A college campus is a wonderful place. On an average day, it is filled with new ideas, exploration, and personal growth. But to me, meeting interesting new people is one of the greatest things about being a college professor.

I recently had the distinct pleasure of spending time with a visiting scholar from Shanghai, China. Linzhi Zeng was at Towson University to further her doctoral studies. I participated in part of her research, and after a lengthy interview, we found that we had many more things we wanted to talk about. A great new friendship was born.

Linzhi Zeng is one of the most interesting people I have met in quite some time. Scholar, singer, composer, and guitar-player, Linzhi is a talented person by any measure. We talked into the night about a great many things, including teaching PR/communication, plus philosophy, religion, and the great and small events in life that shape who we are. I could not help but think that any problems between China and the U.S. could be easily solved by such open, deep, and candid conversation.

Linzhi returns to Shanghai at the end of May to resume teaching PR and to finish her doctoral dissertation. As a parting gift, she came to my office and performed four songs for me, all original compositions. It was an amazing performance.  She wrote two of the songs in English, and two were in her native Chinese. The lyrics were haunting and ethereal, her voice rich and earthy. You can hear echos of her ancient culture in the songs she composes and in the way she sings them. But at the same time, some of her songs are as contemporary as the music any other young woman anywhere in the world might listen to.

New friends, good conversation, and music — what a way to end a semester. Thanks, Linzhi. I won’t forget you.

I have always loved Richie’s music. He is the master of the love ballad. On “Tuskegee”, he sings duets of many of his monster hits with prominent country singers, both male and female.

Sounds funny to think of a duet with Lionel Richie and Kenny Chesney, for example, but it works. He also sings with Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Rascal Flats, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, to name a few of the guys. The duets are all fantastic. These old tunes never sounded as fresh and good.

But it is his duets with Jennifer Nettles and Shania Twain that make this album worth purchasing. With Jennifer, Richie sings the hauntingly beautiful ballad “Hello”. With Shania, he sings “Endless Love”. If these won’t move you, then you cannot be moved.

Thank you, Lionel Richie, for old and new memories.

Lesterism #1: Never assume anyone knows anything. Organizations are funny; you can never assume that any individual organizational member knows what is going on — strategy, major issues facing the organization, organizational performance, organization happenings, news about other employees, etc. Therefore, look at everything that is happening around you and explain it to organizational members. You will have a lifetime of work. There is so much happening in organizations today that is worthy of being reported and discussed. Be alert. Be curious. Poke around and find out the details of what is going on. Report that to your internal audiences. You will find that what you are doing begins to feed on itself, and your stream of valuable information increases.

Lesterism #2: Know your audiences. You simply must conduct research into who your audiences are and what they are like. This transcends mere demographics and moves into psychographics. Know who you are talking with and what information they want, when they want it, and how they want to receive it.

Lesterism #3: Using a  media mix is always better than a single medium. Do not concentrate on one medium to share a message. Instead, use a mix of media, including social media and traditional print and broadcast media. You need them all to effectively communicate a two-way message. A good channel strategy is a mixture of all types of media.

Lesterism # 4: Communicate frequently. This is where social media and electronic media are extremely valuable. Using those tactics, you can communicate easily and frequently. However, this does not preclude publications. For example, a more frequent and cheaper production value publication is always better than a more expensive, less frequent publication. If you can afford it, you could have a frequent newspaper-style employee publication plus a quarterly magazine. Each’s editorial objectives are unique and individually useful. But augment those with very frequent social media and electronic media updates, such as Tweets, blog posts, podcasts, and a supervisors’ ezine.

Lesterism #5: The cornerstone of an effective employee communication program is an employee publication. An employee publication should not be the only thing that makes up your employee communication program, but it remains the most effective tactic. Employees are an information-seeking audience. They want the information you provide them. Organizational communication has high persuasive impact among the other types of tactics, including interpersonal communication, news media, and advertising/promotion. And tops among the individual tactics that constitute organizational communication is the employee publication. Make it strategic and two-way, allowing for feedback and discussion.

John was born July 12, 1935, in San Francisco. He had over 50 years of experience as an association executive. His credentials and accomplishments are far to numerous to mention here. I prefer to talk about what he meant to me as a young communication professional. He meant everything to me.

John was a leader in every positive sense of the word. He led by strength of example. He was wise and thorough and compassionate. He was a man of honor and commitment, a trusted friend, and the driving force that made IABC into the vibrant professional organization it is today.

He was fearless in his leadership. He was candid in discourse, thoughtful in deliberations, and accountable without passing the buck. He praised in public and critiqued in private. He literally drove IABC to become a worldwide success, meeting ever greater needs of its members with quality products, programs, and services.

