This story is especially disturbing to me for two reasons.
Missing Teacher from Bethpage, Long Island
One, it's close to home, real close. She's about my age, and she was in a situation I could have just as easily been in. Two, she teaches at a school that is a client of ours. Very sad--please pray for her safety and if you have any information please do the right thing!
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Media Advisory--PR girls don't eat dessert!
So a couple of months back I attended a Publicity Club of NY luncheon and "jokingly" poked fun at the crowd of coiffed, predominantly female attendees. Well yesterday, I revisited the scene and quickly saw that I wasn't the only one who observed the unusual habits of the "NYC PR girl."
Generally at these types of luncheons, you get served a nice chicken dish, maybe even a steak if you're lucky, and usually some sort of generic cake/pie/ice cream type desert. Not gonna lie, I always eat the desert! Interestingly, I believe I might be the only one in PR that does. This month's luncheon served up possibly the most healthy meal ever placed in front of me. Appetizer--lettuce with possibly a dash of some sort of vinaigrette, Main Course--steamed veggies, boiled potatoes and what I guess was poached salmon? (PS, I loathe salmon...), "Desert" (And I use that term loosely)--3 blueberries and a strawberry. Oh yeah, and the Diet Coke was in full effect, but regular Coke had been pulled from the table all together!
Now don't get me wrong, I fully attended this luncheon for the panelists and networking, and very much enjoyed their discussion and helpful hints, and as a former waitress, I am grateful for any nice meal that is prepared and served to me, but I just had to comment on the hilarity of the menu and beverage choice for the crowd of nearly all young women with "small appetites." I bet the few men in the room left there hungry!
This got me wondering why there are so few men in the business. Even in my own office, the women outnumber the men by a lot (A LOT!) It doesn't seem like a girly profession to me, anyone have any thoughts on this?
Oh yeah, and once again, even though I was furiously taking notes about potential blog topics during the luncheon, I was also gaining valuable insight into the pitching preferences of journalists. One thing was clear, phone calls are out, emails are in. All five editors and writers on the panel agreed that they rarely even answer their office phones and never listen to voicemails. I guess the days of call sheets and rehearsed pitches are over. In this digital world, a short, compelling email that positions your client as a "gotta have it" story seems like the way to go. One thing that was interest to me though, was that most of the panelists DID NOT enjoy the follow up email. My colleagues and I have always thought this was a great way to stay fresh in a writers mind and to give them a gentle reminder to get in touch. So now I'm torn, to follow up or not to follow up, that is the question...
Generally at these types of luncheons, you get served a nice chicken dish, maybe even a steak if you're lucky, and usually some sort of generic cake/pie/ice cream type desert. Not gonna lie, I always eat the desert! Interestingly, I believe I might be the only one in PR that does. This month's luncheon served up possibly the most healthy meal ever placed in front of me. Appetizer--lettuce with possibly a dash of some sort of vinaigrette, Main Course--steamed veggies, boiled potatoes and what I guess was poached salmon? (PS, I loathe salmon...), "Desert" (And I use that term loosely)--3 blueberries and a strawberry. Oh yeah, and the Diet Coke was in full effect, but regular Coke had been pulled from the table all together!
Now don't get me wrong, I fully attended this luncheon for the panelists and networking, and very much enjoyed their discussion and helpful hints, and as a former waitress, I am grateful for any nice meal that is prepared and served to me, but I just had to comment on the hilarity of the menu and beverage choice for the crowd of nearly all young women with "small appetites." I bet the few men in the room left there hungry!
This got me wondering why there are so few men in the business. Even in my own office, the women outnumber the men by a lot (A LOT!) It doesn't seem like a girly profession to me, anyone have any thoughts on this?
Oh yeah, and once again, even though I was furiously taking notes about potential blog topics during the luncheon, I was also gaining valuable insight into the pitching preferences of journalists. One thing was clear, phone calls are out, emails are in. All five editors and writers on the panel agreed that they rarely even answer their office phones and never listen to voicemails. I guess the days of call sheets and rehearsed pitches are over. In this digital world, a short, compelling email that positions your client as a "gotta have it" story seems like the way to go. One thing that was interest to me though, was that most of the panelists DID NOT enjoy the follow up email. My colleagues and I have always thought this was a great way to stay fresh in a writers mind and to give them a gentle reminder to get in touch. So now I'm torn, to follow up or not to follow up, that is the question...
