Archive for August 2015

Making the decision to join – not ignore – the ongoing conversation in Ferguson, Missouri Here’s an intriguing feature article from Yahoo news. As a school communicator, there’s lots of learning to be pulled out of this narrative, that’s for sure. So, sorry to put a squeeze your weekend schedule. But better now than Monday, right? I wish I had a…

The result may surprise you. Let’s begin. There’s only one question. It follows this scenario. Imagine you need to write a friendly greeting to a group of 200 random parents. You want to invite them to take a short online survey… and your “friendly greeting” is the key to getting good participation. You know you need to connect with your parents right away. You don’t…

After all, it anchored its new holding company in the ABCs. Elementary. A few simple props. Lots of speculation on Wall Street. And critics galore. I’m just glad the latest Google story contained something even an old 2nd grade teacher like me could follow. Did you catch what happened? Recently Google created a holding company called Alphabet, Inc. to oversee the operations…

The trick is trying to determine the right balance. Dang. Somehow I knew combining these three triggers wouldn’t be easy. Luckily, marketing expert Bill Belew knocks ’em out in a simple list. Honestly, getting this list together for you was somewhat of a challenge for me because there’s a much more famous “Bill Belew” – the renown costume designer who created…

A comparison of addictive behaviors: gambling vs. blogging It figures. I got into trouble driving into Traverse City last Wednesday. So I might as well have difficulties heading home, right? No one can say my life doesn’t have a sense of proportion and balance. Cindy and I started our return to Holland – after a fun, but brief three day stay…

Cindy realized her mistake as soon as she uttered the words. She knew I can’t resist a dare. Especially the famous triple-dog dare ya! There’s just something about a dare that brings out the worst in me. (The U. of M. Research Center is still attempting to identify something that’ll bring out the best in me, btw.) It’s like a…