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Free Teleseminar May 10-14 with Gerard Braud

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If you have to talk to the media or train people who have to talk to the media, here is a free teleseminar opportunity for you.

May 10-14, a group of All-Star A-Lists hosts will be interviewing author Gerard Braud (Jared Bro) about his new book, Don’t Talk to the Media: 29 Secrets You Need to Know Before You Open Your Mouth to a Reporter. The hosts will also be taking your questions for Gerard. All you have to do is register and call in at 11 a.m. CDT on the day of the seminar that you select. Limit 1 registration per person please. All 5 are reserved FREE for those who make an advanced purchase of the book.

Here are details about the day, topics and hosts… plus your registration links

Monday, May 10th – Christine Bragale interviews Gerard about dealing with the media regarding advocacy, public affairs and legislative issues.

Tuesday, May 11th – Paul Ladd interviews Gerard on all things media related.

Wednesday, May 12th – Michael Schwartzberg interviews Gerard about how to prepare spokespeople who come from a technical background, such as doctors, lawyers and engineers.

Thursday, May 13th – Pam Walker interviews Gerard about how to deal with small town media.

Friday, May 14th – Tom Keefe interviews Gerard about the corporate side of media relations, including media relations in large multi-national companies.

Below are the sign up links. Sign up for just one:

May 10 Sign Up

May 11 Sign Up

May 12 Sign Up

May 13 Sign Up

May 14 Sign Up

Feel free to share the links with colleagues and associations who may want to join in. We simply need each person to register so we have enough phone lines available.

If you would like to know more about Gerard or his new book, please visit:
http://www.DontTalkTotheMedia.com/

Don’t Talk to the Media – Gerard Braud’s New Media Training Book

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Gerard Braud outlines the 29 Secrets you need to know before you open your mouth to a reporter. Get more details at: http://www.donttalktothemedia.com/

Executive Media Training – Gerard Braud – New Orleans Saints – Super Bowl Parade

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In the Executive Media Training classes I teach, I always emphasize the power of a verbatim quote as a key message, rather than relying on talking points and the ad lib problems associated with talking points. So to prove the power of a pre-planned, verbatim quote, I recently set out to literally be the one-in-a-million quote.

My beloved New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl. Hence, a Super Bowl parade was planned and one million people turned out to watch. As my daughter and I drove into the city that day, we saw the media gathering to cover the euphoria. So I told her, “I think dad needs to be on the front page in the morning.”

She gave that uneasy laugh, knowing I’m a man of my word and knowing I’m always willing to do something extreme to make a point. Finally she asked, “So what’s your quote going to be.”

I replied, “We’ve suffered the American nightmare… no… we’ve endured the American nightmare… it’s our turn to… no… it’s our time to share in the American dream.”

She laughed. Several hours later while waiting for the parade to begin I saw a reporter I know. I called him over and asked if he needed a quote for his story. He rolled his eyes, then asked, “What is it?” as though he expected something lame.

“We’ve endured the American nightmare. It’s our time to share in the American dream.” Read more

Gerard Braud is a Sound Bit Stud – Coming Monday

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Media Training in New Orleans Lesson coming this Monday. Don’t miss the one-in-a-million quote.

Social Media Crisis Communications & Shiny New Objects – Sins of 2009

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Today we’re going to look at one of the biggest sins of 2009… shiny new objects syndrome.

When I look back at 2009, I’ll remember it as the year that people became obsessed with Twitter and Facebook. Seems everywhere I turned, people were clamoring over these shinny new objects… like aborigines who have seen themselves in a mirror for the first time.

The obsession with these tools is perplexing for me, because I know some people truly enjoy them… while others have jumped on the bandwagon because they fear being left behind. It’s a classic version of trying to keep up with the Jones.

The sad reality, is that while many people were chasing after the shinny new objects, they took their eye off the ball; they lost track of priorities, especially in the field of communications.

All communications is about what you want the other person to know and how you want them to respond to that communications. There are many tools that can help you achieve this goal, but too many people in communications have tried to force fit Social Media not only into their tool kit, but to make it paramount as a communications tools.

I think that is a bad idea. Social media reflects a huge generational gap between those under 30 who use it often and those older than 30 who have never used or seen a social media site.

While they tools have their benefits for maintaining certain relationships, they are often a force fit in a corporate culture. Sure, frantic fans of a movie star may want to track their every move on Twitter, but do customers of a chemical company really need to follow your Tweets…and do you really think that I want to follow your Facebook fan page? Not likely.

