Romancing February's top 10 tips

February brought me valentines--and here are mine for you, in the form of this month's most-read and most-popular posts and tips:

1. Stay the same. Don't ever change.  Is that the space you're carving out for yourself in the new communications world? Then you're dancing on the head of a pin.  A provocative and well-received post.
2. Are you a funny Valentine? Using humor feels risky, especially in social media. This popular post aims to help develop your funny (back) bone and make you more confident in using humor to good effect.
3. It's engagement time.  Not you and me. It's time to add question-and-answer capability to your online video. Check out these case studies from the White House and two universities using YouTube, UStream and Facebook to engage audiences with some back-and-forth.
4. Adjectively speaking, you're super-extraordinary:  The weekly writing coach found this version of the Apple iPad press conference, stripping out all words but the adjectives.  It's funny and a good reminder to strip adjectives out of your purple prose.
5. I heart content strategy, and here's a useful case study for how one trade publisher, Reed Business Information, thinks through its content strategy.  Steal their tips for planning and managing content now.
6. Will you still love me tomorrow? Depends.  A PR blogger asked whether the old rules still apply for what time of day to pitch reporters, and I've retooled the rules to fit today's deadlines.
7. Tell me a story.  But make it short.  The weekly writing coach found this NPR contest for writing "Three-Minute Fiction." It's a great exercise in writing short--and you have until February 28 to enter. Quick!
8. In good relationships, don't fight over the controls.  They don't work so well in social media, as noted in this popular post.
9. Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Before I do, I'm reminded to check the timeliness of your analogies for speeches, media interviews and presentations.
10. Give some love to the boss.  If you only read all items tagged under "For Communications Directors"--our 10th most popular link on the blog this month--you'll be in great shape to romance or reboot your communications operations. It's a collection of what's most strategic on the blog.

This month, I also started sharing some of what I'm reading in social media topics, in Get social: What I'm reading.  Let me know if you find that useful, and I'll keep doing it.

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January's top 10 tips

The holiday parties are over, the resolutions made, you're back to work. This month's top 10 posts will help you meet those promises to speak better, write better, build great communications strategies or just get savvy about where and how you communicate:

1. 12 questions to ask reporters:  You'll improve the interview experience for yourself and for the reporter with these 12 savvy queries. This update of a don't get caught classic post was far and away our most-read tips in January.
2. Do you know the ABCs of presenting in 2010? That's audience, backchannel and communications style. All three are changing, and I offered 17 ways my presentations training will change in 2010 to accommodate new trends. A great list for your own presentation renovation.
3. Trends and changes in broadcast TV may well shape the ways your organization looks to that medium for your communications. My third-most-read post of January.
4. Are you social-media-ready for success?  You can't just wait for something to announce, then jump into social media.  This popular post recounts case studies for building up your networks, then using them to communicate your wins.
5. You've got a blog. You've got a crisis. Are you taking advantage of that?  Johnson & Johnson, once the model for crisis communications in a product recall, stumbled this month by not responding quickly to another one, even more widespread.  I recounted 9 posts I wish we'd seen on the J&J blog that might have made this episode another case study to copy.  Use them to forestall your own crisis.
6. Clients come up with the best ideas for communications retreats. This popular post shares what they request when they want me to facilitate.
7. Got a scientist who needs communications training?  Two workshops coming up next month will help them grasp video skills and basic communications skills. I'll be attending the former and facilitating the latter.
8. The weekly writing coach went after overstatements this month with tips for spotting them and rooting them out of your writing. No more excesses in the new year!
9. S.M.A.R.T. objectives you've heard of. But S.M.A.R.T. writing?  The coach shares five ways writers--and their assigning managers--can adapt the S.M.A.R.T. priniciples to improve your written products and make them more effective.
10. Are your own words ensuring you're about to get caught?  Stay alert to these 3 danger signs (and how to get out of them) for your speaking, presenting and interviewing.  If you can catch yourself when you hear these signals, you can avoid getting caught by a questioner.

