This Week in Tech: BOCA Edition

Christmas and New Years are almost upon us. Before we take a well-deserved break and get ready to kick off 2015, let's wrap up 2014 with one last news roundup of our favorite stories of the week. 

 

Top 15 Trends for 2015

 Get a jumpstart on 2015 trends with this list from Forbes covering predictions on the upcoming influx of millennial founders and leaders, hyper connected consumers, B2B e-commerce models, an autonomous world, a move toward zero latency, mobile optimization and more.

Skype’s Newest App Will Translate Your Speech in Real Time

Have relatives in Spain, Mexico or South America, or simply looking to move abroad for a job opportunity but don't know how to speak Spanish? With Skype Translator, users have the ability to communicate in their native language (English or Spanish) with others and have it translated into text and audio in real time.

Pirate Bay Is Dark, but Clones Seem to Have Surfaced

If you’re a BitTorrent fan, you’ve likely heard the news that The Pirate Bay, largest rogue torrent-tracking site, has been shut down by Swedish authorities. However, that hasn’t stopped competitors like Thepiratebay.cr from appearing on the Web. What do you think? Will The Pirate Bay close for good like Napster or will it return in a more legal form? 

Trying to Avoid Predictable Holiday Gifts? This Guide Has Some Great Alternatives

For those procrastinators out there, it's not too late to finish your holiday shopping! VentureBeat posted a comprehensive inforgraphic from MassDrop highlighting gifts such as unique socks, headphones, coffee brewers and more so you can find something special for everyone on your Christmas list.

BOCA Nominated for Boutique PR Agency of the Year in the PRWeek US Awards 2015

We’re excited to announce that PRWeek US Awards 2015 has named BOCA a finalist in the Boutique PR Agency of the Year category! After a year of impressive client wins and continued growth, we’re excited to be recognized for all of our hard work.

Since opening in 2007, we’ve been committed to building a passionate and creative team of PR professionals and delivering strategic planning and messaging to our clients. It’s a great honor for BOCA to receive this esteemed recognition from PRWeek and we’re humbled that a team of more than 80 judges recognized our hard work and dedication.

The PRWeek US Awards celebration takes place on March 19th, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, celebrating all the accomplishments in the world of PR. In its 16 years running, the PR Awards has brought great judges like Ray Day of Ford and Sally Susman from Pfizer and numerous other famous figures. In addition to awards like Boutique of the Year, the PRWeek US Awards 2015 honors PR agencies in other categories like Consumer Launch Campaign and Young PR Professional.

Thanks again to PRWeek for this recognition, and here’s to making an even bigger splash in 2015! For a full list of finalists and to get a taste of all the exciting things going on in the world of PR, check out: http://awards.prweekus.com/.

Learning How to Be a Better PR Pro From Other Jobs (Part Two)

In part one, we showed you how valuable skills like writing and broadcast journalism, politics, music and teaching can give you an advantage in PR over others. This week, we asked a few more fellow BOCAteers about their past experiences to continue with the second part of our three-part blog series. Read on to see which skills made it into part two.

Sales

Natalie Wolfrom, account executive at BOCA, found her experience in sales a crucial component for excelling at her PR career. Sales are a lot like public relations, only instead of exchanging money, you are exchanging stories. Wolfrom previously worked as a sales representative for Dave’s Gourmet, Vector Marketing, and Gonzaga University Telefunding, which she says taught her three valuable skills she learned to leverage in PR:

Building Rapport – “Making a connection, chemistry and most importantly trust between you, your clients, the media, your colleagues – is very important in order to get the attention you need to get a story moving. Sharing a small bit of your personal background, preferences and experiences go a long way in connecting with others and building their confidence in yourself.

Three Strikes You’re Out – “It's perfectly fine to follow up and make sure a reporter or customer got your original request or question. But after three times, if they haven't gotten back to you, then assume they just aren't interested.”

