Calls banned? How will I find work at my age?

Happily their use in Australia is limited, though not unknown.

Former Prime Minister John Howard huge criticism for using the technique in 2004. The Austalian Youth Climate Coalition tried aiming the robots at the pollies in 2010.

Anyhow the US Federal Communications Commission has surprisingly limited the use of the technique. Why? Well how would you like to come home to find this message on your voicemail? Oi vay.

You know by now that it has been a sterling week for dachshunds thanks to Cinders the wire-haired dachshund taking out the hound section of the Westminster Kennel Club’s Dog Show in New York, New York. That’s right – wire-haired. Take that smoothies.

Squiggle mobbed by an adoring pack of fans in NYC.

It’s only the third time in 136 runnings of the competition that a dachshund of any variety has taken out Best Hound. (I should know, I’ve been to most of these shindigs and won one of them). Anyhow, congratulations Cinders - you’re one talented bitch.

As part of my annual pilgrimage, I join other dogs of note at Sardi’s in the theatre district for lunch. Each year the Best in Show winner – this year a Pekingese called Malachy – joins us for meat from a silver platter. Great PR photo opp. The press hounds eat it up, just like Malachy and the free lunch. Everybody wins – belly rubs all round. It’s been that way since the late sixties.

Ah; the sixties. Heady days. We were all longhairs back then, whatever our breed. Widespread spading had ushered in the sexual revolution. I was driving to San Francisco when I picked up a beatnik hitchhiker named Robert Zimmerman… but I digress.

Well this year, the health department has stepped in to the picture. Haven’t they got cats to trap? Oh – if you think lunch for dogs at famous Broadway restaurants is a photo opportunity too far you ain’t seen nothin yet. Hello Wall Street.

Right I’m off to see The Book of Mormon. Ciao.

How many people have your disease du jour? How many people does each new diagnosis affect? How many people enjoy community theatre each week? How severely will a round of redundancies impact on the lcoal economy? Really? That many?

This interview with Richard Denniss from the Australia Institute exposes some bad examples of overstatting one’s case. Get it? Overstatting.   And no you can’t use that as your own material.

Getting caught out with a loose and convenient mistruth would make for a bad day indeed. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

However, as in 2011 we will be offering a series of webinars in 2012. Our webinars are more niche and specific in nature and let anyone participate from anywhere without travel. Webinars – it’s the future and it’s now.  So what’s ahead?

Don't worry, get appy.

App Savvy 101: ever wondered if your organisation should have an app for smartphone or Facebook? What’s possible? How do you find a developer? How much will it cost? Is it worth the investment?

New Site Savvy 101: your next website is the biggest opportunity you have to dramatically improve your communications and marketing. Don’t waste your time, money and hope on another lame site. We’ll look at: creating a brief; choosing a developer, choosing your content management system, choosing the bells and whistles, creating a site that is more like an employee than an online brochure. 

Social Media Savvy 101: Twitter and Facebook – how to ruthlessly exploit them, build cult-like followings, develop a practical policy, find the right tone and content. For newbies and up. 

SEO Savvy 101: It is simply pointless having a website unless you take informed, persistent steps to gain the best possible results on search engines such as Google. Learn simple, achievable ways to get on the first page. Not for nerds – for communications peopleand their bosses.

Or perhaps unmeasured mail is preferable.

eMarketing savvy 101: Email works. Learn how to make it work better than any other channel of communications – including social media. (Really!) Quickly send targetted communications to members, donors, volunteers or politicians at no cost. Better still – learn how to ensure that they get opened, read, passed along and acted upon. By the way – an eMarketing can save you tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Copy Savvy 101: we don’t waste time on spelling and grammar in this webinar. Instead we look at your audiences, lots of examples good and bad, define what makes good writing good and dissect headlines, quotes, captions, media releases, appeal letters and more.  

Details on costs, times and more coming soon.

Senator Wong seems pleased with Hootville's praise.

Minister for Finance Senator Penny Wong was casting doubt on the Opposition’s ability to deliver promised $70 billion in budget cuts. Rather than repeating a number that is so big as to be meaningless, she converted it into something very meaningful indeed:

“But, if those opposite want to talk about numbers, I suggest they have a look at the $70 billion that they have to find in the budget just to get to the starting line. Their backbench may not know this, but $70 billion is the equivalent of Medicare payments for four years. They are the sorts of cuts you have to find because of your lack of discipline. It is equivalent to two years of the age pension. That is the sort of cut you would have to find because of your lack of discipline.”

Accurate? We don’t know. An effective way to give bread-and-butter voters pause for thought? Yes indeed.  A rare moment of clear, effective communications by our Federal Government. Shame for them that only we were listening.

Tip: Make figures more real by converting them to something more readily related to.  Typically any number of people is described thus: 

“The number of people with the disease could fill the MCG on grand final day.”

Any large amount of liquid is immediately described in terms of how many times it could fill Sydney Harbour.  Can we update these? Please.

Want speaker training? See Speak Savvy 101.

Let Hansard reflect Hootville praise.

Fellow high profile South Australian Christopher Pyne made the nightly news as he pounced on Fair Work Australia’s (inexcusable and dodgy) glacial-paced investigation into (inexcusable and dodgy) ALP member Craig Thomson. The report into the former union honcho’s affairs started in 2009. This lead Pyne to opine: “The investigation has taken longer than Watergate, the Korean War, the building of the Sydney Olympic Stadium and the duration of the Rudd government.”

Hoorah for colourful language that places a statistic in context. In both these cases the examples will be readily picked up by supporters.

