Back when I was growing up, on summer evenings, as the sun was setting and mosquitoes were arriving, the moms on our block would often gather on our suburban Chicago sidewalk to chat about the day. Some of them leisurely smoked cigarettes, creating a light cloud that embraced the quiet conversation. Meanwhile, we, their kids, played one last round of foursquare (the real game, not the social media network) or ran screaming through the yards playing "kick the can."

I'm sure those conversations inspired our moms to make it through another day with their flocks of baby-boom kids and helped validate their parental accomplishments.

I was reminded of this just this past weekend when I spent an intense and enjoyable 48 hours with a dozen trusted peers from around the country. Each of us owns a PR agency in our town. Our challenges are similar, but not identical. Yet, we're cut from the same cloth: communicators and entrepreneurs, idea generators and results-fixated generals. Serious, yet irrepressibly playful business people.

At the start, each of us stated what we'd like to get out of our reunion. Beyond the best practices and ideas, I know what I sought was inspiration and validation. Camaraderie to the nth degree for those of us who can't  complain about the boss, or "stick it to the man" because we are "the man," even if some of us are women. An island in time where I can be my unvarnished self among others who also have stripped away their veneers.

Mission accomplished. Two days later, I'm still smiling.

It's almost like the feeling I get today when I smell a faint wisp of cigarette smoke on a summer evening: I'm transported to that childhood time when I felt carefree and secure, without having to do much more than just be me.

– Kathy Schaeffer

Last night I had the pleasure of moderating a panel for the Publicity Club of Chicago on how to use PR strategies to build corporate confidence. The panelists — all seasoned public relations practitioners in Chicago — shared case studies for overcoming public skepticism, mistrust and cynicism. The panelists and audience members engaged in lively discussions on topics ranging from tollway and electricity rate hikes, to tainted food products and noisy industry in upscale neighborhoods, to a public company's need to restate its income projections.

Several key points emerged:

The old crisis PR adage, "tell the truth, tell it yourself, and tell it quickly" continues to be valid in building public confidence when there's a difficult situation to manage. Jon Harmon, VP, Communications and Reputation at Navistar, Inc., talked about the importance of clearly and cleanly telling negative news yourself. He relayed how Navistar in 2007 managed the process of telling analysts and the media about profit projections that had to be restated — downward. He believes the proof of success of Navistar's up-front, come-clean approach was the minuscule dip in the company's stock price on the day of the announcement, compared to a competitor in the industry that suffered a greater loss that day.

It's essential to build community support and generate positive publicity for your organization long before you ever need it. Just as Stephen Covey recommends building up goodwill with others, so that when a relationship is strained it will stretch and not break, Kathleen Cantillon, Director, External Communications at Exelon Corporation, believes it's important for a company to bank goodwill with its community long before the inevitable crises occur. She related examples of how Exelon and its subsidiary, ComEd, are active in community organizations, coalitions, philanthropy and civic activities in the communities where customers live.

It is possible to change a community's attitude about a company. Jim Terman, President and CFO of Jasculca/Terman and Associates, talked about how his firm has helped a scrap iron processor in an upscale Chicago neighborhood build relations with those who live in million-dollar-plus homes nearby. The company offers tours to neighbors, joins local community organizations, gets to know its elected officials and is willing to change some of its operational rules to co-exist more peacefully in the neighborhood. Additionally, company officials have learned to talk regularly about the benefits the company brings to the greater community.

Participants and guests gleaned many other many other valuable nuggets from the 90-minute conversation. To learn more, please contact me at my company, Kathy Schaeffer & Associates, Inc..

A video clip circulating today shows Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin visiting a turkey farm to pardon a turkey. The Governor's publicity appearance is her rendition of a time-honored photo opportunity used by governors and presidents to generate positive, even playful, media coverage before Thanksgiving.

For a public relations professional, staging such a photo opportunity is almost a "no brainer." Governor. Turkeys. Proclamation. Pleasant talking points. Media. Thank you very much. Post the great coverage on the Governor's Web site.

However, someone goofed this time. As Gov. Palin talks with reporters — carryout coffee cup in hand — about a range of topics, a man in blood-stained pants slaughters turkeys behind her. You can't hear the turkeys squawk, but you can see the man shoving the turkeys one by one, beaks down, into a stainless steel cone suspended above a trough to catch the blood. Next, the man removes the now-dead turkey, takes it away, and returns with another.

At one point, Gov. Palin actually comments to media about how the photo opportunity is a light-hearted, fun event. The only problem is that as she speaks those words, directly behind her the turkey slaughter man is wrestling a with a contentious turkey fighting to escape the death cone. He strong-arms the bird, wing akimbo, to its bloody fate. Light-hearted? Fun?

