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Today’s panel features Pure Performance Communications CEO Deirdre Breakenridge; Ron Ploof, Chief Storytelling Officer and Content Strategist for OC New Media; and Cisco Systems Senior Communication and Marketing Manager Brad Whitworth. Our topics this week:

• Accuracy and honesty from organizations — from companies to civic organizations to presidential candidates — is suffering. Are all institutions being painted with the same brush, and how can communicators ensure their messages are seen as credible and accurate?
• Pew Research’s 2016 State of the News Media paints a picture that could present some challenges for media relations professionals.
• Twitter will live-stream CBS’s broadcast feed from the Democratic and National Conventions.
• Second Life is building a Virtual Reality product called Project Sansar that wants to be the YouTube or WordPress of VR. (Does this heard the return of the FIR Second Life drinking game?)
• Teens are miffed that their parents are getting on Snapchat, but it could be a boon for communicators and marketers.
• More people than ever before work from home. This presents challenges to engagement and internal communications.
• Dan York’s tech report covers the role of live streaming in last week’s string of shootings, Facebook’s decision to add encryption to Messenger messages, and Snapchat’s new Memories feature that lets you save snaps and use archived images and video.
• Is longer video better than shorter video at aiding in recall and building a brand’s reputation?

Connect with our panelists on Twitter at @dbreakenridge, @ronploof, and @bradwhitworth.

Links to the source material for this episode are on Delicious.

Special thanks to Jay Moonah for the opening and closing music.

About today’s panel:

Deirdre Breakenridge has been in PR and marketing for more than 25 years helping senior executives in mid-to-large organizations communicate to their stakeholders. She’s currently CEO of Pure Performance Communications, which she started in 2011. Pure Performance specializes in integrated marketing strategy, training, and workshops. Before that, she was president of Mangol Marketing, and was an adjunct professor at NYU. She co-authored Putting the Public Back in Public Relations with Brian Solis – and appeared with Brian in an FIR interview about the book back in 2009. She also wrote Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional.

Ron Ploof is a 25-year veteran of the high-tech electronics industry. His interest in social media began in 2005 when he launched one of the world’s first indie storytelling podcasts called, Griddlecakes Radio: Exploring the Lost Art of Audio Storytelling. He co-founded a social media consulting firm in 2008 and was the manager of social media for Epson America from 2012 to 2015. But his first love has always been to use storytelling as a communications vehicle. He’s produced an audio book about the American Revolution and written a job-skills book as a novel. His most recent project, The StoryHow™ PitchDeck, is a deck of playing cards that helps business people convert their ideas, messages, and presentations into memorable narratives.

Brad Whitworth , ABC, CMP, IABC Fellow, is senior communication manager at Cisco. Brad joined Cisco in 2007 and today leads integrated communication for the part of the company that builds partner ecosystems for new markets. Before Cisco, Brad led communication programs at HP, PeopleSoft and AAA. He earned undergraduate degrees in both journalism and speech at the University of Missouri and an MBA at Santa Clara University. A former broadcaster, Brad has made more than 300 presentations to executives, communicators, and university classes around the world. Brad has a long history with IABC, including serving as chairman of the international board and president of two local chapters. He is one of the authors of The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio