FIR Interviews

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Eric Schwartzman, an early contributor to the “For Immediate Release” podcast, has written a new book, “The Digital Pivot,” and discussed it with Shel and Neville. In the book, Eric explains what successful digital marketers do differently.
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David Murray’s new book, “An Effort to Understand,” is a collection of essays drawn from many years of posts to his blog, Writing Boots. Addressing the challenges of communicating with one another in a polarized society, the book is structured first to define communication, then move from the personal to the organizational. Like the society on which the book is focused, not everyone will agree with everything in the book, but Murray offers sage wisdom about how to engage in conversations about these matters.

In this interview, FIR co-host Shel Holtz talks with Murray about the book, including his assertion that it is not communication if you know the outcome and that communication should not be civil.
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Andrea Weckerle first appeared in an FIR Interview a decade ago after she had founded CiviliNation, a non-profit that is “taking a stand against online harassment, character assassination, misinformation, and violence.” That’s a tall order given the state of civil discourse these days. In this FIR Interview, Andrea is joined by CiviliNation’s new president, veteran technology journalist Jolie O’Dell. The conversation covers the organization’s approach to addressing the issues that underlie outrage culture, doxxing, and other behaviors that undermine the potential of online conversation.
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You can’t visit a news site or check your feeds right now without seeing articles about NFTs — non-fungible tokens — and how they have captured imaginations. Taco Bell, the National Basketball Association, the Kings of Leon, Jack Dorsey, and artists like the one who sold a JPG for $69 million are examples of digital assets that have been purchased (or are up for grabs) with NFTs.

There are scenarios that make NFTs exciting for brands and, by extension, for communicators. What are they and how do they work (in terms we communicators can understand)? For that, we turn to Phil Gomes, former digital executive at Edelman and current head of global communications and marketing for Bloq‘s multiple services and brands.
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In this FIR Interview, Shel Holtz talks with Dr. Sandhya Pruthi, the Mayo Clinic’s chief medical editor and associate medical director for Content Management and Delivery, and Jay Maxwell, senior director of Health Information, about the development of the Clinic’s new First Aid skill for the Amazon Alexa platform, how it works, how they measure its effectiveness, and their approach toward preparing for a voice-enabled world. The interview includes a brief demonstration of the Clinic’s Alexa skill.
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According to its website, Diva Tech Talk “is a specialized communication channel highlighting women doing wonderful things in the technology arena by creating podcasts from interviews with successful female individuals in the field and covering various technology events.  It was created to inform and inspire women of all ages to succeed in professional and life missions that are technology-driven.” The podcast has also won Clarion Awards from the Association for Women in Communications in 2017 and 2016. In this FIR Interview, Shel Holtz spoke with Diva Tech Talk co-founder and host Nicole Scheffler about the show’s origins, its goals, and life as a female engineer in a male-dominated industry (and what communicators can do to help change that).
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In this FIR Interview, host Shel Holtz talks with Jen McClure about JEM Consulting’s “State of Employee Advocacy” survey, including the connection between employee advocacy and social selling, whether employees who participate in an employee advocacy should have their involvement reflected in their performance evaluations, the role of advocacy amplification apps (and whether they can constitute an entire advocacy program), and some of the challenges of maintaining enthusiasm among ambassadors once a program is up and running.
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In this FIR Interview, host Shel Holtz spoke with Judith Platz and John Ragsdale, research vice presidents at the Technology Services Industry Association (TSIA) about the motivation for developing the”TSIA B2B Social Engagement Rating,” the thinking behind low- and high-engagement activities, and how TSIA members (which includes the likes of Honeywell, Panasonic, NCR, Symantec, and Unisys) have responded to the rating.
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