In a time where we have elections that lead to a change in our laws and weather events that affect millions in unpredicted ways, we are again reminded of the importance of people. Without each other, we have nothing. With each other, though, we are capable of doing things that previous generations thought impossible.
I am thankful that we live in a world where we continue to push forward by developing new things.
‘Things†here can have many definitions. Some things are tangible consumer devices that bring us joy. Things like iPad Minis and 50″ 3D televisions. Other tangible things include healthcare robotic devices used for advanced surgeries. Or they can include larger things like the Tesla S, Motor Trend’s car of the year.
Things can also be new services. Khan Academy is changing the ways students learn. Uber is changing how people get private transportation in cities. Even simple things like booking a night in another city are made cheaper and better with services like Airbnb.
Things can also be ideas. Some ideas are new, like Rolling Jubilee’s idea to abolish millions of $$$ of debt. Or an idea that currency can be decentralized with Bitcoin. Or even an older idea of One Laptop Per Child that aims to empower children through education.
I’m thankful that we have all these things. I’m very thankful that we didn’t have many of them 10 years ago. Why? Because we have innovated.
The last 10 years have not been easy. We (as a country and a planet) have had economic challenges, fought in wars, and yet we have continued to innovate.
I am most thankful about the things I can’t list here. The things that I don’t know about, that only live in the labs or minds of people around the world. Things that will become a big part of my life or of the life of someone 10,000 miles from here.
I am thankful that we have continued to move forward, and we will continue to move forward.
Photography seems to be a common theme here at Schipul. Other people have even posted about it here previously about what it means to them (see Ed, Katie, CP). It makes sense because we seem to always be taking pictures of what we are up to. Weather we are going to events, supporting awesomeclients , or just having fun at the office (dressing like Zombies, wearing ugly Christmas sweaters) we always hear “grab a camera”. The result of all this seems to be a group of geeks with a passion for photography… of which I unknowingly entered almost four years ago.
I say “unknowingly” because I didn’t set out to get in to photography. Like a lot of the best things in life, it kind of just happened. Around this time, four years ago my parents gave me a Canon Rebel while celebrating Christmas in Gatlinburg, TN. Why they chose that, I really don’t know. Maybe I expressed some interest or, more likely, my brother told them he thought I may like it. However it happened, I’m glad I did.
I began experimenting with the camera that day and learning how to use it. My first photos were taken in Gatlinburg shooting trees or snow or lights and also grabbing shots of my family. It started out as a great way to snag a moment on vacation, a way to take a snap shot to jog your memory at a later date and recall that time.
This is probably what photos are to many people, a way to say “oh yeah, that was fun” or “I remember when (insert you event here) happened?”. I take plenty of those photos as well but what has really kind of “hooked” me is the opportunity to capture the entire moment or series of moments throughout an event/trip… sounds, light, feeling, laughing, heat, cold, fun, etc. When I really feel like a photo turned out well, isn’t as much about the clarity, someone’e hair, etc. What is important is producing a photo or set of photos that tells the story. Can a stranger look at a phhoto(s) and feel like they were there?
I see people take pictures all the time and think “when will they look at that again?” and if they do, will it be exciting? It feels like checking an item off a list. Visit New Orleans… check. Drink a Hurricane… check. Take any photo on Bourbon street… check.
*Disclaimer – I understand these are sometimes necessary and end up taking some myself. My wife is great at taking “people” pictures and encouraging me to do the same. It’s just fun to push the creativity on those “check list” shots when possible.
*Tangent with no disclaimer – cell phone videos at concerts fall in to a similar category. Those can’t possibly be good the next day right?
I think more people are finding the same opportunity push their photos with better equipment more easily accessible and with new technology like Instagram or Hipstamatic. These tools let people express themselves through the photos and show their experience rather than just a snap shot. It actually triggers those emotions without needing to remember back and say “oh yeah”. Not every one is a fan of the “altered” photos or filtered effects but I love the opportunity it creates and the creativity that comes from it. One of my favorite examples is Matthias Heiderich, or Heartbeatbox on flickr.
“The series is purely artistic, meaning that I’m taking artistic freedom to edit and design photos in the way that I like them personally.”
Pretty rad.
