The Tin Soldier
Although my time with Ottawa Ballet was short – just under two years – it was enough to see us produce two dance tours, and two original productions. The most remarkable of these was The Tin Soldier, an original ballet based on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, for which we created original music, costumes, and choreography.
Building a ballet from the ground up requires significant funding. Through our innovative “Build a Ballet” program, we broke down the production into its component parts, such as choreography, lighting, set design, etc., and priced out the costs associated with each character in the piece. We then did a targeted marketing campaign matching potential business partners with appropriately-themed sponsorship opportunities. Little by little, we covered the costs of mounting the ballet, and on opening night, our sponsors were thrilled to be able to identify so closely with their part of the production.
Our full dress rehearsal the night before we opened was turned into an invitation-only children’s event, and we reached out to community groups and the Children’s Hospital to identify families to fill the seats. I still remember sitting in the dark that night, finally seeing the entire ballet run through from start to finish, and after all that work, I found myself weeping like a proud mom. Frankly, I have yet to replicate the feeling of immense pride and accomplishment I felt for having been part of creating such a beautiful work of art. As the curtain came down on that first performance, I thought I’d never feel it again. Fortunately, the followup CBC tv production of “The Tin Solder” has become something of a Christmas tradition, so I get to revisit my old friends every year.
my first recession
I recall vividly when the summons came. On a beautiful Friday morning in the summer of 1991, I was to present myself to the Chairman of the Board of Directors, a corporate tax lawyer whose impressive offices loomed over the downtown court house. When I arrived, I was ushered into a board room where the GM and the chairman were sitting waiting for me. The axe fell, and my jaw followed it: I was laid off. I had two weeks’ notice and was out on my ass. They would be keeping on my assistant, whose smaller salary and year of experience working with me would help to see them through the next season.
Faced with two weeks to ponder my legacy to the company, I realized that it was more important to me that they survive than it was to express my outrage at being dumped so unceremoniously. I built a detailed work plan to get them through the coming tour, and left careful instructions to help them manage their media and public relations campaigns.
Sadly, the company only survived one more year before the doors closed forever. The company scattered to the winds, and the building was taken down shortly after that. All we have left are the memories – and some pretty great tour posters, if I do say so myself.
Gagne Creative Communications
Suddenly unemployed, I faced another crossroad. I had been toying with the idea of heading overseas to visit a friend who worked with the Canadian foreign service, and called her to look at some dates. Before I knew it, I was putting things in storage, selling my car, and headed to Germany with no firm plans to return.
I spent the next three months in Germany licking my wounds and indulging in glorious day and weekend trips, and subsequently ended up in England where I helped promote, renovate and run a small bed-and-breakfast in Canterbury. As a recent tourist and rabid fan of the little university town, I got to know it in some ways better than my new local friends - so I was an excellent hostess, knowing all the best tours and where to take the best pictures. I had free room and board, along with a little PR work to keep my hand in.
Alas, six months after leaving home, my travel visa required me to return to Ottawa. Looking through the classifieds, I saw a tiny ad for a PR person for a local charity. The salary was pitiable – but I realized I could likely help them on a contract basis for a fraction of those salary dollars. Pitching the idea to the GM, I landed my first client, and my consultancy was born.
I will always cherish the freedom self-employment gave me. I never set a meeting time before 9, and controlled when and how I spent my days. The financial advantages continue to enrich my life – and I give much credit to my father, who told me early on: “remember to spend your before-tax dollars on the things that you need – you only pay tax on what’s left over!”
the first client (… and the second…)
You never know where that first client will appear – or how you will find them. My first client came through the classified ads, and winning that account represented for me an act of sheer bravery and chutzpah. My second client was, by contrast, a kind of repeat customer – as a teenager, I had babysat his two girls. Years later, after a lunch with my father, he called to ask for some help with a newsletter.
Now here’s the lesson I learned from our first lunch: sometimes (as it turns out, more often than you might think), clients don’t actually know what they want. Many think they do, but if you are a good practitioner with the patience to listen for awhile, you may discover that they need something entirely different.
My newsletter client needed an entire PR program: media relations, customer relations, and a trade show/conference outreach strategy. But he only realized that after our conversation had probed why he wanted that newsletter, to whom he intended to give it, and how he planned to use it as part of his overall communications program.
The other thing I learned from my newsletter client is that I was on to the right business model. My philosophy with a corporate account like his was that I could help to define the PR program, develop the tools, and train the people on staff who would take the program and run with it. I was, essentially, working myself out of a job. It was my client who first pointed it out, in fact: with respect, he saluted my choice, and said that it was a business approach that would resonate particularly well in the high-tech consulting world, where I hoped to parlay our work together into some referrals.
Careerbridge
The early and mid 1990s were an exciting time to be in communications – and working with technology clients allowed me access to some pretty cool tools, too. In addition to embracing hardware innovations like Palm Pilots and cell phones, I couldn’t wait to take advantage of e-mail and the internet, which was absolutely revolutionizing the world for communicators.
I joined Careerbridge Corporation when my teaching career and my high-tech consulting business were competing for my attention. As the PR director for this new high-tech startup, I was charged with getting trade media excited about a new web-based recruiting software – a precursor to Monster.com. With free resume posting and job browsing available to a large and talented pool of high-tech workers, Careerbridge was able to attract employers like Nortel, Mitel, Newbridge and many others to subscribe to a dedicated, focused recruitment portal that even allowed for “virtual interviewing” via webconference. It was a very exciting story to tell.