The reality is, as a communications platform, Social Media sites are unreliable and vulnerable to hacking. There are still many other forms of communications in your tool chest that are more reliable and are better for reaching your loyal audience.

So if shiny new object syndrome was your sin in 2009, as we enter 2010, your redemption would be to make an effort to not get distracted by what is shinny and new, but to use it only when it is a good fit and the right fit…not a force fit.

I get asked about using Social Media a lot as a crisis communications tool, so on January 19th at 11 a.m. CST, I’ll host a special telemseminar called, Social Media When “It” Hits the Fan. If this is a topic that impacts your and your team, I invite you to sign up. We’ll look at examples of when Social Media has worked well and when it has been a huge failure.

Tomorrow, we’ll wrap up the week with a look at what leaders don’t know and how it impacts your job.

And…

1) If you’d like to sign up FREE for the audio version of this, known as the BraudCast, click here.

2) For a FREE sample listen, this is your link

Gerard Braud – The Sins of 2009 & How to Redeem Yourself in 2010 – Tuesday

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This week we’re looking at the Sins of 2009 and how to redeem yourself in 2010.

Today’s topic is “No” Doesn’t Mean “No!”

2009 was a year when we heard “no” a lot at work. Request for new projects, new training, new budgets, were often greeted with a big fat, flat out “no.”

A colleague told me she got in trouble recently because something important fell through the cracks in the communications department. Her boss chewed her out. The executed wanted to know why she was ill prepared to address the situation. The employee replied, “I gave you a budget request for that in January and you personally told me there was no money an not to ask again until 2010.”

Upon reflection, the executive said, “for something this critical, we can find the money.”

In other word, “no” doesn’t really mean “no.” No simply means that you haven’t built a good enough business case in order to get your boss to say yes. No means that you have not been able to demonstrate that spending money in one area can increase profits, productivity and sales in another area. It means other people and other departments have done a better job of explaining why their spending needs deserve a higher priority.

Monday we talked about scarcity mentality. This example certain relates to that category. Many of have put major projects and training on hold because you were told no previously and you haven’t gone back to get your Yes. And the only way to get your yes is with a business case that is built around protecting and building the company’s profits.

Sometimes getting the yes requires being clever or creative.

Several of my clients who really want me to do their media training or help with their crisis communications plans never got the training they wanted in 2009, because their bosses said there was no money for travel? They heard “no” and stopped dead in their tracks. Really, you have training dollars but no dollars for travel? I’m pretty sure I can come up with a creative way to mitigate or eliminate the travel costs. Maybe the answer is that we do the program by Skype with web cameras. I can probably even find a creative way to squeeze another executive into the training class at no charge. That way, you can look like you struck a good deal. With creativity, I could make them look good… but they never asked. They heard “no” and thought it meant no.

If your sin in 2009 was taking “no” for an answer, your redemption in 2010 is to ask again until you get a yes. The path to yes is by building a business case.

One other way to get around “no” is by being opportunistic. We’ll look at that lesson on Wednesday.

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My lessons are available as an audio program delivered directly to your inbox. To sign up for my “BraudCast” visit: https://braudcommunications.com/index.htm

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Top Sins of 2009 & How to Redeem Yourself for 2010 – Monday

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For the next 5 days we’ll be looking at the sins of 2009… and what you can do to redeem yourself in 2010.

Each year when I look back and look ahead for this program, I generally focus on crisis communications, media training and public relations. But this year, we need to take some time to talk about you, the person…

The best thing you can do to start the year and improve your life is flush 2009 for the economically depressing year that it was. Either your life has personally suffered or you know people who have. Many of us have friends who have lost jobs. Maybe you are one of them.

You all faced budget cuts at work, so 2009 was a tough year to manage.

Part of the backlash is that 2009 has led to scarcity thinking and a scarcity mentality among too many of my professional colleagues. You hear negatives at work all day; you get told no all day; you hear there’s no money in the budget. Then you take all those “no’s” and all that negative money talk home into your personal life. All that funk from work pollutes your own life. Hence, you start thinking small; you start focusing on what you can’t do, rather than what you can do and what you should do.

How do you fix this? What is your redemption for 2010? As an entrepreneur, I have to be success minded and positive 24/7. After I serve my clients all day, I spend the next 8 hours running the business side of my business. The best and brightest minds I’ve ever met have taught me to flush out any negatives in my life with positive information. I began this back in the days when I had jobs I hated. So at the risk of sounding like a motivational speaker, my best tip for redemption in 2010 is to start reading from positive attitude books, and to do it for 15 minutes every night before you lay your head on the pillow.