Why it became a hobby of mine exactly? Who knows. It’s like anything… did I like going to school in Austin because it fit my personality? Or was my personality shaped by going to school in Austin? Did being around photography enthusiast open up the idea of taking photos or did I say something to my brother one day because it sounded interesting? Probably a little from column A and a little from column B.
Maybe it all goes back to experiencing new things and extends to capturing and sharing those experiences. I also don’t know how photography and people’s need to view and share photos became what it is or the social factors were invovled to make photos so popular.
All I know is that I’m thankful we have photos and people taking them.
I have so much to be thankful for. I’ve written here in the past about how I’m thankful for LOLCats,Aggieland, and my mom’s wise advice to always stay positive. Today in particular I am thankful for the democratic process, my rights as an American, and those who serve to protect our freedom. And Twitter. I am definitely thankful for Twitter.
Thank You Houston!
This year for my 30 Days of Thanks post I want to take a moment to personally thank you – the people and the city of Houston, for all you have done for me over the last four years.
It was January 3, 2009 when I moved to Houston. In the years since then you have welcomed me and supported me every step of the way.
Houston is a unique place – the most diverse city in the country, a town that fosters business and supports the arts – and earlier this year topped Forbes’ list of America’s Coolest Cities. I have tried my best to take in as much of it as possible – taking in museums and restaurants and festivals and trying to keep up with everything Houston has to offer. Honestly, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface.
The Big D will always be my hometown (don’t hate), but I have been incredibly blessed to find a great home here. And I cannot be grateful enough.
A Few of My Favorite Things about Houston:
1. A Full Events Calendar – In a city as big as Houston, there is always something going on!
Left to Right: Houston Rodeo, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Free Press Summer Fest, Houston Beer Festival, Comicpalooza
2. The Food! – I often tell people the best part of moving to Houston is the food. The diversity of backgrounds and cultures in Houston meld into a mixing pot of delicious opportunities to explore. My latest obsessions are El Gran Malo, Benjy’s, and Petrol Station. (And I am always open to suggestions!)
Houston Food Truck Fest 2011
3. The Schipulites – I work with some of the most talented, hardest working people I have ever met. I learn from you every single day. I have great mentors here and a great team. I couldn’t ask for more.
Thank You!
I have to thank you to all of you in Houston for welcoming me with open arms. Here’s to many more Houstoniversaries to come!
Amiko Kauderer explains how she started NASA’s social media
As a Semi-new Schipulite, I attended The Social Media Breakfast Club which met up at Canopy (Mmmm) last month. Guest speaker Amiko Kauderer talked about the beauty of social media, and how to get your company involved in connecting with the world to bring in brand awareness.
Amiko Kauderer works for the coolest U.S Government agency of all time: NASA. As the Social Media Lead and Web Manager, she is in charge of helping the NASA Johnson Space Center get their message across in today’s digital and social media world thru blogs, Facebook and Twitter.
Amiko applied her 14+ years of experience to get NASA social media skeptics to change their minds and have astronauts open up to the world thru a series of strategic steps. Below are my personal favorite points she mentioned on how you can get your company ready for a Social Media Blast Off.
Getting your company to say Yes to Social Media:
Phase 1: Get your Key people on board First.
Most new concepts or phases of a company tend to be met with skepticism, so getting your key people to say yes to social media is invaluable. Most doors open up and it is less likely for others to question your decisions when big names back you up.
Phase 2: Respect the company’s privacy policy.
As obvious as this seems, it is worth repeating. Some information is appropriate to share, some is not. Letting your company know you will respect their opinion and privacy is important when it comes to gaining their trust, and ultimately open up the gates to communication.
Phase 3: Make it a trend amongst the company.
Never underestimate the force of competitiveness in an office setting and how it can push others to try new things. Once Amiko got one astronaut to tweet (thru lots of begging and pleading) the others quickly followed and wanted to become part of something new.
Phase 4: The Basics of Tweeting
Make sure you take the time to teach your astronauts (or coworkers) the basics of tweeting or posting on Facebook. Amiko wasn’t really talking about the step by step process of Tweeting, but more about a set of guidelines such as relax and be yourself and don’t get too technical because you might confuse others. Last but not least, have fun with how you interact with others like the “NASA Mohawk guy” Bobak Ferdowsi, who would tweet his various hairstyles designed in accordance with the missions he worked on.