The Deal Doesn’t End With The Sale – “Building relationships is key. After the story runs, don't cut off connections! Stay in touch with reporters. Wish them a happy holiday, share with them a relevant article you saw, keep them posted on your dogs, vacation, etc. Whatever you two connected on originally, keep that connection going. Maintaining a relationship means keeping you top of mind. If there is an opportunity that arises, that reporter is more likely to think of you first and reach out.” – Natalie Wolfrom

Greek Life

Before starting her PR career Alivia Snyder, account executive at BOCA, found her experience participating as a member of the National Greek Affiliated Organization while at Sonoma State helpful to getting started with PR:

“Contrary to popular belief, Greek organizations are actually run like corporations, with board meetings, a national headquarters to report to and a certain level of personal conduct to adhere to. I had the opportunity to hold several positions within my chapter, which taught me professionalism, responsibility and timeliness. With more than 80 girls relying on you, there is no room to drop the ball. Overall, I learned how to thrive under pressure and deliver lasting results for a greater cause.” – Alivia Snyder

Ann Hodge, account executive at BOCA, also participated in Greek Life and served as a vice president of new member education for Sigma Kappa Sorority. Like Synder, Hodge found her Greek life experience helped her make an easier transition into PR:

“Being in a leadership position in my sorority, I learned the organizational and time management skills necessary in PR. I had to plan and run a weekly meeting of more than 40 girls, which required the ability to organize a weekly agenda as well as managing my time to ensure that all schoolwork was done ahead of time. These skills are essential in PR, as there are constant deadlines and many different moving parts for every account, so you need to be organized and have the ability to prioritize.” – Ann Hodge

Psychology

Lyndsey Rocca, media specialist at BOCA, studied psychology in college at UC Santa Barbara before she made the move over to tech PR. Students who study psychology learn valuable communication skills and a great understanding of human behavior, so it’s not surprising that it a valuable resource to apply to PR:

“Studying psychology taught me a lot about how people make decisions, as well as how to craft an effective study based on the decision-making tactics of my audience. That knowledge has been immensely beneficial for me when I'm tasked with designing industry surveys for our clients in a way that will help them generate quality coverage.” – Lyndsey Rocca

Theater

Laura Golden, chief culture officer/business development at BOCA, comes from a theatrical background that has proven invaluable to helping manage a team of PR professionals. Taking on the role as writer and director for Temple Beth Torah Purim Shpiel and studying theater at the University of Washington all helped prepare Golden for the frantic pace of PR:

“Working with several groups of people in the theater, to bring all the different personalities and talents together for the final performance, requires a lot of organization, and quite a bit of forethought and planning regarding what that final performance should look like. It's really not too different from balancing the needs of an office, employees, vendors and clients to create a smooth running work environment that allows everyone to use their talents to create a final product called PR.” – Laura Golden

We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog post. Stay tuned for part three to find out how other skills like international relations and more helped our BOCAteers make a smooth transition to PR.

This Week in Tech: BOCA Edition

It's time for our news roundup! See below for our favorite tech stories from this week.

Ralph Baer, Father of Video Game Home Console Passes Away: Ralph Baer, creator of the first video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey, passed away at the age of 92. Baer, often referred to as the “father of video games,” helped pioneer the medium and create the popular Simon electronic memory game.

California sues Uber in startup's latest legal woe: Uber’s in trouble. After being banned in Spain and threatened with legal action in Portland for an illegal launch, the state of California is suing Uber for false advertising and being unclear about the background of its drivers. The legal move by California is meant to ensure consumers are safe, and that Uber is accurately describing its business practices.

New log-in tech will make passwords ‘wither and die’: Sick of always having to remember your passwords and sending e-mails to recover them when you can’t remember your log-in information? Well, Google, Samsung and other tech companies believe you are, and passwords may become obsolete in a few years as new technology for USB keys, fingerprint scanning and more offer easier ways to access your information.

Google Opens Its Cloud to Crack the Genetic Code of Autism: Google is working on finding a cure for autism by using its expertise in gathering information from the web and applying that skill to scan big amounts of genome data. Using a tool called Google Genomics to search regions and sequences of genomes, Google hopes to find common patterns leading to new discoveries for cures.

Learning How to Be a Better PR Pro From Other Jobs

The people at BOCA come from many different career backgrounds, and not everyone studied public relations in college. As this is also true for many current PR pros – as well as those looking to join the profession – we thought it would be interesting to take a look at a few skills that helped our BOCAteers transition into PR. Here’s part one of a three-part blog series highlighting some of the skills our staff members brought from past jobs to their current roles.

Writing and Broadcast

Becky Quinlan, senior director of content development and media strategy at BOCA, found her experience in broadcast journalism invaluable to her career at BOCA. Quinlan previously worked as a TV reporter and anchor for two California stations, KHSL-TV (CBS affiliate in Chico, CA) and KCBA-TV (Fox affiliate in Monterey, CA).

