Reckoned: This 25 random things thing is a virus to which I have succumbed

Far as I know, this started on Facebook. You're sposed to write 25 random things about yourself and then tag a whole bunch of other people and make them do it too. I have succumbed, so here's mine:

1) When I was little my family called me Richella Bella. My aunt Gailmarie wrote a little nursery rhyme for me. Richella Bella met a fella riding on a horse named Yella ... that's all I can recall. I do remember thinking it was pretty cool to have my very own nursery rhyme.

2) I took piano lessons from a series of eccentric people from when I was in elementary school thru highschool. I was never very good at it, but I did learn to read music and did some musical theory and my years playing piano made it easy for me to learn to play guitar enough to strum along with the kind of songs I love to sing.

3) I'm a folkie ... even when I learn to sing / play songs that aren't folk-type songs, they come out sounding all folkie. Some of my favorite songs to sing: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Dylan, Leaving on a Jet Plane - John Denver wrote it but my inspiration is the Mamas and the Papas version, songs I learned from my uncle over the years at family parties (a soloist with Men of the Deeps), James Taylor songs, some Maritime songs from home like Headin' for Halifax, Van Diemen's Land & Love Rescue Me - U2, What a Good Boy - BNL and more

4) I'm an ok singer, not great. I can carry a tune but I wouldn't make it far on Idol. I did sing in 2 bands in Toronto over the years. A Canadian Folk band -- the more obscure the Canadian folk tune the better, haha. I was the lead singer, kazoo player and egg shaker. We were called Square Rigger and had some fun gigs. Couple of years ago the guys invited me back to participate in a recording under the name Cousins of the Moose, my favorite band name. I also sang back up years later for an original rock / rockabilly band called Lucky Fool. It really tested my singing ability, maybe too much. It's still on the go so watch out for 'em in Toronto area.

5) I don't like singing on stage. It's more than being nervous, I really don't get off on the experience. Love rehearsing, I even like recording and can be happy for hours in a room by myself warbling away and strumming on a guitar. But performing in a band is not for me. Hence the quittage and the not-singing-in-a-band-anymore stuff.

6) I'd much rather be promoting the talent of others than singing on stage myself. Makes sense. That's what I do on a day to day basis, and what I do best: Public Relations for people, organizations, products, ideas, charities etc. Spreading the good word, figuring out how to best share & spread the message, getting the name of a well-deserving Canadian artist in the media ... love it.

7) I'm not really the type of person who goes crazy for celebrities, or asks for autographs etc. But truth be told, if I saw Bruce Willis I would totally have to go up to him and meet him. I'm a sucker for the Bruno. Oh, and as my brother Richie will confirm, I introduced him to David Bowie.

8) I'm kind of afraid of the dark. Well, not really afraid of 'the dark' per se, but of what could be lurking there in the dark. I think it's because of all the horror movies I've watched over the years - my favorite genre of movie - in addition to my over active imagination. That and the fact that a part of me can't totally discount the supernatural etc. I wouldn't say I believe in spirits, aliens, demonic grudges that curse houses, beings that can cross dimensions to come and get you, viruses that turn us all into zombies ... let's just say I won't be 100% surprised if something like that happens.

9) When I am really really scared, I tend to freeze. This is accompanied by an inability to make a sound. Makes it tough to scream for help, put it that way. Thankfully the only times I've been this scared have been false emergencies ... I thought someone was in the house and it was my then boyfriend coming home unexpectedly, that type of thing. But yeah, if it was real I'd have been screwed.

10) Then again, this has been recently tested and I didn't freeze. During an '08 Christmas camping and kayaking trip in NZ I was charged by a super huge seal. Like as big as a big walrus, but a seal. Turns out the little girl we were traveling with and I were in the seal's path to the water, which apparently is a no no. He was on the beach and wanted to get to the water and was determined to go through us if necessary. He charged, barking that crazy seal bark at us. Kids' mom started yelling and pointing behind me and I turned to see a HUGE seal bearing down on us. I literally had seconds to act. I'm proud to say I did not freeze ... I scooped up little Freya and jumped out of the way, scrambling up onto a rock (thanks to adrenaline) that I wouldn't normally be able to hop up on with a kid in my arms. Phew!

