Five Minutes With … Kelly Harman on the Need for More Women in Tech Careers

Women account for just one-quarter of all science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) positions – even though they hold one-half of all overall jobs in the economy. What are the best ways to level this playing field?

It starts with education at an early age, says Kelly Harman, president of Women In Technology (WIT).

In this “Five Minutes With …” installment, Harman conveys how highlighting the constant and expanding opportunities in STEM-related careers can increase appeal among young, female students. Ultimately, the goal remains to not only diversify gender representation for these positions, but to elevate the leadership influence of women within these industries. “One of the missions for Women In Technology is helping women (transition) from the classroom to the boardroom,” she says. Listen to our conversation on women and STEM careers.

About our guest: Kelly Harman is president of Women In Technology. She is also vice president of marketing at Carousel Industries and the former president/founder at Zephyr Strategy. She commands more than two decades of experience working with US and European based technology and telecom companies in the areas of business and marketing strategy and the tactical planning and execution of all aspects of sales/marketing plans.

This interview was hosted by Dennis McCafferty, Director of Content with Welz & Weisel Communications.

Google+: Boom or Bust?

A few weeks ago, our agency completed an email migration to Google, which I’m incredibly excited about. Now, I can use all of those helpful Google features for work, such as Google Docs, Google Reader and Gchat.

Then I remembered a little something called Google+ that was released last summer and immediately slated for success. In fact, one industry forecast projects Google+ will reach more than 400 million users by the end of this year. Still, I’ve wondered what makes this anything more than Google’s version of Facebook? What does it offer that makes for distinguished value? Working for a technology PR firm that’s constantly seeking to establish market differentiation among our clients, I sought to learn more.

I found that Google+ offers unique features that benefits businesses, especially growing ones like Welz & Weisel Communications. They include:

Google+ Hangouts. One of the most exciting features of Google+ is the Hangouts tool. Hangouts is a free video conferencing tools that allows up to 10 participants. This is a great tool for office group meetings or client meetings, which our agency constantly conducts. What if you want to invite more than 10 people, you ask? Google is currently working on Google+ On Air which allows Hangout to become a video broadcast instead of a video conference. When it becomes available to all Google+ users, it could be a great tool to use for larger meetings, press conferences and product announcements.

Integration with other Google products. Google+ is gaining more users every day as it gets integrated with other Google products. For example, if you use Reader to keep up with several RSS feeds, with Google+ you can easily share articles and blogs so they can possibly be re-shared. I’m personally most excited about Google Docs integration with Google+ Hangouts. With this feature, you could collaborate with colleagues or clients on Hangouts to view documents, edit and share notes together.

Measurement Tools. Google is working on several analytic tools to help users see as much data as possible that relates to their Google+ Pages. One measurement tool Google+ uses is called Ripples. Ripples allows you to identify top influencers by showing how your posts spread across Google+, who’s sharing and re-sharing your posts and whose opinions matter in the community.

Then, there are Google+ features that effectively mirror Facebook offerings. So users considering a complete switch still get to keep the social-media functions they’ve enjoyed, yet experience them through the Google brand: Google+ Pages for Businesses is a destination for Google+ users to seek out information on your company, and to possibly follow you by adding your company’s Page to their Circles. Using Pages, you can publish posts, launch Hangouts and manage your Circles. Your Circles allows you to share relevant content with the right groups of people, whether they’re colleagues or clients. +1 Recommendations are the Google+ equivalent to Facebook ‘likes.’ This tool can be used in a number of ways to promote your business, as users will look to +1’s from their friends using Google+ when searching for recommendations.

Some folks would say Google+ amounts to a potential big bust for Google, that it can’t compete with other social network power houses such as Facebook and Twitter. I disagree. I think as Google amps up their marketing efforts ‑ and as it gets integrated with other Google products like Android ‑ people will begin to understand its distinct value and use it more actively. When that happens, your company should already have a presence on Google+, and come up with a strategy to bring in those +1s!

@TpengW2Comm

Tiffany Peng is an account coordinator at Welz & Weisel Communications.

Start the New Year with a Career Assessment

The New Year marks my two-year anniversary of working in the “real world.” Like many other young professionals, I too often focus more on day-to-day job demands as opposed to the big picture. So 2012 presents an opportunity to evaluate what I’ve done, and how I need to improve to continue my vocational growth.

Here’s how to get the most out of this kind of annual self-assessment:

Honesty rules. You’re not a kid out of school anymore, so it’s time to get a valid sense of your strengths and weaknesses. “Honest” is the key word. Nobody is awesome at everything, nor are they expected to be. But without a candid appraisal, you can’t move forward. There are two questions to ask here: “What have I done well? How can I improve?”