FYI: As emcee Brett once introduced Senator Penny Wong at a national conference by explaining (as her bio stipulated) that she was the first woman of Asian background to become a South Australian Senator. “Others may have applauded the breakthrough,” said Brett. “I however was furious, as I had long held on to the dream that one day, that particular accomplishment would be mine.” The Senator took the stage very slowly before thanking him for sharing. Brett as MC?

1. Relevance: We never signed up for this. We used these two sites as a place to advertise. We never wanted to receive weird employment and property-related emails from them. 

2. Value: We may have overlooked the pushiness if the emails had included a special offer, valuable advice or a welcome diversion – they didn’t.

3. Timelapse: Both companies have left things waaaay too long. We last did business with these companies years ago. Now they want to build a relationship with us? Uh-uh. Even if we’d loved their service back in 2009 we have moved on since and are seeing other sites.

4. Credibility: Despite the immense resources available to both Seek and Domain both emails were text-heavy and unenticing. In fact they were so poorly designed they looked fake.

Bosses sometimes think that an email database can be held up one’s sleeve for a rainy day. It can’t. Your subscribers must be nurtured with regular quality contact.  

Well good news  - Radio National has been rejigged. Beyond its new moniker RN; it has a new schedule with fewer pre-made documentaries and features and more live content. This equals many more opportunities for you. So too do many new programs on religion, ethics, media and food.  

Add up small audiences across the country and you get one big (and well-connected) audience.

The bad news is that the flagship news and current affairs program ‘PM’ which is broadcast on both Radio National 5pm in most states has been halved to 30 minutes. Dumb!  Happily ABC Local stations everywhere still play it at 6pm for the whole hour. Thanks to my erstwhile commentors for the clarification on this BTW.

Some possibilities on the agenda:

• Breakfast with Fran Kelly (issues and news-drive stories)
• Life Matters with Natasha Mitchell (personal stuff: relationships, parenting, caring, soocial trends, ageing, disability) 
• Drive with Waleed Aly (10 new hours a week of news-driven content to be filled – fill it!)
• Download this Show (social media, www, online activism – doing anything different online?)
• Awaye! (Indigenous affairs)

Tune in and get a feel for the shows. Think of all your programs and priorities and find or devise a story. Need help doing this? Book yourself a Media Savvy 101.

Fingers behind the ears - timeless, global, cross cultural, irresistible.

Brett and four friends spent their festive season in the idyllic setting levelling a cricket field, laying a new cement floor in a kindergarten and playing with the kids who range in age from three to 15.  Most are not orphans but have been placed in care by authorities.    

St Anthony’s is run by ‘Aunty Ollie’ Bartholomeusz and her husband Fred; both Sri Lankan born Australians. Ollie migrated to Australia as a teenager before returning 40 years later to run the home in honour of her mother. Ollie and her nine (yes nine) siblings and three adult children help run the operation from Australia.

The whole shebang is fuelled solely by donations, mainly from Australia and the UK as St Anthony’s receives no government funding. 

Christmas lunch, complete with party hats and homemade bonbons.

A week is a short time to judge but all volunteers were struck at the quality and breadth of the care the children receive – good food, medical care, education, homework supervision and lofty ambitions both for their behaviour and working life. There was a lot of laughter, few tears and much stimulation.  

Brett – for reasons we won’t discuss here – was selected to play Father Christmas to a somewhat bewildered audience. “I like to think I brought something special to the role,” said the self-proclaimed global aid worker and philanthropist. “I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I think 2012 could be the year for my first Tony Award.” 

St Anthony’s is run by the Kathleen Keegel Children’s Fund which is looking for more voluntourists to raise revenue and enliven the children’s experiences.   

Hootville and associate Evoco Design is creating a voluntourism-specific website to encourage more volunteers. The pro-bono effort will sell the idea that incorporating volunteering into your holiday is a way to get a richer and more authentic travel experience. And you know what – it’s true.  

It's perfect. But do you have it in a charcoal?

Volunteers can spend time at St Anthony’s anytime of the year but some specific dates are being set aside for significant projects. During these times Ollie and co will throw in some tourist sidetrips such as elephant orphanages, tea plantations, and cultural festivals such as the unbeatable Esala Pereahera. Dates are yet to be set for 2012 but expect a mid-year timeslot. Why not combine a week of volunteering with a week of pure bliss on an island holding many pleasures? It’s also expected that a second project will be held next Christmas holidays.

Brett will be promoting the upcoming trips. Even if you can’t go, you can donate.

Clients often want a campaign section on their websites. That’s OK but if a campaign is large enough and important enough we recommend a separate, stand alone campaign website separate from the organisational website. Why?

• It significantly boosts your search engine results.
• It stops your campaign priorities being subsumed by a site devoted to all the other things you do.
• It enables you to start a new site, often on a superior content management system with fresh, campaign-specific design and features.
• It is often faster than waiting for your new organisation-wide website  to be developed.
• It makes the campaign look more vibrant, dynamic and attractive to prospective supporters.

Two good-to-great examples here:

1. Fat Free TV which is an ambitious campaign of the NSW Cancer Council measuring the amount of junk food advertising on our screens.

2. Wall of Hands which is a slick, celebrity-laden campaign around Indigenous literacy for the The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation.

Think twice about this if your organisation-wide site has healthy traffic and strong SEO (you do know about your traffic, don’t you?). Also; be sure to promote the campaign website on your organisation’s website. CC NSW – you reading this?

A lot happens in 30 seconds. There are a lot of words and ideas in this script.  Does the movie trailer satire get in the way of explaining and encouraging the concept? We fear so.

Mind you; the Chins (as we’ll call them) have featured for a while now and helped raise tens of millions so perhaps we should leave well enough alone.