Failing Companies at Christmas Time? Not Possible!

As we continue our mad dash through what many retailers herald as the busiest shopping month of the year, an article on MSN caught my eye. The author, Michael Brush, is talking about seven companies that he doesn’t think will make it to the year 2020. I was anticipating them to be seven companies that no one had ever heard of, but as I read deeper into the article, I realized that I had heard of six of them! The only one that I was in the dark on was the seventh, McClatchy.

As for the other six, I was shocked at first that someone could think they wouldn’t be open in 10 years. But then I got to thinking about the trips I have made to those stores or their websites, and it became a little clearer about why they are on borrowed time.

The first company Brush discusses is Palm, the company that was the first to introduce smart phones. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that with companies like Apple, Google, and Blackberry taking the markets by storm, Palm didn’t stand a chance. From a high of nearly $18 just two short months ago, Palm stock now sits right around $12. With this being the season of shopping, a $6 drop is hardly good news.

Sears made the #2 spot on Brush’s list of companies destined to fail. This one didn’t surprise me either, as Sears always appears to be the least busy anchor store at the West Acres Mall in Fargo. Whenever I go in to browse, I am stunned by their high prices. Electronics are the same price at Best Buy, and Best Buy is an electronics store! Another thing that has always struck me about Sears stores is that they seem to be perpetually rundown and/or dirty-looking. There is nothing appealing about shopping in a store that looks like its floors haven’t been washed in years.

Blockbuster and Kodak were next on the list. Several years ago, I was a frequent customer of Kodak’s…you know, back when our cameras actually required us to develop film?! However, I remember cringing when the bill would come back for $8 for a roll of 24 pictures. That $8 was expensive for pictures 10 years ago! When I moved to Fargo and had access to video rental stores, I think I set foot in Blockbuster once. After seeing that renting a movie for one night would cost be $3-4, I left and haven’t been back since.

Borders and Magellan round out Brush’s list of failing companies. I will admit that these ones surprise me a little bit, as I enjoy shopping at Borders more than I do Barnes & Noble. I am not as familiar with Magellan, as I hardly ever go anywhere that requires the use of a GPS system. However, I know lots of people that use their GPS systems religiously, and I refuse to believe that they are all Tomtoms and Garmins….

I wanted to take the time and mention this little article in my blog this week because, especially during the holiday season, it’s easy to forget that some stores are struggling. What with sale prices being the norm, it is easy to overlook the fact that a lot of these stores are not usually as competitive in price. With all the choices out there today for consumers, stores have to be competitive in every arena, including their pricing and their availability to the consumer. Social media helps them with the second, now we just have to help them find something for the first!

Lawns, Tigers & Hydrants, Oh My!

I know I will not be the only one to blog about Tiger Woods this week, but perhaps my view on it may be a little bit different than most…

As we all know, Woods had a single-vehicle car accident over Thanksgiving weekend. Sounds innocent enough, right? No reason to get all bent out of shape and call in the investigative unit from the police department, right? Apparently, the answer to both of those questions is “wrong!” All anyone can seem to talk about is Woods’ accident and the supposed situation that may or may not have led to him having the accident in the first place.

Yes, it is suspicious that he is not cooperating with the police that wish to interview him. It is also rather odd that he is refusing to have his medical and other records released to the investigative unit involved with the case when he keeps insisting that nothing was the matter. A lot of media are saying that if there is nothing to hide, there should be no problem. However, I encourage all of you to think about what your reaction would be if the police or the media asked for your records after you were in a car wreck that you knew was nothing more than a momentary slipup. I know I would be upset that they didn’t believe me and felt that they had to check up on me via my records.

Whatever happened to letting people have their privacy? Or, if privacy for a celebrity is too much, what about the common courtesy to respect the Woods’ family wishes? Also, what is it about this incident that is worthy of over 16,000 articles on Google News? From what I remember about car accidents, there’s nothing that spectacular to report about them…

I also think it is unfortunate that Woods may lose his endorsement deals because of this accident. When I rear ended a car four winters ago at an icy intersection, I didn’t lose my job. No one at my place of employment would have even had to know, except for the fact that I had to beg a ride from a coworker until I could get a rental car. I think it is unfair that Woods is losing his endorsements, which are like his job, just because he was in a car accident.

Besides the fact that it “just isn’t fair,” I also don’t like what that says about or to our society. I think it says that unless you are perfect, you’re not worth anything, which is such a sad statement to make. No one is perfect, everyone makes mistakes, and the punishment should fit the crime (how was that for a sentence full of clichés?!).

