PR for People

Likes and Lemmings February 6, 2012

admin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:33:27 +0000

Recently, I was shopping for a new armchair to give as a present to my husband, so I used Google to search furniture websites. Now every time I go into my Facebook account, I see targeted ads for certain home décor companies and the photos of my Facebook friends who “like” them. Using the “likes” of my friends is not a huge selling point. For some of my friends, their idea of home décor is leaving their Christmas tree up until February because it adds a fresh burst of color to their living room.

In my Facebook, I also get targeted ads for shoes, cashmere sweaters and skin care, even though there is nothing in my Facebook profile to indicate that I really do like these things. (I have searched for these items on Google and have purchased them online.)

I do know that the algorithms used by Facebook or Google are the function of the minds of engineers and they have no way of telling which of my friends have intrinsic design sensibility that I might value. Soon algorithms will utilize a higher level of artificial intelligence and figure this out. And even when they do, I find it confusing to know which of my friends like something when all I want to do is look at chairs.

The late Roy Amara was a researcher, a scientist and a past president of the Institute for the Future. He had also worked at the Stanford Research Institute. He had a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering, but he also had an M.S in Arts and Science, which gave him a unique perspective to see both the forest and the trees. He is known for Amara’s Law: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”

I’m not a geek, so I don’t completely understand how, when I search for something on Google, that information is harvested by Facebook. Maybe these two big players actually like each other more than they say they do. Maybe there is no clash of the titans. Maybe it is just old fashioned monopoly and oligarchy shaping our economic landscape in the age of communications the same way the railroads shaped the landscape in the age of industrialization at the beginning of the last century. Back then, a few players made a whole lot of money, and I’m willing to bet that history is repeating itself.

Morgan Stanley, who is leading the IPO for Facebook, is quite popular on Facebook, and the last time I checked has 6,022 likes.

And Goldman Sachs, who gave Facebook a huge infusion of cash last year in anticipation of the IPO, is also very popular on Facebook. The last time I checked, Goldman Sachs has two fan pages, one for the bank and financial institution with 13,957 likes. Goldman Sachs also has a separate fan page for the organization with 15,120 likes.

Can you imagine anyone really liking Goldman Sachs?

In light of Facebook’s impending IPO, only a few key players who are well-connected and on the inside stand to make a whole lot of money. The rest of us will be pruning our likes when we see what happens to the incredibly personal information that we have spouted off to our Facebook friends. We will see how our personal information can be used without our consent for someone else’s profit and gain, or later on, for even darker motives.

As much as I have cautioned clients, colleagues, family and friends about being prudent and to exercise good judgment about what to post on Facebook, I am constantly amazed by the embarrassing things people put out there for the whole world to see. And if you think that your privacy settings will protect you from the predatory nature of the algorithms, then you deserve to be called a lemming looking for the highest cliff.

When you like something, keep in mind that you have given your consent for your name, image and likeness to be used as an endorsement in any context. Your photo can be used anywhere and you might be in the company of other people that you do not want to be associated with. When all the lemmings line up, you might be giving away a part of yourself that can be used in a most unflattering context or pose. Remember, algorithms have no heart. Be careful what you show, post, like and say. Lemmings never see the edge of the cliff until it’s too late. –Patricia Vaccarino

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Seattle, Special Event, Thursday, March 1st, 4pm to 6pm, Regus Office, 1100 Dexter Avenue North, The Solutions Room (Main Conference Suite), Seattle, WA 98109.

PR for People® presents investor Peter Atkins. Peter is the founder and managing director of Permian Partners, an investment fund focused primarily on Internet related companies. Peter is also the author of the Amazon bestselling Kindle book, Life Is Short And So Is This Book: Brief thoughts on making the most of your life, which has consistently been among the top-rated Kindle books on Amazon in the psychology of creativity and genius.

How can a few simple ideas, implemented consistently, change your life?

Peter will discuss lessons he’s learned to get the most out of life and business. He will also share his experience of successfully publishing a book on Amazon’s Kindle platform.

Seating is limited and you must RSVP: PRforPeopleEvents. (prforpeopleevents@gmail.com) If spaces are full, you will be wait-listed for standing room. There is no admission fee. This event is sponsored by Xanthus Communications LLC and its subsidiary PRforPeople®.

