http://luymes.com Honest, Open, Transparent Communications Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:43:14 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The day after Labor Day I begin the next chapter in my professional career when I report to Davenport University as the newly appointed Executive Director of Communications. I'm excited to be joining a university that is "on the grow." With a brand new campus near the junction of M-6 ... http://luymes.com/?p=239 I've seen so many Top Ten lists lately that I needed to do one of my own. I was sitting at The Office (aka Sparrows), thinking, when one table of loud talkers got me thinking. Here are the things that make my "Ten Things I Hate" list: Coconut: I've never liked ... http://luymes.com/?p=236 No, I haven't seen an advance script of tomorrow night's season premiere of Mad Men, but I'm going to make some educated prognostications based on the brief description of the episode and its title, "Public Relations." Back in the '60s, PR was much less "developed" as a profession. Today, nearly 50 ... http://luymes.com/?p=232 According to a BusinessWeek article, companies are scrambling to hire "social media managers."  Moreover, they're doing so with little understanding of what that means, and creating new job titles to describe these new positions. I'd like to contend, again, that these organizations probably already have social media managers on staff. They're called ... http://luymes.com/?p=211 Yesterday I sat down at a coffee shop on Grand Rapids' west side (The Bitter End) to kill a few hours while Conner took his class in Mackinaw Harvest's sound studios. A copy of USA Today was lying on a table next to me, so I checked it out and ... http://luymes.com/?p=209 I've had many conversations about PR and its use of social media.  It's been discussed in various chats on Twitter as well as at conferences.  On a few occasions now I've heard people talk about the PR work that they do managing a client's social media account. I do believe ... http://luymes.com/?p=205 People are not made to be alone. They are inherently social beings. That is my belief, anyway.  I know there are loners and hermits. Often, however, they are that way because their earlier attempts at being social went awry or, in the case of religious loners, it is to enhance ... http://luymes.com/?p=202 I had to write a speech for a Memorial Day event tomorrow. The process of researching and writing made me think a little more about what Memorial Day means here in the U.S. Growing up in Canada, we didn't have Memorial Day.  In fact, in Canada, last weekend was the holiday and ... http://luymes.com/?p=200 It's simple, really.  Change the inputs and  you'll get different outputs, right?  Or, keep doing things the same way, and you get the same results. Ideally, before changing inputs to achieve a different, desired result, you'll research your new inputs and have an understanding of what kinds of results can be expected.  You can't ... http://luymes.com/?p=198 I've had the privilege of counseling lots of students and young professionals over the years, advising them on how to break into the public relations profession or progress in their career. In fact, I have the joy of doing this for my own children now, with my daughter Amanda completing ... http://luymes.com/?p=196