Each summer I share this document with our campus and district administrators in an effort to keep them informed and help them communicate better with me and with the media. Although many of these tips and guidelines may seem like common knowledge to us, staff members outside of the school PR world need these reminders each year.
I love to share good news about the awesome work our students and staff are doing, but sometimes I feel like I’m only getting part of the story. It can be difficult and time consuming to go back and forth trying to get adequate information for a complete press release. I recently found this press release request form from Austin ISD and immediately started developing something I could use in my own district. I am sharing a generic version of this flyer in case it’s something that might help you, as well! I shared this with our campus and district administrators, as well as put it out to all staff members in our district via our district intranet. Hopefully this will better inform our staff about the information necessary for a press release, and make our jobs a little easier!
Raise your hand if you’re guilty of saying phrases like…
“I’m up to my eyeballs.”
“I’m in the weeds.”
“I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off.”
“Just trying to keep my head above water.”
On May 17, 2015 I blogged about the “culture of busy” and how I was going to try and remove the word “busy” from my vocabulary, but lately it’s been creeping back in. This time busy has been more covert, sneaking into my conversations in the form of “Oh, I’m good, just busy” or “You know, it’s a busy time of year.”
My friend once shared that she thinks we say these things because we’re afraid if we don’t TALK about how busy we are, people around us will think we’re not working hard. I think she’s right, but I also think it’s just our culture. ESPECIALLY in school PR where there’s always something to keep us occupied.
Dang. I just did it again. It’s easy to make the assumption that your own position or industry or department is the only position or industry or department that is spread too thin, understaffed, over capacity, etc. Can we all just agree that we’re ALL BUSY … the baseline is BUSY … it’s a given that we’re BUSY … so there’s really no need to state it.
How many of you have really paid attention to how often you say you’re busy?
When I started really paying attention to how often I tell someone I am busy, I WAS EMBARRASSED! Not only do I TELL people, I include it in my EMAILS! NO ONE NEEDS TO KNOW HOW BUSY I AM! It’s obnoxious! EVERYONE is busy! I’m not the only one!
So, I am trying to hit the busy reset button. I am in busy therapy. I am again working to replace emails like “I am so sorry I have taken so long to respond. It’s a busy time. Let me check my calendar to see when we can get together” with responses like “Good morning! I am happy to help you solve that problem. When is a good time to meet?”
So…who’s with me?!! Let’s help each other remove the “culture of busy” statements from our interactions and instead focus on strengthening our “culture of caring” vocabulary. Let’s refocus on WHO we serve instead of trying to out-serve each other.
Last week I attended the 2019 Texas School Public Relations Association conference, an amazing experience full of learning and leading together with my Texas school PR family! I had the pleasure of facilitating 4 roundtable sessions about branding, and presented a full session on culture and community. I took lots of notes during the discussions at the roundtable sessions and created a quick Google Docs flyer to share with you. I am also sharing the culture and community presentation in case you are looking for some new ideas. The presentation has links to all of our planning documents and materials for each initiative.
A strong brand can increase effectiveness, improve engagement, and positively impact climate. How can you guide staff to build a better brand and deliver results?
Come hear how one rural district is igniting systematic change and engaging a diverse community. Get simple strategies that break down barriers, change public perception, and build a community of public school supporters. No budget? No worries! Most of these strategies can be achieved with even the smallest departments and budgets. Leave this session with ideas you can implement immediately to maximize your resources and get a big return on your investment!
It was an AWESOME day at TSPRA19 and I am so thankful for the TSPRA organization, all of the event planners, and the sponsors. Amazing content, incredible attention to detail, and all of the little touches really made today’s experience one to remember. Here are my 10 favorite moments from today!
Getting a sweet new pair of Maui Jim sunglasses at the TSPRA President’s Reception for helping with conference planning. (Ok, that was technically from yesterday, but it was AWESOME!)
Lynne Wester (@DonorGuru) sharing her expertise during opening session this morning and telling the story of how Team Rubicon knocked it out of the park with donor follow-up efforts.
P.S. Lynn says you need to thank a donor 7 different times before you ask them for money again!
Hearing the “BOY” method for donor communications … “Because of you…” What a simple way to frame the message to communicate the importance of giving and show the impact it makes!
Being introduced to the “Anatomy of a Podcast” by Christie Goodman with IDRA. They’ve been podcasting since 2006! Check out their Classnotes Podcast.
bumper –> standard podcast intro –> episode intro –> transition music –> body –> transition music –> outro –> standard podcast exit
Learning about using Anchor for easily creating podcasts – definitely see some podcasting in my future!
Learning about Digital Juice subscription service for royalty-free content FOREVER.
P.S. They’re having a 50% off sale right now!!
Eating “tot-chos” and smores for lunch to fuel up for an afternoon of learning!
Getting another great idea from Cy-Fair ISD to use consistent hash-tagging (ex: #CFISDsafety or #CFISDfunrun) to help with branding and recognizability.
BY FAR, the best part of today was having Steven Anderson (@web20classroom) give a nice shoutout to Brenham ISD for our communication plan! Couldn’t believe my good fortune to be sitting in that session to see that! Click here to get our plan in Google Docs (just go to File > Make a Copy to create your own version.)
I recently saw the below “communications scorecard” on the NSPRA Connect forum from the Pattonville School-Community Relations Team. (BTW, if you aren’t already taking advantage of the NSPRA Connect forum, I highly recommend it!)
Producing something like this for my superintendent and school board had already been on my mind, so I set out to recreate the beautiful template from Pattonville in a Google Doc format. I am pleased with the result and am happy to share the file so you can use it, too!
School PR 365 