the VOODOO at Ale House

in today's paper - Thanks Bud!

OTHER VIEWS MY WORD
In defense of public relations
Bud Brewer

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board's relentless bashing of the public-relations profession has become a bit tiresome. Frankly, it smacks of the same kind of hypocrisy the newspaper shows when it rants against billboards.

Let's be clear for a moment. One form or another of public relations may be responsible for half or more of what appears in every edition of every daily or weekly newspaper. Left to their own devices, a newspaper's overworked and underpaid staff of reporters might never organically uncover much of what finds its way into print each day without input from public-information officers, sports-information directors, publicists and other professionals who serve the interest of their clients or employers.

It seems some at the Sentinel have decided that PR professionals are the enemy and/or are not to be trusted. (I'm referring to a recent editorial, "Halfway There: Toll-Road Agency Reforms Should Ax PR and Lobbying Posts.") Sorry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our role is simply to help our client or organization identify and articulate key messages to an audience. We facilitate communication. We don't lie. If we did, we'd lose our own credibility and in so doing our ability to work with the media, and that's the lifeblood of our profession.

We do our job in two ways. First, on behalf of our clients, we introduce information that you might not know or to which you otherwise might not have access. We do this with press releases, story queries, brokered interviews and those treasured "exclusives." Second, when negative information shows up in the media or elsewhere in the public square, we help tell our client's side of the story.I'm not here to defend or attempt to indemnify our profession or its members from the occasional uncomfortable situation. Just as you find a need to regularly correct your own missteps or misstatements, so does a member of our profession occasionally and unwittingly become a part of the story instead of simply facilitating information.

When the Orlando Sentinel editorially rails against billboards, it's odd. Both are advertising media, and both have a role in sharing news from the marketplace. Let's not forget that the Sentinel uses billboards to promote itself, so editorializing against them seems at best confusing and at worst hypocritical.

Likewise, before you taint the entire public-relations profession as unnecessary or unsavory, please consider carefully (if grudgingly) the role we play in helping you fill the space between all of those revenue-producing ads.

Many PR professionals started out on the media side, present company included. We don't paint the media with a broad, negative brush. Please do us the same courtesy.

Bud Brewer is the president and CEO of MPB Communications Inc.

remembering her

today is her birthday. it's the little things you miss. i miss her so much especially on days like these.

meeting after meeting - what to keep in mind

have you ever been in a meeting that seems to be going on forever and is going absolutely nowhere? probably so. i know i have. how about conference calls that feel like a conversation with yourself? hello! is anyone even listening? depending on the topic, the purpose of the meeting and all of the junk people have distracting them from sharing anything whatsoever, meetings/calls can be the death of any kind of creative process. it's almost like being a server at a restaurant...stay with me now...everyone should do it once in their life. after you've been a server, you develop a sensitivity to what may be going on with a night of bad service or a slow kitchen. you learn that sometimes it's just an off day. same thing applies to meetings or calls, once you lead them, you begin to understand how important it is to participate or acknowledge that you're even there. not everyone is going to be sending in a million dollar idea every second but once you've experienced the uncomfortable silence of a meeting/call, you recognize the value of paying attention and participating in the conversation. otherwise, you're leaving the fearless leader out there in a lonely abyss of uncertainty and frustration. typically, i repeat, typically, a meeting is called to bring together a group of people to exchange information and my all time favorite, share ideas. if you're not sending anything out there, then you have to ask yourself -- why am i here? tomorrow morning, i lead one of my favorite meetings with one of my favorite groups of people. i am committed to bringing a dynamic group of people together with the purpose of moving the profession of public relations forward in the central florida region. that motion comes in many different forms -- quality programs, membership benefits, professional development, accreditation, networking, opportunity, etc. not too long ago, i had lunch with PBJ who told me that every meeting should have a PAL -- a purpose, an agenda and a length. that was by far one of the best takeaways in terms of being clear about how quickly a meeting can go south if any of the PAL are missing. so, tomorrow morning, we collectively have a purpose and the agenda has been set and distributed to everyone. the length is typically an hour...as the "lead" of the meeting, i am very respectful of the time people give. i do what i can to keep the meeting at the agreed to length. so far, i've had great success with my commitment. it's event/meeting planning 101 -- end early and they'll always love that they were there. of course, if the creative juices are flowing, no need to bring it all to a halt because the time is ticking away. everyone is valuable and so is their time. i keep that in mind at all times. to bring this outpour to a close, i recall the days when i would have to attend meetings, to just attend meetings. there was no real value of getting together but for the sake of the same old people, listening to the same old things that they were saying. seriously, some people love the sound of their voice. this nonpurpose driven gathering usually leads to ineffective time and resources spent. so, all this to say, before you meet, be sure it's necessary. when you do meet, make sure you're clear about why, when and for how long. post-meeting, send everyone a little recap, a general thanks and if they contributed something that created a quality conversation, thank them for sharing. it's challenging to find good, creative ideas in that kind of environment. all the more reason to be grateful when you discover a diamond in the rough. alrighty, thanks for reading...i'm off to my next great meeting!

