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Archive for February, 2010

Work/Life Balance… or Blend?

10.02.24

How do you think about your approach to your personal time management?

A couple of years ago I heard something on the Manager Tools podcast that made me sit up and think – that you shouldn’t think about “work/life balance,” but “work/life choice.” Their message was that you have control over how you use your time; that “balance” wasn’t the right end goal, but rather you should choose how you want to prioritize things.

Personally, I’ve chosen to prioritize work for the last few years. Balance went out the window, along with many of my other hobbies. I’ve found that choice hard to live with mentally at times.

However, at PodCamp Toronto this weekend, I encountered another way of thinking about things that really made sense to me. As Rachel Segal tweeted, Leona Hobbs suggested we should be thinking about work/life blending, not balance. While I unfortunately wasn’t in Leona’s presentation, the concept itself spoke to me.

This is so simple, it’s brilliant. Unless, through some extreme effort, you can completely shut-out your personal life from your time at work, the two will overlap. What’s more, the more you are passionate about the work you do, the more that “work” BECOMES “life.”

This fits perfectly for me – I often say that my day doesn’t feel like work, and my activities outside work often closely follow the things I do in the office. So, work and life blend smoothly for me – that’s why I’m happy with the choice I made.

Does this make sense to you? How does this fit with how you see your time?

Posted in: events, miscellaneous, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

Tags: miscellaneous

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Social Mediators Episode 2: Are You Always One Of Us?

10.02.22

In this week’s episode of Social Mediators, Joe Thornley, Terry Fallis and I discuss work/life boundaries. Specifically, are you always “one of us?” Should a company have any domain over its employees once they leave the office? This was prompted by a heated debate over our company’s new online communications policy over on MetaFilter recently.

From my perspective, employee guidelines should be considered to extend beyond 9-5 in some part. While a company doesn’t “own you” outside work, your actions outside work do reflect on the company. You might draw a line between work and your time outside work, but consumers and the media don’t. If you do or say something that offends, it’s not uncommon for the story to become about your job.

While the “don’t use social media” rules, which some organizations unfortunately have, shouldn’t apply, it’s reasonable to ask that employees not badmouth competitors (for example) or do anything that would actively work against the company’s interests when they’re outside the office. So, you’re not “always working for us” but you are “always one of us.”

Social media policies (if done well) can be a two-way tool. On the one hand, they protect the company by drawing boundaries around what is acceptable and what is not. On the other, they protect employees by clearly communicating what is acceptable, so people can interact online without any fear of reprimand.

What do you think?

You can subscribe to Social Mediators through this RSS feed.

Sites referred to in this episode:
Marketers Miss the Mark with Twitter, Mitch Joel
TTC Staffer caught apparently sleeping on job, National Post<
Alleged TTC napper under investigation, National Post
TTC union shocked at uncaring response of riders to “sleeping” staffer, National Post
Second photo emerges of another alleged TTC napper, National Post

Posted in: Social Mediators

Tags: Social Mediators

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Hanging Out With 900 Friends At PodCamp Toronto

10.02.22

This past weekend, roughly 900 people came out to attend PodCamp Toronto 2010.

Since joining the organizing team for the event in 2008, I’ve seen PodCamp Toronto grow from a couple of hundred early tech adopters to a large, diverse group of people from all along the adoption curve. This year more than perhaps any, the sessions reflected that diversity.

Dave Fleet presenting at PodCamp Toronto 2010 My highlights from the weekend:

Jerome Paradis presented a mind-expanding take on semantic commerce – the idea that people could purchase from multiple vendors through one website. Effectively turning the e-commerce model on its head, semantic commerce would be driven by APIs from vendors and result in personalized sites for every person. What’s more, it would give consumers control over their own purchase histories, preferences and identities.

Some presentations make you better at doing things; others make you smarter. This one was the latter, and was easily the highlight of PodCamp Toronto for me.

