Yesterday’s first-ever Super Bowl Media Day to be open to the public promised to be a circus, and with all 7,300 tickets sold out and more than 5,000 media in town, it did not disappoint. Media mixed it up with everyone from Nicktoons’ Pick Boy to Mayor Ballard, while spectators tuned in to six different radio channels to hear live interviews from their favorite players or coaches. Some jumped and cheered from the stands to get the players’ and media’s attention. And you could definitely find the favorites – Eli Manning for the Giants and Tom Brady for the Patriots – as the media crushed around each player for the best video clip and sound bite.

My buzzfunnel.me  partner-in-crime Charlie Henry and I hit the floor to connect with some hometown boys – Purdue grad Niko Koutouvides (Patriots) and Cathedral High School alum Mathias Kiwanuka (Giants).  While we loved talking to both of these great players, we were thrilled to chat up NBC Sunday Night Football reporter Michele Tafoya about the merits of Indy as a Super Bowl city. See what Michele had to say about Indy’s ability to host sporting events, her favorite sports venue and what restaurant she planned to hit while in town.

We’d love to know your impressions of Media Day. Leave a comment below or Tweet your thoughts with the hashtag #buzzfunnel to join in the conversation!

For those of you who don’t know about the buzz around buzzfunnel.me, it’s a fun and dynamic, mobile-optimized website we’ve created to connect all the Super Bowl fans’ videos, Tweets and impressions around the big event.

After launching our www.buzzfunnel.me site just three days ago, it’s buzzing! We have already had over 100 videos posted to the site, featuring a variety of content showcasing Indianapolis and the Super Bowl XLVI festivities.

In case you haven’t checked out the site yet, here’s a taste of what’s “buzzing” on buzzfunnel:

• A Colt’s Super Fan does his best Village People impersonation
• Visitors from Russia predict the Giants to win
• Our own Bill Lovejoy does his best Heisman pose
• A Patriot’s fan shares his video from the AFC championship game
• The light show on Monument Circle pumps up the crowd

Come back to www.buzzfunnel.me throughout the week as we share more of the buzz. And in the meantime, share your videos for all to see. While you’re out and about in the city, capture some footage of the excitement and upload them to YouTube or Vimeo and tag with “buzzfunnel.” We’d love to feature you on the site!

Lavish parties, high-profile celebrities, an outdoor zip line – the city of Indianapolis is transforming in front of our eyes and I, for one, couldn’t be more excited. I look forward to enjoying the ultimate fan experience in Indy and want to be able to share that with others, both in Indy and around the country. So how do all of the fans come together to do this? They buzzfunnel.me!

Here at Borshoff, we wanted to create a buzz and serve as a grassroots “hub” for a behind-the-scenes look at Indianapolis and Super Bowl XLVI. We wanted to allow everyone, no matter where they’re located, the opportunity to enjoy the “every day” fan experience.

So we created buzzfunnel.me, a fun and dynamic, mobile-optimized website that will connect people now until  the Super Bowl by capturing people’s interests, experiences and comments about the event via video. We’ll be out in Street Teams all week, capturing videos and interviewing fans, so be on the lookout. The site will also feature Twitter feeds and variety of Quipol polls.

Whether or not you’re going to the Big Game, buzzfunnel.me will provide the ultimate fan experience this Super Bowl. And if you’re out and about in Indianapolis and/or the surrounding Super Cities over the next week, upload videos to YouTube or Vimeo and tag with “buzzfunnel” or find a member of the Borshoff buzzfunnel street team out and about around the city. And follow us on Twitter: @buzzfunnelme. We’d love to feature you on buzzfunnel!

Do you ever set New Year’s resolutions only to find that you slowly forget about them? In my coworker Andy Pollen’s blog, he mentions “those of us who fail in our yearly resolutions are the majority, not the minority.” In a 2009 study, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire (United Kingdom) found that 78 percent of people who set resolutions fail.

