Another “Art with Heart,” Another Long Day
I’m sitting in the lobby of the Covey Center of the Performing Arts in Provo, waiting for my daughters to finish their Art with Heart dress rehearsal, and connected to the outside world with my Cricket card. I barely slept, worried about the work I needed to get done today and whether my daughters would get up in time for their 7:30 a.m. roll call in Provo! Fortunately, we all made it on time….
Now I sit, working on a press release for TestOut and trying to get two releases for Lingotek through the approval process. When I needed a little break from those projects, I put in some follow-up calls to the press in hopes of getting at least one story on Art with Heart. So far, KSL, ABC4 and KUTV is supposed to be coming (Fox13 laughed at me, in a good natured way, of course; the World Series is cutting their broadcast down to next to nothing — they’re definitely pulling for the Yankees to end the series tonight so they can get back to normal! Me too!) The Daily Herald is sending a photographer as well. That’s some nice successes, if I do say so myself.
My girls are done at 5 p.m., but have to get them dinner and back by 6 p.m., then pick up my mother in Lehi before getting back to the Covey Center for the 7 p.m. show (and the arrival of the media – no breaking news to disrupt my light news, please!)
By the way, if anyone wants to come to Art with Heart, it’s tonight and tomorrow night at 7 p.m. You can purchase the $20 tickets (ouch!) at http://www.coveycenter.org. All proceeds go to Shriners Hospital. Come watch!!
I also got some great photos of my daughter Brittany and her friends!
Anyone else have some fun activities planned?
Keeping Kids Occupied When Working, Playing: Tips Anyone?
OK, working mommies! How do you keep your little ones busy when you have a big project you need to work on when they’re home or when they’re at the dance studio and you just have to watch daughters dance for just a few more minutes?? Yesterday afternoon, I stuck my 5-year-old son in front of my laptop playing a Star Wars game he loves on Legos.com for more than an hour while I watched my 7-year-old rock out to “Love Shack” and chatted with other moms (this is my “happy place,” where I can relax for a bit before starting the work/mom tug-a-war again!) Anyway, he loves the game and I’m sure there are plenty of benefits to computer games, but I felt guilty that he barely moved away from that game for an entire hour. It sure was a relief that he wasn’t running around the studio, though!
So, what do you do to keep your little ones occupied when you need (or want) just a few spare moments of peace? Yes, I know I could hand them a book, but any other suggestions? And if you do hand them your computer or phone to play with, what do you have them play??
“Working Mommy” Defined?
It’s a tad embarrassing to say that my last post was nearly one year ago, right after The Dance Club‘s Art with Heart benefit concert for Shriners Hospital! The next Art with Heart is less than 2 weeks away, one of many motivations to start blogging again.
My second (and strongest) motivation came from my former client and friend Lyle Ball, who called me a few weeks ago to catch up. He told me he was launching a new technology company with a friend of his, a technology that just begged for a “working mommy” to help share its story (You’ll hear that story in the weeks to come). Out of his huge network, I was the only one that fit this definition (and it didn’t hurt that I’m a public relations consultant and a writer). According to Lyle, there are many moms that work and workers that are moms, but more unique is the working mother that puts her kids first and still attempts to be equally involved with her children — whether at school, home or in any of the many activities they’re involved in. I’m sure there are working mothers out there who might take issue with the definition, but maybe that will start some discussion here.
Why don’t you start thinking about how you would define”working mommy,” while I take you through a typical day in my life. (Ready, set, go potty! Sorry that’s what my two-year-old just said when she sat down to…well, you know!)! I wake up at 5:30 or 6 a.m. to try to get some work done before the kids wake up. Kids wake up and we get them ready for school; take them to school, head home to work (get in a couple hours straight!), go pick up child 3 – kindergartner – from his kindergarten enhancement class, get him lunch, take him to his kindergarten class, go back to work for 3 hours, pick up child 1 and 2 from their schools, pick up 3 and 4 from their schools, and then it’s off to dance and swim lessons (spend far too much time watching dance and swim lessons – but I love it!) with some work calls in between. Dinner (eat out or at home). Family time, get kids to bed, watch some TV, then work again. I don’t work full time, but with work generally spread out throughout the day (and night), it can sure feel like it!
I love my job and I love being with my kids, so I’m always thinking about how to balance both (Hmmm, a topic for an upcoming post, I’d say!). Work is far too often on my mind, though, even when it’s supposed to be “kid time.” I know I need to put a little more “mommy” time into this “working mommy” business. My 5-year-old son reminded me of this just yesterday, when he said: “Mommy, why are you always doing your computer. When are you going to play with us?” Not my proudest mommy moment, but I’m committed to doing better. For them and for me!
So, back to how you’d define “working mommy.” I’d love to hear your thoughts and your stories of how you’re balancing the “working” and the “mommy” parts of your lives. Let’s chat!
Our First “Art with Heart:” Amazing Dancers, Choreography
This weekend marked the 7th annual “Art with Heart,” a benefit concert for Shriners Hospital for Children that is put on by three Utah dance studios: The Dance Club of Orem, Dance Impressions of Bountiful, and The Winner School of Salt Lake City. This was the first Art with Heart for my daughters (6 and 9 years old), though, and they thoroughly enjoyed every minute!
Every dance was incredible, with many 
of them being choreographed by Joey Dowling and Jacki Ford (of www.joandjax.com, my dance wear client) and Travis Wall of “So You Think You Can Dance” fame!” As “ThoseCrazyBeans” posted on her blog this morning, “How lucky these girls are to have such impressive instructors!”