Get to the “why” behind the “what.” It’s not enough to know when you failed and when you succeeded. You must get to the driving factors behind these results. For junior PR/communications professionals, perhaps you sent out a couple press releases with a glaring errors and the client wasn’t pleased. Determine what caused the error to occur. Did you rush through the review without adequate proofing/factchecking? If so, then make the time to do so from now on. Come up with a check list of review requirements to perform before you press “send” on any release. Allow the discovery of “why” to form the foundation of best practices in the future. Similarly, when you’ve done well, examine why and come up with ways to repeat that success with multiple clients in different situations.

It’s all in the numbers. When assessing your progress, see if you can quantify your impact. (This serves an employee well during annual reviews, by the way.) But make sure you focus on numbers that speak to your value contribution. And, no, saying you clocked long hours doesn’t count. It’s not the time you put in, but what you did with it. Instead, track the numbers that matter to clients – such as the number of feature stories you placed because you were resourceful and determined. While you’re coming up with a statistical profile of your impact, you also should get a sense of the quality of what you’ve produced. How much of a difference did those feature stories make, for example, upon your client’s goals of gaining industry visibility?

Set goals that push – but don’t strain. Of course, it’s wise to come up with goals for the upcoming year. So set goals that are challenging, but within reach. Don’t make goals that are unattainable, such as becoming a VP in one year or getting 1,000 placements. This will only set you up for failure. But don’t take the easy way out either. Be honest about what you want to achieve and how you best feel you can reach those goals. Goals are a great way to quantifiably challenge yourself to get you to the next level.

You’re still in the early stages of your working life. There’s plenty of growth ahead, with the potential to reach places you’ve always hoped for. But you’ll get there faster if you take command of your own career. Launching 2012 with this kind of self-examination can get your year off to a great start.

@ktgrieco

Katie Grieco is a senior account coordinator for Welz & Weisel Communications.

How to Connect with the Press in the Modern Age

What’s the best way to really connect with a reporter? If you attended the recent Welz & Weisel Communications-hosted event, “Social Media & the Press: How to Build Lasting Relationships,” you’d walk away with a great deal of valuable insight. Here’s what leading journalists taking part had to offer:

Delivery minus substance = zero. Sorry, but Steven Overly of the Washington Post put it bluntly: It doesn’t matter if  your delivery method is a dazzler. If the pitch itself isn’t compelling, it’s not going to fly. “A pitch that I’m not interested in is a pitch I’m not interested in,” he said.

Keep it short. At least at first. An introductory pitch shouldn’t contain large attachments, according to Katie Boehret of the Wall Street Journal. Email is always the best way to go at first, she said, because a reporter can immediately respond if it’s interesting, file it away for a future story or ignore it.

Don’t send what the competition is doing. Reporters are well aware of what their competitors are reporting on. So the “in case you missed it” email featuring a competitor’s work doesn’t really go over well. In fact, it’s disrespectful and can do more harm than good, said Grant Gross, of IDG News Service.

Stay up on social media. Reporters are going to Twitter and Foursquare for sources/leads, according to Matt Barakat, of the Associated Press. So you need to be there to best position your clients.

Take advantage of comments. Some reporters read the comments on their articles and see them as a way to determine the direction of the next story, said Wyatt Kash, AOL Government. You can gain influence here.

It’s business and personal. For all of the social media and multiple platforms and bells-and-whistles delivery methods, Gross nicely summarized what really distinguishes effective communications strategies and public relations practices: “There’s untapped potential in social media. But the best PR people still develop personal relationships.”

At Welz & Weisel Communications, that’s always been our MO as well. If connecting with influential journalists is among your New Year’s resolutions for 2012, feel free to give us a shout.

@cpittman247

Christy Pittman is a senior account executive at Welz & Weisel Communications.

It’s All About Extending the D.C. Tech “Ecosystem” in 2012

A packed house gathered to gain insights from top tech VC investors on local entrepreneurship.

Nothing brings out the greater Washington D.C. tech crowd like an event featuring titans of IT investment. Which is why more than 300 attendees recently packed the Ritz Carlton in McLean, Va., to hear top venture capital “heavy-hitters” give their opinions about the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem at Potomac Tech Wire’s Venture Capital Outlook 2012.

As guest speaker and NEA General Partner Harry Weller put it, “I’ve never seen such diversity as we’re seeing now. This is turning into a great consumer area.’  Not many attendees would disagree that the big elephant in the room was LivingSocial. The event’s running theme was how a successful LivingSocial exit has the potential to create knowledgeable angels that will accelerate the startup scene in D.C.

