First Experience Communications

Mentoring at Start-Up UConn: Many Great Lessons Learned

Ira Yellen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:12:57 +0000

If was great going back to college, that is being a mentor to new ideas at Start Up UConn, a national program that encourages young and energetic entrepreneurs to create a new business model over a period of 54 hours. I had the pleasure of nurturing and coaching teams of entrepreneurs in creating mostly online (web and apps) in areas that users might find useful in their daily living.

I have been mentoring for many years and this type of event shows how groups of people who many times don’t know each other with come together and collaborate for a product or service that will be judged in a 5 minute presentation.

I would give awards to all of them, but congratulations to PlatForum, Sobrio, and MailStack who tied for 1st Place at the inaugural Startup Weekend Storrs event! Honorable mention when to KidETA for most promising service to the community, and Life Raver for best name. There were very interesting ideas presented, along with the potential of new businesses being formed. Hopefully, some will be seen by you all over the next few years.

Top Winners:

platforum – A mobile app to consolidate the forum experience
Sobrio – A mobile match service linking drinkers and sober drivers
Mailstack – A new way to organize your email inbox

Honorable Mention:

KidETA – A school bus location service using mobile crowdsourcing (for most promising service to the community)
Life Raver – A website to help visitors to a city find the fun things that locals do (for best name)

Other Participants:

Eldercare Compare
Busses2
CloudSort
GrowPix
Sitterverse
LiveIt!
Joy In A Glass

White House calls Ira Yellen to discuss mentoring and internship to spur the economy

Ira Yellen — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:34:54 +0000

Your Ideas for Putting Americans Back to Work

Interview from the White House

Back in November, for the latest installment of the White House’s Advise the Advisor series, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Nancy-Ann DeParle asked Americans for their ideas for executive actions or steps that President Obama could take, without waiting for Congress to act, to help out middle class families and small business and put Americans back to work.

Over 18,000 people sent in their ideas, both for actions that the Administration can take, as well as ideas for community actions that non-profits, state and local governments, companies and individuals can take to help grow the economy. For the past few months a team of folks at the White House have combed through the comments. However, we didn’t just read these submissions and file them away.

In fact, Nancy-Ann DeParle called Ira from Glastonbury, Connecticut to discuss his idea to encourage businesses to get involved in youth mentoring and internship programs. Listen to the discussion between Ira Yellen and Nancy DeParle.

Elderly Consumer: Top Business Opportunity for 2012

Ira Yellen — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 21:47:47 +0000

For over 20 year, my agency has been providing services to profit and nonprofit organizations who serve the aging, elderly, senior and/or third age populations. As Baby Boomers are reaching 65 and retirement age, they will demand more nontraditional healthcare services. As pointed out in the American Express article about the aging population and elderly consumers, businesses that serve this group will be the fastest growing during 2012. To learn more about how we service this area go to our section on homecare.

Senior Care — Boomers fastest growing market

Ira Yellen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:27:43 +0000

Bridging the needs for aging Baby Boomers and their aging parents will be a challenge for caregivers who need to care for a loved one. Many caregivers will be looking for a home care aide on line. Watch this short video from American Express on the top 5 fastest growing franchises in the US as presented by Entrepreneur Magazine. It is only a minute long, but you might be interested in the findings. http://www.openforum.com/videos/top-five-franchise-trends?extlink=em-openf-dailydigest

November is National Home Care & Hospice Month

Ira Yellen — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:24:18 +0000

Because there is no Place Like Home

We should celebrate the homecare professionals who tend to our loved ones day in and out. The care given by nurses, therapists and homes care aides has helped families by dedicating their life on behalf of the aged, disabled, and ill loved ones. Take a moment and send them a thank you note. Look towards your United Way and other non profit groups who serve community needs, and many times, you will find a health professional. If you are a caregiver the National Council on Aging has information and resources to help you manage your caregiving needs.

Google Plus – What Do You Need to Know?

David Kluskiewicz — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 15:21:24 +0000

Google Plus (Google+) adds yet another tool to the arsenal of the web-literate organization. Like email, it is a set of common communications tools that play nicely together. Grab a cup of tea, read through their summary and watch the introduction videos to get started. Then, read on.

Many of our clients are just beginning to feel a sense of ownership of their online identity. Technology regimes no longer control their messaging and their leadership teams are discovering how easy it is to publish web content, either through a well-developed site they control or through one of the many free services, like Facebook and Twitter, that enable you to publish just about anything related to your brand.

So, now that Google, the benevolent giant, has built this entirely new communication ecosystem, called Google+, what’s a company to do? Well, here are a few questions to get you started.

Are things like “relationships” and “identity” important to your business? If they are, then you might consider trying Google+.

What differentiates Google+ from every other form of web communication (e.g. your web site) is identity. Google has built a system that makes it really difficult to do anything anonymously. As a result, companies and individuals who communicate through Google+ behave more closely to the way they would if they were interacting face-to-face. In fact, a key feature of the service is “Hangout”, a video chatting service through which you can talk to your customers or your team or anyone. If you need that kind of interaction and customers can’t get to your physical location, this is a huge benefit.

Are you uncomfortable with a large corporation owning the content you’ve worked hard to create? If you are, think twice.

Even without reading the Google+ Terms of Service, you should be aware that you’re building part of your company on property that someone else owns. Mostly, Google has been generous with creating tools like this. They haven’t slammed users with ads or sold their data to advertisers. But, it’s a decision you need to make. If you were to build (or buy) and maintain a similar set of communication tools for yourself, it would cost you a minimum of $30,000 and countless hours educating your community on using your tools. And, in the end you wouldn’t have the common interface that all individual users already have.