The first book I suggest you put on your reading list is “Think & Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. This 1934 classic has been a favorite of the world’s most successful people. The principles in the book will help reshape your outlook and help flush away some of the negative crud from 2009. Please be willing to forgive some of the 80-year-old cultural references to race and gender and look into the success principles that you should apply at home and at work. If you work in a company where there have been layoffs, I’d add to your reading list, “Who Moved My Cheese.” Also on this list I would place Dale Carnegie’s classic, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” Even if you’ve read them before, read them again because I promise you’ll get new inspiration and wisdom. You might also want to subscribe to Success Magazine. I love it because it is so current and it comes with an audio CD that I can listen to while I drive.

You never improve your life unless you constantly make changes. If you keep doing the same things every day, don’t expect different results. And remember, what got you here, won’t get you there.

So if your 2009 sin was being sucked into all the negative thinking of the year, your redemption for 2010 is to change the way the think. I think reading 15 minutes before bed in these books will start to give you’re a brighter outlook in your personal and professional life; 15 minutes before bed makes for a much brighter morning.

When you start, please send me an e-mail and tell me how it’s going. I really want to know that you are OK and that together we can flush out the crud.

Now, enough about the that… Tomorrow turn our attention back to the workplace as we look at why “No” doesn’t mean “No!”

If you’d like to subscribe to the audio version, known as the BraudCast, please visit: https://braudcommunications.com/ You’ll find the link on the right side of the page.

Executive Media Training 101 for Kanye West

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by Gerard Braud

gerard@braudcommunications.com
www.braudcommunications.com
www.crisiscommunications.com

Kanye West — You were on Jay Leno last night. Your had a chance. You blew it. So here’s a free Media Training 101 course — Your key message should have been, “I’m sorry.” In 3 minutes on the air you never got around to saying those simple words. It should have been the first words out of your mouth.

Here is your link for today’s BraudCast

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Misinformation Alert: Media Training & Crisis Communications Plans, NIMS, Emergency Communications & More from Gerard Braud

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Big warning on the BraudCast today.
Big warning as we commemorate September 11th.
Big warning as we remember August 29th, the recent anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Big warning as your kids go back to school.
Big warning for all executives.
Big warning for everyone in public relations.

Why all the warnings?

After September 11th and Hurricane Katrina the Federal government launched a massive emergency communications effort. However, these efforts have little, or anything, to do with PR people communicating with the media, employees and other key stakeholders.

The reason I issue the warning is that many schools, government agencies, hospitals and companies are not doing what they are supposed to be doing… and many executives, government leaders, hospital administrators and school leaders think they now have all the communications tools they need.

They are so wrong.

All of these emergency communications efforts deal with the radio systems that allow first responders to talk with one another during a crisis. RADIO SYSTEMS.

They have nothing to do with communicating the written and spoken word with your core audiences.

Many school systems and many law enforcement agencies around the country spent the summer rolling out what are known as NIMS Emergency Plans. In the program, government buildings and school buildings have all been given special numbers to identify them during an emergency.

One PR person recently told me her boss said he no longer needed Media Training because if there was a disaster, the FBI would be their spokesperson. Another executive stopped a PR department from working on their Crisis Communications Plan because they were part of the new Federal Emergency Communications System.

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

It frightens me what executives know, what they think they know, what they don’t know, and what they don’t know they don’t know.

For clarification, yes, executives and administrators still need Media Training because in a crisis, they still need to talk to the media, employees and other key audiences. In schools, that means the training needs to include talking with students, parents, faculty and staff. In a hospital it means talking with patients and their families. In a company it means talking with customers as well as the media and employees.

If your event involves first responders, they DO NOT become your spokesperson. Their interest is different than your interest. If a Joint Information Command is set up for news conferences, your spokespeople talk about what you know, while the responders and law enforcement talk about what they know.

Additionally, every organization needs its own Crisis Communications Plan in addition to any NIMS plan, Incident Command plan or Emergency Operations Plan. Those plans ONLY coordinate responders arriving in a timely manner and talking to one another through secure radio systems. They DO NOT include instructions for your written and spoken communications to your audiences. They DO NOT include all of the dozens of pre-written news releases that your crisis communications plan should contain.

