Women and Spirituality Conference

'Politics of Food,' and other hot topics will be discussed at Women and Spirituality Conference

10.26.09-Mankato, Minn.- The Women and Spirituality Conference will take place at Minnesota State University, Mankato, with nationally known speaker Dr. Vandana Shiva.

Shiva will discuss "Politics on Food" on Oct. 31. Shiva's keynote address will be at 11 a.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom.

Shiva is a physicist, author and international sustainability leader. She founded Navdanya, a national Indian-based movement to protect resources and promote organic farming.

The conference will include more than 100 workshops and discussions such as "Nurturing Spirit by Embracing Inner Awareness in a Public School Setting," and "Find the Balance of Masculine and Feminine Power: Astrological Keys for Healing Mother Earth Ourselves."

Shiva, described by Time magazine as an "environmental hero," has received the Alternative Nobel Prize and Earth Day International Award.

Registration is required. Visit www.sbs.mnsu.edu/women for a full list of workshops, sessions and a registration form. For more information contact veldhc@mnsu.edu.

Course credit, scholarships and child care are available.

Minnesota State University, Mankato is wheelchair accessible. Anyone who desires special arrangements during the conference, call us at 507-389-2077 at least 48 hours prior to the conference.

Video News Releases and Corporate Blogging

Reading Chapter 9 and 1o in the book, Putting the Public Back in Public Relations proved to be very useful. (as always) Video News Releases have really exploded within the past couple years. With programs like Youtube out there it makes it a lot easier for companies to broadcast their product out to target markets.

There is more than you think to a VNR. Research must be done. Anyone can watch a video... but is there a certain group you want to see your video. Research to see where your target audience is or what they look at is a good way to better your VNR.

INFORM....INFORM....INFORM.....

Anyone can do a video about anything but does the receivers of your message really understand what you are trying to say?

After reading the chapter and how imporant video has become in the media it makes want to learn more about videos on line and visit more sites besides Youtube.


Blogging.....

This has become more important than ever in the past few years.... What's funny to me is that I think back to when I started the program (Mass Communications) in 2006 and I don't think I ever or not ever... but maybe a couple of times heard about blogging.... no joke. Now blogging is everywhere.... and I mean everywhere.... I don't just hear about it in my research class.... So why blog? Advice that my parents used to say... Don't ASK JUST DO IT! (BLOGGING)

I visited Conversation Marketing by Ian Lurie because in the book I was intrigued by the "How to Write a Really Crappy Blog."
She has so many blog posts on there and even better than that is her since of humor. There is a post titled "Nah You Don't Need a Blog..." It's short, funny and gets to the point.

She writes about a lot of things... not just on how to create a bad blog. I found her blog about comments to be interesting... not to mention the sarcasm that goes into her blogs. She writes about other things to think about with the web and not just blogging.

In conclusion, I think blogging is important and becoming huge in PR and marketing. The trick is to do it right and interest your followers.... don't get wrapped up in fancy things like words that others won't understand. Sometimes even simple can be the best.... Comment as much as you can.... and follow others, too.

The PRISM

Last class period we discussed different parts of the conversation prism. I had to research about video aggregation and learned quite a bit. I learned the definition of an aggregator is a site that aggregates original content from multiple sources.

It could be a web application which aggregates syndicated web content in a single location for easy viewing. Examples would be Blogs and Podcasts.

How does it work?
After you create videos and compress them you will transfer it using an RSS aggregator. Your viewers will then be able to see it.

This makes it possible for your video cast to be available and viewable to your public.

Why should we use it in PR?

Since we are communicating to our public and using on line video (which is a great strategy for attracting customers and public) it reduces time and effort. Also, it increases traffic to our site. To me, the most important would be because it engages readers or the public in the company.

Sites to check out for Video Aggregation:

Magnify.net
FireAnt
Twitmatic
Technorati
Dubble

Video is a good tool for your target market so use it :)

It was also interesting to hear about other sites on the web. I really liked LifeStream where you can read and share from the phone.

Ping is another sight that I will take a lot at.

I had heard about Blog Talk Radio but didn't know exactly how it worked