You`ve Got to Know When to Hold `Em

3/9/2016
You've Got to Know
When to Hold 'Em:
This is the New Year:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=n1yAqMn1E0M
School PR Lessons
Learned from Country Lyrics
Brian Woodland, APR
Director of Communications
and Community Relations
@brian_woodland
Peel District School Board
@peelschools
I Like How It Feels:
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=2a643umH
3H0
#CountryPR
Best Day:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=8WXx4Zf_eAw
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3/9/2016
You've Got to Know
When to Hold 'Em:
You've Got to Know
When to Hold 'Em:
Brian Woodland, APR
Director of Communications
and Community Relations
@brian_woodland
Brian Woodland, APR
Director of Communications
and Community Relations
@brian_woodland
School PR Lessons
Learned from Country Lyrics
Peel District School Board
@peelschools
School PR Lessons
Learned from Country Lyrics
#CountryPR
Peel District School Board
@peelschools
#CountryPR
#CountryPR
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
Scribes
@MandeePuleo
@JoshuaTSauer
@lesleybruinton
@tvmelissa
Researchers
@sabreangel
@WheelerCFB
@maryprusak
@Mcronk4875
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
Chris Cagle
www.peelschools.org/countryPR
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3/9/2016
You've Got to Know
When to Hold 'Em:
www.peelschools.org/countryPR
School PR Lessons
Learned from Country Lyrics
Brian Woodland, APR
Director of Communications
and Community Relations
@brian_woodland
Peel District School Board
@peelschools
The Gambler
Kenny Rogers
#CountryPR
“I grew up listening to
Queen. They were no
stranger to throwing in
the unexpected and
something a little more
dramatic.”
- Carrie Underwood
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3/9/2016
PR – the image
PR – the reality
Thank You for Smoking:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=iBELC_vxqhI
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3/9/2016
“PR people are
all pretty much
insecure over
achievers”
#PRGoddess
The Office: 0:29 – 0: 44
https://www.youtube.co
m/watch?v=AZ3v7V2C
Zu8
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3/9/2016
Replace “liked”
with “trusted”
“
You will not become a
trusted advisor through
great marketing
programs, great
presentations, or even
great blogs or tweets.
Trust is created in your
exchanges with others”
- Charles H Green, Andrea P.
Howe, The Trusted Advisor
Fieldbook
As the song says…
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3/9/2016
About
superintendents…
The Academic
The Cheerleader
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3/9/2016
The Manager
And sometimes
they are
actually…wrong
Fedex commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=fCrqy5S-H_A
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3/9/2016
As the song says…
The Games People Play
• “you’re pretty new here”
• “you’re not a teacher”
• “I will let you know when I want your
advice”
• “this is not a PR issue ”
• “don’t rock the boat”
• “it’s my decision, not yours ”
And if only they
would just mean
what they now
and say what
they mean…
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3/9/2016
Office clip:
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=31g0YE61PLQ
Discussion or
Dialogue
Not always
positive when
you get to
cabinet…
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3/9/2016
“Bloodshed at Brock””
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3/9/2016
FAST
1. Get your APR
2. Be an expert
3. Love unpopularity
4. Stand for something
5. Win awards and “wear” them
You Had Me From Hello
Kenny Chesney
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3/9/2016
What public relations can’t do
What have we done
today to serve students?
The 90-7-3 rule
90% of reputation is
based on quality service
7% on listening
3% on telling
The airline “experience” as
advertised (country–style)
United Airlines –
Rhapsody in Blue:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=0XYtGYrQeV4
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3/9/2016
The airline “experience”
actually delivered
This Hour has 22
Minutes/Air Canada:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=g2WK3Mm1nZw
“Sure could use a little
good news today”
“We know what our customers
want, we just don’t care”
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3/9/2016
Reputation of a
school is built or
broken based on
what staff say about
the school”
“Each
customer interaction
can be either magic or tragic.”
How to Talk to Customers
Diane Berenbaum & Tom Larkin
- Phi Delta Kappa Study
How high are your standards?
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3/9/2016
The ads…
Promotion of secondary school & regional
program information nights/registration
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3/9/2016
Why Are Students Leaving?
1. Safety: violence, police presence, location
2. Uniforms: discipline, equality, familiarity
3. Sports: performance, programming
4. Academics: programming
5. Distance: location, busing, family/friends
6. Values: morals, curriculum
Created StAR
Student Attract Retain
 Formal representation principals, vp,
“We know what our customers
want, we just don’t care.”
assistant supers, trustees
 Focussed task group/sub-committees
 On each of the research areas
 Full action report to board, input to budget
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3/9/2016
StAR Recommendations Approved
• a $1.3 million investment in improving curb
appeal
• $850,000 to fund extracurricular activities
and a position to support athletics
• $45,000 showcase secondary and middle
schools at our Peel Advantage
• lowering busing eligibility distances for
grade 1 and high school students.