A note to subscribers to our newsletter:  Starting next week, the monthly don't get caught newsletter will refocus its content and become For Communications Directors, a free newsletter with news about communications training, strategies and content development.  Our speaking and presenting content will move to a new newsletter, Step Up Your Speaking, based on The Eloquent Woman blog.  You can go to the link below to choose which newsletter you'd like to receive.  Existing subscribers will receive both newsletters so they can choose for themselves.

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December's top 10 tips & issues

On the eve of 2010, here's one more lookback, this time at December's top 10 tips and issues on the don't get caught blog. I hope you'll feel free to leave a comment suggesting the tips, topics and issues you'd like to see in this space in the new year--and wish you a happy and successful year ahead!

1. Do you have a curator's perspective when it comes to sharing and publishing information online for your organization or company? This most-read post took some curation cues from a Museum of Modern Art exhibit of Tim Burton's varied works to help you figure out what to do. Includes video and audio insights from Burton.
2. A new mobile app for Flip cameras closed out 2009 as a popular post--this app helps you view and share Flip videos more easily on a large screen. And if you're looking to buy a Flip camera, this week there's a $50 discount on the Flip Mino HD cameraon Amazon.com, if you haven't finished using your holiday gift cards.
3. Do you welcome the Twitter backchannel when you speak? This new college president does--a good sign that he'll engage his student audiences, and a positive example of how to put the backchannel to good use.
4. Author James Geary gave a great talk on using metaphors in this video weekly writing coach post. Listen for how he uses Aristotle, Elvis and Shakespeare to jostle your thinking about metaphors and how to use them in your writing.
5. What's the best control for blurting things out on social media sites? It's your brain. Thinking through what you want to accomplish when communicating on Facebook, Twitter and similar sites is important--but so is loosening up a bit. This post muses on the balancing act.
6. Think your organization is beyond comparison? Think again, says this popular post, which looks at how to handle and anticipate out-of-left-field comparisons that may be made about you.
7. You don't need to check them twice, but lists as a means of simplifying your writing
   are a tool both underused and effective. Check out this popular weekly writing coach advice.
8. How to change your presentations to accommodate the backchannel is the subject of a new book. This post details what I think you'll find especially useful--it's a must-read.
9. Where's online video headed? The tsunami-like top trend in social media is moving forward with new search options, captioning and audience data you can use in 2010 to advance your video offerings.
10. The blog has a new sharing option -- a Meebo bar -- that will let you drag-and-drop content and share it on YouTube, Facebook and more. Check it out in this post.

Remember November's top 10 tips

Tips, ideas and issues fell like autumn leaves this month, ranging from Twitter backchannels and speakers to camcorder tests and rethinking your communications using events. From the piles, we've raked up the 10-most-read posts from this blog in November:

1. A speaker's take on the Twitter backchannel looked at one speaker's disastrous presentation--and how a visible Twitterstream behind her made it even worse.  The meltdown made this our most-read post of the month. (Read more about the sexual comments made about the speaker on The Eloquent Woman blog, another popular post.)
2. Can you learn from the backchannel as a speaker?  I think so--and this post from October still ranks as November's 2nd-most-read item.
3. And just in time to help you maneuver that backchannel, my post on Olivia Mitchell's new, free ebook for speakers on just that topic vaulted to our number 3 position this month. Timely, and the price is right.  Olivia writes the very good Speaking About Presenting blog, a favorite of mine.
4. If you don't have RSS feeds on your web-published communications, you're losing a major audience--and making it tougher for them to pull your information to them.   Maybe that's why news of several new feeds from the National Science Foundation's Science 360 aggregator site got so many readers this month.  Take a look at how they sliced their offerings into different, useful feeds.
5. Figuring out how to brand yourself on social media networking sites?  I've updated my thinking in this post about creating your own "me.com" -- the topic of a talk I gave earlier this year to the Science Writers in New York.  Read this before you need to network or job hunt. As I said in my talk, employers are fickle--social media is your friend.
6. The first review of the Kodak zi8 ultralight camcorder made its rock-n-roll debut on the blog this month, another reader favorite that lets you see video in action.  Our reviews came to a mysterious halt this month, also.
7. Sharpening our sense of local news is a post that looks at new trends in "hyperlocal" offerings, whether from news organizations or your organization.  From the post: "You may think of your organization as a multinational corporation, a world-class philanthropy, a major player in national affairs or a widely recognized authority on your subject. But if you miss pinpointing what's under your nose in your location, you'll miss one of the hottest strategies in communications."
8. In this social-media world, face-to-face events also are getting rebooted and made over. This post may challenge your thinking about how to turn some of your traditional communications--even things like publications--into successful live events.
9. Must be close to year-end, since my collection of posts on retreat facilitation proved popular this month.  Find out more here about the communications retreats I facilitate.
10. My utility belt for communications includes actual equipment, social media sites and freebies you should check out and adapt to your own operation's needs.
    

