The Westerner for May 30, 2011
Meeting: to recognize club president's day, Mike Ryan chaired the meeting for Rotary Club of Edmonton South and their president, Pauline Perreault, chaired our meeting; chair, Pauline; music, Jerome; grace, Bill Buckham
Other Esteemed Guests: recently retired Al Budlong, Rotary Club of St. Albert
Gift Cards: buy from Kasey
Correction: Bob changed date for Rotary Christmas Party to December 16 @ Royal Glenora Club
Eyes for Huehue: Ben Doz thanked our club members for supporting the fundraiser, especially Lorne who ran the meeting and performed lots of other setup duties
Friends of Al Hamilton Golf Tournament: John advised the tournament is sold out. Please contact Brian to arrange to volunteer your help for the day (or part thereof)
Al Holmes: Al advised he was very proud to attend the final inspection of Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron 395 where 114 cadets performed a great parade and the pride shone on the faces of the cadets. Al said this confirms that our investment in the squadron, as sponsor, is justified
50/50: Pauline & Chris did not match cards, $208 carried over
Finemaster: Jim Johnston advised Distracted Drivers Law will come into force this fall - $2 fine if you recently used your cell phone while dirivng; $10 fine if you have not volunteered for the golf tournament; $2 fine to the table that continued to talk (loudly) while acting president Pauline tried to chair the meeting; if you had not paid a fine from the above $1 on general principal
Happy Buck: Jennifer & Tony sold their house within 24 hours of listing, having received 2 offers, sold above listing price
Attention I-Phone users: ClubRunner now has a free app available in the app store. Once you download it to your phone, you will have to login as if you were visiting the Club Website, but only once. After that you just click on the ClubRunner icon and you have access to all the Westerners, the Club photo directory, and a Club map locator based on your current location.
Guest Speaker: Bill Macdonald introduced Grant Ainsley who has 3 decades in media, public relations, event management. Grant presents talks on best ways to deal with the media and does media training - Building Your Brand in the Media.
We love our favourite brands. Rotary Club is a brand. Associations can be a brand. Personal branding occurs through Twitter,etc. Stephen Duckett lost a $700,000 per year job over poor relations with the media.
Don't sit if doing an interview. If many media doing the interview, then stand agaoinst a wall so all questions come from your front. Make sure the background behind you is suitable. In a news release, write down your key messages. Make it quick - the media give you 2-8 seconds.
Media decides what is news. Anything that goes against the norm is news. Weekends are slow news periods so charities can get more attention with news releases on weekends, especially if it is by email with a high resolution photo.
Stay on the message - 2-3 points, write them down, don't ad lib. If in a question situation, use bridges to get back to the message, if there is a misdirect from a media question. Don't answer hypothetical questions, don't speak off the record or provide personal comments about an association news release.
If an occurance provides negative aspects to the brand - protect the brand. Immediately acknowledge the situation, take responsibility, show remorse, be organized, don't run away, be real.
Grant was thanked by Chris.