Brad Buset gave a thought-provoking talk on personal privacy. This was the first time I’d seen Brad present, and he did a great job with a timely topic – even handing-out copies of George Orwell’s 1984 to people who hadn’t read it.

Jeremy Wright and Melissa Smich earned a lot of laughs from the audience (and a “hrumph” from me for highlighting photographic evidence of my farmer tan) with their session on Twitter and dating. An interesting presentation format, cupcakes for active participants and the obligatory hashtag-ridden visuals, this was a nice light end to my PodCamp.

Unfortunately, once again I missed Sean Power‘s session – this time on Applied Communilytics. I heard it was great; one day I’ll finally see this guy present. At the time, I was attending David Bradfield and Miranda McCurlie‘s presentation on when social media become unsocial. The session had a very interesting topic; however, the most interesting part for me was seeing how the presenters have learned from their own past mistakes and grown as a result. Well-attended and interactive, this was another good session.

For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed presenting my session. With a good turnout and great audience participation, I was actually sad when the half-hour was over.

Once again, thanks to all of my co-organizers at this year’s event. I played a small role this year, and the rest of the organizing team did a really great job. Well done, folks!

If you attended this year’s PodCamp Toronto, what were your highlights?

(Photo credit: Looking over the audience at my session – by evablue)

Posted in: events, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

Tags: events, pcto2010, podcamptoronto, podcamptoronto2010

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Four Lessons From PleaseRobMe.com

10.02.19

The social media scene has been buzzing this week with stories about PleaseRobMe.com, a new site which aggregates publicly shared posts from shiny new location-based service Foursquare. The aim of the site is to draw attention to the risks posed by posting your current location publicly.

While the way the site goes about things is deliberately distasteful (it wouldn’t grab many headlines with “Out And About” as a name, after all), there’s a useful message behind the obnoxiousness. As the site points out, “So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home.”

After chatting with a journalist today who says she’s been seeing more and more reports of people cancelling their Foursquare accounts as they realize the implications of the service, I reflected that it’s a good time to consider a few privacy basics:

Think it through. Would you share your home address with a stranger on the street? No? Then don’t do it online. Also, if you check into your home address on Foursquare, you need your head examined. As the makers of PleaseRobMe.com said for an interview with WebProNews, “We think it’s important to realize that something you post on Twitter isn’t necessarily private. Everybody is able to read it, unless you protect your messages.”
Choose your friends carefully. More so than on some other sites, “friending” people on location-based services gives them real access to your life. I have a couple of hundred of friend requests on Foursquare which I’ll probably never accept because I don’t know the person requesting the connection. Think before you accept everyone.
Find the right service for you. While Foursquare doesn’t have too many privacy settings (though you can turn off the auto-tweet function), only your friends can see your updates. If that’s not enough for you, other services like BrightKite (as RWW points out) offer more rigorous controls.
Don’t blow it out of proportion. If you go to work every day; the regular, predictable period when you’re out is probably much more of a target for burglars than your pint at the local pub (especially if you aren’t actually attached at the hip to your partner and they don’t automatically follow you everywhere you go).

What do you think? Are these kinds of stories changing your opinion of location-based services or are these concerns overblown?

Posted in: location, privacy, social networks

Tags: location, privacy, social networks

29Comments

Seven Ways To Get The Most Out Of PodCamp Toronto

10.02.16

This coming weekend – February 20-21 – social media enthusiasts from coast to coast will descend on Toronto for PodCamp Toronto 2010. For the third year in a row, I’m part of the organizing committee, although a busy day job means I’ve taken a back seat this year.

PodCamp Toronto 2010 Every year this weekend makes up one of the highlights of my event calendar. Whether it’s the chance to absorb new thinking, to catch up with friends, to meet new people or to get feedback from others on my ideas, it’s always a weekend well spent.

