We at IAOCblog would like to wish our readers in the U.S. a Happy Thanksgiving. We are in a membership drive now and we are thankful for your financial support.

Morty Schiller, Don Dunnington, and me, Steve O'Keefe, are working on these upcoming programs for "This Week on IAOCblog.com":

Book Review Week!
Send us your books to review on the blog. I'll be reviewing two textbooks for 2008 classes at Tulane University and George Washington University. Morty's got a couple books he's anxious to blog about. We welcome your book reviews, too.

Online Reputation Management
There's no hotter topic in Online PR than reputation management. We're trying to coax Sally Falkow to come school us on the subject as soon as her schedule allows.

How About You?
Do you have a show idea for "This Week on IAOCblog.com"? We are building our schedule for the Winter 2008 Season which begins in January. Guest bloggers are asked to take the helm for a week and bring a couple of colleagues with you. Contact info is below.

Thanks to Peter Gloor, Lois Kelly, Dave Taylor, Dianna Huff, Shel Horowitz and Ted Demopoulos for making the Fall 2007 Season on IAOCblog.com an outstanding success. Unique visitors to the site averaged 25,000/month this fall while pageviews averaged 100,000/month! Well done!

Send your show suggestions or books for review to:

STEVE O'KEEFE
steve.okeefe at patronsaintpr.com

MORTY SCHILLER
morty at mortyschiller.com

DON DUNNINGTON
DDunnington at ktron.com

While some scientists are worrying about the missing bees, lots of marketers are worrying about the missing buzz.

Tune in next week, when Lois Kelly, author of Beyond Buzz, tells us why it's not enough anymore to make noise in the marketplace. You have to engage your market in what she calls "meaningful dialog."

Learn how to put more meaning in your message November  5-9 when Lois Kelly hosts the IAOCblog "talk show" with:
Conversational Marketing: Mood over Matter?

Is your website lost? Now it will be found!
Tune in Monday for
Search Engine Friendly Copy
October  29-November 2, 2007
GUEST: Dianna Huff, Marcom Writer Blog
TOPIC: Writing Search Engine Friendly Copy

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
We are all know by now that "Markets are conversations." But Lois Kelly, author of Beyond Buzz, says it's not enough anymore to spread "Word of Mouth." To succeed in the marketplace today, you have to have a meaningful dialog -- and really listen to your market.

Stay tuned for more details. And be sure to join IAOCblog.com November  5-9, 2007 when guest host Lois Kelly takes over the conversation with:
Conversational Marketing: Mood over Matter?

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:


Lois Kelly writes, consults and speaks about how to use conversational marketing and social media to more quickly connect with customers, employees and marketplace influencers.

Reviewing her new book, Beyond Buzz: The Next Generation of Word of Mouth Marketing, Northeastern University professor Walter Carl said “The Cluetrain Manifesto was a call for corporations to wake up to the global conversations about them, and potentially with them. In Beyond Buzz, Lois Kelly gives corporations the practical tools to answer that call.”

Lois' articles have appeared in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, Brandweek, Advertising Age. Clients have included Sapient, SAP, Sun Microsystems, FedEx, The Business Innovation Factory, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Communispace. 

REMINDER:
Coming next week: October 22-26, 2007 Ted Demopoulos, author of Blogging for Business tackles the issue: Should CEOs Blog?

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
"CEO Blogs" are blogs written by executives. At their best, they put a human face on huge corporations. At their worst, they have been boring... or phony... to the point of doing more harm than good.

Are CEO blogs worth the trouble? Are they worth the risks? What if a CEO can't write... or hasn't got the time to write? Can they have ghostbloggers or blog less frequently? Will that undermine the whole purpose of blogging? The week of Oct 22, Ted will answer these and other questions on IAOCblog.com.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
The Blogosphere honors "Transparency" above all. Publishers of fake blogs or are treated like horse thieves in the old West.

But is blogging an art form or a business? Blogging guru Dave Taylor may ruffle some feathers next week with a look at whether it's OK to take pay for blogging. Is it OK to ghostwrite a blog? Are paid bloggers like bounty hunters? Or have bloggers become like any other professional writers? Then again, didn't Moliere say, "Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money."