When I broke my back and was paralyzed in 1977, he made sure that I was accommodated and welcomed back to active IABC involvement. When I was named an IABC Fellow in 1997, he made the effort to be there for the ceremony even though he had moved on from IABC long before. I was honored to have this great man there to support me.

John Bailey represents so much of what I have loved about IABC. I am honored to have worked closely with him. I will never forget the lessons learned from this great man.

Never fear, for More With Les is here to help. Following is my guide to a successful Valentine’s Day. Let’s begin with appropriate presents:

Flours. That is not a typo. I meant to write “flours”. You see, “flowers” are so overrated. They die all too soon. And for guys, it is very difficult to pick flowers that you know your woman will like. “Gee, Honey, I got you that pretty variegated symposium, and you didn’t even comment. Then you put it in the storage shed out back. Didn’t you like my choice, which was given with all my love?” Better to give her five-pound bags of flour. Now that has love written all over it. And if you wish to be literal, take a Sharpie and write “I luv you” all over the sack. That is an added special touch that shows you are a hopeless romantic, and women love that.  As a Valentine’s Day gift, sacks of flour are practical and helpful. It is a thoughtful gift, one that keeps on giving. Once you give your love some flour, then you can ask sweetly, “Honey, will you make me some biscuits with that new flour?” She will be so thrilled with your practicality and loving spirit that she will make you some big-a$$ biscuits that you can cover with a gallon of gravy.

Candy. Very dangerous gift. In the first place, candy is so common. Any dipstick can just grab a box of candy while waiting in line most anywhere. A box of candy is not creative at all. “Sweets for the sweet” and all that.  What you are really saying is, “Sweets for the person who is really watching her weight, and oh, frap, I messed up again!” However, there is one exception to the candy rule that never fails to say love, love, love — as previously touted right here in More With Les — dark chocolate M&M’s. As I have reported, they are orgasmic. Trust me on this. Give her a big sack of dark chocolate M&M’s, and she will cheerfully vacuum out your truck. One added benefit is that you can recycle all those old vases from the poor-choice flowers you gave her on previous Valentine’s Days. Just take one of those vases, wash it out, and fill it with dark chocolate M&M’s. Not only will it be well-received as a severe expression of your undying love, it will also demonstrate that you are ecologically progressive. Plus, it will look really good under the disco ball lighting in your basement rec room.

Tools. Yes, nothing says, “I luv you” like the proper tool. A woman simply cannot have enough of the right kind of tools. I once gave my wife an engraved putty knife. In addition to being extraordinarily sweet and thoughtful, it was highly useful, too. Just the thing for that do-it-yourselfer. What woman would not be proud to use a cross-cut saw engraved with a proper sentiment? With so much maintenance necessary to keep your house and yard in good shape, hammers, saws, yard implements, battery-powered hand tools like drills, etc., are just the thing for that romantic remembrance on Valentine’s day. She will be envied by all the neighborhood women.

Caution! Be careful of giving your love things like those hideous hoodie-footie outfits. If she really likes it and wears it often, then you will have to endure the image of a 237-pound woman running around the house in what amounts to a pink Polartec kids’ pajama ensemble. Not a pretty image. Unless it is neon orange hunting color or camouflage. That would be cool.

I began my blogging journey with a post entitled, “Why this blog? Why me? Why now?” It was a rambling justification for why I joined the blogosphere. When I wrote that, I had no idea of how important this vehicle would become to me over the years.

Over the years? Yes, five years today, to be exact. Times flies.

Looking back, I believe it was a good decision to become a blogger. I try to capture why I do this in the widget, “Why is Les Potter blogging?” In keeping with that statement of purpose, I have learned  a great deal from this blog and have made many new friends I would not have otherwise. That has proven to be one of the greatest satisfactions from blogging.

Another aspect of my career for which I am eternally grateful is the many invitations I have had to speak at workshops, conferences, meetings, and seminars. I tried to calculate how many people I have spoken to as a conference presenter over the life of my career. I lost count at upwards of 15,000. My blog’s site stats say I have had 113,001 visitors. That proves that blogs can have incredible reach.

But the most important thing about a blog is what you have to say. I am not the most prolific blogger out there, nor do I wish to be. I post when I have something meaningful and heartfelt to say, not to meet some arbitrary quota. I try to concentrate on Strategic Communication/Public Relations and Integrated Marketing Communication. But, I also like to talk about personal and topical issues, so I include the category of Life in General. The human condition is quite compelling, and it deserves comment from time to time.

Thank you for reading More With Les.