The World of Chocolate!

I am a chocolate fiend. However, I am not the type of chocolate fiend that follows the happenings of my favorite chocolate companies. So when I logged onto MSN today, one particular headline caught my eye rather quickly. Who knew that Hershey is trying to buy Cadbury? I sure didn’t, so I had to look into it!

On the Hershey website, it is stated that Hershey holds a license to manufacture British-based Cadbury products in the United States. They have actually held this license since 1988, and have introduced three new products to the Cadbury line since that time. Note that the license is only for the US; Cadbury Global manufactures the Cadbury products for the rest of the chocolate-loving world.

On CNN Money, Kraft Foods is listed as the front runner for acquisition of the Cadbury company. However, there is an Italian company called Ferrero, and everyone’s favorite Hershey company that are also listed as top contenders, although neither one has said publicly that they are in the ring.

A little bit of background about Ferrero (since we all know what Hershey is): They are a family owned company that has been around for 60 years, and has never initiated a takeover of any company. The owner, Michele Ferrero, is the richest man in Italy. They are the makers of the Rocher chocolates (think delicious and not so very nutritious).

The UK Takeover Panel asked both companies to solidify their intentions after the Cadbury stock reached its highest point ever in the last month! Who knew that rumors of a takeover made stocks soar?! Apparently the people are expecting great things to happen after a new company takes over Cadbury.

What they probably don’t know is that even though Hershey would seem like the logical choice (they’ve already been manufacturing Cadbury products for over 20 years), Kraft is the more stable choice. According to Reuters, Hershey is in a world of financial hurt. In order to take over the Cadbury company, they would significantly add to their already significant debt load. Their bid is rumored to be nearly $17 billion!!

Even though it would add to their debt load, I personally hope that Hershey is able to come out on top on this one. Having a chocolate legend like Cadbury (think crème eggs) owned by Kraft (think macaroni and cheese) just doesn’t seem appropriate, does it?

What I couldn’t find on the internet is what happens to the license that Hershey currently holds to manufacture Cadbury products if they get outbid. Does it continue, even though Cadbury is held by a different parent company? Or does the contract become null and void after Cadbury is no longer the company in charge? If you are a better search engine user than I, and can find the answer to this question, let me know!

The Dark Side...of Social Media

Although this class was supposed to show us both the up and down sides of social media, I think we all have to admit that we’ve seen a lot more of the up than the down. It’s only natural for us, well for me, to focus on how change and innovation is going to make my life better, easier, and more organized. It is all too natural to gloss over those things that perhaps make an innovation or change hard to swallow. After yesterday, I am seeing beneath the glossy veneer of social media. After reading my blog for this week, you may too…

I have found the down side of social media, and it’s not what anyone may think it is. The down side of social media is how quickly bad news spreads from person to person, across states and over the ocean. It spreads more quickly via social media than it can from one human being connecting with another.

Yesterday (Monday, November 16), a woman left work to go home for lunch. As she warmed up leftovers in the microwave, she logged onto Facebook to post a message to her three grown sons’ pages, something she typically does on Mondays. On her youngest son’s page, she sees hundreds of messages that read, “RIP Ryan,” “I’m glad you were preparing to do something you love,” “Much love from all your boys,” etc.

As she grabs for the kitchen counter, her mind reeling I’m sure, the doorbell rings and she hears a key in the lock. It is her middle son Brady, who walks in. He has come to tell his mom in person that Ryan is dead. You see, Ryan was cleaning his gun at his house in Bismarck sometime on Sunday or early Monday (we’re not sure exactly what time yet) when it went off and he shot himself in the head. When he didn’t show up to go hunting with his buddies on Monday morning, they went to his apartment and found him. Not wanting to tell his mom this horrible news over the telephone, Brady jumped in the car and drove the five hours to his mother’s house to tell her in person. However, he was too late; Facebook had already broken the news to her.

Who is Ryan? A boy I went to high school with…

I cannot possibly imagine learning of such a life shattering event in this way. It is horrible enough that something like this happened; it is truly unspeakable to think of finding out in such a cold, impersonal way. My first thought was anger toward those people that posted on Ryan’s page. How could they be so callous? Why couldn’t they have waited? But of course the rational side of me quickly takes over. How could they not post those nice messages to someone that was a friend to everybody? How would they have known that Ryan’s mom hadn’t been told yet, and that she habitually posted to his page every Monday? They couldn’t have; they were just expressing sympathy and memories in the way most readily available to them.