More like unbelievably FUNNY, I'd say. The best "Saturday Night Live" writer couldn't have come up with a better sketch. A pro-life, pro-death-penalty governor trying to make a positive impression by "pardoning" a turkey while behind her the massacre ensues despite her alleged pardon.

Gov. Palin, your PR folks messed up, big time. And you run the risk of looking like a turkey.

In separate meetings today, both the CEO of a Chicago-based national advocacy organization and the president of the board of directors of a foundation shared the same lament: members of their organizations find it nearly impossible to explain to prospective donors what "advocacy" means and why donors should support it financially. These two executives understand how important public affairs communications is to their missions.

Advocacy is one of those seemingly intangible pursuits that is often misunderstood until it bears fruit. It's easy to understand hands-on direct service: soup kitchens feed hungry people; community health centers heal sick people; preschools teach children. But advocates work to right injustices, study societal problems and beseech government to change laws and public policies. Often they are ahead of the societal curve or fighting for the rights of a tiny minority of people. To a person on the street, the description of advocacy can sound like "blah, blah, blah," or like futile tilting at windmills.

What's wonderful for the work of advocacy, but detrimental to clear, simple communications is that advocacy organizations attract extremely dedicated, highly motivated individuals who live, breathe, eat and sleep the issues that matter most to them. They become policy wonks and evangelists for the causes they champion, and can become so immersed in the details of an issue that they have difficulty defining what they do simply in a sentence or two. To use an old adage, you ask them what time it is and they tell you how to build a clock.

So, in an increasingly competitive world, how do advocates succinctly and effectively convey the power and benefits of their work? How do you boil down a multi-faceted legislative campaign into a sound bite without "dumbing down" the cause or causing disrespect to the movement? It's not easy, but it is possible. Think about President-elect Barack Obama's "Change" and "Yes we can."

My experience has taught me that the best place to start is with a careful messaging session. Get the right people in the room to discuss and agree about the top three to five messages. In some cases, there are multiple important audiences, so the messages need to be tweaked for each audience. Start by defining results: "Because of our work, over the past 10 years, 10,000 women have found new jobs."

Then, figure out which people in the organization are most gifted at expressing the goals and passion of the organization. Train them to use the key messages to describe the advocacy work the group is doing and turn them loose. Better yet, make a plan to send them out to speak to groups of people who matter most. How to make that plan is another blog entry for another day.

"State Police Enforcing Reckless Motorcycle Driving." That is the headline flashing on the lighted sign above the lanes of the Kennedy Expressway heading into downtown Chicago.

Does the headline writer really mean that police will be making sure that motorcyclists drive recklessly in the 55+ mph traffic? Or, is this Jay Leno Tonight Show-worthy headline yet another in a series of comical word order choices by people who are proof reading-challenged?
One of the most entertaining aspects of loving words and paying attention to their use is that scarcely a week goes by when I don’t see a public relations issue arise because of careless word order or words that might have been better left unsaid. My job as a public relations consultant specializing in public affairs in Chicago gives me the opportunity to help clients avoid such mishaps.
The state police motorcycle headline reminds me of the infamous quote by the legendary Richard J. Daley, Mayor of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention. He is widely quoted as having said, "The police are not here to create disorder. The police are here to preserve disorder." brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/richard_j_daley.html
When I was a newspaper reporter for The Daily Herald, dailyherald.com  covering the Cook County Board of Commissioners in the late 1980s, a commissioner made a similar gaffe. Railing at what he saw as a lack of emergency preparedness for the county (this is 15 years BEFORE 9-11, so maybe he was prescient), Commissioner Carl Hansen of Mount Prospect said that when American Airlines Flight 191 had crashed near O’Hare International Airport a few years earlier, emergency response teams were woefully inadequate. "Fortunately, everyone died," he said of the plane crash.
How many times do we chuckle each day as someone speaks words in an order that is unintentionally humorous? How many silly signs and goofy headlines will we see this week? Which elected officials will think they are saying what they mean, but not mean to say what they really do? While all of this is funny, I prefer that people laugh with my clients, not at them.

My PR firm and I play to win in the court of public opinion.

There are few silver medals when it comes to changing public
policy, educating the public or managing a reputation. In public affairs
matters, you win or you forge a win-win compromise. Other options don’t count.

In the difficult-to-measure PR profession, it is imperative
to produce results. The enduring words of Yoda thinkexist.com/quotation/do_or_do_not-there_is_no_try/250565.html  tell the story: “Do or do
not . . . there is no try.”

When we wage a publicity or community outreach campaign for
a client, the classic words of our parents and coaches echo in our minds:

“Look harder.” (If
one news reporter says no, try another.)

“Now add a twist to that.” (Dig for that stand-out
information nugget so the speech sings.)

