Gonzaga University Ethicist to Speak at
September 7 MarCom Networking Breakfast

J. Michael Stebbins, director of the Gonzaga Ethics Institute, is the featured speaker at Spokane MarCom's first monthly networking breakfast of the fall at 7:30 a.m. on Friday, September 7, 2007 at Gonzaga University’s Cataldo Hall. 

Stebbins will speak on “Ethics from the Inside Out.”  He will address the ethical responsibilities and best practices for professional communicators in today’s workplace.

In his role at the Gonzaga Ethics Institute, he is responsible for designing and conducting ethics programs for a variety of professional groups, businesses, and university audiences.  After working as a nurse at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Stebbins directed the Arrupe Program in Social Ethics for Business at Georgetown University from 1994-2000.  He worked primarily in the area of business ethics and organizational leadership, helping executives and managers explore how well-run, financially successful businesses can make a significant contribution to the common good.

To RSVP for this breakfast meeting, call Jeff Thomas at (509) 459-4242 or email him at jthomas@spokaneathleticclub.org. 

This event is the first of a series of Spokane MarCom professional development and networking breakfasts on the first Friday of each month from September through June.  See the article below for a run down of future topics.

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News from New MarCom President Dave Sonntag

Welcome to a new year of Spokane Regional MarCom Association activity. Our board has met a couple times over the summer, including a meeting with the PRSA Board. There is fresh energy around and a great commitment to providing exceptional professional development and relationship-building opportunities to our membership. Here are the four main areas our board will focus on this year:

1. Excellent programs: Our full slate of breakfast programs is already in place – you will find them all posted on the website and listed in this newsletter. In addition, many of the presenters are already committed (thanks to program chair extraordinaire Jeff Thomas). MarCom and PRSA have brainstormed a wide variety of topics based on member input. A program subcommittee will meet each month with the current month’s presenter to assure program relevance and excellence.

2. Walk the brand talk: So we rolled out a new organizational brand last year. While that was exciting, the rubber meets the road this year as we expand our membership, broaden our program topics and refine our professional development to reflect the values established by our new branding.

3. Technology: More precisely, our new website and all of the exciting tools it will offer – from better membership database management to web-based RSVP and breakfast/event meeting payment – will all be available by the October meeting.

4. Increase efficiencies: This is closely connected to the new website and to stewarding our organization’s resources. A cornerstone of this is launching web-based meeting RSVP and payment effective for the Oct. 5 membership meeting. This will allow us to greatly cut breakfast expenses (we have averaged a $1,000 annual deficit shared between MarCom and PRSA). In conjunction with this, we are raising breakfast prices:
• $10 for students / pre-paid members / RSVP’d members
• $13 for members @ the door / RSVP’d non-members
• $15 for non-members @ the door
• Grandfather clause: members who have already pre-paid this year got last year's prices

Finally, I hope you gain some value from this column each month. My primary game plan will include interviewing experts related to our breakfast meeting topics. Since I’ve already rambled too much, I’ll be brief for this month. I had a conversation with Vince Lemus, Assistant Director of the Equal Opportunity Office at Western Wasington University and formerly with Eastern Washington University and the City of Spokane.

Vince provided the following concepts as we consider the moral and ethical aspects of the work we do:

• Conduct yourself at work the way you would with your mother, wife and family.
• Ask yourself: Are you making this decision for your own personal benefit or for the betterment of your stakeholders?
• Learn to recognize and manage “mismanaged agreement.” There is often a perception that employees or publics are in agreement only because they haven’t spoken up.
• Remember reputational capital. Individuals or organizations that build a reputation of honesty and doing what is right will withstand the public court of opinion when there is a major bump in the road – shady characters will get buried.

Dave Sonntag,

Spokane MarCom President

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MarCom Breakfast Speaker Series 2007 – 2008

As part of our commitment to high quality programs for our Friday morning meetings, the MarCom and PRSA program chairs have already laid out an impressive schedule of speakers and topics for the rest of the year.  Here's what you can look forward to:

October 5, “Social Networks and Internet-Based Enterprise Collaboration”, Nick Murto of Seven2 and Joe Tansy of Guerilla Development Company.

November 2, Presentation by Rota Weis, a dynamic speaker and current National PRSA Chair.

December 7, “Successful Fundraising Strategies for Non-profits” panel includes Gail Stevenson, Director of CCS Foundation; Ann Price, Resource Director for Community Frameworks; Chris Martin, Executive Director of First Night Spokane; and a health-industry fundraiser TBA.

January 4, 2008, Presentation by the "PRSA Communicator of the Year".

February 1, 2008, “New Media Technologies”, Shaun O’L. Higgins, President and COO New Media Ventures, V.P. Marketing & Sales, Spokesman-Review followed by annual MarCom workshop (details to come).

March 7, 2008, “Internal Communications, Strategies, Tactics and Tools”, Laurine Jue, Employee Communications Manager for Avista Corp.

April 4, 2008, "Branding/Rebranding" presented in conjunction with the PRSA Day on the Job.

May 2, 2008, “Intellectual Property, Why It Matters”, Dan Hayes, Lee & Hayes Intellectual Property Law Firm and Dean Davis, Dean Davis Photography.

June 6, 2008, “Spark Awards Presentations: Dussault Award & Brightest Sparks”, an overview of the winning entries from the 2008 SPARK Awards.

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Help Keep the MarCom Directory Up to Date

It's a simple process -- just go to the Member Directory (or follow this link: http://www.spokaneprcouncil.org/directory.asp) and find your listing.  Then click on "edit" next to your name and update any old information to reflect where you are now.  This helps keep the directory a useful tool for everyone.  And your friends can't say they didn't know how to get a hold of you!

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IN THIS ISSUE

2010 MarCom Leadership

2010 DIRECTORS