Monthly Archives: July 2010

How Rotary can…must…will plug into Social Media

28 Wednesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Rotary, Rotary@105, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Tom Peters, Traditional Media, Website

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Social Media (sO-shul  mE-dE-ah) – 1) any Internet function that allows user comment or input, 2) interconnected Internet tools that promote participation in the sharing of ideas, concepts, and information between users or members, 3) a type of interactive communication on the Internet that bypasses the non-interactive, one-way, broadcast-type communication of traditional media (e.g.; newspaper, magazine, radio, television, books, etc.) 4) an evil plot devised by mostly young people who seek to destroy traditional media, end all privacy, and rule the world by talking to each other.

Paul Kiser

Rotary is not an organization that reacts quickly to change. The parent organization meets only once every three years to discuss and propose major policy changes and even then the meeting consists of senior representatives (Past District Governors) from each Rotary District. Rotary clubs themselves often consist of members that disproportionately represents males over 50, (of which I am one,) and that group is not normally known for its adaptation skills in changing environments. In many ways, Rotary is the poster child for rigidity, rules, and tradition.

The problem is that we don’t live in a world that rewards the slow or unadaptive. We have moved into a period of rapid change that is similar to the Crusades ‘convert or die’ philosophy and nowhere is this more obvious than in the world of Social Media. Never before have we seen a key function of our world, namely communication, advance in such a short time period. We now live in the Peter Drucker and Tom Peters world of Ready, Fire, Aim!

Consider the revolution of computers. From the introduction of personal computers from 1975 to 1985, the personal computer at home and in the office was a novelty. It was an interesting device, but limited in its usefulness. By 1985, the personal computer was starting to become a staple in business and by 1995, the computer was firmly entrenched into our everyday lives. It took approximately 20 years for computers to go from ‘a toy’ to staple of life.

Compare the computer revolution to the Social Media revolution. Just over six years ago Facebook didn’t exist. Just over four years ago Twitter didn’t exist. In the past three years the way we communicate has so drastically changed that email is considered on par with snail mail by most people under 30 years old.

Social Media Revolution

(What’s changed? See the Social Media Revolution Video)

So what does this mean for a world-wide service organization like Rotary? Change. Change like our organization has never experienced in its 105 years. But it will be good change…for most of us.

Open Discussion of Issues
The Social Media revolution is characterized by open discussion of ideas and concepts. Over the next 18 months we should expect to see more members who are passionate about Rotary writing personal blogs. These individual blogs will not be sanitized messages approved by Rotary International, but personal viewpoints (like this one) discussing current issues at the Club, District, and RI levels. Sometimes the ideas and opinions expressed will be uplifting, sometimes awkward and/or uncomfortable, and sometimes they will just be wrong. The point is that there will be discussion of Rotary…good…bad…or both, and we should expect it.

The leadership of Rotary, from Club Presidents to the RI President, can either pretend it is not happening and hope it will go away, or they can decide to participate. My vote is participation. A District Governor may serve her or his District for a year and speak once at every club, but a blog is forever and is accessible to everyone in the world. Wise input from knowledgeable leaders can help promote positive discussions, and discourage inappropriate discussions. The worst thing to do is to allow a single Rotarian to create misguided impressions of Rotary by not correcting or responding to incorrect statements.

This must be done with care, as we are all aware that in the 1980’s Rotary International (RI) took a stand against a California club that allowed women to join, thus beginning a fight that ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court where RI ended up on the wrong end of the law.

Still, we do have key principles that must be protected as was the case in 2006-07. A California club began promoting a project to buy special ammo clips for U.S. soldiers at war in Iraq and Afghanistan and was pedaling this program to other clubs. Clearly, this was a violation of Rotary’s peaceful mission to serve and of RI’s Constitution. Such violations of our principles must be addressed and corrected by the leadership of Rotary.

Rotary leadership must take care in participating, but they should not only comment, they should write their own blogs. A more open discussion of Rotary related issues will serve to make our organization stronger and will help guide the leadership to address true member issues, not just what filters up through the Chain of Command.

Better Communications – Smaller Chunks, Targeted Audience
In the 1960’s a newsletter was vital information that couldn’t be accessed anywhere else. As copy machines in the 1970’s and 80’s got better the quality of the newsletters got better. The spread of color inkjet printers (HP made a killing on color ink) of the 1990’s brought newsletters to the height of their glory and anybody and everybody put out newsletters about anything. Today, a newsletter is only slightly higher on the value scale than junk mail. The problem is that few people have time to spend 15 minutes reading it and much of the information is not of interest to the reader. In addition, the quality of the editing and design of a weekly club newsletter goes from professional grade to…well, not so much. Often the editor is a volunteer who is passionate about the club, but may or may not agree with the current priorities of the club leadership.