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:

Dave Taylor blogs at Intuitive Life Business Blog, Blogsmart and Ask Dave Taylor. He is esteemed for his technical and business expertise and is sure to have some important insights on what has become a controversial issue

Tune in next week. And keep your powder dry!

Mark October  22-26, 2007  on your calendar for a blog program that promises to be profitable... and provocative. The host will be Ted Demopoulos, author of Blogging for Business. His topic: Should CEOs Blog?

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
The term "CEO Blog" refers to a blog written by a high level executive such as a CEO. The few CEO blogs that exist are very popular, but should the average CEO or other executive blog? How can they possibly make time among their other responsibilities? Are the "rules" different for CEOs and other high profile poeple? Can they have ghostbloggers or blog less frequently? The week of Oct 22, Ted will answer these and other questions on IAOCblog.com.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:

Ted Demopoulos’ professional background includes over 25 years of experience in Information Technology and Business, including 15 years as an independent consultant. Ted helped start a successful information security company, was the CTO at a "textbook failure" of a software startup,  and has advised several other startups. He is a frequent speaker at conferences, conventions, and other business events,  author of  What No One Ever Tells You About Blogging and Podcasting: Real-Life Advice from 101 People Who Successfully Leverage the Power of the Blogosphere, coauthor of  Blogging for Business. Ted blogs at www.BloggingForBusinessBook.com

Folks, I got mixed up on the dates for Lois Kelly's appearance on the blog show here. She has been rescheduled for the week of November 5-9.

I adjusted the schedule elsewhere on this site. For those folks who already transferred the date to their calendars, please note the change.

With Apologies,
STEVE O'KEEFE
Co-Host, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"

Wow, what a lineup we have for the Fall 2007 season of "This Week on IAOCblog.com"! Take a look at these hosts and topics, and plan to tune in next week for the kickoff program with Sloan School of Management researcher, Peter A. Gloor.

We have two vacancies left in the schedule. If you would like to present, contact Morty or me. Who do you want to see on the blog? Maybe Morty and I could convince them to join us.

STEVE O'KEEFE & MORTY SCHILLER
Co-Hosts


This Week on IAOCblog.com
Fall 2007 Program Schedule

September 24-28, 2007
GUEST: Peter Gloor, Sloan Management School at MIT
TOPIC: The Virtual Mirror: Patterns in Collaboration

October  1-5, 2007
GUEST: Open
TOPIC: Open

October  8-12, 2007
GUEST: Open
TOPIC: Open

October  15-19, 2007
GUEST: Dave Taylor, Blogsmart, Ask Dave Taylor
TOPIC: Is It Okay to Get Paid to Blog?

October  22-26, 2007
GUEST: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business
TOPIC: Should CEOs Blog?

October  29-November 2, 2007
GUEST: Dianna Huff, Marcom Writer Blog
TOPIC: Writing Search Engine Friendly Copy

November  5-9, 2007
GUEST: Lois Kelly, Foghound
TOPIC: Conversational Marketing: Mood over Matter?

November  13-16, 2007
(Monday, Nov. 12 is Veteran's Day)
GUEST: Shel Horowitz, Ethical Marketing Expert
TOPIC: Blogger's Code of Ethics: News or Ruse?

We have confirmed two programs for the Fall Season of our weekly blog show, "This Week on IAOCblog.com":

September 24-28, 2007
GUEST: Peter Gloor Sloan Management School at MIT
TOPIC: The Virtual Mirror: Patterns in Collaboration

October  22-26, 2007
GUEST: Ted Demopoulos, Blogging for Business
TOPIC: Should CEOs Blog?

Would you like to lead the IAOC blog for a week? Send email with your suggested topic and I'll try to get you into the schedule.

STEVE O'KEEFE
Co-Host, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"

Welcome back teachers, professors, students, and professionals to another season of "This Week on IAOCblog.com." I'm Steve O'Keefe, co-producer of this program with the irascible Morty Schiller, who has been shooting down spam comments and trackbacks all summer.

For those who are new, "This Week at IAOCblog" is a weekly blog show where we try to bring in experts each week to lead discussions on topics related to online communications.

