The art of social media comes to life with this series of professional development conferences hosted by IABC/Tulsa, PRSA Tulsa and the Tulsa Press Club.

The 2010 OkieSMart conference, presented by Walmart, will be held Thursday, Aug. 26 at the Spirit Bank Event Center in Tulsa. This year’s speakers are Steve Crescenzo, the top-rated speaker of IABC’s 2010 World Conference, and Rick Burnes from HubSpot.

To learn more – and to register – visit www.okiesmart.com.

Thursday, Aug. 26
1 to 7 p.m.
Spirit Bank Event Center
10441 S Regal Blvd
Tulsa, OK  74133

He’s one of the newest members of IABC/Tulsa and just attended his first IABC event – the 2010 World Conference in Tornoto. This month we learn more about Justin Rushing from Walmart’s Global Associate Communications team in Bentonville, Ark.

IABC/Tulsa: How long have you been a member of IABC?
Justin: Just a little over two months.

IABC/Tulsa: What is the best IABC meeting/seminar/conference you have ever attended?
Justin: My first IABC event was last month’s World Conference in Toronto. It was an amazing experience, thanks to all of the different types of classes and networking. Of all the different speakers, I most enjoyed hearing from Guy Kawasaki and Craig Kielburger. After the conference, I returned to work feeling re-energized and highly motivated. If that happens to everyone else who attends, I don’t know why you wouldn’t want to go!   

IABC/Tulsa: You work on a team responsible for communicating with Walmart’s more than 2 million associates. What do you love about it?
Justin: Since Walmart is such a big company, we have so many opportunities available to us as associates. On my current team, I love the variety of work that allows me to learn new skills and meet new people working in all areas of our company. It’s also really fulfilling to have the ability to directly impact millions of people through our communications efforts.

IABC/Tulsa: You’ve only been a member for two months, but has IABC helped with your professional development so far?
Justin: It’s been great to help me connect with professionals working in communications for organizations other than my own company.

IABC/Tulsa: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Justin: I like to read, and I’m always reading at least three books – something around professional development, a good fiction novel and a nonfiction piece. Right now I’m reading “48 Laws of Power,” “Pirate Latitudes” and a book about the sinking of the Andrea Doria. The last one is fascinating to me because I also love to scuba dive and spend many weekends below the surface of Beaver Lake here in Northwest Arkansas.

IABC/Tulsa: What’s your favorite restaurant?
Justin: I know most people reading this are probably in Tulsa. But one of my favorite spots is Hugo’s in Fayetteville, Ark. Come over and give it a try sometime!

IABC/Tulsa: The future of the field of communications…
Justin: … will require us to have a global mindset and also the ability to successfully utilize different types of channels.

IABC/Tulsa: What advice would you give to communications professionals who are just entering the workforce?
Justin: Be confident about your abilities and never shy away from an opportunity to try something new.

Each month, IABC/Tulsa features one of its members in the “Meet A Member” section of the newsletter. If you’re interested in being highlighted, contact Shannon Frederick, IABC/Tulsa’s Communications Chair.

by Steve Higgins, IABC/Tulsa President

A year ago, many of us were still trying to understand just exactly what social media was and how it worked. That was so 2009.

This year, we want to know how social media can help us advance our business or organizational goals. After all, it’s not enough to jump into social media just because everyone else is. Savvy communications pros are using these new channels to engage stakeholders, connect with customers and build brands.

If you missed last year’s inaugural OkieSMart: The Art of Social Media event, by all means don’t miss it this year. Those of you who did attend last year witnessed a frenetic keynote from Peter Shankman, a stimulating panel discussion, some fun networking and a margarita-fueled post-event party. But I have to say, OkieSMart 2010 Sponsored by Walmart promises to top the original.

For starters, we’ve booked Steve Crescenzo, principal of Crescenzo Communications, who was recently rated as the top speaker at IABC’s World Conference – for the third straight year. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Steve twice in the past year (at the World Conference and at the IABC Social Media conference in New York last fall) and I can assure you he more than lives up to the hype. Expect a lively, enlightening and hilarious (and occasionally raw) afternoon with Steve as talks about bringing “Creative Communication” to social media.

I’m also looking forward to Rick Burnes of Hubspot, an acclaimed expert in inbound marketing for small- and medium-sized businesses. He leads HubSpot’s content marketing team, which uses social media, content and search engine optimization to get HubSpot found by prospective customers. Rick’s background includes NYTimes.com, where he worked on the Pulitzer Prize-winning Nation Challenged section following 9/11. He’s also worked at Google, the Moscow Times and the New Bedford Standard Times.

Yet another great thing about OkieSMart is how it brings together members of IABC, PRSA and the Tulsa Press Club for a shared event. Again this year, we’ll make sure there’s time for networking and fun with our communication colleagues from Tulsa and the surrounding area. And the price is right – still only $40 for members of any of the three host organizations.

See you on Aug. 26 at the Spirit Bank Event Center.

Join IABC/Tulsa for a Happy Hour Thursday, Aug. 5, at the Kilkenny’s on Cherry Street. Networking begins at 5:30 p.m. Register now, spread the word and bring your friends.

There’s no fee to attend. Participants can purchase their own drinks at the bar. Come and enjoy!

It’s time to grab some business cards and join IABC/Tulsa for a Happy Hour Thursday, Aug. 5, at the Kilkenny’s on Cherry Street. Networking begins at 5:30 p.m. Register now, spread the word and bring your friends.

There’s no fee to attend. Participants can purchase their own drinks at the bar. Come and enjoy!