I’ve posted new resources in the definitions section of 2 websites, including:
www.crisiscommunicationsplans.com and www.schoolcrisisplan.com

Please forward these to your leadership to educate them.
Please forward the link to the podcast to educate them.

As you can tell, I’m passionate about this and I’m concerned about the misinformation and misconceptions that is out there. Your own Media Training and your own Crisis Communications Plan can save lives through communications prior to a natural disaster, such as communicating evacuations for a hurricane… and during a crisis, such as a school shooting or workplace violence event. You would be using your written and spoken communications skills long before first responders even get involved, while responders are on the scene, and long after they have left the scene.

Here’s today’s call to action. Meet with your leaders and discuss this with them. If your leadership won’t listen to you, I’ll be happy to talk with and explain it. I’m also happy to speak to any association conventions where your leaders may be in the audience. As PR professionals we need to stick together on this and educate our leaders and executives. I’ve updated my website at www.braudcommunications.com with a new keynote called Leadership When “It” Hits the Fan, specifically designed to address some of these issues.

Let’s work on this together. After all, it is our job as strategic communications professionals.

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Media Training, Whole Foods, Health Care Reform & Cow Poop

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The most fundamental rule of media training that I discuss with every executive is this: “If you could attach a dollar to every word that comes out of your mouth, would you make money or lose money?”

That brings us to Whole Foods and the much publicized letter to the editor in the Wall Street Journal, about healthcare reform.

… and in just a bit, we’ll introduce you to new media training concepts for this Austin based company, which include folk-style comparisons to bees, hunting dogs and cow poop.

CEO John Mackey laid out 8 steps that he thinks would help solve the healthcare problems in the U.S. His letter inspired a firestorm of debate, as well as calls for boycotts and a FaceBook page dedicated to the boycott.

On Whole Foods own website there is an active forums section discussing Mackey’s letter, with more than 1,800 discussions on healthcare reform and more than 13,000 posts.

So if we posed the question to Mackey before he wrote the letter; if we posed the question to Mackey after writing the letter; if you posed the question to your CEO, does a letter to the editor like this cause a company to make money or lose money? Is such a letter good or bad for business? Does it cost you sales?

In this case, the answer may be that it is a wash. There is an enormous amount of chatter in the media and on the web about Whole Foods, but the chatter seems equal to the rest of the chatter about the healthcare debate. And while some openly profess that they will not shop at Whole Foods, we can’t quantify how many of them were previous customers, nor can we quantify how many new customers will go to Whole Foods because they agree with the CEO’s point.

But here are 2 things that bother me about this entire issue from a media relations and media training point of view.

1) First, as the media have made inquiries about the letter to Whole Foods, the media relations department has been saying that Mackey wrote his letter as a private citizen and not as the head of Whole Foods. In Texas lingo, where Whole Foods is based, that dog don’t hunt. When you are the co-founder and the CEO of a company, when you use your company’s health care plan as an example in your letter to the editor, when you mention your company by name several times and when your letter discusses the importance of eating healthy food as sold in your stores, there is no separating the man from the business. This was clearly a letter from the CEO of Whole Foods. Meanwhile, the Whole Foods online press room is void of any mention of this national story, although their own online forum is abuzz. Apparently the Whole Foods media relations department is running around like a free range chicken with its head cut off. Trying to separate the writer/CEO from the company he co-founded is pure bull.

2) The second problem is that if you stir up a hornet’s nest ya’ gonna get stung. Mackey makes some strong arguments for his position on healthcare reform. The problem is he stirs the hornet’s nest in his opening paragraphs as he compares the Obama plan to socialism, then he kicks the hornet’s nest one more time for good measure at the end when he gets into a debate of whether “healthcare is an intrinsic right” and whether the rights for “healthcare, food or shelter” are part of the U.S. Constitution.

Had Mackey made his points as, “8 things to consider in the healthcare debate,” there would be little or no firestorm and the 8 points likely would have contained no fuel to ignite calls for boycotts.

I can empathize with Mackey because I can be harsh in what I say and what I write. But you are the CEO and you had to realize there would be consequences. The question is, financially, was it a calculated move and did you even care? We’ll find out as we watch your sales and your stock over the next quarter.

I can empathize with the media relations department because I’ve been put in a fix a time or two by CEO’s who fly off at the mouth. But do you even believe your own B.S.? I don’t think you do? Besides, cow manure is best used as an organic fertilizer and not as a media statement.

Overall, in this case, Whole Foods has stepped in it and the stench will linger on their boots for some time.

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