Author: andrewcareaga

Former higher ed PR and marketing guy at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) now focused on freelance writing and editing and creative writing, fiction and non-fiction.

Memo to POTUS: There is no such thing as ‘off the record’

So, President Obama was off the record when he called Kanye West a “jackass” — a comment that was overheard and tweeted by ABC News “Nightline” co-anchor Terry Moran, and subsequently retweeted, Facebooked and otherwise spread virally throughout the social mediasphere.

Um, excuse me, but: Since when is a president — or any public figure — ever off the record?

Media Relations 101, Rule No. 1: There is no such thing as “off the record.” This goes for presidents of colleges and universities as well as presidents of the countries. It goes for any public figure. (This means you, too.)

Never assume you are ever off the record when talking to a reporter, a blogger, a tweeter. Never assume anything you say while prepping for an interview will not become the story.

This lesson is more important in today’s always-on mediasphere than it’s ever been.

Higher ed PR colleagues: Please make sure your university’s most visible, high-profile employees learn this rule. If you aren’t teaching it to them, then start. Use President Obama’s off-the-record gaffe as a teachable moment.

(Thanks to @SashaWolff for the L.A. Times story link.)

Brand Management Summit canceled

I’m saddened to report that Educational Marketing Group‘s Brand Management Summit has been canceled. EMG president Bob Brock posted about the cancellation last Thursday on EMG’s Brand Manager’s Notebook blog. The summit was scheduled for Oct. 19-21 in Denver, and I was on the schedule to present as the recipient of EMG’s inaugural International Brand Master award.

While I’m bummed out about not being able to attend this summit, I can certainly sympathize with EMG and understand the reasons for canceling it. Tight budgets, travel restrictions and concerns about H1N1 all combine to create a perfect storm scenario that will probably affect a lot of conference plans this fall. And for a small, specialized event like this summit, which can’t absorb many cancellations, the current state of economics and health worries has got to be even more trying.

“It was a difficult decision,” Bob writes in his blog post. “But the truth is that over the past few weeks we’ve fielded many serious concerns from Summit registrants over deepening budget cutbacks, freezes on travel, and an increasing number of incidents of the H1N1 virus across the country.”

Since we are committed to maintaining the Summit’s premier quality and highly interactive nature, we believe that it’s in the best interest of all of our registrants to cancel this year’s event.

We do so only reluctantly, since we know the decision will disappoint many marketing professionals who were looking forward to this year’s Summit. We were, too.

It really is the only venue of its kind where marketing practitioners can truly focus on discussing and creating real-world branding strategies and tactics for their institutions. And we’re absolutely committed to bringing the extraordinary Summit event back next year, bigger and better than ever.

I hope to make next year’s summit. I like the idea of a smaller, more focused conference, and would love to participate in such an event.