As we were putting together our case study newsletter and media kit, I was looking for a catchy headline. I was doodling (as I often do)…. “e-mail”, “e-commerce”, hmmmm, how about “e-cruiting”? Ultimately, the slogan ended up lasting longer than the company. Shortly after I was laid off (once again, to save budget), they sold the company and, like many tech startups, the principals made their bang and moved on. My legacy? A great coffee cup, a nice denim shirt, my first front page story in the Globe’s financial section, and "e-cruiting", a very cool slogan you’re just going to have to take my word that I created. And along the way, I gained a very useful education in the world of high tech.
the Government of Canada
Now these high-tech clients were all very well – high-strung, high-maintenance, but high-return, too. However, for an Ottawa practitioner, the brass ring in consulting is landing that first government contract. This was my next goal – and in 1999, I was hired to lead communications for a Y2k project. My client, Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), had to test and verify that all of the federal office buildings were Y2k "compliant", and their systems wouldn’t fail when the clock ticked over on January 1st, 2000. My job was to communicate with some 28 other federal departments, the building management industry, and our Minister's office on the state of our preparations.
The Y2k project was intense, and driven by an immovable deadline – and in retrospect, it taught me nothing useful about how government manages its deadlines! Frankly, following Y2k, I don’t think I witnessed another deadline which didn’t move like a leaf in the breeze… but nevertheless, my foot was in the door, and my relationship with the feds was born. The excellent contacts and working networks I built across government to support our Y2k program stood me in good stead as I competed for and won another contract to lead communications for employee and industry relations for a departmental renewal initiative.
Eventually, as the contracting dollars began to shrink, I had the opportunity to join the public service through a competitive process. Since my time at the City of Nepean, I had been hooked on the idea of public service, and the promise of steady employment with Her Majesty was impossible to resist.
the 20th anniversary
It was stunning enough to witness the turn of the millennium – but to suddenly discover that it’s been 20 years since you started College is another shock. In 2004, we marked the 20th anniversary of the creation of the program with a reunion event.
The highlight of the night was the declaration by PR Program friend (and then-Mayor of Ottawa) Bob Chiarelli of “Claudine Wilson Day” in Ottawa. The declaration was in recognition of her leadership in the program, and its contributions to the community over the last 20 years.
It was at that point that I realized that we were building a legacy not only for the program, but for the community in which we live and work. At the time of the 20th anniversary, we had already raised close to $100,000 for various community charities, and were on our way to doubling that number.
Is it any wonder I am such a proud grad?
Service Canada
I had been at PWGSC for a few years when I caught wind of the Service Canada story. I was told that there was this crazy bunch of people trying to change how Canadians access their government services. Instead of having to bump around namelessly from jurisdiction to department to bureaucratic answering machine, they were proposing a “one-stop shop” for all government services.
My little practitioner’s heart just leapt. Now here was a cause I could get behind – a story I wanted to help tell! The organization was only a couple of months old, and they were still building their shop. Imagine my delight when I discovered that their DG of Communications was Jean Valin – not only an APR, but a Fellow of CPRS and former President of CPRS Ottawa. He took one look at my cover letter, saw Algonquin and “PR”, and I had an interview.
Now let me clarify something: it RARELY happens that way. Like my immovable Y2k deadline, government is only prompt when absolutely pressed. But Jean was pressed. I was qualified, so I deployed over. Within the first year, I had helped shape the corporate comms plan, produced a corporate video, a public awareness brochure, and witnessed the birth of a brilliant series of TV spots: the Service Canada Booth campaign. Like building a ballet had been, it was a wonderful experience to be part of the creation of something new - and you don't get those chances very often in government!
APR
Inspired by the opportunity to work with Jean, I decided it was time for me to pursue my accreditation as a PR practitioner. I looked across my last three years of work and saw the perfect case study: the customer relationship management program I had built for PWGWC.
Accreditation is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the recent graduate. It is, however, a wonderful opportunity for reflection on past accomplishments, and an excellent exercise for validating what you know.
My philosophy going into exam day was this: I’ve been in the business over two decades, and if I don’t know my stuff by now, I never will. I brought along a few of my favourite sources, but my main reference for the exam was my own body of work. In the final result, that seemed to be enough: I received the top written exam score, and the top national overall mark for that year. I received my APR at the national conference in Halifax, and was very proud to do so.
For even the most modest among you, I encourage your to give yourself this gift. It is credibility, recognition, and a little leg up over the “competition”. And it feels surprisingly nice to slip that pin into your lapel now and then.
celebrating 25 years... and beyond...
Our celebration of 25 years saw Algonquin PR Alumni gather for a champagne reception and gala dinner/dance. Of course, the event could only have been possible with the help of a small core of dedicated fellow grads, every one of whom demonstrates how connected we are to our College, to our program, and to our profession.
A strong theme for the celebration was “family” – and I can attest that, once you join the family of Algonquin PR students and graduates, you never leave. I am very much looking forward to celebrating the next 25 years with my Ottawa PR family.
And I think the same can be said for our profession: once you've experienced the thrill of a solid PR campaign, you're hooked for life. Through organizations like the Canadian Public Relations Society, we build strong connections within and across our PR family, connections which only serve to make us more effective at what we do: change the world for the better.
I'm looking forward to welcoming my extended PR family to Ottawa in 2013 for Conversations2013. I hope that you will join us in celebrating our Passion for PR.