The Tipping Point - How Can We Tip the Auction???

Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point is an eye opening book that emphasizes the importance of details. I've read the book before (or at least parts of it) but I never appreciated it the way I did this time around. I think the reason for this is because I am involved in Public Relations now, and it's all in the details, especially when it comes to the Athletic Auction.
I remembered especially the story of the subways in New York. At the time, the city and the subways were hot spots for crime. There were murders, break-ins, violent intimidation, and muggings every day. Gladwell recounts the story of Goetz, a white college professor who was intimidated by four young "thugs" on the subway. Instead of letting them push him around, he went over the edge and shot them right then and there. Due to the media attention that this story brought, New York City officials realized it was time to do something about the crime rate. They started by simply paying attention to the details. They cleaned the subway cars, painted over the graffiti, and took care of broken windows. Any time vandalism took place, it was immediately repaired in order to send the message, "You can spend your time vandalizing, painting graffiti, etc., but we're just going to paint right over it as soon as it happens." This attention to detail sent a dramatic message to all those who lived in the city- people DO care about their environments, because their environments play a part on the behavior that takes place around them. When the environment is clean and in order, people's behavior will fall in to place.
I also really enjoyed the section on "stickiness" as applied to Sesame Street and Blue's Clues. I never thought about how much research and thought went into children's television shows to hold their attention and make the show something the children will return to again and again. Interaction was a huge part of making kid's shows sticky. The more the children could participate and answer questions, the stickier the shows seemed to be. There were countless studies done and examples covered on this matter, and I found all of them very interesting. It would take a very patient person to deal with children and study those little details and clues in order to make the television show a success. Gladwell also talked about stickiness in terms of group behavior. In his example, the Ya-Ya Sisterhood epidemic became huge because it wasn't just individuals going to the book tours/signings, it was GROUPS of friends who had tipped the popularity by a word-of-mouth epidemic.
Gladwell also talked about three different types of people, Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors are those people who know so many others that they bring others together. The author gave an example of how he could trace the majority of his friends back to one man who had introduced him and linked him to most of those friends that he met. I started thinking about that myself, and realized that I may also be a connector. Even in high school, I was friends with so many different groups of people that I had a way of bringing many of them together to form new friendships. I hung out with the cheerleaders from my squad, the chorus girls I sang with, the baseball team my boyfriend was a part of, the "weird" emo kids that I found a special place in my heart for (and the strange music they listened to...I tried it out for a while!), etc. Cheerleaders never associated with that group, yet some of my good cheerleading buddies met and liked some of the "different" people I had become close to. For this reason, I do feel that I would fall under the Connector category. Mavens are people who are full of knowledge, expertise, and facts. To illustrate this, Gladwell referred to Mark Alpert, who was detailed and wise and curious. This type of person has "the knowledge and the social skills to start word-of-mouth epidemics" that can tip something and make it a huge success. The third group Gladwell referred to was Salesmen. These people are convincing, outgoing, and also knowledgeable. Moine said that a great salesman has a great number and high quality of answers to the objections that clients often raise. Salesmen also have energy, charisma, and a persuasiveness that allows people to trust and agree with them.
When applying these principles to the Athletic Auction, I felt the most important aspect was first of all the details. Our pitch focused on making this event something more elegant and completely thought through from the first to the last detail. Our budget, presentation, decor, etc. were all very specific in what we thought would make this event a success. Spending time on the details will make this event glamorous, elegant, and set the bar high for events in the future. As Gladwell explained, people respond to their environment in a way that is rather subconscious, yet hugely important. (As the example of crime in a graffiti-ridden city proved). When our guests see the details we payed attention to in order to provide an excellent environment, I hope that they will enjoy themselves and appreciate this auction more than ever before. We can also use the different types of people we have in our class to work together to cover every detail. We can use our salesmen and their charisma to help pitch our ideas successfully. We can use our connectors in the class to find contacts from all different departments for donated items, help with props, materials, or whatever we need. And we can use our mavens and the knowledge they possess, as well as their ability to find great deals to aid in the auction process. I also hope that the things that we learn through this process can be applied in future years (aka become "sticky") so that every auction from here on out is widely successful.
I am thrilled and looking forward to applying the knowledge I have collected from my Public Relations courses in order to make this auction tip. With our team's hard work and attention to detail, I know we can do it!

Twitter - Learning Slowly but Surely!

Dr. Carter uses Twitter more than anyone I know and I've been trying to learn the benefits and quirks to it lately. I know it's a great social networking tool and can be very useful in finding potential internships, jobs, connections, etc., but it's taken me a while to get there. I started following some ad agencies, since I'm partly an ad major, but mostly I've been focusing on finding event planners, especially in the wedding industry. I know a woman who runs a complete wedding planning facility out of Jacksonville, FL, and I found her on Twitter. She's talked to me a lot about the ups and downs, the details, planning, and everything that goes in to planning and executing a bride's big day through her Twitter, I've found some other really interesting event coordinators, and I've also found a lot of interesting people just searching on my own. What I find most interesting, however, is how many messages I get to my phone every day (via Twitter) about new event planners that are following ME that I haven't even followed yet. It makes me excited that I'm getting these connections, even though some of them are really far away, but I hope that I can use this to my benefit. I browse through a lot of their links and pictures they post just because I love weddings and could get lost in the articles and stories and albums people post. I have also set up an almost definate weekend this spring to go to Jacksonville and help Southern Charm Events put on a wedding. I'm glad that Dr. Carter has gotten us in to Twitter and has helped me realize how important and helpful it can really be. I'm looking forward to meeting and speaking with many more PR professionals via Twitter!
You can follow my Tweets @ www.twitter.com/shannon_twomey
I look forward to Tweeting with you!