Tipping Georgia College

This semester, my public relations administration class was assigned to read The Tipping Point, a national bestseller by Malcolm Gladwell. If you ask anyone I know, I have a difficult time finding books that I like. I often find myself dozing off in the middle of my reading and then asking myself, "What in the world is this book even about?". While I was reading The Tipping Point, however, I found myself wondering how I managed to read and comprehend ten pages so quickly. I finally understood what my mom was talking about my whole life when she would say, "Tori, you just have to find the right book." This book was very informational and even made me realize a lot about myself.

According to Gladwell, the "tipping point" is "the name given to that one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once" (9). It is the "moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point" (12). In other words, the tipping point is when something (an idea, product, message, behavior, etc.) suddenly spreads like wildfire, similar to how chicken pox spread in my third grade class. Gladwell gave an example of a tipping point with the reemergence of Hush Puppies- "the classic American brushed-suede shoes with the lightweight crepe sole" (3)- in late 1994. These shoes were cool when our parents were in school, however, nobody wore these bland shoes in the 1990s. A small group of people started wearing the shoes again to the clubs and bars in Manhattan, and before you knew it, Wolverine (the company that makes Hush Puppies) went from considering phasing out the shoes to selling 430,000 pairs in a matter of months. Just like that, Hush Puppies experienced their tipping point.

The author discusses the Three Rules of Epidemics: The Law of the Few, the Stickiness Factor and the Power of Context. The Law of the Few is simply a "word-of-mouth epidemic" (32). In other words, in order for a tipping point to occur, people must use their "social gifts" to get the word out. There are three different types of "social gifts." A person can either be a Connector-someone who knows lots of people and makes friends and acquaintances easily, a Maven- one who accumulates knowledge, or a Salesmen-a persuader. The Stickiness Factor is finding ways to make an epidemic memorable so that it is set into action. Lastly, The Power of Context is "peer pressure and social norms and any number of other kinds of influence that can play a critical role in sweeping us up in the beginnings of an epidemic" (171). In other words, it's how our "external environment can have a dramatic effect on how we behave and who we are" (182). Once all of these combine, you have yourself a tipping point.

As I mentioned earlier, The Law of the Few divides people up into three subgroups: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. After thinking long and hard about it and asking my friends and family what they thought I was, I reached a general consensus. I am a mixture between a Connector and a Salesman. I have always liked to know everyone. It drives my boyfriend crazy that I "can't go anywhere without seeing someone I know." Ironically, I often find myself running into people I know in different states. The last time my family and I went to Universal Studios, I just so happened to run into my best friend's youth pastor. My parents just laughed it off and went on about their day. Like the guy in the book, I enjoy meeting people. Although I do not send Christmas cards to everyone I meet, I do find it extremely fascinating how everyone can relate to one another in some way, and sometimes, even know the same people. I am very open-minded and enjoy learning about others' lifestyles. I also consider myself to be quite the salesman. In high school, I managed to sell over $1000 in advertisements for the mediocre school newspaper. I am good at picking out a reason that something should be important to someone. Growing up, if I asked my parents to go somewhere on the weekend and they responded with the usual, "We'll see, Tori," I always managed to negotiate with my parents, work something out and go to the skating rink almost every Friday night. I'm good at opening people's eyes to things they might not have thought of before.

Our class is made up of Salesmen, Connectors and Mavens. We are definitely capable of making this years' kickoff the best yet. In order for our Relay For Life Kickoff to be successful, we are going to have to relate to the team captains, survivors and other participants personally. In order to make the kickoff stick, I think that we should somehow relate to each and every person that attends the kickoff. We could do this through touching Survivor Stories or pictures of captains and their loved ones who have suffered from cancer hanging up around the room. In return, the team captains will be reminded of the importance of raising money for the American Cancer Society and partake in the Law of Few. Suddenly, everyone in the community pumped up about Relay For Life in the spring.

Just recently, I have witnessed a tipping point occur in Milledgeville. Phillip Joiner (my boss) is running for City Council. At first, Phillip asked a select few of us to help him get his name out there so that, hopefully, he would be elected to represent District 4 of Milledgeville (consisting of mostly college students). It was a group of no more than ten of us. We sat around and brainstormed for the first few meetings, discussing the best ways to actually get college students to the polls to vote for him. Like I mentioned before, we decided to connect to these college students on a personal level and have registered over 600 students to vote in Baldwin County. Phillip, being a GCSU amumnae, understands the importance of college students in the city. Without us, several local businesses wouldn't be in business. However, City Council has repeatedly passed legislation that had a negative effect on our college community. Most recently, for example, they passed a housing ordinance within city limits where no more than three unrelated people could live in the same house. Several students were forced to move and/or find other roommates. Therefore, Phillip's slogan, "I want to be heard," has pumped up the college community. At our last meeting, there were nearly 30 people there supporting Phillip and his campaign. Local businesses have also put on benefits for his cause. All of a sudden, the entire college community is rooting and campaigning for Phillip. His Facebook group has reached almost 700 people, several of whom dedicate their statuses to his cause-reminding people to vote, etc. This is a real-life example of the Three Rules of Epidemics causing everything to change all at once.

Say Goodbye to Guacamole... No Way!

Throughout my childhood, the term "global warming" was not a big issue. Had you asked me two days ago what I am doing to reduce global warming, I would have probably said... "There's nothing I can do about it." Of course my parents constantly complained when my sister and I would leave on every light in the house or forget to cut off the water while brushing our teeth, but to be completely honest, I assumed they were just wanting to save a little money on the bills that month.

