There is an up-and-comer in our midst. Someone you need to get to know.

His name is Tyler Orchard and I think he might be oblivious.

He doesn’t blog very often (a couple of times a month), but when he does, it’s full of smart information that really makes you think.  He’s also very self-reflective, which I always respect in people.

He talks PR, social media, and politics, which drives specifically to his experience. He’s not a guy with a Twitter account and a keyboard. He really knows what he’s doing.

A Canadian (or, after Martin Waxman’s Cision panel yesterday, maybe I can claim he’s a fellow Canadian?), Tyler does communication for the Parliament of Canada. Continue Reading »

During this week’s Inside PR (yet to be posted), Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I discuss the ever-looming inbox.

You see, I’m a “get it cleaned out every day” kind of person. Having unopened, unread, or unanswered emails makes me nuts.

Mr. D makes fun of me. He says no one else in the whole world uses email the way I do. Sure, I’ll admit I’m a little OCD about it.

But email is a problem. For all of us. Continue Reading »

Many of you may not know Kristine Simpson.

She stalks Spin Sucks, but she doesn’t comment often so you wouldn’t recognize her name from there. But she’s someone you need to know!

Other than being an account coordinator at Thornley Fallis, she is the producer of Inside PR, the weekly podcast Joe Thornley, Martin Waxman, and I record. And she freaking rocks!

She got engaged a few months ago and blogged the experience, from her point-of-view…and then had her fiance do the same. Completely innovative and extremely touching, you get a special glimpse into her personal life. Continue Reading »

Today’s guest post is written by Martin Waxman. 

Well, it’s December 26 and I’ve finished my holiday shopping – finally! By that I mean, the shopping I needed to get done before Christmas.   That’s what the 24^th is for, right?

And now it’s Boxing Day in Canada and the UK.  What?  Don’t worry, I haven’t become a pugilist or joined Fight Club.

Boxing Day is our equivalent to Black Friday – a day of bargains and mayhem, crowds and greed, pushing and shoving… Maybe the Fight Club analogy isn’t so bad after all.

For those who haven’t heard of it, Boxing Day started out as a Commonwealth bank holiday, though some believe it began in the 1600s as a time for tradesmen to collect boxed gifts from their clients.

It used to be another stay-at-home day after Christmas to relax, recuperate, and generally finish digesting your meal. As a kid, I thought it was major clean-up time – i.e. put away the boxes and integrate your new stuff with your old. Continue Reading »

It’s Facebook question of the week time (clap, clap, clap)!

Unfortunately, I have had zero time to scan the questions and record a video.

You may be asking yourself why I have time to type a blog post and not record a video. It’s because I’m still in my PJs…and a portion of this blog post was already in my drafts folder.

So we’re going to talk TweetUps today. And I’ll be back on schedule next week. Continue Reading »

After hearing Martin Waxman recount the keynote Soledad O’Brien gave on the opening day of the PRSA conference (I was playing hooky), about storytelling, and having written about creating an online conversation just yesterday, I’ve been thinking a lot on the topic.

Once upon a time, storytelling was the way we passed information from generation to generation.

Before tweeting and Facebook and text messaging, we had only one way to tell stories: Long-form.

For millions of years stories have been told around campfires and in family rooms and at holidays. But in our world of fast everything, we’re losing the art of spinning a good yarn. Continue Reading »

It’s almost time for PRSA! I’m going to Orlando just in time for Chicago’s sub-40 degree temps.

I actually love sub-40 degree temps, but I guess I can do with sitting by the pool on Sunday afternoon with Abbie Fink (right, Abbie?!?).

Don’t forget, if you’re going to be there, look me up! I’ll be the one with the two Canadians and large microphones.

And, we’re hosting a TweetUp on Monday night. If you RSVP ahead of time (invite here), Martin Waxman and Joe Thornley will buy your first drink.

Me? I’m just going to going to be eating bon-bons and people watching.

If you’re not going to be there, well…here is Gin and Topics to tide you over. Continue Reading »

Does anyone else think 27 degrees is too cold for March 25? If it’s going to be this cold, I WANT SNOW! This in between – can’t ski and can’t cycle – weather sucks. Just like spin.

While you’re here, check out the “Dear CEO” eBook that was written by 31 of my friends. So far Danny Brown and Laura Scholz have announced their giveaways. So go check them out, and enter their contests, if you’d like to win a copy!

In this week’s Gin and Topics, we explore the entrepreneurial spirit of social, which means the good, the bad, and the ugly! Continue Reading »

Last May, Roger Friedensen and I were sitting on the porch of the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C. talking about how nice it would be to write a book together.

At the time I told him I had an idea and to let me get some things organized and get back to him.

Well, it was nearly a year in the making and the book includes more than the two of us – 32 people, in fact. But it’s here! It’s finally here! Continue Reading »

This past weekend, I attended PodCamp in Toronto, as both a panelist and guest of my second city.

Minus the cab driver at the airport telling me to get out of his cab, putting my suitcase on a bus, and telling me to take that instead (it was free; he was not) and the 92 minutes I spent in customs explaining I didn’t need a work permit to be there for less than 48 hours, it was a great trip!

During the conference, we did a live recording of Inside PR, which has become tradition, started by founding co-hosts Terry Fallis and David Jones…and Martin Waxman, Joe Thornley, and I invited the two of them to join us this year.

Several of you (cough, Jon Buscall) asked if we’d catch the recording on video and Andrey Tochilin not only caught it for us, he edited it into a two minute video I am able to show you here! Continue Reading »