11) My husband and I eloped in Niagara Falls. Actually, he planned the whole thing and surprised me with a proposal that started with "will you marry me" and finished with "tomorrow at 3pm"! It was exactly the perfect wedding for us, and we loved every second of it. And we're still loving every second of it. Marriage rocks.

12) Our song (my husband and I, obviously): Video Killed the Radio Star. Kind of a long story, but hey listen to that song and try not to dance and sing along I dare ya.

13) I can kind of speak French, like every good Canadian should be able to do. I understand better than I speak it, and I am definitely out of practice. But I like to think if I needed to make myself understood in French I'd be able to. I figure I sound like Balkie from Perfect Strangers speaking English. I get a bunch of stuff wrong, and it probably sounds funny, but in general you can catch my meaning.

14) I can stepdance, polka, swing dance, line dance and currently I'm taking Bollywood dance lessons. I have also recently tried a Commercial Jazz class and let me tell you, I could be on that show 'I used to think I could dance'.

15) I was tested for allergies a few years ago to finally find out what I'm allergic to. Doctor said, "yeah, it's great to find out about your allergies so you can practice avoidance and feel better." Then he told me I'm allergic to dust and trees. Avoidance ... riiiiiiiight.

16) When I was a kid I seemed to always have a cold. People would joke ... 'Oh Richelle has her summer cold' ... 'Oh Richelle has her fall cold'. Turns out I WAS ALLERGIC TO DUST AND TREES!

17) My name is Richelle. I was named after my father Richard. Rich - elle. Like the female Richard. Not Rachelle. Not Rachel. Not Michelle. Not Rochelle. All nice names, but not mine. I used to hate that my name was so difficult for people to get right, but I'm over it. Can you tell? My favorite: now that I communicate so much via email for work I get called Richard in a fair number of reply emails.

18) Nicknames: Skinnymalink from my dad when I was a kid ... Relish at one point in elementary school ... Roach in early uni years ... Sunshyne Jones for a time in Toronto (thanks Mel) ... Rokle to this day from my best friends in Toronto, which has kind of morphed into Rocko, which I get from my husband

19) It makes me uncomfortable to break rules. I used to be such a goody goody in school, and this is a total hangover from those days. Like if there is a sign that says 'Don't sit here' I won't be sitting there. Little things like that. 'Don't walk on the grass' and oh you can bet I'll be walking around. It's not even like I'd get in trouble if I did it. At most someone would say 'Hey get off of the grass.' I don't like to move to a seat I didn't pay for in a stadium. I don't litter. I'd never write on a bathroom wall. I'm not a total conformist, but a rule follower? hilariously so.

20) I've started painting and I like it. I used to work at a paintable ceramics store, and I found that relaxing and enjoyable. Now I'm trying acrylics on canvas. I like abstract and folk art, I guess because it's what I can do. We put my first abstract painting up on the wall, I'm pretty happy with it. Right now I'm working on my take on an Australian Aboriginal dot painting, which uses symbols to depict a story.

21) Historically I have been a terrible cook. Even when I thought I was cooking things well, the handful of recipes in my pitiful repertoire, I now know what I was doing wrong and how much better it could have been. Thanks to my husband who is an awesome cook, I'm pretty good these days. I can make a mean aloo gobi.

22) I still bite my stupid frikken nails. I know. Sad. For pete's sake!

23) I believe in being nice, diplomatic, polite, tactful. Arguments make me uncomfortable. I'm not a great debater because I think you're entitled to your opinion and I'm entitled to mine, and I don't need to try and convince you of mine. Many people state their opinion like it's fact. Sometimes I envy that kind of conviction, but when I know they're wrong it irritates me. Usually not enough to argue with them about it though.

24) I'm really not a pet person. I think in general that the concept of owning an animal for one's own entertainment is kind of odd. I'm kind of heartless about it I guess. I rarely am so moved as to stop and pet a cute dog or have a cat sit in my lap. A dog whining for food at the dinner table does not melt my heart. No dog or cat will ever ever ever sleep in my bed.

25) I think this note is too long but I'm going to post it anyway.

