My Edmonton Scribbles

The last Meet the Media was just a few months ago in February. I wasn’t considering to organize another one until next year because of the impending municipal elections. When I was approached by Marty Forbes and Mike Steger, vice-president of marketing and communications at Telus World of Science Edmonton, with an invitation to host a Meet the Media at this amazing facility, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.

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I’ve been a mom for 10 years now and thought I would share what I’ve learned so far. It’s a job like no other and an experience that can’t compare to anything else in life.

The following is in no particular order.

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Am I out of Twitter jail? Let’s see if my curfew has been lifted.

— Paula Simons (@Paulatics) October 18, 2012

I was recently asked what’s the best way to stay clear of Twitter jail. In case you don’t know, Twitter jail happens when you’ve reached a limit of 100 tweets per hour or 1,000 per day. It’s also when you’ve tweeted with links in a very short period of time and reached a limit of 250 direct messages a day. You aren’t allowed to tweet between 30 minutes and several hours. It’s Twitter’s way of deflecting spammers.

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I burst out laughing tonight when my 10-year-old daughter asked me if I got my first cell phone when I was 15. Then I laughed even harder when I told her that I used a pay phone and she asked what that was. It hit me as a child of the 1980s how many gadgets from my childhood are now taken for granted by my kids.

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Last night, I watched the first episode of my favourite show, Being Erica, for the second time. The comment, “No one’s opinion matters but your own,” resonated with me. It think we all wrestle with this – what people think of us – on a daily basis.

So why should other opinions matter? I know as a writer, I want my words to impact others. As a public relations professional, my actions should (hopefully) influence other opinions so they can act in the direction that I am guiding them in.

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One of my passions is to generate ideas and see where they lead to. When an idea is born, it needs nurturing, support and cultivation for it to become a reality. Todd Babiak planted an idea last fall on his magpietown blog  that in order for any idea or project to be successful in Edmonton, it needs to start from the ground up in Edmonton.

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I’ve only had one opportunity so far to attend a public relations conference. Last year, I headed to Calgary to the Health Care Public Relations Association‘s national conference. I heard from colleagues who presented their experiences in health care public relations and learned tons of information and connected with my peers.

But I’ve never attended a Canadian Public Relations Association conference. The cost has always been prohibitive.

This week CPRS Edmonton is celebrating 50 years of communications with a gala dinner and a one-day conference and I will be taking part. Note that I’m on the board of directors as the communications chair and I’ve also been volunteering as part of the conference committee. Despite this, I want to tell you five reasons why this conference is a great opportunity for Edmonton PR professionals.

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Tweetups never fizzle out of popularity, especially in Edmonton and when it involves media. Meet the Media on Friday night was proof of this. Over 150 people filled the Underground Tap and Grill within the first hour of the tweetup, including four who travelled from Calgary to attend.

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To Whom it May Concern:

I’m fed up. I’m fed up how you communicate with me or I should say, how you poorly communicate.

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What wouldbenefit YOU at a mixer or tweetup event? Open to suggestions to make these as beneficial as possible for everyone!! Thanks!

— YEGTweetUp (@YEGTweetup) February 11, 2013

It’s easy to sit behind a computer or your phone and tweet with people you’ve never met before. The next step – bridging online to offline – can be the hard part for some people. When I saw the tweet from @YEGTweetUp yesterday, I thought to myself, “Why do people bother with tweetups?”

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