Boardroom Communications’ publicists recently participated in the 2011Mercedes-Benz Corporate Run, an annual event that aims to boost individual and company morale. Six Boardroom members walked and ran in the 5K race throughout downtown Fort Lauderdale: COO Don Silver, Executive VP Todd Templin, Senior VP Caren Berg, Account Executives Lauren Simo and Michelle Friedman, and Digital Media Specialist Estee Pinzon.

This year’s event beneficiary was the American Red Cross, a non-profit organization that offers health and safety programs, disaster relief, international services and service to the armed forces and to the residents of Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Boardroom’s Corporate Run Team Leader, Todd Templin, also serves on the board for this organization.

In a recent South Florida Business Journal article titled, “Learn the ABCs to create and nurture a network of contacts,” Harvey Mackay provides reasoning and tips on developing contacts that can improve your business and your reach.  This is important for all businesses, including public relations. Some ideas are common sense:  R is for reciprocity.  You give; you get.  But other suggestions are more creative: B is for birthdays.  It’s always advantageous to know the birthdays of your contacts.  Great idea!

In marketing and branding half the battles is having people hear or see your message. From South Florida PR Firms to international business conglomerates, contacts count.  Take a look at Mackay’s column – who is also the author of the New York Times bestseller “Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.”

With all that is going on in the world, there is no shortage of work for crisis public relations pros to handle. In addition to traditional media relations, crisis management experts frequently get involved with all avenues that lead to a client’s major stakeholders and audiences such as employees, investors, customers, regulators, as well as the industry and community-at-large. As we have seen with major crises, they come in all shapes – from Charlie Sheen’s meltdown to Japan’s nuclear situation to the election recall of Miami-Dade’s mayor and a commissioner to the Yoss Law Firm implosion. Each has its own unique challenges.

On Wednesday, March 30, Business Wire and JM Family Enterprises will be hosting a panel titled, “CRISIS! Expect the Unexpected: Plan, Manage, & Respond.” The event will begin at 11:30 a.m. at JM Family, 111 Jim Moran Blvd., Deerfield Beach.

Attendees will hear from top South Florida media and crisis communication experts. Panelists include: Laura Vann, Lynn University Marketing & Communication; Don Silver, COO Boardroom Communications; Elianne Gonzalez, Insurance Information Institute; Wayne K. Roustan, South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The event is FREE! Hope to see you there. For more information visit the event page here.

Congratulations to Charles Gusmano, CEO for Southern Waste Sytems/Sun Recycling for the nice coverage he received in the Palm Beach Post on Monday.  Mr. Gusmano told his story of how he got started in the waste management business up north and was a visionary in the area of recycling. 

Sun Recycling is the largest independent recycler of construction and demolition debris in Florida. It recycles up to 90% of the materials it brings in, already exceeding the state’s goal of 75% recycling by 2020.  The company is taking a lead position in this area. Read the full article here.

You’re invited to join us for Margaux’s Miracle Foundation’s Third Annual Night At The Theatre, Friday, April 1 at Actor’s Playhouse in Coral Gables. A private wine and cheese tasting will be held at 6:30 p.m., with the performance of August: Osage County starting at 8 p.m.  Reserved orchestra seats cost $65 per person.

Click image below for more information. Hope to see you there!

Look what Myriam Cohen is doing now! Trained as a techy and later on becoming a serial entrepreneur, she founded CrazyGoodDeal.com, a consumer-driven website dedicated to providing its members with great deals on products and services most of us use all of the time including, restaurants, beauty services and procedures, food, cooking classes, massages and much much more.  To join and receive crazygooddeal.com daily deals, just visit the website and enter your email address and zip code. 

That’s all it takes.

Best of luck to our good friend and serial client of Boardroom Communications to her success with this great venture.

The NAIOP South Florida Chapter will be hosting a panel titled Making the Deals in South Florida. The panel will discuss what areas are targeted for growth as the economy recovers and where the challenges persist.  What strategies can be used to cope with changes in order to make deals in the commercial real estate development industry in the S. FL market will be addressed.  The panel includes three developers who will address the issues and challenges confronting them.

The panel will take place on March 24, 2011 at the Royal Palm at South Pointe, 1000 South Pine Island Rd., Plantation, FL. Registration & networking begins at 7:30 AM, followed by breakfast & program at 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM.

NAIOP Members $35, Non-members $100
                               
The panel will be moderated by: Alice F. Lucia, Senior Vice President / Leasing Director – Jones Lang LaSalle. Panelists include Ed Mitchell, Executive Vice President/Partner, Crocker Partners; Terry Stiles, Chairman and CEO, Stiles Corporation; Eric Swanson, Executive Vice President, Flagler Development.

The event is hosted by Duke Realty

Please RSVP at 954-938-2137 or visit www.naiopsfl.org

In February, Google announced major changes to its algorithm. The change is a response to recent questions over Google’s search quality and a direct attack against content farms. According to a recent article in South Florida’s Sun-Sentinel, Google was being flooded by spammers and hucksters who were manipulating the system which landed them in the top search results. With the revisions to its secret mathematical program, Google banishes pages littered with second-rate content or overloaded with advertising, among them were well-known retailers. JCPenney was punished for paying for links from unrelated sites to elevate their rankings in Google’s search engines. Google has won plaudits for promoting original research, analysis and encouraging websites to produce more useful and relevant content.

However, not everyone likes change. Hundreds of sites complained to Google that they had been unfairly lumped in with “content farms,” which are mass-producers of content designed exclusively to deliver rankings in search engines. Google responded by saying, “Our primary goal is to make sure we return the best websites we can.” “No algorithm can be 100 percent accurate.”  The article also reports that the change affects 12 percent of search queries in the U.S.

As for Boardroom Communications, we see that our efforts at keeping an updated website with relevant information have paid off. We remain as one of Google’s top search results for South Florida Public Relations Agencies.

Condo sales in Miami were up 134 percent in January year-over-year, according to the Miami Association of Realtors.  That’s not a typo. 

Canyon Ranch Living Miami Beach was featured in a CNBC TV segment and article for its recent sales surge and its lavish party that just passed on March 10, 2011.  The sales team, Pordes Residential Sales & Marketing, threw a party for potential investors, complete with massage therapists, a climbing wall and a yoga team to greet you at the door. 

Both Mark Pordes of Pordes Residential Sales & Marketing and Michael Posner of Ward Damon are quoted in Marilyn Bowden’s most recent article in Miami Today. 

Although the residential mortgage market has loosened up for high-income buyers with good credit, experts say a return to pre-recession standards isn’t likely.  Pordes said that he sees a lot of lenders coming back to the condo market, still he said about 80% of the condo buying in the high-end luxury market are all-cash transactions. 

Read the entire article here.