Daily Archives: March 25, 2010

Rotary: All Public Relations is Local

25 Thursday Mar 2010

Posted by in Public Relations, Rotary

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by Paul Kiser

Paul Kiser - District Public Relations Chair - Rotary District 5190

Rotary is challenged in the role of Public Relations. For almost a century we didn’t see a need for Public Relations.   There are good reasons why this was the case, but now we recognize the need for a Public Relations function.

Unfortunately, despite the efforts of many smart and skilled people we are still in the infancy of fully incorporating Public Relations into the hearts and minds of the organization.   In the recommended Club Leadership Plan published by Rotary International, every other club function has a list of its sub-functions, except Public Relations which is blank.   That should not be surprising considering how little time Public Relations has had to evolve in the organization.   The idea to establish PR as a separate club function was a bold step, and it has taken years for the basic concept of Public Relations to take hold.

However, it is time we take another bold act and fully incorporate the function of Public Relations into the soul of the club.   The reason to act is simple: the survival of the organization depends on it.

Rotary International - 105 Years of Service Above Self

Rotary and Public Relations: History
When Rotary was first formed in 1905, it was a small club of four members.   The membership grew rapidly but it remained one club started by young professionals who sought to exchange business based on ethical practices.   There was no need to be concerned about Public Relations because it was just a group of people ‘doing their own thing’.   The change came in 1906, when a prospective member suggested that he saw no reason to join unless the club was doing something worthwhile for the community.   The club members agreed and in 1907 Rotary completed the first community project by building public toilets in downtown Chicago.   It was at that moment that Rotary began interacting with the community, thus Rotary Public Relations was born, but not recognized.

As the decades passed, individual Rotary clubs continued to interact with the local, regional, national, and international communities around them and yet the understanding that Rotary was involved in Public Relations with each interaction did not fully sink in with the clubs, nor the larger organization of Rotary International.   Some clubs equated Public Relations to be ‘publicity’ and shunned the idea of bragging or boasting about the community project and programs, not understanding the publicity is only a part of Public Relations.

The Rotary Theme Logo for 2009-10

What Changed?
As Rotary approached its Centennial a realization came about the need for Public Relations; however, this need was still thought of as publicity.   Many clubs were experiencing a slow loss of membership and it became apparent that the organization needed to make people more aware of Rotary in order to continue to attract new members.  The idea of ‘getting the word out’ was the driving force behind adopting a Public Relations strategy, which is why the efforts have been focused on publicity.  This is probably why the Public Relations function is somewhat of an orphan in the Club’s organization because the priority has been on external communication.

Public Relations: A Holistic Approach
Rotary Public Relations should involve the development of a relationship between the Club and the community. It does involve getting the message out (publicity) but to do that a Club must understand how that message will be perceived. This can only be done if a Club is already aware of their TRUE public image in the community. Public Relations is a two-way relationship that requires listening to the community’s perceptions before sending out a message. If the Club does not know what the community perceives about Rotary, the message could be misunderstood leading to a negative Public Relations outcome.

In order to listen to the community a Club must be accessible to the public. This can be a major problem as a Rotary Club only exists for 1 1/2 hours per week.   Most clubs have no office, nor any physical presence outside of the Club’s weekly meeting. The only way for the public to access a Club is by creating a presence that can be accessed 24/7/365.   Fortunately a Club website can provide that presence, but many clubs do not have an updated website and many more don’t have a website at all.

The other problem is that public image is formed primarily by what a person experiences on a personal level.   An airline can say it loves its passengers in a national ad campaign, but the passenger will determine her or his image of the airline based upon the experience with the people met when purchasing tickets, boarding, and flying. Thus, people perceive Rotary based on the interactions with the members and their Club.

Rotary Public Relations: The Next Level

The Rotary Theme Logo for 2010-11

To move to the next level Rotary Clubs should ask questions of non-Rotarians in the communities about their perceptions of Rotary and the Rotary Club.   This should be done in a way that the person does not feel like they need to make the ‘nice comment’, but rather allow the person to be completely honest.   The Club should be prepared to hear information that may be unexpected and equally prepared to take appropriate action to work to repair any misconceptions or misunderstandings.   Correcting misconceptions is the role of publicity, but it must happen after the Club is aware of the existing public image.

The Club should work to be accessible to members and the public with an active and updated website.   The website should offer information about upcoming programs and projects, contact information via email or phone, and information about the Club, the Area, the District, and Rotary International.

To establish a plan for the Club Public Relations the Bulletin/Newsletter Editor, Programs Chair, Webmaster, along with other key Club leadership should meet to discuss Club goals and how the Club’s Internal message tools can be used to assist in communicating those goals.   Using the resources for Club planning available from Rotary International, the Club Public Relations Committee can establish short-term, annual, and long-term goals.

The key is understanding that all Public Relations is local and that public image is what non-Rotarians perceive about Rotary.

Rotary related blogs by Paul Kiser

Rotary Public Relations and Membership: Eight Steps to a Team Win

Rotary@105:  Our 1st Rotary Dropout

Best Practices:  Become a Target!