Phase 5: Designate a team to keep your posts up to date and engaging to your audience.
It is important to keep your social media posts up to date, creative and engaging, but doing so can prove to be challenging even when it is a full time job. If you don’t have the budget to hire someone, finding people in your company who are media savvy and willing to help should be your best bet.
This Friday is the next meeting of the Social Media Breakfast Club! The topic is making video work with Social Media. More event details here!
*We appreciate SMBC Houston and Amiko Kauderer for this great event, for more pictures please refer to the Tendenci link below*
Schipulites will be out Racing for the Cure tomorrow ~ Saturday October 6!
We are also excited to be racing in the annual Race for the Cure tomorrow!
Officially, our team name is The Schipulites (check out our team page & donate if you like!). UNOFFICIALLY, our team name is a play on one of our current reality television obsessions:
Team Honey Boo Boobies!
We have our pink gear ready and will tweeting from @schipul and posting photos from the events Saturday on our website after the event!
Pink Out Friday October 5
Today is Pink Out Day! All over Houston, people are wearing pink to support. Even City Hall will be lighting up pink today through Race Day!
The Schipul team got in the spirit as well! Check out our team decked out in pink!
Follow Komen Houston Online!
For more on the great work Komen Houston does to fight breast cancer, be sure to follow Komen Houston on Twitter @KomenHouston and Facebook at facebook.com/komenhouston!
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>> Update! Check out our Komen Race for the Cure Team Photos!
In part one of this 2-part series, I talked about the problems with many nonprofit websites that are driving potential donors away. In the second post, I’m going to give you 5 changes you can make to your website to increase your online donor conversions.
5 Minor Changes You Can Do Today
1) Strengthen your Call to Action
The last thing you want is for a visitor to come to your website looking for a way to get involved and not being able to find the information. Your site needs a clear call to action that asks visitors to become members, donate, or register for an event.
Make it as simple as possible for your visitors to convert into supporters on your website. Identify the actions your site visitors take on most often and least often. Then, log out of your site and go through each of those actions from a visitor’s perspective.
As you go through the sign-up process, ask yourself, “How easy is it and how long does it take you to complete a transaction?”, to help you figure out how you could make the process better
Test both the most and least popular actions and then compare the experiences. Sometimes, this activity reveals ways that some actions are complicated and time consuming for visitors and that’s driving potential donors away.
3) Move Your Email Newsletter Sign-up Above the Fold
“Above the Fold” is a term for the portion of a web page that you have to scroll down to view. Think of “the fold” as ending about where you might fold down your laptop screen.
According to another study by Jakob Nielsen, content below the fold is only viewed by about 20% of your total site’s visitors. This means that any content you place below the fold is only going to be seen by 1/5th of your visitors. Important items you want to have above the fold include: your email newsletter sign-up form, a clear call to action, a strong headline and links to find out more about your organization.
4) Give Donors What They Want
The Children’s Museum of Houston Gives Visitors 1-Click Access to Information.
Donors want to know more about your nonprofit before they donate. They also prefer to go online to research information about your organization themselves before making a decision to support your mission
Donors want information that communicates what your organization does, how you spend donations and who you have helped.
If you also have memberships, then you want to also consider that new members want to know about member benefits, costs, and find out about programs and events you have for your members.
Learn more about creating engaging content for your website in the presentation Writing for the Web by Katrina Esco, Account Executive on Schipul’s Creative Services team.
5) Use Digital Media to Create Compelling Stories
You know you should use storytelling to share your NonProfit’s Mission and Vision to attract new donors. Crafting great stories can be a challenge. Take photos and videos from your events, of your volunteers and staff, and of the people you’ve helped.
For example let’s look at the homepage for Camp For All, a camp program for kids with a variety of different health problems:
The Camp has a photo of a kid swimming on their homepage and just look at how happy this kid is. This photo shows new visitors that Camp For All is making a difference in children’s lives and that’s far more powerful than if Camp For All had used text to say the same thing.