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Reflections
Had some time to think this weekend on my own, which almost always leads to over-analyzation (is that a word) on all subjects...I guess it's the writer in me...
Last weekend I was in my often mentioned favorite town of Newport, RI. I am adding my first pictures to this blog (if it works) to try and capture how truly serene it is there for those of you who have not been.
While there, I of course had a momentary mental crisis in which I questioned why I ever left such a peaceful existence and the easy living of a writer by day, waitress by night, party girl by late night, life. As I sat at the bar at my old place of work, seeing far less familiar faces than my last visit, I realized that it was the right decision to move on. My NY life is sometimes filled with stress, money woes, traffic and more stress but it is also filled with excitement, motivation, a meaningful career, new friends and relationships and a dream of fame and fortune (fingers crossed).
Lately though, I'll admit, I've been feeling a little friendless. Not in the pathetic, I literally have no friends way, just in the fact that I don't have all that many close friends around me in NY these days, and I don't have a giant group that I roll with like I did back in the day. I guess that is a part of growing up. Friends get married, have children, move, and that giant posse of ever-ready to party pals becomes a lot smaller. You begin to hang with couples (if your a couple) or work friends, or friends of convenience, but sometimes you just really miss your old friends.
I guess I am not the only one who feels this way though. Recently an old best friend from college who I lost touch with (she lives in Chicago now) contacted me. It brought on an email chain between old friends that went on for about 200 emails in the past couple of weeks between 10 or 12 friends who are now spread all over the country and doing all sorts of things. A big reunion is now set for December in NY and a spring trip to include even more of us is brewing. Yay for old friends reuniting!
Sometimes on the flip side, you just grow apart from people who may have once been close to you. You change or grow, they don't, or vice-versa, but if they were really as important to you as you thought, then you learn to accept the differences. If not, then you move on, appreciate the friendship for what it was and look forward to making new friends and cherishing the ones that will remain forever...
On a final, and completely off-topic note--Congrats to my boss, Hilary Topper for being chosen as a finalist for Blogger of the Year by the Stevie Awards. Check out her blog at www.hilarytopper.com. And yes, that is me with the giant cookie from my darling boyfriend :)
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Sunday night
Just a quick post because I'm having my usual Sunday night anxiety/insomnia after a sweet fall weekend, complete with wine tasting, apple pie, and one of those two hour walks on the boardwalk talking about everything from religion to black socks with white sneakers (everyone knows this is a major fashion faux paus right??)
As I was checking my emails, paying my bills, looking at my planner for the week's agenda, and watching my Sunday night shows, I remembered that we were assigned "homework" just before the 5 o'clock whistle on Friday at work. Panic has now set in, as it did so many times before, in Jr. High, High School, College...wait did I ever really do homework??
Anyway, I digress. Seeing how it is now 11:42 pm and counting, I am faced with a dilemma I have had MANY times before. Do I try and do it now, when I'm tired (although apparently not too tired to write this while simultaneously watching a Two and Half Men rerun on the CW) or do I set my alarm early and do it in the morning? Odds are pretty good that I will hit snooze 2-3 times, then take an extra long shower, change my outfit 4 times and show up to my morning staff meeting flustered, unprepared and praying that I don't get called on.
A less serious Allie may have rolled the dice with the quick, morning homework scramble, but this Allie is doing it now, I promise! Tired or not...
Speaking of other Allie's, stay tuned for my latest "other" Allie Herzog story...our paths have crossed...I wonder if I'll get my domain name back now? :)
As I was checking my emails, paying my bills, looking at my planner for the week's agenda, and watching my Sunday night shows, I remembered that we were assigned "homework" just before the 5 o'clock whistle on Friday at work. Panic has now set in, as it did so many times before, in Jr. High, High School, College...wait did I ever really do homework??
Anyway, I digress. Seeing how it is now 11:42 pm and counting, I am faced with a dilemma I have had MANY times before. Do I try and do it now, when I'm tired (although apparently not too tired to write this while simultaneously watching a Two and Half Men rerun on the CW) or do I set my alarm early and do it in the morning? Odds are pretty good that I will hit snooze 2-3 times, then take an extra long shower, change my outfit 4 times and show up to my morning staff meeting flustered, unprepared and praying that I don't get called on.
A less serious Allie may have rolled the dice with the quick, morning homework scramble, but this Allie is doing it now, I promise! Tired or not...
Speaking of other Allie's, stay tuned for my latest "other" Allie Herzog story...our paths have crossed...I wonder if I'll get my domain name back now? :)
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