I believe that to be a true communication/PR professional, you must have a thorough knowledge of and experience with the printing process. You have to get some printers’ ink into your bloodstream.

I began my career journey in a humble manner. In college, I cleaned the presses for each run of our student newspaper.

In my first job after graduation, I was editor of a U.S. Army publication in Germany while stationed there with the 32d Army Air Defense Command in Kaiserslautern. My newspaper was printed at a German print shop in the small town of Otterbach. I loved spending time there while the newspaper was prepared and printed. It was my first professional opportunity to work with a printer, and I learned so much from the staff there. I even learned all my type fonts and sizes in German to be able to communicate with the staff.

My second job after being discharged from the army was as managing editor of an award-winning weekly newspaper. The newspaper was printed in a print shop 60 miles north of the city it served. I loved going there each week to supervise the press run. I became good friends with the owner of the print shop, and he gave me the run of the place. His name was W. C. (“Dub”) Shoemaker, and he became a dear friend and mentor to me.

There is something magical and fulfilling about watching your hard work come off the press. I was allowed to work with Shoemaker’s staff in every department as my page proofs worked their way through the printing process. Then, standing at the end of the huge offset press, grabbing a finished publication as it came out of the folder, I could, as Robert described it, hold my work in my hands, and in so doing, feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment.

I left the weekly newspaper editor’s job to join my first corporate communication department. Among other duties, I was managing editor of a large monthly publication, that was, fortunately enough for me, printed at Shoemaker’s shop. I usually spent a couple of days there getting that  publication out each month. I did that for years, and I never got tired of it. I leaned so much about the printing process and how to make the most of it. I think every communicator/PR professional should have such knowledge. It adds a wider dimension to your professional skills.

Plus, the printing process is quite interesting if you are a serious communication/PR professional. Every top communicator I ever looked up to had printers’ ink in the bloood. It completes your work and brings a satisfying conclusion to your projects. It is much more satisfying to be part of the printing process, too, in addition to all the development, writing, and design of any given project.

I left that organization, and sadly, Shoemaker’s beloved print shop, and moved on to other corporate communication management positions in different cities. I still dealt with printers on a regular basis, as is necessary to be successful in this business. I was thankful  to have had such a good grounding in the printing process. It helped me tremendously.

Today’s communication/PR students may never need to enter a print shop. For a very long time now, it has been easy to send complete layouts to the print shop online and never set foot in the shop itself. That is remarkable progress and very efficient, but it also lacks soul. Like Robert said, the smell and feel of printers’ ink gets in your nose and on your hands, but it also gets into your heart/blood stream. I miss that experience.

I have spent some serious quality time in bookstores recently. It is one of my great joys. There is nothing like it for an avid reader, row after row of new books just waiting to be read.

Choose a bookstore with a coffee shop, and you have everything you need to be happy. A nerd’s nirvana, a quiet and safe harbor of peace and fulfilment in a troubling sea of noise and crudity.

Since I am on a break between semesters at Towson University, where I teach in the Mass Comm. department, I am free to read for pleasure. And read I am, every waking minute.

True, I order many books online. Being able to order books and have them delivered is a wonderful thing. I grin from ear to ear when the UPS truck stops out front. I know treats are coming. I pant and salivate like a housebound labrador retriever when it’s time for noon walkies.

But I try to enjoy my favorite bookstores while they last. The shift to book readers (or e-readers) proceeds rapidly. I, too, have my eyes on a tablet computer perhaps more for the book reader capability than all the other apps combined. E-reading is the way the world is going, and I must accept it.

Soon, I believe all the textbooks we use at Towson will be offered exclusively for book readers and tablets. The cost of textbooks is astronomical anyway, so book reader versions are the more economical way to go.

However,  I will always love the feel of a good book. Books are one of the few treasures I believe are worth keeping. When other collectibles lose their appeal and become just so much clutter, books will remain worthy of our love and respect. They instruct and entertain. They take us away from the all-too-often grim reality of our day-to-day existence.

Books are the key to a life well lived. And to me, a bookstore will always be a place of reverence.

Riots, all over bloody sneakers!

The frenzy over the $180-plus Air Jordan 11 Retro Concords seems to exemplify so much of what troubles us today. It’s Christmas Eve Eve, and rather  than peace and joy, some people are getting all worked up over a new shoe.

Obviously, I do not get it.

To be fair, I realize that to some people, a new fashion statement like this shoe may be really important. I think that is so sad.

The reason for the season is love, peace, and joy, a renewal of hope for a troubled world.

This is a time for fellowship and good will toward all people. Who cares how cool your shoes are.