FACING YOUR PUBLICS

1. FACING YOUR PUBLICS Communication Techniques for Heads, Boards, and Senior Administrators

2. The Jane Group Jane and Jim Hulbert 630 325-2509 312 726-2800, ext.21 jhulb2509@aol.com www.thejanegroup.biz (under construction)

3. The Communications Toolbox • What should be in yours?

4. The Six Cs • Collaboration • Critical Thinking • Character

5. Communications: writing, technical literacy and public speaking • Creativity • Cosmopolitan

6. Elevator Speech

7. You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.

8. Samples…. • "I harness the forces of Mother Nature and put them to work for you. I'm Arnold Karman; I'm an architectural consultant with a civil engineering background, specializing in building bridges, roads and other thoroughfares. I help you get where you're going safely and expediently!“ • "I crunch bits and bytes for breakfast. I'm a software engineer who designs applications that don't go snap, crackle or pop. I'm Tony Pignoli, a consultant with fifteen years experience as a software engineer and an insatiable appetite for new projects. What projects are on your plate at present?"

10. Guidelines to Help You Draft an Elevator Speech • 30-60 seconds • 100 words max • Don’t just shorten the mission statement • Make the listener want more • Tell the listener what you do and who you do it for • Say how you are unique • Use basic language that a 14-year-old can understand

11. Why is what you do important • Make the listener remember • Add humor if you can pull it off • Call to action • TELL A STORY!

12. Sticky Messages/School Motto

13. Sticky Messages • Why do you need one? • Branding tool to use as a tagline to your school • Incorporate to logo • Website • Official letterheads • Could be your school motto

14. Slogans Can Be An Important Part of Our School’s Identity • Corporate – McDonald’s – Food, Folks and Fun or You Deserve a Break Today • Schools • Small school – big results. • Enter to lead, leave to serve. • Opening doors, hearts and minds. • Exceptional care for every child. • Mind Body Spirit

15. We know your kids, colleges know us. • You expect success, we can make it happen. • Sometimes education is more than the right answer. It is knowing what is right. • Madeira Girls Have Something to Say • Excellence, not standardization, is the challenge. • An environment where your child is free to be challenged by teachers who are free to teach.

16. “We know your kids. The colleges know us.” • Guilt- “can you afford not to afford a private education?” • Character- “Sometimes an education is more than the right answer. It is knowing what is right.” • Special kids. – “You expect success. We can make it happen.”

17. AVENUESTHE WORLD SCHOOL

18. AVENUES A WORLD SCHOOL • A New School of Thought • We will graduate students who are accomplished in the academic skills one would expect; at ease beyond their borders; truly fluent in a second language; good writers and speakers one and all; confident because they excel in a particular passion; artists no matter their field; practical in the ways of the world; emotionally unafraid and physically fit; humble about their gifts and generous of spirit; trustworthy; aware that their behavior makes a difference in our ecosystem; great leaders when they can be, good followers when they should be; on their way to well-chosen higher education; and, most importantly, architects of lives that transcend the ordinary.

19. The Communications Plan

20. What Should Your Plan Contain? Plan Basics • Policies • Procedures • Approved spokesperson/s • How to communicate quickly to your constituents • Phone numbers • Answer the question….does the school know what to do if…

22. Communicating in Difficult Times • Remain calm • Gather the facts • Gather the appropriate people • Take steps to fix the problem • Determine the spokesperson – usually the head unless the head is the problem • Determine your message, where and how you will deliver it

23. Another Tool in the Toolbox

24. Communicating Change • Stage your communication respectfully • Address internal audiences first • Engage board, senior staff/admin team • Be clear about why change is necessary an what the change entails • Never speak to the external audiences first; sends a bad message that pr is more important than people

25. YOUR LEADERSHIP NEEDS TO OWN THE MESSSAGE AND BE PART OF THE DELIVERY • EVERYONE NEEDS TO OWN THE MESSAGE

26. A Valuable TechniqueBridging BRIDGING

27. Questions You Don’t Have to AnswerIn other words…how to say no comment without saying no comment. • You are not the spokesperson • Litigation • Confidential

28. Negotiation • I have heard that… • Security • Personal opinion/personal question

29. I don’t know

30. Types of Questions and Ways to Answer • Open Ended • Questions You Must Re-phrase • Hypothetical

31. Multiple Questions • Ranking of School Priorities • Personal Favor

32. Rules of Thumb • No such thing as off the record. • If it is not your issue, don’t make it your issue. • Always be polite – anger makes news and makes things worse. • Be aware of the “ambush.”

33. Never say “no comment.” • Stick to your message. Do not drift.

34. Board Communications Plan • Does your school have communication problems with and among board members? • In the US, good governance stresses the importance of the relationship between the board chair and the head of school.

35. Tennis doubles – boards and superintendents should be a good doubles tennis team. • Don’t infringe on your partner’s side of the court.

37. Social Media • Facebook • Twitter • Blogging