Quinlan recalls that her experience with broadcast journalism taught her how to pay attention to all the little details, such as the correct spelling of names, dates, and other information that is critical for your credibility both as a reporter and a PR specialist. She also realized the importance of doing your research on people ahead of time and knowing their preferred method of contact. However, the most important skill Quinlan learned was how to be a great storyteller:

“As a reporter, you need to address the who, what, why, where and when aspects of the story. But most importantly, you need to address WHY the audience should care. Why does this story matter? In PR, when pitching the media, you need to ask yourself WHAT your client/angle/executive/etc. can contribute to a larger industry trend or conversation.... and WHY the reporter should talk to your specific client.”- Becky Quinlan

Politics

Michelle Newburgh, our account director, came from a political background before she worked in PR. As a senior scheduler for the Toni Casey for US Senate Campaign, Newburgh learned how to perfect her pitching process. Newburgh recommends spending five minutes researching your contact and having three big points you can refer to while you’re pitching. In addition to pitching, Newburgh learned how to do effective briefings. Below is an example of her process:

“I make sure to include all the information in briefing materials that will be important to my candidate. Are they writing about competitors? What was their last story? Do I know their feelings about certain topics that could be discussed? What does Toni, (or in our case, the executive/client) need to know to have a successful briefing?” - Michelle Newburgh

Music

Sammy Totah, director at BOCA, found his music background to be helpful in his PR career. Totah devoted two years of his life to writing and recording songs and touring with Carlos Santana, Salvador Santana, Los Lonely Boys and Ozomatli. He still continues to write and play music today, and that energy has helped him to be innovative when it comes to PR.

“Music has enabled me to think outside of the box, and get very creative when it comes to developing ideas, concepts and campaigns for clients. When I write songs, I like to tell a story to help evoke an emotional response. I like to inject that layer of creativity into everything I do. I think if we can develop compelling campaigns that are tied to worldly trends and tap into the ethos and emotional fabric of our audiences, we've successfully helped to paint a picture of what our clients do.” - Sammy Totah

Teaching

BOCA has two former teachers turned PR pros: account executive Brittney Danon and content writer Jordan Eggers. Danon found her teaching experience with Teach for America helpful because it showed her how to achieve long-term goals through proper planning, organization and measurement training. Another skill she found valuable was how to tell the same story in different ways.

“When I was teaching I quickly realized that some of my students just weren't getting it as well as the others - partly because they had different learning styles and needed information to be presented to them in a different way. In PR, we often need to tell the same story in a different way to business press than we do to, say, IT press, and the ability to tailor my lessons to specific students has helped me to creatively tailor pitches to different reporters.” - Brittney Danon

Eggers found that the experience teaching English in Chiang Mai, Thailand, helped her improve her writing and communication skills. Teaching also taught her how to simplify complex subjects and inspire confidence in the people she works with.

“Working with and being responsible for nearly 30 kids is exhausting but rewarding. They demand your attention, regardless of what it is you're trying to do, and you need to know how to speak to them properly. That way they can always feel safe coming to you for guidance and help. These skills work well in PR where there are many deadlines and at times it can be chaotic.” - Jordan Eggers

We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog post. Stay tuned for part two, which describes other job skills that BOCA staff brought to their careers in PR. 

This Week In Tech: BOCA Edition

Besides a massive amount of rain hitting the Bay Area this week, it’s been a very interesting week in tech. In case you missed the headlines, we’ve gathered our favorite news stories in our first BOCA news roundup post.

At Last: You Can Now Order Your Girl Scout Cookies Online: Now you’re no longer required to frantically seek out local girl scouts or wait in line when you’re in need of a sugar buzz. The Girl Scouts of the USA have launched a “Digital Cookie” program so people can place orders online and through mobile devices. Great news for those who live outside the US, and never had the opportunity to see what all the fuss is about thin mints.

Amazon Has Launched A GrubHub Rival For Food Takeout & Delivery: San Francisco loves their food delivery apps! Following this trend, Amazon is rolling out a new, online food delivery and takeout service aimed at foodies. They are currently testing it out in Seattle before launching the service worldwide. So stay tuned for yet another food delivery app that makes fulfilling your late night pizza cravings a reality.

9 Crazy Details About the Unprecedented Sony Hack: Sony just can't seem to get a break from hackers. Check out this article form Business Insider for more information about the most recent cyber attack on Sony Pictures. 

