“If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”
- Benjamin Franklin
Master’s Class Work: a new start
My journey brought me back to school when I realized I was not up-to-date in my communication skills. New technology was out of my comfort zone. Graduate school sure has changed that, and I have learned just as much from the diverse students in the Strategic Communication program at the University of Iowa as I have from the instructors.
The Friends of Musser Public Library was almost defunct when I joined its committee. I created a survey to determine the public's awareness and perceptions of the organization. We needed more information to determine the organization's direction and how to attract more members and interest. In retrospect, I would have followed up with the second survey much later. People didn't seem to understand the point of the second survey less than four months later. I got zero response to it after having such a strong response to the first one. We're going to hold off on focus groups until after we sponsor more events. Now we're focusing on getting new members more involved.
Contrary Brewing was the mighty little nanobrewery that could ... expand to a microbrewery and satisfy its local and area patronage. But owner Mark Mitchell wants to dream bigger. Here are suggestions about how to go bigger on social media in hopes of matching the sales and reach of regional competitor Toppling Goliath.
Rebuilding Together Muscatine helps some of the poorest home owners repair hazards in their homes or yards, or help make the property wheelchair accessible. I followed this organization throughout my Foundations of Strategic Communication class, creating a campaign, a blog, press releases, speeches, and a crisis communication plan. Here, I find ways to improve on the organization's social media, mostly by using these channels with more regularity.
Everyone in my Campaigns class did a presentation about campaigns which won Silver Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of America. My project was on a U.S. Census Bureau campaign to persuade underrepresented populations in Houston to participate in the Census, using head and heart appeals. This was a very in-person campaign in order to overcome the barriers: languages, levels of physical and mental abilities, and fear. During the height of COVID-19 restrictions, protocols were another hurdle.
Muscatine, Iowa holds a special place in the heart and memory of Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was the first place he visited in America back in 1985, and he was warmly welcomed. For several Lunar New Years in a row, before relations between our countries soured, world-class musicians, actors and acrobats from China performed for free and stayed with Muscatine families. Mine was one of them.