Justin Is Bieberlicious January 11, 2012

admin — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:28:56 +0000

I was on Twitter doing PR work for a client when I saw a thread of hysterical tweets: Justin Bieber’s grandparents were in a car crash! Justin Bieber’s grandparents’ car flipped! How are Justin Bieber’s grandparents? Are Justin Bieber’s grandparents alive or dead? OMG!! Justin Bieber really loves his grandparents!!!

I don’t follow Justin Bieber and I really don’t care about his grandparents, but I Googled the story, until I realized what I was doing. I was getting sucked-in to news that was totally irrelevant to anything in my business or my life. I got hooked by the story: drama, tragedy, imminent death and grief, an accident so horrific that the car flipped in the air and landed upside down. OMG! Justin Bieber may have lost his grandparents!

Whether it’s told in 140 characters, or in a book, an article, or a video, a good story will always command attention.

In the last few years, people have been giving up newspapers and TV news and keeping up with late-breaking news via Twitter. Ordinary people are sharing information and telling compelling stories that may or may not be true. Twitter spouts word-of-mouth chatter like a nasty super virus. Sooner or later you are going to catch the bug. You just don’t know how bad your symptoms will be and how long it will take for you to recover.

Twitter is making news more social and dramatic than it has ever been in the past. The question remains: will Twitter get you clients, increase sales and grow your business? Some reports predict 2012 will be the year social media gets boring.

With Twitter, it is hard to separate what is authentic from the poseurs. A large following may look impressive, but it is increasingly common to buy followers from teams in India who grow Twitter followers the same way black hat SEO tactics generated content farms and false links to boost websites’ search rankings on Google. People who have large Twitter followers do not always have a real community, but may have paid to buy a mercenary herd that is transported from one social media account to another.

Does Ashton Kutcher really have over nine million followers or is his magic genie a silk-turbaned Sikh team working in India for 2 dollars an hour?

Twitter offers no accountability to assess what is genuine news vs. rumormongers, carpetbaggers and snake oil salesmen. Twitter offers no authentication to truly know who is really tweeting behind the scenes. Twitter is more than the wild wild west. It’s a gold rush where no one knows what is real and what is fool’s gold. Use it as a tool for business intelligence or competitive intelligence to see who is out there and what they might be doing, but validate everything. Build your following to be a community-of-interest, composed of real people who want to hear what you have to say.

OMG!! What happened to Justin Bieber’s grandparents? They were scared and shaken-up, but they’re okay!!! –Patricia Vaccarino

PR for People® Events

PR for People® Seattle proudly presents “Stepping Out”
Book Launch Party for STEPS by Patricia Vaccarino at eXit SPACE Dance Studio Friday, Feb 3, 6 to 8:30pm
Attendees are encouraged to step-out and take the free ballet class that will be held at the studio during the launch party on Friday, February 3.

STEPS has been described as more than an ordinary business book.

Journalist Manny Frishberg said, “The title of Patricia Vaccarino’s new book STEPS is a mixed metaphor. There are the stair steps up in her grandmother’s house, which she mastered decades ago; there are the steps of a ballet class – the central metaphor of the book. Also, the steps of growing a business and a brand – the subject of the book. “Steps” is more than a business manual; it is part memoir, part meditation on the inner world of the ballet class, part exhortation to excellence: a pean to stretching beyond one’s reach.”

Vaccarino wants to inspire people of all ages to take up dance. “No matter how old you are or what kind of shape you are in, the time to dance is now,” she said. “Rigorous dance training makes people stronger in all areas of their lives, and especially in business.”

Revenue from the event’s book sales will be donated to the Seattle Dance Project. Founded in 2007 by Julie Tobiason and Timothy Lynch, Seattle Dance Project is a world-class dance company.

