Blogging Caveats

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I was attending a seminar on public relations today and the speaker addressed some issues about blogs which I realized are self-evident to me as a blogger, but might not be so clear to anyone pondering starting one.

As much as I like to talk about how useful blogs can be to arts organizations, they aren’t for everyone. As with any application of technology, you shouldn’t be trying to use blogs or podcasts or whatever because they are the hot new thing everybody is using. Employing a technology poorly with no sense of purpose is worse than employing it poorly with an objective. If you have a purpose, then you know what direction to pursue to make the technology work for you. Without a purpose, you are forever flailing.

In relation to blogs in particular-

Don’t start one if you don’t have time to regularly devote to it. The online community is voracious. If you commit to writing every day, write that often. If it is weekly, then stick to that general schedule. If you aren’t producing as promised, people will stop visiting. Since you are probably blogging for the exposure and public relations benefit a lack of regular visitors has little value. Worse, people may start filling your comments section with insults and harsh criticism if they think no one is minding the store.

Blogging is definitely time consuming unless you are the type that can produce prolifically with little effort so you definitely want to make sure you have the time. One of the important operative words there is YOU. One of the mistakes the public relations people cited is having subordinates ghost writing for the head of an organization since the boss rarely has the time. The damage that is done and the loss of faith that occurs when it is revealed that the boss isn’t the one writing is often quite great.

At the very least, the person under whose name the entries are being written should be reviewing the material before it is posted. Ideally, they should be the one hitting the post button.

My last pointer is the most difficult to advise people about due to a lack of hard and fast rules. Be careful when and how you respond to criticism. Some times you have to respond quickly to avert a real crisis in progress. Often you should only do so after some consideration and letting your temper cool or not at all. Unfortunately, fiery invective and wild accusations often appear to require addressing immediately lest the blogosphere think ill of you.

It is only later that you realize you proved the old maxim–It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt. Thanks to search engine caches, it can be rather difficult to expunge the record of what you said from the internet by simply editing your entries. Blogging and emailing have joined driving as activities you shouldn’t engage in while agitated.

Alas, All Too Real

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I spent most of today as a caveman, thinking primarily about food and shelter to stay in character (and suffering the comments from co-workers saying it was no great strain upon me to act the part of a caveman). As a result I pondered little of great import today.

However, had I not been pursuing some Halloween fun, I doubt I could have posted anything half as insightful (and from some of the commentary, inciteful) as Drew McManus’ second installment recounting his experience working with arts management grad students at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Both installments are a good read, but the second one packs a punch with its discussion of results and conclusions from his exercise. Read both for the full context, but if you only have time for one, make it the second.

Drew has lead this activity before where he has graduate students roleplay a musician bargaining committee for an orchestra. I don’t know if Drew had a different scenario than when he was at the Eastman School of Music or if, as people familiar with the orchestra world, the Eastman students recognized the scenario as being within the realm of possibility. What brought the whole exercise the UW to a halt was the students’ disbelief that the financial statements they were looking at had any basis in reality.

In Drew’s first installation, the mock negotiation team essentially walks away from the table in disgust at the financial mismanagement and decide they are going to form their own orchestra.

In the second installation, Drew recounts his discussions with the students about how the apparently hopeless situation the students found themselves in was all too similar to ones with which orchestra musicians are confronted. Reading the entries brought back a flood of memories and emotions about a dismal experience I had working at a mismanaged theatre. Symphonies haven’t cornered the market on awful decision making.

For all the disillusionment and frustration it brought the UW students, I wish my graduate training program had offered a similar class to us. As Drew says, it helps dispel preconcieved notions and allows future managers to enter the profession with their eyes open. Although, when I ended up having that exact experience, I might have seen it as indicative of how it was everywhere and quit the arts immediately.

It’s Also What You Don’t Ask

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I got a call this weekend from a company doing a survey on local radio. The purpose, I was told, was to improve local programming. I told the girl I wasn’t sure I could help since I didn’t listen to local radio, but rather listened to a feed from a radio station over the internet.

I am guessing she decided my answer fell in the doesn’t listen to radio category because she thanked me for my time and hung up. I also assume that she was working for a company hired to conduct the survey and not for the company(ies) who commissioned it and thus had no real investment in exploring why I didn’t listen.

If the purpose was to improve the quality of local programming, the next questions should be: what do I listen to, if such programming was offered locally would I listen and if not, what is it about the online feed that was so appealing?

Even if I didn’t listen to any radio at all and only to my CD collection or iPod, a little discovery as to why I didn’t listen to radio might be in order. My reasons might be reversible if the right station came along.

Of course, maybe they didnt really want to improve programming but had some sort of agenda they were pursuing with the survey. One of the cardinal rules of decision based surveying is never ask a question you have no intention of acting upon.

The whole incident made me think maybe I should look back at the surveys I use to see if they are still pertinent. I also got to thinking that perhaps I should also read the responses a little more closely to see if they clue me in to other questions I should be asking. There may be a single perfect survey question for determining loyalty and growth, but there are plenty of other things I want to know.

All That Work, Never To Be Seen

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I had a bit of a cautionary lesson in the last few days about providing services to persons with disabilities. The director of our Fall student drama production was approached a few weeks ago by a student in his class. The student is studying to be a sign language interpreter and wanted to know if he could use the performance as practice.

The director and I both agreed and the student and another more experienced interpreter in his cohort have been attending nearly every rehearsal for the last 6 weeks.

I was just preparing to advertise the signed performance in our ads and press releases when the assistant theatre manager mentioned that fact to the more experienced interpreter. He went into a panic and begged us not to publicize the fact.

It turns out we misunderstood the original intent of the request which was to simply just practice. The reason why they only wanted to practice is because they feared being blacklisted for taking jobs away from professional interpreters. I pointed out that they were students practicing on a student production at a college. Technically we are taking jobs away from professional actors but no one begrudges the students’ the opportunity to learn the craft.

The older interpreter having worked professionally (he was taking classes to improve his skill) in the community for sometime now was concerned that there would be trouble even if we billed the interpretation as a student effort. (Something I intended to do from the beginning under the assumption they might mess up now and again.)

My surprise at some of the stories he told me about problems people have faced in the past was somewhat mild since I have belonged to some small groups who have tended to be protective and insular. Not to make excuses for the extreme treatment to which people have been subject.

The situation did frustrate me to some degree though because we have tried to get signers before and were told they weren’t interested in traveling out to our location. Here were some guys who were willing to put the effort in and they were too intimidated to do it live.

I will say I have new respect for the process people go through to prepare to sign shows. I worked at a theatre that offered audio-described performances for the sight impaired. The preparation time the describers invested seems a lot shorter than what these guys tell me is involved with signing for a performance.

The cautionary lesson I referred to earlier is that offering services to people with disabilities is sometimes more involved than simply making plans and arrangements well in advance.

Of course, I also have a lot of respect for these two guys for coming out every night to rehearsal despite having no prospect of working before a live audience or given getting graded for the effort. I wish them luck. It seems like a tough career they are dedicating themselves to.