The long and short of my blog is that no one posted to his blog as a way to hurt his mom and his family, but they did. They posted to show how much they loved him and how much they will miss him, and their posts will mean that to his family later on. It’s just that right now, Facebook probably isn’t at the top of their list of friends, but it will be, when they’re ready…

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

Through this class we have all been exposed to many new and exciting things. Beyond this exposure we have had the opportunity to explore these new things, research their past, discuss their present, and speculate on their future. As I think back about the comments I’ve made throughout this course, I realize that all my posts that address the future of social media tools all sound the same.

In each post, I say that the tool will probably be around for another two or three years, at which time it will be replaced by something better, something more technologically advanced. Some of my classmates agreed with me, saying that is only a matter of time before things like Facebook go the way of the mimeograph.

With the thought that all things slowly die or are replaced before their death by something better swimming in my head, I was amazed by what I saw on MSN today. Did you know that Sesame Street turned 40 today (11/10/09)?! I remember watching Sesame Street when I was a little kid; Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers were the best!

So tell me, how does something like Sesame Street survive for 40 years? What is it about that program that made it capable of withstanding years of changes? Could it have something to do with Caroll Spinney, who has been playing Big Bird since the beginning? Is it because parents who watched Sesame Street let their children watch it because they know it’s age-appropriate? Or perhaps it is the long laundry list of celebrities that have had a cameo on Sesame Street (First Lady Michelle Obama is one). Or maybe it is the simple fact that nothing and nobody can ever replace the quality television baby-sitter / pre-school teacher that many parents rely on Sesame Street for.

If you ask the crew members, the show’s success has to be at least partly attributed to the fact that they stay with the times. The show has discussed birth, death, marriage, shootings, natural disasters, 9/11, and now the H1N1 flu. Perhaps this is what keeps people coming back…

Whatever the case, Sesame Street is indeed 40 years old and 122 Emmys strong, and it doesn’t sound like the crew has any plans of stopping. Although this season started with episode number 4187, there are many adventures left for the characters that live, work and play on Sesame Street.

Perhaps social media creators need to use Sesame Street as a case study to learn how their tools can stand the test of time while retaining a very large, very visible presence. In this new age, it would appear that Sesame Street doesn’t just offer lessons to pre-school children anymore!

I want to know: who is your favorite Sesame Street character and why? Mine is Cookie Monster because I feel like we’re kindred spirits; both fighting our addiction, and more often than not losing, to cookies!

Counterfeits are NOT the Answer to our Economy!

Last Thursday night was an ordinary evening. I met two girlfriends for drinks at the Green Mill, we talked, we laughed, we ate fattening foods, and we came home. Wait; there was one more thing that we did that night: we picked up our counterfeit merchandise from the UPS warehouse and shared secret smiles about the amount of money we had just saved.

Did anyone else think that my last paragraph was a little strange to announce so nonchalantly? To be honest, that is the way I thought about our counterfeit purchases until about 30 minutes ago when I opened the MSN homepage. That is when I learned that over 750,000 jobs and billions of dollars are lost to counterfeiting each year in the United States. Check out the "Spot the Fake" quiz!

I hadn’t realized that the fake Coach and Burberry purses that I ordered from China twice a year were putting people out of work. I thought I was being a wise consumer and saving myself some money during hard economic times. Okay, maybe that’s a bit over the top, but I really didn’t think my purchases were negatively impacting our economy in such a huge way.

On the flip side, the Chinese economy has benefitted a thousand fold from the increased demand for counterfeit products. China is where almost 85% of counterfeit goods come from and where nearly 35 million people are employed by manufacturers of counterfeit goods. Manufacturers of fake goods have been able to provide jobs to people that used to work for companies that manufactured the real version of the products they’re now copying.

Counterfeit does not just apply to purses anymore. Shoes, watches, jewelry, electronics, even medicines and other health products are available in the fake variety, often at a deeply discounted rate. The fact that companies are offering fake medicines and other health products are deeply concerning to me, and I can see why counterfeiting is more and more in the public spotlight.

Fake medicines are something that have the potential to kill you. It’s not like a fake purse that looks nice without costing you an arm and a leg. Real medicines are not something to be messed with, so I cannot imagine who thought throwing fake medicines in the mix would be a good idea.

