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Here’s a post I wrote on September 11, 2006.  It still sums up this day in history for me.
 
Five years on
Just looking at today’s date immediately sends me back five years.  We were living in Virginia and I was working in Washington DC.  I’ll never forget standing at the westward window of our office watching the smoke billowing from the Pentagon.  That was the moment I came to understand why they call it terrorism.  It’s an extremely apt term.
Looking at the pale, worried faces of the women I worked as they …

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Having success with Twitter takes more than luck and enthusiasm.  It takes forethought and planning, but there are some tactics that have proven to helpful in raising profile and increas influence.
1. Influence matters
The most influential people on Twitter tend to get the most retweets…just look at Stephen Fry.  Still, newbies can leverage the influence of others by making a personal connection with someone who is ‘big’ on Twitter. How do you do that?  Well start by following this person and taking an interest in what he or she tweets. Retweet …

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Today’s shopper has fundamentally changed and wants a new buying experience.  Trust in big brands is low.  People want to gain confidence in what they buy from their friends and insight from their community.  Social technologies are enabling this shift in shopping habits. They are maturing from being social for the sake of being social in marketing, to a new and transformative phenomena.These are the finding of a recent study, The Rise of Social Commerce,  from from the Altimeter Group.
The study included 123 retailers and consumer …

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The British Computer Society Isle of Man Section is holding its inaugural Dinner and Awards evening at the Hilton Hotel on Saturday 17th June 2006, starting at 19:30 for 20:00. Dress will be Black Tie. 
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The cost will be £35 per head, covering drinks on arrival, a three course served meal, and coffee & mints.
During the evening, awards will be presented for primary, secondary & further/higher education (these categories are sponsored respectively by Manx Telecom, Royal Bank of Scotland International, and Omnitec.) You can keep up to date with the …

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I met Richard Slee, the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s Isle of Man contact, a few days ago, and he told me about this one-day workshop being held on the Island.  I told him I’d try to help him get the word out, so here goes….
It runs on 10 May 2006 at the Isle of Man Creameries and is designed for senior marketers who want to improve agency relationships. It covers agency selection, effective relationships, negotiating terms, new media integration etc.
I used to consult to CIM’s training services division, and I can vouch for …

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The main purpose of this blog is to have a forum where we can all have a chat as if we were sharing a cube instead of working virtually.  So if we ran into each other around the coffee pot this morning, I’d be asking what you thought about last night’s BBC news coverage of the avian flu non-pandemic originating from Fife, Scotland. 
One dead wild bird tested positive for the avian flu.  This was the BBC’s lead story.  Coverage was more than 13 minutes long and included at least three (maybe …

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Here are my favourite postings for this week. Once again, these are in no particular order…
1. Technorati Indexing MySpace Blogs, Aaron Brazell is worried the blogosphere is getting too crowded and that quality is suffering. I think maybe he worries too much.
2. How can you not Google yourself?  Here, Josh Hallett talks about keeping an eye on how you, or your client, is represented by the search engine index.  It’s not just about ego (I get 149 hits, btw ). I was wondering about how all these teen bloggers and …

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Is there a difference between male and female public relations professionals?  I can’t really believe that in the year 2006 we are still considering gender as a professional issue, but the question has come up three times since Friday.
First of all, Friday morning I was having a chat with an associate (male age 60+) about how much the CIPR has grown over the past five years.  His comment was that the big female influx was the major driving force in the Institute’s growth.  To me that raised the question, where were all …

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DOUGLAS, Isle of Man, April 1 /StriveNotes/ — The International Association of Pet Lovers today named Strive Public Relations Managing Partner, Sherrilynne Starkie, The 2006 Pet Lover of the Year.  The award was made in recognition of Ms Starkie’s life-long love of all things fluffy.
“Sherrilynne’s loving attitude toward furry creatures made her a natural choice for this year’s award,” a spokeswoman said. “Her fundraising efforts in support of the Isle of Man Rest Home for Retired Rodents is just one example of her tireless endeavours to make the world a better …

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I thought I’d start to post a top 5 to share my favorite blogs of the week…they are in no particular order.   Let us know what you are all reading….
1.  Ad Agency Model Trumps PR Service Model.  Marcel Goldstein looks at how direct dialogue with audiences is changing how PR agencies work. “PR agencies deploy PR specialists on the front lines with clients, providing a narrow specialist’s view for addressing a company’s reputation. On the other hand, ad agencies use account management personnel–marketing generalists–to field client problems and then …