Fall for our top 10 tips from October

October saw our tips and tactics pile up like leaves--and so did our readers. From speaker situations to social-media strategy, I've raked up the best of the month for you to consider as we move into next month:

1. What speakers can learn from Twitter hecklers, a post inspired by an audience meltdown during a keynote speech, drew thousands of readers from the conference in question and beyond. I used tweets from the audience to illustrate useful tips speakers can incorporate in their presentations to get ready for a really interactive audience.


2. If you want to rev up an audience, whether online or live and in person, check out these 2 easy pieces to engage your audience, using examples from Purdue University and the University of Oregon. Think pictures and laser pointers...in surprising uses.


3. A behind-the-scenes look at how I manage this blog, based on reader questions, proved a popular post about the writing, planning and execution. I'm hoping it'll encourage those of you who are mulling your own blogs.


4. In October, I went to two conferences where lots of participants joined Twitter for the first time. I was busy advising them to check out The Twitter Book, a great all-around guide to get started, making this older post popular once more. (I'm @dontgetcaught on Twitter--join and find me!)


5. If you're trying to reboot your communications with social media, check out what my clients at UMBC have done, following a training retreat I facilitated for the university's public relations, alumni, marketing and related units earlier this year. They've launched a student blog on campus food and a special crowd-sourced social network for UMBC students. Two great examples here of what your future may look like!


6. Visuals don't just mean video, as I learned at a hands-on workshop at the National Association of Science Writers' meeting this month. Check out this post on the handouts and resources from the workshop, including a great way to create slideshows with sound.


7. If your only approach to communications is storytelling, this popular post lets you know about 5 ways you can skip storytelling and use a more effective tactic.


8. Online video continues as the strongest social-media trend, and I've got a roundup of recent research and ideas to keep you ahead of the curve.


9. Handouts from the Communications Network conference I attended this month--including a personal favorite on the best online tools you never heard of--form the basis of our #9 post. I'm happy to pass along these strong ideas for nonprofit communicators.


10. Got writing standards? If you do, it may be time to reassess and review to be sure they still meet your needs and goals. Check out this weekly writing coach post for more.

fall into september's top tips

The year's moving quickly and, as the seasons change once more, here are the ideas, tips and advice readers consulted most this month on the don't get caught news & info blog:

1. Trying to be perfect in your social media efforts? Don't. Accept that you can't be Mary Poppins in social media and learn how to manage with this month's best-read tip.


2. If your CEO wants to try social media, but finds it difficult on a daily basis, read our 6 tips for getting around the most common barriers to getting your leader out there.


3. Online video continues as a strong trend, so this fall I'm testing a new ultralight camcorder with the help of some clients and colleagues. Read about it here, in this month's third most popular post. And....


4. See the new camera we're testing in this post of first impressions, and this one about its editing features.


5. Do writers get bored? I'll never tell, but here's a popular weekly writing coach tip about how to rock the boring tasks in writing.


6. When it comes to how your team is (or should be) using social media, I hear different things from you and from your boss. You may be surprised if you listen in to what I'm hearing with this popular tip.


7. Would-be speakers from all over keep coming back to an older post on why you should wear blue for your audience in public speaking or television appearances. It's still among our top posts this month. Find out why!