The United States FDA estimates that over 10% of the global medicines market is comprised of counterfeit medicines. Up to 25% of the medicines used in poor or third-world countries are counterfeit. This puts the earnings of counterfeit medicine manufacturers over $32 billion a year!

As so many of the articles that I found about this topic said, we really need to address this problem with the consumers. The only reason the manufacturers are still making fake products is because the consumers are demanding them, in ever-increasing quantities. If we can educate the consumers about the harm these fake products are causing, perhaps we can strike at the manufacturers that way. If we can couch the argument in terms of the dollars we will save in the long run by buying real, perhaps that will tip the scales slightly. I know it’s just a small step in the big scheme of things, but the purses I picked up last Thursday will be my last designer bags, both fake or real!

What are your thoughts on counterfeit products, both accessories and medicines? Do you think we’ll be able to curb the spending on the fake and bring those billions of dollars back into our suffering economy?

Women Have Value!!

To all the guys in this class that may decide to read my blog for this week, I would like to apologize in advance. I am taking some time to talk about “women issues” this week, so if you feel like being enlightened, please, read on!

Today I had the pleasure of eating lunch with over 400 women from Cass and Clay Counties. No, that is not a typo; I actually did eat lunch at the Ramada Plaza & Suites with over 400 women. We were all there for the Women’s Leadership Council (a division of United Way) Luncheon. This was the ninth annual luncheon that the WLC has done, and by far the largest turnout they have ever had.

I arrived shortly before the opening speaker grabbed the microphone, so I ended up at one of the side tables near the back. From there I was able to observe those hundreds of women interacting with one another, sharing stories, laughter, groans of frustration, and squeals of excitement. The energy in the room was so palpable that I couldn’t help but feel energized and ready to take on whatever challenge the keynote speaker would give us.

The keynote this year was Victoria Rowell, better known to some of us as Drucilla from the daytime soap The Young and the Restless. Her challenge to all the women in the room was to give of ourselves, whether that be through volunteering, giving a financial gift, being a foster parent (she was a foster child and credits much of her success to her foster mother and the system), or any other way that you can help another human being.

Too often I think women undervalue or devalue the power of what they are capable of doing for the people in their lives. I know that I am sometimes guilty of thinking that the little that I could do wouldn’t be enough to make a difference, so I just don’t do anything. Listening to Victoria Rowell today helped me realize that the little things are sometimes the most important. Your gift of yourself doesn’t have to come in a $10,000 package, it can just be you in a pair of faded jeans, ready to volunteer your time and your enthusiasm to make someone’s life better.

After I got back to the office this afternoon, I typed the phrase “do women value themselves” into my search engine. One of the links that popped up was for a woman that does life coaching for other women. This really struck me because I cannot imagine a man receiving life coaching from another individual, regardless of sex.

Why is it that women have to be coached to believe that their life has value? Why isn’t our value self-evident to us in all of the small and large things we do for our employers, our families, and our friends every day? I made a pledged to myself today to start placing more of a value on the things that I do for all the people in my life. No, I’m not going to start charging people for things, but I am going to take the time to pat myself on the back more often for what I do to make life easier for the people around me.

I encourage all of my female classmates to really think about the good things that you are capable of doing for those in your inner circle and those within your community. Take a page from Sarah Palin’s book and take a risk. Stand up for something that you truly believe in; give a project your all because you know it will make a difference; and just believe in yourself and your value!

I know my post didn’t really address any current events, but it was something I was compelled to write. Thank you to anyone that read my post, and thank you in advance for the great things that I know you will go out and do, both in the near future and throughout your lifetimes!

Trash or News? The Line Gets Blurrier Every Day!

As I sat down to peruse the online newspapers for fodder for my week nine blog, I realized that my head was not in the right place to be working on homework. There were hundreds of different snippets racing through my head, and not one of them (okay maybe just one or two) had to do with homework.

This past Sunday my sister came to stay with me because Monday was fall break at Jamestown College. She is currently lying on the couch across from me with a mask covering her mouth and nose. You see, I didn’t think she looked well on Sunday so I took her to the walk-clinic. We found out she has pneumonia!

The last couple of weeks at work have been sheer hell. Everyone has decided that my assistance is their one true desire, and projects have been heaped upon my desk and just today upon the floor of my office.

I am the district’s United Way campaign chairperson and I realized that last year at this time we were finishing up with our yearly campaign. This year I haven’t even written my first letter to our staff!

