Last Lecture

Wow...I can't believe it's December already! This semester has flown by!

I enjoyed the little lesson that we learned in class today: "The answer is money. Now what is your question?" Isn't that the truth?!?!

We played a "game" which involved a strategy for an program evaluation presentation. I kept reflecting back on all the meetings I've sat in on where PIs have presented their progress to a funding agency. In all of these meetings, the PI has requested more money and an extension on the project-- whether they had great results to report or not. I'm thankful for their persistence. If they didn't ask for more money, I may not be employed! So, I don't think it's a negative thing to ask for money...as long as the PI is doing responsible research. But, as always, you have to keep the boss happy which means that your results are top priority.

On a final note...I'm really looking forward to all the polished projects next week...and, most importantly, the yummy food! I think it will be a very rewarding experience to present to our organization the culmination of all the hard work we've done over the semester...wish us luck!!!

The end of the semester is quickly approaching...

We presented our second mini-projects this week and a week from next Monday the whole project will be finished. Wow, we have a lot of work to do before then! I can't wait to see everyone's project come together at the final presentations in a couple weeks. The Shakti group still has some things to sort out...like how in the heck we can describe our organization in clear, concise terms...But, we'll do it and it will be great:)

I think the past few class topics have been particularly interesting, as we've discussed PR, Web 2.0, and Entertainment in regards to Public Health. It really proves that you have to "think outside the box" sometimes to truly see all the ways we can create exciting health promotion messages. It's challenging now NOT to find health messages in media and entertainment. It seems like in every tv show, radio show, and movie, there is some form of health communication. That's a good thing for public health! I think the more challenging part is getting people to recognize these messages without having to be a public health professional...

Just the other day I was watching the movie Lorenzo's Oil...I first saw this movie as a freshman high school student in my Biology class. There is a LOT of medical information thrown around in this movie...but there's also a lot of public health messages. For example, from this movie you will be able to distinguish the difference between saturated fats and unsaturated fats and understand the health effects of each. This movie also addresses cigarette addictions and world hunger...all in one Hollywood film...wierd, huh.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT!

First of all, I'd like to say happy (late) Thanksgiving! Now, onto business...this week's class was all about entertainment and health promotion communication. The whole entertainment world is full of health communication if you just stop and really listen to it.

Think about all the movies, tv shows, and music you've listened to recently. Did you know that many of them have health messages in them? Take Christina Aquilera's "Beautiful" song and music video...there is a mass of health communcation here! Anorexia, bulimia, drugs, etc...they are all presented in her video. There are other, more subtle, ways that entertainment discusses health, too. For example, I saw the movie "How to Deal" with Mandy Moore last night. This movie discusses teen pregnancy, teen sexual health, reckless driving, teen mental health, alcohol issues with teens, etc.

Health communication and the entertainment world go hand in hand...in my opinion. I think that we could make a huge aspect on public health by creatively working with the entertainment industry to hone in on positive health communication.

I'm excited to see what will become of public health in the entertainment world.

Stepping into the technological future...

The topic of this week's class was Web 2.0 and it's role in public health. Unfortunately, I wasn't there. I spent this week at a conference in Houston discussing the human factor in military operations. Specific to this course, I was reminded of our lecture on presentations, especially those using powerpoint. I was shocked to see leaders in the field losing the impact of their presentations because their powerpoints were so poorly put together. Many of them were busy and hard to follow. Others had so much text and the font was too small that they were unable to read. It was surprising because some of the topics these presenters were discussing were some of the most interesting topics to me: the NASA astronaut human factor and how that impacts all space missions.

It just goes to show how important it is to use powerpoint as a "bullet-point" tool, and avoid putting too much information on a slide. The information should come from the presenter...not the powerpoint slide.

Image is Everything

(OK, so I know this picture doesn't really have anything to do with the topic...but it says PR, and the puppy is adorable, so the picture stays! haha)

In this week's class, we talked about Public Relations (P.R.). Now, I have to be honest; I've never really invested any time in thinking about P.R. or even trying to understand what it is. However, after listening to our guest speaker, (I think her name was Laura Welchar, but I'm not sure on the spelling), I realized that P.R. is really necessary if you want the public to know about your topic (product, company, etc).

