The Update

5/2007

Welcome to the official newsletter of the Greater Spokane PRSA Chapter. Past issues can be found by going to www.prsaspokane.org and clicking on the "Newsletters" link.

Join us on Friday, May 4 at 7:30 a.m. in Cataldo Hall on the campus of Gonzaga University for the joint PRSA/MARCOM breakfast meeting. This month's meeting features Dr. Terry Novak, former Spokane City Manager, who currently teaches in Eastern's graduate program in public administration. He will speak about E.Q. or emotional intelligence and how you can use it in public relations and your workplace. This relatively new concept includes: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. E.Q. is increasingly being viewed as an effective management tool that involves an ability, capacity or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.

The meeting is open to any interested public relations professionals and students. The meeting fee, which includes breakfast, is $9 for members, $11 for non-members and $7 for students. Those students who are participating in the Day-on-the-Job program do not have to pay the meeting fee.

Dr. Terry Novak
Terry Novak has had the opportunity to both help make things happen and teach about it. In his administrative role, he recently served as Director of Spokane's Riverpoint Campus. From 1995 to 1999 Terry directed the management of the property, the zoning and planning effort, property acquisitions, architectural design for the next three buildings. He also supervised campus service contracts and employees. He served on the Downtown Spokane Partnership and the Steering Committee of the downtown planning process and chaired the city’s Public Parking Development Authority from 1997 to 2001. Terry presently serves as Treasurer, of Friends of the Falls and on the Inland Northwest Legislative Coalition. From 1991 to 1999 he served 1/4 time as Professor in the Public Administration Graduate Program. Terry resigned the campus directorship in 1999 to go full time at Eastern as Professor in the Graduate Program in Public Administration.

In his professor role at Eastern, Terry teaches budgeting, local government, personnel administration and labor relations. He also is the academic director of the International Economic Development Council’s training course for the Northwestern states. He received an EWU Teaching Excellence Award for 2000-2001. Dr. Novak previously served as Vice President for Business and Finance at EWU and was Director of the Joint Center for Higher Education, the predecessor agency to WSU at Riverpoint. He went to Eastern in mid-1991 after 13 years as Spokane City Manager and 12 years in city management in Alaska, Minnesota and Missouri.

Terry received a Bachelors degree in Political Science and went on to graduate work in International Relations at the University of Paris. He received his Masters and PhD in Public Administration at the University of Colorado.

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Dear fellow PRSA Members,
Recently, there have been several accounts of crisis and tragedy in the news. The tragic news from Virginia Tech has drawn the attention of our nation and all eyes have been on the campus and community. How the university handled its communication with students during and after the crisis, as well as communication with parents, community members and the general public have been scrutinized in the media and the topic of conversation across the country.

While an event of this magnitude is horrific, and will hopefully not happen again, it does remind each of us the value of being prepared. What would you do if your organization was faced with a crisis situation? It is times like these that we must step back and look at how prepared we are for any type of event that could occur. I encourage each of you to take a few moments to think about crisis communications for your organization. Do you have a plan? Have you thought about the occurrences that could lead to a crisis for your organization specifically?

There are many examples of effective crisis communications, as well as tools and articles, available on the national PRSA website, www.prsa.org. Take time to think about your organization and what you need to do to be most prepared. Taking the time now will serve you well in the long run. Hopefully you will never need it, but if a crisis does occur you will be as prepared as you possibly can.

Best wishes,
Tamitha

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PRSA Teleseminar: Speed Pitching
Available in Spokane!

This interactive one-hour teleseminar will give you concrete examples of effective phone and e-mail pitching techniques. You will be led through an exercise and practice session to provide real-world experience before trying it out on your own.

Presenter:
Margo Mateas is the president of the Public Relations Training Company, the nation's premier media relations training firm and the writer of the popular "Media Relations Maven" column in PRSA's PR Tactics.

Date: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Time: 12-1:15 p.m.
Location: Phase 1 Classroom Bldg., Rm 316 (WSU Riverpoint Campus)
Cost: Free to Spokane PRSA members; all others* $15
*all others include: national PRSA membership only, MARCOM membership only, and all others

RSVP Online: http://www.prsaspokane.org/event.asp?id=128

Parking Info:
If a visitor will be here for two hours, he or she may use the parking meters that are located in each of the lots. The cost is $0.50/hour with a two hour maximum time limit. The meters located in front of the Health Sciences building are an exception. They are only for clients parking for a maximum time of five hours.

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On Friday, April 6, approximately 30 local college students enjoyed a day away from studies and on-the-job with local PR professionals. Spokane PRSA would like to take a moment to thank all of our participants, including professionals and students, as well as our event sponsors: Avista Corp., Desautel Hege Communications, Deaconess Medical Center, and the Davenport Hotel.

We hope to serve even more students and sign-on more professionals next year!

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EntryLevel-PR.com was created to help students and recent graduates find entry-level jobs and internships in public relations and communications. Both viewing and posting jobs to the site is free. EntryLevel-PR.com is run entirely by volunteers.

On May 11, the site will "re-launch" with a new look and many new services. However, Spokane PRSA members can still post jobs now (always free) - all jobs posted within the next three weeks will be transferred to the new site by EntryLevel-PR.com volunteers. Please consider using this resource in addition to the job postings page (requires log in) on the Spokane PRSA website.

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The North Pacific District Conference, May 17-18, 2007, in San Francisco, California
This regional conference is the premier West Coast professional development opportunity, offering keynote and breakout sessions by top local and national practitioners and leaders. For more information, go to the North Pacific District website.

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As always, members and search firms are submitting local and national job opportunities to the Spokane PRSA website. Be sure to stop by often and check out your next career move -- or, post an opening with your organization.

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The board had its regular meeting on April 10, 2007. The group discussed and evaluated the Day-on-the-Job event, which included feedback from college student participants. Several new ideas were discussed, including a stronger emphasis on mentorships for next year.

In addition, the board agreed that with the success of the last teleseminar, the chapter should offer another one soon (in fact, there is one next week)! Planning is underway for the workshop this fall -- anyone interested in helping should contact Michelle Galey. And the fall season will also see another fantastic special event which benefits the PRSSA scholarships and Day-on-the-Job. What will it be: wine tasting, auction, art, music, or ???

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Have a story idea for the Spokane PRSA newsletter? Send your article, announcement or shameless plug to Lance Kissler by the last Wednesday of each month.

Contact:
Lance Kissler
lkissler@mail.ewu.edu
(509) 359-6317

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