As I look around my house I see laundry that needs to be done and surfaces that need to be dusted, vacuumed, or swept. In a nutshell, I have a lot of stuff going on, and I’m sure a lot of you guys do too!

Now that I’ve laid that groundwork, I would like to discuss an article that was the front page of MSN today. This article is about Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California who lost her title because of a failure to fulfill her commitments, a violation of her contract. Prejean was also in the news when she responded to a question about same sex marriage by stating that she believed marriage should be between a man and a woman.

Now, Prejean is back in America’s spotlight. She is being sued by the competition director for the money they spent on her breast implants! Is there anything to say here besides “wow!”? I personally couldn’t of anything for a few minutes. After the shock wore off, though, I came up with a couple of things…

First, I cannot believe that MSN is wasting their time talking about this. It is reminiscent of some of the trash that the Fargo Forum prints because they have nothing better to talk about. I would love for someone to point out to me where it became a rule that trash was better than no news at all.

Second, the pageant’s lawyers brought the Bible into their lawsuit, quoting the Gospel of John. I don’t care how many people say that religion is everywhere and belongs everywhere; this is one place where the Bible does not belong: in a lawsuit about money for breast implants!

Now that I have wasted five minutes of everyone else’s day with this ridiculousness, I am going to go see a man about a vacuum!

PR -- Through the Good Times & the Bad

The first time I read the name Najla Amundson, it was on the agenda for my 35 Under 35 Women’s Leadership Group. She had been chosen to speak to our group about working with the media. As the Media Relations Director for NDSU, I figured she probably knew a thing or two about working with the media.

I was excited to meet Najla and pick her brain about best practices and must-have policies. Obviously, I was not disappointed. As a former journalist, Najla offered great insight into the mind of the reporter, as well as practical tips for forming a relationship with a reporter. The only letdown I had came after that meeting when I started looking for her on television or in the paper and never saw her face or name.

But now, Najla’s name has blown back into the local media with the force of a tidal wave. NDSU and President Joseph Chapman have been in the newspaper for the last couple of months for various issues, the majority of which have involved money and the fiscal responsibility associated with managing that money. All of those issues culminated today in what has become the fastest spreading news in the metro area in a long time.

As one of the “Daily Updates” on the Fargo Forum website today, President Chapman’s resignation was announced. Chapman attributed his sudden decision to recent controversies that have made it difficult for him to provide NDSU with the leadership he feels it deserves. To say that the last couple of months have been rocky for Chapman is an understatement.

First, the house NDSU is building for him went over budget by $900,000. Then, it was revealed that Chapman’s wife Gale received a salary of $50,000 per year to serve on the Foundation’s Board. In today’s paper, NDSU Development Foundation documents showed that President Chapman spent $22,000 to go to the Presidential inauguration in January with his family.

Najla’s role in these articles appears to be as the defender of the President’s actions. While she was not interviewed for the stories about the house, she was quoted in both the article about Gale Chapman’s salary and the inaugural trip.

In the article about Mrs. Chapman’s salary from the Development Foundation, Najla discusses the over 2,000 events that Mrs. Chapman attended last year as a representative of NDSU. If you think that each of those events was on average 2 hours long, that means that she worked 4,000 hours for $50,000. The average worker puts in right around 2,100 hours each year for an average salary of perhaps $30,000.

In the article about the trip, she effectively justified the two major expenditures that the newspaper wanted to pick apart. The Chapmans would have taken the NDSU plane, but it needed maintenance and a part had not arrived in time for them to utilize the plane. With an event like the inauguration, hotels place restrictions on the number of nights a reservation must be, and the amount of money their clerks must receive for a room. Thus, the majority of their expenditures for this trip were simply unavoidable.

These two brief examples should prove to any doubters left in this class how valuable a communications department or a media relations specialist is to an organization. When the sh*t hits the fan, it is so very useful to have that person or department whose expertise lies in dealing with the media.

H1N1 & the Misinformation Age

As we all know, the spread of H1N1 is currently making its way across the states of North Dakota and Minnesota. With any hot-button issue, we all know the amount of misinformation that is reported and the bad decisions that are made in the heat of the moment exponentially increase. This pandemic is no exception.

This morning I attended a meeting held by Fargo Cass Public Health for local health care officials, school leaders, and employee service centers. In the two hours that we met, almost 45 minutes was spent dispelling rumors and setting the record straight. My notebook is filled with scratched out notes and new notes scribbled into the margins to replace the “bad” information.