As a newly adopted Schipul employee, I had the pleasure of attending The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC Houston) luncheon at Brennan’s of Houston, both of which are beloved Schipul clients.
Gina Rotolo was the guest speaker at the event and talked about juggling all details for big events. When most people think of a large event, they picture a wedding, a company party or corporate luncheon. In the case of BBVA Compass Stadium‘s seasoned Marketing, PR & Booking Manager Gina Rotolo, big (or huge) events consists of SXSW, Austin City Limits, the Texas Crawfish & Music Festival and the New Orleans Jazz Festival to name a few.
Large events require having funds and resources, as well as time to plan and organize all the details. What if you didn’t have much of these big three? What if you had little time, limited funds and a small team to get the ball rolling? Here are some key strategies and elements Gina talked about in order to hold a successful event that would put Robert Irvine from Dinner: Impossible to shame.
It’s all about the fan experience
Think about your favorite event experience and how it made you feel – how do you want people to feel in return at your events? Know your audience and what details make the event more enjoyable to them.
Engaging people to develop a social media community is vital when it comes to open source promoting. As Gina pointed out, some people go to events just because ‘They want to be part of the experienceâ€. Wanting to share their experience makes audience to tap into social media, therefore promoting your client.
Get to know your client: their business, is now your business.
‘How do you represent a client you don’t know?†Never underestimate the value of research when it comes to organizing an event. Having constant contact with your client is key in order to keep the communication flowing. Moreover, how you communicate is vital. An email is seen as Gina’s last resource, she stresses phone calls and face time with clients in order to avoid any confusion about expectations.
Teams: Events don’t just happen, people make them happen.
Simply put, there is no such thing as a one man show and there is no ‘I†in Team. This stays true to event planning as it does in life. Value the people that you work with, because ultimately, they are the ones that help you reach your client’s expectations and goals.
Free stuff: Partnerships and Sponsorships…and Cool Kids.
Always, Always Co-Brand it. Co-branding with your partnerships is one of the best ways to keep your name out there. It might be on a banner, or a t-shirt or even a koozie, but having each company involved on these items is free advertisement on free items.
Higher priced items such as free concert or event tickets come with a loss, but the gain is much more valuable when placed in the right hands. Again, know your audience, what angle you are trying to promote, and who the key people to give these items to are.
Three Points in One.
To close this off, Gina left us with three short points to keep in mind:
Know your worth and prove your value.
Know what you need to know and go for it.
Take from the good, the bad and the ugly. You have something to learn from each one.
*We appreciate IABC Houston and Gina Rotolo for this great event, for more pictures please refer to the Tendenci link below*
If you’ve been busy watching the Olympics news on Twitter, you might have ran across another trending tweet stream @MarsCuriosity has been trending over the weekend as the Mars Lander “tweeted” the details of its last few days in space preparing to land on Mars.
The Curiosity Mars Lander successfully touched down at approximately 12:14am central time Monday morning. At 12:32am central time, the lander tweeted its safe landing to over 600,000 followers.
Curiosity also has around 147,000Facebook Fans cheering on its mission on Mars. That’s a pretty impressive online fan base for a robot that’s millions of miles away. Do you think @AstroRobonaut is wondering how @MarsCuriosity managed to more followers than he did?
I’m known at Schipul as the resident “Space Geek” but all of us were excited to hear about the safe landing, and we want to share our excitement for NASA’s incredible work with this Mars Lander mission.
Two Extraordinary Accomplishments for NASA!
Smooth Landing for MarsCuriosity
Landing a robot on Mars is no easy task and comes with the added challenge of a 14 minute communication delay. And NASA made it look so easy this morning when Curiosity Mars Lander touched down on the red planet’s soil. Curiosity is the first Mars lander since the Phoenix mission in 2008.
Curiosity is carrying some pretty advanced equipment to assist it with the mission objectives that include 17 cameras, an infrared lazer to vaporize small rocks, and x-ray vision plus many other advanced scientific equipment.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be getting more images and analysis of the Martian Landscape courtesy of Curiosity. The mission objectives for Curiosity include:
Try to determine if there was ever life on Mars
Study the Martian climate and geology of Mars
Bring back data to help with planning a human mission to mars.