Experiment

The price of admission for Google+ is free, though you’ll have to spend a few hours learning the features. But, didn’t you do that with your company intranet? And with email? Even if Google+ isn’t the end-all-be-all in Internet communication, I think there’s a good chance that it marks a lasting trend of transparent communication between people and organizations.

Any Connecticut company looking for a way to experiment with Google+ is welcome to join us at our Google+ page (link here). We’ll help you test out your ideas without any fear of judgement.

Connecticut Homecare Agencies to the Rescue

Ira Yellen — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:09:36 +0000

There have been many unsung heros during Connecticut’s freak October snowstorm. Many towns have been without electricity for almost two weeks. Home bound people who need daily medical help depend on VNAs and other homecare agencies. As the CT Mirror reported —”But that can mean that when a disaster strikes, the services people rely on–delivered meals, aides to help them bathe or dress, visiting nurses to administer medications or help with devices–can be harder to get at home. If their needs can’t be met by shelters, people who aren’t acutely sick might have few options but to go to a hospital emergency room, particularly if they rely on oxygen or devices that use electricity.”

Nurses, home health aides, homemaker companions, and caregivers should all be given a badge of honor. If you know one or meet one, thank them for their unselfish deeds during challenging times. Please go the CT Mirror to read more about what many of them did.

I met Steve Jobs when…

Ira Yellen — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 19:22:46 +0000

Since 1985, I have been an evangelist for Steve Jobs and Apple. If it wasn’t for the Macintosh computer, my company probably wouldn’t exist today. When people ask me how did I start my business and why did I name it First Experience Communication, they go hand-in-hand. I named my business in honor and memory of my and many other families who came to America via Ellis Island in the early part of the 20th Century. I also migrated to Connecticut in 1981 when I got married, and was working out of our apartment in Rocky Hill, CT on a educational project for school children that celebrated the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Centennials.

I formed my business in 1983 and a short time later I had the fortune to meet an Apple rep who offered me to do beta testing on a new computer call a Macintosh along with the software — MacWrite, MacPaint, and MacDraw. The early Macs had very little memory, but I saw the potential of creating documents such as brochures, newsletters, and ads. The aha! moment came when Apple created a Mac with a hard drive with 1 megabyte of memory. It was then that I was able to create a public relations and marketing business around the Macintosh computer. I was able to create brochures, newsletters, and all types of collateral without using typesetting and traditional comps for clients and printers. I was able to create an integrated copy, graphic, and layout using a new desktop system called Pagemaker. It was also beta software. I was able to create documents in half the time and cost. Soon, dozens of clients were coming to me to do their collateral. Basically, I was first on the block to see the tremendous potential of these new technical tools.

It was interesting that printers, typesetters and other design firms did not jump into the fray, but I also realized that pretty soon I would have competition in the desktop world. From this opportunity I was able to capitalize my business, hire staff, and move into a real office in Glastonbury, CT. Of course, I have a come a long way since those time, but have always appreciated and used the devices Steve Jobs has created. I tip my hat and honor the contribution he has made to the creative field I am in and for the many others who have created businesses around Apple products. My only regret is when was almost sold to Sun for a few dollars a share in 1995. I had a chance right to purchase Apple shares at $4 each when Jobs was coming back to lead Apple again. I should have bite into the apple, but I have no regrets today. I also had the pleasure of meeting him in the 1980s when their was a annual Mac conference in Boston.

Being an evangelist takes faith in yourself, the people around you, and living day-to-day the best you can for yourself and fellow mankind.

Thank you Steve Jobs for giving us the means to an end.

The original 26 year old Mac on display in my office.

PR Blocks and Tackles

David Kluskiewicz — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 13:09:15 +0000

Public relations has an identity crisis. Once, when we spoke to a college class about the profession, one student said, “What’s it like to promote bands and celebrities?” She was a little disappointed that we were not a publicists. And, most business owners still bristle at the term PR, associating it almost exclusively with two classic situations they face:

“We screwed up and we look like idiots. We need PR to fix this.”
and
Our latest product isn’t really remarkable at all. Have those PR folks make it look interesting. (Twice, I’ve had prospective clients say, “We need to PR this.” Yes, they used it as a verb!)

But that perception is changing, especially as businesses figure out that the tactical parts of communications are relatively easy. For example, building a web site is easy; filling it with relevant content and using it to actually communicate with other human beings is hard. So, a relationship specialist comes in pretty handy when you actually need to get a site out the door and integrate it with your sales and marketing functions. That’s PR strategy.

Photo Credit: Ed Yourdon http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/

As businesses struggle to connect with their customers, they are getting wise to the strategic value of PR. (See Andy Polansky’s recent post about the industry.) This revelation is especially acute in new ventures. By the time a CEO utters the words “public relations” it’s usually too late. It’s akin to getting half way through the construction of a new house and then saying, “Wait! We need an architect!” Who wants to be the clean-up guy on that project? I’m not suggesting that PR professionals can plot a perfect path to long-term relationships, but I will suggest that their mode of thinking complements the sales process very well. They cover the periphery, plan out scenarios, drive the agenda and respond calmly to crisis. To use another analogy, while you’re setting up all your crafty plays, PR is “blocking and tackling”. So, who’s going to cover you while your trying to throw that ball?

Count Our Blessings

Ira Yellen — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:06:45 +0000

New York Skyline From Central Park

Watching the 9/11 ceremonies and stories was emotional and inspiring. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It was a day where titles, political affiliations, and social discourse were no where to be seen or heard, especially with the media and cable news stations.

I think of the griping and whining that goes on a daily basis, but listening to the families, first responders, and ordinary citizens tell their moving stories and who have been affected by 9/11 events, should make us take stock of our good fortune. My hope is we reflect on 9/11 events, and take away the lesson of what it means to be a contributing member of society.

We should count our blessings.