PR for People® Seattle, Wed, Feb 1, RESCHEDULED!! Seattle Book Summit, Buy Books for America! Pop-up retail event for authors to sell their books and give a percentage to non-profit organizations and foundations. Secret location. Details forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Spreading the Joy December 20 2011

admin — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:30:33 +0000

My new book STEPS takes the fundamental principles of ballet training and applies them to best practices in business. During the course of ballet training, a dancer learns to make one small adjustment at a time. A business person also needs to learn to make one small adjustment at a time. Frequently, it is hard for the business person to see exactly what needs to be improved. We don’t all have the discipline to train in ballet. Instead, to improve our businesses, we must find the right coach or management consultant who will help us identify exactly what needs to be improved. –Patricia Vaccarino

Wharton Grad and mother of four children, Randy Joy Epstein will take your business to the next level. Randy Joy grew up on a tree-lined block in Brooklyn, where everything that mattered in life, the butcher, the baker, the grocer, and the school, was accessible by foot. No matter where she traveled, Randy Joy has always had a strong desire to explore excellence by helping companies and organizations, large and small, identify what obstacles need to be removed so they can stay focused on moving forward to hit their marks. Randy Joy’s greatest passion is to take a company, and to set up all the elements that matter to make it thrive. She also likes helping startups leapfrog over the rudimentary steps and quickly gain traction in the marketplace.

Randy Joy’s career actually started at Price Waterhouse Cooper, where she was an accountant and her clients were fortune 500 companies, and startups. The numbers always tell the truth. Randy takes pride in having the unique ability to see the numbers and to work backwards, creating a trail that clearly defines what is working and what is not. Then it’s on to next steps and creating a road map for unstoppable growth. To make change, first you make small adjustments. Then a succession of incremental, barely perceptible changes sustained over time will produce the long-lasting, desired results that ultimately become a major paradigm shift. Randy says, “When you pursue excellence anything is possible, so long as you have clear vision, a road map of where you need to go, and the persistence to stay the course.”

PR for People® Events

PR for People® Seattle, Sunday, January 1, 4 to 6pm, Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month will present Marianne Sweeny to give us a recap on Google’s latest updates with Panda and what impact it will have on your business.

PR for People® Seattle, Ben Franklin Breakfast,Thursday, January 19, 7:30 to 9am, Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month we will introduce the new contact management system TheListInc.com.

PR for People® Seattle, WED, Feb 1, STEPS + Seattle Dance Project. Secret location. Details forthcoming. Stay tuned.

Look who’s talking! December 12, 2011

admin — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:18:46 +0000

Speaking engagements are highly sought after by many types of professionals who understand that getting out there and speaking in front of an audience is critical to the brand-building process. We think our clients are exceptional, so we are sending news flashes to our large and growing list of contacts to let them know that our clients are available to give presentations as keynote speakers.

Wali Collins is America’s most loved Comedian. He was the first African American to host Comedy Central. Wali is a regular at all of the mainstream comedy clubs in New York City and Los Angeles. He headlines and tours at comedy clubs in Europe and Asia. Now Wali has created a popular movement around his book The Y’NEVANO Book of ENCOURAGEMENTS. Y’NEVANO has grown to become many things: a video, a book, a state of mind, and a movement. Wali’s television stand-up credits include HBO, ABC’s “The View,” Comedy Central’s “Tough Crowd” and “Late Show with David Letterman.” He was nominated three years in a row as “College Campus Entertainer of the Year.” Wali is also the most sought after comedian for corporate events: Johnson and Johnson, IBM, FEDEX, and L’Oreal.

Garret Kramer is the Author of Stillpower, the highly acclaimed book about coaching and performance. Garret Kramer also is the founder and managing partner of Inner Sports, LLC. His revolutionary approach to performance has transformed the way players, coaches, professional teams, and even parents view the athletic and life journey. He has provided consulting and/or crisis management services to hundreds of athletes and coaches, from well known professionals, Olympians, and teams, to high school and collegiate players across a multitude of sports. Garret Kramer’s presentations are customized for each audience and attendees are strongly encouraged to ask questions and to participate in a dynamic interaction that sheds illumination on the forces that shape how we perceive our own abilities and the world around us. Presentation topics range from: Transforming the mindset of the world class athlete to Penn State: Analysis of a Tragedy.

Julie Tobiason reached the pinnacle of success in the ballet world. As a principal dancer for Pacific Northwest Ballet, she has danced many varied roles, which include Juliet, Swanhilda, Cinderella, Hermia, Agon and Jardi Tancat. Ms. Tobiason has performed pieces by Fredrick Ashton, George Balanchine, Kent Stowell, Nacho Duato, Val Caniparoli, Mark Dendy, Donald Byrd, William Forsythe, Maureen Whiting, Paul Taylor and Lynne Taylor-Corbet. She is co-founder and was co-artistic director of Seattle Dance Project, a modern and contemporary dance company. While directing Seattle Dance Project, Ms. Tobiason has planned and implemented successful public speaking and fundraising events. Through her years as a performing artist, she has learned some important lessons about business and life and is able to share her experiences about coaching and mentoring, managing multiple priorities, and the value of listening to your gut instinct.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, December 15, 7:30 to 9am. Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, Seattle, WA 98119. This month we will focus on trending in Twitter.