Thursday, Aug. 5
5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Kilkenny’s Irish Pub & Eatery
1413 East 15th Street

In today’s media-saturated world, the competition for your audience’s attention is unprecedented and relentless. Let’s face it, the last thing anyone wants to read is a canned corporate press release or an intranet story laced with empty platitudes about a company initiative. Join IABC Tulsa President Steve Higgins as he shares five ideas to cut through the clutter and make people to actually want to read what you write.

Steve Higgins’ 20 years of corporate communications work includes experience in employee, community and investor communications, brand management, advertising and executive speechwriting. He currently oversees brand and advertising for Williams, a Fortune 500 natural gas company based in Tulsa. Steve is serving for the second time as president of the Tulsa chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. He has received numerous professional honors, including two IABC Silver Quill awards, numerous IABC Bronze Quill awards, a PRSA Silver Link award and the inaugural IABC Tulsa Leon Bolen Chapter Service Award.  He’s been a featured speaker at national conferences presented by the International Productivity and Quality Center and the Advanced Learning Institute. He also serves on the board of directors of LIFE Senior Services and volunteers for the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice.

Date: Wednesday, July 21
Time: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Where: D’Novo Lean Gourmet, 5982 South Yale Avenue, Tulsa

Be sure to join us for this exciting presentation! The last few meetings have filled up quickly, so register today.

It’s time to grab some business cards and join IABC/Tulsa for a Happy Hour on Thursday, July 8, at the White Owl Pub on Cherry Street. Networking begins at 5:30 p.m. Spread the word and bring your friends.

There’s no fee to attend. Participants can purchase their own drinks at the bar. Come and enjoy!

The White Owl Pub is located at 1325 E. 15th Street In Tulsa.

Register now!

Each month, IABC/Tulsa features one of its members in the “Meet A Member” section of the newsletter. If you’re interested in being highlighted, contact Shannon Frederick, IABC/Tulsa’s Communications Chair.

She’s a new communications professional – working her first job as a communications consultant for ONEOK. This month we learn more about Megan Lewis, secretary of the IABC Tulsa chapter.

IABC/Tulsa: How long have you been a member of IABC?
Megan: I think I just hit my one-year anniversary.

IABC/Tulsa: What is the best IABC meeting/seminar/conference you have ever attended?
Megan: Of all of the local luncheon/meetings, I really enjoyed the Walmart presentation on using social media for internal communications. It was interesting to see what a company as big as Walmart has done to engage its workforce and offer a unique way to communicate and interact with fellow employees. 

IABC/Tulsa: Your current job is your first since graduating from college. How is it going?
Megan: I love learning aspects of communications that couldn’t be taught in a classroom, learning more about the business world in general and seeing where communications fits into it all.   

IABC/Tulsa: As someone who is fairly new to the profession, how has IABC helped with your professional development?
Megan: So far the best thing for me has been the opportunity to meet other communications professionals. I have only been in Tulsa as long as I have been working for ONEOK, so IABC was great way for me to meet other people in my field and learn from people who have been where I am right now – just starting out and trying to learn. 

IABC/Tulsa: What do you like to do in your spare time?
Megan: I love to visit my friends (who have all spread out since college) and I love to run. I did my first marathon last summer back in my home state of Iowa and I am training right now for the San Francisco marathon next month. 

IABC/Tulsa: The future of the field of communications…
Megan: … is exciting and continuously changing. Even in the couple of years I’ve been in the “real world,” I’ve noticed changes. It’s fun to be in a field that is constantly challenging us to learn more and keep up with the changes. You can’t really afford to be stuck in your ways when you’re in this profession – and that’s what I love about it.   

IABC/Tulsa: What advice would you give to communications professionals who are just entering the workforce?
Megan: I AM a new communications professional… so any advice you have, please feel free to send my way! 

by Steve Higgins, IABC Tulsa President

Toronto is in the headlines this week, as the G20 summit and all of its attendant chaos descend on the otherwise mild-mannered Canadian city. Earlier this month, though, Toronto was besieged by another, somewhat less rowdy group – about 1,500 professional communicators.

The IABC World Conference didn’t make international headlines or draw attention from law enforcement (aside from a 2 a.m. prank fire alarm that could not definitively be linked to an IABCer). But it did offer a wealth of ideas, inspiration and dialogue for a profession in the midst of a sea change.

Some speakers hit it out of the park (Guy Kawasaki, Craig Kielburger and Steve Crescenzo, natch). Others managed only singles. Overall, the experience drove home three main points:

The role of the business communicator is changing. The transition of the communicator from tactician to strategist is nothing new. But the preponderance of new media is making our role even more critical – and visible – than ever. Podcasts, internal video reporting and blogs are moving communicators out of the shadows of anonymity to a more front-and-center role in their organizations.

• The one-way, top-down communication model is gone for good. We’re kidding ourselves if we think the traditional CEO memo or press release will ever again be as effective as they once were. People are far too media savvy. They expect to participate in an interactive, two-way dialogue, rather than passively letting information drop upon them from the heavens.
• ‘Safe social media’ is an emerging trend. Safe social media is kind of like safe sex, only more controversial. Most companies are too scared of what their stakeholders will say about them to engage in truly open, authentic two-way dialogue. Problem is, those conversations are happening with or without the company’s participation. Communicators (like Crescenzo and William Amurgis of AEP) are working on corporate social media strategies that executives can get comfortable with.

If you haven’t been, I hope you’ll consider attending an IABC conference in the future. This was my first World Conference, but it won’t be my last. Besides being fun and enlightening, it reaffirmed my belief that IABC is the right organization to help define this brave, new era of business communication.