“Faster.” (Create those crisis talking points before the top
of the hour.)

“Think.” (Be a step ahead of both the competition and the
client’s nemesis.)

And, accomplish all of that with integrity, because HOW one
wins absolutely matters in the long run in the court of public opinion.

When I was on the park district swim team as a kid, my
mother would urge me to swim in the lane with teammates who swam faster than I
did, even if my side hurt. “That’s how you get better,” she’d say. It taught me
to push myself beyond self-imposed limits.

Today, as a public relations consultant in Chicago www.ksapr.com, I try to do the same. I want
to work with clients and colleagues who swim faster than I do. That’s how we’ll
all achieve more, I think.

Recently, an attorney with whom we share a client
noted, “You really go to the mat for your clients, don’t you?” Yes. We like to
win.

The young man, probably 18, stepped into the downtown Chicago office building
elevator at 7:59 a.m. on a Tuesday morning this July. Shined shoes. Dress
slacks. Winter-weight, wool tweed sport coat two sizes too big (Dad’s? older
brother’s?), carefully buttoned. Black portfolio in one hand. Paper towel
mashed in the sweaty palm of his other hand. Good posture. Determined demeanor.
Smiling. 

The elevator doors opened on the floor occupied by Chicago’s Jobs for Youth www.jfychicago.org , a nonprofit that matches
young men and women from low-income families with jobs in good Chicago companies. The Jobs for Youth office was dark, it wasn’t yet
open for the day. The young man’s face fell and he immediately looked
at his watch. "I guess I’m early. I have an interview at 9:00," he said
to me, now smiling. 

Too bad I don’t have a job opening right now at Kathy
Schaeffer and Associates, Inc. www.ksapr.com,  I thought, imagining I’d consider hiring
the young man on the spot.

I do believe in the adage, “You get only one chance to make
a first impression.”

Good communications – written, verbal and non-verbal – can
be the passport to a good first impression. Lasting good communications help
establish one’s reputation. Some examples that barely scratch the surface
include:

Written communications: Just as a good résumé clearly
and quickly conveys a job applicant’s strengths, a concise and appealing
company brochure, informative annual report or a concise, relevant fact sheet
establishes you and your organization as reputable. A well-written,
easy-to-navigate Web site makes a good first impression, too. Letters, e-mails
and other “routine” daily correspondence are the true reflection of expertise,
skill and professionalism and shape lasting impressions. How’s the grammar? How
many typos? Were the responses timely? Did the correspondence make it easy for
the recipient to find relevant information? 

Verbal communications: Knowing one’s stuff is a prerequisite.
Knowing how best to convey it to specific persons or audiences is just as
imperative. Start with the audience in mind. What does the audience want or
need to know? This is different than starting with what I want to tell them.
What is the simplest, most engaging way to convey that information? Is there a
way to foster dialogue, rather than monologue? Does the spokesperson use good
spoken grammar? Can voice modulation or intentionally changing the speed or
tone of voice make communications more successful?

Non-verbal communications: The first non-verbal
communication is outward appearance. What is my spokesperson or representative
wearing? Does his or her clothing match the level of formality demanded by the
occasion or audience? Is the look professional? Has the spokesperson considered
how to style his or her hair appropriately for the occasion? What jewelry to
wear or not wear? What about exposure of cleavage, tattoos, midriff, bare legs
or toes? Beyond that, one’s posture, eye contact, body language, attitude and
actions speak volumes – and many volumes have been written about non-verbal
communications.

What do you think?

My sister Peggy owns and
operates a Florida
real estate company today in part because our grandfather made the most of
networking opportunities some 60 years ago.

After World War II, our
paternal grandfather was a mail carrier in Chicago.His route included a
high-rise building on Chicago’s
famed lake shore.
For years, Grandpa delivered mail on that route and
talked with those who lived and worked in the buildings he served. One man
owned a large real estate development company and was developing residential
communities in central Florida. He and Grandpa would chat regularly, and over time they came to know and trust
one another. The man frequently said to Grandpa, “If you ever want to come to Florida
and learn about real estate, I’ll have a job for you.”

In about 1955, after
retiring from the U.S. Postal Service, Grandpa took the man up on his offer and
started his second career, selling real estate at one of the man’s new housing
developments.

A couple of years later,
Grandpa got the bug to start his own company. He earned his broker’s license
and opened a real estate agency in tiny, but growing, Belleview, Florida. The business grew, and about 15 years later my dad joined him. Today, my sister and her husband are the owners of that company, now a ReMax franchise in Ocala, Florida www.OcalaAllStarsRealty.com.   

