Here’s my final notes from the Ragan PR Conference. I had a great time, learned a lot and have a new respect for the PR industry.

Observational Summary of the Whole Conference:

• 1) The PR industry is in a state of shift, I attribute a lot of this to social media.
• 2) Many PR profesionals are not fully aware of all the social media tools (but are ready and willing to learn, god bless em!)
• 3) It’s interesting that this PR conference Opened with a Keynote by a blogger, had a full track of at least 6 Social Media sessions, and then ended by a PR Podcaster.
• 4) OMG, these people like to have fun and it’s a blast to talk to them.
• 5) All photos tagged “RaganPR“.

Session: Mayo Clinic Integrate old media with the new—and vice versa—to build awareness among your audiences

Excellent presentation of showing how “New Media” and “Old Media can co-exist.

• blog called Lines from Lee, (I couldn’t find) demonstrated his YouTube integration.
• There’s a bridge between old media and new media.
• Created a podcast aligned around the Medical Edge website.
• New Media Challenges and Opportunities
• Reality #1: Audiences continue to become more fragmented (Jeremiah: think long tail). A few years ago one could but a superbowl ad an get 85% of the entire market.
• Reality #2: Traditional media still extremely important. Discussed that Scoble gets over 30k visitors a day, and that’s great, but News TV in a specific market can still reach farther. You must integrate both. (I agree).
• Reality #3: Content is (or will be) King
• Opportunity: Barriers to entry in new media are practically non-existent, can can lead to news media coverage.
• How New Media Can Lead to Big-Time Mass Media:
• Discusses how Vincent Ferrari who called AOL to cancel his account and went mainstream and global. Folks were amused in the crowd. This flips the model now customers are in charge.
• New Media
• Genomics of new media. Opportunity for individual to get media content in the way they want and when they want. For communicators this is a way to pass the gatekeepers of communication.
• What it’s not:
• A replacement for traditional media.
• He’s a great overview of all the media types that are available for you.

Katie Paine: Measurement on a budget: Make the most of your metrics dollars
Last time I saw Katie speak was at the New Communications Forum, she’s the maven of ROI and measurement. Aside from being a measurement maven she does a great job of communicating it to others, and connecting with her audience. So logical, but yet so human in her presentation.

• Measureofsuccess.com, or visit her blog dkpaine.blogs.com
• Started this exploration process originated for her desire to offer measurement for non-profits.
• Why Measure?
• Getting the data to make better decisions.
• The new philanthropist has very different expectations and definitions of measurement. More and more folks are asking for data.
• Accountability: If you think measurement is expensive, try ignorance (Brilliant!)
• The world according to Martians (Numbers orientated folks, not related to gender)
• Work = Reviewing Results, Looking at Spreadsheets, Downsizing
• Results = ROI, Hard Numbers
• The world according to Venetians (people persons)
• Work = Schmoozing, lunching
• Results = words, talking, relationships
• Biggest Mistakes
• 1) Measuring something not tied to organizations mission
• 2) Lack of agreement upon measures of success up front
• 3) Measures unrelated to objectives
• Step 1: Define relations within your organizations
• Step 2: Prioritize
• Step 3: Defining the Dashboard
• Contains three or four charts or numbers which you must check
• Step 4: Define your benchmarks
• Past Performance, Peer Organizations, Whatever keeps the Martians up at night.
• Step 5: Select a measurement tool
• What can you afford to measure? Outputs, Outtakes (what did the audience takeaway) Outcomes?
• Many types of research
• -observations of attendees, advisory groups, interviews, focus groups, questionnaires, content analysis, cyber analysis, internal data (calls, email, letters, suggestions, complaints, inquiries)
• Step 6: Action
• Step 7: Take action and measure again
• Relationship Measures
• -control mutuality
• -trust
• -satisfaction
• -commitment
• -exchange
• -communal

Interactive Session: “What’s killing PR and how can we fix it? Join the conversation!”
This was the best session. It was interactive, everyone had a voice, and all kinds of emotion and passion came out. I didn’t realize how much in common I had with Jen McClure but we say nearly the same things. People looked at my funny after I clapped for her during her passionnate call to actions.

Here’s what people said were the problems in the PR Industry (their words, not mine)

• Relationships needed
• Viewed as Spinmeisters
• Lack of good writers (as lawyers and marketers and communications folks can construct)
• Don’t let others craft the message
• PR folks are not doing measurement
• Very few PR folks are using technology
• Dialogues are needed, top-down messaging over
• PR ain’t dead
• Legalese strips the passion out of PR
• Gap between real communicators and technology folks
• Lack of self-policing, lots of scandals
• No one is doing PR for PR, who is promoting the craft?
• Go start a personal blog
• Did Robert Scoble’s Presentation confuse or go over the heads of the attendees? (Note: Many folks had never heard of Scoble, which is understandable if you’re not in tech, but the impacts that bloggers are making on this industry need to be reckoned)

What I said at this session as a Social Media guy looking into the PR Industry.
I don’t have a PR background but I do get social media. My first time learning so much about the PR Industry, and I have a new respect for the practice. I suspect I was the only non-PR person at the conference. I gave some general observations and some suggestions. Several folks asked for my card later, I told them I’ll publish all my thoughts and will be happy to help them using my blog.

• Early speakers said that excellent writing is so important. Why so much focus on writing? There are so many mediums to learn (images, video, podcasts)
• Robert Scoble had the most effective communication tool at Microsoft and he’s not the best writer.
• It’s about being human, relating to others and having a dialogue with them at their writing level.
• Good writing or bad, it’s the communication from the dialogue that is important.
• Also remember it’s not about ‘pitching’ or ‘communicating messages’ it’s now about building relationships using all the tools at our hip.
• Learn to let go, empowering many others to deliver the message.
• This is a tough one, as PR folks have usually been the message creator, keeper and sometimes deliver. Much of that is changing as social media empowers everyone to have a voice.
• Technology awareness is very very low, considering how disruptive or beneficial these tools are to the PR Industry
• I was pretty amazed (see my posts on the bubble here and here) by the lack of awareness of the tools. I’m willing to help, and have started to leave some suggestions below.
• These tools must be harnessed, and PR pros should learn these mediums to take full advantage of the benefits they can bring, or the damage from ignorance.
• It’s interesting that this conference the Keynote by a blogger, with a full track on Social Media and ended by a Podcaster.
• Lots of talk about media but what about topics that
• Customers are now reviewing products and telling others?
• Customers are now producers
• PR should covers the whole customer experience
• Social Media, Web, Marketing does too FYI.
• Helpful Reccomendations to learn more about Social Media
  
• 1) Listen to blogs, podcasts in your industry
• Technorati, Sphere, Google, iTunes, other podcast directories
• 2) Understand mediums
• Start a blog, podcast, pick a topic that you personally are interested in. start to learn the mediums
• 3) Use the tools to dialogue, relationships, build trust…has this been done before?
• Now that you understand the mediums, use them to connect with others
• 4) Message Empowerment!
• Teach the right people in your orginzation to use these tools
• 5) Practice and Apply
• Consider hiring an expert.

Quick Glossary (since I know many of the attendees will be visiting here)

• Use Wikipedia to learn more or Google searches
• Blog = Weblog, personal journal that anyone can easily use
• RSS = Web Feeds, or Syndication, great for those press releases
• Blog Search = Use tools like Technorati, Sphere, Google Blog Search to find out the voice of your customer and market
• FeedReader = This is how you read RSS, you must first subscribe to feeds (by clicking on the icons) and then you can see it in your reader. Look at bloglines, google has two, or you might be using MyYahoo.
• Wiki = A Website anyone can edit
• Flickr = Image uploading and sharing site (can be used for PR/Marketing)
• Online Video = See YouTube, Google Video, etc
• Social Site = Folks network and communicate online, popular ones are MySpace, Facebook, CyWorld. (keep in mind the age usage is above teen and in some cases over 30)
• Got another question? leave a comment below.

If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me an email at jeremiah _owyang ‘at’ Yahoo.com David took some high level notes from my presentation, thanks David and for all the information over the week!  Joseph wrote up some detailed notes from my session as well.
Day 1 Notes here