As I type, there are 993 registrants for the weekend. We’re likely to hit 1,100 by the time the event hits. The number of people in close proximity can be a little overwhelming, so here are a few tips for getting the most out of your PodCamp Toronto:

Know WHAT you want. There are almost 60 sessions over the two days. Check out the schedule in advance (it will be posted this week) and know what you want to see (*ahem* I’m presenting. Just sayin’…:)).
Be flexible. Remember that PodCamp Toronto is an unconference. The schedule will change – sessions will be added; sessions will be cancelled. Take advantage of this by staying alert and changing your plans so you can check out the best sessions for you.
The Law of Two Feet. This is one of the founding principles of PodCamp. If you aren’t getting what you want out of a session, you can get up and leave. There’s no stigma attached as there is in other events – this is all about you getting the most out of the event. So, if you aren’t getting anything out of one session, leave and check out another one.
Know WHO you want. Check out the registration list and pull-out a list of people you want to meet at the event. Connect with them in advance if you can. Don’t be creepy, but do take advantage of the chance to meet thought leaders in an informal setting.
Participate. PodCamp IS the participants. The sessions, the atmosphere, the after-party . It’s all about the participants. If you have a question, ask it. If you have a thought, present it. Get involved. If you don’t get what you want out of the event and you haven’t participated, it’s your own fault.
The Halls! Look around in the halls during the sessions. You’ll see a lot of people sitting around talking. That’s because, while the sessions are fabulous, much of the best activity at PodCamp happens in the halls – separate from the sessions as groups congregate, talk and connect. If you see a bunch of people sitting around, ask if you can join them.
Socialize. PodCamp Toronto is an event itself, but there are plenty of other PodCamp-related things going on before, during and after PodCamp. Watch the #pcto2010 hashtag in the days leading up to the event and during the event itself, and keep an eye on the PodCamp Toronto blog too.

See you there?

Posted in: events, podcamp, podcamptoronto2010

Tags: events, pcto2010

30Comments

How You Can Help A PR Pro Out

10.02.15

A few weeks ago, Arik Hanson and Valerie Simon contacted me and a few other PR bloggers with an idea – an event where we collaborate in some way to help out those in the profession who’ve lost their jobs over the last year and who are on a search for their next gig.

With a substantial (and deserved) hat tip to Peter Shankman, they called it Help A PR Pro Out day, or HAPPO for short.

Help button We’re coming out of the recession. Companies (including ours) are hiring again. HAPPO is a chance for us to play the role of connecter – to help put PR pros in touch with the companies who need their services.

This Friday, February 19, from 10am – 2pm CT, PR bloggers and professionals will donate their time to help connect PR pros with job opportunities. Sometimes publicly (through their blogs and/or Twitter); sometimes quietly, behind the scenes.

You can get involved in several ways:

PR job seeker: Prepare a creative blog post, pitching yourself to prospective employers and share it via Twitter during the event on Feb. 19 using the hashtag #HAPPO. The HAPPO “market champions” will help by retweeting and connecting you with potential employers in your specific market (or markets you’re willing to relocated to).
PR agency: Follow the hashtag #HAPPO on Friday, Feb. 19 and share your openings. Market champions will do their best to connect you with talent they think matches your specific needs

Along with Danny Brown, I’ll be helping to connect the two sides of this equation in the Toronto area. If you live in a different area, check out the list of regional HAPPO champions.

If you’re an agency (or private/public organization) with available positions, or are a PR pro on the look for your next gig, leave a comment here or contact me privately if you prefer.

Either way, please get involved.

Posted in: events

13Comments

Do The Old Timing Rules Still Apply For Media Relations?

10.02.10

When I first got into media relations, a few pitching best practices were hammered into my head on a regular basis. For example:

Know who you’re pitching and what they’re after
Tailor your pitch
Don’t bcc a “mailing list” of pitch recipients (pitchees?)
Don’t pitch journalists when they’re on deadline

When it came to print journalists, that last bullet translated to “don’t pitch journalists after around 2:30 or so.” I’ve stuck to that as much as possible since that time (of course, it varies for radio and television depending on when the show runs, and hence when people are around). However, a conversation I had recently with my colleague Karen Nussbaum has got me rethinking that approach.