Enter Facebook and Twitter. Most clubs I’ve been involved in regarding incorporating Facebook or Twitter into club communications have included this statement, “But most of our club members don’t use Facebook.” If there is a defining remark about the state of a club’s recruitment situation, that is it. Over 500 million people use Facebook and Rotary clubs don’t think it is relevant because their current members don’t use it. If your membership is not using the most current methods of communication, that should tell you why people in the real world see Rotary and your club as out-of-date and out of touch.

Facebook and Twitter provide information in small readable chunks. No one has to read all 10,000 words in the newsletter to get the information they need, they just read what is of interest to them and they read it in a format that gives it to them when they are ready to read it. Those that don’t use Facebook or Twitter will find that they know less and less about what is going on in the world around them and ignorance is not a Rotary value. The club that doesn’t have an active website and Facebook Fan Page within 12 months will most likely be the club that is consistently struggling to maintain membership. It that simple.

Fortunately, I know that Rotary clubs will adapt to the new Social Media whether anyone wants it or not. They will adapt because those clubs that don’t will waste away, while those that embrace Social Media will begin to see new, younger, smarter members fill in the ranks. It’s the way change works according to Darwin.

Paul Harris began Rotary to make connections with other people. Paul Harris would have loved Social Media.

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Physics in 2010: The more we understand, the less we know

27 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Book Review, Higher Education, History, Lessons of Life, Passionate People, Print Media, Random, Relationships, Science

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Several years ago I decided to update my limited knowledge of physics. I took my high school physics class in the early 1970’s and it was taught by a man who probably learned physics 20 years before he taught me, using a textbook that was a least 10 years old. Needless to say, I was out-of-date before my crash course in 21st Century physics.

I read Brian Greene’s book, The Elegant Universe, and his follow-up book, The Fabric of the Cosmos. I found that even though Greene’s did an excellent job of writing for the common person, my brain would still hurt while trying to grasp the concepts of String Theory, Special Relativity, and General Relativity.

The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene

Some of the things I’ve learned:

The Speed and Time Connection
Speed and time are connected and they have an inverse relationship. The faster a person, let’s call him ‘Bob’ goes, the slower time flows in relation to an observer, let’s call her ‘Audrey’. It’s important to note that 1) Bob or Audrey won’t see the change in the passage of time unless Bob returns to Audrey and, 2) the time difference isn’t noticeable until Bob gets near light speed (670 million miles per hour.) If Bob took a quick one hour trip at 99% of the speed of light he would find that upon his return Audrey will have spent 54 days waiting for him. I would advise that you just accept this concept because it’s the explanation that will make the brain hurt.

The Speed and Mass/Energy Connection
This is where things get interesting. Mass has a relationship with speed. The faster an object moves, the more mass it has, but like the time/speed relationship, it isn’t really noticeable until you get near light speed. The important thing to note is that mass grows to infinity as the object reaches light speed, which means it would take and infinite amount of energy to make the object go faster than the speed of light, which is not possible. Thus an object can’t go faster than light speed.

Here is what I find most interesting. Everything is in motion..the Earth is revolving and orbiting the Sun, the Sun is orbiting the Milky Way Galaxy, all the galaxies are in motion, etc., therefore, everything we can see, feel, and detect (i.e., everything that has mass) is traveling at a speed. If we could figure out the absolute vector and velocity for an object and send it in an opposite vector perfectly matching its forward velocity (i.e.; decelerate it) the object would drop to zero speed. Would that mean that it would lose all its mass and that time (for the object) would pass at an infinitely fast rate?

Gravity and Space
This is where things get fuzzy. Imagine a movie screen. Now imagine the movie screen is invisible unless light hits it. Now imagine that instead of the light reflecting off of the screen surface, the light causes the material of the screen to compress and concentrate in the areas where light hits it and the material reacts the strongest to the brighter the light. A flashlight would cause some compression, but a laser pointer light would cause a higher compression. Still with me?

The universe is made of an invisible, undetectable material that reacts to energy and mass. The greater the mass the more the fabric of space concentrates (gravity) causing a deformation in space/time that influences the path of other objects of mass and can influence the path of even electromagnetic energy, like light. Gravity is a component of the fabric of space/time and yet we, as of yet, cannot determine what gravity is in a physical sense. We can see the result of gravity, but we still really don’t know gravity.

Matter, Mass, and Strings
Scientists can no longer perform experiments on the elemental matter of which everything is made. It is just too small. Atoms  are giants in the new world of physics. Protons and neutrons are made of quarks and quarks and electrons are made of vibrating strings that exist in multiple time/space dimensions. Experimental scientists have had to give way to mathematicians who are able to sort out this micro-micro world, often by mathematically proving what the strings can’t be, based on what we already know.

It is unsettling for many that we have gone beyond easy experiments and analogies to understand this bizarre new world, but the simple fact is that unless you want to become a scholarly mathematician and learn all the proofs and formulas, you have to accept the work of those who are capable of seeing reality through numbers as easily as we see the fly on the fruit. If it makes you feel any better, most of us don’t how to perform brain surgery, and yet we accept a professional neurosurgeon understands what he or she is doing when they perform brain surgery. Physics reached the level of brain surgery in the 1960’s and now they have gone way beyond it.

