Furia Rubel Communications Goes to Washington Newseum

By Caitlan McCafferty

In honor of our marketing and public relations agency's 15th anniversary, the Furia Rubel team had a company retreat at the Newseum in Washington, DC on May 19.

The Newseum is dedicated to the First Amendment, and the museum celebrates freedom of expression in its many forms. The museum tells the story of communication, which ranges from the history of technology that has facilitated people's communication to the people doing the communicating, like journalists. It tells the complicated, yet powerful history, of storytelling and how people have used their freedom of expression to change the world.

Some of the more powerful exhibits include the Berlin Wall Gallery, 9/11 Gallery and Pulitzer Prize Photographs Gallery. Each of these exhibits explores the depths to which journalists go to tell people's stories. It also provided each of us with an opportunity to reflect on those events and how they shaped our thoughts, opinions and the world we live in, whether the event happened up close or from a distance.

When asked why the Newseum was chosen for our retreat, our founder, Gina Rubel, said, "As a marketing and public relations agency that prides itself on client advocacy and ethics, I thought it would be a good exercise to witness how the work we do is tied to all forms of media and how the messages and media shape public perception." She said, "It was an excellent reminder of the duty we have to present accurate information and to sift through the myriad messages we receive in order to tell fact from fiction. It was also a bonus to receive a private tour from one of our employees who was an intern at the Newseum."

As a team, we also enjoyed the "Louder Than Words" exhibit focusing on the interplay of music and American politics, the News History Gallery that highlights the biggest headlines and trends in news since the 1400s, and the "Inside Today's FBI" exhibit that tells the history of the FBI's relationship with the media and the FBI's current fight against cyberterrorism.

The Newseum is fascinating at every turn. It gave us each a chance to learn and think about how our role as communicators fits into the history of the media.

Stay tuned to our PR and marketing blog and our social media platforms for more exciting 15th Anniversary news from Furia Rubel Communications.

Getting to Know Account Coordinator Megan Quinn

Megan Quinn is marking her two-year anniversary with the Furia Rubel team. What has she learned over those two years, and what is the best advice she’s been given? We sat down and asked her a few questions to get to know her better. Read on.

What role do you play in the Furia Rubel team?

I am on the public relations side of things here, which includes a wide range of responsibilities, from writing blog content one day to drafting press releases or pitching stories the next, then securing interviews and creating interesting social media posts for our clients.

What has been the most rewarding project you’ve worked on (or task you perform regularly) at Furia Rubel?

When I’m assisting a client with a big story by pitching their news to reporters, responding to media inquiries, and tracking breaking news stories, and the client feels good knowing that we are on their side, that’s when I feel the most rewarded.

Describe a challenge you’ve faced in the workplace, how you solved the issue, and what you’ve learned from it.

One of the biggest challenges I’ve faced was when I was pitching stories for a client and I wasn’t getting the kind of responses I’d hoped for. I had to be resourceful and think of alternative ways to reach the media. I took a step back and re-evaluated my methods and thought, what could I do better, or what haven’t I tried yet to get their attention? As soon as I started to ask myself those questions, I got more creative and found other ways to reach the journalist to whom I was pitching. The project turned into a huge success, and I’m proud of myself for overcoming that fear. That was a learning experience that helped me grow in my career.

What is the best advice you’ve been given by a parent or a mentor?

Double check everything and write down EVERYTHING.

What is one important skill anyone working in PR should have?

These are two skills, but the ability to write and to speak well are fundamental to this work. Having the ability to effectively communicate the messages that you need to get across is crucial in public relations.

Do you have any favorite quotes?
Yes – by an icon I have always looked up to, Audrey Hepburn. “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible'!”

And another, by one of my public relations idols, Judy Smith: “To some degree, you need denial to get anywhere; you have to ignore the fact that the odds are often stacked against success.”

If you could go on vacation anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I’ve always dreamed of going to Paris, France someday, but Iceland looks gorgeous and that’s definitely a place on my bucket list now!

What are your favorite applications (on your phone)?

Probably Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and occasionally MyFitnessPal when I’m in the mood to track my diet.

What do you like to do when you’re not at work?

Reading, watching HGTV, and going to parks for a stroll with my fiancé when the weather is nice. I’m completely drawn to the sun as soon as it’s visible, and I have to be outside.

Describe yourself in three words.

Resourceful, quirky and a spitfire.

An Internal Communications Tool for Today’s Teams

By Megan Quinn

When I was told that we were implementing Slack in the office, my first reaction was, “What is a Slack?”

Slack is a collaboration platform that enables teams to converse and share files in various channels. It allows for open channels, private channels and direct messages and is accessible on all types of devices, from desktop computers to smartphones.

