The One Club for Creativity’s Post

Check out the Diversity Roundtable of Central Indiana's latest blog post by board member Breanna Johnson!

Most of us are well beyond our graduation day. We may not have noticed that commencement speeches seem to be becoming a thing of the past.   Some schools have eliminated them altogether. And many would-be commencement speakers are now won’t-be speakers for fear of demonstrations, disruptions and disorder.   Corporate leaders, especially, are opting out of the downside risk involved in standing in front of students and families, staking out a position on just about anything.   The Professional Speechwriters Association says companies are keeping their leaders out of the spotlight for fear of backlash like they got when they spoke out in favor of racial justice.   There was no reward for that, the speechwriters point out in their newsletter. “One group said they didn’t go far enough, one group said they went too far, and now they’re definitely in a phase of, ‘We comment on things that absolutely have essential bearing on our company and our business.’”   The kids might be okay with that   One less speech to sit through before they toss their caps in the air? Not necessarily a bad thing. Certainly, there are some gifted speakers among the sort of bigwigs who get invited to give commencement addresses. There are also a lot of mediocre ones.   Listening to some guy from a C-suite read remarks carefully prepared, edited, and homogenized remarks isn’t the highlight of graduation day. And an audience eager to launch their lives may not be receptive, no matter how deft the speaker is.   How many of us remember anything our commencement speaker said, or even who was up there yakking as we sat, eager to get on with it?   I can tell you who spoke at my graduation.   Not because of anything he said on that hot day in Macomb, though. Speaking on a university campus or anywhere else, Secretaries of Agriculture don’t often make headlines – or memories.   But then there was Earl Butz.   Butz was on a plane after the 1976 Republican National Convention, with Pat Boone, Sonny Bono, and former White House Counsel John Dean. Boone wondered why the party of Lincoln couldn’t attract more Black voters.   Butz's answer was so racist and vulgar it’s still shocking.   Dean described the episode in Rolling Stone, though he didn’t name Butz—he referred to a member of President Gerald Ford’s cabinet. New Times checked all cabinet members’ travel records and figured out which one had been on that plane with Dean and a couple of conservative entertainers.   And in any case, The WaPo pointed out later anyone who knew Washington’s cast of characters would have had no doubt which Cabinet officer played the starring role in Dean’s story.   The Agriculture Secretary resigned.   Only 2 newspapers ran his remark unedited. Many paraphrased it. And 3,000 readers of the San Diego Evening Tribune took the paper up on its offer to mail them an exact quote of what Earl Butz had said.   Maybe you have a graduation speech story too?   Take a spin in the wayback machine and tell us about it.

Do you see yourself or your advisee in the call below? Submit an application to the 2024 Inez Kaiser Graduate Students of Color Award by May 31, 2024: bit.ly/3IpP9eB The AEJMC Public Relations Division and the Mass Communication and Society Division are accepting nominations! The award honors Inez Kaiser, the first African-American woman to belong to PRSA and to head a public relations agency with national clients. Inez Kaiser & Associates was the first African-American female-owned PR agency. The amount of each award is $1,000. Two award recipients will receive funding intended to cover one-year memberships to AEJMC and the PRD or MCSD, as well as 2024 conference registration, with additional funding that could be used toward research costs or conference travel (such as AEJMC Midwinter, AEJMC SE Colloquium, or the 2024 Annual Conference). If interested, they may also take advantage of the PRD mentorship program and be assigned a faculty mentor. Eligible students of color must be enrolled in graduate study in a communication, mass communication, or PR program and intend to pursue a career as a PR/mass communication educator. Students who are finishing their degrees in 2024 are also eligible (including those who have already defended or ABD students). The awards seek to encourage these students' academic career aspirations, and, in turn, their involvement broadens the diversity within the PRD and MCSD, AEJMC, and the mass communication and PR professions. Preference will be given to applicants who are: ● Doctoral students ● Students of minority/emerging minority status ● Students presenting a paper at the AEJMC conference Nomination process: ● Self-nominations by eligible graduate students or nominations by PRD/MCSD/AEJMC members on behalf of eligible graduate students are accepted via the online application form Required: ● Completion of online nomination and application form: bit.ly/3IpP9eB ● A one-page, double-spaced personal space for Diversity/Inclusion Philosophy (email submission) Optional (but recommended): ● Current CV of student Please contact Kaiser Awards committee chair Yang Cheng (ycheng20@ncsu.edu) or Young Kim (young.kim@marquette.edu) for more information or questions.

Love this approach. Considering audience is critical in effecitve communication, and this movement nails it. https://lnkd.in/gXUii3aY #collegeready #cte #education #workforcedevelopment #schoolleadership #schoolcounselors #keepitsimple

Here is my first blog post for Georgia Southern University PRSSA. Take a look and read about the career of Elyse Hammett, VP of Marketing & Communications for the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.