Reckoned: Organising is good for closets, headspace and Google reader too

I've been sitting here for the past half hour 'managing' my blog subscriptions - organising them into folders - and I am inspired to write for a moment about what a worthwhile exercise it has been. It will help me hone in on the ones I specifically want to read when I want to read 'em because I've put them in topic folders. Ok that's a bit obvious. But really what it's done is make me think about the fantastic blogs I've got on my reading list. That I've done well to pick and choose some really topical blogs - and well written ones too - that run a good spectrum from PR to social media to advertising to marketing to SMB to management to quirky to entertainment. My blog choices say a lot about me, reflect what I am interested in and the work that I do. When I look at them as a whole, I like what I see. Like my closet, organised properly, will give me a quick picture of 'how richelle dresses' and like my headspace, organised properly, will have its perspective on straight, my Google reader now gives me an at-a-glance peek inside my now-more-organised headspace and offers me a fresh slice of perspective. And I like it.

Reckoned: Raising $ for breast cancer research is fine, cures would be awesome, but PREVENTION would be best

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not against organizations fundraising for breast cancer research and other cancers and diseases. I do admit to wondering if any of the money / what percentage of the money is used to research cause and prevention as opposed to treatment and cure. Yes, yes, I can find the lists of research studies being funded and they seem to be focusing on finding a cure, examining hereditary causes (which only account for a relatively small percentage of breast cancer cases) and looking at affects of HRT - which has already been shown to contribute to susceptibility to breast cancer. I'm not saying they are squandering the money raised away on unnecessary research. But what I am saying is that the focus is so much on how to cure it, and we just don't know enough about what causes it to actually do much to prevent it. 

I like Rethink Breast Cancer, a charity started in Toronto, because they are bringing the message to a younger group of women that likely weren't thinking enough about / aware enough about breast cancer - self examination, the stats about early identification and recovery and more. On their home page they talk about 10 steps to prevention. Good. They're talking about prevention.

But I caught a segment on tv yesterday with a woman called Dr. Susan Love and really she's the first person I've seen on tv saying sure sure, a cure, but what about figuring out conclusively what causes it? We hear lots of things - if you do this you will increase your chances, if you do that you will lower your chances, but these are a bunch of observations reported in the news that sometimes even contradict one another. Love says, "we can't tell you what to do or what not to do in order to not get breast cancer in the first place, because we don't know! we don't enough about it."

Love has seen a vaccine for -- ie. the ability to prevent -- a different type of cancerous disease happen over the course of her career - cancer of the cervix. When she first started practicing, and they identified an abnormal pap smear, they did a hysterectomy because they didn't know what else to do. Now there is a vaccine for this. Her grandmother received a hysterectomy. But they have discovered a vaccine for cancer of the cervix. Her daughter now has had the vaccine. This is amazing.

She believes that indicates a strong possibility that a breast cancer vaccine could be developed, for prevention of breast cancer. 

I could get into the whole conspiracy theory type stuff that would say that big pharma business doesn't want anything like a vaccine to be developed because they would lose too much money. Cancer treatment is big business, big money. But I won't. Do I believe it? Sadly, I'd say I believe there is truth to it. This is founded in perception not fact; I haven't done any research to back it up. 

Anyway, what I wanted to point out here is (1) too rarely do we hear someone like Dr. Love on tv talking about how our focus isn't quite right here. Not enough focus is placed on finding out why it happens in order to prevent it. Yes, it is important to improve treatment and diagnosis, but what if no one had to get it in the first place. (2) She has begun a project called Army of Women - US only at the moment - which is inviting women to agree to be available for research studies, to create a pool of real women from all different backgrounds all across the country to participate in research studies. This is to drive research "beyond a cure" toward being the first generation to eliminate breast cancer. I think it's a hopeful sign, that this is happening.

And this type of thing has worked in the past. When looking up Army of Women I also found out about the Million Women Study in the UK, which focused on the effects of hormone replacement therapy use on women's health. Wikipedia tells me that results of this study supported results of other studies showing HRT usage can lead to an increased risk of various types of cancers. Results of this study, with the weight of other such studies behind it, influenced policy in the UK including recommendations on the prescribing and use of HRT. Dr. Love said that when information re: the link between HRT and cancer came out in the USA, the rate of breast cancer in caucasian women in the US reduced within one year, in direct relation to a change in the use of HRT.

