Play detective at "I'm Getting Murdered in the Morning," fundraiser for Haiti relief

Guests can practice their detective skills at “I’m Getting Murdered in the Morning,” a murder mystery dinner theater to raise money for Haiti relief efforts Thursday and Friday, April 22 and 23. Performances will be at 6 p.m. at AmericInn Hotel & Conference Center on Stadium Road in Mankato, Minn. Proceeds will be donated through Kids Against Hunger.

Brenda and Edward’s wedding reception starts a little shaky when they arrive late because of a flat tire, but they soon discover they have bigger problems: a woman drops dead on the dance floor from a gun shot during the garter toss.

Columnist Mary Berger immediately begins questioning people and taking notes, doing anything possible to get to the bottom of the case, while Parker, a former police detective who works in “damage control” for Brenda’s father, tries to distract Berger and convince the wedding party the murder should not “put a damper on the rest of the evening.”

"I'm Getting Murdered in the Morning" is written by Lee Mueller and directed by Minnesota State University, Mankato's Benjamin Wagner, a junior who is double majoring in saxophone performance and theater.

Wagner loves murder mysteries because audience members get to interact with the cast directly and each has the chance to be a specific character who contributes to the story. Because of the large amount of audience participation, “it literally is a new show every night,” Wagner said.

Guests will receive a three-course dinner, including salad, seasoned boneless chicken and sherbet for dessert. Vegetarian and kids’ meals are available by request only.

Theatre Arts major Emma Ottoson plays Brenda, the whiny bride who has been married three times before and got “bored” each time. Ottoson has appeared in various Minnesota State Mankato productions including “Miss Saigon” and “On the Razzle.” Theatre Arts majors Robb Krueger and Travis Berg, play Harold Montague, father of the bride, and Parker.

Other cast members include Amanda Vonbergen (Psychology), who plays maid of honor Bunny, and Tom Bennett (Theatre Arts and Mathematics), who plays Edward.

"It will be an evening of laughter and mystery, mayhem and great food," Wagner said of the fundraiser. He is excited to see the cast members think on their feet and get the audience involved.

Tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance by visiting the AmericInn Hotel & Conference Center front desk or the customer service desk at Hy-Vee on Riverfront Drive. Tickets will be available through Monday, April 19.

The murder mystery is presented by the Minnesota State Mankato Public Relations Student Society of America and the Mankato Young Performing Artist Association. It is sponsored by AmercInn Hotel & Conference Center, B. Stark & Co., Kids Against Hunger and Hy-Vee.

Those who want more information may e-mail prssa@mnsu.edu or call Emily Richardson at 651-261-1752.

Chris Brogan's "50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business"

This piece was extremely helpful, especially for someone (like me) who is just beginning to figure out all the nooks and crannies of Twitter.  It's full of wonderful tips and information to get users more acquainted with all that Twitter has to offer.
The first thing that stuck out to me about Chris Brogan's article "50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business" was the incredible number of links.  Before I even began reading, I noticed all the orange links that were placed throughout the whole article.  Immediately this signified a piece that would be very user friendly and helpful. Another thing that stood out to me is the way Brogan breaks up the piece into five separate sections:

• First steps
• Ideas about WHAT to Tweet
• Some sanity for you
• The negatives people will throw at you
• Some positives to throw back

These titles let readers have a clear understanding of what information each will cover.  Also, they seem to go in a very logical and chronological order for users who are new or who are still trying to figure out how to use it.

It's really helpful, as mentioned earlier, that Brogan links to other Twitter related sites and Twitter applications like Twitter Search and Tweetdeck.  He also incorporates other beneficial sites like TinyURL into his ideas.  Lastly he linked to wonderful examples of Twitter accounts for companies and people.  This is a great and simple way to encourage readers to navigate to Twitter to not only see the examples he's providing, but also to start accounts of their own and incorporate the tips he's offering into their Twitter lives.
These are 10 of Brogan's tips I found to be very beneficial:

• Because listening is No. 1, build an account and immediately start using Twitter Search to listen for your name, your competitor's name and terms that relate to you. 
  
