they trust the government in Washington almost always or most of the time. As they write in their report, “…(the new) survey finds a perfect storm of conditions associated with distrust of government – a dismal economy, an unhappy public (and) bitter partisan-based backlash…” that has led to ratings among the lowest in half a century. We won't argue with her, but we will share! She was kind enough to send us a congratulatory note (which we received last week) for being recognized as having One of the Top 5 PR Campaigns of the Decade. A recent program by the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce on the State of DIA had me reflecting on the long road (or runway) we have traveled to get us where we are today. There is no question, except to a few hard core critics, that Denver International Airport has become an economic development engine for Colorado. The near future plans for the airport, both air side and land side, make it even more important for our economic stability and quality of life.
Author: Ginger Pelz My favorite holiday is finally here! This Friday is the Colorado Rockies Home Opener, and for me, Opening Day is pretty much baseball Christmas. With that being said, here are my three Opening Day wishes for my favorite baseball team. 1) Get rid of the RSS feeds on your Twitter and Facebook accounts! Author: Jeff Julin On Sunday March 28th, The Denver Post ran an article titled Comments On-line Often Manufactured by Special-Interests Groups by Andy Vuong. The article talks about using posting as key part of influencer campaigns. The article touches on the fact that the Federal Trade Commission now requires bloggers to disclose any “material connections” they may have with organizations they blog about. This is a good thing, but Andy goes on to point out that political communications receives the “highest level of free speech protection,” which allows anonymous blogging and posting. Author: Jeff Julin, President MGA and its clients at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal were recently recognized for conducting one of the Top Five PR Campaigns of the Decade by The Holmes Report. We know we do good work, but being recognized by someone such as Paul Holmes (and among such international firms like Ogilvy, Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard) is great validation. We share this honor – along with the many other awards we’ve received over the years – with our clients.
Author: Ginger Pelz MGA recently sent me to SXSW Interactive (which I will affectionately refer to as SXSWi) in Austin, TX to immerse myself in all things social media, share ideas with others who are active in this area and return with insight on emerging technologies that will impact the future of our profession. I can happily say that each one of these goals was fulfilled, and then some. MGA Communications Chairman Mike Gaughan shares a 53-year-old St. Patrick’s Day tradition and his holiday wishes for you. Author: Raquel Fuentes SeaWorld and Shamu have been a part of my world for as long as I can remember. I’m originally from San Antonio, which is where one of the three locations of SeaWorld can be found. I had the privilege of having season passes every summer until it wasn’t the ‘cool’ thing to do. I remember sitting in the Splash Zone during the “Believe” shows watching the trainers and their dolphins doing amazing tricks (which were always my favorites). Author: Jennifer Watson Respect the mountain. The wise old adage of mountain climbers and skiers came to mind recently when I heard that CitiBank was freezing the financial accounts of at least two companies that posted online content the bank deemed “objectionable.” Author: Jennifer Watson If you want to see a great example of public speaking, skip the upcoming Oscars broadcast and head to the movies for a lesson from George Clooney. It seems like just yesterday the ball was dropping in Times Square to welcome 2010. Suddenly it is almost March! How did that happen so fast?! Sometimes, the more you have to accomplish, the less time it seems you have to accomplish everything. With that in mind, there’s no time like the present to make sure you’re organized and what you do – whether it’s public relations, community engagement or work for a nonprofit – is actually strategic. I’ve found the easiest way to do that is by writing a strategic plan. Author: Jennifer Watson Miracles do happen. I know that’s true because National Public Radio recently did a series on life on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Not a story, mind you, but a whole series. Author: Sarah Rasmussen When I hear the phrases “24 hour news cycle“ and “information overload,” part of me screams, “too much information!” This overload makes me want to go away, unplug and curl up with a good book or spend time with close friends. (Yes, to the surprise of many, I’m an introvert – an INTJ, actually.) Why? I need balance between all-access all-the-time and focusing on the priorities I’ve set. Social media plays a role in these priorities – but it’s not a focus of my life. Author: Kip Cheroutes I am lucky in my professional association with MGA to do business with and in Japan. Because of long nurtured congressional relationships, I do business in the Japanese Capitol Hill of Tokyo. Given my background, I can even compare and contrast the experience with Capitol Hill in Washington, even down to the employees’ cafeteria. Author: Sarah Rasmussen Last year, I headed up the effort at MGA to craft an online communications policy. What started as a discussion around individual needs (what’s appropriate to post or mention publicly) soon evolved into a discussion of MGA’s online brand. The end result represents the results of both conversations. Author: Zach Knaus It seems only fitting that on the day of President Obama’s first State of the Union address, which is one of the busiest nights for media interviews in the country, that MGA would host a presentation on how to coach individuals in media interviews. This morning, myself and fellow MGAer Sarah Rasmussen met with a group of nonprofit leaders from the Denver metro area for our newest installment in the series of presentations that we offer to nonprofit organizations called the Nonprofit Buzz. This series is free for nonprofit organizations. Author: Zach Knaus In Tuesday’s election in Massachusetts there was what some would consider a major upset victory for a Republican in a heavily democratic state. Newly elected Senator Scott Brown beat Democrat Martha Coakley in Massachusetts’ Senate election and it wasn’t even close. How could it be a Republican could win in the land of the Kennedy’s and the seat held by the democratic leader Ted Kennedy? Well one reason for this stunning victory can be attributed to Sen. Brown’s use of social media. Author: Jennifer Watson Move over, Twitter and Facebook. There’s another—potentially more powerful—social media tool in town.
Author: Doug Magee So many things have changed for your clients, customers and stakeholders during the past year that organizations shouldn’t take anything for granted. Each of these groups is likely to have drastically different decision-making processes due to the global downturn and you need reliable information to know what has changed. Author: Jennifer Watson A giant thinker who influenced our world without most of us knowing it recently passed away. His name was Martin Fishbein. And if you don’t know his name, you’ve likely seen the result of his work. Author: Jeff Julin, President For our first conversation of the New Year I want to share a little more detail about a couple of the “predictions” I recently gave the Denver PR Blog for their annual Public Relations in Prediction series. |
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