2015 Professional Development Workshop

You don’t want to miss this year’s event!  Hear from the PR professionals who took on – and successfully tackled – some of the most visible initiatives of the last year.

This year, topics include:

• Shooting at Strozier Library: A crisis communication study from the Tallahassee Police Department
• Hear the Roar! How the Orlando City Soccer Club started a movement
• An Award Winning Campaign: What can another penny do for you?
• Repositioning a Global Name: Rebranding Port Tampa Bay

Get a crisis communication case study from the Tallahassee Police Department who responded to a shooting at FSU’s student library, managing a national media onslaught and quelling concerns with anxious students and faculty.  Find out how the Orlando City Soccer Club launched a colossal movement across the region, generating an energized and rapidly growing fan base for the area’s newest sports team.  Learn about the creative and compelling campaign that took home a Golden Image Award for educating the community about a challenging issue –the increase of a county-wide sales tax.  And hear from the marketing executive of Tampa’s largest economic engine, Port Tampa Bay, about how they successfully repositioned a global brand.

This year, speakers include:

• Dave Northway, Public Information Officer with the Tallahassee Police Department
• Leonardo Santiago, Vice President of Communications for the Orlando City Soccer Club
• Tre’ Evers, Co-founder of Consensus Communications
• Christina Morton, APR, Senior Account Executive with Consensus Communications
• Karl Strauch, Vice President of Branding Development and Strategic Alliances for Port Tampa Bay

Attend the half-day event which includes a hot breakfast.  We hope to see you there!

Members – $40
Non-members – $50
Students – $30

For sponsorship and volunteer opportunities, please contact:

Heather Smith, APR

Maria Isabel Sanquirico

Chapter Rewind: October Breakfast

By: Gabriel Soltren

Retargeting Gone Wrong: 5 Easy Steps to Angry Customers

Nate Long, Strategic Marketing Consultant, was the guest speaker at our September chapter breakfast. In his presentation, Retargeting Gone Wrong: 5 Easy Steps to Angry Customers, Nate advised members not to “creep people out” by following them online when targeting specific audiences.

Nate Long, also known as @theprguy on Twitter, owns Nate Long Marketing and Amplify Entertainment. His expertise includes identifying intenders, who are people that go online to find something. For example, if you go online with the intention of learning about vacationing in Orlando, you are an intender of Orlando Vacations.

“Retargetting is marketing based on actions taken,” said Long. The retail company Target is “almost too good at predicting,” he said. One of the retargeting stories gone wrong was that Target knew that a 15 year old customer was pregnant before her father knew it. The father complained that the retailer was sending pregnancy related advertisements to his teen daughter. Target marketers knew that she was pregnant because an algorithm based on her purchases predicted a high probability of pregnancy. Target learned that advertising specific products to customers that they believe are pregnant is carried out better when shown with unrelated products, for example, lawn mowers. Retargeting is okay “As long as you don’t spook them,” said Long.

Companies can use retargeting to sell items including shoes. For example, if you click on a link to buy shoes and find that the shoe ads are following you when you go to a CNN webpage or a YouTube webpage, the odds are that a cookie in your computer is telling the marketers that you visited a shoe store. Companies that offer remarketing services include Ad Rule and Perfect Audience.

Member PRofile: Heather Smith, APR

Give a brief explanation of your job.
The Public Affairs Division is the outreach arm of the Sheriff’s Office and we work closely with residents, businesses, schools, non-profits and faith-based groups to safeguard our community through education and crime prevention. The Division is comprised of the Public Information Unit, the Neighborhood Services Unit (crime prevention deputy sheriffs), Code Enforcement, School Crossing Guards, and Volunteers. As the director, I provide the leadership and strategic direction to a phenomenal team of professionals, and together we serve 430,000+ clients – the residents of, and visitors to, our county.

How long have you been in FPRA? Why did you join?
I originally joined the Capital Chapter in 2006 and relocated to the Orlando Chapter in 2012. I joined for the professional development; I love learning what’s new and what’s next in our industry.

What’s your favorite FPRA event?
The Professional Development Workshop, of course! It’s always a fast-paced, jam-packed forum to hear from some of the best in our business, connect with other PR professionals, and still make it back to the office for the afternoon!

Tell us an exciting achievement.
In 2013, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office handled security for the State vs. Zimmerman Trial, and for 40 days we were in the spotlight while we calmed community concerns, quashed rumors, and managed an international media campground just steps away from our back door. Later that year, our investigators toppled a multi-state, illegal gambling enterprise that resulted in more than 50 arrests and the closure of dozens of internet cafes. The case prompted state policy changes, and generated a flood of public and media interest. My colleague and I were named Public Information Officers of the Year by the Florida Law Enforcement Public Information Officers Association that year.

What was your very first job?
The first thing I actually got paid to do was teach tennis at summer camp. I began doing PR work at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about 15 years ago when I was tapped to do executive speech writing and head up some of the agency’s special events.

Share a fun fact that people may not know about you.
I went skydiving last year for the first time. It was originally planned as a surprise birthday present for my boyfriend, but then I figured jumping with him would be a better way to celebrate together – so I did!

Contact info:
hsmith@seminolesheriff.org
407-665-6748

Quotes Corner

Membership– More Than Just a Word

By: Rosie Cappos
Quotes Director of Membership

Far too often, membership is something that is underestimated or not paid as much importance as it deserves. To me, membership is the gateway to benefits and opportunities. Without membership, you have no point of entrance for reaching your members and insuring you give them the proper, warm welcoming they want to receive in order to establish that quality relationship and secure their future attendance.

Perhaps my most favorite benefit of Quotes, the PR Club at UCF is the duality of the experience. Members are not only making friends and lifelong connections with fellow members, but also have the opportunity to network with adults already well established within the PR world. It’s so imperative to our members that we stress how invaluable that benefit is. One day the person you sat at the same table with at an FPRA breakfast could be your future employer. That’s a very plausible reality if you put in the hard work.

Throughout each semester, not only myself, but also all fellow executive board members try to accentuate the numerous benefits of Quotes; the intangible and the tangible, and every semester we discover another benefit we never thought about. Beyond the professional development they attain from being a member, they’re also inheriting connections and support they will find lifesaving at such a developing time in their budding career.