Tonight on the news, an announcement was made that Fort Yates, a reservation school that straddles the North and South Dakota borders, has closed for the remainder of the week due to high absentee rates. However, this decision is not one that has been recommended by local, state, or national agencies. In fact, it goes against the current recommendation that states that schools should stay open as long as possible even with confirmed cases of H1N1.

The meeting this morning and the announcement from Fort Yates makes me wonder when public health officials are going to start being more proactive and visible about recommendations and expectations of all organizations as the pandemic intensifies.

Perhaps a Twitter account, like the one VCSU had during the flood, would be a good way to communicate the ever-changing information to everyone that needs to know. A blog or podcast would also be a great step to take. However, those may be more time consuming to update, and with the daily change of information, this may not be a feasible option.

Something we talked about during our morning meeting was having the state open a telephone hotline where all calls, no matter where they originated, would be transferred for information about H1N1. This could help alleviate the amount of misinformation that the metro area is currently dealing with.

If dealing with a pandemic isn’t stressful enough, it has become impossible to trust any of the information you hear from people or sources you typically trust. Unless I see it on the FCPH or the CDC website, I have started to doubt everything I’ve heard.

One little tidbit to leave you with...get in to get your seasonal flu shot as soon as you can; don’t wait until the H1N1 vaccine is available. Who knows when there will be enough of the vaccine to give to us “common folk?” Remember, they have to vaccinate the high risk groups first!!

The Fine Line of Social Media Dependence

This last week, something amazing happened to me at work. Someone came to my office building and tried to tell me something. Yes, I know that may not be amazing to most people, but hear me out; I bet you’ll see the “amazingness” by the end of my post!

First, my office building is smack-dab in the middle of the Main Avenue road construction in West Fargo. There is now only one way to get to our building, and that way looks a lot like a dead end or an alley to the untrained eye. You have to be pretty darned determined to find the building, and really competitive if you want to get a parking spot in the lot itself.

Second, the person that came to visit me was from the Ramada Plaza and Suites, one of the largest hotels in the Fargo-Moorhead area. She was the Director of Sales, and she was in my office to talk to me about the $3 million renovations they are starting in November, their new catering menu, and their new corporate member’s club.

After the initial shock wore off, I really listened to her spiel. She was a great salesperson; if their prices weren’t so high and I hadn’t already signed a contract with another hotel, I may have given her my employer’s business. In fact, I would have given her our business for the sheer fact that she came out and saw me. No other hotel in the area has ever sent someone to see me, and we are one of the largest employers in the area!

As we all have discussed over the past five weeks, and longer for some of us, the era of face to face conversations and telephone calls is dying. When I was looking for a hotel for our conferences, I had to go out and practically beg for someone to give me information. No one was waiting on my doorstep, or even on their doorstep, to win my business.

I have seen a lot of retail businesses going the way of social media tools as a way to advertise their product. For businesses that provide services, like hotels and convention facilities, I think the social media tools, websites and brochures are all well and good, but the personal touch cannot die. Before you sign over thousands of dollars, it’s rather comforting to know the person that you’re paying.

So, for any of you that are thinking of going into a service industry, think about my blog. Do you agree that the personal touch will always be needed? Or do you think I’m stuck in the old ways?

Students + Computers + Educational Environment = Global Success

In the Fargo Forum today, one article in particular caught my eye. It was about students at Fargo’s Madison Elementary School and their new pilot program. This pilot program will put five mini-laptops in every classroom at Madison Elementary School, giving a rough student to computer ratio of four to one.

I found this interesting because a big focus of this class is technology and the different ways it is available to different types of people. I think these mini-laptops are a great way to introduce children to technologies and their associated responsibilities on a scale that they will be comfortable with.

West Fargo Public Schools actually ordered 200 of the mini-laptops this summer for our new STEM Center that opened this fall. Each student that attends the STEM Center is issued a laptop at the same time they are issued textbooks. It is their responsibility throughout the year, and if it is not returned in the way it was issued, the student and their parents are responsible for replacing it, just like a textbook.

Thus the mini-laptops are used to teach the whole student 21st century skills. For anyone involved in the education industry, you know that 21st century skills and 21st century learning are becoming topics of mass discussion and debate across the country. Everyone wants good things and new things for their kids. The only thing we seem to disagree on is how we get it to them.

Yes, the mini-laptops are a fairly new tool, but they will not remain the newest tool for very long. The question plaguing school districts is when should they pull the trigger and become a technologically savvy district? Should they do it now with mini-laptops, or should they wait for the next technology wave that brings phone-sized devices with laptop-sized capabilities? Most districts will not be capable of upgrading from one technology to another every time a new one hits the market.

