The Fight Against Destructive Spin » Counselors Academy

How Do You Pronounce Ghoti?

Gini Dietrich — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:07:05 +0000

One of my favorite sessions during Counselors Academy this past weekend (as it is every year) was Darryl Salerno’s English As a First Language. I am an English major, and take great pride in my grammar and spelling skills, but this session always does me in. As my friend Roger Friedensen says, “This is a great way to keep your ego in check.”

I created quite the stir on Saturday when I tweeted that “celibate” means “unmarried” and “forte” is actually pronounced “fort.” But my favorite is how do you pronounce “ghoti?” The answer is “fish.” You take the gh from enough (F), the o from women (I), and the ti from option (sh). Rather tongue in cheek, but it’s a great representation of our language.

For our weekly Inside PR podcast, Martin Waxman and I took a few minutes to talk to Darryl and I got the interview on film, with me behind the camera. Watch here for insights on the English language, as well as a couple of resources you can read and/or listen to in order to better understand the mistakes we make daily.

Counselors Academy Nuggets of Wisdom

Gini Dietrich — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:33:57 +0000

I’m just back from Counselors Academy in Asheville, which is part of PRSA. The annual spring conference brings together agency leaders from the U.S. and Canada and, this year, there were about 120 of us.

Between riding the Blue Ridge Parkway, hitting mecca at Mast General (see photo), playing Sorry on a Saturday night with seven other PR pros, Club 461, dueling pianos, a 60s party, and crashing prom, we actually did quite a bit of work. The sessions that were of most interest were on social media, client engagement, business growth in a new economy, and creating a vision for your business.

Following are some nuggets of wisdom I found during my trip:

1. Agency leaders should create a vision that brings in all the senses to engage positive (anabolic) energy (Alan Cohen).

2. The easiest way to get a book published is to ask your peers to write one chapter each and compile them into something people want to read (Henry DeVries).

3. Culture, communication, and coaching should drive your business (Randy Hall).

4. You should sell social media ingredients instead of entrees (Jay Baer).

5. It’s important to hire for talent AND growth potential (Elise Mitchell).

6. Measure your social media efforts – work backward from what you are trying to make happen (Brian Solis).

7. Canadians are smarter than Americans at the English language as Dan Tisch proved when he beat all of us at Darryl Salerno’s English as a First Language.

If you have a few minutes to spare, read the tweet stream at #CAPRSA to find some additional nuggets.

If you run a PR agency and you don’t attend this conference, it’s a must. Mark your calendars for May 13-15, 20 2011 and we’ll see you in Vegas!

Good Counsel: Counselor's Academy 2009

Gini Dietrich — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 13:38:52 +0000

My good friend Martin Waxman (@martinwaxman) posted on his blog, great reasons to attend Counselor Academy this year. His post follows:

When I started Palette five years ago, I asked Pat McNamara, president and founder of Apex PR, for some advice. And she suggested that I should join an organization called Counselors Academy, which comprised agency owners and principals and had a not-to-be-missed conference every spring.

I wasn’t able to make it that first year, but I’ve been faithfully attending ever since and I have to say it’s one of the best things I’ve done in PR.

The conference is about all things agency with sessions on strategies for running and growing your business, finding and motivating your team, becoming more profitable, successful networking, emerging industry trends…

The people are smart, dynamic and open. You get into some amazing conversations that continue over dinner and drinks, long after the meetings are done. And because we’re all running agencies of various shapes and sizes, there’s a real common ground and it’s easy to make business connections, and more importantly, good friends.

There are superb keynote speakers like psychologist Dr. Robert Cialdini or Robert Scoble. I first learned about social media at CA from Giovanni Rodriguez, who piqued my interest in the blogosphere and started my head swimming.

Whenever I leave a spring conference, I’m filled with fresh ideas, energized by the people and excited about our industry. It’s the highlight of my year.

This year’s timely theme is ‘Your Business Matters’ and, in this or any economy, it’s well worth the investment. Here’s where you can go for more information or to register.

Hope to see you there.

Gini’s Note: Ben Wheatley and I coordinated the breakout sessions for this year’s conference. We focused on finding the best of the best to discuss profitability, people, and potential, including other communicators, but also leaders from other industries.

See you in Palm Springs May 31-June 2!