What’s Next?
I don’t know what we will be able to do once the secrets of String Theory are fully understood. Once we understood Relativity we realized that we could make a bomb that was more devastating than we every had imagined possible. We also learned we could create new elements out of other elements. I suspect that String Theory will open new opportunities that will again go beyond our imagination, both wonderful and terrible. For now, I just marvel at the fact that everything consists of little strings of energy, including the hands and the connected mind writing this, as well as the eyes that read it. Amazing.

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Nevada’s oldest brewpub opens new Reno brewery

25 Sunday Jul 2010

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Business, Customer Relations, Information Technology, Passionate People, Public Relations, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

No one could legally brew beer in Nevada until the early 1990’s. That was changed, in part, by the efforts of Tom and Bonda Young and a few other brewing entrepreneurs who worked to change antiquated State laws. Once the law was changed Tom and a business partner established the first brew pub in northern Nevada, the Great Basin Brewing Company in 1993. Today, Great Basin Brewing is the oldest brewpub in Nevada and this week it will open a new top shelf brewery/restaurant in Reno.

Great Basin Brewery might have started out in Reno, except that the law that allowed brewpubs to operate in Nevada initially required the location to be in an area designated as a redevelopment zone and Sparks stepped forward to welcome the venture in the Victorian Avenue redevelopment plan. For 17 years it has been a significant part of downtown Sparks.

South side of the New Great Basin Brewing Company in Reno, NV, USA

Brewpubs are no longer restricted to redevelopment zones and last November Tom and Bonda took the leap to expand by remodeling a former Mexican chain restaurant into a showcase brewery serving some of Nevada’s most honored craft (specialty) beers. The new Reno location will significantly increase the production of the local brewpub that already is among the top 35 among over 1600 in the United States. The Sparks location can currently produce 7 barrels of beer at a time, but the new brewery will increase the combined production to 32 barrels.

Eli and Ryan working the brewing room

In addition to increased beer production, the new Reno Great Basin Brewery location will serve the same menu as its Sparks sister facility with the addition of hot baked pizza from their new brick pizza oven. The expansion of Nevada’s home-grown brewery has also created new jobs with the increased staff, along with the construction workers involved in the remodel. Tom also worked with local suppliers as demonstrated by using a local carpenter to build all the table tops in the facility.

Several members of the brewery staff have taken on significant responsibilities during the remodel and ramp up phases of the project including Jazz Aldrich, Eli Brightburg-Smith, Paul Ganzer, Dave Miller, Ryan Quinlan, and Dondo. This week has been spent taking the final step to make the new facility’s restaurant operational for the public opening on Monday (July 26).

Signs show which craft beers are currently on tap.

While watching beer brew can be as exciting as watching grass grow, it is intriguing to be able to see the large stainless steel containers that ferment grain products into a wide variety of craft beers that have landed the most awards of any Nevada brewpub. The new facility includes a silo on the southwest side of the building for the grain used by the brewery, which is a reminder that this is a real brewery with a brewpub and restaurant, and not just a restaurant that has a small brewery function to qualify as a brewpub.

I’m a big fan of the Young’s and the Great Basin Brewing Company. Tom Young has been a long-time member of the Rotary Club of Sparks and has donated many kegs of beer at cost or less for many fundraisers in the Reno/Sparks area. He and Bonda have also hosted Rotary Youth Exchange students and been active participants in club activities. It is exciting to see local business people who have given back so much to the community expand their operations and bring a quality brewery into Reno proper. If you have a chance to stop by this week I highly recommend stopping in to see the facility and have a beer..or two. Cheers!

(The Great Basin website)

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Rotary@105: Membership/Public Image Challenge

20 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Club Leadership, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Membership Recruitment, Membership Retention, Passionate People, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Rotary@105, The Tipping Point, Women

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - Rotary Public Relations Chair - District 5190

I have a challenge for every North American Rotary club that is at least ten years old:

Step 1. Look up all the new members that were inducted in the last three and a half years, excluding the new members inducted in the last six months (e.g; members inducted between January 2007 and January 2010.)
 Step 2. Determine how many of those members left the club.
 Step 3. Contact them (if living) and ask the following questions:

  • Why did you leave the club?
  • Why did you really leave the club?
  • In a time when more connections with business people would be more critical, why didn’t our club offer this to you?
  • What type of person would you recommend to join our club? (Age, gender, personality, etc.)
  • What irritated/disappointed you about our club?

Step 4. Hold a Board Meeting to discuss the results.

Rule One is that no one is allowed to diminish or discount the statements of the former member (e.g.; “She never was really happy with us.” or “They just wanted to network.” or “He joined for the wrong reasons.”)

Rule Two is that no one on the Board who has served over three years is allowed to participate in the discussion for the first 30 minutes.

