New Home.....

I' moving all the posts from here to my blog over at Wordpress.  Check it out!!!!!

ZM

More than keeping your pinky up at tea parties.......

.....and eating outside-in at dinner parties.  

Recently Mrs. Dallas Tegue-Snider spoke to the UAB chapter of the PRSSA about the importance of etiquette in business.  For me it was a shameful reminder of all the things I should do as a budding professional that I don't.....  More than a couple times I thought, "Haven't I read that somewhere before?  Why am I not doing that?!?!?!"

Here is a little background info on Mrs. Snider:

She went to the University of South Alabama, started in Tourism and Hospitality, she has around 20 years of experience in Hospitality and Marketing and she got a business lead while dressed up as a seasonal vegetable.  In her few spare moments, she writes a column (Protocol and Etiquette) for Rejuvenate.

Mrs. Snider believes that networking is key to success.  She says that about 85% of professional success comes from networking.....  And it's not just getting a job.  Mrs. Snider says that networking can help a student get scholarships and internships, too.  Need a non-academic Letter of Recommendation?  You had better start networking........ NOW!!!

She has more tips and here are my Fav Five:

1. Join professional organizations to begin networking.  Here in Birmingham we have organization like Media Of Birmingham, or MOB is you're nasty; Ed2010, a group of writers, editors and journos; and then there are Tweet-ups; shame on you if you don't know what Twitter is.  And those groups and meeting are all free.  There are ton of paid professional groups, but that's a blog for another time.

2. When you're talking to someone, make that person feel like he/she is the only person in the room.

3. Did you notice that WORKING is over half of the word netWORKING?  You should never go to an event where you plan to meet someone to eat, drink and be merry.  Go with a plan and know the who, what and when of the event.  Also, never have two hands full, cause how are you going to shake hands?  

3.  Send a handwritten note to interviewers after the interview is over.  There is a 24 to 48 hour opportunity here.  Carry stamps with you.

4. Treat people the way they want to be treated.  That's what Mrs. Snider calls the Platinum Rule and platinum sounds more fancy than gold.

5.  Anticipate the needs of others.  It sounds kind of like the Boy Scouts' Motto of, "Always Be Prepared," but it's a good motto.  

If you're interested in finding out more info on Dallas Teague Snider she has a blog and will be releasing an e-book on business etiquette very soon.  You can check out her linkedin profile, too.

 

This Would Be the Perfect Start to My Day....

....minus the tiara. 

Here is a spot that AdFreak said ran in Argentina.... I think it's awesome.  A killer squirrel with lipstick, a fawn with a taste for @$$ and +i++es porn.... it's funny edging on the side of sexist, but that's Axe.

ZM

P.S.  there is even a shout out to Furries...... gross.

City Hall's PR problem

The City of Birmingham has a problem.....  Citizens showed up to pay their tickets, appear in court and/or bomb the incompetent people who run the City but everything was closed.  Although I'm sure LaLa (Mayor Larry Langford for Out-of-Towners) would love to create another faux-religious reason/experience for letting people have an extra off day, however, the truth is the City was off today because of the hard work everyone put in while Gustav was ravaging the Gulf.... and it was a noble effort by all.  Snaps.  

However, Birmingham's employees seemed to be the only people who knew about it.  The Birmingham News ran a story about people missing court dates and probation hearings  because of Birmingham's lack of communicating with its citizens.  

This could have been avoided if:

-Birmingham had sent letters to everyone who had a court date today.  I mean, the City has everyone's addresses who should have been in court today.

and

-Done a better job of getting it into the media.  Something ran over the weekend, but it was so weak I'm not even going to look it up.

When are we going to impeach LaLa?

Impatience is a Virtue

Waiting has never been a forte of mine.  I was so impatient with high school I tried to skip my senior year and start my freshman year of college....  Thankfully it didn't work.

Everyone is always downing impatience, but it really gave me my start in public relations.  It was because I was impatient about getting my hands dirty.... well the key board anyway..... that I now have three years of pr experience under my belt.  

My impatience started my career when I joined the UAB Entertainment Committee as Publicity Co-Chair.  I wrote press releases, handled a budget, pitched media, dealt with printers and all the other things pr people do.  The work was a little unpolished, but I was doing it.

Then I met my mentor, Kelly Marshall, when I sent her an email about being her intern at Workplay and all the other fun projects she worked on.  It was my impatience with the limits of working with a school organization that lead me to reach out.  From there I met my first freelance client and then started working on my second client with MUSE OF FIRE: Shakespeare at Sloss.  

Now I'm impatiently waiting for graduation....  When will you get here?

ZM

Job Market in Birmingham Scarce.....

So what do I do, keep looking everyday.  

I'm three weeks into my last year of college and the prospect of having a job (or of course adding so many new projects/clients I want to scream) when I graduate in May is all I've been thinking about.  I don't want to be one of those people who have a degree, but do nothing with it.....  It seems to be the trend for the people who graduate from the PR program here at UAB.  Saddening, but true.

This is my happiness equation: ($$$+job+fun+Google RSS feed & Gmail/time = =-])

Factor in the not-so-mysterious tarot card reading I had in New Orleans which advised me to have a 'real job' along with my freelance gigs and I am obnoxiously motivated to land a job before I get my degree in the mail.  

I digress: here are my tips for looking for a job in the Birmingham market

craigslist: if you're looking for a marketing/pr/advertising job then you should click on that tab and start perusing.  However, most of the jobs are more shady than the m4m personal listings and I've wanted to click the 'flag' link on  many occasions.  If you're lucky, you will at least get a lead on a cool job or find out about an interesting new agency in town.

al.com/jobs: here you can search jobs locally, statewide or nationally.  Unfortunately for me there are few job postings in this area and fewer that describe my perfect situation (two years experience, degree in progress, contract basis.....  good looking).

Media of Birmingham: the MOB has a job board that links to a variety of media organizations and job boards in the state.  I check here just to see what's going on in the Birmingham job market sometimes.  MOB also lists some freelance gigs.

Myspace: it's Myspace.....  The job board here gathers information from all over the internets.  Nothing too fancy.

Wish me luck and happy hunting.

ZM

Facebook the Movie?

Rumor has it that there is going to be a facebook movie.  I first heard (read) the rumor on [adult swim] and Google returned this article from the L.A. Times.

Whatever really happens, I'm sure there will be lots of monster wars, ninjas and Chuck Norris PoF.  

ZM