More importantly, there was a greater discussion about how to support the current and future “angels” by continuing to improve the regional entrepreneurial “ecosystem.”  John Backus, founder and managing partner of New Atlantic Ventures, stated that “technology will not be the key differentiator in the future, but rather marketing will more important.”  To that point, I concur and remind our regional entrepreneurs that there are proven resources in the area for them to turn to for help. For example, high technology public relations and high technology communications experts abound.

It was nice to hear the speakers on the panel mention several top technology companies in the greater Washington D.C. region to continue to watch. Harry Weller, not too surprisingly, mentioned SourceFire— a leader in intelligent cybersecurity solutions and long time Welz & Weisel Communications client since its beginning (nearly 10 years). NOTE: NEA was one of SourceFire’s early investors.

It’s not new, but marketing and in particular tech public relations or tech communications is something that Welz & Weisel Communications has done successfully for several notable Washington D.C. companies. We’re proud of our track record and encourage you to let us show you: “How we can help?”

@RufusManning

Rufus Manning is a senior account director at Welz & Weisel Communications.

Five Minutes With … Stan Soloway on the Dangers of “Nickle and Dime” Government Acquisitions

Federal agency decision makers are tasked to acquire systems and services at the best price. But this approach fails to recognize the greater value of these potential acquisitions. As a result, innovation gets lost in a “price shootout” scenario, according to Stan Soloway, president/CEO of the Professional Services Council.

In this “Five Minutes With …” installment, Soloway explains how the agencies can increase efficiencies by focusing more on what technology can do as opposed to simply what’s cheapest. Listen to our conversation on effective government spending.

About our guest: Stan Soloway is president/CEO of the Professional Services Council, the national trade association for the federal government’s professional and technical services industry. He is a regular contributor to Washington Technology, and also served under former Secretary of Defense William Cohen as a deputy undersecretary. Among other honors, he has been awarded a Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

This interview was hosted by Dennis McCafferty, Director of Content with Welz & Weisel Communications.

Five Minutes With … Gary Shapiro on the Spectrum

Smart phones use 20 times the data of traditional devices and tablets use considerably more – all of which is taking a toll on spectrum resources.

In this installment of “Five Minutes With …,” Consumer Electronics Association President/CEO Gary Shapiro reveals that the situation will grow grave by 2014 if more spectrum isn’t made available. He has a solution in mind, but you’ll need to listen to our conversation on spectrum availability to find out what it is.

About our guest: Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, which represents more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies and also owns and produces the continent’s largest annual trade show, the International CES. Gary has also co-founded and chaired the HDTV Model Station and served as a leader of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). He is a charter inductee into the . He’s a regular on The Hill‘s “top lobbyist” list and Washington Life magazine has named him as one of the 100 most influential people in Washington, D.C.

This interview was hosted by Dennis McCafferty, Director of Content with Welz & Weisel Communications.

Blog, Post and Tweet Your Way to a Successful Event

What is the last business event you went to? Did you get an invitation in the mail? Not likely. There’s hardly an event that’s not promoted these days through social media channels, and there are good reasons for this. At Welz & Weisel Communications, we recognize the value of social media. We promote events by effectively leveraging these tools for our clients, as well as ourselves. How so? By following these best practices to get the best outcomes for both virtual and real-life events:

Get the information out there in a timely way. Social media is a great way to get initial event information out to your audience. Even if you don’t have all the details nailed down, you can still start generating buzz for your event with “teaser” messages/tweets/posts. The information should deliver the event basics: topic, date/time, how to register and get more information and, very importantly, a hook that establishes the reason why people should go. When using Twitter, create a hashtag to make tweets about the event, so it’s easy to track. This also encourages others to promote it as well.

Keep posting, keep posting, keep posting. This will keep the event foremost in mind with your audience. With all the noise found on social media, it’s vital to stay in front of your potential attendees and stand out from the crowd. These repeated posts/tweets/messages must sound interesting and fresh – avoid repetition. Be careful not to over post too. That’s when you blur into the noise. Pick up the pace of posting as you near the event date, but be sure to keep it engaging.

Effectively deploy the full arsenal of social media channels. Make sure you’re taking advantage of Google+, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and any other top social media channels. Craft your message for each social site – short and timely works best for Twitter (for tips on crafting effective tweets, we like these tips from ReadWriteWeb), while longer posts with richer content (e.g. images and videos) makes for a standout Facebook post. Remember, Twitter is an appropriate platform for slightly more frequent messages, whereas you’ll want reduce that frequency for Facebook.