Here are some of the people who have asked about being on the show this season, or we solicited them and they've agreed to teach:

Nettie Hartsock - Blog Consultant and Book Publicist, who promised Lois Kelly, the Word-of-Mouth marketing expert with her for a show on how "point-of-view matters more than messaging in conversational marketing." Yum.

Shel Horowitz, ethical marketing expert and copywriter extraordinaire, we hope will lead us in a discussion of efforts to generate and enforce a "Blogger's Code of Ethics."

Dave Taylor -- yes, THE Dave Taylor, tech guru, innovator, iconoclast -- as in Ask Dave Taylor your questions right here, on IAOCblog, about (shhhh!) generating revenue from your blog.

Ron Sansone on the Independence Day Digg Mugging the IAOCblog received and what it shows about the future of tagging, digging, and Ron Paul's chances of riding social networking into the Oval Office.

And Much More! We'll continue bugging Bob Bly to visit us; we might get an update from Dianna Huff, and I'm hoping MIT's Peter Gloor will join us to talk about a new study analyzing workplace communications for signs of "Swarm Creativity."

All in all, a busy season ahead. Interested in leading the blog for a week? Send me your show idea and let's talk. We're going to take the rest of this week on IAOCblog to talk about what's coming this Fall -- and about our European Conference in Zurich next Spring.

STEVE O'KEEFE
Vice President, IAOC
Co-Host, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"

Please join us this week December 11-15, for a blog program: Blog Rules, with discussion leader, Nancy Flynn

ABOUT THE TOPIC:

Blogs have become as essential as email and newsletters. But with news stories about everything from embarrassment in the blogosphere to legal action... blogging carries risks. Know how to protect yourself and your company. Blog safely.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:

Nancy Flynn is the author of the new book, Blog Rules: A Business Guide to Managing Policy, Public Relations, and Legal Issues from Amacom Books. Nancy is founder and executive director of The ePolicy Institute, and author of the books: The ePolicy Handbook and E-Mail Rules.

I'm Steve O'Keefe, co-host of "This Week on IAOCblog.com" and this week I dropped the ball!

I failed to introduce our topic and guest in a timely manner. So please forgive me and, more importantly, please join me in welcoming Internet marketing pioneer Ken McCarthy to our blog!

Ken McCarthy organized the first conference ever on Internet marketing -- in 1994 in San Francisco.  One of his students from that era, Rick Boyce, played an instrumental role in popularizing the banner ad at Hotwired. Ken also was very early to the pay-per-clik game, recognizing PPC not only as a source of traffic, but also as a superb testing and marketing research tool. Today, Ken is director of The System Seminar -- an online marketing training program -- and runs the "Looking at Video on the Web" blog at <http://www.systemvideoblog.com/>. Ken will be discussing such subject's as Google's purchase of YouTube and what it means for online marketers.

Ken McCarthy -- welcome to IAOCblog.com!

We have had some truly rousing discussions already this fall season on IAOCblog.com. We'd like to keep the momentum going. If you would be willing to lead the discussion on the blog for a week, please send me e-mail with a suggested show topic.

We have been talking about CEO bloggers this week. One way for CEOs to ease the brutal time commitment of daily blogging while still looking techno-savvy is to be a guest on someone else's blog -- like ours.

There are a lot of support people behind the scenes at This Week on IAOCblog.com helping to make our guest bloggers look great by cleaning spam comments and spam trackbacks, managing permissions and access, and troubleshooting technical difficulties. Isn't it nice to know you'll have a team working for you when you lead the discussion here.

So come on CEOs (and those a tad below) -- send us your show topics and we'll work hard to make your show a success!

With Thanks for Your Participation,
STEVE O'KEEFE
V.P., IAOC

Please join us July 17-21, 2006 for a blog program: PR is Getting Personal, with discussion leaders Joost van de Loo, Clo Willaerts and Dana Gornitzki

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
In today's networked world it is no longer a winning strategy to have a safe job and to trust in the authority of your company. Positions change quickly; your manager can become a freelancer, your supplier can be your client the next month.  Commercial communication is more and more becoming the ongoing dialogue between individuals that the Cluetrain Manifesto predicted. Direct-to-consumer PR is only a small element of this pattern.