funny thing about guilt

True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.
-- Ronald David Laing

come on over!

so, today was a catch your breath kind of day. had a nice brunch. enjoyed some down time. chris mcwyatt came by the new place to check it all out. haven't seen him since china girl was in town. always good to see him. to think, we were in the same american history class together back at chs. that was nearly 14 years ago. back then, i would've never guessed he would be among one of my closest friends today just because we were so different in high school. so, anyway, my aunts stopped by on their way back from mommie-glow's house. instead of using a rest area, why not head over to my house that's about five or six miles off of the interstate? it worked out perfectly for them. the visit was quick but really nice since i probably won't see them for another month or so.

mr. wonderful talked to the z's today in the uk. so, hey to the zabi's! i will try and post photos of the new place soon. until then, maybe i'll try and post photos of what i think it will eventually look like once things are all painted, flooring is all changed out and the pool has water in it.

these days...the slow ones, are just what i needed after the last 17 busy ones. i'm getting ready to head out of town next weekend so to be able to just sit back and enjoy the time is incredibly reviving. i read a little. wrote a little. relaxed and sat thoughtless a little. mr. wonderful and i talked about anniversary plans. even though they're not until october, we like to kind of decide where to go so we can go ahead and make reservations. he's such a good planner for us. we also discussed the upcoming holiday season. where we're going to be. if we shoud have something here at our place or go up to jax? we'll see how it all goes. anything's possible. if there are going to be changes, i truly believe this is the year it's all going to happen.

party at epcot

tonight, mr. wonderful, heidi and i all headed to the hfuw's chef's gala at Epcot. the red carpet. red roses and food a plenty. the entire experience took me back to the Taste of the NFL event i went to back when the superbowl was being held in j-ville. the food was unbelievable. the company was wonderful. had such a blast. so glad it worked out for everyone to attend, especially mr. w. there was a possibility he was going to have to work. ran into many people i haven't seen in such a long time. truly, a night to remember!

happy march!

today i wish a friend a fantastic 50th birthday! we're heading out to dinner tonight and will celebrate together. i just hope that when i turn 50, i am as cool as he is.

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in addition, another wonderful person in the world turns a year older. her mom and dad are so sweet. they were among one of the two couples who sent mr. wonderful and i a congrats on the new home card. yes, we will need help with painting and wall paper tearing down. thanks for the offer to help. happy birthday c.h.!!

positive thoughts

i'm thinking of china girl's mom today. sending positive thoughts and energy her way.

stay strong. be hopeful. you can do it!

you can never have enough joy!

mr. wonderful was born

K and Mr. W at the PRSA holiday party at favorite president's home.

I joke with them and say how much this looks like a photo taken in the 80's.

Come to think of it, I believe K is wearing stirrup pants. :-)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

to my one and only!

had a nice little get together with friends and family.

always good to have people in the new home.

thanks to all who drove from jville to be with us.

your presence was a real present!

celebrating his wonderfulness

babies for them

went to healthy mom-to-be's baby shower today. so much fun! it was held at soon-to-be-a-mom again's home that was in the backyard of UCF's new stadium being built. the ladies did a great job throwing it all together and making it special for the mom of little baby ?. she won't tell us her name. i so love the collective rejoicing over a new life into the world. another hope, a new person who gets to learn all the possibilities she has.

couldn't help but miss be frie during the shower. she's having hers in a couple of saturdays and i won't be able to attend. it's times like these that i dislike the distance between close friends...we've been able to stay in touch over the years, but when one of us has something so life changing occur, you wish you could be there every step of the way. i'm so happy for her and for the upcoming celebrations around her new little possibility, her new hope that she and mr. be frie are bringing into the world.

what have we gotten ourselves into?

mr. wonderful staring into our "new" pool.

it's a work in progress.

power breakfast

dragonfly, mr. p, mrs. m

more horizon, less operations

ATL = love and joy

Be frie and the purple unicorn

dragonFLY deciding...this could take awhile

tabula rasa - nothing like it...

so happy right now before the painting begins

step away from the paint brush...i say we did great after 14 hours at wired and fired.

there's my little purple unicorn with matt, elizabeth and gaby

this turned out to be a really nice photo.

fun kelly, purple unicorn and dragonFLY all together!

where did February go? oh, here it is below...

so, it's clear that i have been slacking quite a bit with my sky fishing this month. have to get it out in the open and move forward so here it is -- i suck.

