Commenting On June

It was a very active month here at CSI/Season 2. Our conversations included everything from Scott McClellan and Barack Obama to storytelling and making better presentations. Our Stamp Out Bad PowerPoint campaign culminated with the invention of the PowerPoint Patch (which as you recall functions just like the Nicotine Patch) and The Stamp Out Bad PowerPoint Toolkit.

We talked a bit about Jim Mullen's book and Wordles from my fellow guest bloggers at ToddAnd, and sadly, there was the death of the great Timothy J. Russert. We pretty much wrapped up June's conversation with my marathon training announcement and on an up note inspired by Richard Edelman's post The Old Lions Roar. Looking back over the last 30 days or so, I get exhausted just thinking about it.

That said, as many of you know, my first post following a month of conversation is dedicated to thanking all those who in some way contributed to the prior month's positive dialogue. (Here's what it looked like last month.) If you'd like to comment on any of our conversations from June, I'd love your insights, and as always, you'll be thanked for your intellectual generosity with a link to your blog.

I look forward to your comments!

Good Answers, Best Answer

From time to time, I'll ask a question on Linkedin to extend the conversation or get different points of view on various client service related topics. Most recently, I used the forum to ask a question based on a post by Edward Boches at Mullen's new team blog relentlessPR. (A blog for which I also write). The question was: "Is An Ad Agency The Best Place To Practice PR?"

As usual in this forum, I received some very thoughtful answers. While the question is closed, you can visit Linkedin to read how people responded. On Linkedin, when you close a question you're asked to rate the answers. This time, I only marked the Good Answers but did not select a Best Answer. A cope out? Maybe, but in their own way each of the good answers was excellent and there was no reason to arbitrarily distinguish one over the others.

The fact is, the more I thought about it and based on re-reading Edward's post, I could have asked a better question. I should have asked: "As a PR Professional, can you better serve your client's needs working from an integrated agency or a traditional PR firm? (If anyone has any thoughts on that, feel free to weigh in).

In the meantime, I just want to thank everyone who takes time to offer their insights to the questions on Linkedin and who takes time to leave comments on blogs. It's not always easy, but without you there is no conversation. I learn from you all every day. Don't worry about leaving the best answer; just add your individual perspective to the fabric of the conversation. We'll all be richer for it.