New rules for timing pitches?

Here’s the theory:

The idea of print journalists’ deadlines has always centred around the 24hr news cycle, where stories were assigned in the morning, researched and drafted during the day and which culminated in a deadline for the story to be filed mid-afternoon. Trying to call a reporter anywhere near that deadline would result in you getting ignored or (sometimes) told off for not respecting their time.

In today’s media environment, stories are filed for the web throughout the day. Often they’re filed multiple times, with information being added as stories develop. As a result, the afternoon deadline has turned into constant pressure and ever-looming deadlines. For the media relations folks, that means:

Journalists are always pressed for time (as one said to me a little while back when I asked if it was a good time to talk, “it’s never a good time – I’m always busy”).
Afternoon pitching is no worse than morning pitching. In fact, it may be better as they’ve had a chance to clear out their inbox from the morning… and if everyone else is calling in the morning, you may have a better chance of getting through in the afternoon.

What’s more, the emergence of email as a pitching tool means initial outreach can be asynchronous- if journalists are busy they can read them later.

Is it time to re-think the old rules around when to pitch print journalists?

Public relations pros: does this picture fit with your recent experience?

Journalists: does this ring true for you?

(This is a re-post of a piece I wrote for the Marketing Profs Daily Fix. To check out the original and my other posts there, check out mpdailyfix.com)

Posted in: best practices, media relations, pr, public relations

Tags: media relations, pr, public relations

14Comments

Customer Service In The Age Of Social Media

10.02.09

Yesterday I spoke with City News‘ Kris Reyes about the challenges businesses face in customer service in the age of social media. In Toronto we’ve seen numerous recent instances of “citizen journalism” highlighting problems at the TTC – a TwitPic of a TTC worker sleeping; a video of a bus driver’s unscheduled coffee break in the middle of a route and finally a perhaps ill-advised Facebook page set up by some TTC staff.

It’s a tough time to work in a customer-facing job. It just takes one slip-up and, if you’re unlucky, you can find yourself all over the news – online and offline. This is especially the case if you work for a publicly-funded organization.

I offered three tips for people and organizations to think about:

Organizations need to prepare their employees to work in this kind of environment. Existing employee guidelines may offer boundaries for employees, but they only kick-in after the fact. Employers need to provide their staff with the knowledge and understanding of how quickly these situations can arise, and how to avoid them.
Employees, meanwhile, need to remember that they now work in an environment where information is shared in real-time. That means you can make one mistake and seconds later evidence of that mistake can be online. This “always on” connectivity means you need to always be on, too.
The toothpaste is out of the tube when it comes to customer advocacy. Cameras, video cameras and even Twitter aren’t going way any time soon. Instead of fighting a battle they can’t win by complaining about the use of smart phones by customers, organizations need to adjust and find a way to operate in this situation.

Posted in: customer service, social media

Tags: customer service, kris reyes, social media

17Comments

Use Social Media To Make Them Feel Special

10.02.05

80+ tweets, dozens and dozens of Facebook wall posts and numerous private messages. That’s all it took (along with some kind and hilarious antics from my co-workers) to make me feel truly special on my birthday yesterday.

Are you doing this kind of thing for your customers? Are you taking a few seconds (or minutes) to make them feel special? It really isn’t difficult – it just took a few seconds to post those messages, but the effect was disproportionate to the effort required. If you’re connected to customers in such a way (online or offline) that you know their birthday or any other special occasion, take the time to send them your best wishes. If something bad (or good) happens, send them flowers. Go that extra step.

A little thoughtfulness can do wonders to strengthen your relationship with someone – whether it’s a friend, a customer or a potential future customer.

Lastly, a big “thank you” to everyone who contacted me yesterday – I truly appreciate it.

Posted in: miscellaneous

Tags: miscellaneous

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