FAST
Queen of Denial
Pam Tillis
1. Be the voice of ‘customers’
2. Use your expertise
3. Be a leader
4. Stand by your man—um,
beliefs
5. Build coalitions
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3/9/2016
“Well, You lie like a
penny in the parking
lot at the grocery
store
It just comes so dang
natural to you.”
Spin cycle?
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3/9/2016
As the song says…
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3/9/2016
Which path does
your district
choose when
there is …
As the song says …Somethin’ Bad
Miranda Lambert
feat. Carrie Underwood
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
“Let perseverance be
your engine, and hope
your fuel.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
Life’s Little Instruction Book
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3/9/2016
“What gets talked
about in an
organization and how
it gets talked about
determines what will
happen.
Or won’t.”
Don’t let your board members
lead the denial campaign
Keep them informed and involved
- Susan Scott, Founder, Fierce Inc.
“I would never park
in a handicapped
parking spot; I don't
believe I did so," he
said. "For one, it's
political suicide.”
- Vaughan Councillor Tony Carella
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3/9/2016
Hard truth café:
Sometimes the #BrandFail
is #Epic
“The art of being
wise is knowing
what to overlook.”
- William James
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3/9/2016
Some advice about not having
super powers (unless you do)
• All in your organization own the brand
• Those with greatest access to public have
greatest opportunity to build/break
• You sometimes have to “let it go”
• This is why you spend the time to build
your brand
• Brands recover
• And sometimes you can help in ADVANCE
What was the situation that
could lead to #Circus ?
• #BYOD a key part of brand, key for
superintendent
• Trustees starting to waver
• Other districts already backed off
• The “split” was happening
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3/9/2016
Our strategy: the opposition
You need to ‘Brand-proof’
your trustees
Give them what they need
face-to-face
Aggressive Q and A
• make sure YOU have all the information
you need. How?
• this session
• new Q&A just for trustees
• “aggressively” factual
• new trustee email response—start
driving to website
• letter, packages to politicians
• challenge their “errors”
• ask for changes to their site
• track actions, statements
How?
BYOD parent guide home to each parent
But business created the whole 21st century term to sell technology—and you fell
for it.
No—the term has been around for decades. It is a generic term. There is a 21 st
Century Partnership in the United States founded by the department of
education. It was not connected to the research our independent consultant did
with parents, staff or students to develop the vision.
I believe it was. I think that Cisco sold you a bill of goods.
You have a right to your opinion, but you are incorrect.
Isn’t it true that you know you made a mistake with Wi-Fi and now won’t
back down because of the cost?
Of course not. Nothing is more important to us than student and staff safety.
This is about powerful teaching and learning.
Will the board reconsider its decision?
No. We are confident in the decision, support the direction, and are eager for all
students and staff to be able to access learning technology.
Is it because of the money? Or are you just stubborn? Or do you have
blind faith in your staff?
We made an informed decision in the best interests of students. We remain
committed to that decision.
But you trusted Cisco—they say their routers are safe and you believe
them.
The role of Cisco is clear—to make money. They have to comply with government
standards, of course, but ensuring student safety is our role. That’s why we are
having representative testing by an independent company.
– translated into top ten languages
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3/9/2016
FAST
Online
Brad Paisley
1. Lead the courageous
conversation
2. Create a culture of truthtelling
3. Don’t back down
4. Bring board members along
5. No clean wins
Social Media Jump Start
Carla Pereira, APR
NSPRA Conference – July 2015
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3/9/2016
?
What does your social media
profile say about you?
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3/9/2016
@brian_woodland
Tweet out
who you are…
…and remember to
use #countryPR
?
What does your social media
profile say about you?
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3/9/2016
As the song says…
Is your
district
#OnBrand
online?
Give me five minutes …
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3/9/2016
CIA Twitter-versary
Including your
superintendent
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3/9/2016
The result….
• 1.9 million “impressions”
CityTV clip re: strike reaction:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=5sMjydMNkLI
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3/9/2016
Yes, someone
will tweet
someone
doing
something
stupid..
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3/9/2016
"Krispy Kreme apologises
unreservedly for the
inappropriate name of a
customer promotion at one of
our stores. This promotion was
never intended to cause
offence. All material has been
withdrawn and an internal
investigation is currently
under way."
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3/9/2016
FAST
1. Help your people learn not
to be stupid
2. Be on twitter
3. Tweet #realyou
4. Board not bored
5. Go to Carla’s session
Girl in a Country Song
Maddie & Tae
Video is your friend…
•
•
•
•
Tell the personal tales of success
Make them more compelling
Discover the tales
Make video your powerful ally
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3/9/2016
Be original
What does that mean…
•
•
•
•
•
Be compelling
Be creative
Don’t be boring
Stay on brand
Remember the competition…
For example:
How can you talk about the environment without
“powerful rushing water and people planting trees”?