I think you’ll find the results interesting and tell you the public image that your club projects to others. Why? Too many Rotarians are looking for members who think, believe, talk, act, and look like the existing club members. New members who don’t fit the mold are the first to leave. The question is whether the club is ready to adjust their behavior to be more inclusive of business professionals who may not fit the mold.

The reason to limit the participation of long-term Board members is because members who have become entrenched in the decision-making process of the club tend to have too much say and tend to try to preserve the status quo.

Let me know what you discover about your club’s public image.

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2Q 2010 Social Media Tools: Facebook/Twitter sail on, LinkedIn/MySpace don’t

20 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Communication, Consulting, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Passionate People, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, SEO, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

Facebook Dragging Anchor?
Facebook hit 500 million users recently (Google Ad Planner puts them at 550 million as of June) and Twitter is hovering near 100 million. When you consider that Facebook doubled the number of users in about a year it seems like the growth of the giant will not stop, but something interesting has happened in the past three months. The growth in visitors (measured via cookies) has slowed; however, Facebook has gained 60 million users in the second quarter, so no one can reach a conclusion, yet.

Yes, everyone was going to quit Facebook on May 31, 2010, and that didn’t happen, but there may be a new temperamental wind blowing in the world of Social Media. It’s possible that Facebook’s bad press over privacy issues has had an impact on new users and/or it’s possible that Facebook has reached a point of saturation. Regardless, Facebook has hit a speed bump, which leads everyone to wonder if it is a temporary blip, or has the bubble burst?

Facebook Visitors 2Q 2010 (not users)

Twitter Whale of a Fail
Twitter has also seen a slight decrease in visitors over the last two months; however, Twitter gained 16 million users in the second quarter and it should easily exceed the 100 million user mark in the third quarter. Twitter may be experiencing fallout from the backlash at Facebook, but it is more likely that Twitters persistent ‘Fail Whale’ capacity issues are preventing the service from scoring big gains with new users. For several weeks in June, Twitter users experienced constant interruptions in service that were a major annoyance causing many to exacerbate the problem by Tweeting their complaints. The issues were similar to the days when AOL dial-up service lacked the capacity to handle the volume of users…and remind us of the risk an organization takes in failing to anticipate rapid growth.

Twitter Visitors 2Q 2010

From a position of potential demand by business-oriented users, Twitter is in the best position to grow into the Facebook of the business world, but it has to overcome the confusion by older users of the usefulness of the service; however, there is a ‘Tipping Point’ that once achieved could push Twitter into mega growth and a potential of becoming larger than Facebook in total users.

Twitter up-time seems to be getting better in the past two weeks, but continued reliability problems could have a significant impact on user happiness and that opens the door for another service to step up and prove that they offer more than twitchy connections.

LinkedIn Visitors 2Q 2010

LinkedIn Becalmed
The surprise in the 2nd Quarter was the loss of users for LinkedIn. Dropping from 41 million down to 38 million for the business networking website may indicate that it is in a market that is too narrow. LinkedIn encourages long discussions of business issues, and the formation of related groups, but the downside is that few care to read 257 posts of people’s opinions where the knowledgeable people are mixed in with the clueless. LinkedIn also discourages connecting to another user unless you already have a relationship with them, which means you’re talking to the same people you already know. Twitter’s advantage is a more rapid discussion that spins off to other blogs rather than an on-line list of opinions. Twitter also connects people in a way that allows the user to edit their followers, rather than depending on an existing relationship. This could be the signal of a trend and LinkedIn may come out on the short end of Darwin’s evolution theory.

MySpace Visitors 2Q 2010

MySpace: The Titanic of Social Media
MySpace is proof that failure is an option in the world of Social Media. Of course, they are a failure with 66 million followers at the end of the 2nd Quarter, but they had 80 million users at the end of the 1st Quarter. At this pace they will under 10 million users by next summer. MySpace is the Wicked Witch of the West and she is sitting under Niagara Falls …. ‘I’m meltinggggg.’

It is possible that by the end of the 3rd Quarter the field of Social Media tools could be clearly down to Facebook and Twitter. MySpace would need a massive public relations campaign and cool new tricks to stop its decline. It is the BP of the Social Media and it doesn’t have the finances to pull up before it noses into the corn field. LinkedIn is sitting on a house of cards. Being a ‘Business Networking’ service is not enough to keep it viable. If it drops under 30 million users by the end of 3rd Quarter I predict that it will be a race between LinkedIn and MySpace to be the first to dissolve in 2011. MySpace’s loss will be Facebook’s gain and LinkedIn’s loss will be Twitter’s gain. I still believe Twitter has more potential than Facebook, but they will have to overcome the misconceptions by older users of its purpose and value.

We wait for the 3rd Quarter…what will people do?