8. Social media moves fast, and if your communications operation isn't ready, it may force you to clean up your PR act. Find out more here.


9. Communications directors are revving up for fall and consulting all our guidance for them in this series of posts.


10. Looking for media training? I offer it, as well as these tips on what to ask a media trainer, still among our most popular posts.

The top 10 tips of August

Time always seems shorter at summer's end, and this month, writers and strategists sought out these top tips from the don't get caught blog--maybe to get caught up before the fall? Check out what our readers found most valuable this month:

1. Want to write more? Just takes an hour: An alert reader tipped us off to the source for this weekly writing coach post, the top post of August, suggesting that you just need to take one hour a day, five days a week, to write 130,000 words.
2. Want to write better? Want to do it in small steps? Try these 5 "brush-ups" to freshen and sharpen your work.
3. Listening to your audience, and asking what they think, is critical in these days of social media--or any time. My tale about a 20-year relationship with a theatre that resulted in my unsubscribing was our number three post this month.
4. If you're experimenting with online video using the ultra-light camcorders like the Flip, try these 27 ways to switch your PR visuals, another popular post this month.
5. I call it "nexternal relations," a way to make sure your communications team is ready for changes now, and what comes next. Read one take on this approach here, and our new series on rebooting your communications operation here.
6. Creating tweetable presentations--a guest post--offered readers the chance to turn the live-Twittering audience to the speaker's advantage.
7. Can humor help the technical talk? One scientist-turned-standup-comedian shows how in a great video.
8. Writing for a speaker? I've got five questions writers should ask before they pen introductions, speeches or remarks.
9. You need a friend feed, an outside source of insight, ideas and expertise. Here's a post that lets you see how to do that with social media.
10. It's hammock time for writers, with 19 ways to refresh, renew and rejuvenate your writing--many of which don't involve writing at all.

Dive into July's top 10 tips

Go ahead--dive into these strategies, tips and sources for ways you can avoid getting caught behind the curve this summer. These are our most-sought-after tips from July:

1. Retreats to help refocus: Lots of readers went to these posts on how I facilitate retreats for communications teams, especially in these tight economic times. Learn more about all my training, retreat and coaching services here.


2. Tweeting at meetings gets controversial: This post drew lots of comments, and includes three perspectives about the controversies around allowing (or not) conference attendees to live-report the proceedings on Twitter.


3. But what about science meetings? Journalist Bob Finn shared this important guest post explaining the real rules that govern whether scientists can talk to bloggers and reporters at scientific conferences. Share 'em with a researcher you know!


4. Tweeting case study: You might take a different approach, and invite folks to use Twitter, blogs and video to report your meeting. Here's a case study--and it's one I'll be participating in at a conference this coming October.


5. Don't overuse this: The weekly writing coach feature catches up with several articles that talk about most-overused words, and suggests some ways you can rid yourself of them.


6. Midterm test for your communications operation: We started the year with these 8 tests for whether your communications shop is focused in the right direction--and the most strategic of our readers checked in again in July to look at this yardstick again. And you?


7. Can't find your audience? In social media and in public speaking, communicators sometimes find they're without their expected audience. I gave you five questions to ask yourself to strategize better ways to reach your audience where it really lives.


8. Online videos get longer: This month, I shared new data to help you gauge how long those online videos can get, and how your content mix may need to change as a result.


9. Google helps you handle media relations: Are you using Google as a PR tool? If not, you're missing out on easier ways to learn reporters' interests, track video coverage and more.


10. Speaking of contests: Our sister blog's contest at The Eloquent Woman--a chance to win 15 weeks of online speaker coaching and a Flip camcorder--garnered hundreds of views. Stay tuned for the winner!