Online and Mobile Shopping Emerge as Big Winner for Holiday Shoppers: We've made it through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but how did retailers fare? This year shoppers avoided the Black Friday crowds and opted to purchase products form the comfort of their home and the convenience of their mobile devices. As more consumers take to online shopping, will we see the death of Black Friday?

Google Helps Target Turn Shopping into Gaming: Target and Google team up to make shopping more exciting through the power of video games. The Target in Sunnvale is the first to test out "Bulleye's Playground", which is designed to entertain kids while parents shop, while also gatherign data about customer habits.

 

Introducing the New Faces of BOCA: Shauna Roberts

It’s time to meet another new face at BOCA. Shauna Roberts joins the BOCA staff as an Account Executive. Originally from Marin County, Shauna went to school at UC Santa Barbara, where she majored in communications and minored in sports management before making her way to San Francisco for tech PR.

When she’s not incredibly busy with PR and planning her upcoming wedding, Shauna likes to devote time to one of her other passions, art. The type of art she specializes in is black and white charcoal designs, a similar style to pencil drawing. Besides art, she also likes exploring the city, going to events and concerts and trying new restaurants around the Bay Area.

1. How would your family and friends describe you?

They would say I’m caring and optimistic. I think it’s so important to always try and see the positive side of things and keep a good attitude even in the toughest situations. They would also say I am outgoing and adventurous. Whether it’s trying weird food, exploring a random city or meeting new people, I love new experiences.

2. How did you hear about BOCA and what are your job duties?

I heard about BOCA from Lyndsey, a good friend of mine from UCSB, who I also worked with at a previous agency. The unique culture is what drew me to BOCA. I really enjoy the laid back, yet professional workspace and how everyone collaborates with one another to get work done. As for my job duties, my focus is on media and client relations. I’m responsible for keeping an eye on the news, developing media strategies, working with reporters and account management.

3. Who is your favorite artist?

My favorite artist is Wayne Thiebaud. I love his paintings of exaggerated cityscapes, especially the ones of San Francisco. 

4. What’s a random skill you wish you could do or learn to do better?

I would love to learn Swedish. I have a bunch family in Sweden and, although most of them speak English, it would be amazing to be able to communicate in their native language and speak to my younger nieces and nephews who haven’t learned English yet.

5. Where do you want to travel to and why? 

Traveling is one of my favorite things in the world, and there are so many places I would like to go. I took Italian in college and studied abroad in Rome. I would love to go back there again and explore all of the nearby cities that I wasn’t able to visit when I lived there. I’ve also always wanted to go to Bora Bora and spend time in one of those little huts on the water in the middle of nowhere.

6. Which famous person would you like to have a conversation with?

Anthony Bourdain. He is witty, not afraid to speak his mind and super entertaining. I’d love to hear about his adventures traveling the world and how he’s made such a great brand for himself, evolving from a chef to a writer to a TV host.

Introducing the New Faces of BOCA: Adeline Moran

After a successful BOCA recruiting mixer back in October we’re pleased to introduce one of our newest associate account executives, Adeline Moran. Adeline is from Newport Beach in southern California and went to the same high school as our founder, Kathleen Shanahan, before making her way to UC Santa Cruz to study business management and economics. She currently lives in Mountain View and has made the Bay Area her home.

1. How would your family and friends describe you?

People would say I’m always happy, positive, upbeat, and optimistic. I also really enjoy running and started back in middle school when I participated in a program called Students Run L.A. and ran in the LA Marathon.  I’ve done the Nike Women’s half marathon too, and I still enjoy participating in races whenever I can.

2. How did you hear about BOCA and what are your job duties?

I heard about BOCA from Ivy, whom I previously worked with at Nadel Phelan, Inc. As for my role, I make sure to keep up on the latest industry trends and find ways to insert our clients into the greater conversation. I also help manage reporting, as well as run our clients speaking and awards programs.

3. If you could be a fictional character for a day who would you be?

Olivia Pope from the TV show Scandal. She is an overall strong female lead character, poised, and has an amazing wardrobe, not to mention beauty and wit.

4. What’s a random skill you wish you could do or learn to do better?

I’d like to be less clumsy, but I guess that’s not really a skill. Being aesthetically more creative is something that appeals to me. I can think of great creative ideas, but putting them in practice is challenging. Graphic design or freestyle drawing would be a cool skill to have. Also, keeping plants alive. I can’t keep plants alive for the life of me.