At first, I didn't really understand what a P.R. professional actually does for a living. But, I think the Princeton Review http://www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/dayInLife.asp?careerID=171sums it up best when they say "A public relations specialist is an image shaper. Their job is to create positive publicity for their client and enhance their reputation." Now, the part of this idea that makes people in my class-- and even myself-- wary is the fear that truth and honesty about an company, etc get overshadowed by creative writing and presentation skills, coupled with some good schmoozing with reporters. Yeah, it's part of life. You never want to publicize your weaknesses.

That reminds me of the time I got a negative comment card when I was a hostess one summer at Ruby's. One of the customers said "Amanda didn't smile enough when she was taking my money." I was pretty surprised since my job was to greet customers and be nice...and I was good at it, according to my boss and all the people I worked with. But, apparently I wasn't smiley enough that day. Anyway, one of the servers read it and ripped it up. I was confused because part of my job was to turn in all comment cards to the manager. She told me, "We never keep the bad ones...only turn in good comment cards. You were going to turn that in? Are you crazy?" Well, I guess she was just demonstrating good P.R. skills there.

Thoughts from FIRESTORM 2007

I sit here thinking about the past week of craziness in San Diego, as firefighters continue to work tirelessly against the raging flames. I've never been more proud to be a San Diegan. The First Responders that came to the aid of our community are incredible. Sure, this week was filled with a lot of uncertainty for my family, but we are all safe and our homes are fine. That is something to be thankful for.Even the families who lost their homes say that they are thankful. They are thankful for their safety, for the prayers of others, for the assistance that the citizens of San Diego have given them. They lost their homes-- and much more-- but they still are still thankful. That's incredible.

It's during tragedies like this that I remember what's really important to me. On Tuesday, after I learned that I wasn't supposed to go into work or school, the first thing I thought was "Great. Let me go be with my family." So, my husband and I drove to North County-- left the less smokey air of downtown and went to possibly the most dense, ashy air that I saw all week...Just so I could be with my family. Were they threatened? Not really. Was I threatened? No...but it didn't matter. I still wanted to be with them during that time of worry and confusion.

I feel lucky to be so close to my family that I could just take a 45 minute drive to be with them. A lot of people aren't that lucky. But, during this Firestorm, the evacuees at Qualcomm, the Del Mar Fairgrounds, and numerous other evacuation centers, were so well taken care of that for some, it was as if the volunteers were their own family members.

In closing, I just want to say THANK YOU, one more time to the firefighters and first responders who sacrificed their lives for the people of San Diego. And, especially to all of those who were injured. You are true heroes.

The Big Deal: Message Formation

Message formation, according to our professor, is the fun part of the campaign. Fun or not...it's development will make or break your campaign. Today we discussed some tactics that campaign developers use to get the audience to pay attention to their messages. Which ones work for you?

FEAR: This tactic is used to scare people into changing their behavior and it usually works. Some famous campaigns using fear are the "This is your brain on drugs" campaign, the anti-smoking commercials featuring patients with throat cancer, emphysema, smoking through their tracheotomy, etc.

TESTIMONIALS: This tactic works for a lot of people because we are more willing to listen to a personal story then simple facts. Also, we usually let ourselves buy into something more, if we see that it has worked for other people, especially people that we can relate to. Think about all those weight loss commercials--Jenny Craig, Special K, Nutri System. They all use testimonials to grab our attention.

COMEDY: Comedy is another useful tactic. This tactic also works well to get a lot of people's attention. Think about the TRUTH campaign for anti-smoking behavior. Their tactic is sarcastic comedy, exposing how flagrant the tobacco companies lies were about the dangers of smoking. Another example comes from the new Kaiser Permanente commercials with the little boy who is recalling his "younger years" of making bad food and exercise choices. How can you ignore that message?!

There are tons of others tactics used to deliver a message...but these are, in my opinion, some of the most effective ways of getting people's attention who may otherwise ignore what you are trying to tell them to change about their behavior. High involvement individuals (those who already have a vested interest in changing their behavior) may not need fear, or comedy, or testimonials to grab their attention. But the low involvment individuals need cues or other means of getting their attention (aka "added value"), so the previosly explained tactics is an effective way of doing that.

Take a look at one of my favorite commercials in the blog directly below this one. Does it inspire you to take a preventive approach to life by eating well and exercising? For me, it does, but it's possible that this message works for me because I am highly involved in this topic to begin with.