As a college professor we often hear, "How did you spend your summer?" My answer . . . Whew! I accomplished a lot now that I think about it. Note: There are links in this post. I did not receive any compensation for including the information here. Also, while I do serve as a consultant to PRSA, I paid to attend the measurement master class mentioned in this post.
On the personal side of life, I spent time working in my yard and the yard at my daughter's house. I am now a lover of drip irrigation. Yep, you read that correctly. Drip irrigation. For some crazy reason, the previous owner of my home installed a sprinkler system without any coverage of the front flower beds. This presented a problem when I planted to shrubs and perennials. Drip irrigation with an automatic timer was the ideal solution - such as wonderful solution that I expanded the system to include all of the flower pots on my front porch. And, installed a system at my daughter's house too. Drip, drip, drip. Just love this technology. No more need to worry about watering the flower pots.
On the professional side, I attended the PR Measurement Master Class offered by PRSA in Chicago. Angela Sinickas was the instructor. The course was attended by people from all different backgrounds and really inspired me to think about measurement differently. Understanding the intended goal a PR plan wants to accomplish was always part of any PR plan I wrote or taught students to write. Now, I will teach goal writing a little differently because measurement can mean so many different things. I highly recommend this class. If you have an opportunity to hear Angela speak at PRSA ICON, be sure to make the time. More on this in an upcoming blog post.
While in the Windy City, I was inspired to start this blog and launch my website. In addition to attending the PR Measurement Master Class, I visited the American Writers Museum. So many wonderful and influential writers - Ida Tarbell (The History of the Standard Oil Company, 1904; Davis Ellis (Allstate Insurance - "You're in good hands with Allstate," 1950); Russ Alben (Timex - "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking," 1956). Did you know that the word frenemy was first used in 1953 by gossip columnist Walter Winchell when he was writing about Cold War tensions? Just loved this little museum. I only wish there was some mention of public relations writing somewhere.
Now I am off to work on lesson plans and course development for Fall semester. So hard to believe the summer is almost over.