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Epic Fail: Media/PR ‘Experts’ don’t get Twitter

13 Tuesday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, SEO, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point, Traditional Media

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

“I just don’t see a way to monetize it” – Local PR Company Owner

Paul Kiser

Some of my best friends are Media/Public Relations (PR)/Marketing Experts…okay, maybe not my best friends, but I do have several people I consider friends who have been/are major players in the PR industry in their market and almost all of them either reject Twitter or are mystified by it. The three questions/comments I hear most from my PR friends are as follows:

  • How do you have time to do it?
  • I don’t see how to monetize Twitter.
  • I just don’t get it

The first question requires that a person accept that Twitter can be something of value to their (or their client’s) business. Unfortunately, many ‘experienced’ business people have a misconception of what Twitter is (or is not,) so they are already under the presumption of guilt on the charge the Twitter is a waste of time. They have to be convinced that it has value, thus deserving it merits their ‘time’. But for many ‘seasoned’ PR types the only way they will accept Twitter as worth their time is if it has an immediate dollar return, which leads to the second comment.

The fact is that Twitter a communication tool leads the experienced Media/PR person to fall back to the concept that it can be used for advertising/spam purposes and when Social Media users respond by unfriending/unfollowing them, they decide that Twitter is a waste of time. All their training and experience tells them that Social Media is a billboard that if they can just find the right ‘trick’ then Twitter can be used to manipulate the public to buy whatever they (or their client) is selling. That is what they know and thus it leads to the third comment, that they just don’t get it.

Twitter is a new variety of the PR Cherry

Twitter is not a spam tool. The idea that you can make revenue directly from Social Media demonstrates a lack of understanding of the environment. It would be like trying to add spam to someone’s personal email. People would not accept their personal message being overshadowed by spam for Sam’s Plumbing and it would be annoying to the receiver. Spam/advertising (all advertising is spam) is an affront to people’s intelligence and when people can turn it off they do, and that means Twitter has no value to many ‘experienced’ Media/PR people.

The failing is in the concept of trying to ‘sell’. Any reputable business does not need to ‘sell’ their product or service. I’ll say that again. Any reputable business does NOT need to sell their product or service. What they need to do is educate the public on their product or service and why it will improve their life. Educating is not selling. Selling assumes that you can manipulate people to buy whatever you’re selling. Selling is a function of greed and greed is unethical.

The Social Media environment exposes selling and rejects it, but it loves educating. Social Media is a learning environment and the PR professional that doesn’t understand that will not understand Twitter. This opens the door for those who can reject the old ideas of PR and accept a new strategy of service/product management.

Meanwhile, we should create a new Social Media tool for those who love to sell. They can all join it and try to sell to each other. Maybe we can call in ‘Spinster’?

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King of Anything: Sara Bareilles song reflects Social Media vs Traditional Media attitudes

12 Monday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Passionate People, Print Media, Public Relations, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Traditional Media

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

It’s interesting to me how a song can make my day. Today I listened to a new song by Sara Bareilles called, ‘King of Anything‘ and it makes me smile every time I hear it. The song went on sale and the video was released late last month. I have downloaded the song (legally, on iTunes) and watched the video several times and I am enjoying both even though my song count is nearing an obsession.

(see the King of Anything video here)

Part of my attraction to the song is the music. It is an upbeat tune that sounds whimsical even though the lyrics are more serious. The chorus of the song is:

Sara Bareilles upcoming cd Kaleidoscope Heart

“Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me.
Who made you King of Anything?
So you dare tell me who to be,
who died and made you King of Anything?”

In Ms. Bareilles description of the song on Wikipedia, she says, “‘King of Anything’ is sort of a ‘f**k you’ song,” which it is, but I find a lot more in the song that relates to what Social Media has been saying to Traditional Media for over a decade.

Traditional Media (television, radio, books, magazines, etc.) have been ruled by editors and producers. They have sat on the throne of their own making deciding what we should see, hear, and read. Directors and editors have played the role of spoon-feeding the public the information they see fit and controlling the message. Usually their efforts have been an honorable attempt to provide information to the public, but more recently their have been efforts to intentionally influence the hearts and minds of the public with manipulated news through FOX news and via personalities like Rush Limbaugh.

Social Media has quietly become the force that has been giving each person the option to decide for themselves. We can talk, build groups of like-minded friends/followers, research, read first-hand reports, and explore the knowledge and experience of millions of other individuals. Social Media has challenged Traditional Media by asking, “Who made you King of anything?” The result has been a collapse of the house of cards that Traditional Media has built. Advertising and sales revenues have been dropping across the board as people now question the usefulness of media that is controlled by a few, and almost always behind the curve in information and trends.

Single released in May 2010

But back to the song. Sara Bareilles has a great line near the end where she says, “Let me hold your crown, babe.” While I fully understand the meaning (the middle finger is involved,) I’ll suggest that in Social Media we all hold the crown … and nobody needs to wear it to be heard. Traditional Media is dead. Long live the King!

(Sara Bareilles website)

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Rotary PR: Disrespecting the Club President is a PR/Membership issue

11 Sunday Jul 2010

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser - Rotary Public Relations Chair - District 5190

Some Rotary clubs have a major problem. It starts with a few good-natured jabs at the President and everybody laughs. Then a few more jabs. And everybody laughs. Soon you have seven or eight members trying to one-up each other on criticizing the President and then it becomes a free-for-all. It all seems like it’s done in fun, but what message does it send internally to your members and externally to club visitors?