Watch the Mars Lander Curiosity Landing on NASA Television’s YouTube:
Social Media in Space
In addition to successfully sending this Super Robot to Mars, NASA should be commended for its successful use of social media marketing to help revitalized the organization’s PR and community awareness. In addition to MarsCuriosity’s astounding number of followers and fans, @NASA has over 2.5 million fans, has had its YouTube videos watched over 33 million times, and has photographs that you can’t find anyplace on Earth on the official NASA photographer Flickr.
NASA has used social media to grow a huge following of space enthusiasts and has integrated social media throughout their website and other media outlets. If you head over to NASA’s Social Media Connect Page you’ll find hundreds of accounts for various projects and NASA employees across a dozen different social platforms including Google, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Youtube, and more.
If you’re struggle with managing your organization’s social media marketing and staying on top of what’s being said about you and by whom on the internet, you might take a cue from what the digital media team at NASA is doing because they are doing it right.
Learn More about NASA and Social Media
NASA at the Houston Social Media Breakfast Club August 31st, 2012
Learn how NASA turned reluctant employees into social media stars to enable NASA to expand its digital marketing efforts on August 31st at the Houston Social Media Breakfast Club.
Amiko Kauderer, NASA’s Social Media Lead and Web Manager at the Johnson Space Center, will share her strategy to engage employees to become active social media users to build your brand, balance employee participation with management concerns, and more… (we’re hoping she might tell us who is behind @MarsCuriosity’s twitter persona). Amiko has over 14 years of experience in digital marketing and communications, and among her many responsibilities at NASA, she manages multiple NASA social media accounts, including the @NASA_Johnson twitter account and teaches the astronauts how to tweet.
The conference will focus on social media strategies specific to those in government roles that involve public relations, marketing, and communications. Learn more and register on the Ragan conference website.
Mars Shadows
Mars Lander Curiosity took several images upon landing and my favorite is the one with the lander’s shadow in the image:
Good luck, Curiosity! We are excited to see what you’ll send us next.
This week started off by cleaning popcorn and confetti out of my camera bag and uploading photos because last week we had the privilege of attending the opening night of Kooza by Cirque du Soleil. Having never had the chance to see Cirque du Soleil in person but only hearing good things, I had no idea what the shows were all about but jumped at the chance to go find out.
Kooza is described online as, “An adrenaline rush of acrobatics in a zany kingdom” and definitely lived up to the hype. Exiting typical Beltway traffic, arriving at Sam Houston Race Park, parking in the giant lot, then walking in to the tent is really like entering another world.
From the minute you take your seat the fun is already beginning with a cast of characters working the crowd until the show gets rolling. From there it is act after act of not only exciting but funny performances. And not just funny… pretty hilarious. At one point my wife turned to me and said, “my face actually hurts from laughing so much“. What a great problem to have.
Among all of the balancing chairs, contortion, high wire, and trapeze acts what really stood out to me were the Wheel of Death and the routine by The King and the Clowns. I won’t spoil their acts but just leave it at saying they are probably worth the price of admission alone.
Then it was intermission, a champagne toast (not sure if this happens every night or if we were just spoiled), a trip to the port o potties (which there seemed to be plenty… and they were nice), and back in for the rest of the show.
A few photos from the night:
Courtney and Derek taking photosCharivariWheel of DeathThe King and the ClownsContortionHeimloss
Parking is $10 and cash only (there is an ATM on site but also hits you with a $3.50 fee).
If you would like to enjoy the show with a couple beverages, plan to bring plenty of cash (around $10/drink if I remember correctly).
Short version of the story: we had an absolute blast and could not have enjoyed the performance more. Now I’m looking forward to catching a show next time Cirque du Soleil is in Houston.
Or maybe a Vegas trip is in order…
Special thanks to Elmore PR for making us feel special with official media passes.
Photos by Courtney Pemberton and Derek Key. All photos are Creative Commons Attribution. You are free to use for promotional purposes with “photo by Schipul” next to the image.