June's top 10 tips

In June, readers of this blog were curious about media interviews, writer's reference books, and everything about social media--particularly the habits of organizations considering how to use it. Here are the top posts featured this month:

1. Writers told us what's on their reference shelves in this popular post from the weekly writing coach series.
2. Heavy-handed social media approaches don't work. The quest to develop a deft touch in new media drew many readers to this post.
3. Reluctant to get into social media, some government agencies and corporations lag behind. New data show where they're hoping to swim and stay dry, so to speak, in the new media pool.
4. Playing around with social media is the best way to get started...as I explore in this post comparing it to learning a new musical instrument.
5. Are your experts acting like turtles? Getting them out of their shells and into training and media interviews is explored in this popular post.
6. Getting scientists to communicate clearly can be a challenge. Can you define "charismatic megafauna?" Check out how we changed that in a recent workshop.
7. You're getting good at social media when you listen. Take some notes from a master jazz pianist on how and where to jump into the conversation in this post.
8. You can rev up anniversary PR by using some social media tools and approaches for a new twist on a timeworn communications effort.
9. Plenty of interviews must be going on, since our classic post "what to ask reporters" was among this month's top reads. I offer you 11 questions to try.
10. Social-media branding...of yourself also made a comeback as a top post in June, reflecting the new realities of the economy. Check out how to use social media to advance your career.
    

While we May: Our top 10 tips

May was a busy month for me and for my readers, who are searching the blog for branding, social media, writing and media relations tips. I'm also looking for your input on some new training tools this month. Check out the most popular posts in our ongoing conversation:

1. Employers are fickle. Social media is your friend: That message from my talk on branding yourself with social media tools, given at the Science Writers in New York May meeting, was this month's most popular post. Read my tips and ideas here.


2. Tell your boss: Be like Gumby on social media. While we're on employers and social media tools, let's get ourselves a new, but retro, role model. Flexibility--and a few other Gumby-like traits--are what's needed to adapt well to social media as a communications tool. Leave this post on your boss's desk, I say.


3. Constructing approaches to social media: That was my theme at the Construction Writers of America annual meeting, where we discussed ways to use social media to showcase your historical archives, engage customers, conduct media relations, source news stories and more. Read my collection of tips here.


4. New Flip camera features: I love using Flip video cameras, the smallest around. Read about the new features announced this month--including more memory--as well as much lower prices that make this video camera an even better social media option.


5. When you disagree with the reporter: A high-profile interview on NPR took a turn for the worse when the subject vehemently disagreed with the reporter--so much so that the disagreement became the story. You can hear the full interview, the finished piece, and see my analysis of what you should do here.


6. I'm looking for a new media-training video. Can you help? I've blogged before about the most overused training video and it's out of date. See the video of the first reader nominee for its replacement: An Amy Poehler episode of Parks & Recreation. Don't forget to leave your suggestion!


7. How to handle embargoes and off-the-record interviews: In a high-profile, even over-hyped, announcement this month, a scientist spilled the beans too early, breaking an embargo. Here's what you should know to understand this situation and how to handle it.


8. Learning how to write for Twitter: The weekly writing coach feature reviews a new Twitter Book that'll give you strategy and writing pointers for the 140-character messages used on Twitter. com


9. Overstepped your bounds in an interview? Sometimes, exaggerations creep into your media interview responses. Don't get caught without these tips for avoiding--and correcting--such mistakes.


10. A new reference for writers: Check out the Phrase Finder, a new online tool that will help you put the right words at your fingertips.
    

don't miss April's top 10 tips

Readers' questions and choices drive my personal rankings for posts on this blog. Here's what they rained down on our blog-garden this month:

1. Why share photos as part of your organization's social-media strategy? Our most popular post this month shares five easy pieces of advice on why this simple option adds value to your online presence and engagement of key audiences.


2. Recommendations for science writers and communicators on social media, from my panel at the D.C. Science Writers Association this month also proved popular. See the tips here.


3. Can you learn anything about social media from print media? In four examples, I think you can find ways to change up your communications products, pricing and proposals.


4. Whenever I speak on blogging for businesses, I get this question: What's more important--having employees blog or the CEO? Should one trump the other as a strategy? Here's my view on which strategy will work in your situation.


