bluetree concert Nov. 1 in Macon

Fellow Bloggers,

There will be a Christian concert this Sunday, Nov. 1, at Christ Chapel on Bass Rd. in north Macon. You can get $5 tickets by emailing Brian @wordtested@bellsouth.net and telling him your group name and how many tickets you want. They will hold them at Will Call for you at the front doors of the church. Christ Chapel is in the old Sports Town building and it's a great place to have a concert.

The group is called bluetree. They are from Ireland and have toured all over the world with their hit song, God of this city.

If you go on your own without reservations and pay at the door, the cost is $10.

I am trying out the use of social media to promote this concert that I am interested in attending. I have used e-mail, Facebook, this blog and twitter to get out the message. As a public relations student, I am learning how valuable social media is in spreading the word around quickly and gaining support for an event like this!

Experiencing the Tipping Point

Gladwell mentions in his book that the tipping point is “the one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once.” This one dramatic moment is what I like to call a momentum builder or catalyst for change. It is in this moment where everything changes and the fire is fueled to keep on burning. Gladwell means just what he states on the front cover of his book, “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,” and I would argue how good things can become great things. I think Gladwell’s definition of the tipping point is a variation of many things that I have heard before, but yet I am still compelled by Gladwell’s commitment to seeing the tipping point “grow richer with each new reading” and his ability to inspire readers like myself to use the Tipping Point as a way to come up with new ideas using the word of mouth phenomenon and finding those types of people in society: Mavens, Connectors and Salesman.

I believe I am a Salesman at heart and a Connector as a result. Gladwell’s story with Tom Gau was a great example of a natural salesman and I found many common characteristics that we shared. Gau said, “If you don’t try, you’ll never succeed,” and I think there is so much truth in his statement. Many of the calculated risks I take daily are simply in a good effort to succeed using my best performance. In addition, I believe that I have a high level of connectedness given that I am naturally optimistic and persuasive as a Salesman. I have a great versatility to my work as a student and like Gladwell states, “ In the case of Connectors, their ability to span many different worlds is a function of something intrinsic to their personality, some combination of curiosity, self confidence, sociability and energy.”

For our Relay For Life event to “TIP” this semester, we must use our entire class made up of Mavens, Salesmen, and Connectors to work together and use our individual skills to better the group. I think our groups focus on the little things will make a big difference like Gladwell’s Power of Context example with the NYC Police and cutting down on crime. It’s those small out of context actions that get great results. My creative suggestion comes from my recent trip to the Atlanta Falcons game where the players were wearing pink sneakers, tape, gloves and the cheerleaders were also dressed in pink. The Falcons colors are red, white and black so this seemed out of context. However, they were doing this to promote breast cancer awareness. Implementing wearing purple at local community events, etc to promote Relay For Life seems to me would be highly effective. I think finding a similar niche place to promote Relay For Life would also be effective like the hair salon example in Gladwell’s book. I believe that our understanding in answering the question, Why Relay For Life? will help us to tip. This event is about these cancer survivors and their stories and helping to let others know through celebrating their memory. Like Gladwell’s smoking example, you can’t start to help people until you understand why people smoke.

Lastly, applying the use of social media is evident, the essence of the tipping point was using word of mouth phenomenon, but today there are so many ways through using the Internet to spread the word around. Viral marketing is a term to describe the way the Internet is used to spread a virus simultaneously and instantly through the Internet. One example is when Burger King launched a viral marketing campaign with its Subservient Chicken website. This was a hit and many people were prompted to go online and check it out. I believe that I have experienced the tipping point this semester through blogging and microblogging. The Kanye West performance that most of us blogged about in class is an example of how microblogging such as Twitter was used to spread information about Kanye West instantly. Also, participating in Blog Action Day was another great way to experience the tipping point and see how one little thing like writing a blog can make a big difference when you have many people joining in to do the same.

2010 South Africa World Cup & Climate Change

As a college soccer player, I am passionate about the game of soccer and the cultural and environmental role soccer plays across the globe. For the first time ever the FIFA World Cup will be hosted by a nation in Africa. The tournament will be staged at 10 venues across nine South African cities. Johannesburg will be home to two World Cup stadiums Soccer City and Ellis Park. According to Climate Neutral Network, South Africa is committed to integrating environmental principles into the planning and organization of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Their aim is to enhance environmental sustainability for South Africa and its citizens, and to reinforce the significance of environmentally responsible lifestyles within the context of the 2010 Soccer World Cup and the country’s economic and social development programs.

In a recent article, Wendell Roelf commented that South Africa has often been commended for being most active among developing countries in fighting climate change. However, environmentalists say while South Africa Government has set ambitious targets, it has been slow in executing them.

While environmentalists may have a point here, it is evident that the 2010 South Africa World Cup presents an opportunity for South Africa’s Government to execute these targets. The South African Government is working with the UN Development Programme on an initiative involving carbon offsets for the World Cup. The 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup offers South Africa a unique opportunity to demonstrate to the world its commitment to responsible environmental management, while improving the living environment and livelihoods of South Africans. This event offers important opportunities to showcase how South Africa can respond to the challenges facing its region, the planet and most importantly what they can do differently today and for the future.

As a passionate public relations student, I believe my journey in finding a future job in public relations will include awareness on social responsibility issues for the given company or organization to which I will be working. As a college student, I hope to make the world a better place through using social media such as blogging on important social and environmental issues, and also through completing an internship hopefully with the 2010 South Africa World Cup. If chosen for this internship, I will be actively participating in the South African community while being apart of the sporting world and its commitment to environmental management. I believe that using social media like blogging and completing an internship will help me as I seek a future job in public relations.

I have included the information below for any students who happen to read my blog and are interested in a summer internship focused on climate change or global events. Future 500, a non-profit organization that works on corporate social responsibility issues is looking for 2-3 research interns.

Climate change - The intern will undertake in depth research on public and private policy in relation to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December. The research will become the basis of presentations to corporate partners and may be distributed to other stakeholders.

Global Events - The intern will undertake research on key social issues and risks for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, and the Shanghai World Exposition May-October 2010. 


Please visit this website for more information on these internships.

http://www.ypfp.org/jobs/summer-research-internships

Relay For Life Pitch

Our PR administration class recently pitched different themes to the Relay For Life committee in Milledgveille. The group I was a part of was selected as the pitch winner. Our black and white Polaroid picture theme "Celebrate a Memory" will be used for this years event. I am excited to now begin the details for planning this event where over a hundred participants are expected to attend including this years Relay For Life team captains and cancer survivors. The one thing that I've learned from my first pitch experience is that it is all about the way you position your pitch, you must distinguish yourself a part from the rest by highlighting the benefits and connecting with your audience. I think building an image that involves the participant is so important. I am currently focused on working to get the community business owners involved by donating items for this event as I am in charge of our committee to budget cost of food, refreshments and table settings. The best part of having this unique opportunity is to get to work with my peers and together collaborate to put together an event that means so much to our community!