• Talk to people about their interests.
• Ask questions.  Twitter is great for getting opinions.
• Follow interesting people.  If you find someone who tweets interesting things, see who she follows, and follow her.
• You don't have to read every tweet.Learn to use tools like TinyURLand bit.ly that shorten up URL's.  It makes things cleaner.
• Share the human side of your company.Don't answer the question "What are you doing?"  Answer the question "What's caught your attention?"
• Twitter can break news much faster than other sources.
• Twitter is a great tool for business development.
  

Tweets on Tonight Show are fake

Just one day after the airing of Conan O'Brien's show featuring William Shatner reading offensive tweets from Levi Johnston's Twitter, O'Brien announced they had in fact been the tweets of an impostor.

On the Thursday, Nov. 5 show, Shatner appeared again, reading real tweets from Johnston.

Do you think the responsibility to correct situations like this rests in Twitter's hands?  Should Twitter apologize to Johnston and his attorney?  Should Twitter take measures to prevent things like this from happening again?

Shatner chirps Levi Johnston's tweets on The Tonight Show

William Shatner visited The Tonight ShowTonightShow, Wednesday, Nov. 4 to read tweets from Levi Johnston's Twitter page.

The tweets shared were random and some were offensive, talking about taxi drivers that can't speak English and finding some 'good weed.'

Johnston and his lawyer say he never said such things and claim the tweets are absolutely fake. 

They also believe Twitter needs to step up in circumstances like this, take responsibility, and make sure actions are made to correct the situation.

Shatner joined Conan O'Brien earlier in the year to present a similar poetic reading of Sarah Palin's tweets.

What do you think of the notion Twitter needs to take responsibility?  Is that really Twitter's duty?  Does Twitter need to handle public matters like this?

The possibility has also been raised that these tweets are coming from a Twitter Levi Johnston impersonator.  If these truly aren't the real Levi Johnston's messages, does the role of Twitter change or remain the same?

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Rewrite of Women and Spirituality Conference article for the Web

In our research class, we decided to rewrite Robb Murray's article "'Politics of Food,' other hot topics at Women and Spirituality Conference" from the Mankato Free Press.

This exercise was designed to get us thinking in terms of writing for the Web, often times including SMR's (social media releases). In general, pieces for the Web need to be:

• shorter, with shorter sentences: According to readability expert Jakob Nielsen, readers do not read material on the Web. They scan. Therefore, keep information on the Web brief and to the point.
• free of fancy, embellished and extravagant words (like the ones I just used): Showy words are unnecessary and cause readers to lose interest. Keep things simple.
• basic in punctuation: Stick with periods, commas and apostrophes. Anything else clutters the information.
• considerate of appearance. In other words, remember readers are drawn to articles that look easy to understand and quick to read: This can be accomplished with lists and bullet points.
• mindful of SEO (search engine optimization): Remember to use keywords throughout your article, including in your headline, so others will be able to find your piece on the Web.
• accommodating to those who want more info: Because articles should be brief and concise, make sure to provide links for people who want to learn more.

Keeping all this in mind, here is the rewrite of Robb Murray's Free Press article:

Women and Spirituality Conference brings 'Politics of Food' discussion to Minnesota State Mankato

10.25.09—MANKATO, Minn.—The Women and Spirituality Conference comes to Minnesota State University, Mankato with a keynote address by physicist and author, Vandana Shiva.

Join Shiva for her discussion on "The Gendered Politics of Food." The talk will be held Saturday, Oct. 31 at 11 a.m. in the Centennial Student Union Ballroom.

Other sessions featured during the conference include "Nurturing Spirit by Embracing Inner Awareness in Public School Setting" and "Finding the Balance of Masculine and Feminine Power: Astrological Keys for Healing Mother Earth and Ourselves."

Vandana has founded an international college in Doon Valley, India and Navdanya, a national Indian-based movement to protect resources and promote organic farming.

She has also written some books including "Stolen Harvest: Hijacking of the Global Food Supply."

