Snow

The snow has been making me want to hibernate these last few days. But, it has given me an opportunity to think, plot and (begin to) plan.

I am watching “Top X Whatever” lists and have been insanely jealous, seeing Chris Brogan or Scott Monty or Micah Baldwin‘s name all over the place. So, I’m figuring out what lists I’ll appear on this time next year.

Putting the relations back in “PR”

I am re-dedicating myself to furthering my skills and talents as a public relations professional. I have a lot of ideas and I look forward to putting them out there.

I am currently planning something fun for my day job that is set to debut the first part of next year, that I feel is a productive step forward to alleviating some of the drama between PR and journalists. I look forward to telling that story, but all in good time.

Through communities such as the folks that gather on Monday evenings to participate in the “#journchat” on Twitter, a potential new PR professionals group in the Seattle area and focusing on some smaller companies, I think there is some positive movement ahead.

Putting the “public” back into public relations

This has two meanings for me. Number one is that my current gig is with a publicly traded company. I must follow certain rules and regulations, most notably RegFD (Regulatory Fair Disclosure). There are tons of small-cap public companies that are probably crippled by these rules and have a difficult time participating in social media and social marketing. For example, you will never see @etelos on Twitter discussing the projects we’re working on because we simply can’t.

As RegFD evolves and the comanies governed by it evolve as well, much progess will be made next year.

The second meaning of the header is that despite Web 2.0’s best effort to virtualize all human interaction, we’re still about people. I am making an effort to actively participate in the Seattle tech scene. I had a great time at an impromptu gathering of several people and with some organization, I’m curious what we can actually accomplish.

Here on the blog, I’m going to try and write about issues that actively effect not only the public relations industry, but the tech industry as a whole. I’m also going to try and be a bit more meta and work in some videos and more photos.

But the key things I will be focusing on are everybody else. Being engaged both physically and virtually is essential to not only the companies that I will work with, but my success as well.

2009 will be a breakout year for a lot of trends, people and companies. What will your biggest win be?