Promote the event on the big day. Get the most out of social media on the day of your event. Direct last-minute attendees to the event by sneaking in that final post and tweet. It’s also key to promote the event while it is taking place. Because of its pace, tweeting is a popular and effective way to promote your event for anyone who can’t be there, while engaging attendees who are monitoring Twitter during the event. (Yes, that’s right. You’ll have attendees who are already there who also want to get a “Twitter read” on the event as it’s happening.) Mashable has even more tips about promoting live events with social media.

Take it home. Get the most bang for your buck from your event by posting pictures, videos and other event content following its conclusion. This keeps the conversation going once the live presentations are over. If all goes well, it will generate interest in the next event.

An event’s success is often measured by the number of seats filled. There’s no better way to reach potential attendees than presenting your message where potential attendees already go. That’s where social media comes in. So post, Tweet and message away – and we’ll catch you at your next event!

@MollyWComm  

Molly Doyle is a senior account coordinator at Welz & Weisel Communications.

Five Minutes With … Joyson Cherian on Rapid Response

When news is breaking — whether a nasty virus is taking down major websites, a new regulatory initiative is proposed or any other kind of major developments surface involving the technology industry — whom does the industry/national press seek out for expert commentary? These thought leaders likely represent companies that are savvy about rapid-response communications. The term refers to the ability to “turn on a dime” when news breaks to get your executives out in front as the designated authorities to quote.

In this “Five Minutes With …” installment, communications expert Joyson Cherian sheds insight on why a rapid-response strategy is so critical, and how to launch one. Listen to our conversation about rapid-response communications.

About our guest: Joyson Cherian is an account director at Welz & Weisel Communications.

This interview was hosted by Dennis McCafferty, Director of Content with Welz & Weisel Communications.

Growing Up with Steve Jobs

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

-‑ Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford University, 2005

With the passing of Steve Jobs, I think of how this quote must have made an impression upon students sitting on the lawn at Stanford University. Waiting to receive diplomas, filled with ambition and hope, they grew up in a world shaped by Jobs’ vision. I can say the same for myself, having graduated from Virginia Tech just four years later. Like so many others, I’m glad to be part of the “Steve Jobs Generation.”

The many tributes to Jobs since his death underscore his impact on a global level. For me, the impact was very personal. Through Apple, he influenced my world views of technology, art and, most recently, life. My professional choices too. Jobs had much to teach us about the possibilities of a single career, and you don’t need to design computer products for a living to appreciate these lessons.

My first memory is that of the Macintosh I used at my school’s computer lab in elementary school. I remember the cute boxy design and the easy-to-use graphic interface. It was so different from my home computer, which required command lines. Then came Toy Story, when I was 9. To this day, I am still mesmerized by Pixar’s beautifully rendered CG animation, and even dabbled with the idea of pursuing a career of computer animation while in high school. I didn’t know who Steve Jobs was at the time.

I first heard his name when I was in junior high. That was when I had my first brush with the iPod. Those lucky enough to get one of these neat gadgets enjoyed hypnotizing the rest of the school with its fun click wheel. Before this, none of us never paid attention to technology or gadgets – iPod was a game changer. The iPhone arrived several years later, when I was in college, and the way the world connected was forever changed.

Jobs’ genius extended far beyond tech. My fellow marketing students and I studied his promotional strategies. For a 21^st Century tech maverick, he favored traditional approaches to marketing. Other big companies focused on digital media, but Jobs developed creative advertisements for TV, billboards and newspapers. And let’s not forget the famous 1984 Apple ad, which introduced the Apple Macintosh. Steve pushed for that ad to air in the 1984 Super Bowl for a full minute, even though the entire Apple board of directors hated it. Today, it’s regarded as one of the greatest ads of all time. (Among other honors: It won “Best Super Bowl Spot” in the game’s 40-year history in 2007. TV Guide named it “Number One Greatest Commercial of All Time” in 1999.) The lesson learned for our marketing class: Leadership by vision means pushing for what you believe in.

It also means that you can’t succeed without passion. Jobs always conveyed this quality because he devoted his career to two things he loved: technology and art. He transformed our understanding of tech from “a bunch of 1’s and 0’s” to works of simplistic beauty. Jobs oozed creativity, but not at the cost of extraordinary user functionality. That’s because – in an era when too much of tech is created to impress tech people – he always crafted his products with the consumer experience foremost in mind.

This was a man who followed his heart. He understood that time is too short to not do what we love most. When you love what you do, great things will follow.

@TpengW2Comm

Tiffany Peng is an account coordinator at Welz & Weisel Communications.