It’s important for all of us to feel motivated to keep resolutions. In preparation for the New Year, at our last 2011 staff meeting, everyone was encouraged to participate in a creative exercise where we created motivational posters. Using our ‘creative juices,’ our task was to craft a message and use an image that would ‘motivate’ us to keep our 2012 resolutions long-lasting. According to the book “Drive:  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us” by Daniel Pink, each of us is most motivated when the following three elements are present:

• Autonomy – the desire to direct our own lives
• Mastery – the urge to make progress and get better at something that matters
• Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

With Pink’s message in mind, spend a little time thinking about what motivates (or demotivates!) you and have some fun creating a motivational poster (or a parody poster) at one of the following websites.

• http://wigflip.com/automotivator
• http://bighugelabs.com/motivator.php

Hopefully your poster will help you stay motivated to follow-through with your 2012 resolutions!

I’m horrible at keeping New Year’s resolutions. Don’t believe me? Just ask the set of INSANITY workout DVD’s in my basement or the Meditation for Dummies book collecting dust on my nightstand.

Not surprisingly, those of us who fail in our yearly resolutions are the majority, not the minority. A psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire (United Kingdom) found in a 2009 study that 78 percent of people who set resolutions fail.

We fail for multiple reasons, but chief among them is we focus on the downside of not achieving our goals, and we dream too big. The roughly 20 percent of individuals who succeeded at keeping their resolutions set smaller, more attainable goals and shared their successes with friends and family.

Since I’m a glutton for punishment, and can’t celebrate the New Year without setting goals, I’m going to try something different in 2012. First, I’ve set professional goals instead of personal. Second, I’ve streamlined the list to include five small, yet important goals.  Third, each of these requires the assistance of someone else to ensure I’m still on track.

1. Connect with my mentors. I’ve been lucky to have multiple individuals that have guided my career, but I’ve lost touch.  By December 31, I can have the Outlook invites sent for quarterly lunches.
2. Continue my education. I already found a partner in crime at the office, and we have committed to attending at least one seminar, Webinar or networking event a quarter.
3. Read. I’d like to believe that Entertainment Weekly and ESPN The Magazine aid in my professional development, but they don’t. I’ve decided to start a Borshoff “reading club” where a few us can pass along interesting articles or summarize them with key takeaways for the group.
4. Get out of my comfort zone. I’ll admit it; I don’t really get Twitter.  This year, I’m going to take one of my colleagues up on the offer of regular tutorials so I can become a Twitter expert and learn to maximize the tool for client success.
5. Recharge.  I had a coworker who implemented a “3 o’clock dance party” at least once a week. This was her excuse to play a horrible teen-pop song from the 90s and dance around for a few minutes. Sure, it looked ridiculous, but my batteries were recharged faster – and more effectively – than if I just ran to grab a pop.  I may not dance around the office, but I’ve found a buddy who also loves active breaks, and we’ll do them together.

So there you have it, my resolution list for 2012. Short, sweet and attainable. And, I haven’t forgotten about INSANITY and meditation, they will just need to wait until next year.

What are your professional goals for 2012?

As the new year approaches, it’s common for many of us to reflect on the days gone by. In my own life, I’m amazed by how much has changed over the year. I completed my master’s degree in public relations. I transitioned careers from TV news to strategic communications. And I even got engaged.

Here at Borshoff, we celebrate the changes that the company has experienced as well. We grew from 45 to 55 employees. We’ve started expanding our office space again to accommodate our growing staff. And we even named Karen Alter a principal of the agency.

With 2012 just around the corner, we are excited for the new opportunities and changes that await us, personally and professionally. What are some of your fondest memories of 2011? What are you looking forward to in the new year?

“You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, we’re telling you why…”

Even the big man in red has crises of his own every holiday season. He may be jolly old Saint Nick, but he doesn’t play games when it comes to his busiest day of the year.

Mr. Claus has a crisis communications plan of his own to ensure he still brings ‘joy to the world.’ The following highlights 10 tips to handle a crisis and exactly how Santa incorporates them into his own plan to guarantee ‘all is calm; all is bright.’

1.  Expect it. Even well-run businesses and organizations experience crises. There are things in life that you have no control over. If you expect it, you’ll be prepared, and you’ll be a step closer to surviving it.

Rudolf may have a glowing red nose, but sometimes the foggy night is too much. Santa expects this may be the case, so to combat the fog Santa always keeps his GPS in the sleigh’s glove compartment so he can tell South America from Africa.