Thankfully, a lot of big corporations and organizations see the benefits of 21st century learning, and many have created partnerships or grants that are awarded to schools to do things like what Fargo and West Fargo are doing. Without the financial, and often technological, expertise of people like this, school districts would be left behind.

If we want our students to participate and excel in the global market, doing things like West Fargo’s STEM Center and Madison Elementary’s pilot program are critical. Supporting those initiatives is also crucial. They are the foundation for getting technology into the hands of children at an early age.

Social Media is like a Weed - Popping up Everywhere!

If you have ever purchased a new vehicle, have you ever experienced that feeling that everyone in your community either drives the same vehicle as you do or has one the same color? Have you ever purchased a really neat gadget, thinking you were so on top of things, and then realized that everyone you see has the same gadget?

Well, that is how I have been feeling lately in regard to social media tools. Before this class started, social media tools were not in the forefront of my mind. I did not spend hours each day on Facebook or Twitter or BlogSpot; I knew they existed, but was not an avid user or consumer. Now, it seems that everywhere I turn I see or hear references to one tool or another.

Very early this morning (Tuesday), a student from Shanley High School was found dead in his home, perhaps from a “big hit” he sustained during a high school football last night. Friends of mine have a son that knew Nick from summer football camps, and he told me that I would not believe the number of hits Nick’s Facebook page had received by the end of school today. Not only do students use their pages as a way to keep friends updated, they also use them as a sort of virtual memorial to a lost friend. Although wrapped in sadness, the concept is extremely cool, especially for when the family is ready to view the page.

This afternoon, some students at West Fargo High School discovered a low level threat written on the bathroom wall. Almost before district administration could be notified, students had texted, e-mailed, or tweeted to people outside the building about what had been found. If the threat had been more serious, parents would probably have been on the scene before administration arrived from the district office! This ability of students to inform their parents and other outside people with the tapping of a few keys makes work tough for school officials. If discussing this type of message wasn’t hard enough, they now have to do it ASAP, so as not to be beaten by a text from a student.

The women’s group that I am a part of met last week to discuss how we want to keep our group together over the years, and the unanimous choice was by creating a Facebook group. I was one of two people that had to make the announcement of shame that I did not have a Facebook account, but would promise to get one so we can make good on this group. I am still unsure why we had to move away from e-mailing; it seemed to work just fine for the last ten months, but apparently e-mail is so last season :)

Finally, I received an e-mail notification of a sale at one of my favorite clothing stores, Ann Taylor Loft. At the bottom of the e-mail, underneath the photographs of the sale items, was a little box that said “Find Us on Facebook!” Holy cow! When did clothing stores get Facebook accounts, and what the heck do they use them for?!

All in all, social media tools are popping up all over the place, sometimes where you least expect them to. Look out world; even if you’re not ready for social media, it’s ready and knocking down the door for us!

BCBS Needs Serious Help, from Social Media & Otherwise!

Today when I logged onto the Fargo Forum online, I experienced a sickening sense of déjà vu. Just six short months ago, Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota was on the front page of the paper for spending excessive amounts of money on a bonus trip for some employees. About a week later, they were on the front page again when they fired their longtime president and CEO Mike Unjehm. Now they are making headlines again with the findings of a financial audit report that was done.

The last time I wrote about Blue Cross Blue Shield, the moral of my blog was that they were experiencing a public relations nightmare and needed assistance quickly. Today, the moral of my blog remains the same, but with different tactics employed!

As a member of the youngest generation that is currently paying for healthcare, the findings of the audit report revealed in today’s paper disgust me. How can they justify spending millions of dollars in bonuses that they received by raising the premiums of those people that can least afford it? How do they justify paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries each year to at least 10 employees while others are thanking their lucky stars that they still have jobs?

Blue Cross Blue Shield needs to invest their money in a damn good public relations campaign. They need to start building trust with their premium payers, especially those like me from the younger generation. I am going to need health insurance for a lot of years yet, and seeing things like this in the newspaper does not make me feel very good about sticking with BCBS.

BCBS needs to use this campaign to address their issues truthfully as well as what they intend on doing to alleviate those issues. These messages need to be sent out via every available source, so that people from every generation have equal opportunity of viewing them. Not only do they need a good media relations department to talk to the media, they also need a department that can wield the tools of social media.