PR for People® Seattle, Sunday, January 1, 4 to 6pm, Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month will present Marianne Sweeny to give us a recap on Google’s latest algorithms and what impact it will have on your business. Please rsvp:PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.

PR for People® Seattle, Ben Franklin Breakfast,Thursday, January 19, 7:30 to 9am, Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month we will introduce the new contact management system TheListInc.com.

PR for People® Seattle, Tues, Feb 1, Seattle Book Summit, Buy Books for America! Pop-up retail event for authors to sell their books and give a percentage to non-profit organizations and foundations. Secret location. Details forthcoming. Stay tuned.

PR for People® Announces Strategic Partnership with Hollywood Celebrity Broker Tim Cavanaugh November 7 2011

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:38:31 +0000

PR for People® is aggressively seeking speaking opportunities for its many individual clients.

Xanthus Communications LLC and its subsidiary PR for People today announced a strategic partnership with Hollywood Celebrity Broker Tim Cavanaugh. Tim Cavanaugh is the principal of a full-service celebrity booking company, Cavanaugh & Associates, based in Los Angeles, which specializes in coordinating celebrity promotions and appearances from conventions & expos to entertainers to speakers at corporate events and universities. Cavanaugh also books celebrities for product endorsements, media tours, product launches, hosting of events, direct/response marketing and infomercials.

According to Tim Cavanaugh, “We have the ability to work with any celebrity in any area (sports, television, film, reality, chefs, music, nostalgia, comedians, authors, speakers etc.) and are not limited to a restricted roster of talent. “

Tim Cavanaugh is emphatic about working with non-celebrities when his client doesn’t have the budget to hire a celebrity. However, non-celebrities must be highly credentialed, talented and compelling speakers.

Xanthus Communications LLC has always sought speaking opportunities for its clients in the same traditional way as many other PR firms, a process which is both time consuming and expensive for the client who is pursuing speaking engagements, but now through its subsidiary PR for People ® there is a push to get clients high quality speaking opportunities at a nominal cost.

According to Patricia Vaccarino, founder of PR for People®,”We are committed to getting our highly credentialed clients in front of the right audiences. We want companies, organizations and professional groups & associations to use us as a first source to find their speaking candidates. Our clients are not necessarily household names, but they are rising stars– business people, creative professionals, performing artists, academics, and authors. “

Tim Cavanaugh has over 25 years experience in the industry and has an extensive network of relationships with celebrities, companies, organizations, charitable foundations and businesses of all sizes. In his practice, he frequently encounters clients who cannot afford the high fees to book a celebrity. Instead these companies and organizations want to hire an expert or a business person who may not have a household name yet, but is skilled at giving great presentations. Cavanaugh’s fees are paid by the company or organization.

Cavanaugh said, “I never charge the talent for anything (to pitch them etc.) – my fee always comes from the client who is either booking a speaker or hiring me for a celebrity seeding/gifting/outreach project.”

The strategic partnership between Cavanaugh & Associates and PR for People means clients, who maintain a press kit on (http://www.prforpeople.com) will be evaluated by Tim Cavanaugh for speaking engagements and other promotional opportunities, including product endorsements. PR for People will also send Cavanaugh monthly updates to announce new clients, their capabilities and their fees.

In December 2010, Xanthus Communications launched a new website for PR for People offering the PR tools needed to build a professional brand: a Press Kit and Media Switchboard Service. PR for People members come from all industries and sectors and include, but are not limited to, attorneys, accountants, actors, authors, architects, artists, beauty experts, dancers, dentists, designers, educators, economists, fashion designers, financial planners, graphic designers, interior designers, IT specialists, healthcare practitioners, HR consultants, medical doctors, musicians, nutritionists, research scientists, retailers, business coaches, sports coaches and therapists…just to name a few.