As a result, personal reputation is now one of our most precious assets. Successful professionals do everything to be seen as trusted networking hubs. How will this change PR? Will our press releases become more 'fair and balanced'? How do we need to adapt our thinking?

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADERS:
Joost van de Loo is a Marketing Strategist, who joined communication consultancy ZN following a career in journalism and marketing. He has a Master of Arts degree in International Journalism from the City University of London, and a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Delft University of Technology. In addition to work at ZN he currently sets up Distinct News International, a company that produces multi-media packaged television news features from India and China. He also consults for ETV and writes for UK-based Diplo magazine. Joost has worked for BBC Four television, the Amsterdam Weekly, Dynamic Zone, and KPN Mobile.

Clo Willaerts is marketing manager of Belgacom Skynet and an avid blogger.

Dana Gornitzki is a Canadian transplant currently living in London, England. A journalist and media expert, Dana's experience has covered the world of print, online and broadcast. From working with film festivals and inside a major public broadcaster to working with emerging brands, Dana's work has a focus of social interactions and its impact on the here and now. Currently, she is exploring the mobile space and is interested in that medium's far-reaching effects from social communities to advertising and consumption habits.

Please join us June 12-16, 2006 for a blog program: Direct-to-Consumer News Releases, with discussion leader David Meerman Scott.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
The Web has changed the rules for press releases. Press releases are now read by millions of consumers on Google News, Yahoo News, newspaper and magazine sites and thousands of vertical market sites, But many PR professionals resist direct-to-consumer PR. Is it time to step it up and consider the promise Web 2.0 public relations holds? Do we need to alter the way you think about press releases? Or, as Steve Rubel has said, do "direct-to-consumer press releases suck"?

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:
David Meerman Scott is a writer, consultant, conference speaker and seminar leader. David’s latest book Cashing In With Content: How Innovative Marketers Use Digital Information to Turn Browsers Into Buyers is a riff on using Web content to drive revenue and other action from Web site visitors. He is the author of the e-book phenomenon "The New Rules of PR" downloaded to date by 75,000 people. David is a contributing editor at EContent Magazine, a contributing writer at Product Marketing Magazine and his writing has appeared in diverse publications including CMOMagazine.com, MarketingProfs.com, BusinessWeek, Competitive Intelligence Magazine, North American Review and many others. In his consulting work, David specializes in using online content to market and sell products and services to demanding customers worldwide. He has lived and worked in New York, Tokyo, Boston, and Hong Kong and has presented at industry conferences and events in over twenty countries on four continents.
Contact him at www.DavidMeermanScott.com and read his blog at www.WebInkNow.com.

Please join us June 5-9, 2006 for a blog program: Electronic Portfolios in Student Assessment, with discussion leaders Diane Holtzman & Debbi Dagavarian.   more »

Please join us this Tuesday, May 30, for a shortened edition of This Week on IAOCblog.com where our host for a four-day program on podcasting will be none other than Benjamin Edwards, Manager of New Media Communications for IBM.

Ben will be filling us in on how IBM has put podcasting to use -- and the results of those efforts. Hopefully, Christopher Barger and other members of IBM's new media team will be joining us as well. Are you interested in:

* Finding out exactly what the heck a podcast is
* How to produce a successful podcast
* How to syndicate podcasts online
* Using podcasting to communicate internally
* Using podcasts to cut costs
* Using podcasting for external marketing or public relations

Please bring your questions and an open mind to Podcasting: Insights from IBM only at This Week on IAOCblog.com, May 30 - June 2, 2006.

STEVE O'KEEFE
V.P., IAOC

Please join us May 8 - 12 for a blog program on Demonstrating Diversity Online, with discussion leader Tia C. M. Tyree.

ABOUT THE TOPIC:
At the IAOC Conference in Valley Forge, Mrs. Tyree presented a paper on "Placing Diversity within 'One Click' on Fortune 500 Company Web Sites." The paper analyzed the web sites of numerous Fortune 500 companies; documented their demonstration of diversity through images and content; and compared the web experience with the company's published statements about diversity. Mrs. Tyree will share the results of her findings with us.