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3/9/2016
What we do…
•
•
•
•
•
Communications drives core videos
Strong concept, purpose
Builds on brand narrative
Drives organizational agenda
Remembers the competition…
Question time…
Do you sometimes do happy clappy videos?
How many of your videos drive your brand?
Are you evolving videos to share the brand ?
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3/9/2016
Question time…
Does it reflect our brand?
Does “clarity” connect to brand?
Does it tell our story?
Be original:
especially with
the highly boring—
just in case there is
anything highly boring
in your district !
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3/9/2016
November 26, 2013
‘MPP name’
‘Address’
‘City, Prov PC’
Dear ‘name’:
I am writing to ask for your personal help with a critical issue for each and every Peel District School
Board student. Soon you will get a call from a trustee asking for some of your time to discuss Peel’s concerns with Special Education funding, in particular, the High Needs Amount. Simply put—we want
you—we need you—to be our partner in convincing the province to act and fix the formula—to fund
Peel students fairly.
I am sure that you know the Minister of Education has acknowledged that the current funding formula
for the High Needs Amount is out-dated and does not accurately reflect the current needs of many
boards in Ontario—including Peel. The facts are clear, the current funding for the High Needs Amount
is not fair or equitable for Peel students. For example, we would all expect that the special education
needs and funding for students in neighbouring, urban boards would be relatively similar. Yet the
figures below show clearly why we need to fix the formula for the High Needs Amount funding:
Peel District School Board
Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board
Halton District School Board
$339 per student
$375 per student
$601 per student
I have to say, in all honesty, that there is no objective or moral justification for these differences. We
need to fund Peel students fairly.
We understand that there are no new monies for education generally or special education specifically.
What is needed is a redistribution of funds to ensure that all students with special needs in the province
of Ontario are accurately and fairly funded. While we acknowledge the political challenge, we would
respectfully remind our MPPs that Peel students have been disadvantaged for over 10 years while other
boards and their children benefitted from that outdated funding allocation. As well, there has been a
significant increase in the last 10 years in the incidence of children who need special education support
and in the severity of their needs.
On the invitation of the Minister of Education, we provided a suggestion on how the funding for the
High Needs Amount could be improved. Based on our extensive review and consultation on the
matter, we recommended the following plan to update the High Needs Amount funding:
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3/9/2016
“Corporate branding requires
storytelling to be captivating. Stories
provide context, meaning & the
opportunity for relationship.”
Are your videos
#HallofFame
worthy?
Ryan Lilly,
#Networking is people looking for
people looking for people
Hall of Fame:
https://www.youtube.com/wa
tch?v=aQyGp4eoeHg
FAST
1. Remember the competition
2. Leverage via social media
3. Tell the story of students
4. Be unexpected
5. Not boring, or happy clappy
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3/9/2016
Friends in Low Places
Garth Brooks
The Games People Play
• “Unfortunately, privacy rules prevent
me ...”
• “Because this a matter before the
courts....”
• “My superintendent is not available...”
• “I’m not really the spokesperson...”
• “Did I mention the school fun fair next
Tuesday?”
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3/9/2016
“Tell em anything you want to,
Just don't tell em all the truth”
is not going to work anymore
Not
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3/9/2016
I asked major media
what they thought
of how school
boards usually work
with them and they
said…
As the song says…
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3/9/2016
1. you return calls/emails FAST
2. you know your stuff. Rare is it that we
call with an issue or complaint that you
haven’t heard of.
3. you know your staff – I called Carla
looking for a teacher-librarian to talk about
Judy Blume books, and she mentioned
three off the top of her head - and then had
someone ready to talk within an hour, and
we had a photographer out there that
afternoon. PR folks at other boards call
superintendents or departments, and wait
for them to recommend teachers or best
person to talk to … it takes forever. They
don’t know their staff whereas you do, and
because you do …
4. … you work at warp speed, getting us who we
need to talk to, usually within a short time frame.
I’m not kidding you when I say other boards make
us wait all day or even several days to speak to a
superintendent or head of spec ed, etc. This is
always the explanation: “So-and-so is in a meeting
and I can’t reach them/they have no time to talk to
you.” (& to quote Shania Twain: “that don’t
impress me much.”)
Seriously, that’s the excuse we get all the time and
I don’t think you or Carla have ever told us that,
ever.
5. you aren’t afraid of “bad” stories – you answer
all questions, promptly and get/force (?)
Janet/Tony to talk about them. I’m thinking of
those awful xxxxxxxxxxxx allegations against
xxxxxxxxx that were far out there but you still
spoke to us about it quite frankly.