NOTE: To be eligible for speaking opportunities that are made available by PR for People ® you must have a press kit on the website.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® New York City at Butterfield 8, Monday, November 7, 6 to 8:30pm. Special Autumn Celebration! Please join us in the private room of the Butterfield 8, East Midtown, 5 East 38th Street New York, NY 10016-0001 Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com

PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, November 17, 7:30 to 9am. Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, Seattle, WA 98119. This month we will focus on latest trends in presentation skills. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents.

PR for People® Seattle, Thursday, December 1st , 6 to 8:30pm 3rd Annual Holiday party. Location: Hyatt at Olive 8 Urbane Room, 1635 8th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101

PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, December 15, 7:30 to 9am. Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, Seattle, WA 98119. This month we will focus on latest trends in presentation skills.

PR for People® Seattle, Sunday, January 1, 4 to 6pm, Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month will present Marianne Sweeny to give us a recap on Google’s latest algorithms and what impact it will have on your business.

Hats On and Gloves Off October 14 2011

admin — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:10:41 +0000

Hats make a statement that reach far beyond fashion and royal weddings. During the Great Depression, women wore hats, real stockings, garters and gloves. Some carried sturdy pocketbooks to stow away their hardscrabble cash. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, women knew how to dress. Many women only owned one good dress. The resurgence of hats in fashion is a sign of the times. And yet integrity, talent, courage and hard work has never been out of fashion. Are we seeing a return to traditional values? Only time will tell. Wear a hat. Make a new deal. Please join us for PR for People-Seattle on November 1st when we proudly present the incredibly talented milliner Annie de Vuono.

Milliner Annie de Vuono was born and raised in Chicago where dance was her first love. Trained in the Cecchetti method of ballet, she studied at Ruth Page, home of the Chicago Ballet, Gus Giordano and at the Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. During the early phase of her work as a milliner, de Vuono created exquisite variations of the fascinator which were highly stylized and expensive to make. Her big break came when Vogue Magazine included her work in a major holiday feature and asked her if she made any other type of headdress. de Vuono responded to the Vogue request as if it was a calling. “I can do this,” she told them. Soon all types of hats became part of her collections. de Vuono is true to the time-honored tradition of making millinery: every piece is created and stitched by hand, a one-of-a-kind creation that tells the story of the person who will wear the hat in the same way that a choreographic work is set on a new dancer.

Congratulations to our client, Pediatrician Cheryl Wu, MD who signed on with us earlier this year and as a result of our Media Switchboard service has now acquired 18 media placements. Please see her press kit.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, October 20th, 7:30 to 9am. Location: Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month we will focus on Google+. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.

PR for People® Seattle at La Belle Reve, Tuesday, November 1st , 6 to 8pm. This month we will feature the prominent hat designer Annie de Vuono http://www.prforpeople.com/anniedevuono during a trunk show at Bellevue’s premier bridal salon La Belle Reve, located 900 108th Ave NE Suite 104 Bellevue, WA 98004. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.

PR for People® New York City at Butterfield 8, Monday, November 7, 6 to 8:30pm. Special Autumn Celebration! Please join us in the private room of the Butterfield 8, East Midtown, 5 East 38th Street New York, NY 10016-0001 Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com

One Trick Pony September 12 2011

admin — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 16:42:27 +0000

Recently, I heard from an HR consultant in Boston who I had not been in touch with for three years. He was planning to write a book and self-publish. Before the book was even written, he was already thinking about marketing it, which is why he was reaching out to me. He wants the book to make money.

He has no intention of ever writing another book. This is a one-off. He has limited expertise. The book’s content is not clever or original. He is not really a writer. He is a one trick pony.

I told him not to expect to make money. In fact, quite the opposite is true. He could expect to spend money to publish and market his book. He will have to hire a developmental editor, a book cover designer, a layout artist, and a publishing company. After the book is published, he will still have to invest more time and money to market his work. It is highly unlikely that he can expect to recover his investment. From a purely practical standpoint, his book can be written off on his taxes as a business loss.

There are benefits to publishing a book. Writing a book is a true accomplishment. Your book is an additional credential to add to your press kit. Your book is a great tool to expand awareness for your professional brand. You can also leverage your book to get speaking opportunities and press coverage. But it’s not a money maker. If you want to make money, then you are better off selling shoes or real estate.