When Dr. Miller, my public relations professor, introduced my PR administration class to Blog Action Day, I was amazed. Nearly 8,000 bloggers from 140 different countries blogging about the same issue of global importance... Must be about something important! Then I heard the topic-- Climate change. Oh no! I had absolutely zero knowledge on the subject. It's not that I did not believe that it was going on (surely the smartest scientists in the world wouldn't make something of this magnitude up), but I always thought it was the big industries causing the increase in average temperatures.

Okay, so it's getting a little warmer every year. Of course I miss the little snow that Georgia saw every winter when I was young and making snow sleds out of floats from the pool. However, I love the short winters and warm spring breaks. A link on the Blog Action Day website led me to "The Top 100 Effects of Global Warming." Immediately, I wanted to make a difference! All of my favorite things were on the "Goodbye" list, including: wine, Christmas trees, fly fishing, the great American past time of baseball, my favorite snack-guacamole and many more. With rising temperatures, the website also informed me that I would have more itchy mosquito bites, poison ivy, tornadoes (yikes!) and several of my other worst nightmares.

There are several things that I can do now to help out with climate change. Starting now, I am going to recycle, quit using plastic bottles, plant some trees, buy some of the weird looking LED bulbs, hang up more clothes to dry rather than using the dryer and take advantage of car pooling when traveling with friends. My car, although not electric, does get an average of 30 miles per gallon, but I have realized that I definitely need to cut back on my "joy riding" time to help with the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. Since I am a PR major, it is my job to spread the word! I am immediately going to start by informing my friends of the dangers of climate change, ways that they can help out and why it's important. I may also look into getting involved with a local organization that focuses on global warming and help speak out on the situation. I mean... This is pubic relations.

One day, I hope to work in the public relations department of NASCAR. I have grown up around the sport and thoroughly enjoy everything about it. When I typed in "NASCAR and global warming" into my search bar, I expected hundreds of websites dedicated to the million ways NASCAR contributes to climate change. Surprisingly, however, the entire first page of results were ways in which the corporation was taking their own steps to help out with the issue. This year, in fact, NASCAR began planting trees at Cup races "to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of NASCAR, while raising awareness of conservation among fans," NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said (nascar.com). In just one year, NASCAR will plant 20 acres of of new trees. In addition, several drivers are beginning to work on the levels of carbon dioxide emitted by their cars by working with hybrid technologies. NASCAR's green initiative is off to a good start, and if I get a job there one day, I would be thrilled to help out with this wonderful project.

If you're like me and think that there is nothing you can do to help out with climate change, do some research! I guarantee that your opinion on the situation will be changed drastically. Thanks to Blog Action Day, I plan on making the world a better place to live!

OMG How the World Has Changed

Social networking has grown into a natural part of everyone's daily lives. According to Nielsen Online, 10% of time spent on the Internet was devoted to blogs and other social networking websites in 2008 (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Today, Facebook alone has over 300 million active users. Over the years, these users have developed hundreds of acronyms to make their social networking easier and faster. One of which, WTF (what the... you get the picture), had been the acronym for a well reknown lobbying coalition in Wisconsin.
According to Journal Sentinel in Milwaukee, the employees of Wisconsin Tourism Federation "couldn't possibly have predicted how the Internet would change the lingo." After thirty years of dedicated service to the tourism industry, the business finally gave into temptation and changed their name to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin (TFW). A spokesperson for TFW said that they didn't want it to detract from their mission. No longer will preteens be able to giggle every time one of the businesses' commercials airs on television.
I personally find it amazing how much social networking has changed the world I live in. Ten years ago, if someone abbreviated a cliche phrase, I would have been dumbfounded. However, our fast-paced society is always seeking faster and easier ways to communicate. I wonder what social networking will be like 10 years from now...

My First "Pitching" Experience

Over the course of the semester, my public relations administration class is responsible for planning and putting on the annual Baldwin County Relay For Life Kickoff event. The class was divided up into five groups of three to come up with our own ideas for the event. Every group was responsible for coming up with a catchy slogan, decoration plans, food arrangements (with budget), an invitation, a menu and other arrangements necessary to produce a successful event. Since our slogan had to fit into an overall birthday theme, my group came up with "Pin the Cure on Cancer." We would keep the event casual, like a birthday party you would have as a child. Each person who attended the event would receive a goodie bag containing candy, a birthday hat and noise makers upon their arrival. We also decided to have a magician in the "meet and greet room" where they could enjoy balloons, magic tricks and popcorn as an appetizer. In this room, we would also set up a card making station where attendees could make birthday cards for cancer patients in the local hospital. We created buttons (or pins) that had the slogan on them for team leaders to wear. The menu would also be simple, consisting of the choice of a hamburger or hotdog, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad and chips. Desserts would also serve as decoration and would be provided on each table as a centerpiece (cupcake tier with Relay colored cupcakes). Each cupcake would have a birthday candle in it which would be lit at the end of the ceremony in memory of someone who has suffered with cancer.
Our group was not chosen for the event, but the Relay Committee was very intringued by one of our ideas (which I just so happened to have come up with). I thought since it was a "birthday party," why not celebrate it being Relay For Life's 26th birthday. Therefore, I made a large, three-dimensional birthday candle as an example for the pitch. At the actual event, I wanted to set up 26 along one wall with a banner hanging above it saying something along the lines of "Relay For Life, celebrating 26 years of dedicated service to the American Cancer Society." The committee loved this idea and decided to incorporate the candles into the actual event.
Although our group was not chosen, this experience taught me a lot about the event planning world. First and foremost, event planning is stressful, but it is important to learn how to manage your stress so that your pitch is delivered clearly. I also learned that even if your theme isn't chosen, that does not mean that a committee does not like any of your ideas. In addition to the candles, the committee also kept our food and meet and greet ideas as well. It was a great experience and I look forward to the kickoff in November.