It seems to be a Rotary club tradition to give the Club President a hard time, but a visitor will likely see excessive ribbing as unprofessional and when the President is humiliated in public it may become uncomfortable for guest to even be in the room. The ‘fun’ behavior can and will become the basis of the club’s public image to non-members.

Ask yourself these questions the next time club members are having ‘fun’ at the expense of the President:

  • Who is doing the ribbing (males or females, older members or younger members, etc.)?
  • Is the ribbing done in kindness, or is it mean?
  • If you were the Club President, how would you handle/feel about the ribbing?
  • Does the ribbing reinforce the public image that Rotary is a professional organization for all ages/genders or an old man’s fraternity?

But what internal message does it give to the club members?

Many clubs find it difficult to recruit a member to be Club President because of the time and energy required. Add the weekly humiliation to the significant responsibilities of the role and it is easy to understand why many members pass on the job. It also may lead some members to grow weary of constant sophomoric behavior and add to the dissatisfiers that will cause them to leave the club.

(See Dissatisfiers: Why John Quit)

Rotary clubs do not have to be a sober, somber environment, but they do have to be professional. Members should be aware that ‘fun’ has its limits and that not all ribbing is ‘good natured’. But if certain members feel they must be disrespectful of the President, then let their pleasure be profitable for the club….I would say a $5 fine per incident would be a starting place.

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WiFi on Southwest Airlines: Is it ‘Shovel Ready’?

09 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Ethics, Government Regulation, Information Technology, Internet, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, Travel, Website

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

In the July edition of Southwest Airlines ‘Spirit’ in-flight magazine SWA takes a swipe at “President Obama’s” Recovery Act (I’m pretty sure that more than one person put together the program that pulled us out of economic disaster) and informs the passengers that the definition of ‘Shovel Ready’ is also associated with a project that has failed. Obviously, there is no LUV coming out of Texas for our 18-month old administration, but I was surprised that they would put a political biased slam in their customer publication.

Regardless, I will take their lead and use their definition to ask if the Southwest Air WiFi program is ‘shovel ready’?

Southwest was testing WiFi on four planes (I’ve also heard that only one plane had/has the service) as early as March 2009. I flew a WiFi-enabled plane from Denver to Reno a several months ago when they had to replace the plane we were supposed to fly. After boarding the plane several hours late the flight attendant announce that to make up for our delay we at least would have WiFi because we were on the ‘special’ plane. She then immediately said that we would not be able to use the service, but didn’t say why. That seems to typify Southwest’s efforts to get WiFi off the ground.

Southwest has a page on their website that announces the new WiFi service to begin in early 2010. Is July early? Note that you can only find this page by a Google search or by going directly to the page at:

Southwest Air WiFi Page

If the link is dead that will mean that Southwest read this post and someone in IT probably got chewed on for not killing the page. In case they update the page, here is what it said as of today (July 9, 2010):

“Southwest Airlines is excited to offer satellite-enabled Wi-Fi internet access onboard. The service is currently on four aircraft, but we hope to begin equipping more of the fleet with this cutting-edge technology in early 2010.”

In Gary’s Greeting on the SWA website titled “Technology is Our Friend,”  CEO Gary Kelly spends two sentences on the WiFi service:

“Many Customers want to stay connected while aloft, and your chances of flying on a Southwest Wi-Fi-equipped jet improves as the year progresses. In April, we began a two-year process of installing this state-of-the-art connectivity on our entire fleet.”

Other than that Southwest is making no effort to publicize the new WiFi service, which begs the question “Is there a problem?” Early 2010 has come and gone, April 2010 was three months ago, where’s the WiFi? I understand that it will take some time to install it on all the planes but this is a marketing opportunity and a major addition to in-flight service. Is SWA just unenthusiastic, uncaring, or embarrassed about offering WiFi, or is there a problem? If it was meant to be a secret it was not the smartest move to build a webpage to announce the service. My guess is that there have been major problems and the corporate PR people are hoping no one will notice. If that’s the case then they would be wrong.

LUV is the SWA Way, but you pay for WiFi

They have said that the service will not be free. That’s disappointing from a business standpoint. For an airline that is full of LUV’ it would seem that one inexpensive way to build customer love would be to offer free WiFi like Starbucks. I published an article today praising the wisdom of free WiFi and rather than repeating here I’ll offer the link to the article.

(The business benefits of free WiFi)

I admit I am biting the hand that feeds me. I will only fly SWA unless I can’t get to a city with their routes. But between the political jab in Spirit magazine and the noticeably absent WiFi service I am not feeling the LUV right now. I’m sure I’ll get over it and in a few weeks I’ll be flying to Dallas on SWA and I’ll be happy to do it … but just in case Gary Kelly reads this please note that ‘thump’ you hear outside of Las Vegas or Austin might be me landing a few minutes before the plane does. You never know, some people have no sense of humor.