Since the advent of social media, the art of writing has been redefined. Anyone can call himself a writer. People—who are not ordinarily writers– are publishing books in droves. The Internet has grown to become a vast wasteland of so many new books that even great writers, truly talented wordsmiths, are forced to wander in the desert until they are recognized for having their own special place in the sun. The changing paradigm shift in publishing means great authors have to work harder than ever to build their brands.

To learn more about the art of writing, publishing, promotion and how to build your brand as an author please join us at Northwest Bookfest 2011 in Kirkland, WA, Oct 1-2.–Patricia Vaccarino

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Seattle at Northwest Bookfest October 1 & 2, 2011, 10am – 6pm. Location: Peter Kirk Park, 202 Third Street, Kirkland, WA. Over fifty author panels, hundreds of authors, writing and publishing workshops.
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, October 20th, 7:30 to 9am. Location: Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month we will focus on Google+. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com
PR for People® Seattle at La Belle Reve, Tuesday, November 1st , 6 to 8pm. This month we will feature the prominent hat designer Annie de Vuono http://www.prfropeople.com/anniedevuono during a trunk show at Bellevue’s premier bridal salon La Belle Reve, located 900 108th Ave NE Suite 104 Bellevue, WA 98004. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.
PR for People® New York City at Butterfield 8, Monday, November 7, 6 to 8:30pm. Special Autumn Celebration! Please join us in the private room of the Butterfield 8, East Midtown, 5 East 38th Street New York, NY 10016-0001 Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, November 17, 7:30 to 9am. Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119. This month we will focus on latest trends in presentation skills. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com
PR for People® Seattle, Thursday, December 1st , 6 to 8:30pm 3rd Annual Holiday party! Location: Hyatt at Olive 8 Urbane Room, 1635 8th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com.

PR: For the Living and the Dead August 16, 2011

admin — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:31:07 +0000

A colleague recently asked me whether I do PR for dead people. Doing PR for the dead is the same as doing PR for the living. There is one advantage, however; a dead client can’t do or say something stupid.

Ever wonder why Elvis and Marilyn just won’t go away? The estates and families of dead celebrities have reason to keep resurrecting the names of the deceased. It’s called Brand Equity. There is a lot of money and new licensing deals yet to be made when a brand is kept alive by PR people pitching new stories about the same old thing.

Back in 2000 when I was VP of Communications for PublishingOnline, I went to London to meet with Glidrose Productions, which held the rights to James Bond. Most people don’t know why James Bond kept coming back long after James Bond’s creator, Ian Fleming, was dead. Ian Fleming was actually from a wealthy English banking family who recognized the inherent long-term value in the James Bond Brand and were able to invest in the brand to keep it alive.

Before his death, Ian Fleming, wrote twelve novels and two collections of short stories. The celebrated British literary author Kingsley Amis wrote one Bond book under a pseudonym (Robert Markham). American literary giant John Gardner took on the Bond assignment and wrote fourteen novels and two film novelizations. Chicago-based Raymond Benson became the fourth official writer of the James Bond 007 novels. Raymond felt that after six original novels, three film novelizations, and three short stories, he needed to do something new and today is successfully building his own brand.

According to Raymond Benson, “I got the [James Bond] job mainly because Mr. Peter Janson-Smith and the people at Ian Fleming Publications Ltd. (back then it was called Glidrose Publications) had assisted me with my non-fiction, encyclopedic work, THE JAMES BOND BEDSIDE COMPANION, which was first published in 1984. They liked the book and figured I knew the Bond universe. Which was true. We stayed in touch through the late eighties and early nineties, and then in late 1995 I got the call from Peter, asking if I’d like to take over from John Gardner, who was retiring from the gig.”

Since his James Bond Assignment, Benson has gone on to write the following novels under his own name: EVIL HOURS (2001; revised edition 2004) FACE BLIND (2003) SWEETIE’S DIAMONDS (2006) TORMENT (2011) ARTIFACT OF EVIL (2011).

