WomenSpeak

Welcome to the first edition of ACAWC’s WomenSpeak monthly newsletter, a place that we hope you will find helpful as you explore the options within the communications field during your time at Alverno College this semester.

We’re both Alverno College Communication, Management and Technology (CMT) majors and graduating this semester. Julie’s focus is with technical communication and Brenda’s is with visual communication and public relations. Together, we are running ACAWC’s marketing and communications efforts including the group’s website and social networking tools through Yahoo and MySpace.

Throughout this semester, we hope to use this newsletter to offer members and non-members a look at this exciting student organization. We invite you to join us in a discussion at a member meeting, round table discussion, at a fundraiser or other event or even through email. We welcome your feedback!

Thanks, enjoy the semester and we hope to see you at an upcoming meeting or event!

Julie Gilboy – ACAWC Communications

Brenda Manry – ACAWC Public Relations & Web site

Volume 1, Issue 1 – August 2007

If so, ACAWC is a great place to start. A few of us board members will be graduating this December so we are looking to mentor members for our positions. Communications and Publicity Chair members get great opportunities to create portfolio pieces. The ACAWC website falls into the responsibility of these chairs, leaving another great experience.

Scared of making too much of a commitment? Board membership is flexible – with meetings either on weekends or week nights, email and phone calls are always an option to keep in touch, and by working as a team, it really doesn’t seem like work. You might even be able to incorporate some of your work into the classroom.

We really want to leave this organization with solid candidates in our place, so if you are interested, please contact Chantè (awc_alverno@yahoo.com) on how to become a member. You could be next on the board!

Looking for a communications mentor?By Brenda Manry, ACAWC Public Relations

Visit us on the web at: http://studentorgs.alverno.edu/studentorgs/awc/

MySpace is a popular social networking website that offers an interactive, user-submitted grouping of friends. Users create personal profiles, blogs and groups and upload photos, videos and music. Contents of a MySpace profile include: blurbs, blogs, friend space, comments, bulletins, profile customization (HTML), music and videos. MySpace features include: Groups, bulletins, MySpace IM, MySpace mobile and MySpace news.

MySpace is currently the third most popular website in the United States with 106 million accounts registered as of September 2006. It is recorded that the site attracts new registrations at a rate of 230,000 per day. The MySpace website was created and marketed in August 2003 by eUniverse and one of its founders is Tom Anderson, commonly know as “Tom” on MySpace -- everyone’s first “friend” upon signing up.

Social networking using MySpace has become a huge commodity in our personal and even in the workplace. Social networking sites like MySpace are replacing existing mediums like instant messaging, or the legitimate company intranet or e-mail. Some employers are blocking MySpace, while others have embraced the new, global networking capability and are creating places like MySpace for company use. The Internet makes it so much easier to communicate and share information that corporations are considering tools like MySpace as a social networking communication tool.

For more information, visit MySpace.com.

MySpace - A Social Media ToolBy: Julie Gilboy, ACAWC Communications

Visit us on the web at: http://studentorgs.alverno.edu/studentorgs/awc/

Volume 1, Issue 1 – August 2007

The term “social media” may sound buzzy and it may even be down right trendy … but it is catching on fast and making major waves in the enterprise setting.

When I think of an enjoyable work setting, workplace culture comes to mind. Wouldn’t you agree that a place where people can freely express and share ideas is a more receptive and comfortable setting? Social media allows an open culture across the globe without ever having to leave your desk; talk about efficiency! This is huge, especially as more companies are operating internationally or moving to workplace mobility.

As a communicator, you can find ways to leverage social media to build community, engagement, dialogue and also:

• Break down traditional organizational silos and reach more employees, customers and partners with vehicles like blogs, online communities and more strategic and interactive employee portals.

• Get senior leaders, line managers and front-line staff talking through virtual town hall meetings

• Use blogs to drive constant innovation and collaboration. • Use wikis, podcasts and webcasts to streamline information

sharing between employees

Want to learn more? Stay tuned for a round table discussion with me – all about social media in the workplace. I will show how I set up an editorial blog for the employee portal that I manage at Motorola as well as walk through a virtual town hall and how to empower average folks to manage a department website by using a wiki tool. It’s fun stuff and I am more than happy to share what I’ve learned on the job and by studying social media independently through online communities strictly for professional communicators.

Join me at the round table and in the spirit of social media and collaboration -- let’s share some ideas!

Social media at workBy Brenda Manry, ACAWC Public Relations

AWC’s Mission: The Association for Women in

Communications is a professional organization that

champions the advancement of women across all

communications disciplines by recognizing excellence,

promoting leadership and positioning its members at the

forefront of the evolving communications era.

WomenSpeak is provided by ACAWC members Julie Gilboy, Communications Chair and Brenda Manry, Publicity Chair – seniors in the Communication Management & Technology program at Alverno College. Learn more about these board members and others on our website, see the URL at the bottom of this newsletter.

For information on how to become a member of ACAWC

contact: Chantè Schutlz at chante_may@yahoo.com

Fall ’07 Event CalendarSeptember -- Bake Sale October/November-- Movie Night: 10/13 7PM--Guest Speakers\\

Monthly Member MeetingsOn Campus – Room AF105, the

“Team Room” near the gymMondays from 6-7PM:9/10, 10/1,11/5 and 12/3Saturdays from 12:10-12:50PM:8/25, 9/22, 10/20 and 11/17

Stay tuned for info on this event!

*Dates still to be confirmed, please check your Alverno email, our website or future editions of WomenSpeak for updates