6. you are willing to share background info that
help us determine if a story tip is actually a story.
7. you share trends/news tips that don’t relate
to Peel specifically, but that we might be
interested in.
8. the 24/7 twitter coverage during strike –
unheard of.
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3/9/2016
“You guys help with the good and
bad. You are accessible and don't
often say no. You understand
that to do a tv story we need
video. We need a good visual
story. So you say no about getting
footage much less than other
boards bc you know we need it.
You also understand that to tell a
story we need to personalize it.
We can't do a story about money
for learning disabilities without
interviewing someone who has a
disability. I think the biggest tip is
to personalize stories. Give us
people “characters.”
FAST
Kiss an Angel Good Morning
1. Use social media to
promote ideas to media
Charley Pride
2. Be available, responsive
3. Have plan to get
spokespeople
4. Be honest
5. Be brave
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3/9/2016
The Secret
Code of Things
Canadians
Do Not Discuss
with
Americans
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3/9/2016
In 1966 Pride’s record label,
RCA, released his first single,
“The Snakes Crawl at Night,”
without publicity photos. The
label feared programmers, radio
station managers, and disc
jockeys would not play the
music of a black country singer,
particularly in the South, where
only “whites” sang country
music.
– Jon Kabat-Zinn
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3/9/2016
As the song says …You’ve Got to Stand for
Something
Aaron Tippin
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3/9/2016
Oscars/Glory acceptance speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=j0Va-j0Zgu0
“Our lives begin to end
the day we become
silent about things that
matter.”
- Martin Luther King
And so
what is
our role…
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3/9/2016
Even on country road, the middle is
not the right choice
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3/9/2016
“And the haters gonna hate, hate,
hate. Baby I'm just gonna shake,
shake, shake. Shake it off.”
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
LGBTQ Suicide Rates
• A Canadian study estimated that the
risk of suicide among LGBTQ youth is
14 times higher than for heterosexual
youth
• Of transgender people, between
30-45% report having attempted
suicide
PBS Buster clip:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=jhPLHBAO1Kg
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3/9/2016
“Many parents would not want their
young children exposed to the lifestyles
portrayed in the episode,” Spellings
wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Pat
Mitchell, president and chief executive
officer of PBS.
They say…
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
Well, we just won’t
watch those kind
of shows…
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
Tide commercial:
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=oSSNQv_nPTE
Responses:
Your board says,
let’s not be out in
front—we might
lose students …
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3/9/2016
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3/9/2016
Remember
#HallofFame
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3/9/2016
What is really scary
about Halloween?
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3/9/2016
“There is no
deep trust
without risk.”
-
Charles H Green &
Andrea P Howe
“Love is the only
force capable of
transforming an
enemy into a friend.”
- Martin Luther King
How can we
connect these
issues as
communicators…
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3/9/2016
NBA
“I have a dream” clip:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=rm6A_8tBFvs
FAST
He Stopped Loving Her Today
1. Be an ally for equity
George Jones
2. Be a voice-strong and clear
3. Stand up to opposition
4. Build board support-1st
person
5. Do. Not. Back. Down.
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3/9/2016
As the song says…
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3/9/2016
Conan clip: 0:57 – 1:10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=gYgveD5B-V0
X
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3/9/2016
Skeptic?
• Today is your day
• Today is your day
X
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3/9/2016
“He has the courage to
lose sight of the shore.
He understands the
tradition of Disney but
isn't wedded to it.”
- Apple's current CEO, Tim Cook, of Disney’s CEO
FAST
Forever and for Always
1. Love it or leave it
Shania Twain
2. Create place of inspiration
3. Talk to those around you
4. Can the core be fixed
5. Better get to livin’
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3/9/2016
“It's not enough to be
busy; so are the ants.
The question is, what are
we busy about?”
- Henry David Thoreau
“Instead of a todo list you need
a success list—
a list that is
purposefully
created around
extraordinary
results.”
- Gary Keller, The One Thing
WHAT?
vs.
WHY?
What have we done
today to serve students?
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3/9/2016
Be the
observer…
Or be the
participant
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3/9/2016
What is our job really about?
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3/9/2016
“We affect eternity. We never know
where our influence stops.”
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3/9/2016
Forever and for Always
Shania Twain
Additional Resources
• Peel Equity website:
http://www.peelschools.org/aboutus/equity
• Videos
– Epic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5LXlzKdYOA
– Stand up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKjlxU5Zat8
• Halloween resources:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/nrlwqh1oo79tczs/AAAygc
17EKnQnjzP15avG-VNa?dl=0
• Holy Days calendar:
http://www.peelschools.org/calendar/schoolyear/Docum
ents/2015-2016%20Holy%20Days%20Poster.pdf
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