5. Where would you like to travel and why?

New Zealand and Australia are at the top of my list. The beautiful scenery and nature is very appealing. Getting a chance to visit the Great Barrier Reef would be an incredible experience. I’d also love to spend more time in Thailand, visit Morocco and go to Ireland since I have a lot of family over there.

6. What famous person would you like to have a 30-minute conversation with?

Aaron Levie, CEO of Box. He is a young, sharp-minded, witty and successful. He is not afraid to make commentary on the latest news topics, voicing his true opinions (if you don’t follow him on Twitter, you should start). It would be interesting to learn how he got to where he is now, if this was always what he envisioned his life to be, and what he wants to do in the future.

Super Handy Websites for PR professionals

Our last few blog posts highlighted our favorite productivity and networking tips. Today, the BOCA team wanted to share some of the websites we find most helpful in our day-to-day activities. You can constantly refer to these free resources when you hit a workday slump. It was tough to narrow down a list, but here they are, grouped by category.

Useful web portals

PR Daily: Here you’ll find relevant PR content such as informative articles about what makes an effective PR campaign, how to pitch reporters, top trends, controversial news stories and more. PR Daily also features useful how-to articles that extend beyond PR to offer help with writing, social media tips and other advice.

Techmeme: Similar to other web portals, Techmeme curates a variety of tech-related content all in one handy location. The top stories and trending news are featured right on the front page, all from prominent news websites like the Wall Street Journal, VentureBeat, Bloomberg, and others. The site also features sponsored content from major tech companies, a leaderboard section, and a river tab, which conveniently lists new articles by date and time.

Lifehacker: This website/blog hybrid provides many helpful productivity and lifestyle tips that are not only great for improving your work performance, but also your mental health. You’ll discover articles about finding your best work hours, how to communicate complex tech terms to people, why being lazy can help you and more.

Automatic tools

Google Alerts: Speaking of being lazy, how would you like to become an expert on PR news and other tech topics in a matter of weeks? Sign up for Google Alerts and add relevant keywords that apply to your business, like SaaS, the cloud, or APIs, and get daily updates about them sent directly to your e-mail. With a fresh reading list every day, you'll be more knowledgeable in no time.

Newsle: This website shows all your LinkedIn and Facebook connections’ published articles, in addition to those from public figures and journalists. Newsle is a valuable resource for understanding reporters’ writing styles, what topics are important to them and other relevant media information.

Helpful search websites

Crunchbase: This a great resource that’s useful for analyzing data, looking at popular news figures’ profiles and for a more detailed description of tech companies in your network. Crunchbase also includes helpful graphs, investment funding numbers, tech event schedules and company performance comparison charts.

Lanyrd: Overwhelmed by the amount of tech conferences spread all over the world and unsure of which ones to attend? This website not only helps you find event details, but also tracks which ones your friends and networking professionals attend too.

Websites for brainstorming new topics

Stumbleupon: Looking for some inspiration for your next PR campaign or want to find relevant stories to pitch to a reporter? Try out Stumbleupon for trending ideas, links to websites, photos and other things you might never have discovered, generated based on your likes and dislikes.

Ubersuggest: If you have an idea for a client try this website to find things to enhance your understanding of it. Just type in a term like analytics and hundreds of keyword suggestions related to your search materialize alphabetically such as analytics e-commerce or analytics metrics.

Quora: Sometimes instead of searching for something on your own it’s better to ask some experts about a particular topic. Quora provides you with answers from many people so you'll always get multiple unique responses to your question.

Quick references to improve writing

TechTerms: Working in tech you’ll come across a lot of words that sound like rocket science if you're not a developer. Techterms is a great resource for understanding complex tech words and acronyms like DMZ, algorithm, or ZIF, and shows how to easily explain them to others too.

Grammar Girl: Even the best writers make mistakes, so getting some assistance with your grammar is nothing to be frowned upon. Grammar Girl not only helps check your writing for typos and punctuation errors, but also includes useful tips spread across different categories like tech and more.

Thesaurus: Use this website when you find yourself repeating the same words over and again. Just a few minutes of changing your vocabulary can liven up your writing and make it more interesting to readers.

We hope you found our guide to web resources for PR professionals useful. Add this page to your bookmarks to keep a handy list of resources at your fingertips.