5. If you're a scientist, historian, investigator of any kind, or just curious, do this with your blog: Record the discovery process and take us along with you. This month, I look at Colonial Williamsburg's blog on recreating a Revolutionary War cannon as a case study.


6. A great way to make sure you don't get caught unprepared: Ask questions. Here are my best posts on asking reporters, editors, and trainers the questions that will make you more effective.


7. Using social media to network in these tough times continues as a strong topic. Though this post with my tips is from January, it's an April favorite.


8. Between April and May, I'm speaking almost weekly, on topics from communicating science to better blogging or using social media to brand yourself. Keep up with my speaking engagements and read the e-handouts from my talks here. Better yet: Find me when I'm in your area!


9. What should writers in communications shops know how to write these days? From tweets to talks, I have 20 formats skilled writers need to master, with ways to challenge yourself if you're more experienced. Hiring managers may want to bookmark this for testing purposes.


10. Want to build a better blog? I'm one of thousands of bloggers trying Darren Rowse's 31 days to a better blog challenge from Problogger.com. Join at any time--these are well-thought-out exercises, and I recommended them today at our panel on engaging blogging at the PRSA-NCC today.

try the don't get caught top 10 March tips

Readers chose our top 10 tips this month, so you can March forward into April with the knowledge that these tips and insights come well-recommended:

• If you're stalled on breaking into social media as a communications tool, or just looking for easy ways to expand what you're doing, check out our ways to pick the low-hanging fruit in social media;
• Making the case for social media--and hearing it called "unprofessional?" See these insights--the long view--from a law-firm marketer who's heard that before;
• Engaging bloggers is the new rage, so here are five easy tips for making it happen;
• You can share our tips with your own website or blog readers by downloading the don't get caught news & info blog's widget;
• Lots of readers reached back into February for my post about re-tooling your training in tough times, about the customized trainings and communications retreats I can create and facilitate for your organization;
• Letting your fans and audience take the lead in social media only adds to your credibility. We've got examples you can follow from Coca-Cola, FedEx and NPR.
• Speaking of audiences--it's all about them--social media can help you find a direct line to some of the most hard-to-reach audiences. See our ideas here;
• And why do audiences on social media sites flock to contests? How should you use them? Check out our examples here;
• My upcoming speaking engagements are sprouting like spring flowers--five between mid-April and mid-May, all over the U.S. I'm gratified that they, too, were among your top reads last month. Come find me at one of these venues;
• Making the case for using Twitter? Show your colleagues our post on Daniel Schorr, veteran NPR correspondent in his 90s, who's debuted on Twitter.

Don't get caught missing next month's top tips. Send me your ideas, questions and wish-you'd-cover-this thoughts at info[at]dontgetcaught[dot]biz.

don't get caught's top 10 February tips

February flew by here...but you can get caught up with us by reading the top 10 tips and insights, based on the posts most readers chose this month:

• 3 ways to make a Facebook page work, when it's targeting consumers, from drawing and engaging people to handling tough comments;
• Wondering whether your media trainer's still showing an old Bob Newhart episode to explain cautionary tales about the media...and doing so about 3 decades late. What should your media training look like today?;
• After my talk at the Capital Communicators Group on social media policy this month, all our posts on social media rocketed forward--including video questions from the group at the talk;
• Who inspires you as a writer? The start of our popular "80 works in 3 weeks" exercise asks writers to think of writers who inspire them.
• Ever popular: Our post on the one color to wear to help your audience focus on you -- whatever your skin color, and no matter whether you're on TV or in person;
• Pitching stories to news media and need to rev it up? Here are our tips;
• We collect great quotes to help our clients (and you) craft quotable messages. Here's our growing collection--please share your favorites;
• Do you resemble this remark? We said you should stop calling LinkedIn 'Facebook for adults,' now that Facebook's demographic is changing fast;
• Can a law firm, a big one, use Twitter for communications and marketing? See our guest post by Michael Zukewich from Manatt Phelps on how they're doing it, a popular post this month:
• My CCG talk on social media policy prompted lots of looks at a specialized social-media policy: press credentials for bloggers.