The conference includes more than 100 workshops and discussions covering many topics.

Visit the Gender and Women's Studies Web site for more information about this event.

Vimeo

Vimeo.com is a wonderful Web site dedicated to the sharing of videos and short films.  What seems great about this site is the fact that it isn't simply a tool for people to display their movies, but is more of a "community-based" network that allows you not only to upload films, but also to connect with others in 'Vimeo ville.'

Although the Web site's focus is on video content, it strongly reminds me of blogging in the sense that it allows for two-way communication and encourages proactivity in feedback and conversations.  

Just as with a blog, you're able to create a profile for yourself, which allows you to upload videos of your own, add people to your contact list, subscribe to different channels (a fun tool for people to gather all their videos in the same place, almost like a TV channel), leave comments on others' films and, most importantly, begin having conversations and forming relationships with other people.

Through the use of tools such as commenting, "liking" and the ability to share videos through e-mail plus other social networks such as Facebook, Digg and Twitter, people can really take advantage of this great opportunity to build beneficial relationships.

One channel I've really found fun has been 5-Second Films.  As the name implies, all videos on this channel are basically five seconds or less, and they're a riot.

This video, Live Fast, perfectly captures what these five-second films are all about.

Live Fast from 5-Second Films on Vimeo.

Even if you aren't to the point of taking and uploading your own videos yet, vimeo.com is still a wonderful networking site and relationship/communication builder.  Maybe after communicating with others on the site, searching through videos and subscribing to different channels you'll get a better feel for what it'd be like to post a video.  If you're at all interested but don't know where to start, I'd suggest making a profile and adding people to your contact list. Use those contacts to help pave your way as you get going on Vimeo.  More than likely, they'll want to help and answer questions you might have. Reciprocate and offer feedback on the films they've uploaded.  Pretty soon, you'll have some great connections made.

Blogger Relations

Once again, I am finding Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge's book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations more and more intriguing, helpful and eye-opening.

Chapter 7 discusses blogger relations and the importance blogging has begun to play in the world of public relations.  Public relations is no longer about attacking audiences with messages and pitches.  It's transformed into the development of loyal, trusting and beneficial relationships between practitioners and people, which include individuals and groups from all different ages, interests, cultures, values and the list goes on and on.

Blogging, which is only one source the Internet has to offer, has become one of the most practical, beneficial, communicative tools online that allows you to "get personal" with those with whom you're communicating.  Blogging has closed one door to the old one-to-many way of communicating: a way that made PR practitioners deaf to the feelings of everyone else out there, and has opened a new door that allows feedback, reciprocation of information and, most important of all, a true way to connect with, learn about and get to know the people who are interested in what you, as a PR professional, have to say and offer.

With this wonderful advance in technology, it seems like the perfect opportunity to grab hold and take advantage of the situation at hand.  Upcoming PR people have the chance to transform old ways of thinking, planning and executing to a more personal level, and the advent of blogging is here to help.

One thing mentioned in the book was Chris Anderson's blog on PR spammers.  

Anyone with e-mail understands Anderson's frustration with excessive amounts of spam, pitches, news releases and unimportant messages that continue to flood inboxes.  Almost everyone can relate to that on a human level.

However, this seems to be the absolute worst way to fix the problem, when in fact the intentional 'fix,' I would guess, has only created more problems.

We all get annoyed with certain situations, but to handle it in this way, listing hundreds of professionals and their e-mails, especially on a professional platform, seems completely backwards.  Why not rise above those you're annoyed with and approach them in a more favorable way?

Also, on page 104, Solis and Breakenridge recommend sending "positive feedback to those who do it right."  This is a wonderful idea.  Reinforce the connections and behaviors of the people with whom you're happy, those who you perceive as ethical and those whose relationships you truly admire and appreciate.

Overall, blogging, whether used positively or negatively, is definitely a tool that allows connections to be made on a much more personal level.  Take advantage of these opportunities and continue to push PR in a more communicative, reciprocal and "striving to get to know people" direction.