Football 101

My mom enjoys telling a story about when I was a 7th grade cheerleader and I was cheering at a football game when I started yelling "defense, defense!" I then proceeded to turn to the other cheerleaders in a "know-it-all" kind of way and say to them, "that means the other team has the ball." Maybe I could have approached informing them about offense and defense in a more kind way, but I often found myself getting quite embarrassed when they were yelling defense instead of offense and vice versa. I used to proclaim, "it's not that hard of a game to figure out, why don't you pay attention." Needless to say, we had lots of talks at home about "polite communication."

As I got older, I realized it was not a pre-requisite to complete Football 101 before becoming a cheerleader (even though I think it should be) and not everyone was lucky enough to have a dad that taught them about the game. The basic football fundamentals were foreign to many of the girls I cheered with over the years and I was lucky to have a grasp of the basics of the game before becoming a cheerleader. This story came up recently in conversation and it got me thinking: what concepts would be covered in Football 101 and why would it be important? If I were in charge of the class, I think Football 101 would cover:

Offense vs. defense
Down and distance
Scoring, and
Football Terminology

Once those concepts are covered, any person, including a 7th grade cheerleader, would better understand the game. I share that story to use as a foundation for this: next week my other role as professor begins when I start teaching the Fundamentals of Human Communication, or Communication 101, at Tarrant County College. I am always shocked by the (lack of) communication skills college students, as well as, the general population possess. How can you play the game if you don't learn the basics first? The number one skill sought by organizations is "effective communication skills." So why do so many people skip Communications 101? My theory is that if a person understands and practices the most basic communication skills, the he or she can and will be more effective in most areas of their life. They don't need to become a communications expert, but just understanding the game will give them an advantage. Communications 101 should include the following:

Communication is inescapable; you cannot not communicate.
Communication is complicated
Context vs. content
Adapting communication to meet YOUR needs

So as I approach preparing for my classes, my focus is in wanting my students to walk away at the end of the semester and be able to stand on the sidelines and understand the game. Because once they have the basic understanding of the communications game, they will no longer find themselves being yelled at by a "know it all" cheerleader (or boss, or partner, or friend, etc.)

Watching PR Game Film

Since my professional football career never took off like I intended it to, I have never actually experienced the process of watching game film. However, my perception is that it actually serves two purposes of equal importance:

1. Watch film on your opponents to prepare for your upcoming game(s) and
2. Watch film on your past game(s) to evaluate strengths and weaknesses

This week while at work I found myself "watching film on one of last year's games" in order to prepare for a pre-season opener. Last year school district public relations professionals, myself included, were not prepared for the game when President Obama decided to speak to the nation's students in September. We did not have time to prepare for the unexpected feedback, emotions, logistical issues, personal beliefs, etc., that this situation created. Regardless of political affiliations, President Obama's sporadic decision to address the students was similar to that of Boise State's use of trick plays a few years ago (no, I am not at all saying The President tricked us, just an example). As I previously stated, one of the purposes of watching game film is to watch film on your opponents to prepare for an upcoming game. Well guess what? We didn't have the advantage of watching game film last year...but this year we do.

This week I pulled out my folder titled "Presidential Address to Students" and evaluated how we as a school district managed the crisis situation last year. I'm not calling the President's decision a crisis, like a school shooting or natural disaster would be, but situations created like this one get filed away in my "crisis" folder because I evaluate it much like I would a crisis. There are three distinct stages of a crisis: pre-crisis, crisis and post crisis. Many successful crisis situations and outcomes are determined in the first stage. I will explain it like this: pre-crisis stage=watching game film on your opponent. Effective planning during the pre-crisis stage can help determine if you will walk a way with a win. The next two stages can be a little less painful if the first stage is executed well.

This year we are lucky because we know The President is planning on speaking to the nation's students again, we have game film to watch so we can prepare for our "opponents," and we have our past game film to use to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses from last year's crisis situation. I am not too proud to say that last year we looked like Shane Falco and The Replacements but this year we will look like Drew Brees and the World Champion Saints!

Pic: I took this at a local CVS, I would love to build one of these in my house.

PR Two-a-Days

I am well aware that it has been awhile since my last post and I'm just going to chalk it up to enjoying my summer. With that said, today all across the wonderful state of Texas, many high school football programs kicked off two-a-day workouts. What that means is FOOTBALL SEASON IS HERE! My favorite time of the year is now upon us! I can't wait to enjoy Friday night football, College Game Day when I wake-up on Saturday, NFL Sunday and ending it all with Monday Night Football. Not to mention the random Thursday night games, and if I am lucky, one on Tuesday and Wednesday. Basically it is possible to surround myself with football 24/7!

Two-a-days, such a crazy concept to those not associated with football (or just a fan of football). Why in the world would a team practice twice in one day, when it is 106 degrees outside? The simple answer is because football season couldn't get here fast enough. But the real answer is because it is necessary to establish the "team mentality," to assess where you are as a team, what you need to work on, what is will work for you, what won't and because it's football and it's fun!

This morning when I started thinking about today kicking off the high school football season, I found myself wondering is there such a thing as PR two-a-days? Then it hit me...everyday is a two-a-day in the PR world (and I would argue sometimes a three-a-day). As a PR Pro, every day I work towards establishing a solid "team mentality" within the school district I work for, as well as with our district stakeholders: students, parents, community members and local media representatives. If you walked into our office any day of the week you would hear us discussing our strengths, weaknessess, failures and successes and what we need to do to either maintain the status quo or make it even better. No matter what my role is: crisis communicator, gatekeeper, sounding board, decision maker, event planner, entertainer, bad news bearer, spokesperson, counselor or information seeker the number one priority is what is best for the "team mentality" and for my school district as a whole...and because it's a fun job (the professional football player gig didn't work out for me, so the PR gig runs a close second)!

To answer my own question, there is such a thing as PR two-a-days, we should just call it PR every-a-days! Stay tuned for more posts now that football is upon us. I will have plenty of opportunities for inspiration.