Conversations That Matter

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

By Jennifer Watson

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!

By Kip Cheroutes

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.

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.