Jewish Medal of Honor Winners

As we get ready to celebrate Memorial Day, this is a very timely article by Marnie Winston-Macauley of Profiles of some of the many Jewish Medal of Honor recipients.

We Jews: Medal of Honor Winners

5 corporate writing tips from Winston Churchill

A speech he gave during WWII provides important lessons for corporate writers everywhere.

By Clare Lynch | Posted: May 11, 2012

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I’ve talked before about Winston Churchill’s gift for language. Here’s a great example of an inspiring speech he gave to get Great Britain behind its leader:

“The news from France is very bad, and I grieve for the gallant French people who have fallen into this terrible misfortune. Nothing will alter our feeling towards them or our faith that the genius of France will rise again.
“What has happened in France makes no difference to British faith and purpose. We have become the sole champions now in arms to defend the world cause. We shall do our best to be worthy of that high honor.
“We shall defend our island and, with the British Empire around us, we shall fight on unconquerable until the curse of Hitler is lifted from the brows of men. We are sure that in the end all will be well. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.
“Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves, that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, This was their finest hour.”

Here’s why it works:
1. He gets straight to the point.
“The news from France is very bad.” Imagine if every corporate writer with bad tidings was as upfront as Churchill.
More typical is the CEO whose email announces 1,400 redundancies and begins with this cheery bit of corporate speak:

“Today we announce a multi-year program that will enhance service excellence and innovation, help achieve greater operating efficiencies and position us for accelerated growth.”

Lesson: If you have to deliver bad news, don’t warm up to your theme. The wait only makes things more painful. Worse, never try to make the news seem good.
2. He doesn’t flinch from the truth.
Churchill is direct about what lies ahead and the consequences of defeat:

“The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us.”

A corporate writer would probably fudge a scary message like that. He or she might say:

“There is a significant and meaningful risk that we will be adversely impacted by the dynamic competencies of our competitor.”

Lesson: If you want to get people on board with your strategy, it pays to be honest.
3. He paints a picture.
Take a closer look this part:

“If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands.
“But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science.”

It might not be particularly original to use light and dark imagery to contrast the good (“broad sunlit uplands”) with the bad (“the abyss of a new dark age”). But such visual imagery offers no doubt about the consequences of giving in to Hitler.
What’s more, Churchill then does something rather ingenious: he turns the visual metaphor on its head. The oxymoronic “lights of perverted science” is pure poetry.
Compare it with this bit of abstract biz-babble from the 2010 annual report of a now-defunct company that, ironically, sold visual images—Kodak. Like Churchill’s speech, it talks about the consequences of failure, but in a much more abstract way.

“If we fail to identify and complete successful transactions that further our strategic objectives, we may be required to expend resources to develop products and technology internally, we may be at a competitive disadvantage or we may be adversely affected by negative market perceptions, any of which may have an adverse effect on our revenue, gross margins and profitability.”

Lesson: Be concrete, not abstract. Use metaphors to get your message across.
4. He uses short, simple words.
I ran Winston’s speech through an online tool that measures readability. It highlights any words with three syllables or more in blue. Here’s what it looks like:


Here’s what the abstract biz-babble from Kodak looks like:


Incidentally, the tool also gives you a Gunning Fog Index number, which tells you the age at which someone would have to leave full-time education to understand the text. Churchill’s figure is 9.698. The figure for Kodak is 26.95.
Lesson: Run your text through the Gunning Fog Index and replace as many long words as you can. Pitch your writing at the primary school level, not that of a PhD.
5. He makes his verbs do the work.
Churchill peppered his prose with simple, yet powerful, verbs that convey an intense struggle:

• Grieve
• Fall
• Rise
• Defend
• Fight
• Break
• Stand up to
• Fail
• Sink
• Brace
• Bear

Notice how there’s not a single “drive,” “deliver,” “achieve” or other overused, overly abstract verb from the corporate world.
Lesson: Break out of the corporate language rut and ditch dead verbs.
Listen to the speech.
Clare Lynch is chief business writer and trainer at Doris and Bertie, a U.K. communications agency that helps businesspeople ditch corporate-speak and talk like human beings. Follow her on Twitter @goodcopybadcopy.


http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/44874.aspx

Brattleboro's Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index goes national

Back in November, I was approached by Strolling of the Heifers who was interested in getting some national publicity. 



I suggested that a "Strolling of the Heifers Locavore Index," an indicator of how states compare in their commitment to raising and eating locally grown food. could be created that would garner the interest of media across the country.  The index was produced and given to Associated Press in Vermont.  

The story came out today on the AP Wire and is generating attention nationally.

The Origin of the Press Release and Its Importance to Public Relations

The Origin of the Press Release and Its Importance to Public Relations

by Mickie Kennedy

 

Have you ever heard the story of how a young man named Ivy Lee responded to a tragedy that took the lives of more than 50 people and used it to create what would become a mainstay of any public relations effort? Don't worry if you haven't. The truth is that most public relations practitioners haven't either.

 

According to public relations lore, the press release was born following a train wreck on October 28, 1906, in

Atlantic City, N.J., that left more than 50 people dead.

