Rob’s blog
(Special guest post) Bloggespondent
From the when-we-say-fertile- we're-talking-Tigris-and-Euphrates-fertile fertile mind of Alex: bloggespondence, n., BLAHG-geh-SPONN-dehnss: An epistolic exchange between bloggers; specifically, a sequence of posts, alternating between two blogs, each replying to the...
Spinning the unspinnable: the Tories and the Grewals
Spare a sympathetic thought today for those poor bastards trying to spin the Gurmant Grewal tape fiasco for the Conservatives. There. That's enough. The story that started so promisingly for the Tories (and in fairness, still hasn't hit the Liberals with its full...
Join SpeechList!
We're launching a bold new initiative here at ODTAA, a venture in information-sharing, capacity-building, asynchronous interactivity-- ...eh, it's a newsletter. But a really cool one. And it's free. SpeechList focuses on the art and craft of speechwriting, with a...
Meanwhile, Convio has a PR disaster in the wings…
...Specifically, the left wing. And the centre. The company that built its reputation delivering online services to Howard Dean's insurgent campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, and that says it "does not work with groups that promote prejudice and hate...
FeedBurner serves feeds… and customers
There's a company out there called FeedBurner. (Already know 'em? Skip ahead.) They take your blog's news feed, do a little high-tech hocus pocus to it, and pow - out pops your feed, but souped up. Suddenly you can see how many people are reading your blog via your...
Invited to speak: should you RSVP?
Active Voice has some excellent advice on accepting invitations to speak as a member of a panel. I'd add only that his tips are valuable outside the tech world as well. Panel speaking engagements are tricky - when they're good and your spokesperson is on his/her game,...
How to wind up “Pursuing Other Interests” and “Spending More Time With Your Family”
Early in my career, someone told me, "Don't put anything on paper that you wouldn't want to see on the front page of the morning paper." Make that on paper or on videotape. The San Francisco 49ers' PR honcho is now Exploring Exciting New Career Options after putting...
Taking our ball and going home
Never get into a pissing match with people who buy ink by the barrel, the saying goes. In other words, you can't win an argument with the media because, well, they're the media, and they get to frame the argument. But maybe there's another option: ignoring them -- at...
The broadcast journalist’s new tool: Skype
CBC Radio is wonderfully, fantastically open to freelancers. But one of the harder aspects of working with them is their understandable reluctance to use phone interview clips. Little wonder: phone conversations sound awful, and nearly always have some irritating...
Taking blogging to the next level
So you've been reading blogs for a while. You get a lot out of it, but you can't shake the nagging feeling that there has to be more to it than this. Surely you ought to be able to read blogs more easily, filter content more effectively, and maybe even start blogging...
No comment
Andrew Coyne has shut down the comments section of his blog: I don't like to be in the censorship business, or picking and choosing which comments to allow and which to reject, and I don't have the time to monitor hundreds of comments every day. I hesitated to do...
Know your audience
Previously, we talked about how speakers (or their staff) need to negotiate a reasonable speaking time with their hosts. It's part of going into every speaking engagement with your own agenda: a clear idea of what you want to accomplish, and the circumstances you need...
Why, yes — I’d LOVE to speak at your event
Public speaking and speechwriting: the essential guides
Looking for advice on public speaking, speechwriting and leadership communications? Here are some of my most comprehensive posts, on topics that people ask me about most often.