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Starbucks makes a smart move: Free WiFi

09 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by in About Reno, Branding, Communication, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Information Technology, Internet, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Relationships, Rotary, Social Interactive Media (SIM), Social Media Relations, The Tipping Point

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Customer Loyalty: Paul Kiser in Starbucks style

Today I’m dressed like a Starbucks employee to honor the wisdom of the decision-makers at the famous coffee company to team with AT&T to offer free WiFi to all. They started it on July 1st. It is a smart move…a very smart move.

Why? There is one common aspect of every successful business and it is simply to give your customers a reason to love you. That’s it! Customers who love a service or product is an absolute ‘must’ if you want to build customer loyalty and business referrals. You can spend millions of dollars in advertising and not get the return that a company gets with requited love from their customers. With free WiFi Starbucks has found a way of creating value-added service that will cause many people to love Starbucks.

If you have a ‘butts-in-the-seats’ type of business and you want customers to: 1) frequent your location, 2) spend time and money in your business and, 3) be loyal to your business then free WiFi is one of the best ways to make it happen. Here’s what will happen for Starbucks over the next 12 months.

  • Starbucks will see increased traffic of laptop users (a ‘small’ market of people who will buy almost 200 million laptops in 2010)
  • Starbucks will see more repeat business
  • Starbucks will be more visible to more people
  • Starbucks will not need to spend as much on advertising and will get more social media publicity

All butts-in-the-seats organizations would like to experience these four outcomes in their business, so why don’t more places offer free WiFi? In brief, the answer is ‘accountant-think’, which is always short-sighted. The common rationale is one of two issues. First, instead of seeing free WiFi as an inexpensive way to add value to their service the accountant-think business people try to make it a revenue source. In Reno, Nevada the major hotel/gaming properties have been known to charge as much as $500 to ‘turn on’ WiFi in their convention areas and most of the properties charge around $13/day for guests to have access to WiFi. The result is that technology conventions go elsewhere rather than be charged for a service that they can get for considerably less (or free) in another market. The Reno gaming properties have boxed themselves in with contracts or dependence on the revenue source from WiFi, so they are now in a death spiral of losing more and more business or give up a piece of their dwindling revenue.

Last year I was in Las Vegas on a business trip and stayed at the South Point property. They charged a fee for WiFi, so I went to Starbucks to get online (my home account is with AT&T, so I’ve always had free access at Starbucks.) Afterward I picked up dinner at the Outback Restaurant next door and took it back to my room. South Point didn’t get me to stay on property, nor did they even get me to eat at in-house, simply because they didn’t offer Free WiFi. Is that a smart business move on their part? Nope, just good, solid accountant-think.

The second rationale accountant-think executives is that WiFi customers don’t have a revenue impact. In August of 2009, Erica Alini wrote an article for the Wall Street Journal (NOTE: the Wall Street Journal or WSJ is a historical archive of old business trends written by accountant-think reporters) that declared, “Coffee Shops Pull the Plug on Laptop Users.” For her article Ms. Alini cites three examples in New York that discussed limiting or eliminating laptops at a cafe or coffee shop. The most common problem seemed to be too many customers … what a tragic problem … and that some laptop users were purchasing minimal product. However, Ms. Alini admits that some places were using laptop users to ‘make the place look busy.’

A deserted restaurant is cause for people to avoid the business, so having customers, even minimal revenue producing customers, can mean more paying customers. My question is how much would a coffee shop have to pay people to sit and look like customers? Free WiFi is a small price to pay. I spend $10 to $15 per day at my Home Starbucks on Keystone in Reno, NV, USA. It will not make me a shareholder, but it is money I would not spend in one place, except for the fact that I am a captured customer. I also always meet with people at a Starbucks, so I bring in additional customers. The major factor in my customer loyalty is the access to free WiFi.

Starbucks has made a very smart business move with making free WiFi a value-added service for all and the return on the service will reap big dividends in customer loyalty and increased traffic (butts in the seats.) Starbucks customers have a new reason to love Starbucks and that is key to survival in today’s world. But don’t try telling that to the accountant-think executives running other stores and restaurants. They just won’t understand it … and I’m sure that’s okay with Starbucks.

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Two Barbecues and a Wedding

08 Thursday Jul 2010

Posted by in Branding, Customer Relations, Customer Service, Lessons of Life, Management Practices, Public Relations, Re-Imagine!, Recreation, Relationships, Travel

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by Paul Kiser
USA PDT  [Twitter: ] [Facebook] [LinkedIn] [Skype:kiserrotary or 775.624.5679]

Paul Kiser

I’m not a ‘big family celebration’ type of guy. I have about a two-hour threshold of family socializing and then I’m good for a year or two. It’s a family cultural thing. As my three older brothers and I moved out of our childhood home we didn’t make it a priority to keep close contact we each other, and in my case my parents moved out of my hometown when I went to college …., maybe that was meant to be a message.

Alexander was not impressed with the pomp.