Last week on July 19th, IABC Houston held a special luncheon at Brennan’s of Houston – two Schipul clients in the same place! The food and venue were spectacular, as is expected with Brennan’s, but the special treat was the speaker. Originally, Nelson Luis, the Director of Media Relations for the Houston Rockets, and Kevin Cooper, the Senior Director of Communications for the Houston Texans, were supposed to speak. The topic was PR management in the professional sports industry; who better to learn from than PR’s most scrutinized industry.
Mr. Luis was not able to make it due to the Rockets recent acquisition of Jeremy Lin, the newest sensation from the New York Knicks. Lin had a big press conference that day and Nelson’s presence was required. Although we would have loved to hear from him, we all learned a lot from Mr. Cooper and his Q&A session about the Houston Texans’ organization.
The Scoop Behind Coop-er
Kevin Cooper has been with the Texans since 2002, and was promoted to Senior Director of Communications in May of 2011. He has worked in the league for 11 seasons and earned the title as second youngest head of communications for an NFL franchise. After working for 4 different franchises, Kevin is happy to be back in his hometown of Houston and still doing what he enjoys. I think everyone that attended the luncheon can agree that Kevin Cooper has the perfect personality and skill set to represent the communications department of the Houston Texans.
Hanging with Mr. Cooper
Kevin very politely dismissed the list of questions that the IABC members had for him and proposed a discussion based Q&A session. Very excited, the group began to fire off questions about the Texans and how they handle their very sensitive public relations strategy throughout the organization and across all the public mediums that exist today. Following are some of the major points that we learned from Kevin:
1. Relationships are Key
One of Kevin’s more emphasized points was that he begins building relationships with the players from an early point. He called relationships one of the “core values” of PR. Kevin pointed out that if you only come to someone when you need something, or when there is a crisis involving them, that they always dread seeing you. Not only that, but in the process you have built no trust or support that makes them want to come to you in a time of crisis. Relationship building is key for Kevin as he guides his players through the media spotlight and through tough situations. For this reason he does not communicate through agents but always speaks to players directly. I believe that this same concept applies to managers and employees in any type business.
2. Communication Culture
This ties in very closely with relationship building. Kevin told us that Texans owner, Mr. McNair, clearly sets the tone for his team by saying “I don’t embarrass you; You don’t embarrass me”. With this clear communication of expectations, Mr. McNair has maintained a fairly healthy standing for his organization in the public eye. Kevin describes the Texans culture as a “family of men”. He explains that they do not avoid uncomfortable talks but instead come directly to each other and speak their minds whether it is talking about money or even changing teams. Communication is another of Kevin’s keys to PR.
3. Social Media Management
Kevin said that he used to only be worried about possible media responses during press conferences and radio shows which were only during the working hours. Now Kevin has to be on alert 24 hours a day due to the fly by nature of social media, especially Twitter. Kevin explains to the players that things written over a tweet are just as powerful as a locker room interview. He tells players that if they wouldn’t say something in that scenario in front of their teammates, then they should definitely refrain from Tweeting it. He encourages players to not write things in the heat of the moment and if there’s any doubt to refrain altogether. As Kevin put it, “One line can rewrite an entire story.”
4. The Media Beast and Crisis Management
Dealing with real time media situations, Kevin shared some great insights that he has learned throughout his 11 seasons. He describes media as a “beast that will never be full”. With this in mind, Kevin has no problem saying no to the media. In fact, he prefers for his players to send the heat his way and let him be the bad guy. Kevin chooses to be prepared for everything, he says that crazy media questions are not the problem, its only the response that can cause damage. Kevin prefers his players not to answer if they are uncomfortable with any question, and that they can politely refuse or send them his way. The best thing to do in a crisis, says Kevin, is to keep quiet. As you can tell, Kevin prefers formulated responses over brash ones. Safe to say, I think these are best practices for any business regarding the media.
Everyone could tell that Kevin was genuine about the Texan organization appreciating their fans and community. The Texans make a point to provide public service to the community that supports them. In one of the more humorous moments of his talk, Kevin even referred to the Texan fans as a “good woman”. My personal favorite quote from Kevin involved his love for football and Houston. He said that despite race, sexual orientation, or status that “on Sundays at 7:00 pm, we’re all just Texans fans”.
*We appreciate IABC Houston and Kevin Cooper for this great event.*
Houston Food Truck Fest 2011