As in any story that unfolds
over 60 years, untold numbers of events and circumstances worked together to
lead my family members to where they are today. Yet the story beautifully
illustrates the sometimes surprising and often fortuitous benefits that can
result from networking – meeting new people and continuing a dialogue.

As a public relations
consultant in Chicago,
I often encourage clients to add focused, pro-active networking activities to
their communications repertoire. My company, Kathy Schaeffer and Associates,
Inc. www.ksapr.com, offers networking training to clients, helping them learn to work a room,
build relationships, and shape an “elevator speech.” This training has helped
attorneys cultivate business leads, nonprofit leaders broaden their circles of
influence and mid-level executives build strategic alliances to achieve their
objectives.

Those who, as my grandfather
did, understand the value of networking, know that the rewards of making a
connection are rarely instantaneous, but can sometimes change generations of
lives.

Friday is Independence Day,
the Fourth of July. Today is Canada Day. Both presidential candidates, Barack
Obama www.barackobama.com and John McCain www.johnmccain.com, are emphasizing messages of patriotism
this week.

Nearly every day since
September 2001, my husband and I have flown an American flag www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html in front of
our home. (A recent exception: a

Chicago
spring wind storm www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/ irreparably cracked the flag support. We’ve
replaced it.)

I’d guess that some of our
neighbors have made assumptions about our political leanings based on our
24/7/365 flag posting. Sad to say, posting an American flag can be seen
negatively or positively, depending upon the eyes of the beholder. Just as
people make value judgments about personal outward appearances and possessions
– clothing, cars, jewelry – they draw conclusions about the persons who display
Old Glory year ‘round.

Sometimes our assumptions
are accurate, sometimes not. Yet the those doing the displaying, more often than not, are intentionally
choosing to send a message. What message is sent and what is received is up to
great interpretation. For example:

• Huge American flags fly over car dealerships and highway-side pancake houses. (Do they care about  America or are they just trying to catch my attention?)

• Chicago cab drivers attach American flags to their taxi antennas and rear windows. (Is the driver a new citizen, perhaps trying to tell me he’s not a terrorist, or simply one of my neighbors who likes to fly the flag?)

• U.S. Sen. Barack Obama didn’t wear a flag lapel pin to a presidential primary debate. (Not patriotic enough to be President, or doesn’t need to wear his patriotism on his lapel because
    he’s a U.S. Senator, therefore beyond question a patriot?)

If patriotism is something
one feels in one’s heart, can’t that emotion manifest itself in an infinite
number of interpretations? If patriotism is evidenced in a person’s attitude,
isn’t there ample room for misjudgment on the part of the observer?

Symbols – particularly those
that are emotionally charged – are powerful communicators. Creative use of
symbols can hasten communications or alienate people. Symbols can build bridges
or destroy alliances. We need to use them wisely.

On July 4^th, I’ll
pause to sit on my front step, next to my American flag, wearing my new peace
sign necklace.

In my heart, my messages are clear. Do you
understand what I’m trying to convey?

A friend who owns a company
in another city e-mailed me and another friend the other day to let us know
that his wife’s eight-year battle with breast cancer was coming to its
inevitable end. Although she has defied all the life expectancy predictions,
there is nothing more that the doctors can do. He noted that he would be taking
a lot of time away from his company over the next several months, to spend even
more time with his wife and children.

Hands hovering over my
keyboard, I attempted to compose a response. “I am so sorry” seemed hollow as I
read the electronic words. “If there is anything I can do to help, please let
me know” seemed disingenuous in e-mail form.

I hit the delete button and
picked up the telephone. 

In our phone conversation, I
asked my friend how he’s doing. I really wanted to know and he took time to
answer honestly. He’s concerned about his kids. He’s in pain from watching his
wife’s agony without being able to help relieve it. Precious few e-mails that
carry the nicety “how are you?” ever elicit real answers. 

As my friend and I talked, I
figured out a specific, unique way I could help him, and offered. As I made the
offer, I heard my voice crack, as I’m sure he did. The pause I heard between my
offer and his response told me we had connected on a level that is a tribute to
our friendship and that the live phone conversation had allowed. I’m glad we
had a real conversation and I hope I will be able to help him in some small
way.

As the 20^th
Century scholar and author Marshall McLuhan www.marshallmcluhan.com wrote in Understanding Media: The
Extensions of Man, published in 1964, “The medium is the message.” McLuhan,
considered a prophet about electronic media, never used e-mail, as he died in
1980. Yet, I’m convinced he most likely envisioned the concept, based upon his
many other on-target predictions about mass media and communications.

It turns out that my brief
encounter with my friend was an object lesson www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/object+lesson about the “medium is the message”
phrase. The medium one chooses to express oneself profoundly affects the sender,
the receiver and sometimes the world.

The opportunities to
remember that – and choose wisely – are infinite.