I don't have breast cancer. No one in my family has it or has had it, that I know of. I live a fairly healthy lifestyle but I'm not perfect nor are my habits. I am not likely to be genetically predisposed based on hereditary factors. BUT Dr. Love tells me that the larger percentage of women who develop breast cancer do not have the hereditary gene and do not even fall into the category of high risk when you look at the various risk factors that have been sort of identified.

So I'm susceptible. I get that.

Donating is great and I'm not stopping that, and researching for a cure is necessary 'cause lots of people already suffer, but let's find out what causes it already!

There's no million women study in Canada that I could find - if you know of one that I'm missing please let me know. I'd like to join it. I'd like to spread the word.

Reckoned: Cdn Prime Ministerial hopeful Jack Layton, NDP, doesn't quite get the point of Twitter

At first I was happy to see Jack Layton, Canada's NDP leader, on Twitter keeping the pepes up to date on his campaign trail activities. I hoped it would involve some actual dialogue with Mr. Layton (if it is even Mr. Layton himself who is doing the posting ... I heard that it was but I cannot confirm). Unfortunately, while he has posted a bunch of times, and is following 577 people at last count, he has yet to post directly to anyone or reply to any posts directed at him. As another Twitterer wrote, he's using Twitter as a radio. This, of course, means Layton is missing the opportunity for dialogue completely. He's speaking but not listening. One wonders if anyone is even tracking comments about or to @jacklayton. I blame his advisors and Layton himself for entering into this exercise without taking the time to understand the tool and the community. It's exactly the opposite of the right way to enter into social networking, and it's really not difficult to find out the right way, what with all the online information sharing on the topic. A quick search would give him (or his employee / party member) the knowledge with which to do this a helluva lot better. Tsk tsk.

Reckoned: Predominantly female audiences going ballistic on talkshows (Ellen, Oprah) really frighten me

Ok. They're excited to be on a show they love. They hang on Oprah's every word and read / eat / buy everything she tells them to read / eat / buy. They love Ellen (actually, I do too) and they're thrilled that she's giving them a new tv (which, let's face it, is just an ad for said tv). But come on! The rabid craziness, the fire-in-the-eyes screaming, jumping up and down, crying and wringing of hands ... I mean it's just all too much. Sometimes the camera focuses in on a woman's face and she. has. lost. her. freakin'. mind! and she's not the only one! Women all around her are falling all over themselves in the throes of some passion that has taken them over and caused some kind of frothing at the mouth fit. What is going on here? Are the between-segment audience wranglers that good at their jobs? Can they whip the audiences up into this frenzy? Is it some kind of mass hysteria that takes over when in the presence of the likes of Oprah and Ellen? It's a raw, primal lust for stuff in some moments. (And to be honest, it doesn't even have to be anything significant. One of the freakiest of these moments I've ever seen was on a mardi gras show when Ellen was throwing colorful bead necklaces out into the audience. I really thought these women (and they were almost all, if not all, women) were going to trample one another!). It's a scarily deep adoration in other moments. I don't get it and it frightens me that these people are letting themselves go quite so much.

Reckoned: Music worth promoting is worth blogging about

I'm often happiest when doing PR work for talented Canadians I believe more people should know more about.
One of those ridiculously talented Canadians is musician, Duane Andrews, and the other stellar musicians in his Quartet and on his albums. In the interests of disclosure, let me say I have and will continue to provide PR services to Mr. Andrews. That does not preclude me from being a true fan, and a true fan of Duane Andrews and his fellow musicians I am.

Often when we think of "indie music" or "indie bands" we don't necessarily think of jazz musicians or instrumental music. Lest we forget! Well into his career, Duane is an unsigned, working musician, touring, hitting festivals and paying international gigs, recording, composing for film and working on his career.

The beautiful thing is, the music is beautiful, the talent is pure and the approach is creative and unique.

For many years, Duane Andrews has been a mainstay of the music scene in St. John's, Newfoundland. At one point he was playing in as many as 13 bands, from country to funk and back to traditional.

Duane's own compositions and arrangements are influenced both by the gypsy jazz guitar stylings of Django Reindhart and by the traditional Newfoundland music (with it's mix of French, Irish, Portuguese and English influences) that he grew up with in Carbonear, Newfoundland on Canada's east coast.