2.  Plan for it. Have a crisis communication plan in place, practice it and update it. You wouldn’t go on a sales call unprepared or meet with a client unprepared. If you’re expecting a crisis, why would you face a crisis unprepared?

People celebrate Christmas in July for a reason. That’s when Santa and his reindeer do a practice run, of course! Sure, Santa has been doing this gig for hundreds of years, but practice makes perfect, right?

3.  Step up and act on it. Take control of the situation and the coverage it is generating before it takes control of you. Respond to media inquiries immediately, even if only to tell them you’ll be holding a press conference later in the day. Listen to conversations on Twitter, Facebook, blogs and other social media channels. Be responsive. Be a part of the conversation. Don’t let the public wonder what you are doing about the situation.

‘He sees you when you’re sleeping. He knows when you’re awake.’ He also knows what you’re saying about him on Twitter! Through @santa_claus, Santa is monitoring all inquiries to ensure he is responsive.

4.  Face the facts and tell the truth. While respecting confidentiality and legal restrictions, do your best to share pertinent information quickly and accurately. Never mislead. And remember, nature abhors a vacuum. If you don’t provide information, others will.

With more than 6,019,527,381 houses and apartments here on Earth, it would be a miracle if Santa hit all of them. So sometimes he misses one or two! Therefore, before leaving any continent, Santa’s head elf always calls Santa via the two-way radio (in Santa’s hat of course) to let him know if he missed any.

 5.  Care about it and own it.  Show compassion and concern. Don’t just talk about the issues or the facts. Express feelings and acknowledge feelings as appropriate. Own up to mistakes and express regret. Take care of the victims in the process.

Let’s be honest…the sleigh is pretty heavy and sometimes it damages roofs. Santa’s not the kind of guy to commit a hit-and-run. Santa admits the mistake and calls on the Elf Support Squad to repair any housing damage he may have caused.

6.  Personalize it. Carefully select your spokesperson. In most cases, a written statement cannot adequately tell your side of the story. (An exception would be when legalities prevent you from speaking, or if you strategically wish to distance yourself from a situation, such as a former employee who committed a crime.)

Santa is the face of the holiday season, but sometimes he’s a little busy for media inquiries. That’s why there is back-up! Who’s a better spokesperson than the Mrs.? Mrs. Claus, that is. She knows all key messages to communicate effectively.

7.  Look inward. Don’t neglect your internal audiences and other key stakeholders. Remember employees, board members and vendors, as well as customers and the public. You should make special efforts to keep them informed. Don’t let them get all the details from the newspaper or television. Talk to them directly.

At the North Pole, everyone works hard all year long to ensure Christmas is a special time. That’s why, when any news breaks, Santa’s staff hears it first! Mrs. Claus, the elves and reindeer—without them, Santa would be in trouble.

8.  Include your friends. Especially in a protracted situation, call on your allies to back you up. Are there citizen groups, affinity organizations, customers, clients, vendors, etc., that would be willing to show support for you in a genuine way? Will it ring true with the public?

Children are Santa’s biggest supporters, but Santa has friends all over. In fact, his biggest allies are retailers and parents. If Santa hits a snag at the North Pole, he knows he can count on his friends to cover for him.

9.  Stick with it. Don’t assume you can make only one statement when a crisis breaks. Watch the coverage and the questions and continue to be responsive if the crisis is prolonged. If inaccuracies are reported in the media coverage or through social media, correct them.

Did you know there is a media center at the North Pole? Believe it! Where do you think Santa and his elves monitor @santa_claus? Santa’s too busy for an iPhone, so elves monitor coverage and other events to confirm Santa is receptive.

10.  Learn from it. Evaluate and plan for the future so that your organization can grow from it. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

Santa’s been doing this gig for a LONG time. To say he has learned a thing or two is an understatement. Learning is a lifelong experience. Some tips Santa will always remember are the following:

• Eat all the cookies and drink all the milk, or the children take offense.
• Santa’s suit is dry clean only! It also helps if it is flame retardant.
• Stay up-to-date with the latest technology. No more cassette players in the sleigh…ever.
• Regardless the age, everyone has the ability to believe.