Even though updating the public on the status of the report is probably not on the forefront of their mind, it is a step I feel they should take in the interest of being open and honest. Videos should be sent out through YouTube; a blog should be started where executives correspond with premium payers; and they could livecast any important information using SHOUTcast or Live 365.

With a lot of hard work, I honestly feel that their situation is redeemable. If they make a concerted, public effort to face their wrongdoings and reverse some of their bad decisions, they can remain as my insurance company!

The Housekeeper is the Last to Go??

On the Fargo Forum’s online page this morning, there was a breaking news alert about a press conference at Bobcat. This press conference was being held to announce the closing of the Bismarck plant and the over 400 jobs that would be lost as a direct result.

On the front page of MSN this evening, one of their top news picks is “Hate Chores? Hire Some Help.” In light of what had been on the ticker of the Fargo Forum, the MSN ticker really caught my eye. How can people actually be thinking about hiring help for things like sweeping the floor, doing laundry, and going grocery shopping when hundreds of people are losing their jobs every day?

Being the type of person that I am, I had to read this article, even though I already had a good idea of who it was addressed to: the rich soccer moms that don’t hold down real jobs. I cannot tell you how surprised I was to find that the article addressed moms and dads from all levels of financial security. This article expounded on the increased amount of time you would have to spend with your children, your spouse, growing your business, or just having mental health time if you would only outsource your chores.

I had to find out more, so I Binged “outsourcing your chores” and over 67,000 results appeared. Obviously not all of them are relevant, but the first four or five pages are pretty damn relevant to what I was looking for. There were articles from both sides of the argument, and even some tidbits about outsourcing your chores to your children rather than a personal assistant.

One of the most interesting pieces on the flip side of what I’ve been talking about was a blog titled “The Personal Financier.” This blogger’s first sentence mirrors what my gut instinct was on this phenomenon: “…more often than not, laziness is the real reason while the spare time just generates more expenses.”

How many people hire a housekeeper so they can spend more time with their spouses or their children? My guess would be not nearly as many as those who hire the housekeeper so they can go out shopping for new Gucci handbags. In our economy, this fate-tempting is not something I would approach lightly. I would rather take a couple of organizational courses, get myself organized, complete all my own chores, and then enjoy the family time that I so richly deserve.

Sounds a lot better than writing a check for family time…

Education is Changing

This week marked one of the largest migrations that North Dakota sees every year: the return of the K-12 students to school from their summer camps, part-time jobs, and their spots on the couch. Although this is something that has happened every year for hundreds of years, this year brings with it some startling revelations about schools in our state.

West Fargo has been labeled the City on the Grow for the last few years. Their school district is also on the grow, and has been since 1985. In the 2008-09 school year, West Fargo Public Schools gained over 500 additional students from the previous year. It was an unheard of number, and one that no one thought would even come close to being replicated in the near future.

Today, West Fargo Public Schools released their first day enrollment number for the 2009-10 school year: 6,955 students. That is an increase of 337 additional students from the previous year! As I was quoted so eloquently in the Fargo Forum, “we blew that [our projection] out of the water.”

This large jump in enrollment will hopefully serve as a wakeup call to the citizens of the West Fargo school district that recently voted down a referendum that would have allowed the district to build more schools. At the time, the community felt more schools were not necessary; now, after adding over 800 students (nearly two elementary schools’ worth) in two years time, perhaps they will look at things a bit differently.

Not five miles to the east, Fargo Public Schools announced their enrollment numbers for the start of school this fall: 10,370 students. That is an increase of 14 additional students from last school year. As the largest city in the state of North Dakota, and one that just recently approved the construction of a third high school, this flat enrollment is troubling to many citizens.

The Grand Forks school system is also expecting to announce a flat enrollment figure. With the deactivation of most Grand Forks Air Force Base employees, the public school system has lost several hundred students over the past few years, and continues to do so at an amazing rate.

In many small districts, flat enrollments and declining enrollments are more the norm. In Mapleton, a small community not far from West Fargo, Principal Tim Jacobsen opened with less than 100 students in his K-6 school. Rock Lake, a school in north central North Dakota, opened their doors on Monday for their last first day of school. Other smaller schools across the state are working with the Department of Public Instruction to form co-ops so students can continue to go to schools close to their homes.

I wanted to address these numbers in my blog because I feel it’s important for all citizens to know what is going on in our education sector. These students are the future of North Dakota, and we need to make sure they are being taken care of properly.