"Raindrops", the third album from Duane Andrews, is now available for purchase online! You can get a taste of the new tracks in the Sample Tracks player at www.duaneandrews.ca

Available now on itunes (http://www.itunes.ca) or
buy from Freds Records (http://www.freds.nf.ca/artists/AndrewsDuane.html)
or CD Baby (http://cdbaby.com/cd/duaneandrews3)

The new album is similar in sound to the previous two bringing together Django Reinhardt's Gypsy Jazz with traditional Newfoundland music but with more focus on arrangement and instrumentation. Along with his regular quartet including Patrick Boyle (trumpet), Steve Hussey (Guitar) and Dave Rowe (Bass), Andrews is joined by Bill Brennan (Vibes) and special guests the Atlantic String Quartet performing music from Django Reinhardt to Emile Benoit to Charles Mingus plus some new tunes from Duane.

Reckoned: A company's internal audience is worth wooing.

I was recently asked to support a corporate client's efforts to invite staff to an important training session and encourage them to attend.

Obstacles: staff are very busy, may have had their fill of new initiatives lately, have expressed they feel overloaded with training / meeting requests and other demands on their work schedule, and haven't been reading internal comms emails and e-newsletters.

The first thing I did was help the client establish that this training session was necessary, and identify the key messages to staff. In a nutshell:
> this training session is important; your support and understanding is required if this new initiative is to succeed
> your time is valuable, so we won't waste it with a bunch of information you don't need
> we have designed the training session so that it will be relevant to you in your role [separate sessions, divided by role / dept.]

I recommended that we treat the communication about this training event seriously - in that we execute it well, and do good work - but that we lighten up enough to make it stand out from the typical day to day communications staff receive. I wanted staff to take note and understand that some effort was being made to woo them, to invite their attention and to make good on the offer being made.

There's a fine line to walk when wooing staff this way. Spending too much money or overdoing communications efforts in another way (e.g. with too many reminders, sending a personal message from the CEO when it's not necessary etc.) can backfire. The efforts, tactics and vehicles have to match the purpose, the message and the desired outcome. In this case there was next to no budget, and anyway I wanted to keep it simple but make it noticeable.

Purpose: invite staff to training sessions
Vehicle: Outlook invite, html ok, graphics ok. Must adhere to brand guidelines. No budget for html designer. Cool graphic generator available on company website. easy rsvp by accepting meeting invite.

Message: see bullets above. Also note that this was basically for a sneak preview of a new website including training on the specific feature and tools useful to each role / department.
Tactic: Design / write Outlook invite like an invitation to a movie preview
Tactic: Support with internal movie poster campaign that highlights the message that training is targeted to role & department (design simple but eye catching movie posters, have printed movie poster size on glossy paper and post in each department, common areas)

Outcome: staff attendance at training sessions
Tactic: Confirm rsvps by sending a 'movie ticket' through internal mail to each attendee, which also serves as training reminder.

Wouldn't staff see right through this whole movie theme and realize that we are vying for their attention and trying to encourage them to come? Of course! We're not trying to trick them. We're trying to show that we understand there's a lot vying for their time and that we are making the effort to engage them in this way because it is important for them to pay attention to this training invite in addition to everything else that is also on their plate.

We don't beat them over the head with it.
We invite them in the expected way with a little unexpected flair.
Rather than sending annoying email reminders, we keep the training session top of mind via a movie poster campaign and by sending them each a ticket ... underscoring that their attendance is important.

One of my clients joked, "They'll get to the training session and ask where the popcorn is."
My response? "Hey, let's have popcorn at the training sessions then. That's easy!"

Are we overdoing it on the movie theme? That popcorn add-on is the one thing that will tie the actual training session in with the communications theme. The popcorn smell should have a positive olfactory effect as people enter the training session. It may not be absolutely necessary, but it's a final detail that shows attention to detail in the form of a relevant treat for attendees. I felt it would be better to take this extra, easy step rather than have even one person make the joking comment to the rest of the attendees: "oh they forgot the popcorn."

Instead they will leaving knowing that we were thinking of them. We targeted the training properly and didn't waste their time. We created a positive tone through the communications and carried it through to the training sessions.
And we remembered the popcorn.

Some might think this whole exercise was unnecessary extra effort to undertake just to get staff to go to a training session that should be considered part of their job.
After years in employee communications I know that sometimes you've got to make the effort.
A company's internal audience is well worth wooing.