at the end of january, i watched my cute little nephew turn one. it was as if he knew that the party was just for him. i've never seen a kid so alert at their first birthday. while we were singing happy birthday to him twice -- once in english and once in spanish, he looked as if he might be able to jump in and sing along. instead, he smiled and watched everyone act silly and clap for him and only him. favorite brother is really enjoying it even though he's used to being the sole male in the family. if someone else is going to steal the show, it might as well be his ever so adorable little baby boy.

after the celebration, february hit and i found myself in quite a whirlwind. buderfli and i threw a bridal shower for rojo. i got really ill and am still recovering. it didn't stop b and i from trying to create the most special time. we pulled together quite an event in really no time at all. with the exception of the cake (my fault) completely, everything went swimmingly. rojo seemed to have a great time which, at the end of the day, is all that matters.

the bright public affairs off-site was in hammock beach this year. what a beautiful place! i really enjoyed staying in such a remote area and being away from it all. of course, i did have a chance to make a wal-mart run one late night. it reminded me of my st. augustine days when i would take a power break from studying and head to the wal-mart which was literally the only thing that was safe and still open at two in the morning. mr. wonderful stopped in for a night and enjoyed the facility of club hammock beach resort. he was glad that i highly encouraged him to be there. it was sooo worth it!

mr. wonderful surprised me at work this year with a dozen beautiful long stemmed red roses. he truly is my one and only valentine. that evening, he cheered me on at my soccer game and we headed to a favorite eating establishment that requires no reservations whatsoever and we spent time talking and going over the game. i was still feeling a bit under the weather and i remember it was a very off night on the field for me. couldn't make a connection. my passes were weak. i might as well just stayed on the sideline. but, no matter, since my love was there and we were together.

over the weekend, i went to atlanta to visit be frie who is tres prego now. got there in enough time to "supervise" the construction projects in her living/kitchen area and visited with her parents who were assisting. they are such a special group of people that i so enjoy being with...i was instantly laughing and having fun catching up with everyone. that night, be frie took me to a purple unicorn party. can't wait to show you how cool and fun that was through the photos that i still have on super new camera. got to see old friends. once again, i was laughing most of the evening...creating fun out of my environment. got to catch up with matt which was really nice. he's grown up so much and is seeing someone special who he expressed to me as the "one." it's always wonderful to sit back and take that in...a story from someone who feels they found someone, they're someone, who God placed in this world for them to love unconditionally. really cool. the best part of the weekend, was just sitting back with be frie and painting pottery. she kicks my butt in sketching but in potterty painting, i felt we were on level playing ground and could really relate to one another about the struggles of how long it takes to actually paint a platter or a teapot for example. she is amazing and full of surprises which is what makes her the absolute best when it comes to true friendship that continues to grow bigger and bigger as the years pass. the worst part of the weekend was my monday morning departure. i dread leaving, especially since it was such a short visit. my plan is to return when little baby is born. i miss her already!

this week has been great. tonight, i played three games of soccer. i came for the 6:30 game and got drafted into the 7:30 game and then ended up playing in the 8:30 game (the only game i really had to play). it was fun but i was pretty tired by the end of it all. thankfully, my team -- VooDoo Posse -- won 4 to 1. enough to celebrate and get excited about!! i really love to play. it's a great stress reliever and it's a great way to just have some good time with a great group of people.

this weekend the plans are in motion to have a small get together for mr. wonderful's birthday. looking forward to just hanging back and keeping things casual as he requested. nothing fancy. nothing over the top. just good friends, good food and a good cake (for buderfli).

i heard someone say today, "a life well lived is the best revenge." it stuck for some reason. i've never heard that before but if for some reason revenge creeps into one of your agendas, that's a pretty positive way to look at it. (this is not an endorsement for revenge so stop judging me for a second please.) for those living in the land of bringing others down to boost your own ego or being critical toward others because you're too insecure to handle their excellence, get over it. live your life and live it well. stop getting involved in things that have absolutely NOTHING to do with you. stop being so mean too. i mean really, is your life that perfect?

still around

sorry for the lag between posts. still here but running since the end of january. i've been missing my blogging time. back in the saddle though. more laters.

valentine's day with vp

the wednesday night vp

Monday Night VP - the fun crew

So, here they are...The Monday version of the VooDoo Posse.

Best Wishes RoJo, soon to be RoWi!

thanks buderfli...enjoyed planning with you! you are wonderful!

Valentine's a few days early

had a great time at this event...belly dancers and morrocan food and of course, super company (see photo above).

very cool aussie!

Fi and I at the 2007 Crystal House Awards.

It was a great event thanks to all of her hard work!

Working in Hammock Beach

It's tough work but someone's gotta survey the coast and enjoy the fresh air.

what was i thinking on this day?

i win for worst dressed on a saturday morning in lgwd.