What was unique this year is that Utah Valley University volunteered (at my request) to stream the show over the Internet on Friday night so that the children at Shriners Hospital could actually watch the show from the hospital’s auditorium. They brought four cameras and a big crew. I watched the show from the tech room as the director called to change cameras every 2 to 3 seconds, fading here and there, showing close-ups of the girls every once in a while. While the Internet stream was a little too pixily, they’re going to show the completed, edited version on the UVU cable channel 5 or 6 times over the next year and put it on Comcast OnDemand (anyone can watch “on demand” for three months). I can’t wait to see it. I’ll let everyone know when it’ll be on!
Three Utah Claras in Radio City Christmas Spectaculars!
Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News
This morning, the third article on the three Utah dancers playing Clara in three productions of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular appeared in the Provo Daily Herald! In the print, a front-page banner led to a full-page spread on the front of the Life & Style section. These girls are amazing!
The Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News also wrote about them a few weeks ago.
Jo + Jax Have “Huge Fans”
Two former Rockettes have teamed up to create a fresh dancewear line, Jo + Jax. This line of funky basics has something for every genre. You’ll find baggy mesh shorts for hip-hop, cozy tops for modern and bright unitards for auditions. Jo + Jax also has styles for different personalities, such as sporty stripe details and girlie butterfly graphics. This line is especially great for tall girls. At 5’9” and 5’11,” the creators designed the line specifically because their dancewear was always too short. We’re huge fans, and we think you will be too! Check out the styles at joandjax.com.
That’s the blog post that came out this morning, at the same time the girls were being interviewed by Movmnt Magazine. Keep an eye out for these two. They – and Jo + Jax, of course – are going to be big!
Now back to technology…..
Less Hype, More Credibility
One part of my job as a PR consultant is to help my clients position themselves and their products — and do it without the hype that so easily creeps into both written and oral communications. Keep the fluff out of press releases, and especially out of press and analyst briefings, and focus on the value to the customer. A blog post by analyst relations firm SageCircle, “When Hype can go overboard and hurt credibility,” (recently resurrected on Twitter), “identified hype as one of the five ‘analyst hot button’ issues that can needlessly derail a vendor-analyst briefing.” I completely agree with this graph:
The big problem is that analysts really listen to marketing language and don’t blow off some puffery like a prospect would. So claiming superiority or asserting that your product is “Best in Class” can be a red flag if the claim does not match the analyst’s view of the market. What happens next is rarely good for the vendor representatives doing the briefing. The analyst might interrupt the briefing probing for a definition of what it really means to be “the leaders” or “world class” or whatever and then demand hard evidence that the vendor really meets the criteria. Then the briefing could be consumed on what is really a tangential discussion. Or the analyst could sit quietly with a smirk on his or her face while thinking “What a load of BS, I bet everything they are saying is BS.” The second outcome is worse because it implies long term damage to credibility and may go unnoticed.
Disgust for hype obviously isn’t limited to analysts; the press don’t buy it either. So, what can you do to keep the fluff out? Here’s some good tips from SageCircle:
SageCircle Technique:
- Examine presentation content and talk tracks looking for hype
- Determine if the claims have reasonable definitions (e.g., not something like “among left hand users on Guam”)
- Determine if the claims can be backed up with proof aligned with the definitions and have that proof available if needed
- Tone down or (best) eliminate hype that can’t be substantiated
Ballerina Prodigy Recognized!
After years of promoting technology — which I love, of course — I had the opportunity to share the story of an amazing dancer. Whitney Jensen, a 16-year-old Utah born-and-bred ballerina, in July became the first American and one of only 5 dancers to ever win the Grand Prix at the prestigious Varna International Ballet Competition. An article I pitched appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune at the end of August, but the Deseret News reporter wanted to wait until he could give it the cover of the Life section today, “Utah ballet prodigy is first American to win global honor.” Take a look at the amazing photos, taken by Geoffrey McAllister!
Think Patience! Venafi Study in Washington Post – a Year Later!
OK, I can’t take too much credit for this but one year later, a study underwritten by Venafi to provide insight into the consumer impact of encryption problems is actually starting to get some press!
In fact, a link to the study appeared in a Washington Post blog post by Brian Krebs yesterday
“Firefox Plug-in Offers Clarify on Web Site Security.”
According to Firefox developerJonathan Nightingale, Firefox 2′s cert warnings were too easy for users to either ignore or just hit “okay” without considering the security implications. Indeed, according to a study by Venafi security last year, at least 40 percent of all users do just that when presented with a security warning (that number is likely higher: 16 percent said they were “not sure” what they’d do).
Another example of stories taking months to appear — especially in the top tier business press — is an article I pitched for the Ethisphere Council on the “World’s Most Ethical” rankings. I pitched the idea to the Wall Street Journal in November of 2006 and it appeared in July 2007, eight months later!
So, the moral of this post is two-fold:
1. Be patient when trying to get coverage for your announcement. While the study did receive some coverage last summer, including an article on Dow Jones, the appearance of a big news item such as the Firefly SSL Certificate debate makes it more timely, newsworthy and understandable for editors/bloggers you’ve been trying to target.
2. Always do your best to tie in your story idea to a timely news trend. The editors/bloggers are more likely to “get” the significance of your pitch.
Anyone have news you’ve pitched appear months (even a year) later?