On September 5th, Raymond Benson is coming out with a new book, THE BLACK STILETTO about the legendary underground heroine who made a name for herself during the 1950s and early 1960s as a New York City vigilante. Although she was wanted by the law and would have been arrested had she been caught or had her secret identity been revealed, the Black Stiletto was a competent and successful crime-fighter who battled crooks, communist spies, the mafia, and was responsible for their capture and, in some cases, their deaths. But the Stiletto disappeared midway through the sixties, was never heard from again and no one ever knew her identity. Millions of dollars were made by others exploiting her likeness and persona, but to this day, her true identity remains shrouded in mystery. The BLACK STILETTO is the first of a series and the sequel is already scheduled for publication May 2012.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, August 18, 7:30 to 9am
Location: Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119.
To commemorate Ben Franklin and the practical necessity of multi-disciplinary intelligence, every month on the third Thursday of every month, PR for People hosts a breakfast networking group. This month we will focus on Hiring: subcontracting vs. employment. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com

PR for People® Seattle, Thursday, September 1st , 6 to 8pm “Meet Ariel & Shya Kane”
Location: Hyatt at Olive 8 Urbane Room, 1635 8th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
Ariel and Shya Kane are award-winning authors and internationally acclaimed seminar leaders whose transformational approach allows people to discover satisfaction and increased productivity in all areas of their lives. Acting as Catalysts for Personal Transformation, the Kanes provide ongoing consulting and interactive seminars for a range of clients from individuals and couples to entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 companies.
Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com

In whom do you trust? The new gold standard July 26 2011

admin — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 21:13:17 +0000

Jim Kingsland’s expertise as a dealer in rare coins, precious metals and currency comes from years of covering the subject on broadcast news.

From the time he was a little kid, Jim remembers being fascinated with coins, and he started collecting Mercury dimes and pennies. He also wanted to be on the radio. By the time he was 14, he visited a local radio station and asked if they had any volunteer work for him to do. Soon he was working in the news room where they cut articles from the local paper to use for potential on-air stories. The following summer he became a newscaster on Sunday morning. By the time he headed off to college at St. Thomas Aquinas College, he was already the news director of the local radio station WGRC 1300 in Rockland County. Eventually, he worked his way up as a traffic reporter on 1010 WINS. Mike Bloomberg interviewed him in 1992 and he took a job with Bloomberg, where he stayed as a news anchor for fourteen years.

Jim’s two great passions converge in his work on radio. For years he has covered currency, coins, gold and silver. He has a deep appreciation for the beauty of every coin and explains how the meticulous craftsmanship and design speaks to tell the story of its history and culture. His oldest coin is a 300AD Roman coin that has sharp detail and appears to look like it is uncirculated condition. He thinks it is amazing how this coin was held by people who lived thousands of years ago.

With all the changes taking place in our global economy: hiring, education, and in financial markets and housing markets, in government, and especially the value of the American dollar, there is increased desire to acquire gold, silver and coins as a hedge against inflation and the declining US currency. We are now living in a world where the usual forms of currency cannot be trusted. Jim believes the price of precious metals and coins will continue to rise dramatically.

We’ve entered a time where the new metrics are in people as much as they are in gold or silver. Jim Kingsland’s ideal standard is to introduce people to gold and silver gradually as an educational process because ultimately it is something valuable for them to know about. He isn’t interested in getting rich off of one coin and keeps his profit margins low enough so people can afford to invest in larger quantities. This type of business ethic builds goodwill, and most important of all, it brings him repeat business and long-term trusted relationships.

Jim has just launched a new radio show Gold and Silver Radio, an hour long program interviewing economists who understand what is going on in the breakdown of financial systems all over the world and why the American dollar is in a vulnerable position. The new radio show airs every Saturday, 12noon EST on 970 WNYM. The show will be will be restreamed.
About Jim Kingsland
Jim Kingsland has been a broadcast journalist since 1978, and has held anchor positions at Fox Business Network, Bloomberg Radio, CNBC, and the Financial News Network, reporting on business and the markets. Jim has significant expertise in rare and precious metals and in recently published his book with Random House “Coin and Precious Metal Values 2010: Trends, Deals, and Predictions for the Smart Investor“.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Seattle, Monday, August 1, 6 to 8pm “Meet the Press”
Location: Pike Place Bar & Grill, 90 Pike Street, upstairs at Pike and Pike. On Pike Street by Left Bank Books, go up the stairs and join us in this landmark Seattle restaurant that looks out into the Pike Place Market. When you enter the restaurant, please turn right and join us for a celebration of community press. Three parking lots are on First Avenue between Pine and Pike. Macy’s parking garage is on Third and Stewart. Free parking is available in the market. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents@gmail.com

What’s Cooking Under the Southern Sun? July 14 2011

admin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:22:29 +0000

Chef Johnson‘s long affair with food has taken her around the world, and yet this food stylist and mega yacht chef has the humble beginnings of a small town girl. “Cameron, South Carolina,” she says in a long drawl, “you don’t get much smaller than that. It’s a farming community of about 300 people, five churches and no stoplights. If you weren’t in church on Sunday, people would come looking for you.”