As soon as Thanksgiving is over, I begin checking the guide on my TV to see when the holiday movies will begin. For me, there’s nothing like watching a Christmas classic – or the latest hit – to boost my spirits and set the mood for the upcoming holiday.

So to spur the holiday spirit in my Borshoff colleagues, I sent a poll to find out their favorite holiday movies. The top four were:

1.       A Christmas Story (by a landslide)

The tale of Ralphie and his various schemes to convince his parents to get him the only thing he wants for Christmas – a Red Ryder BB Gun with a compass in the stock.

Check out one of our favorite scenes.

2.       Elf

The journey of Buddy through the seven levels of the Candy Cane Forest, past the sea of twirly, swirly gumdrops, through the Lincoln Tunnel, all to find his real father.

Check out one of our favorite scenes.

3.       A Charlie Brown Christmas

The story of a disgusted Charlie Brown who, with the help of a lonely, scrawny little tree and his friend Linus, helps everyone understand the true meaning of Christmas.

Check out one of our favorite scenes.

4.       It’s a Wonderful Life

The story of George Bailey, a man on the brink of committing suicide until his guardian angel intercedes showing him what life would have become for the residents of Bedford Falls had he never lived.

Check out one of our favorite scenes.

Other favorites mentioned included Dr. Suess’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34^th Street, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, White Christmas and A Christmas Carol.

Now that we’ve shared our favorites with you, it’s your turn. What movie gets you in the holiday mood?

Email is my primary form of communication. On average, I probably send between 75-125 emails a day. So why wouldn’t I use the same good manners and business etiquette in an email that I would use in a client meeting?

As public relations professionals, we pride ourselves on good writing, grammar and error-free communication to all audiences. Therefore, everything we do, write, say, post and tweet is a direct reflection on us and the companies we work for.

In my past two years at Borshoff, I have learned a lot about professional etiquette — especially when it comes to email communication. The following five tips are things I’ve learned or reminded myself when emailing with clients, media, colleagues, and even family members. And trust me…if it’s on this list, at some point in my career, I probably did the exact opposite. After all, those “Oops!” moments are also the best learning moments.

Here are my five tips. What would you add?

1. When crafting an email, don’t populate the “To:” field until you have completed typing and proofing your message.
2. Start your email with “Thank you” unless there is a good reason not to.
3. Email auto-fill can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Be sure to check the name that appears when auto-fill occurs, before you send.
4. Be careful not to hit “reply all” unless it is completely necessary.
5. Double and triple proof your emails (whether internal or external) before hitting the send button. If it is a detailed email to clients, have someone else review it before sending.

Another tip not on the list: Air on the side of being formal rather than informal. It is better to over address than under address, especially when emailing a client.

The bake sale is complete, the pledge forms have been signed and the principals have received their holiday gift. And, we’ve met the criteria to be a Company that Cares for the 18^th year in a row!

Borshoff is proud to support the United Way of Central Indiana through our annual campaign. This year we raised more than $21,000 – our largest donation yet!

Sure, it was hard eating cookies the days before Thanksgiving, but to help the community, we’ll suffer!

Haven’t made your contribution yet? Visit United Way of Central Indiana to give and earn your year-end tax deduction.

It was truly the most wonderful time of the year when the Borshoff team gathered together for our annual holiday party. Our hearts were glowing as we caroled in the snow. Okay, well maybe we didn’t carol in the snow, but we had a mean karaoke session inside.

After a year of hard work, we took an afternoon to celebrate with a staff lunch and get-together. To make our gathering even more festive, a party planning team came up with activities that would leave everyone in tears and rolling on the floor with laughter.

We weren’t embarrassed to walk down the streets of Indianapolis in our mothers’ tacky holiday sweaters. In fact, our photos are posted on Facebook so that you can decide who looked the gaudiest. As the team filed into the party, everyone placed their white elephant gift under the tree. We’d later find out what “treasures” each of us had lying around our homes. We got sentimental (and laughed a lot) when we watched a slideshow of everyone’s childhood holiday photos set to the tune of “What Child is This?” When it came time to guess who each child was, Josh Taylor, graphic designer, was the winner with 18 correct guesses out of 42 photos.