Fear of Public Relations

It’s Baaack: Sunspot Maximum Here It Comes

25 Thursday Mar 2010

Posted by in Information Technology, Science

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by Paul Kiser

Updated March 25, 2010

After one of the quietest periods of solar activity in known history, the Sun has roared into a new sunspot maximum cycle.  With the increase in sunspot activity is the increased risk of solar flare activity that could impact human-created systems both in orbit and on the ground.   This occurs almost exactly 150 years after the biggest known solar flares that disrupted telegraph communications and created unprecedented auroras around the world.

A Solar Minimum to Remember

A Quiet Sun - April 12, 2009

In April 2009, solar physicist Dean Pesnell stated, “We’re experiencing a very deep solar minimum,” based on the number of days without recordable sunspots in 2008 and 2009.  That statement was before a late summer episode of 51 days in a row of no sunspot activity that ended on August 31, one day short of tying the record of 52 days.  The April 1, 2009, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) news release also stated that the solar wind pressure was at a 50-year low and the Sun’s extreme ultraviolet radiation was 6% less than the last solar minimum in 1996.

On September 3rd, NASA issued a news release titled, “Are Sunspots Disappearing?”  Solar Researcher Matt Penn states in the release, “Sunspot magnetic fields are dropping by about 50 gauss per year.  If we extrapolate this trend into the future, sunspots could completely vanish around the year 2015.”   However, even Penn admits that they have little historic data to conclude that this is a permanent trend.

Solar Activity Returns

A new Solar Cycle begins - November 21, 2009

However, by late in September the Sun started showing signs of new sunspot activity. The upturn in activity this year is dramatic. In 2009, 29% of the days had a visible sunspot. So far this year 93% of the days have had sunspot activity.  The expected peak of the current activity will be in 2012-14.

No one knows if the unusually quiet Sun of 2008-09 will mean be a quieter, gentler solar maximum, or whether the Sun will bounce back with a significantly more active period, but a scientific panel for National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) is betting on a quieter solar maximum than the last one in 2000-01 (see Table A) and no one believes we will have a solar cycle that will match the activity of 1859.

The Sun is Back - February 8, 2010

A 500+ Year Event
Almost 150 years ago the Sun’s activity appeared to set the sky on fire with auroras that could be seen as far south as Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands. The New Orleans Daily Picayune reported:

“Towards half past eight o’clock a singular phenomenon took place. The horizon from north to northeast became of a deep crimson hue, which expanding slowly, made the sky appear as if lighted by a Bengal fire…”

On August 28, 1859 and again on September 2, 1859, solar flares created so much electromagnetic energy on Earth that telegraph communications were temporarily disrupted.  At one point operators in the northeast were only able to communicate by detaching the power source to the telegraph lines relying on the solar flare energy captured by the wires between stations.  From 8:30 to 11:00 AM on September 2, 1859, telegraph operators between Boston, MA and Portland, ME discovered that by detaching the batteries that powered the telegraph lines they could send messages using the electromagnetic energy caused by a solar flare.  In addition to rendering most lines nearly useless the solar event created sparks from telegraph lines and telegraph equipment causing fires in multiple locations.

However, it has been determined that the magnitude of the August/September 1859 solar events are rare in human experience.  Through ice core samples going back 500 years scientists have determined that the 1859 solar flares were 6.5 times more powerful than any other flare event in known history.

Preparations for a Major Solar Flare Event

The Sun Today - March 24, 2010

In 1859 there were relatively few technological devices that would be affected by the electromagnetic energy from the Sun and had the event occurred 15 years earlier it is likely that the only note of it in history would be the unusually bright auroras.  Today the threat is much greater as power grids, pipelines, and copper phone and data lines would all act as a conduit for the energy of a major solar flare event.  Among the greatest concern is the loss of many, if not all, satellites in a major solar event.  To respond to these concerns a new field of Space Weather has emerged to monitor and respond to any potential, although unlikely, massive solar flare.

There are three satellites watching the Sun 24/7/365.   The first, called the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO, maintains an orbit around the Sun that is directly between the Sun and Earth.  Two other satellites, the Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory or STEREO satellites, are in the same orbit as Earth is around the Sun, but STEREO Behind trails about 45 degrees behind Earth and STEREO Ahead is 45 degrees ahead of Earth (See Figure A).

Figure A - Locations of STEREO Ahead and STEREO Behind

These three satellites give scientist a view of almost the entire surface of the sun.  Any flare threatening Earth would be identified and evaluated at least 15 hours prior to affecting the planet.  Most flares take 60 or more hours to reach Earth, but the flare of September 1-2, 1859 took an unusually rapid 17 hours from ejection from the Sun to interaction with the Earth.

To prepare for these solar related incidents private industry and government agencies have spent years creating a response plan that will minimize the effect of a major solar event on the nation’s vital systems.  Access to the Space Weather reports are also available to the general public at through both NASA and NOAA.

What’s Next?
No one disputes that the next few years should see an increase in solar activity.  Nor does anyone dispute that humans are more vulnerable to a major solar event.  However, as the Sun shakes off the quiet of the past few years it is likely we will experience a quieter solar maximum than 2000-01, and no one predicts a repeat of the solar storms of 1859 anytime soon.