 

The train was owned by Pennsylvania Railroad, one of Ivy Lee's clients. In response to the disaster, he convinced the railroad to issue a statement about what had transpired. In doing so, he set in motion a practice for companies to address issues important to them, or, in the case of the railroad, to offer an explanation of what had happened. The New York Times was said to have been so impressed by Lee's release that the newspaper printed it exactly as Lee had written it. Although it's rare for media outlets to use press releases verbatim these days, they still often act as a starting point for a journalist to create a story.

 

When Ivy Lee created what is widely believed to be the first press release, he established an invaluable component to any public relations campaign. The times and technology may have changed, but there are several things a press release can accomplish that make its use as relevant today as when Lee

was alive:

 

-- A press release can quickly and effectively share information about an event, product, campaign promise, meeting, or host of other events - any situation in which the same information needs to reach everyone.

 

-- A press release provides an opportunity for you to share your take on why a product is special, respond to claims made by others, explain why your organization is important, etc., rather than only allowing others to define you.

 

-- A press release offers the best opportunity for you to guarantee that information about a product, statement of a position, dates and times of an event, etc., are shared correctly with the public.

 

More than 100 years after Lee's innovation, press releases remain an important tool for attracting the attention of the news media to a newsworthy item of information. Also known as news releases or media releases, press releases are documents in a specific format and are now used for a variety of purposes that include:

 

1. Providing news in situations when a company needs toaddress an issue, respond to a crisis, and/or share general information.

 

2. Announcements by individuals intending to seek elected office or responses by candidates to allegations made against them.

 

3. A company announcing a new or improved product/service.

 

4. A company announcing a boom in sales or response to accusations against them.

 

5. The sharing of data, statistics, tips, trends, perspectives or other pertinent information that would be of

 interest to a particular industry.

 

6. The announcement of a press conference or an upcoming event.

 

7. An author or publisher sharing information about the release of a new book.

 

8. Information from artists sharing news about their latest album, movie, showing, etc.

 

Stay tuned, 

Mickie Kennedy
Founder, eReleases.com
CEO, eReleases.com & Press-Release-Writing.com

http://www.ereleases.com
http://www.press-release-writing.com

Toll Free: 800.990.5545
Phone: 410.931.2966

Follow me on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/ereleases

Become a fan on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ereleases.press.release.distribution

 

 

Does your headline need a tuneup?

 

The bulk of press releases fail or succeed based on their headline and opening paragraph. Get one for free.

 

http://www.ereleases.com/headlinetuneup.html

.
MEK Enterprises LLC dba eReleases.com, 5022 Campbell Blvd. Ste. N, Baltimore, MD 21236, USA

When LOL Means Career Suicide: The Truth about Social Media and Email Etiquette in the Workplace

When LOL Means Career Suicide: The Truth about Social Media and Email Etiquette in the Workplace

13 Ways to Fail in PR: How to Guarantee Your Press Releases Will Be Completely Ignored

A colleague, Henry Simpson, wrote a blog about what NOT to put in a news release. COMMPRO.com featured it on their blog. I think it is worth spreading around. You can contact Henry at Henry@StimpsonCommunications.com

13 Ways to Fail in PR: How to Guarantee Your Press Releases Will Be Completely Ignored

By Henry Stimpson, Owner, Stimpson Communications 

Yes, press releases still matter in the digital age. And while SEO helps broaden the digital footprint for your release these days—there are still fundamentals that can NOT be overlooked if you want to see pick up from those who matter. Even so, too many in PR are still sending out releases that miss the mark. Here’s how to make sure that yours never fail to fail:

1. APPEAL only to the vanity and ego of your boss/CEO/client, etc.
2. NEVER consider your audience—the news media, potential customers, current clients, etc.
3. CONFUSE. Right at the start, no reader should have any idea what you’re talking about. This shows profundity and complexity of thought.
4. NEVER proofread or use spell-check. Typoes keep the the media on they’re toes. As do bad grammer.
5. A “NEWS” release is not a news story; it’s an ad. Brag from start to finish. Avoid information.
6. PUMP UP the buzzwords. When you pepper your release with phrases like “end-to-end ROI,” “scale visionary initiatives,” and “drive transparent paradigms,” you’re cookin’!
7. INFLATE a brief announcement into 1,000 words. For unusual creativity, shrink an important story into a few opaque sentences.
8. NEVER cite objective outsiders like customers, analysts, researchers, etc. Use lots of long, windy quotes from company insiders—from the CEO to the parking attendant.
9. CRANK ‘em out by the dozen. Then, when you actually have something important to say, no one will notice.
10. SEND them to a huge email list that includes hundreds of irrelevant media outlets with no conceivable interest in your business or industry.
11. USE eccentric Capitalization and odd, Punctuation.
12. FOLLOW these guidelines scrupulously and you’ll be sure that absolutely no one will ever read or remember your press releases, except with disgust.
13. EXPAND! Bonus Tip: Apply a similar philosophy to your website, brochures, advertisements, email, newsletters and presentations to make sure everyone will ignore them, too.

Yuri Rasovsky dies at 67; big name in radio dramas, audio books

For the past three years, I have been working with Archer Mayor to develop audio drama podcasts of his Joe Gunther mystery series.  As I was researching the history of audio drama, Yuri Rasovsky's name kept appearing.

Mr. Rasovsky was focused on rekindling the passion for audio theater.  It is sad to mark his death, but his memory will be a blessing.

To read his obituary, click here.