We often think of others’ needs over our own during this time of year, and we do what we can to help with the gifts we’ve been given. The generosity in time and money that each of our principals provide to the Indianapolis community is unparalleled, and our staff decided that there was no better way to honor our principal owners than with a charitable donation on their behalf. Our team secretly took up a collection for a donation to be made to the United Way of Central Indiana; and on Friday, we presented the principal owners with a $1,127 check for the United Way.

Taking the time to relax together and recognize our accomplishments from this year was a refreshing way to start our holidays. To you and yours, our Borshoff team wishes you the best this holiday season.

Note: If you have fun ideas for our 2012 holiday party, please share!

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”  – Marcus Tullius Cicero, ancient Roman writer and scholar

It’s that time of year when we reflect on our lives and everything we have to be thankful for.

When I asked the question, “What are you thankful for this holiday season?” to my colleagues, here are some of the responses I received:

• I’m thankful that I work with people who work just as hard as I do to deliver stellar client service.

• I’m thankful for those incredible moments when, after you’ve worked extremely hard, the stars align and everything goes even better than you planned.

• I’m thankful for my smart phone, the internet and other great technology that helps me stay connected at all times.

• I’m thankful for working with a terrific team where everyone’s willing to jump in and help do great work for our clients and each other.

• I’m thankful for a variety of work that keeps me excited and interested every day.

• I’m thankful for my family and my health.

So, now that we’ve shared with you, it’s your turn. What are you thankful for?

At each staff meeting, we begin with a Creativity Exercise to get our brains going. Our latest exercise challenged us to develop a few sniglets. For those not familiar, a sniglet is any word that doesn’t appear in the dictionary, but should.

For example, intaxication is the euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.

We decided to share a few of our favorites, courtesy of the Borshoff staff.

• Furloffle – a fuzzy, Greek pastry
• Gasileanto – a flammable shelter
• Flimbo – to be in floor limbo, as in stuck on an elevator
• Shaftivity – to be productive while stuck in an elevator
• Grandrama – when grandparents come over and feed your kids lots of sugar, then leave you to deal with their hyperactive state
• Shopulate – to calculate your plan for Black Friday

What word(s) would you like to add to the dictionary?

PowerPoint slides are frequently incorporated into presentations. When they’re executed well, they can increase your audience’s understanding of your message. But a poorly created PowerPoint presentation can be worse than not using visual aids at all – and can distract the audience from the intended message.

Check out our 10 tips for creating a better PowerPoint, and let us know if you have additional advice for communicating to your audience during a presentation.

I don’t know about you, but I can hardly believe that the holidays are almost here! Amidst the chaos of the holiday shopping season it is so easy to think about what WE want…whether that is a designer handbag, home décor or a new car. (Wait—is that just me?)

But, the holidays always have a way of inspiring a sense of generosity that sometimes overshadows that feeling of want. People seem remarkably enthused to give of their time and money to organizations in need around the holidays.

At Borshoff, we have donated to United Way of Central Indiana for the past 20 years and have been named a “United Way Company That Cares” for 17 years. UWCI is important to Indianapolis and a cause that is near to our hearts here at Borshoff. In fact, before Thanksgiving, we’re hoping to get 100 percent employee participation in a United Way “giving” campaign.

If you feel like you may be catching the generosity bug, here are a few things you can do:

• Decide if you’d like to help an organization that is local or national. Some helpful websites for getting started include DoSomething.org and VolunteerMatch.org.
• Choose whether you will give of your time, money or both. Then decide on a dollar and/or time amount and stick to it (for the year…or just for the holidays).
• Compile a list of organizations your colleagues or friends support and use that as a starting point when choosing an organization that interests you.
• Notice upcoming events, such as walks, runs or festivals, which always need more volunteers. These are usually a lot of fun, too!

Personally, I give my time and money to a couple animal advocacy groups in Indianapolis. Sometimes I get the itch to give a little more around the holidays. But, volunteering in general is always a wholesome source of cheer—no matter the season! What are you GIVING this holiday season?

“Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
At all the times you can,
In all the ways you can,
To all the people you can,
As ever long as you can.”
-John Wesley