AAF-Knoxville Takes You Behind the Brands

Summer Conference:
July 28-31

Agenda, Details, Registration: AAFBehindtheBrands.com

Don’t let the title deceive you: this event is open to all communications professionals – and you'll want to put this conference on your “must attend” list. The 2011 AAF Summer Conference and District 7 Leadership Event will be held at Knoxville’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, with more than 200 marketers in attendance from Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Professional Development & Networking
“Behind the Brands” will give you inside information on how several national companies have built their identities, what makes a brand successful and how they’re facing branding challenges through advertising, PR, sustainability, ROI, social media, identity, packaging, special events, consumer engagement and strategy. To-date, the participating brands include:

• AC Entertainment (Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival)
• Bush's Baked Beans
• Pilot Flying J Travel Centers
• Ruby Tuesday
• Scripps Networks (HGTV, Food Network, DIY, GAC, Travel Channel, Cooking Channel
• TeamHealth (Provides clinical outsourcing services to more than 600 hospitals throughout the U.S.)
• University of Tennessee Athletics

Beyond this professional development, you'll get to network with a few hundred peers from our five-state AAF region.

Visit AAFBehindtheBrands.com to view the agenda, conference details and to register.

Club Workshops
Learn from the best of the best in District 7 about how to grow and manage your local chapters. Additionally, there will be workshops and roundtable discussions for chapter Presidents, Regional Directors and with Governor Elizabeth Perry. Speakers and topics are still being confirmed, but the following areas are usually addressed:

• Programs
• Membership Recruitment & Retention
• Education
• Government Relations
• ADDY® Awards
• Fundraising
• Finances
• Club Achievement

Questions, Ideas, Concerns?
Conference Chair Michael Torano: michaelt@n8promo.com or 361-438-3550

AAF-Knoxville President Susie Norris: susie@orangeapplebranding.com or 865.406.7558

Recap: “People Are Weird” Seminar

If you missed last week’s “People Are Weird” seminar, here’s a brief recap.

While no one fits into just one type or group, there are four types of people we have/get to work with, pitch to and try to sell to:

1. Communicators: They’re emotional decision makers.
   
2. Commanders: They see the value in making what seem like risky decisions.
   
3. Calculators: The decisions they make must be logical.
   
4. Completers: They are sometimes held back from making decisions due to fear.

How do you peg someone?

1. Communicators: Extroverted, people-oriented, friendly, stylish, open, emotional/animated, socializes regardless of time, empathizes with others, popular and gung-ho.
   
2. Commanders: Commanding, bottom-line oriented, dominating, formal, impatient, emotional/direct, always pushed for time, about achievement, restless, quick/impulsive and fast.
   
3. Calculators: Non-nonsense, facts-oriented, assessing, conservative, closed, unemotional/reserved, values and manages time, about organization, selective, cool/distant, objective and controlled.
   
4. Completers: Laid-back, systems oriented, accepting, conforming, cautious, unemotional/low-key, respects time but not pushed, accepts others, about functions, willing, steady/reserved, slow/studied and steady.
   

Their hot-buttons, the things to avoid when communicating with them?

1. Communicators: Alienation.
   
2. Commanders: The feeling that they’re being taken advantage of.
   
3. Calculators: The fear of making a mistake.
   
4. Completers: Anything that seems like radical change.

So what do they want to hear?

1. Communicators: How they’re going to get the credit and look good. Ask them how to include others in the decision. Socialize with them and entertain them.
   
2. Commanders: Show them the benefits and throw in a high-profile reference. Ask them how they would do it and about their opinions.
   
3. Calculators: Stay focused on the facts, the details and the long-term benefits. Ask them how they would organize it and solve the problems.
   
4. Completers: Remove the risk, and don’t talk about change or new ideas. Ask them how they do their jobs and make it a no-pressure decision with a lot of time.
   

Okay, so that’s not a full synopsis of the hour-long session at Barley’s (we tried a downtown venue for a change of pace), but at least it’s some tip-of-the-iceberg insight into the different types of personalities we encounter each day in our communications professions.