Reminder - ***THIRD ANNUAL ALPHABET BASH***

THIRD ANNUAL ALPHABET BASH OFFERS LOCAL MARKETING, COMMUNICATIONS PROS UNIQUE NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY
WHAT:

Minnesota's popular annual gathering of professionals in marketing and communications, the Alphabet Bash, will take place on August 21 at Epic Event Center in Minneapolis. The Alphabet Bash aims to connect marketing, communications, advertising, and public relations professionals in Minnesota and give them an opportunity to help them to make business connections, develop long-lasting relationships, explore other business development opportunities – or just have a good time.

The third-annual Alphabet Bash is presented by:

* IABC: International Association of Business Communicators
* PRSA: Public Relations Society of America
* AMA: American Marketing Association
* Ad Fed: Advertising Federation of Minnesota
* MWMC: Minnesota Women in Marketing and Communications

All attendees will receive drinks, heavy appetizers and a chance to win door prizes including Sun Country airline tickets.

A Pre-Networking Workshop also will be available to interested attendees. Barb Krantz Taylor of The Bailey Group will share practical networking tips to meet others who are authentically interested in knowing you and how to sustain those relationships after the Bash. Registration is an additional $15 and includes an extra drink ticket. Space is limited.

WHEN:

Thursday, August 21, 2008, 6 – 10 p.m.; Pre-Networking Workshop: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Epic Event Center, 110 North Fifth Street, Minneapolis

REGISTRATION:

Cost is $45 for PRSA, IABC, AMA, Ad Fed and MWMC members, $55 for nonmembers and $30 for students. The Pre-Networking Workshop is an additional $15. Register online at www.AlphabetBash.com.

Don't Miss the Alphabet Bash - August 21

THURSDAY, AUGUST 21, 2008The Alphabet Bash is a "can't miss" networking event celebrating Minnesota marketing and communications professionals! Make business connections, develop long-lasting relationships, explore other business development opportunities - or just come for a good time.

Please join...

IABC: International Association of Business Communicators

PRSA: Public Relations Society of America

AMA: American Marketing Association

AdFed: Advertising Federation of Minnesota

MWMC: Minnesota Women in Marketing & Communications

...for the 3rd Annual Alphabet Bash.

Back by Popular Demand "Pre-Networking Workshop"
Beat the rush and check in early for the 2008 Alphabet Bash. Join us from 4:30 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. for networking tips from Barb Krantz Taylor of The Bailey Group. Barb will share practical networking tips to meet others who are authentically interested in knowing you and how to sustain those relationships after the Bash. Registration is an additional $15 and includes an extra drink ticket. Space is limited.

Epic Event Center
110 North Fifth Street
Minneapolis, MN 55403
Phone: (612) 332-3742
Directions

Time:
4:30 p.m. - Pre-Networking Workshop
5:30 p.m. - Registration
6:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Alphabet Bash

Cost:
On or before August 4, 2008
$35.00 for members of the above organizations
$45.00 for non-members
$20.00 for students
After August 4, 2008
$45.00 for members of the above organizations
$55.00 for non-members
$25.00 for students


About The Alphabet Bash
The Alphabet Bash is a joint venture with PRSA, IABC, AMA, MWMC, and Ad Fed in an effort to connect marketing professionals in Minnesota. Why Alphabet Bash? Well, when you throw that many acronyms around, it starts to look and sound a lot like alphabet soup! This annual event serves as an outlet for our combined membership of over 4,000 to make business connections, develop long-lasting relationships and explore other business development opportunities.

Playing in the Sandbox: The Trend of Collaborating with Other Agencies

Hello! First things first – my name is Heather Schwartz and I am thrilled to be a guest blogger for the next few weeks. Just some background about me: I currently work at Maccabee Group in the role of Brand Public Relations Director. I’m also actively involved with PRSA serving as chair of the business outreach committee and I’m one of the founders of the Alphabet Bash. Ok ... now on to more interesting things:

Ben Franklin once said, “We must all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.” I can’t tell you how true I have found that statement to be as I continue through my career. Over the course of the last five years, I have worked with ad agencies, interactive companies, direct mail firms, copywriters and guerilla marketing firms to create campaigns for companies like OfficeMax and American Medical Systems.

Now working with other agencies to create a campaign is nothing new, but in recent years I am seeing a trend of sharing ideas at the same table and collaborating for the betterment of the client project. I am seeing clients holding open forums for their agency partners to voice honest opinions and thoughts on any facet of the campaign whether it falls under that agency’s area of expertise or not.

At the 2006 PRSA National Conference, I sat in on a session put on by Unilever about the success of Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Unilever’s brand manager for Dove candidly shared how it was a requirement for every agency involved on the project attend every planning meeting and brainstorming session. Now at first when I listened to this session I honestly thought an approach like this could cause massive issues from dealing with different egos to territorial problems. But I now believe this to be an extremely smart and strategic approach to a successful creative process.

When I created the Alphabet Bash in 2006, it was amazing to watch the creation of this event take place. Here was talent from PR, advertising, communication, interactive and marketing companies all around the Twin Cities, some competitors and some collaborators, all sitting at the same table sharing ideas, asking questions and pushing each other to do the best work possible. People putting the competitiveness aside to do the best work for the organization they were representing. The end result: a stellar event that members of IABC, PRSA, AMA and AdFed are truly proud of.

So I am curious if other people have seen this trend of sharing ideas with other agencies and actually working together. And if you are on the client end of things, do you actively work to bring all your partners together when working on a project?

The rise of citizen journalism

Hello, my name is Arik Hanson, APR. Full disclosure: I am a board member of Minnesota PRSA and the liaison to the programming and networking committee. Last week I had the privilege of participating in one of Ragan’s Social Media Workshops led by the incomparable Shel Holtz. For two full days we discussed the potential business impact of a host of social media tools that have burst on the scene the last few years—including Twitter, FriendFeed, Second Life and Facebook and how we, as communications professionals, can leverage these tools to start meaningful discussions with our key stakeholders to create value for our organizations.

What I found fascinating about the conversations was how quickly the democratization of content has changed the way communicators interact with their audiences (just look how multinational corporations like Kodak and Starbucks are leveraging social media to build their brands). To me, this sounded eerily similar to a trend that’s taking hold in media circles: Citizen journalism. Much like social media, citizen journalism (or, participatory journalism), has given readers and customers a voice. It’s changing the way we consume our news. While social media tools like blogs, podcasts and YouTube have allowed anybody with a computer and internet access the ability to shape, influence and change the perceptions, attitudes and behaviors of our audiences (see what happened when two guys got creative with the Coke and Mentos brands), citizen journalism has given those same folks the ability to directly contribute to the news in their community.

Interested to hear more? (Here’s my shameless plug—remember, full disclosure) Attend an interactive session on citizen journalism at American Public Media/Minnesota Public Radio’s offices in downtown St. Paul on Thursday, June 19. We’ve assembled an all-star cast of journalists, editors and producers who will discuss the changing model of journalism and how you, as communications practitioners, can take advantage of this new trend to help better tell your organization’s story to your key audiences. Visit the MN PRSA Web site for complete details. I look forward to seeing you next Thursday. (Also, big thanks to Ryan for giving me the opportunity to guest blog).