I enjoy Slack as a means of internal communication. What’s great about it, particularly when compared to basic instant messaging tools, is the fact that multiple people easily can be looped into a conversation about client work, regardless of their location. And if a certain project doesn’t concern all members of the staff, they don’t all need to be in the same channels. This makes group communication much more efficient and effective.

Our office administrator, Rose Strong, said, “Slack is such a great tool. I like being able to go back and forth in groups, channels and one-on-one. Slack is most productive when we communicate in well-organized channels, some about clients, some for internal use, and even one for articles that we want to share and access again and again.”

Managing separate client channels ensures that all messages don’t get mixed together like in an email inbox. You also can go back through a single conversation easily to pinpoint particular notes. If you have several channels, searching with the find tool can help you sift through multiple conversations.

Taking the Slack app to your smartphone makes travel easy. You can keep up with the latest client conversations even while traveling, which is very helpful.

We are far from the only ones enamored of Slack. Founded in 2014, the San Francisco-based startup is now the team communications tool of choice for everyone from NASA’sJet Propulsion Laboratory to Walmart to Comcast to the New York Times.

How do you help your internal teams communicate effectively and efficiently?

Fostering Inclusion Through Internal Communications

By Laura Powers

As an agency that assists clients with internal and external communications, we believe in practicing what we preach. So when we recently discussed tactics and tools that we use within our own day-to-day operations, we knew that our readers could benefit from these valuable communications ideas, too.

At Furia Rubel, we employ many tactics and practices that enhance our internal office communications. They include:

• Email aliases that allow small groups to communicate quickly about client work.
• The cloud-based team collaboration messaging platform Slack, where we have set up separate channels for discussions regarding each client.
• Regular status meetings every four to six weeks.
• Lunch-and-learn meetings where we present brief educational presentations to our team.
• Daily stand-up meetings to discuss immediate projects and needs.

However, I think the most important thing about our internal communications approach is that it almost always involves all team members, from the most junior to the most senior. Even though most businesses benefit from an internal hierarchy, we have seen the benefits of including the whole team in daily communications:

• It fosters a sense of ownership with regard to the company and our clients.
• It allows every team member to contribute her own perspective and experience.
• It cultivates a work environment of support and trust.
• It provides all team members with the ability to speak intelligently about most of our services, processes and client work.

The regular sharing of information across all positions and responsibilities ensures that all Furia Rubel team members are able to learn from each other and also enables us to provide better service to our clients.

What internal communications processes do you use? Let us know in the comments.

10 Post-Event Tips to Get the Most Out of Conference Attendance

By Gina F. Rubel

What do you do to follow up with people you met and things you learned about at a meeting or conference? Do you just take the business cards that you received and stuff them in a drawer or do you do something with them? Do you take the conference materials and put them on a shelf?

This past week, I spent several days in San Diego at the Legal Marketing Association International Conference (#LMA15) where I had the opportunity to both teach and to learn. I co-presented a program with three other experienced legal marketers: Roy Sexton of Trott & Trott (Ann Arbor), Heather Morse Geller of Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger (Los Angeles) and Megan McKeon of Katten Muchin Rosenman (Chicago). We discussed collaboration and coexistence among marketers and lawyers, touching on law firm culture, the generations in the workplace, how to communicate effectively with lawyers, and much more.

After a long, cross-country journey and time reconnecting with old friends and making new ones, I took time upon my return (that I had set aside) to follow up and process information I had acquired. Here are some of the things that I do to get the most out of the conference after attending:

1) Connect with everyone that I met for the first time on LinkedIn and follow them on Twitter.
2) Send hand-written notes to people with whom I want to follow up.
3) Add select individuals to my personal contact database and CRM system and update contact information for those who are with new companies.
4) Download all important materials and review them for a second time.
5) Share conference take-aways with my marketing and public relations teams.
6) Make notes on the restaurants we visited (and perhaps rate them on TripAdvisor) in the event we end up back in the same city for a future conference or meetings.
7) Capture the Twitter stream using TweetArchivist.com (assuming I remembered to set one up pre-conference) and review it for trends and nuggets of important information.
8) Send thank you notes to anyone who took the time to do something special such as invite me to dinner or pay for a taxi.
9) Download and begin using valuable apps that I learned about at the conference.
10) Follow up and schedule meetings with people who I said I would follow up with.

While these 10 post-event tips to get the most out of conference attendance seem simple, it takes hours to complete them and most people say they are simply “too busy” to do anything once they return to their offices. Take the time to capitalize on all of the great relationships you developed and information you learned. Otherwise, it all just falls on deaf ears.