So when it was announced that one of my spouse’s second cousins was getting married the day after the 4th of July and that all the family would be going to Colorado for a major weekend of celebrating, I was not the first one to pack my bags. It’s not that I don’t like the my spouse’s family because they are a very caring and intelligent group of souls, but I like control in my life and traveling and living in mass is about as out of control as it gets for me.

My spouse and her mother understands this character flaw of mine, but ‘no’ was not an option in this case. Initially I resisted the idea of being part of the Reno delegation but the final incentive was to add a couple of days to the trip to spend time with my daughters in Colorado. That got me to join the party … that and the potential ramifications of being a lone holdout for the event. The plan was finalized and tickets were purchased.

I was going to a family wedding in Boulder, Colorado … did I mention I don’t like family get-togethers?

A Perfect Backyard Wedding

So last week we flew to Colorado for some quality time in my home state. I prepared myself for what was to come … but I had no idea what to expect.

We spent a busy, but fun day-and-a-half with my daughters south of Denver and then drove up to Boulder for a gauntlet of family oriented parties. We were staying with one of my spouse’s first cousins, who live outside of Boulder on a ranch.

House in the Grove - Near Boulder

Sweet Home Colorado
My apprehensions about staying in someone else’s house were blown away when we got to their ranch. It was like page out of Better Homes and Gardens. We shared a ‘cottage’ with my brother/sister-in-law and their daughter. The cottage consisted of two bedrooms and a bath over a kitchen/living room. Her cousins have only lived there a little over a year, but they have done a tremendous amount of work to the main house and the cottage to make them comfortable and beautiful living spaces.

The property was among a grove of multiple types of trees with a stream running through it. In addition to the trees the landscaping showed the care and attention of thousands of hours of planning, planting, and maintenance. Across the creek and beyond the trees were horses and chickens to complete the experience for any child under 10. Did I mention the two zip lines? Well, suffice to say it was a joy to spend several days there.

(Zip Line – Wikipedia definition)

Our hosts held an excellent catered barbecue (Flatirons Catering) on the 4th of July with about 80 people attending and except for the late afternoon thunderstorm it was a one of the many highlights of the trip. Later that night some of us even rode the zip line across the stream in the dark…not advised when inebriated, but fun regardless of the state of sobriety.

(Flatirons Catering website)

View of the Flatirons over Boulder, CO

American-Values Oriented
I also spent a few free hours in Boulder and I came to appreciate the beauty of the city and the warmth of the people. People in Boulder care. They care about the environment. They care about quality of life for all. They care about politics. All of that care is translated into positive, happy people who love life.

Much of our country is infested with a group of disgruntled, bitter, sarcastic people who blame everyone else for all the country’s ills. Some people have gone as far as making up problems so they can be unhappy about them.  That’s not Boulder. Boulder is a no-excuses, we’re-in-this-together, make-lemonade type community. Boulder is an American-values place that kept true to our founders ‘United We Stand’ attitude. Don’t get me wrong, the city has had its share of problems and is not immune to failure, but a simple drive around the streets show that they have dealt with adversity and triumphed where other cities have failed and given up. I didn’t realize what a breath of fresh air a community of positive, happy people could be until I spent some time in the city at the foot of the Flatirons.

The Buff Restaurant in Boulder, CO

In The Buff
Boulder is a creative place with high standards in business. In America the definition of bad food is any restaurant on the property of a motel. However, in Boulder The Buff Restaurant has leased its space from a Best Western motel since 1995, and it was one of the most pleasant eating experiences I’ve had in a long time. I had the Baja Benney which was a version of Eggs Benedict with avocado, artichoke hearts, and tomatoes. They also had Bhakti Chai tea which is made by a Boulder-based company, which was the best chai tea I’ve ever had..and I’ve had a lot of chai tea. In Boulder, customer expectations are high and the business owner who is looking to sacrifice value-added service and quality for profits is not going to be around long.

Father of the Bride greets the guests

(The Buff Restaurant website) and (Bhakti Chai Tea website)

Weather to Enhance Any Occasion
During my fifteen-year absence from my home state I forgot about Colorado weather. A typical summer afternoon includes a thunderstorm to cool things down in the afternoon followed by clearing sky and a pleasant evening. It’s perfect weather to spend time outdoors … a lot.

The Main Event

The weather was a factor for the main event of the week, which was of course, the wedding. It was an intimate, but beautiful event held in the backyard of the parent’s of the bride. The vows were sincere and funny and the entire ceremony was under crystal blue afternoon skies. There was a slight breeze that made the leaves sound like gentle applause to the event being held in their midst. For a July outdoor wedding it was a perfect combination of people, weather, organization, and ambiance.

In all, the trip was a great success. I could go on about the place we stayed, the preparation and work that the Colorado families made for all of us, Boulder, the wedding, my daughters, or how exhausted we all were by the time we got home, but suffice to say it was a fun experience.

I’m still not a fan of big family get-togethers, but I’m glad I went on this one.

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