ABOUT THE DISCUSSION LEADER:
Mrs. Tia C. M. Tyree is a communications professional with more than a decade of experience in journalism, writing, public speaking, community and media relations, strategic thinking and event planning. She is currently the Public Relations Manager for the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency (D.C. HFA).

"This Week on IAOCblog.com" is coming roaring back this May. Take a look at this line-up:

May 8-12, 2006
Topic: Demonstrating Diversity Online
Discussion Leader: Tia C. M. Tyree

May 15-19, 2006
Topic: Your Topic?
Discussion Leader: Why Not You?

May 22-26, 2006
Topic: Internet Crisis Communications
Discussion Leader: Patricia Swann

May 30-June 2, 2006
Topic: Podcasting: Insights from IBM
Discussion Leader: Benjamin Edwards

June 5-9, 2006
Topic: Electronic Portfolios in Student Assessment
Discussion Leaders: Diane Holtzman & Debbi Dagavarian

June 12-16, 2006
Topic: Direct-to-Consumer News Releases
Discussion Leader: David Meerman Scott

Please send me e-mail if you would like to lead the discussion for a week on IAOCblog.com. Thanks to all our Discussion Leaders and support staff for bringing this wonderful program back to our blog!

STEVE O'KEEFE
IAOC Vice President

It has been some time since I've been able to post here on a regular basis, but that's about to change. We are re-starting This Week on IAOCblog.com. We have a pile of great guests waiting in the wings to take over the blog for a week and teach. So let's get started...

THE FORMAT
For each program, we recruit a guest blogger who provides a topic. We then ask that guest blogger to recruit two or more other guests who agree to post or comment during that week. Friday is usually used for summary comments and to preview the coming week.

THE QUEUE
Right now in the queue is me -- Steve O'Keefe -- who has yet to post handouts from the IAOC Conference in Valley Forge. I'll try to get that done in the next few days. We then have potentially three blog shows led by IBM's online communications team -- on intranets, podcasting, and a mysterious web site they are developing. Sounds intriguing! Then we have the authors of some 14 papers presented at IAOC Valley Forge that we'll be asking to lead week-long sessions. And then there's YOU. If you have a topic you would like to lead, please send mailto:steve.okeefe@patronsaintpr.com and we will contact you to set up a date.

USER NAMES & PASSWORDS
You will all need a username and password to post to the blog. If you need one, e-mail Don Dunnington mailto:DDunnington@ktron.com and he will set you up. You might also be hearing from my associate in producing This Week on IAOCblog.com, Morty Schiller, who is traveling in Israel and won't be available to assist for a couple weeks.

Finally, I hope if you are not yet a member of the IAOC, you will join. We have not yet closed this program to members-only, but eventually we will. We need your membership dues and sponsorships to keep this program running. Anyone at the Valley Forge Conference could see that we need the IAOC because no other professional trade group is covering this cutting edge material.

See You Tomorrow,
STEVE O'KEEFE
Vice President, IAOC
Producer, "This Week on IAOCblog.com"

I'm going to try kickstarting our awesome program, "This Week on IAOCblog.com," with a program about online video. Every day, I release a new 2-minute video at the AuthorViews web site. It's a daunting pace and requires that my head be firmly fastened to developing issues in online video. The business press breaks major online video stories almost every day. Google, Amazon, Apple, Sony, Microsoft -- they are all making major video-related deals every week. It's an exciting, difficult time for this nascent industry. I'll try to talk about some of the most pressing issues this week.

I'd also like to introduce everyone to one my associates, Morty Schiller, whom I've asked to assist with "This Week on IAOCblog.com." Morty is a copyrwriter extraordinaire, a blogger (his blog is called Wordrider), and has a wonderful sense of playfulness in his postings. Morty recently conducted a blog PR campaign for the book, The Case for Peace, by Alan Dershowitz, with me kibbitzing. Morty has a write-up about that campaign on his blog.

I'm hoping that Morty will assume the duties that PR Diva Gwendolynn Gawlick performed so admirably last fall: scheduling guest presenters for "This Week on IAOCblog.com," getting them passwords and usernames, and introducing the weekly topics and bloggers.

So, if you would like to take a week on the blog, please send topic ideas and dates to morty@mortyschiller.com, and we'll try to get this party started and keep it rolling to Valley Forge!