Chef Johnson’s father was a country doctor who was often paid for his services with gifts of food. She remembers waiting at night on the back steps for her father to come home from work. He always brought home presents: fresh fruit and vegetables, bounty from the harvest, fresh baked pies still cooling from the oven.

In high school, she took a course in home economics and didn’t want to make cakes from a box. “That’s not me, “she says. “I wanted to do mine differently.” She worked in food, making deliveries, waitressing in hotels. She was around commercial kitchens all the time, but she didn’t think of being a Chef. Her husband, Richard, was a professional “Captain” and she accompanied him on his assignments to private yachts. One of the yacht owners asked her to start cooking.

In Fort Lauderdale she registered with the top yacht crew agencies. At first, they told her she wasn’t qualified to call herself a cook, and that was after she had been cooking on yachts for five years. “Don’t ever tell me no,” Chef Johnson said. “My motto is if you think you have gone far enough to get the job done, then you haven’t even begun to start.”

Chef Johnson went to the American Culinary Federation in St. Augustine, Florida. That first day, she sat for only one test, chef de cuisine and passed. A lot of places will not hire an executive chef, she notes and leave the kitchen to the chef de cuisine. She also did a lot of pastries, but confesses, “Most chefs only have one credential.” Still, she had these amazing ideas for pastry creations in her head and is also certified as an executive pastry chef. She can walk into any 5 star hotel and run their whole pastry operation.

Cooking on yachts for years has given Chef Johnson reason to create and name her own cuisine Ocean Fusion ™. “A lot of Ocean Fusion is inspired from seafood–everything we have on board the yacht, we mix with what we catch fresh from the sea.” She also describes another signature style as Rustic Etruscan. She makes her own pizza with fresh vegetables and bacon, or with something very different like an Edamame pizza, or small individual pizzas cooked with Cipollini onions, spinach, olive oil and sea salt, or lettuce and shrimp, then baked in a wood burning oven.

Once a year, Chef Mary Beth Lawton Johnson teaches at a southern culinary school as a featured guest chef extraordinaire. Her students dream of one day working in a restaurant or of opening their own restaurants. “You don’t have to get stuck in a restaurant,” she tells her students. Some of the best jobs in food haven’t even been created yet.” Chef Johnson wants people to see that there are as many different possibilities in culinary roles as there are ways of taking ordinary food and transforming it into art.

NOTE: Chef Mary Beth Lawton Johnson, CEPC, CCC is a Certified Executive Pastry Chef and Certified Chef de Cuisine through the American Culinary Federation. Chef Johnson is also one of the highest credentialed chefs in the yachting industry today. Chef Johnson has cooked for numerous CEOs & corporate executives, and royalty such as the Prince of Orange, the author and English politician Lord Baron Jeffery Archer, Lord and Lady Astor. Please see her press kit.

PR for People® Events
PR for People® Ben Franklin Breakfast, Thursday, July 21st, 7:30 to 9am
Location: Bustle Café, 535 W. McGraw St, WA 98119.
To commemorate Ben Franklin and the practical necessity of multi-disciplinary intelligence, every month on the third Thursday of every month, PR for People hosts a breakfast networking group. This month we will focus on the latest content management systems to track sales and business development. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents

PR for People® Seattle, Monday, August 1, 6 to 8pm “Meet the Press”
Location: Pike Place Bar & Grill, 90 Pike Street, upstairs at Pike and Pike. On Pike Street by Left Bank Books, go up the stairs and join us in this landmark Seattle restaurant that looks out into the Pike Place Market. When you enter the restaurant, please turn right and join us for a celebration of community press. Three parking lots are on First Avenue between Pine and Pike. Macy’s parking garage is on Third and Stewart. Free parking is available in the market. Please rsvp: PRforPeopleEvents