January 2000
The Single Best Predictor of a Successful
Meeting.
A well-crafted agenda can be the difference between a meandering, frustrating,
time-wasting conversation and a genuinely productive meeting. And when
you consider how much time you spend in meetings.
Plus: The six reasons most meetings fail.
February 2000
Don't Mess with Texas
How important is the right message? In Texas, an anti-littering slogan
saved the state over $4-million last year alone. Don't Mess with Texas,
however, is far more than just a successful public service campaign. It's
a case in point for aiming your message at the highest core value you
can.
Plus: Gore-Bradley message mayhem.
March 2000
Taking the Measure of Measure C
Measure C would have raised money to widen highways in traffic-choked
Sonoma County, but some area environmentalists saw serious flaws in the
proposed tax hike. How did the enviros convince frustrated commuters to
reject an initially popular measure? Step #1: they stopped talking about
the environment.
Plus: The Four M's: Tips for Keeping Trustees
on Track.
April 2000
Why Abstractions are Obstructions
To make sure your audience will read your press releases and reports,
be moved by your advertising, and respond to your invitations, keep your
language specific, personal, and rooted in everyday concerns.
Plus: Is that a story in your pocket?
May 2000
Polls: Finding the Rights Words in the Numbers
Facing an attempted repeal of a controversial "death with dignity" law,
Oregon Right to Die polled voters on a range of issues. The results confirmed
the group's hunch: their primary message should not be about death with
dignity.
Plus: Why real pages beat web pages.
June 2000
Summer Reading List
Heading towards the beach, mountains, or some other quiet getaway spot
this summer? Here are a few good books to stimulate your thinking (preferably
the free-range variety) and help you gear up for the next good fight.
Plus: Must-read for meeting mavens.
July 2000
Street Theater: The Art of Capturing
Hearts and Minds
How do you interest people in an issue as complex as genetically engineered
food? If you're John Beske and Jim Slama, you begin by writing a play
starring a nine-foot tall vegetable.
Plus: How important is one word? (Ask PBS President
Pat Mitchell.)
August 2000
An Exhortation for a Cessation to Obfuscatory
Peroration.
Fed up reading reports, memoranda, and other documents whose meaning lies
buried under a pile of jargon, acronyms, and buzzwords? Three people at
the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation reached their breaking point earlier
this year and decided to speak out. Plainly, of course.
September 2000
A Media Manual for Grassroots Activists
Robert Bray's new book, SPIN WORKS!, teaches public interest groups how
to beat high-powered, well-funded opponents at their own game.
Plus: Connected by technology, disconnected
by nature.
October 2000
10 Principles for Effective Advocacy
Campaigns
In 1985, Herb Chao Gunther created a code of conduct for progressive activists.
Fifteen years later, the guiding force behind Public Media Center revisits
his original "Ten Principles," and he still likes what he sees.
Plus: Defining "compassion fatigue."
November 2000
If you don't read this issue something
terrible will happen, and it's all your fault.
Welcome to the world of public interest advertising, where too many messages
work like this issue's headline, relying on fear and shame to make the
audience react.
Plus: Why public education campaigns need emotion,
too.
December 2000
Give the People What They Want: A Story
Even if you have reams of evidence on your side, remember: numbers numb,
jargon jars, and nobody ever marched on Washington because of a pie chart.
If you want to connect with your audience, tell them a story.
Plus: A helping hand for placing op-eds.
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