About KryptiaNN Founded by multi award-winning journalist and communications specialist Kelsey Nicole Nelson, KryptiaNN is a Black woman owned multimedia communications and consulting firm, helping to create. effective and powerful messaging. We meet clients where they are, helping them to navigate through complexities to tell their story in a meaningful and impactful way. We focus on communications, media, media strategy, public speaking, branding, and marketing. "Encrypt with KryptiaNN."

At BrainTrust, we take great pride in highlighting the achievements of our members, and today, during Black Business Month, we're excited to celebrate four of our outstanding Black Business Owners. These women are not just running successful businesses; they are disrupting their industries with innovative ideas. Let’s meet them: Kimberly Evans, Just Her Rideshare , Charlotte Hub Just Her Rideshare, Inc. is a rideshare and CMC (community mobility company) made for women by women where women's safety, comfort, and empowerment are prioritized. The company was started in 2020 and is based in Charlotte, NC. Kimberly started this company so that women like herself could have an option to choose how they experience riding with others. The Erica Battle , Life Changes in Progress Educational Consulting, Nashville Hub Schools and organizations look to Erica Battle and her company, Life Changes in Progress Educational Consulting to offer guidance and support when it comes to delivering high-quality data-driven instruction. Her organization is able to offer a neutral lens and uncover the gaps that exist in the teaching and learning continuum. It is through this neutral lens that Life Changes in Progress is able to offer support in the areas of literacy instruction for all content areas, how to address the Social and Emotional Needs of Students, identifying bias and how it affects instructional delivery and decisions, and how school culture contributes to student success. Domonique Townsend, LSSMBB , We Optimize Work , Nashville Hub We Optimize Work an organizational design and operations consulting firm for companies in the manufacturing industry. They help companies solve the biggest challenges in employee engagement and avoid multimillion-dollar losses in turnover and productivity costs. They do this by helping leaders engage their teams in developing strategic approaches that support company objectives. Jacqueline Hayes, MBA, PCM® , Crayons & Marketers, Nashville Hub Crayons & Marketers is a full-service marketing company building results-driven marketing programs for firms looking to see a good return on their marketing dollars. Unlike more conventional marketers, Crayons & Marketers creates agile 90-day marketing plans that are goal-oriented and results-driven, with a strong emphasis on thought leadership and content marketing. These plans help guide marketing campaigns that are centered around tactics that make sense for your business: from digital to traditional, online to print. Paid advertising to public relations.

& just like that, the Spring Term first half season has come to an end 😌 *plays that TikTok sound* aannnd breathe… What a term so far! There’s been plenty going on, but here’s just a few achievements: ✨ we sent off the website copy for UBIQ to do their magic on (over 140 pages of blood, sweat and tears) - and we are sure they will! 🚀 I’ve started a comprehensive content plan for said website which will see me knee-deep in videography and photography for the coming month and a half 🌱 The Roundup was nominated for an AMCIS - The Association for Admissions, Marketing & Communications in Independent Schools award! We’re now on our 19th edition - crazy stuff. 🕺🏼 we met some exciting and lovely people and worked on improving our marketing strategy 🤩 I worked with students to produce student election videos 🪩 we finalised our GCSE and A Level Curriculum booklets with a style revamp 🤪 as usual, came up with lots of new ideas that will come into action later this academic year & next (inspiration strikes at the oddest times!) As always, I feel very fortunate to be head over heels in love with my job & can’t wait to have a good rest (2 days of tidying and organising my life) before we dive straight back in to busy school life. What are your half-term plans (or, if you’re not in school industry, next week plans)?

A slavery-themed post for Black History Month? Yikes! PureGym made a big mistake with the title of their workout challenge post during Black History Month. The title was very disrespectful and inappropriate. Comparing a workout routine to the terrible horrors of slavery is shockingly disrespectful. It completely disregards the real experiences of Black people. This kind of insensitive association is just unacceptable. Mistakes like this can seriously damage a brand's reputation, make customers lose trust in the company and influence other people’s perception of the brand. This is exactly why you need to be very careful with your content and messaging. You always need to make sure it aligns with values of diversity, equity and inclusion, and doesn't harm or offend vulnerable communities. One thoughtless, offensive message can destroy all the hard work a brand has done to build trust and loyalty with their audience over time. Did you know about this copy fail? Comment below! Stay tuned for the next part revealing a major marketing mess-up. #copyfail #contentmarketing #copywritingskills #copywriters #brandmessaging #contentmarketingagency

Summary of recommendations, for us all, made by Chato Hazelbaker: “On my office wall I’m going to post three reminders. [1] Start with why. This is my short phrase to remind myself that whenever I can, I should start with the vision—why I am making the decisions I make. That can also help draw other people into that conversation. [2] Be a Lego builder. Individual Lego pieces are boring. But you put a few together, and they can create something great. When I’m out in the community, I want to think about how I can connect more people. [3] Ask, “Where is it written?” This is a question for me as well as others. By written, I don’t always mean pen on paper. But if a key strategy or plan is not in a place where others can easily find it and refer to it, it’s not a true strategy or plan.”